The Past Does Speak!

It's amazing the stories you can find in forgotten places. My nephew is 13 and has recently taken a keen interest in my record and book collection.

For a few months now, whenever he visits, he spends time examining the records in my library. It doesn't stop there. He then goes home and researches whatever musicians he found that interested him. He repeats the same process with my books.

Smart kid.

Nestled neatly in a closet many magazines I was subscribed to as a kid yearn to be rediscovered. All those thoughts and ideas...just there. Read once or twice and unceremoniously discarded. We have a tendency to read something and immediately move on as if what we just read is old news. Never worth revisiting. After all, what good could something written in 1984 have today?

Thankfully, the power of words never erodes.

From National Geographic to Maclean's to Sports Illustrated to The Economist to an assortment of comics, I had a monstrous appetite for knowledge and information that consumes me to this day. I even kept old Grand Prix magazines. Yes, Formula One racing was once referred to as the Grand Prix.

These are the publications that filled my head for better or for ill.

Every single one of those magazines in the closet are from the 1980s. Another portion, which belonged to my older sister, date back to the 1970s.

Anyway, old Mad Magazines have captivated my nephew Matthew. Each time he visits, he takes down a box and reads away.

This past Easter weekend, I sat and read with him as I watched some soccer and basketball.

One October 1979 issue intrigued me in particular and is the subject of this post.

Within its content, there was a humourous section called "Why do we assume it makes sense?" Here are a couple of excerpts that caught my eye:

Why do we assume it makes sense?...to plan for the future when the evening TV news keeps telling us that everything we eat, wear or breathe could kill us tomorrow?

...to accept guidance on social and political issues from folks like Redd Foxx, Danny Thomas and Jane Fonda?

Hmm. Sounds familiar.

This was written 29 years ago and it is rather remarkable how little of our public discourse has changed regarding certain issues.

It's amazing how prescient a comic book can be.

They say we should learn from history lest we repeat past mistakes. Of course, we pick and choose what parts of history we want to listen to.

As the financial markets take a tumble (as they are apt to do) once more this opens the door to those who who believe we've finally met our match. Surely this time we will get our come-uppance right? Eventually, they're bound to be right I suppose.

This even after all we know about the financial markets. To conclude it's all a scam based on greed is rather simplistic if not unfortunate. The bulls have had better days than the bears - lest we forget. Let the bears have their 15 minutes of fame every once in a while, no?

Of course, it would be easy to just take all this in stride but it's not that straightforward. Whenever we are faced with "pending doom" we demand action. That usually means government intervention. Which in turns unleashes a set of unintended consequences.

Much has been said about why markets, just like empires, rise and fall. Anything can set it off. In today’s world, with access to information within seconds, a CEO suffering from diarrhea can be misinterpreted as malaria. Down the wire this rumour goes and presto!

Sell! Sell! Sell!

Then when the truth comes out, “Sorry folks. False alarm” and investors scramble out of the bushes weary eyed wondering what the fuss was all about.

As for the second part of the Mad comment. We can certainly replace Foxx, Thomas and Fonda with the likes of Sheen, Sarandon and Moore. Or Penn, Jolie and Baldwin. Or Robbins...you get the picture. Whoever they may be, it is a ridiculous development in our civil discourse to somehow believe actors have something valid or insightful to say.

Quick show of hands. How many really have?

It is odd how we feel that actors have access to knowledge we are not privy to. That they somehow see truth for what it really is in all its naked and elusive glory.

I considered this in a previous post here.