January 2007
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Just A Little Hostile
You are who you fuck — or so I am told. In this miserable city where status is gold, I’ve seen shit-eating people who claw their way up, looking for the acceptance that they never got. It’s all about winning the meat-market games among all the rejects, dropouts and fakes. Did everyone give you the [...]
Moral Relativism
The putting to death of morality had, on the whole, become a sort of ritual sacrifice necessary for the reassertion of the dominant values of the group — centered for some decades now on competition, innovation, and energy, more than on fidelity and duty.1 Michel Houellebecq : The Possibility Of An Island : Daniel 1,3↩
Boredom And Intelligence
One of the most frequent observations I make in life is that the people who most often complain about boredom are not very bright. As far as I can tell, these people simply cannot entertain themselves by pondering a question or reflecting on their past: they require constant external activity to feel entertained. If true, [...]
A Cognitive Elite
We can begin by thinking about that thin layer of students of the highest cognitive ability who are being funneled through rarefied college environments, whence they go forth to acquire eventually not just the good life but often an influence on the life of the nation. They are coming of age in environments that are [...]
An Urban Myth
I would like the fascination with avoiding the word “he” to finally stop soon. The entire crusade to remove it from our language is simply nonsensical and has proven to be a brilliant example of how conformity and peer pressure have built a new cultural custom out of an absurdity. It is not simply that [...]
Sexual Destiny
One cannot separate sexual destiny from the overall course of one’s life: the woman whose beauty is exceptional is far more likely to live an interesting life, to leave a small town, to acquire wealth, etc., etc.
Seachange
There should be a law prohibiting the use of the word “seachange” in any context not involving an actual sea. In addition, there should be another law prohibiting the printing of what is clearly a compound noun as two separate words.
They Decide. We Just Turn Up.
I’ve never looked for women. When I was a teenager, perhaps. But they are looking for us, and we must learn that very quickly. They decide. We just turn up. Never mind the superficialities — tall and handsome and all that. Just turn up. They will do the rest.1 An intelligent observation. Peter O’Toole : [...]
Depressives
Depressives are basically incapable of love, because love requires that some other human being make you lastingly happy and depressives are basically incapable of being lastingly happy.
Ah, Young Love
I am utterly in love: over the past week I have finished three Houellebecq novels and will likely finish another in the next few days — this next one being the last of his novels still in print. Within any single one of his novels one finds enough new ideas to provide years worth of [...]