Dromology : Sir Paul Virilio's Book 'Speed & Politics' In Brief Discussion Along With Carl Honoré's Concept on 'Slowness'

 'Festina Lente!'

Introduction : This blog is a part of the Thinking Activity assigned by my professor Dr Dilip Barad concerning the concept of Dromology propounded by French philosopher and cultural theorist & critic Paul Virilio in his book 'Speed and Politics' first published in France in 1977.

Here in this blog I will be briefly referring to the concept of Dromology and the video of Carl Honoré with reference to his book titled as 'In Praise of Slow : Challenging the Cult of Speed' published in 2004.

Dromology : The term 'Dromology' is derived from the Greek word 'Dromos' meaning - according to Oxford English Language Dictionary - 'an avenue or passage leading into an ancient Greek temple or tomb, especially one between rows of columns or statues.'

The theory of dromology interprets the world and reality as a resultant of velocity. In Paul Virilio’s 1977 essay entitled “Speed and Politics”, the french philosopher makes a compelling case for an interpretation of history, politics and society in the context of speed. Extending the definition of “dromomaniacs”, Virilio argues that speed became the sole agent and measure of progress. He contends, that “there was no ‘industrial revolution’, only ‘dromocratic revolution’; there is no democracy, only dromocracy; there is no strategy, only dromology.” (Source)

My Point of View on the Concept 'Dromology' : The concept of Dromology is quite interesting to be tooled to see the surrounding dynamics of the world where one lives in. The way speed-culture advances day-by-day, indicates that people are becoming short-tempered, hesitant, capricious, and easily irritable.

I have divided the observatory idea of 'Speed Culture' into following areas of day-to-day life :

(1) Food Habits : Nowadays people - especially those who are having hectic schedule (which is also the part of speed-culture) - have turned to the speedily cooked food which may or may not contain any nourishing ingredients with them. The 'Fast-food' or which is generally known as 'Junk-food' has seeped in people's food habits of the day. This is injurious to health and instead of nourishing the body, allocates the diseases in the body.

This type of long-carried food habit may lead to the severe health problems in one's future life. The related field to food-production is the farming and crops-cultivation, now fertilizers are advertised in a way claiming that they will swiftly grow your crops with good quality materials; now here it refutes the age-old perceived notion that anything that is fast, dies fast, and anything that is gradual, lives long.

(2) Religious Rites : People with great reverence in their hearts for their respective deities, have forgotten the key rule of perseverance, they flock in temples, mosques, churches, and Gurudwaras to have their voice be heard by their Gods. Nowadays people want even it to be as swiftly as possible, there are few temples where one is jot allowed to stand for a while in front of deity-idol and worship, but the managers of the temple would constantly tell all the devotees to keep walking and worshipping, this is called fast-paced religious culture.

Carl Honoré : 'In Praise of Slow' :

The Core Idea of the Video :

• "Everyone wants to know how to slowdown, but they wanna know it quickly."

This paradoxical statement highlights the predilection of the people who are hard on the chords to do everything very quickly and k owning not where they are ultimately heading towards, this recklessness is seen especially in the capitalist nations where people set only one goal and the goal is to be rich, then richer, and ultimately richest. And as American writer Sir Arthur Miller writes in his 'All My Sons' play while voicing Chris Keller that he does not want to engage himself in 'a rat-race' alike his father Joe Keller.

• "We are in hurry to live fast life, instead of good life."

Indeed the people who think that they can get everything that is worth getting very quickly are failing to understand the fact which is : 'Easy come, easy go.' The problem with the world is not the people but the system we have built, the economic engine we have created, both are taking ourselves as the fuel to keep themselves going on constantly.

• "In other cultures, time is cyclical. It is seen as moving in great unhurried circles. It is always renewing and refreshing itself. Whereas in the West, time is linear. It is a finite resource. It is always draining away. You either use it, or lose it. "Time is money" as Benjamin Franklin said."

• "Bad-Slow & Good-Slow"

Here the speaker meticulously highlights the nuantic distinction between "Bad-Slow" and "Good-Slow" by which he may be trying to tell that neither only speed nor only slowness are necessary to have in life, but to decide is what we hold in our hands. To savour life and to work for the subsistence are two wheels of life that must be balanced so that the life-cart can run smoothly without any throttle and jerk on the way of the world.

By "Bad-Slow" he meant that spending time just ideally will not add anything to one's life as he gave the example of stucking down with the traffic and doing nothing other than just sitting in the vehicle and waiting for traffic to be cleared out.

"Miles to go before I sleep."

(From the Poem 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening')

- Robert Frost

By "Good-Slow" he meant that spending time with family and sharing things and feelings with one another makes what human is to be made whereas rest people who only focus on getting by have rarely been seen enjoying life.

"Enough of Science and of Art;

Close up those barren leaves;

Come forth, and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives."

(From the Poem 'The Tables Turned')

- William Wordsworth

• "There is too much speed in the system, there is too much business, and it is time to find or get back to the lost art of shifting gears."

Here this phrase "the lost art of shifting gears" signifies the question of choice that only human beings possess on the earth as compared to the other living species in natural habitats. Humans need to hold back and enjoy the life rather than just blindly chasing the unachievable goals to be the best, for we can never know what can be the best as the constant advances and improvements are pacing up in every sectors of different types of dealings in the world wherein we belong to.

Thank you!