追新族与守旧者(2/2)

To be a then person means to cling to the past for its own sake, to apply lessons that are not relevant today, to engage in a mixture of nostalgia, envy, rage, and fear toward “modern youth", and to imagine that 21st century problems can be solved by 16th century moral principles or 18th century politics. These are false alternatives, for they are not exclusive alternatives. There is a better way than either, and that is to be an always person, transcending both the frantic cult of the new and the feeble cult of the old. Which means selecting from both what is valuable, and discarding what is useless or harmful?

作为一名守旧者意味着为了自身的利益而守旧，运用与现在无关的理论，对于摩登青年怀有一种怀旧，嫉妒，愤怒和害怕的复杂心情，并想象着用16世纪的道德观和18世纪的政治观来解决21世纪的问题。这些是错误的选择，因为不仅只有这两种选择，有一个比他们其中任何一个都要好的选择，那就是成为一个始终如一的人，既超越了对于新事物的狂热崇拜，也超越了对于旧事物的无力崇拜。这意味着从中选取有价值的东西，抛弃没用的和有害的东西。