The .Plan

Lots of fodder here for Chris Rock…

For decades, social scientists, policy wonks, and politicians have studied and debated what’s come to be known as the “culture of poverty.” The consensus: A group of Americans is set apart from the mainstream by geography, class, and income. Its members adhere to norms that don’t apply to the rest of society and engage in self-destructive behavior that imposes significant costs on the nation at large…

We don’t hear as much about the culture of poverty these days. Perhaps it’s because the market turmoil is making us all feel a little poorer. Or perhaps it’s because a highly visible group is now exhibiting all the outward appearances of the underclass: the overclass. Forget welfare queens and the culture of poverty. Think Wall Street kings and the culture of affluence…

Critics point to a pervasive sense of victimhood in the underclass. But listen to what Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz told the troops after his firm succumbed to wounds that were almost entirely self-inflicted. “We here are a collective victim of violence,” he said. Yep, just another case of the Man keeping the Man down.
–Daniel Gross, “Rich men behaving badly”, Slate, March 29, 2008

Back then, before the causeway was built, Mont St. Michel was an island. Pilgrims would approach across this mud flat mindful of a tide that swept in “at the speed of a galloping horse” (well, maybe a trotting horse … 12 mph, or about 2 feet per second).

Adding to the peril was quicksand, the thoroughly disorienting fog, and the fact that the sea can encircle unwary hikers. Braving these devilish risks for centuries, pilgrims kept their eyes on the spire crowned by their protector, St. Michael, and eventually reached their spiritual goal.

Whether scurrying across the treacherous mud flats or just driving across the modern causeway, the sight of the distant silhouette of the Gothic island-abbey Mont St. Michel sends tired sightseers’ spirits soaring, just as it did the spirits of weary pilgrims in centuries past…

Hang out until after dark when the tourists are gone and the island is magically floodlit. Ramble on the ramparts. Ponder the promise of desolation and a simple life of solitude that attracted monks to this dramatic spot so long ago.
–Rick Steves, “Mont St. Michel: Magnificence on a mud flat”, CNN, March 28, 2008