Wednesday, September 15, 2010

TS Eliot

"In an interesting essay in the volume of ESSAYS ON THE DEPOPULATION OF MELANESIA, the psychologist W.H.R. Rivers adduced evidence which has led him to believe that the 'civilization' forced upon them has deprived them of all interest in life. They are dying from pure boredom. When every theater has been replaced by 100 cinemas, when every musical instrument has been replaced by 100 gramophones, when ever horse has been replaced by 100 cheap motor-cars, when electrical ingenuity has made it possible for every child to hear its bedtime stories from a loudspeaker, when applied science has done everything possible with the materials on this earth to make life as interesting as possible, it will not be surprising if the population of the entire civilized world rapidly follows the fate of the Melanesians."