The White Mountains…I read a trilogy by that name when I was in elementary. I think it was about young adults of a certain age having mind-control headbands put on them to serve the needs of some alien masters. I’m not sure if that was the reference intended here, but I think it fits! It’s been years and years since I thought of those books…
Cat…voice of reason? I know that strikes me as a bad thing.
I mean, this may be a tad ad hominy, but it tends to undermine the primacy of reason in my pantheon of virtues, once Cat starts sounding like it in my ears!
It could be my ears, though. That’d be more comforting.
Wish I had a helmet to hug, in these moments of self-crisis.
Cat bang on the money, because we do have a word for people who are incapable of compromising between what they want from the world and what the world wants from them.
It’s ‘sociopath.’
I hate to be the one to draw attention to the fact, but the things our Own True Selves would like us to do are not always as benign as the wearing of Osh-Koshes past a certain age, the pursuit of creative endeavors over business oportunities, or generalized slacking off.
Arguably, the case is rather that, after a certain age, one becomes conscious of the demands and influence of the outside world, something which, in one form or another, of course was there all along.
In reality our thoughts and desires never exist in a vacuum – despite what centuries of belief in Platonic essences, Christian souls, Nietzschean will to power and other notions of true, authentic selves or expressions thereof, whose original purity is contaminated and compromised by the vile external universe – would have us believe.
If anything, realising and being able to reflect upon our relationship with the rest of the world leaves us more free than if we were blindly following one impulse or another, naïvely insisting on its “authenticity”.
“notions of true, authentic selves or expressions thereof, whose original purity is contaminated and compromised by the vile external universe”
For pure uncontrolled selfishness, you only have to look to a child. The ignorant notion that there’s purity in innocence underlies most philosophy. But it’s to be expected as most philosophers were dead male non participants in raising children, which led to idealizing that with which they had no experience.
October 15, 2009
Cat is the master of propaganda, twisting Girl’s words to mean what he wants, to the point that Girl isn’t sure what she means any more.
Girl: Making a point about individuality and freedom and how after a certain age it’s socially unacceptable to wear overalls for no reason.
Cat: Focussing on the more noble social requirements of adults – recycling, paying your taxes etc.
Girl: The debate is no longer hers.
The first casualty of war, etc. Of course, that’s just the way I read it.
October 15, 2009
The White Mountains…I read a trilogy by that name when I was in elementary. I think it was about young adults of a certain age having mind-control headbands put on them to serve the needs of some alien masters. I’m not sure if that was the reference intended here, but I think it fits! It’s been years and years since I thought of those books…
October 15, 2009
Wow, you’re right! I remembered “The Tripod Trilogy” but I forgot that White Mountains was the title of a book.
October 15, 2009
Cat…voice of reason? I know that strikes me as a bad thing.
I mean, this may be a tad ad hominy, but it tends to undermine the primacy of reason in my pantheon of virtues, once Cat starts sounding like it in my ears!
It could be my ears, though. That’d be more comforting.
Wish I had a helmet to hug, in these moments of self-crisis.
October 15, 2009
“after a certain age it’s socially unacceptable to wear overalls for no reason.”
After a certain age past that, it’s sociall acceptable to do whatever you damn well please.
So hey, why not skip a step.
Also, Girl’s helmet is adorable.
October 15, 2009
“Why does that not strike me as a bad thing?”
Cat bang on the money, because we do have a word for people who are incapable of compromising between what they want from the world and what the world wants from them.
It’s ‘sociopath.’
I hate to be the one to draw attention to the fact, but the things our Own True Selves would like us to do are not always as benign as the wearing of Osh-Koshes past a certain age, the pursuit of creative endeavors over business oportunities, or generalized slacking off.
October 15, 2009
cat’s never wholly wrong, and usually facetious. (or he’s a complete bastard. probably not, though.)
girl’s never wholly wrong, either. well, almost never. it’s almost impossible to be right about something when you make everything black and white.
October 15, 2009
ad hominy? Why involve my grits in all of this?
October 15, 2009
girl = id, cat = superego.
when did the paint drinker become the voice of reason?
October 15, 2009
The paint drinker became the voice of reason when reason started to seem absurd to Dorothy.
Plus cartoon cats are fuuuuuun!
October 15, 2009
Arguably, the case is rather that, after a certain age, one becomes conscious of the demands and influence of the outside world, something which, in one form or another, of course was there all along.
In reality our thoughts and desires never exist in a vacuum – despite what centuries of belief in Platonic essences, Christian souls, Nietzschean will to power and other notions of true, authentic selves or expressions thereof, whose original purity is contaminated and compromised by the vile external universe – would have us believe.
If anything, realising and being able to reflect upon our relationship with the rest of the world leaves us more free than if we were blindly following one impulse or another, naïvely insisting on its “authenticity”.
October 15, 2009
Stick your head out of the parfait and… Bam! They flatten you into the granola. Maintaining the creamy, smooth consistency of civilization.
October 15, 2009
Deep. I love this one.
October 15, 2009
I agree with cat… whats the problem?
October 16, 2009
Girl sees herself on a battlefield, but no one actually seems to be shooting at her.
July 9, 2013
Is there a true self?
Panta rhei.
October 7, 2013
“notions of true, authentic selves or expressions thereof, whose original purity is contaminated and compromised by the vile external universe”
For pure uncontrolled selfishness, you only have to look to a child. The ignorant notion that there’s purity in innocence underlies most philosophy. But it’s to be expected as most philosophers were dead male non participants in raising children, which led to idealizing that with which they had no experience.