Roger Scruton: How Modern Culture is Degenerating

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  • Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
  • It takes a lot of effort in order to provide added educational value by selecting the videos for this channel, philosophyinsights. Usually, it takes me hours of work to skim through videos in order to find the right one on topics such as this. If you enjoy the selection, consider subscribing!
    Sir Roger Vernon Scruton was an English philosopher and writer who specialized in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views.
    In recent years he taught courses in Buckingham University, Oxford University and University of St. Andrews.
    In this clip, he talks about how modern culture is degenerating, the impact of modern ugly architecture and why beauty matters. Complete videos quoted under creative common:
    • Sacred Truths in a Pro...
    --
    This channel aims at extracting central points of presentations into short clips. The topics cover the problems of leftist ideology and the consequences for society. If you like the content, subscribe to the channel!

Комментарии • 817

  • @OutOfElmo
    @OutOfElmo 4 года назад +575

    Such an erudite and well-spoken gentleman. We are diminished by his loss.

    • @acropolisnow9466
      @acropolisnow9466 4 года назад +15

      My god how we are.

    • @southafricanizationofsociety20
      @southafricanizationofsociety20 4 года назад +5

      Orania, South Africa is prosperous and civil, very low crime. I can’t quite put my finger on it though... 😉

    • @jcawalton
      @jcawalton 4 года назад +17

      How we need his voice in these days. May he rest in peace.

    • @starboi7677
      @starboi7677 4 года назад +9

      Ooo big words look at you go

    • @hi1953
      @hi1953 4 года назад +7

      Lol why do you guys talk like that?

  • @curorisluodi
    @curorisluodi Год назад +147

    “Art for art's sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of truth, art for the sake of the good and the beautiful, that is the faith I am searching for.”
    ― George Sand

    • @tonygrowley5275
      @tonygrowley5275 Год назад +5

      Only artists understand art for arts sake. Art for the sake of the good and the beautiful is just as "empty". Whose concept of beauty are we using? Is a view of ants eating a dead body beautiful? THAT is the point of art for art's sake. Do you like Dali's art?

    • @unstrung65
      @unstrung65 Год назад +5

      Art for the sake of truth reflects life -- as it is -- not necessarily good or beautiful , but as it really is . Any good artist knows that .

    • @tonygrowley5275
      @tonygrowley5275 Год назад +2

      Francis Bacon's Screaming Pope

    • @johannalvarsson9299
      @johannalvarsson9299 Год назад +1

      @@unstrung65 what is life as is?

    • @KibyNykraft
      @KibyNykraft Год назад

      @@unstrung65 Regarding around 4 minutes into the video : See here on RUclips the Faces of Sapmi Somby Color your past. But it was a hard life with some oppression from the governments in the 4 countries they lived in

  • @vimalpatel4060
    @vimalpatel4060 3 года назад +126

    This is about the collective narcissism in Modern society brought upon by Social Media. People are measuring their worth through this hollow exercise in deifying oneself. The effects of these choices are terrible instead of it leading to a more meaningful life what has happened is people are more miserable than ever before even though we have more luxuries than previous generations in human history.

    • @ulrikjensen6841
      @ulrikjensen6841 Год назад +9

      The narcissism of the modern world is due to the many inventions, especially the camera and the microphone; we are able to watch and to listen to ourselves through recordings.

    • @ricardodelacrvz1400
      @ricardodelacrvz1400 Год назад

      you only have this degeneration because of the invention of the birth control pill. there are no more traditional values when it comes to dating and marriage. which makes men more competitive for their status giving them alone time to dedicate to their careers. its also one of the few moments in history where people almost freely can escalate in their socioeconomic classes. when it comes to survival, men will always go after money.

    • @athertonken
      @athertonken Год назад +3

      To pick up on your point which is rarely made (but should be) Gordon Ratray Taylor [sociologist) made point over 50 years ago that we (lets assume he meant the West) have lifestyles that only kings in the past could imagine yet we are more unhappy. He was arguing a "system break" was due, like end of Middle ages for example. Yet it hasn't happened and in my humble opinion we have more and more of the same processes locked in by influence of the world's wealth being owned by an ever smaller proportion of the populations. I agree the social media is now a major factor creating this awful narcissism and conflict in society that perversely enables control through fear and stops the changes we need to stablise and live more meaningfully and hopefully sustainably.

    • @FriendofDorothy
      @FriendofDorothy Год назад +5

      the post WW2 gen had all the luxuries for cheap. What we have is credit and credit cards.

    • @italianmiltyfriedman6264
      @italianmiltyfriedman6264 Год назад +1

      in the end times, man will become worshippers of himself

  • @denverbrown8904
    @denverbrown8904 Год назад +45

    Such keen insight and wise spirit. It is rare to see a person be an excellent academic and a deep soul simultaneously.

    • @stevefowler2112
      @stevefowler2112 Год назад

      You said what I was thinking much better than I did...Thank you.

  • @hermesnoelthefourthway
    @hermesnoelthefourthway Год назад +117

    "Never in the history of the world has there been so many methods whereby one can communicate with others , but never in the history of the world has there been so little of worth to communicate".
    Kathleen Raine , Poet.

    • @SynthwavelLover
      @SynthwavelLover Год назад +8

      Yeah there is nothing of value to communicate nowadays only in the past. Biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard and it's insulting to anybody that produces content- painters, designers, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, and many others. You'll quote this and then immediately go consume media. Damn if we only lived in the 16th century where access to information and ways to communicate was limited so we could talk about farming or the bible. Now those were the days.

