Faux Philosopher
It seems that doing tedious math problems is a draining activity for me and now I require a break, so I will give the part of RCTC that I have found most hilarious all day long:
"All around me I see so much intellectual and spiritual potential needlessly squandered for the sake of job security...And I look to my left, my right, and I see all of the appropriate minds humming with apprehension, petrified and developing ulcers from an innate fear that is so ingrained in all aspects of their behavior that it's almost considered typical, just waiting for someone to tell them that it's alright to not buy into the capitalistic bullshit and live life for what it's worth, as humans."
Now, where did I get that little quote? Fight Club? Nope. Chuck Palahniuk? Wrong again. Hunter S. Thompson perhaps? Ya give up? Well, these are the words (kinda) of Matthew D. Homan in the latest publication of the The Echo, RCTC's student newspaper. This kid is a putz. I say that not because his words don't have iron or because the things he preaches are not worthy ideals, but for the fact that he seems to have stolen his entire persona, beliefs, and even words from that movie and those men that I listed at the beginning of this paragraph. If you have never read any writings of those men or seen that movie, then I apologize. But this kid appears to have taken on the role of our real life Tyler Durden. Hell, the kid's picture is even quite Tyler-esque. If you need me to expound on this point, that I believe is beyond contention (others have even agreed with me), let me know and I will give you more.
So, anyway, we have a guy telling us that we should not conform to the things we are taught by parents and teachers while he is busy conforming to the things he learns from a movie. Oddly, he is conforming to noncomformity. What a badass, hehehe. Hell, maybe he doesn't even follow these teachings, if so, enjoy Abercrombie, you bitch. He is now playing off these thoughts as if they were his own original and unique thoughts (that seems to be a common theme with the editorialists in this paper) or maybe, just maybe, he is intending for me to notice this. That is something I seriously doubt though, and is something that the average RCTCer is going to catch on to. So this young man is a deciteful bastard. But, heck, he might not even know that he is doing it, then I just feel sorry for him.
Now you could say to me (but I doubt you will), "Screw you Logan, at least this kid is doing something." And you would be right. Sorry, I have to end here and get back to work. If you do actually ask that question, I will come back in a day or two and finish up my rant.
posted by Logan Clark at 4/04/2005 10:23:00 PM
12 Comments:
"Someone else has already said it best."
Maybe now isn't so much a time for thinkers as now is a time for those who act. We have analyzed life to death and now we sit with all these great philosophies wasting around us. Instead of pretending that we are having original thoughts, why not tell of what others have already said and enact the teachings that we believe. We know that there are those who do not know of these teachings. Teach them, but do not try to take credit for them. Very few of us will ever have an original thought, but all of us have a chance to act.
11:21 PM
"We choose hope over despair; possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism."
11:47 PM
I liked this rant...your friend from the editorial sounds like H. G. Menken or something...I haven't seen that movie or read the men you talk of, but I know what you're getting at. His problem is not so much that he's not original as he is lost in some identity crisis. Perhaps he lost at that stage of life, and is now far gone in some role confusion. Anyway, this whole rant has reminded me of Camus' The Plague...a good comforting book. So I'm off to read some T.S. Elliot for school now...adios.
..do you think Elliot was a "true thinker"? Who was the last "true thinker"?
3:10 AM
he may not have been a philosiphizer, but i have to say i'm a fan of einstein's works. some of his stuff is so scientific that most people could confuse it as being ambiguous. but whatever, i've always tried to find a writing style for myself but i realized that i have none. most people cover having any true style with just having a big vocabulary anyway. and i bet they just sit there with a dictionary scrutinizing over every sentence, trying to make it sound as intellectual as possible. i'm gonna start trying to misuse big words and see if anyone catches on.
7:54 PM
They haven't caught me yet, so you can probably pull it off.
I was reading some Einstein while at Hamline. Agreed.
8:24 PM
hmmm. Einstien. yes that would make sense if he were the last great thinker. But maybe his discovery lead to this pseudo-intellectual revolution because of his kick of the damn age of anxiety. Oh well. Maybe we're just supposed to take all these readings, and not really try to change the world, rather let the world change us. It is not in what we have to say, but what the world has to say to us...?
9:19 PM
Oh, that is just silly. We aren't going to let the world change us. We are going to screw it in the butt to the point that it has to fight back. Also, I don't think it is that we are trying to change the world..wait, are we talking about the world as society or the world as earth? Let me know and I will finish that thought.
9:34 PM
society
9:41 PM
Oh, fuck them. I have to agree with the young man I was ridiculing on that one. That is a world that we can change, the question is, should we bother? Yes, we should. But why do you think we should? If you agree with me that is.
9:52 PM
no we shouldn't bother cause either way, society will change us more than we change it...if we think we are changing it we're letting that ignorance take hold of us....or some shit like that. I think I'm done for tonight though. I must sleep...sections are this week
9:55 PM
Well...ignorance is bliss.
Which would you rather have, a purpose or a world without meaning? That is what the caring comes down to. If you don't care then you have no reason for being. You could just go after the money and the sex but that would just be playing to what society tells you are the best things in life. You could try to attain enlightenment, but for that you have to care because learning, believing, and expanding demand that you give a damn. You can go for all of these things that you desire and think can make you happy without benefiting the world, but without care for something, and society is pretty all encompassing, all that shit doesn’t matter. The meaning of life is right there. It either is or isn’t.
Or was that whole last bit wasted? Can you have care without change?
10:25 PM
I think the conversations on each of our blogs have become mixed and intertwined and confused...thus it is time to stop. I could ponder about caring or not caring, but that just gives me a headache. Maybe I'll just shutup and do it even if i don't care...because constant action is better than overthinking anything
5:08 AM
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