I have a theory that people approach genius from the wrong end.
A genius might create something wonderful and, after years of public exposure, develop a certain feeling of entitlement.
A would-be genius will then see this from the wrong angle. They start out with a certain feeling of entitlement and then work backwards from there.
Thus you encounter a lot of people displaying the hallmarks of genius who will never have anything to show for it because they never went through the hallmarks of being misunderstood and unfairly maligned but believing in their ideas anyway.
A world full of motivational books that assist you every step of the way to success without actually challenging you. You know, by telling you something you don’t want to hear. At least, not for your own benefit.
The age of genius is over — welcome to the age of the poseur.
David, your first four paragraphs are observably correct, and have been for at least as long as the printed novel. Happily, they don’t support your conclusion.
There is an exchange I think from I, Claudius that goes (something like):
“The theater isn’t what it was.”
“The theater never was what it was.”
I may be incorrectly attributing it, but thank you for reminding me of I, Claudius anyway.
David: why would genius have any necessary hallmarks? I guess you mean artistic genius as opposed to some other genius and that all artistic geniuses are culled from other fields by having misunderstanding beaten into them by objective society. Was there ever an age of genius anyway? (I understand maybe you’re being satiric based on the comic by saying “things were better before motivational books ruined all our geniuses”.)
having your own house is better than being a resentful teenager in someone else’s. also, i get to go to way more concerts (and on school nights!) now that i’m a single mother. go figure.
rocketbride, you’re absolutely right about having one’s own house. As a 28-year-old with a job and an apartment, I am baffled at adults who see childhood through rosy glasses. Kids live in captivity, and freedom is way better, even if you have to work for a living. (I mean, kids work too, at school, which sucks way more than any adult workplace.)
@Jake, whether or not things were better in the past is a matter of opinion. A fallacy is unsound reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Girl doesn’t render Grrrl’s opinion invalid any more than you render my comment ironic.
When using words like ‘fallacy’, ‘irony’ and ‘painful’, consider first how they can be turned against you.
@david: I think the the problem ihave is the last line of your post. There never was an age of genius. and posers have always been there. we just started calling em “posers” for some reason. Its as if your saying all originality has been tapped out. But in your own post you said a real genius (as opposed to a “would-be genius”) would be “misunderstood and unfairly maligned.” A genius doesnt have to make a ground breaking revolution to be a genius. Genius is all around us. we just dont appreciate it. and genius doesnt have “hallwarks.” disorders do. like autism. which alotta geniuses seem to have characteristics of…
oh. everything else you wrote i thought was spot on. self=help books make losers some cocky bastards!People should listen to Mitch Hedburg. hes funny. and dead. and each of his albums are as good as the others.
It’s a fallacy because it’s an unsound line of reasoning. Grrl is working under the assumption that things in the past were better without actual evidence for it. It’s an unsound conclusion. Just as in the comic, your reasoning doesn’t support your conclusion, as someone else said. It’s also a bias, called nostalgia bias. Yes, whether or not things were better in the past is an opinion, and I’m telling you yours is wrong.
Just because you have an opinion doesn’t mean it’s free from attack, which is another entitlement people tend to use. people say “I have a right to my opinion, so stop disagreeing with me!” when in fact you have no such right. My point is, whether it’s an opinion or not is irrelevant, and most certainly not somehow bulletproof. If I say “I think the sky is green” despite obvious evidence to the contrary, it is not a legitimate argument to say “well, it’s my opinion.” You are free, indeed, to pursue your own delusions, but when you present them to other people, do not expect them to immediately tolerate your fantasies.
It’s ironic because it is a serious post demonstrating the exact topic in the comic, right next to the comic. Unless it was intentional, It’s pretty unexpected.
It’s painful because of just how wrong you are and how fear of societal decline has caused vastly more problems (e.g. traditionalism) than it’s ever solved.
You really should have read your own post in relation to the comic and considered it before posting. Or not. It’s actually much more entertaining this way.
