| Don Henley – Sunset Grill Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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@[urbanman:3736] A thoughtful analysis. Songs like this always bring to mind one of the themes that emerged from the existentialist movement (late 19th - 20th century). That as they evolve, our social-economic institutions become increasingly dehumanizing until they collapse or are violently transformed, a recurring pattern throughout recorded history. I see this clearly reflected in the second verse, "You see a lot meanness in the city...". These is indeed two kinds of people in the world, those with a natural empathy for others and those who are destructive and predatory by nature, by no means a original idea. This notion can be traced at least as far back to the parable, "The Frog and the Scorpion" which is thought to have originated in Africa, predating the ancient Greek storyteller, Aesop (620-654 BCE). One only has to look at the contrasting social behavior of our closest primate cousins, the chimpanzees and the bonobos to understand the origins of natural empathy or lack thereof. After nearly six decades of kicking around this biosphere one thing in my mind is clear, if we fail to recognize that empathy is no less important that intellect it seems unlikely our species will make the paradigm shift from mutually assured destruction to mutually assured survival. |
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