Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Esperanto Towers


The Tower of Babel (Peter Brueghel the Elder)

Esperanto, the universal language, was created by a Polish ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenof in 1887. Needless to say it didn’t catch on. “Esperanto” translates into everyday English as “one who hopes.” Hope springs eternal. Actually, the rise of the internet and technology initially proposed another Tower of Babel. At the very least consumerism would bring together disparate cultures separated by political and religious beliefs. No child of Apple computer could ultimately accept fundamentalism. In fact, the exact opposite occurred. Didn't Osama bin Laden and other followers of Sayyid Qutb’s brand of jihadism use Microsoft Word?  Didn't ISIS operatives employ androids and MacBooks? On the bright side, language is explosive. What keeps people apart is also the means by which they express and project identity. However, would you really like a condo in the Tower of Babel? As Russian troops invade the Ukraine and war looms, the notion of unification, no matter what the costs, particularly with regard to homogenization, begins to sound appealing.

watch the animation of Erotomania

listen to "Love Train" by the O'Jay's

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