It’s funny that all this should be talked about right now, since I just got done reading a pretty hilarious article by a composer declaring “the end of music”
Jake – more television shows could be compiled than anyone could watch in one lifetime, just as there are more books and information than anyone could read and more music than anyone could listen to. without context it may even not be at all apparent in the near future whether what your listening to is even “new” at all. could this lead to some sort of cultural entropy? i don’t know. not to say this would be better or worse.
i wrote something else earlier: i think it got lost, i hope so. so if it shows up, just ignore it.
the end of music? whatever. with mass media, it allows people to constantly watch the evolution of our entertainment. its like their just sucking on the wine keg waiting for it to get good. u cant expect a different flavor than what your getting if you don’t quit analyzing it waiting for to get awesome. its great where its at! and it can only get better. not everything “good” revolutionizes an industry. that moron blogger…if he thinks its stagnanting, STIR THE POT! he’s a musician for cryin out loud
i hate having holidays make such a long delay between one c&g & the next (though i’d say that dorothy deserves the breaks). anyway, doesn’t it just seem like this month will be better than next month was. (if you put all the frames in a sack, shake ’em up and dump ’em out again they still work ok however they fall. btw, if you turn the whole strip upside down then they smile a whole lot more-except when they’re talking, that is!)
November 24, 2009
is this some sort of cycle, last panel goes back to the first after enough time for more parties, etc to pass?
November 24, 2009
I love how the last three panels work on their own.
November 24, 2009
Heh.
November 24, 2009
I have a theory that people approach genius from the wrong end.
A genius might create something wonderful and, after years of public exposure, develop a certain feeling of entitlement.
A would-be genius will then see this from the wrong angle. They start out with a certain feeling of entitlement and then work backwards from there.
Thus you encounter a lot of people displaying the hallmarks of genius who will never have anything to show for it because they never went through the hallmarks of being misunderstood and unfairly maligned but believing in their ideas anyway.
A world full of motivational books that assist you every step of the way to success without actually challenging you. You know, by telling you something you don’t want to hear. At least, not for your own benefit.
The age of genius is over — welcome to the age of the poseur.
November 24, 2009
“Things were never better.”
HAHAHA YES YES.
November 24, 2009
David, your first four paragraphs are observably correct, and have been for at least as long as the printed novel. Happily, they don’t support your conclusion.
November 24, 2009
There is an exchange I think from I, Claudius that goes (something like):
“The theater isn’t what it was.”
“The theater never was what it was.”
I may be incorrectly attributing it, but thank you for reminding me of I, Claudius anyway.
November 24, 2009
Pfft. I liked this comic better when it was “Nostalgia Science.”
November 24, 2009
David: why would genius have any necessary hallmarks? I guess you mean artistic genius as opposed to some other genius and that all artistic geniuses are culled from other fields by having misunderstanding beaten into them by objective society. Was there ever an age of genius anyway? (I understand maybe you’re being satiric based on the comic by saying “things were better before motivational books ruined all our geniuses”.)
November 24, 2009
Oh, things are so much better. My vacation accumulation is at 6 hours a pay period and this pain in my chest is only a little distracting…
November 24, 2009
My uncle always signs his emails with, “People who long for the ‘good old days’ never had to use an outhouse.”
November 24, 2009
Yep, the bottom row of this comic is fantastic by itself.
November 24, 2009
That moment of recognition, clarity. Then the reality of the situation sinks in.
November 24, 2009
Second Wave feminism WAS better!
November 25, 2009
I like the middle row best. Vertical.
November 25, 2009
@ Jonathan & S.T., I write enough here as it is, I try to keep my word count down… but it seems brevity does me no favours.
Now I’m looking at the subject of the comic and wondering how I got so far away from it.
I do wonder if the golden age of webcomics is ahead. I mean… just because it can’t possibly be behind.
November 25, 2009
It is true that everything tends towards decline. It doesn’t just apply to the material world.
Never before have we had so much knowledge and so little intelligence.
November 25, 2009
Really, I think the fourteenth amendment was better. Until it sold out and started giving civil rights to corporations.
November 25, 2009
having your own house is better than being a resentful teenager in someone else’s. also, i get to go to way more concerts (and on school nights!) now that i’m a single mother. go figure.
November 25, 2009
I would switch the last two panels…
November 25, 2009
“The age of genius is over — welcome to the age of the poseur.”
so you could say that geniuses used to be smarter?
OH THE PAINFUL IRONY OF THE EXACT FALLACY IN THE COMIC BEING USED IN ITS OWN COMMENTS.
PAINFUL.
IRONY.
November 25, 2009
rocketbride, you’re absolutely right about having one’s own house. As a 28-year-old with a job and an apartment, I am baffled at adults who see childhood through rosy glasses. Kids live in captivity, and freedom is way better, even if you have to work for a living. (I mean, kids work too, at school, which sucks way more than any adult workplace.)
November 26, 2009
well put
November 26, 2009
@Jake, whether or not things were better in the past is a matter of opinion. A fallacy is unsound reasoning that renders an argument invalid. Girl doesn’t render Grrrl’s opinion invalid any more than you render my comment ironic.
