I was reminded of this phrase earlier when I read a piece called "The Paradox Of Our Time". It was credited to George Carlin. Leaving aside the mis-credit, I want to look at what it says.
"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints."
These are not paradoxes. Having tall buildings does not contradict people having short tempers and the same goes for wide freeways and narrow minds. Also these are not facts. These are generalisations without frames of reference. I know of many short buildings and patient people and the same goes for narrow roads and open-minds.
Of course, this is all intended as artistic license and metaphor for saying that while we have made progress in things like science, we haven't made progress in being good people. Bullshit. You're trying to say that the foundation of charitable organisations isn't progress? The demolition of the Berlin wall wasn't progress? But then, whether I agree with these statements and generalisations is not the point.
This is what people do. They write some puns and hang them on the frame of their own moral agenda. They send it out in an e-mail and people read it and think for a second and maybe feel bad about themselves enough that they actually do something (though actually most will probably decide they've already "done something", they're a "good person"). This is a manifesto in an "Ironic" style.
This is penguin-wrapper philosophy and I'm aware that calling it such is itself a penguin-wrapper statement.
-Alice
