(2004-01-27) Hari Samurai Anti Modern Ecology

Johann Hari connects Tom Cruise's "The Last Samurai" movie to fuzzy Spiritualism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Anti Modernism, and the Deep Ecology Environmentalism movements. A global assault on the institutions of Modernity - and especially the core modern institution, the city (Urban) - is brewing. It is time we equipped ourselves with arguments in its defence... We must not be afraid to defend the greatest of all modern achievements: the contemporary metropolis - the sprawling, complex city. This is the pinnacle of human existence. Only in the metropolis can human culture and knowledge reach its bizarre, sublime peaks; only there can 10,000 strangers come together in a city square to hear music. Only in the metropolis can gays, Jews, women, dissidents, democrats and oddballs feel safe. If any form of human life has a mystical quality, it is not the Rural village, but the beautiful, insane city. (Culture War)