Welcome to the World of Hyper-Socialism!
I sit on a man’s back choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am sorry for him and wish to lighten his load by all means possible… except by getting off his back.- Leo Tolstoy -
The distress of the modern man is uniquely concerning. The modern human has, what is a byproduct of our achievement society, an insatiable, yet perpetually exhausted ego. The modern man considers himself above his peers, above his morals, yet tragically, below himself. Perhaps a consequence of society, he persists in a competition he can not see himself triumphing.
He can not possibly triumph over his incorporeal enemy, he can not fly past what is ahead of him with his meager bit of fuel — his past potential which dictates his future accomplishments. He runs in an erroneous circle, slowly, and repeatedly outlining and carving himself out of this dimension — his ego falls into a chasm of unknown depth. Byung-Chul Han, in his The Burnout Society writes:Depression — which often culminates in burnout — follows from overexcited, overdriven, excessive self-reference that has assumed destructive traits. The exhausted, depressive achievement-subject grinds itself down, so to speak. It is tired, exhausted by itself, and at war with itself. Entirely incapable of stepping outward, of standing outside itself, of relying on the Other, on the world, it locks its jaws on itself; paradoxically, this leads the self to hollow and empty out. It wears out in a rat race it runs against itself (Han 42).The cook who keeps eating his own food — and similarly the diner of such produce — may eventually find it tasteless. To satisfy his taste buds, he must consume a new cuisine. He must take a break from his familiar sustenance. He must distance himself from his own depression. He must travel outward from himself and become something else, an other.
The modern man is miserable in that what he chases, he similarly allows to leave his grasp. As a result of pursuing superiority over his peers, he dictates himself to one great work. This work becomes the core of his every other endeavor. He exploits it. He squeezes whatever juice he might be fortunate enough to extract out of it. And then, at once, when his fuel combusts, he rests upon the burning fumes he so much so desired to triumph. The modern man does not endeavor to uplift himself. No, the modern man seeks asylum from himself. He is wary of himself. He is tired, sick, and exhausted. Richard Sennett writes:As a character disorder, narcissism is the very opposite of strong self-love. Self-absorption does not produce gratification, it produces injury to the self; erasing the line between self and other means that nothing new, nothing “other,” ever enters the self; it is devoured and transformed until one thinks one can see oneself in the other — and then it becomes meaningless. . . . The narcissist is not hungry for experiences, he is hungry for Experience. Looking always for an expression or reflection of [oneself]. . . . one drowns in the self (Sennett 324).He has basked in his own glory for such an extent to which his own body deprives himself of his rightful hydration. He has been labored so unjustly by himself, that his own body, he can not consider even his. Drawing from Kafka’s tale Prometheus, Byung-Chul Han writes, “The eagle that consumes an ever-regrowing liver can be interpreted as the subject’s alter ego. Viewed in this way, the relation between Prometheus and the eagle represents a relation of self-exploitation. Pain of the liver, an organ that cannot actually experience pain, is said to be tiredness. Prometheus, the subject of self-exploitation, has been seized by overwhelming fatigue” (Han 35).
The modern man must be open to other opinions. He must not be so one-dimensional as to shade himself from the sun with the non-existent shelter the tree he just planted might provide. If he seeks cover, he must attend himself to the trees planted before him. He must not labor himself for today, but for tomorrow. For, perhaps, a century later, a young man like him might come visit in hopes of finding coolness. He must not shelter his own ego.
23 comments:
Sometimes extreme events have profound effects on politicians, and sometimes they don't. In the next few days, we will see which of these will be the case for that FLEABAG Senator Cory Booker.
Booker, who was just forced to flee the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel this past weekend, was seen in 2018 holding up an anti-Israel sign in support of pro-Palestine activists.
The image resurfaced on social media after news of Booker’s harrowing experience.
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights posted the original image on X, showing the Democrat senator attending the Netroots Nation conference.
Booker who belongs in a Lunatic Lunatic Asylum can be seen smiling with anti-Israel activists while holding up a sign that reads: “From Palestine to Mexico. All the Walls Have Got to Come Down.”
Karma karma karma karma chameleon...
:P
The Democratic creeps such as Cory Booker, Chuck Schemer,Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and especially Ilhan Omar, as well as many others in that Miserable Progressive party are almost as responsible for October 7, as the Hamas Militants themselves. It is as much the support like they give to these animals, that terrorists are inspired and are motivated by.
Think about this: when Donald Trump was the president, Hamas didn’t attack Israel... No In fact we hardly even heard from them . Donald Trump stopped it by cutting aid to the Palestinians, and all of the other Terrorist Nations as well.
But then, when Biden took office, and reversed all that, he gave them $150 Million, and he gave Iran 6 Billion to Iran and here we are in todays mess.
What does it take to get the Left/Democrats/Liberals/Progressives to realize that these people are the ENEMY?
Maybe we need to bring back the Draft, or somehow get all the Loony Tune Liberals out of Teaching our Kids in our schools. They may open their eyes to what’s going on in this world!
Moral hazard, thy name is "Democrat".
Moral corruption, thy name is MAGA.
Moral corruption, thy name is MAGA.
STFU
Lester!
Les think's that all the Great Goods can live together. You know, like Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite. No trade-off's required! No "corruption" of Liberte to get more Egalite... or visa versa.
Either that, or he thinks that all the "lower goods" we call moral(s) harmonize and create a singular "Great Good"! And that progressive Democrats have the "virtue knowledge recipe" needed to "weave" and "harmonize" these morals to achieve "Nirvana" for ALL humanity!
What a guy!
MAGA is preventing ALL THAT GOOD!
And Lester knows the correct path that weaves itself between Scylla and Charybdis... to NIRVANA!
Let's hope ha can navigate it better than Odyseus did! After all, he was the only Ithacan to make it back and prove that he could string a bow and fly an arrow between 12(?) axe handles.
...one for every labour of Hercules?
Heraclitus argued that each of the labours represents some aspect of man: the Erymanthian boar is man’s ‘incontinence’ or intemperance, the Nemean lion represents man’s determination to rush towards the wrong goals in the pursuit of something, the hind of Ceryneia represents cowardice, and so on.
Heck, 12 "virtues". I have trouble managing Plato's cardinal 4 and applying them to past, present, and future. But Les has got us ALL beat! Maybe one day he'll clue us in as to his secret, "don't follow Jesus, follow Buddha!"
\\Blogger Les Carpenter said...
Moral corruption, thy name is MAGA.
So??? Pol Pot and Mao and Uncle Joe... are earthly saints? ;-P
Your words. Not mine.
Like i saud... ignorant
Tell me when you finally say something "not ignorant", Les. I wouldn't want to miss it.
Coming from a MAGA't it's a high complement. See, tRump loves the uneducated and and ignorant. He can more easily control their minds. Such as they are.
He must not be that good at it. He missed you.
Lessy -- boring bird. Knows too few songs. :-)))
He can be instructive when he ocassionally addresses a topic other than Trump. Else he usually pretty deranged.
What a lowlife...
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