    • @hermesnoelthefourthway
      @hermesnoelthefourthway Год назад +5

      @@SynthwavelLover you give credence and clout to the quote 👍 we don't need to talk about farming and the bible. Two things I have absolutely no interest in whatsover. We could talk about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky and the attainment of higher states of consciousness and the law of the heptaparaparshinokh and the triamazikamno , should you so wish

    • @SynthwavelLover
      @SynthwavelLover Год назад

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway For a guy who quotes this you sure have a lot of useless vlog videos that don't contribute much. I don't care if you do it, hell the more info the better (we've all got opinions go ahead and throw em out there), but if anything YOU prove the quote right. Even if you commenting and me commenting is kinda useless. And you've proven me right- I over-simplified the past on purpose to show you what you're doing to our present: making assumptions, using anecdotes, look dude I doubt you care about the facts of the world you just wanna feel smart so go ahead and post the quote and feel smart if you want.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Год назад +5

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway I suppose it’d be better to say that there is little worth in much of what’s communicated rather than there’s little worth communicating.

    • @spiritmatter1553
      @spiritmatter1553 Год назад +1

      @@hermesnoelthefourthway How dare that person raise topics you’re not interested in.

  • @youngaspireify
    @youngaspireify 4 года назад +45

    They didn't smile in old photos because of the long exposure time.

    • @davidkelsall6164
      @davidkelsall6164 4 года назад +2

      Exactly what I was thinking.

    • @ericgwalsh
      @ericgwalsh 4 года назад +13

      No, the original tradition was to view a photo as though it were a portrait. Grinning without reason was viewed as the act of an imbecile.

    • @KaiTakApproach
      @KaiTakApproach 4 года назад +6

      Go ask a Russian how they feel about smiling and then try to inflict your cultural bias on us again....lol

    • @margiethessin8975
      @margiethessin8975 4 месяца назад +4

      That’s been debunked. The reason was that a smile indicated vanity or foolishness. Or as they said here, it was a virtue to be a serious person.

    • @youngaspireify
      @youngaspireify 4 месяца назад

      @@margiethessin8975holy shit are you stoopid. exposure time was literally minutes.

  • @stevefowler2112
    @stevefowler2112 Год назад +38

    So nice to listen to two wise, learned and serious men.

  • @javierpacheco8234
    @javierpacheco8234 2 года назад +67

    I'm studying architecture and i truly hate our current era of architecture. Wish beauty returned.

    • @ghostxl8525
      @ghostxl8525 2 года назад +2

      you will have to pay more for a house and people dont want that

    • @varaconn6708
      @varaconn6708 Год назад +3

      @@ghostxl8525 Why did they pay for it back when beautiful architecture was more common?

    • @ghostxl8525
      @ghostxl8525 Год назад +3

      @@varaconn6708 dont know the exact answer,because materials were expensive, land was cheaper, no safety regulations from government and inflation,but just look at all the beautiful buildings from that era, all of them either belong to the rich families, kings or governments, the normal people had to leave in squares designed to sleep and eat, the luxuries that we have now among the middle clase is an exception looking back at the history

    • @travelpk2224
      @travelpk2224 Год назад +3

      Let us take this word ' hate' out of dictionary. Yes I wish beauty returned.

    • @Bobtek
      @Bobtek Год назад +9

      Would you fly a plane into a building to make your point though? Because apparently Roger was very "impressed" by that.

  • @garyk.nedrow8302
    @garyk.nedrow8302 Год назад +55

    In a nutshell, Scruton is describing the loss of community, the loss of the sense of belonging and interdependence that characterized Western Civilization prior to the 20th century. When decisions began to be made solely on the basis of cost-benefit analysis and efficiency, we sacrificed the human factor to economics, spurred on by increasingly complex technologies that are both liberating and isolating. In another video, Scruton discusses "The True, the Good, and the Beautiful," all qualities that defy cost-benefit analysis. When was the last time you heard a politician or businessman or journalist give those concept more than lip service? When all values are reduced to money's worth, a civlization has lost its soul.

    • @johnstewart7025
      @johnstewart7025 Год назад

      Which is why the two USA political parties offer no choice. They promote tech change fueled by capitalized.

    • @mikesteelheart
      @mikesteelheart Год назад +5

      Agree 100%. The media likes to paint us a picture of a fascade of common good but in reality there is very little anymore.

    • @TTTzzzz
      @TTTzzzz Год назад +4

      Money's worth or wealth and power have always been the main objective of humanity. Only a few achieve it. There were Emperors, Kings, Lords and serfs. Now there are CEOs and workers. The common good has never been common. Which civilisation ever had a soul?

    • @almishti
      @almishti Год назад +1

      @@TTTzzzz There's some pretty considerable differences between attitudes towards money and wealth in pre-modern and non-capitalist societies and ours. Yes, economics is always important, but afaik the capitalist way of treating *everything* as something to be reduced to a salable commodity that a market can be built around and whose entire worth centers on nothing else but an arbitrary monetary value, is pretty unique to itself. OUtside of it, wealth has been an objective b/c it costs to have a vital functioning society; we, OTOH, make its acquisition an end in itself. Plenty of other civilizations had souls, a civilization doesn't have rulers who actively foster and encourage the arts, for example, if it doesn't have a soul. Who are our rulers who do that? Instead, they actively and aggressively attack the arts as often as not, at very least they don't understand and don't respect them. The differences are quite vast in fact.

    • @TTTzzzz
      @TTTzzzz Год назад

      @@almishti About souls and art: All works of art are 'manifestations' of the culture they were created in. Indeed, all cultures and civilizations have have a soul and even a heart. But nearly all of them (if not all) required obedience / serfdom. Go against the established state moral and you could be jailed. put to death or at least banished.
      In many countries this was and still is the case.
      For me, art is an expression of the human mind. That mind must be free to express itself and not be coerced by the state,
      If the mind is not free, art degenerates into propaganda which has been by far the foremost expression of cultures and civilizations for at least the past 12.000 years.
      Freedom of thought and expression is a very young concept.

