“A revolutionary age is an age of action; ours is the age of advertisement and publicity. Nothing ever happens, but there is immediate publicity everywhere. In the present age, a rebellion is, of all things, the most unthinkable. Such an expression of strength would seem ridiculous to the calculating intelligence of our times.”

Soren Kierkegaard wrote these words in the 1840’s, in his classic work, The Present Age. He wrote this as his own Denmark was being threatened by the spreading revolutions across Europe. Often misunderstood and misinterpreted, and almost forgotten in his native land, Kierkegaard was a prophet of our own time.

The first postmodern ironist is an excellent article from the New Statesman that captures the essence of Kierkegaard’s thought in the context of modern Britain. As we endure yet another round of mindless American political fiddling while Rome burns, we would do well to keep his words in mind, if for nothing more than an island of sanity.