When using words like ‘fallacy’, ‘irony’ and ‘painful’, consider first how they can be turned against you.
November 26, 2009
@david: I think the the problem ihave is the last line of your post. There never was an age of genius. and posers have always been there. we just started calling em “posers” for some reason. Its as if your saying all originality has been tapped out. But in your own post you said a real genius (as opposed to a “would-be genius”) would be “misunderstood and unfairly maligned.” A genius doesnt have to make a ground breaking revolution to be a genius. Genius is all around us. we just dont appreciate it. and genius doesnt have “hallwarks.” disorders do. like autism. which alotta geniuses seem to have characteristics of…
November 26, 2009
oh. everything else you wrote i thought was spot on. self=help books make losers some cocky bastards!People should listen to Mitch Hedburg. hes funny. and dead. and each of his albums are as good as the others.
November 26, 2009
Oh wow. :)
I love this comic, and this particular comment thread is nice also.
Happy turkey day, all!
November 26, 2009
Will Oldham, is in panel 3!
November 26, 2009
Third-Wave Feminism’s a Bitch.
November 26, 2009
It’s a fallacy because it’s an unsound line of reasoning. Grrl is working under the assumption that things in the past were better without actual evidence for it. It’s an unsound conclusion. Just as in the comic, your reasoning doesn’t support your conclusion, as someone else said. It’s also a bias, called nostalgia bias. Yes, whether or not things were better in the past is an opinion, and I’m telling you yours is wrong.
Just because you have an opinion doesn’t mean it’s free from attack, which is another entitlement people tend to use. people say “I have a right to my opinion, so stop disagreeing with me!” when in fact you have no such right. My point is, whether it’s an opinion or not is irrelevant, and most certainly not somehow bulletproof. If I say “I think the sky is green” despite obvious evidence to the contrary, it is not a legitimate argument to say “well, it’s my opinion.” You are free, indeed, to pursue your own delusions, but when you present them to other people, do not expect them to immediately tolerate your fantasies.
It’s ironic because it is a serious post demonstrating the exact topic in the comic, right next to the comic. Unless it was intentional, It’s pretty unexpected.
It’s painful because of just how wrong you are and how fear of societal decline has caused vastly more problems (e.g. traditionalism) than it’s ever solved.
You really should have read your own post in relation to the comic and considered it before posting. Or not. It’s actually much more entertaining this way.
It’s funny that all this should be talked about right now, since I just got done reading a pretty hilarious article by a composer declaring “the end of music”
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/the-end-of-music/
It’s like we’re closing the patent office in 1910 all over again.
November 26, 2009
Jake – more television shows could be compiled than anyone could watch in one lifetime, just as there are more books and information than anyone could read and more music than anyone could listen to. without context it may even not be at all apparent in the near future whether what your listening to is even “new” at all. could this lead to some sort of cultural entropy? i don’t know. not to say this would be better or worse.
i wrote something else earlier: i think it got lost, i hope so. so if it shows up, just ignore it.
November 27, 2009
the end of music? whatever. with mass media, it allows people to constantly watch the evolution of our entertainment. its like their just sucking on the wine keg waiting for it to get good. u cant expect a different flavor than what your getting if you don’t quit analyzing it waiting for to get awesome. its great where its at! and it can only get better. not everything “good” revolutionizes an industry. that moron blogger…if he thinks its stagnanting, STIR THE POT! he’s a musician for cryin out loud
November 27, 2009
I’ll use my….
-*~*!SOPHOMORE SLAP!*~*-
November 30, 2009
i hate having holidays make such a long delay between one c&g & the next (though i’d say that dorothy deserves the breaks). anyway, doesn’t it just seem like this month will be better than next month was. (if you put all the frames in a sack, shake ’em up and dump ’em out again they still work ok however they fall. btw, if you turn the whole strip upside down then they smile a whole lot more-except when they’re talking, that is!)
November 30, 2009
Hmm, as soon as everyone gets their next dose the panic will end and things might calm down.
December 8, 2009
an artiste improves with age and experience, and then goes senile and gets even better!
February 8, 2010
The Second Wave was NOT better.
Also, it’s slightly bizarre that Grrl is the one being nostalgic for the Second Wave. Wasn’t she one of the young ladies who burnt it down?
November 28, 2010
Nascent-scener: “‘/b/ used to be good.”
Grizzled-veteran: “‘/b/ was never good.”
February 16, 2011
“Now” is always the age of the poseur — we just don’t have to hear about the older ones — except Johnson’s Boswell.