La morte del Vecchio

Wu Ming 1 (pdf) in his own "postilla" to the New Italian Epic, writes about the presence (or absence) of "Il Vecchio" in NIE writings. This is connected to a sense that all of those who created society are now fading away, and are either irreplaceable or are merely not being replaced. But the greatness that is oftentimes appropriated to "Il Vecchio", virtually anywhere in the world, doesn't necessarily take account of the situation.

These lions of the world, and one could throw out many names here, were certainly pioneers. Pioneers in America have the good reputation of putting it all on the line, it being their lives in all senses of the word, and they are praised for being able to succeed despite myriad obstacles. But in reality, what faced them was much simpler than what faces us today, and if we lack our own heroes, it may only be because the situation that we find ourselves in is, thanks to those Vecchi, infinitely more complicated.

The beauty of fighting nature, nothingness, even Indians, was that the enemy was known and generally static. The environment that faced pioneers heading west didn't change as their tactics changed; they were able to learn and react, and ultimately overcome. It certainly wasn't easy; but nor was it a continuously changing situation.

Instead today we find ourselves within a system, going up against an environment, that is never static; where every move that is made to advance a position is met with a counter-move, eventually spiraling into the abyss of a seemingly futile game. These games are not, of course, futile; but they do require different methods than those that were available to the Vecchi. It is much harder to change a system than it is to begin one. The people who are able to do so should be lauded. If only we can find them.