I will defend the absolute value of Mozart over Miley Cyrus, of course I will, but we should be wary of false dichotomies. You do not have to choose between one or the other. You can have both. The human cultural jungle should be as varied and plural as the Amazonian rainforest. We are all richer for biodiversity. We may decide that a puma is worth more to us than a caterpillar, but surely we can agree that the habitat is all the better for being able to sustain each.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of embracing cultural diversity without making absolute choices between different values.
Stephen Fry's quote encourages a nuanced appreciation of culture, advocating for the acceptance and coexistence of various artistic expressions rather than forcing a confrontation between them. By using the analogy of biodiversity, he highlights that just as ecosystems thrive with variety, human culture flourishes when it includes all forms of expression, allowing people to appreciate both high art and popular entertainment.
In practice
In a speech about cultural appreciation, one might say, 'As Stephen Fry suggests, we can enjoy both Mozart and Miley Cyrus without diminishing either.'
I used many times to touch my own chest and feel, under its asthmatic quiver, the engine of the heart and lungs and blood and feel amazed at what I sensed was the enormity of the power I possessed. Not magical power, but real power. The power simply to go on, the power to endure, that is power enough, but I felt I had also the power to create, to add, to delight, to amaze and to transform.
To be human and to be adult means constantly to be in the grip of opposing emotions, to have daily to reconcile apparently conflicting tensions. I want this, but need that. I cherish this, but I adore its opposite too.
There comes a time when the blankness of the future is just so extreme, it's like such a black wall of nothingness. Not of bad things like a cave full of monsters and so, you're afraid of entering it. It's just nothingness, the void, emptiness and it is just horrible. It's like contemplating a future-less future and so you just want to step out of it. The monstrosity of being alive overwhelms you.
As someone who worked hard for a Labour victory in the 90s, do I regret it? Not really. It was bound to happen. And it'll happen with the next government, and the one after it. Because all governments serve us. They serve the filth.
It's now very common to hear people say 'I'm rather offended by that'.
You can't just say there is a God because well, the world is beautiful. You have to account for bone cancer in children. You have to account for the fact that almost all animals in the wild live under stress with not enough to eat and will die violent and bloody deaths. There is not any way that you can just choose the nice bits and say that means there is a God and ignore the true fact of what nature is.
Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.
Life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.
Live both in the future and the past. Who does not live in the past does not live in the future.
Talk of the devil, and his horns appear.
This world... ever was, and is, and shall be, ever-living Fire, in measures being kindled and in measures going out.
We're not thought of in terms of color because we are entertainers. We are there to entertain you not because we are black, white, pink, or green or gay or straight or because we are Catholic or Protestant.
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