Monday, March 07, 2005
MNR
When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,
"By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven."
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,
"Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons." - Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of weeks ago I picked up an issue of Time while waiting in the barbershop. One of the articles was a feature on dimestore philosopher Kahlil Gibran, author of, among other things, "The Prophet," an insipid bit of drivel that has been swallowed whole by millions of naive Americans who think they have stumbled upon the most profound writings in the world. Among other things, Gibran discussed the war in Iraq, for which he is opposed. Among his rationale, and I paraphrase, was that the children of Iraq did nothing to America. Truly profound.
Gibran is who dumb people - particularly dumb white people - read when they want to pretend to be intellectuals. I read the Prophet, and managed to avoid falling asleep only through sheer will. Luckily for us all, Gibran has also shared his feelings on the war, for which we were all waiting with bated breath. Of course Gibran failed to mention the thousands killed by Hussein, the tortures, the rapes, and complete lack of freedom, but I suppose he was too busy pontificating about talking to apples to read up on the Iraqui situation.
I really don't care what Gibran has to say, and this little rant isn't about his anti-war feelings. Rather, what concerns me is how many people just eat up this namby-pamby bullshit as though he were writing anything meaningful. He is just another in the long-line of vapid pseudo-philosophers that Americans flock to because evidently we can't come come up with anyone who truly has anything profound to say.
It is culmination the Oprah-ization of our society. Americans have been deluged with pap sentimentality, have been trained to get in touch with our "feelings," and have been pussified by a culture that glorifies empty slogans and mushiness.
Because, in the end, all that matters is emotion and feeling. How we feel is supposed to mean more than what we do. Feeling bad about the homeless is good enough. One need not actually, you know, do anything. See, that's for the government to take care of. Drippy sentimentality is all well and good, perhaps, when you're writing love letters to your girlfriend. But in the real world, there is a limit, and we have reached the limit, broken past it, and have been consumed by it.
Sentimentality is a destructive force because, rather than unifying us, it detaches us from humanity. Vague sentimentality seeps into our national consciousness to the point where we feel bad about everything. We become mindless drones feeling our way through lives, but instead of focusing our energy on the important parts of our lives, we become overloaded by all these drippy sentiments and become, in a sense, numb to it all.
Sentimentality robs us of our capacity to feel strongly enough to actually act out on our own. Aggression is good - it can be a driving force to human action. But in Oprah-land, it's all well and good to sit back with a box of tissues and cry over fallen mankind, but there is no martial force imploring us to do anything. We seemingly are doing everything to suck the testosterone out of the Nation and turn our men into a bunch of touchy-feely meterosexuals more concerned with their haircare than the national defense.
I propose that we just go ahead and remove the Eagle as our national symbol. In its stead I think it would be appropriate to replace it with our new national symbol: the vagina. Any why not? There can be no better representation of the continued descent of a people who flock bookstores to purchase sentimental poop like the "Prophet," "Chicken Soup for the Soul," or "My Life." Instead of fighting the terrorists with guns and bombs, we should arrange a world-wide group hug that will be followed by a very large group therapy session led by Dr. Phil. We can express our "rage" in a constructive manner to Osama bin Laden, and tell him that he has hurt our feelings. I think that if we just sat down with all the Middle Eastern terrorists and despots and just talked with them over some mocha lattes, maybe offer them all some backrubs and play some Enya, then we can end terrorism for all-time.
Because, all you need is love, right?
"By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too shall be consumed.
For the law that delivered you into my hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.
Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds the tree of heaven."
And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart,
"Your seeds shall live in my body,
And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,
And your fragrance shall be my breath,
And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons." - Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A couple of weeks ago I picked up an issue of Time while waiting in the barbershop. One of the articles was a feature on dimestore philosopher Kahlil Gibran, author of, among other things, "The Prophet," an insipid bit of drivel that has been swallowed whole by millions of naive Americans who think they have stumbled upon the most profound writings in the world. Among other things, Gibran discussed the war in Iraq, for which he is opposed. Among his rationale, and I paraphrase, was that the children of Iraq did nothing to America. Truly profound.
Gibran is who dumb people - particularly dumb white people - read when they want to pretend to be intellectuals. I read the Prophet, and managed to avoid falling asleep only through sheer will. Luckily for us all, Gibran has also shared his feelings on the war, for which we were all waiting with bated breath. Of course Gibran failed to mention the thousands killed by Hussein, the tortures, the rapes, and complete lack of freedom, but I suppose he was too busy pontificating about talking to apples to read up on the Iraqui situation.
I really don't care what Gibran has to say, and this little rant isn't about his anti-war feelings. Rather, what concerns me is how many people just eat up this namby-pamby bullshit as though he were writing anything meaningful. He is just another in the long-line of vapid pseudo-philosophers that Americans flock to because evidently we can't come come up with anyone who truly has anything profound to say.
It is culmination the Oprah-ization of our society. Americans have been deluged with pap sentimentality, have been trained to get in touch with our "feelings," and have been pussified by a culture that glorifies empty slogans and mushiness.
Because, in the end, all that matters is emotion and feeling. How we feel is supposed to mean more than what we do. Feeling bad about the homeless is good enough. One need not actually, you know, do anything. See, that's for the government to take care of. Drippy sentimentality is all well and good, perhaps, when you're writing love letters to your girlfriend. But in the real world, there is a limit, and we have reached the limit, broken past it, and have been consumed by it.
Sentimentality is a destructive force because, rather than unifying us, it detaches us from humanity. Vague sentimentality seeps into our national consciousness to the point where we feel bad about everything. We become mindless drones feeling our way through lives, but instead of focusing our energy on the important parts of our lives, we become overloaded by all these drippy sentiments and become, in a sense, numb to it all.
Sentimentality robs us of our capacity to feel strongly enough to actually act out on our own. Aggression is good - it can be a driving force to human action. But in Oprah-land, it's all well and good to sit back with a box of tissues and cry over fallen mankind, but there is no martial force imploring us to do anything. We seemingly are doing everything to suck the testosterone out of the Nation and turn our men into a bunch of touchy-feely meterosexuals more concerned with their haircare than the national defense.
I propose that we just go ahead and remove the Eagle as our national symbol. In its stead I think it would be appropriate to replace it with our new national symbol: the vagina. Any why not? There can be no better representation of the continued descent of a people who flock bookstores to purchase sentimental poop like the "Prophet," "Chicken Soup for the Soul," or "My Life." Instead of fighting the terrorists with guns and bombs, we should arrange a world-wide group hug that will be followed by a very large group therapy session led by Dr. Phil. We can express our "rage" in a constructive manner to Osama bin Laden, and tell him that he has hurt our feelings. I think that if we just sat down with all the Middle Eastern terrorists and despots and just talked with them over some mocha lattes, maybe offer them all some backrubs and play some Enya, then we can end terrorism for all-time.
Because, all you need is love, right?
# posted by Paul Zummo : 11:34 PM
