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Originally Posted by
B. Laumness
Prettiness or ugliness is not entirely natural. The problem is rather to see how the society and a given way of living affect the prettiness. A lack of physical activity has an effect upon the body. Working the whole day sat on a chair, spending many hours before a screen, eating too much, that does not help to make the body beautiful. No wonder there are so many obese individuals in our modern society. A fat body is never pretty. But prettiness is also in the face and the eyes. If a melancholic face has charm, an empty face and vacant eyes are not attractive. I see everywhere gloomy and dull persons because of their work and of entertainment. Through the eyes I can see intelligence, but through the eyes of a guy who spent many hours on a video game I see stupidity. The stupidity of social products makes the people ugly.
I was in France about 6 weeks ago for the first time. If I noticed you were from there, I would have probably understood better, because Paris, at least, seemed to be jam-packed with miserable, depressed, smoking, moping people who looked to be one step away from killing themselves. It's not a good look, I agree.
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The society progresses? Are you living in a cellar? You are 150 years behind the times. How can one still believe in the progress after the 20th century? Any serious intellectual considers now this idea to be obsolete. But perhaps you believe that the technological society is marvellous and that comfort is a great ideal. I don’t care about the perfection of a tool if this tool does not make the life better. What do I mean by a better life? Certainly not a comfortable life in which I would possess objects, but in which my being would remain empty. There are values much more important than money, labour, and comfort. There are noble values that have disappeared, but who were essential and are still essential for me, such as reason, rigour, passion, self control, and freedom; everything that stimulates sensitivity, imagination, and critical thinking; everything that strengthens my being. Does the Machine strengthen my being if I work chained to it, doing repetitive and mind-numbing tasks? Does the Money enlarge my spirit and allow me to respect a great ideal such as justice? It’s a known truth: today, Money is the dominant value. In the past, the things were different. In the Middle Ages, it was despicable to be rich and not to give to poor people. Before the reign of the Bourgeois, Money was not a goal in itself. How could a capitalist understand there exists different ways of thinking and living? He is so small, a very small man.
Man, you put a lot of words in my mouth there, didn't you? I'm from America, so OF COURSE I'm a dirty capitalist. Did it ever occur to you that when I said "progress" I didn't mean technologically or commercially? No, it didn't. You just jumped to your arrogant stereotypes.
I mean progress in terms of medicine and social issues (racism, the acceptance of gays, the acceptance of different religions, etc.). And I will even throw in technological advances, too. As far as I know, this idea that technology is dumbing down our society and turning everyone into zombies is not supported by fact, but by largely anecdotal evidence, i.e., the good ol' days.
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I don’t reason in years, I reason in centuries. I’m not nostalgic of the seventies or eighties. I’m not conservative either. I just look around me and in myself, and I try to understand the truth of every thing, every evolution, every ideology. Everything is stuff for thinking, for philosophical wonderment. I listen to the radio and I hear a stupid song, but of course the record is sold and loved by millions of people. Why? How is it possible? Thinking about the causes and the consequences of such a phenomenon can lead you far in the understanding of the modern society. When you have this kind of attitude towards everything, you become very sceptical towards the so-called progress. You discern the alienating and dehumanizing forces that rule the world. You see that the life loses meaning, beauty, and greatness. All these problems are very real for me who learnt to love the noble European ideals, and who everyday struggle against those powers that undermine a better life, that make more and more impossible a better life. The medical progress will allow us to live more a hundred years? No interest when you have a ****ty life.
Oh, I get it. Since you're a nihilistic, miserable human being, everyone else must be too. Since you don't want to live longer, no one else does. If only everyone could be as intelligent and insightful as you, to realize how horrible the world is.
I'm not an optimist by any means, but I have no time for that overly-pessimistic, whiny attitude.
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It won’t be useless to refer to philosophers, essayists and writers who expressed these thoughts better than I do in my poor English. Read Schopenhauer, Leopardi, Baudelaire, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Lewis Mumford, Christopher Lasch, Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Ellul, etc. I’ve seen you read Notes from the underground: do you remember what the author said about the “crystal palace”? Read Hannad Arendt, read what she said about tradition, knowledge and authority: it would be a good point for this topic about the education. Will you follow my suggestions? Or are you going to say that I sound like a child? It’s true there are neither learners nor teachers on a forum. The Internet is a marvellous progress for the importance and the meaning given to the speech...
Why would I say you sound like a child?
If reading all that stuff will make me think the way you do, I'm not sure I want to.