The Agrarians

They do force all southerners, as well as Americans as a whole. to look closely, and critically, at present institutions. They remind us of what people lost in the transition from a proprietary to a collective economy, even as they provoke moral doubts about the consumptive returns that most, but not all people, gained. In so far as we have accepted the bargain, tacitly consented to the new order, they at least force self-examination and create a sense of guilt. Only the most insensitive and shallow person can listen, really listen, to the Agrarians without a poignant sense of loss. This is true even for those who know all about the dark corners in the proprietary past. -Paul Conkin. The Southern Agrarians. (178)

Technology

With the onslaught of technological innovation that we are now enduring it is well to remember the words of the Agrarians:

Advertising means to persuade the consumers to want exactly what the applied sciences are able to furnish them....It is the great effort of a false economy of life to approve itself.
(Quoted in Montgomery. Fathers. (163)

As for the iPad, iPod, and iPhone, my choice is iPass.

First Post

How many initial postings are titled "First Post"? Why will this blog be different? Who in the world is DaveB? A little bit about myself is a good start. I live in Texas (the Dallas reference) and consider myself a student of the Nashville Agrarians who wrote I'll Take My Stand in the 1930s. This doesn't mean I agree with everything they wrote but it has been a good starting point for me. I will be posting my thoughts on the news of the day, books I am reading, and general speculation.