One would wonder, when the citadel that was Austria was compromised, what would those conspiring against it have to say?
Why did you support the arts and culture?
Why did you pursue scientific and technological interests as well?
What would you prefer if you had to choose, the arts or the sciences?
Antara grew up hearing all of the above questions, hence she could guess them.
Hopefully, Austria wouldn't be asked if it liked talking to boys or if it was always studying at home, with books, "outside books as well?"
The interrogation of Austria was the troubling aspect of what might turn out to be a war of civilisational values. Hollywood was an expert of special effects; before computer-generated images and AI took over, it created miniature replicas (of buildings etc) and worked on those, giving it a life-sized effect.
Why did it not try the same with Austria? Get a pluralistic, multi-ethnic crowd, let it pursue both the sciences and the arts to the best of its ability, make sure no distortion of historical truth was allowed and then wait for the outcome, if it bothered anyone, if Communists took umbrage, if Kolkata felt offended.
That would have been the approximation of the Austrian experience.
Had such an experiment taken place, Austria would have to field a single question after that. "Really, you wear lipstick as well?"
After the last century, not only did Austria want to survive or maintain its political borders, it wanted to join the global mainstream and make up for lost opportunities as well.
What a free world! How free its trade! Why don't we all weep that it was being disrupted, with the Trump administration leaving the WTO and NATO.
May 4, 2025.
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