Kaia:

I generally haven’t responded to many of the replies to this piece; but I’m moved to respond to yours as I find it especially thoughtful, generous, and constructive.

The Eisenstein talk to which you refer is compelling in its message, which is, as you point out, a hopeful one.

However, though it may surprise readers to hear it, I am by nature an optimist — just one who’s reached a point of ‘mute despair,’ as he puts it. I realize that the attitude he describes here is one that resembled my own when writing this piece.

You might be wrong, but you’re probably right. In any case, I’m coming round to choosing the hope that you’re right. Perhaps the water table is indeed rising.

Finally, your mention of eros called to mind the last stanza of Auden’s ‘September 1, 1939’:

Defenseless under the night

Our world in stupor lies

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic point of light

Flash out wherever the Just

Exchange their messages

May I, composed like them,

Of eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair

Show an affirming flame.