One of the questions that has most bothered me in my reflections on culture is the question of kitsch. Just what is it? When did it begin? And why?
Roger ScrutonRead
For two centuries the English countryside has been an icon of national identity and the loved reminder of our island home. Yet the government is bent on littering the hills with wind turbines and the valleys with high speed railways.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the tension between preserving the beauty of the English countryside and the government’s push for modern infrastructure.
Roger Scruton expresses a deep concern for the preservation of the English countryside, which symbolizes national identity and heritage. He critiques the government's initiatives to industrialize the landscape with wind turbines and high-speed railways, suggesting that such developments threaten the inherent beauty and cultural significance of the natural environment.
Themes
CountrysideNational IdentityNatureInfrastructurePreservation
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on environmental conservation, this quote could emphasize the importance of protecting rural landscapes.
More from Roger Scruton
All quotes →There are big questions science doesn't answer, such as why is there something rather than nothing? There can't be a scientific answer to that because it's the answer that precedes science.
Roger ScrutonRead
18th century opera is packed with emotion, but contains not a trace of kitsch. Only with the 'thees' and 'thous' of Victorian poetry does the disease begin to grow in our poetic tradition.
Roger ScrutonRead
The robust English view used to be that the correct response to offensive words is to ignore them, or to answer them with a rebuke. If you invoke the law at all, it should be to protect the one who gives the offence, and not the one who takes it. Now, it seems, it is all the other way round.
Roger ScrutonRead
You cannot own a symphony or a novel in the way you can own a Damien Hirst. As a result there are far fewer fake symphonies or fake novels than there are fake works of visual art.
Roger ScrutonRead
For many artists and critics, beauty is a discredited idea. It denotes the saccharine sylvan scenes and cheesy melodies that appealed to Granny.
Roger ScrutonRead
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