![]() Were ignorance a universal failing of our species, we might expect such gluttony for punishment, conceding cataclysmic futures to yens for fossil fuels, myopic economies and political degeneracy. Because conspiracy theorists feed resentments, bigotries and fears, we now lack the foresight and discipline to take even simplest precautions to avert disasters, whether it’s wearing masks and social distancing or reducing carbon emissions to slow the planet’s rate of warming. Lucrative peddling of outrage, anarchies on the Web, and plot-mongering to distort crises are corrupting political tools. ![]() The constant culture war between red and blue is an existential threat. Their pathological hatred, without climax or denouement, runs concurrently to America’s decline. There will be no Achilles versus Hector, no Alan Ladd versus Jack Palance in Shane. Virulent animosity between Democrats and Republicans is now so malignant, no showdown, however decisive, can cure it. I’d be the first to proclaim "good riddance." If only both major parties could take headers into a cataract somewhere. ![]() Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s readers were so outraged by his brilliant sleuth’s demise he had to bring Holmes back in probably his best work "The Hound of the Baskervilles." The novella prequel prompted another run of short stories in which we find 221b Baker Street’s crime-solver alive and well again. Locked in mortal combat they tumble to presumed deaths over Reichenbach Falls. In "The Final Problem (1893)" Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarity, driven by mutual destruction, clash in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. ![]()
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