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Post-modern banalization

kkiiji
Aubrey de Grey: a vampire

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Posted 06/26/09 - 02:32 PM: Subject: Post-modern banalization	#1
After listening to a audio lecture by Rick Roderick, his concept of banality as an escape from overwhelming complexity struck a cord in my head. He refers to a rampant phenomenon of important issues and problems being reduced to a "joke" or a fad of some kind through continuous repetition. For example, political debates that are in deadlock like gay rights and abortion issues, although still quite important, they've become almost a pointless debate. The same few points are being thrown around so often that they've become a fad, something that people talk about just so they can get a high off of preaching. This doesn't mean that the issues themselves aren't important, it just means that they've been reduced to something so simple that the average existentially troubled Joe could easily jump on the train and preach to his heart's desire so he could be somebody. It feels like there are just no sweeping social movements anymore, no sweeping issues that touches the heart of the public, just a bunch of rent-a-protesters. Surely I am not suggesting that there are no sincere advocates of political change, but so what if they're sincere? The debate itself is still banal due to the deadlock preaching. Furthermore there's another side to this phenomenon that Rick Roderick touched on, there are those of us who simply stop caring about it all. In the face of so many different sides so many different movements all locked in endless preaching, what's the point? Might be better to just go home and drink a bunch, to hell with all these issues buzzing around my head. No dreams, no hope, fuck it all, right? I must say I find this aspect of post-modern life to be fundamentally displeasing. Is this really the best we can do? What happened to the sweeping social reforms I read in my history books? What happened to the rise and fall of spectacular ideas? What happened to all the Greatness? All reduced to this mediocre banality? Or am I just not looking at the right place? If I have given a somewhat accurate description of our post-modern society, how could a place like this be worth striving for? How could anyone prefer to live here? I suppose there's not much of a choice. It's not even that this place bothers me with my personal life, this isn't another cry for help topic. It's just...once again if my descriptions are even a bit accurate, doesn't it seem like a serious problem that society has been reduced to this? (FYI this is an invitation to tell me why society isn't actually like this and why Greatness is still here in this post-modern world, I will actually thank you if you convince me that this is the case. ) Edited by kkiiji on 06/26/09 - 02:42 PM
Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But Doctor... I am Pagliacci." Good joke, everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum... Curtains.

unenlightened
everything is...

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Posted 06/26/09 - 09:57 PM:	#2
The antidote: Reith lectures.
...most of our actions are the result of the past, or according to a future ideal. That's not action, that is just conformity. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

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