  • @kathydent2116
    @kathydent2116 Год назад +43

    All very interesting, but the reason why people didn't smile on photos in the nineteenth century is because the photographic plate required a long exposure time and when you smile you can't keep your face still for that long. Every smiling face photo would have been destroyed because it was blurred. Photographers soon learned to tell their sitters not to smile. Also, having your photo taken was expensive and so it was a regarded as a portrait, not the capture of a spontaneous moment. Nineteenth century people were just like us, but with different technology. I think if you read classical Greek literature, you will find that they were moaning about how their culture was degenerating. It's the human thing to do.

    • @Ubu987
      @Ubu987 Год назад +1

      Still, I can't imagine Leonardo da Vinci telling his sitters to "Say cheese!" though maybe Mona Lisa was saying "mozzarella."

    • @italianmiltyfriedman6264
      @italianmiltyfriedman6264 Год назад

      really good comment

    • @nigerianprince5389
      @nigerianprince5389 Год назад

      Valid comment. Doesn’t change the fact that the culture is denigrating.

    • @FranklyNorman
      @FranklyNorman Год назад +1

      Came here to say this. Thank you

    • @kathydent2116
      @kathydent2116 Год назад +1

      @@nigerianprince5389 Mate, if the sign of a decadent culture is that nobody owns a dictionary any more, you seem to be an examplar. 'Denigrate' is a transitive verb and ... well, I'll let you look it up.

  • @Avicenna10
    @Avicenna10 2 года назад +157

    I miss this man so much. I only wish I could have met him. Without a doubt one of the most brilliant philosophers of the last 100 years. And from all appearances, a very genuine and kind man. We miss you Sir Roger. RIP

  • @ricedmond661
    @ricedmond661 Год назад +111

    I believe the long exposure time of older cameras made holding a smile difficult and increased the risk of the photograph coming out blurry.
    Plus photos were much rarer and thus more formal and people often followed the example of paintings where subjects had not traditionally smiled much.

    • @moslattara
      @moslattara Год назад +12

      also, people had very bad teeth

    • @Mike-me3sp
      @Mike-me3sp Год назад +12

      Yep. Don't know why these guys are trying to use that to suggest that people were somehow 'better' back then.

    • @johnnastrom9400
      @johnnastrom9400 Год назад +19

      @@Mike-me3sp No. It is a lot more than that. People are much more narcissistic now.

    • @Lawful_Rebel
      @Lawful_Rebel Год назад +2

      @@Mike-me3sp Yes, it was a rather weak analogy.

    • @view1st
      @view1st Год назад +2

      He should have known this.

  • @user-gw9kq7qm2k
    @user-gw9kq7qm2k 4 месяца назад +2

    Interesting conversation

  • @mustafaT09
    @mustafaT09 4 года назад +159

    Many people missed something amazing in this. They are both speaking of a society turning nhilistic. The selfie example was a testament to the nhilist thinking taking place today. We live in a society where people do not care anymore.

    • @oppothumbs1
      @oppothumbs1 Год назад +24

      Maybe that is true. But these men have selected great things of the past but ignore the horrors. People have abandoned religion because it's often a malevolent fairytale filled with bad dogma and deed and scapegoat many. People lose their sense of belongingness because it was based on falsehoods because we just know more today. Ever hear the expression happy-idiot? Well people were more idiotic back then and clung to biases and traditions.
      People used to have to wait a long time for their photos to be shot and so the serious faces.
      Young and old are disillusioned and have less hope. One can find a lot wrong with culture today but take a look back at older times. It's a double-edge sword. We have welfare for the poor and sick; what did these people do? They took in their sick and old which makes them better in that way for sure. See tricked you on that one.
      Nietzsche wrote about decaying culture and civilization. Elite Leftist Intellectuals think they know everything with their phony ideologies but they are in some ways destroying us. Same for the Right. People dont want to know the truth then or now; we hide from reality and the more you do the better off you can be. Take it away now, imaginary god.

    • @velveetaslingshot
      @velveetaslingshot Год назад +6

      Oh they care...about getting what they want, when they want it.

    • @beyondonethousand
      @beyondonethousand Год назад

      @@oppothumbs1
      Your hypothesis is society’s downfall. We are in an anti-Christian, anti-biblical culture now an there had never been a more lost and nihilistic world than the one we are in now. Repent and receive Christ. No other road.

    • @alaskayoung3413
      @alaskayoung3413 Год назад +13

      @@oppothumbs1 people also overlook the huge positives religions have given. The creation of hospitals. The largest provider of Humanitarian work around the world. It’s input on law and the written word. The creation off AA. Etc etc.
      Nihilism brings nothing positive to the world.

    • @CrakenFlux
      @CrakenFlux Год назад +6

      There are too many people, yet we are atomized. we are social and tribal animals, which is totally absent on our societies, because there are too many people. when there is too much of anything, its value goes down.

  • @PresterMike
    @PresterMike 4 года назад +125

    Rest In Peace Sir Roger Scruton! Great man

  • @spanglestein66
    @spanglestein66 5 месяцев назад

    So glad to have found this conversation….liked and subscribed ❤

  • @ryanwitt5467
    @ryanwitt5467 5 месяцев назад +1

    I agree with the solemnity of photos in the 19th century. But a lot of that has to do with the long exposure of photos back then. The photo would be exposed to light for more than a few seconds, so it was difficult to hold a smile for a long time. Photographers asked their subjects to stay still without smiling.

  • @cyclist68
    @cyclist68 Год назад +13

    I only discovered Sir Roger two years ago.
    He's a sad loss. Thank goodness for YTs back catalogue of talks.

