Sunday, February 1, 2015

Apollo Versus Dionysos: Gimme Shelter (1969)

In a lecture Ayn Rand provides a concretization of the issue of reason vs. emotion via an analysis of two contrasting events of 1969: the glorious achievement of the Apollo 11 moon flight and the mindless mud-wallowing of the Woodstock rock festival



Gimme Shelter 1969 - The Rolling Stones. (Wiki) (Lyrics)

Like Romantic literature is inexplicably great in a period that is essentially horrid, so the 1968 generation created great, inspiring music in the time that was in essence cataclysmic for Western civilization. It was the height of Cultural Marxism that did away with the last vestiges of the rule of reason. From here onwards mad Dionysos took over and tore every last shred of Apollonian reign. The free love and peace on offer by the new generation and their noble aspirations hadn't been unmasked by then, as it is now. The rainbow shibboleth towards the end of the video is now associated with Barack Obama's faux war on ISIL. And we are reminded of the sheer hypocrisy that determines this culture: the Islamic State that is raping and murdering across the Middle East at will without any noticeable objection of the folks that come out in numbers whenever they see a possibility to charge free countries with war crimes. Key is not the evil of "Rape, murder, just a shot away", but rather who can be accused of doing it. 
July 16, 2014

Philosophy on the Anniversary of Launch of Apollo 11





 The contrast between Apollo and Dionysus symbolizes individualism versus the united group, reason versus primal emotion, and sight , form and beauty versus unrestrained music and intoxication.



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