Civilization is beyond being saved by me.
In extent alone the contribution of one curmudgeonly blogger is statistically insignificant.
But: Donne. Island. Man. Yes, in intent, the individual has an unknowable effect upon the whole of society, effect that passes down generations as well as across family and other boundaries.
This is by way of creeping up on the admission that I wear the necktie as infrequently as possible.
There was a time when I strenuously sought to remedy the slide of our times into the Gomorrah or Gehenna or the Local Landfill -- by means of personal appearance (neck wear included). I got over that.
The necktie is a class signifier as relevant today as the gown and powdered wig in the courts of the United Kingdom. That is, I'm open to the possibility that it has its place in certain civic and financial settings, up to the civic-cum-religious (in the Virgilian "pious Aeneas" sense). Weddings and funerals are formal civic occasions in all their appearance, even as they are private spiritual exercises invisibly. Thus I am willing to maintain "marrying and burying" clothes.
Oh yes: civilization.
Well it's looking like the day will come when we're more likely to save civilization with a camouflage uniform than a tailored civic financial/political uniform; the neckties involved may end up being rope not colored silk. A terrifying possibility. In the meantime: neckties.
Neckties. As Matthew Quigley said of the handgun, after he shoots Dobkin, O'Flynn and (Alan Rickman!!) Marston before they can even aim their guns, then walks up to a dying Marston:
"I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn't know how to use it."
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