  • @UpTheHillBackwards
    @UpTheHillBackwards 4 года назад +65

    @7:10 "...that Czech writer who talks about the uglification of the world." Sir Roger was referring to Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Although Western cities were more developed, shiny, and clean than those behind the Iron Curtain, he marveled at how soulless and sterile modern buildings were. He called modernism in art and architecture "the ongoing uglification of our world."

  • @amemabastet9055
    @amemabastet9055 4 года назад +95

    "The ugliness of modern society". Well, that is what you get when things have to be made as cheaply as possible. The end result will be cheap.

    • @CornerTalker
      @CornerTalker 4 года назад +13

      Things don't HAVE to be made cheaply. We choose that.

    • @genzcurmudgeon8037
      @genzcurmudgeon8037 3 года назад +13

      @@CornerTalker think about modern apartments and condos. Because of zoning laws and endless restrictions and regulations building anything in most modern cities is extremely expensive. But we stil need to increase the stock of housing. And since we don’t value beautiful architecture anymore the result is giant ugly towers ruining the landscape that allow more people to cram into the city. If they made these buildings beautiful in the current content a condo in Vancouver would be 1.5 million instead of 1 million.
      S’problem

    • @haunterbuythem137
      @haunterbuythem137 3 года назад +17

      Our whole culture is cheap

    • @reasonablyserious
      @reasonablyserious 2 года назад +10

      Ideology is the main factor driving the ugliness of modern society, wanting everything to be cheap follows.

    • @Pheer777
      @Pheer777 2 года назад +13

      Nah I wouldn't say so. Inexpensive material goods are one thing, but the cheapening of aesthetic and spiritual values are much deeper.

  • @Mike-me3sp
    @Mike-me3sp Год назад +11

    This stuff about the 19th century photos having 'solemnity' and some sort of dignity is BS. The reason the people aren't smiling is because it took time to actually capture the image so they had to maintain a pose for that amount of time. They weren't going to sit there with a stupid grin for ten minutes.

  • @hellobaby133
    @hellobaby133 4 года назад +82

    Rip Roger Scruton.

  • @Lawful_Rebel
    @Lawful_Rebel Год назад +4

    Well, the reason they weren't smiling in early photographs was because the exposure took quite a long time due to the light sensitivity of the medium at the time, and they had to hold completely still.

  • @BJEPhoto
    @BJEPhoto 2 года назад +6

    They're not smiling in the early photographs predominantly because the exposure time was too long then. Though apparently smiling was also seen as lower-class, too.

  • @allmertalex
    @allmertalex Год назад +3

    The reason that people in older photographs didn't smile was because it took around a minute or longer to capture the image as the lens were slow and you couldn't move. It's difficult to smile when you have to hold it for a long time, your cheeks start to hurt.

  • @dawnduskwinter
    @dawnduskwinter 4 года назад +19

    I get sick of models looking miserable....and young women looking like porn stars.......holding their cameras...

  • @allangilchrist5938
    @allangilchrist5938 7 месяцев назад +2

    Roger Scruton's attitude to religion is that of a typical Conservative. He doesn't personally believe in a God but supports the idea as a means to help glue society together.

  • @harryaarrestad583
    @harryaarrestad583 4 года назад +45

    Miss this man , and his wonderful insight . Live in peace with your neighbours . RIP

  • @ericduchess8647
    @ericduchess8647 Год назад +2

    4:30 One major reason why no one smiled in the old photographs of the 1800s was that camera shutter speed was extremely slow, so any movement had to be kept at an absolute minimum regardless of a person's mood at the time.

  • @mr.s.7081
    @mr.s.7081 Год назад +4

    Apparently none of them thought of the fact that when your photograph was taken in the 19th century, you had to be exactly still for a while, which meant you couldn't be smiling.

    • @mtom2237
      @mtom2237 11 месяцев назад

      If that was true, why do painting and statues display the same solemnity. Mona Lisa barely cracks a grin.

  • @andrewst9797
    @andrewst9797 Год назад +1

    Early photography wasn't a 'moment in time' as today.
    The exposure took a lot longer, too long to smile.

  • @soslothful
    @soslothful Год назад +5

    Not smiling in old photographs. A reason I have encountered, don't recall the source, is the slow shutter speed of early cameras made holding a smile tedious. The same would be true of painted portraits. Still, there is something to be said against the risible insistence of constant smiling in American culture.

  • @oldepersonne
    @oldepersonne Год назад +2

    People stood stiffly and didn't smile in old photographs because of the long exposure time needed for the camera to record the image.

  • @philosophicallyspeaking6463
    @philosophicallyspeaking6463 Год назад +29

    Not degenerating, but self-consuming, like an auto-immune disorder in which the body attacks itself for failing to recognize itself or its crucial component parts and its architectural reliance and need of those imperfect structures and their imperfect socially obligated service.

    • @blobboflava
      @blobboflava Год назад +3

      That is a really strong point and great observation.

    • @blijebij
      @blijebij Год назад +1

      it is the age if individualism. That also has its downside sadly.

    • @4zafinc
      @4zafinc Год назад +1

      As a sufferer from psoriasis, I felt this one

  • @Dan-tv1sm
    @Dan-tv1sm Год назад +2

    One of the reasons that people weren't smiling in 19th century photographs is the that they had to sit still for long periods of time because the time to achieve a good recorded image. Try smiling and not moving for several minutes.

  • @juricahajdarovic5899
    @juricahajdarovic5899 2 года назад

    Thank you, Sire

  • @twotone3471
    @twotone3471 Год назад +3

    The old photographs were solemn, yes, but that was because photography was in its infancy, and the exposure legnth was longer than how long most people could hold a smile.

