F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Perhaps this was true of Fitzgerald when he wrote “The Crack-Up,” his 1936 essay on how he lost the plot. Perhaps he had already lost the plot. Anyone can function while holding two opposed ideas at the same time. The easy way to do this is to deceive yourself.
Every society seems to need taboos, no-go areas, de facto blasphemy laws. How the United States has kept its secular constitution as long as it has is a wonder. In any other circumstance, I might call it a miracle.
Even the future feels nostalgic these days. The Great Balloon Panic of 2023, still occurring as I write and await the descent of our alien overlords, is midcentury Americana. We are in the future predicted by 1950s comics. Members of the public report mysterious objects in the sky. The military says there’s nothing to see but scrambles the jets anyway. The media mention hush-hush special projects but can say no more. Much of the public don tinfoil helmets and brace for contact.
President Joe Biden spoke a lot of words in his State of the Union address. Most of them were scripted. Some of them were not. None of them were “Iran,” “nuclear,” or “biggest U.S.-Israel military exercise ever.”