Literary Discussions

The article is well written. I read it in haste so I may have missed some points BUT one thing that struck me is the strange notion that our nation/culture collectively is at some pivotal turning point. The first thing that came to my mind was that scene in Homer's Odyssey where Odysseus and Telemachus are disemboweling some of the suitors alive. The next thing I thought about hmmm.... the torture during the Inquisition which seemed perfectly logical since the heretic or unbeliever would suffer for all eternity in hell but a few hours of torture would help them confess and die in a state of friendship with God. Then I thought of an account given of some American Indians to tied up their captives and would take scallops of flesh from them and roast them in the fire and eat and laugh. Then, hmmm.... that fellow who took the Belgian Congo as his own personal little playground King Leopold's Ghost, and then... all the Ku Klux Clan lynchings... and then, all of our media entertainment which dwells upon topics like Hannibal Lecter.  So with all these images flying through my mind, it seems rather foolish to speak of our nation or culture as some one thing that has gone down hill and might be at a pivotal turning point and might even improve. How has human nature in all its cruelty and kindness changed in the past 10,000 years?  In all fairness, now that I have expressed myself I must go back and re-read the article more carefully. I like The Atlantic and I like Andrew Sullivan and he is simply doing his journalistic job. Come to think of it, I find it foolish and naïve for someone to imagine that one single person as president could fix all the country's problems or the world's problems.