  • @LightOfReason7
    @LightOfReason7 Год назад +20

    I do agree with a lot of what they say but I must point one thing out that they get horribly wrong: People didn't smile way back in the day because photography was not as advanced as it is now. Today it takes less than a second to snap a picture, but back then it could take around a minute to capture the picture and the subject had to be as still as possible or it would be blurred.

    • @1906Farnsworth
      @1906Farnsworth Год назад +4

      And don't forget the expense of photography in those days. People might be photographed a handful of times in their entire lives. Not an occasion for frivolity.

    • @sirrathersplendid4825
      @sirrathersplendid4825 Год назад +1

      There’s also the question of bad teeth. It wasn’t the thing to show them..

    • @Sheblah1
      @Sheblah1 Год назад +1

      Totally agree; I think this footage reveals a certain overintellectualisation that in one moment (will get the timestamp later) actually shows Scruton near-lauding the hijacker of one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers on account of his distaste for ugly architecture. Yep, overintellectualisation on a superlatively inhuman scale.

    • @maxflight777
      @maxflight777 Год назад +1

      Such a valid point ! ⬆️

    • @richardforrest1324
      @richardforrest1324 Год назад +2

      Smiling is also a cultural gesture; people did not smile as much in the past in general. In fact, they do not smile much in some cultures now.

  • @chrism4008
    @chrism4008 Год назад +3

    They didn't smile in pictures for several reasons, none of them had to do with if they were happy or not.
    It took extremely long exposures back then to capture pictures, so holding a false pose for 10-20 minutes would have been extremely uncomfortable and created many very blurry exposures

    • @chrism4008
      @chrism4008 Год назад

      Their whole argument is based on a falsehood, fucking absurd. I thought i was coming here to learn

  • @pacojazztorius
    @pacojazztorius Год назад +6

    The photography commentary is nonsense. In the early days of photography, the photosensitive emulsions were not as responsive as modern films and thus required long exposure times. It required subjects to remain still for many seconds while the shutter was open and it's much easier to hold a resting bitch face stock still than some smiley gawk. This is the reason for the serious facial expressions, not this conservative fantasy how about how the good old days were so much better and people were more dignified, blah blah blah. This is conservative cow dung wrapped in false erudition.

  • @coleeandro6110
    @coleeandro6110 Год назад +3

    Eternal rest grant unto Roger, oh Lord,
    and may perpetual light shine upon him.
    May his soul, through the mercy of God,
    Rest In Peace.
    Amen

  • @JanPBtest
    @JanPBtest 4 года назад +11

    3:46 There is actually a very simple explanation of that: in those days the photographic exposure times were in _minutes._ And it's simply very hard to maintain a smile for that length of time without moving or blurring the picture.

    • @sweedlepipe
      @sweedlepipe Год назад

      I agree. I have read about that too.

  • @reggie18b
    @reggie18b Год назад +3

    The thing that strikes me about old photos is how black and white people were in the 19th century. It's like their entire skin tones and clothing consisted only of black, white and grey, or occasionally sepia.
    I think it must be something to do with how serious people were back then. People probably only started getting pink or brown skin and coloured clothing in the late 20th century, when people started becoming frivolous and silly.
    I think we should go back to being black and white. I think the amish still do it. and they are all nice people.

  • @thorfox3562
    @thorfox3562 Год назад +5

    Great discussion thank you 🙏.

  • @HomsianCam
    @HomsianCam 2 года назад +6

    In 9:55 he talks about Homs (Syria), that's my city. It was one of the most mobilized cities against the Syrian grey-cement Soviet-style regime. So much so that it was called "The Capital of the Revolution".
    In particular, he is referring to a so-called renovation program established by the government (aka: a great channel for corruption) to bring down the Old City (which is completely made of black stone and is super romantic, cozy and nostalgic place), to build on top of it "modern" cement houses.
    The Old City was predominantly Sunni and Christian, and the government was predominantly Alawite, so the Sunnis in particular felt that their nice heritage is about to be wiped out be cement Alawites. This fueled stuff indeed between the two communities.

    • @Saverbeeeel2349
      @Saverbeeeel2349 2 года назад

      Damn I'm sorry to hear that bro, I really hope you guys manage to protect your heritage. Fucking government.

    • @dantesic1911
      @dantesic1911 2 года назад

      How did it ended?

  • @aaronmarshall
    @aaronmarshall Год назад +2

    They had those solemn faces in old photographs because the chemical process and film didn't allow them to do fast shutters. The exposures had to be for several seconds. It's easier to hold a serious neutral face than it is to smile for that long.

  • @leshtricity
    @leshtricity 7 месяцев назад

    Sir Roger left us far too soon but thank God for his presence and influence on this earth

  • @rutessian
    @rutessian 4 года назад +34

    "One common explanation for the lack of smiles in old photos is that long exposure times - the time a camera needs to take a picture - made it important for the subject of a picture to stay as still as possible" - it's technical, not philosophical.

    • @christiensebastien2442
      @christiensebastien2442 4 года назад +4

      Glad someone else didnt catch the BS lol the guy just made that up that people took themselves seriously

    • @schrodingershat599
      @schrodingershat599 4 года назад +1

      I am not a photograph expert but as far as I know, there were techniques from the 1870's that allowed photographers to take pictures in a few seconds at most.
      This guy is a relatively famous wet plate photographer taking pictures with a 150 year old camera in just about 2-3 seconds.
      Check him out. ruclips.net/video/AE1bMc8tGWs/видео.html

    • @rutessian
      @rutessian 4 года назад +1

      @@schrodingershat599 It's interesting, but there were several processes of making photos and this one was prevalent for about 25 years(from 1855 to about 1881).
      www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/getty-museum/getty-photographs-films/photographic-processes/a/understanding-the-wet-collodion-process

    • @schrodingershat599
      @schrodingershat599 4 года назад +1

      @@rutessian Nice.
      It seems even before 1870 there were ways to make a picture within seconds or minutes!
      So maybe they are actually "full of themselves" but maybe, they just know what they are talking about.
      I will just assume the latter for now.

