Now I shall speak of evil as none hasSpoken before. I loathe such things as jazz;The white-hosed moron torturing a blackBull, rayed with red; abstractist bric-a-brac;Primitivist folk-masks; progressive schools;Music in supermarkets; swimming pools; Brutes, bores, class-conscious Philistines, Freud, Marx, Fake thinkers, puffed-up poets, frauds, and sharks.
The speaker expresses a deep disdain for various aspects of modern culture and society, using vivid and provocative imagery. The mention of "jazz" symbolizes a broader critique of contemporary music and artistic expression, while references to "progressive schools" and "class-conscious Philistines" highlight a contempt for prevailing educational and social norms. The language is charged with emotion, clearly illustrating the speaker's frustration with what they perceive as the decline of genuine artistic value and intellectual rigor.
The statement also illustrates a rejection of influential thinkers and cultural movements, pointing to figures like Freud and Marx as representative of a misguided intellectualism. This sweeping condemnation emphasizes a longing for a past artistic integrity, contrasting the speaker’s ideals with the perceived mediocrity of the present. Such sentiments create a complex picture of someone grappling with the disillusionment of modernity, yearning for depth and authenticity in art and thought.