    • @aerogun18
      @aerogun18 4 года назад

      Why couldn't they stand still smiling?

  • @Eazy_Danny
    @Eazy_Danny Год назад +3

    "Our whole culture is based on the proliferation of images, meaningless images" to rephrase it - our whole culture is bases on the proliferation of self-centered, egoic, self-aggrandizing images which only leads to suffering and division.

    • @TeaParty1776
      @TeaParty1776 Год назад

      Your hatred of your mind is noted.

  • @IloveDoubleD
    @IloveDoubleD 4 года назад +31

    What is modern culture? It takes centuries to create a culture. Decades at the very least. Nothing in modern society has achieved anything of value. People have devolved into their technology staring at tiny little screens. I think because they are frightened. Thank the push towards diversity which is not a strength but a detriment to society, all societies.

    • @Saverbeeeel2349
      @Saverbeeeel2349 2 года назад +5

      In fact, I wouldn't consider "modern culture" a separate culture. Just like you said, modern society hasn't achieved much, and therefore it can't be considered a culture, doing otherwise would eulogize a very precarious lifestyle, look at Tik Tok for instance, do you consider that to be something that belongs to a culture? That's not culture, its the reflection of our idleness as a society.

    • @loganleatherman7647
      @loganleatherman7647 Год назад +1

      “Thank the push toward diversity…”
      And where exactly did this non sequitur come from?

    • @dandare1001
      @dandare1001 Год назад

      @@loganleatherman7647 It came from his large intestine, I believe.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Год назад +1

      yet here you are, making use of modern technology. Do you have electronics in your home? Efficient means of travel? Comfortable home cooling and heating? Modern medical and dental care? Reliable food sources?
      Why is diversity a detriment?

    • @dandare1001
      @dandare1001 Год назад

      soslothful had his/her comment cancelled by the Right. A pity. Jordan Peterson foolishly thinks it's only the Left that does this.

  • @samanthaqiu3416
    @samanthaqiu3416 4 года назад +18

    lovely conversation between such eloquent gentlemen

  • @chaztruog5448
    @chaztruog5448 Год назад +2

    People didn't smile in 19th Century photos because of long exposure times. Not a mystery.

  • @colinjohnson2041
    @colinjohnson2041 Год назад +26

    Sir Roger’s interlocutor appears to have some interesting insights, and expresses himself with clarity. It’s such a pity that he has been largely cut from this posting.

    • @ClintLock1
      @ClintLock1 Год назад +7

      hamza yusuf. they recorded a couple full conversations together

  • @anhleroy
    @anhleroy Год назад +1

    What he says at 4:20 about people not smiling in the 19th century photos I would think is partially about the fact you had to sit there for a while to get the exposure on a photo back then. It’s hard to smile for very long. I

  • @rogermetzger7335
    @rogermetzger7335 Год назад +17

    In some ways, my beliefs/philosophy is very “conservative”. I’m still (after half a century of considering the evidence) a fiat creationist, for example.
    At the same time, I see a link between the “certainty” to which Sir Roger Vernon Scruton
    referred and “dogmatism” - the tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others. It seems to me that what many people are rejecting in the twenty-first century is not really theism or traditionalism so much as dogmatism and the spiritual pride which accompanies it.
    I may be saddened that so many people are rejecting some of the things our parents taught my siblings and me but, as Rich Hannon once said, “Most people who think they are rejecting God are really only rejecting a caricature (misrepresentation) of him.”

    • @PhoenixLibertas
      @PhoenixLibertas Год назад +4

      “Most people who think they are rejecting God are really only rejecting a caricature (misrepresentation) of him.” Excellent and profoundly astute observation. That's in impactful consideration.

    • @rogermetzger7335
      @rogermetzger7335 Год назад +1

      @@PhoenixLibertas I read your reply early this morning but it wasn’t until just now (11:15 am) that I thought to ask you: Of the people with whom you have spoken about their reasons for rejecting “God”, have you found that they had rejected one or more aspects of the traditions that are widely considered “Christian”? If so, do you remember which one or which ones they mentioned?

  • @pieterkock695
    @pieterkock695 Год назад +3

    'i want this frozen moment to be a moment of seriousness' is not what they were thinking. There simply was no reason to smile on a photo for them. People smile when something funny happens or when your there is a special moment of happiness or a moment where you want to show someone you mean no harm or aggression. None of it is really happening when someone takes your photo....

  • @bendewet2459
    @bendewet2459 Год назад +1

    Nothing last forever.We must adapt or die

  • @southafricanizationofsociety20
    @southafricanizationofsociety20 4 года назад +26

    Orania, South Africa is prosperous and civil, very low crime. I can’t quite put my finger on it though... 😉

    • @Hannodb1961
      @Hannodb1961 4 года назад +11

      Christian values. You can't have a free and ordered society without shared common values. Without that, you either have ordered tyranny, or chaotic freedom, neither of which is conducive to prosperity.
      I don't know when last you've been in Orania, but the town has really been booming lately.

    • @Hannodb1961
      @Hannodb1961 4 года назад +5

      @T J Yes, large swats of South Africa is Christian, but none of it is Christian only, and that's the point. South Africa is a multicultural, multireligious society, its constitution does not recognise any religion being true over another. Therefore, a kind of weak secular hegemony dominate the social-political discourse. Without a common religious core, there is no moral foundation on which consensus could be found. South Africa is becoming a weak state, precisely because it has no internal coherence, values, worldview or vision for the future. Christian values is the difference between the American revolution that immediately became an ordered, prosperous state, and the French revolution, which turned into a blood bath of extremism, followed by a century of instability.

    • @kuberanproperties3069
      @kuberanproperties3069 4 года назад

      Maybe its the magic dirt?

    • @thepielife
      @thepielife 4 года назад

      @T J oh yeah? whereabouts, might I ask?

    • @victorrenevaldiviasoto9728
      @victorrenevaldiviasoto9728 4 года назад +1

      Same for my town area of Mexico with non-politically-correct ethnic and cultural origins. We live in a small paradise surrounded by crime.

  • @mhurleymh
    @mhurleymh Год назад +1

    One of the things that has regressed is that of the childhood experience. The lack of opportunities for kids to explore.
    They are indoors playing on PlayStation all day.

  • @malicant123
    @malicant123 2 года назад +3

    That's a fine point regarding the paucity of smiles in early photography. It is rather false that photos taken today are almost exclusively filled with rictus grins. If we cannot be honest with a camera, what hope is there?

  • @fluentpiffle
    @fluentpiffle Год назад +3

    Degeneration and deterioration are aspects of existence, as, in reality, all things are in a state of constant change. It will never be possible for the King Canutes of the world to stop this from occurring..

  • @enricosanchez894
    @enricosanchez894 Год назад +1

    It seems everybody left a comment about why people didn't smile as much in older photos without reading the other comments, most of which said the exact same thing. I have seen older photos of smiling people, most of whom were outlaws.

  • @brianbadonde8700
    @brianbadonde8700 11 месяцев назад

    spot on about architecture

  • @victoriangirl83
    @victoriangirl83 5 месяцев назад

    People didn't smile in old photos because one had to be perfectly still for a long period of time and it was difficult to keep a smile for that long. That is due to the fact that all photography was long exposure.

  • @judeobrian8856
    @judeobrian8856 2 года назад +6

    Could we have another comment on the long exposure times!

    • @malaakalabri978
      @malaakalabri978 2 года назад +3

      Maybe exposure time is why the statues and paintings he mentioned were not smiling too lol

    • @judeobrian8856
      @judeobrian8856 2 года назад

      @@malaakalabri978 haha

    • @leokottke45
      @leokottke45 Год назад

      😂

  • @VVeltanschauung187
    @VVeltanschauung187 2 года назад +5

    digging that 80s david bowie cosplay

  • @brileyvandyke5792
    @brileyvandyke5792 Год назад +25

    A intensely brilliant man of our times now gone. Rest his soul.

  • @mauavidela9259
    @mauavidela9259 4 месяца назад

    Excelente!

  • @Treviscoe
    @Treviscoe 11 месяцев назад

    Wasn't one reason why early photographs of people didn't show them smiling was that it took a long time back then to pose for and take a photograph of someone, and so the person / people being photographed had to remain immobile for that time?

  • @CJBradley
    @CJBradley 5 месяцев назад

    Were can we hear this kind of dicussion today.? We are on a rocky road for sure.!

  • @djw9985
    @djw9985 Год назад +1

    The reason people did not smile on old photographs is because it took so long to take the photo.
    So people could not hold a smile for that long.

  • @nickslingerland4155
    @nickslingerland4155 Год назад +1

    3:48 "none of them are smiling". They didn't smile because when they took those older photos they had to stand one spot without moving for a bit or the picture would be blurred. Also being sculpted sometimes they had to stand in the same spot for hours

  • @jobebrian
    @jobebrian Год назад

    @7:14 “that Czech writer” is Milan Kundera.

  • @joshuakeeler82
    @joshuakeeler82 4 года назад +7

    "A tower to reach into heaven"

  • @OddityDK
    @OddityDK Год назад +2

    Maybe none of the people in early photographs were smiling because photographs took a long time to take. Keeping a smile on your face for 20 seconds without moving a muscle is hard, if not impossible.
    Maybe they tried it, but it always ended up blurry.

    • @davidbull7210
      @davidbull7210 Год назад +1

      This is also true. The daguerreotype camera took an age to expose.

  • @larrywhitlock8755
    @larrywhitlock8755 Год назад

    People in 19th century photographs had to remain very still for an extended period in order to avoid blurring of the image which is why they are not smiling.

  • @rklos11
    @rklos11 Год назад +2

    Every generation tends to say this about younger generation. Although...social media is distracting and has accelerated the perceived or actual degeneration.

    • @miaulersbirds2210
      @miaulersbirds2210 Год назад

      The biggest problem with social media is to do with the way that disinformation tends to spread. Sensation always travels faster than the truth due to people's willingness to pass on the sensational (due to the 'feel good' hit). Historically, this could only spread so fast before hitting the wall of the actual considered situation. Now, you can saturate the world in a day. By the time consideration and care has time to come round and the actual situation is evaluated, it's facing a huge demographic emotionally invested in the falsehood (sometimes extremely aggressively).

  • @acropolisnow9466
    @acropolisnow9466 4 года назад +11

    Scruton is top drawer.

    • @PK-re3lu
      @PK-re3lu 4 года назад +2

      Not if you're a reader/well-versed in philosophy...

    • @acropolisnow9466
      @acropolisnow9466 4 года назад +4

      @@PK-re3lu OK chum

  • @wmfife1
    @wmfife1 Год назад +5

    When it first appeared, "Modern" architecture was for the most part tasteful and attractive. However, in decades since things have run completely out of control. I have witnessed examples firsthand that would turn the unprepared to stone.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Год назад

      Examples?

    • @wmfife1
      @wmfife1 Год назад

      @@soslothful Too many to name. Best starter - the beach house of Michael Jordan near Destin, FL. If you can still find a photo of it.

    • @wmfife1
      @wmfife1 Год назад

      ​@@soslothful Unable to load image. Try searching: Michael Jordan, Destin, FL beach house.

    • @soslothful
      @soslothful Год назад

      @@wmfife1 I found post on YT which was somewhat overly long and not engaging enough to watch in its entirety. Aesthetically it seems a bit too much. I do not have any aesthetic or architectural vocabulary to make a meaningful comment so I'll just say it doesn't seem homey. I was though, quite pleased to see Michael has taken up the delightful habit of cigar smoking.
      It has always seemed very odd to me that the income and similar financial information about celebrities is made public.

    • @costakeith9048
      @costakeith9048 Год назад

      If you consider Art Deco to be modern, and I suppose it is insofar as it is a product of the Modern Era, then I tend to agree; it's not my favorite style, but it certainly has its virtues and some of it can be quite attractive. But any post-war architecture is pretty universally awful.

  • @premodernprejudices3027
    @premodernprejudices3027 10 месяцев назад +1

    His passing was a loss to the civilized world.

  • @FilthyXylophone
    @FilthyXylophone Год назад +6

    Stodgy old men afraid of change and progress. I wonder where these two would have stood on the slavery issue if this conversation had taken place in the 1860s, or on the issue of serfdom during the middle ages.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Год назад

      Yes! Change and progress. Like the recent U.S. ruling on abortion. 👍🏻

    • @nightraven2975
      @nightraven2975 Год назад

      @@michaelricketson1365 America is moving backwards.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Год назад

      @@nightraven2975 Not for the unborn at least. But in lots of other ways, yes.

  • @willboudreau1187
    @willboudreau1187 5 месяцев назад +1

    Those head scarfs you see bobbing in the audience tell you all you need to know about cultural degradation.

  • @mattholsen7060
    @mattholsen7060 Год назад +2

    Hmmm. I hear these folks saying, although they don't mean to, that Religious faith is hopelessly obsolete. I tend to agree.

  • @brucehamilton5609
    @brucehamilton5609 Год назад +5

    What exactly do you have to give up to live on peaceful terms with someone who marries one of their own sex?

    • @loganleatherman7647
      @loganleatherman7647 Год назад +3

      MuH rElIgIoUs FrEeDoMs!!!

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Год назад +1

      If someone violates what you consider to be moral, there is no cost to you? How much are you willing to put up with?

    • @brucehamilton5609
      @brucehamilton5609 Год назад +1

      But what precisely is the cost to you? Hurt feelings only? We must all, at all times and in all places, work to counter our intolerance, arrogance, and ignorance.

    • @michaelricketson1365
      @michaelricketson1365 Год назад

      @@brucehamilton5609 We don’t have to be personally involved in something to care. An atrocity anywhere gets our attention.

    • @brucehamilton5609
      @brucehamilton5609 Год назад +1

      One might care and yet remain on peaceful terms with others. It is difficult not to remark atrocities - acts of extreme cruelty. Surely you're not characterising gay marriage as an atrocity, are you?

  • @apu_apustaja
    @apu_apustaja Год назад +1

    His words at the very end were the most interesting (about joint possession). He knows that Islam in the UK very much has a "winner takes all" form.

  • @colincorneau1006
    @colincorneau1006 Год назад +1

    I can’t take this conversation seriously when these two learned men don’t even know that the reason 19th century photographic portraits were unsmiling was because the technology of the time needed exposures long enough (often 1-10 seconds) to make smiling without moving infeasible.

  • @michaelbrownridge5186
    @michaelbrownridge5186 Год назад +5

    Very long photographic exposures required the sitter to keep very still and discouraged smiling.

  • @kittykatzcenteno7160
    @kittykatzcenteno7160 Год назад +1

    WE MISS YOU. .....

  • @lchave2681
    @lchave2681 2 года назад +5

    They literally hate anyone who tries to be better than what they used to be

  • @maxcornise7204
    @maxcornise7204 Год назад +5

    I think hip hop culture has gone from the genius and purity of Erik B and Rakim or Naz to the salacious, trivial and wholly unmusical songs of Nikki minaj and cardi B-junk food. That’s one example, and in art the introduction of NFT’s is one step below the wholesale fish market at Basel Miami.

  • @danieljohnson1924
    @danieljohnson1924 Год назад +1

    Shaykh Hamza mentions that schools in the Islamic world were traditionally very beautiful. A good example is Madrasah Ben Yousef in Marakesh; one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in.

  • @matthewbromiley8512
    @matthewbromiley8512 6 месяцев назад

    People don't smile in photographs in the 19th century because you couldn't keep a smile for the length it took to take a photograph.

  • @racine09
    @racine09 Год назад

    people didn't smile in early photography because the time needed for an exposure was so long that it was necessary to keep as still as possible.Maintaining a smile would have been very uncomfortable.

  • @mysticmouse7261
    @mysticmouse7261 Год назад +1

    Ok now we know what high culture is. Class.

  • @TheCrusaderRabbits
    @TheCrusaderRabbits 4 года назад +4

    RIP Roger

  • @3ZEBRA
    @3ZEBRA Год назад +3

    "brutalism" might be the architectural style he was thinking of

  • @davidhunter8846
    @davidhunter8846 Год назад +1

    Loved this guy in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.

  • @jesusbermudez6775
    @jesusbermudez6775 Год назад

    Well I spent 34 years smiling and did not know I was smiling.

  • @djharbeats8600
    @djharbeats8600 Год назад

    Interesting 🤔

  • @martinpidhany8278
    @martinpidhany8278 3 месяца назад +1

    All empires collapse mainly due to greed and technology. Ours is no different.