I hate Jack Johnson. I hate that I hate Jack Johnson.
I hate my peers' popular culture. I hate that I hate my peers' popular culture. An aspect of said culture is that you are required to hate anything that other people like or enjoy, including hating on other people.
When other people say that television is shallow, I don't think they mean what I do. They're just saying that to impress the chicks. Or themselves. I am immune from all self-flattery. Or irony.
When other people say that empty sexuality is used like an electrode in your head to make you buy products from The Man on the basest of all levels, they don't mean it like I mean it. Do frat boys hate frat boy culture? I'm convinced they hate it more than anyone else.
Everyone wants to feel connected to others. Everyone wants to feel unique. Everyone wants to feel connected to other unique people and have that not be ironic or self-referential or oxymoronic.
I just want to feel connected to people who see that.
2 comments:
If you hate hating Jack Johnson just stop hating Jack Johnson. I did. I kinda like the one song of his that I know... You know the one with the video that was taped in reverse and stuff.
I can tell that Im not entirely certain of your meaning. But Ill throw my two cents around anyway.
Some frat boys prolly do hate frat boy culture while others prolly enjoy it. I think your getting a little hung up on culture. You once called me a philistine and I admit I may be such, but I find that culture is a just a way of lumping individuals into a group so they can be more easily referenced. It would be impossible to understand every individual who is in a fraternity but since their lives share some common characteristics you can throw them into a category and label it frat boy. It doesnt really aid your understanding.
You seem to be depressed by two mutually exclusive possibilities. 1) You are fully unique and that your thoughts and experiences are not like those of any other person ever. No one will ever understand. 2) Everything you say and do is exactly like what other people say and do you are not and never will be anything better than the lowest and basest of all people. Why are these the only possibilities?
Your last sentence implies that you do not feel connected to people who see that people want to feel connected with unique people like themselves. And you dont want it to be oxymoronic or ironic.
David, even though you and Andy dont write often (and I write even less) I check your blogs almost everyday. I enjoy being your f-f-friend. I like you in a totally non-gay way. I that hope it calms some of you angst. If not just pop in some Jack Johnson. That guy is totally mellow.
It seems as though DCM has left us with quite a paradox. Popular culture is trendy, but so is rejecting popular culture. How can one reject popular culture and, at the same time, maintain his uniqueness?
Jordan has argued(and I think, rightly so) that in conforming to trends, we do not give up our uniqueness. Culture, to be precise, is not a lumping of individuals together, but rather a finite set of practices, rituals, symbols, etc. that give accidental(i.e., non-essential) meanings to a particular experiences. That is, culture does not refer to a group of individuals or the traits of those individuals, only to the understanding of those involved. Stereotypes, such as frat boy, do aid in our understanding(by simplifying it) as long as we realize that stereotypes do not necessarily hold in all cases.
I believe in uniqueness in the following sense: each individual is a unique consciousness that contains a set of mental activities(i.e., thoughts, feelings, memories, etc.) that is not equal to any other. The extent to which your consciousness needs to differ from another in order to feel unique is a subjective matter. Perhaps DCM feels he needs to be different in every aspect in order to feel unique, and that not being so makes him a conformist. I think that most would not favor such a radical characterization. I find that communicating with others is quite an arduous task; when I find others with things in common, I greet it with delight !!
Jordan, I have three, maybe four goals I wish to accomplish over break:
(1) Make money.
(2) Get caught up in my studies.
(3) BLOG every day.
(4) Perhaps a tennis/chess match with an old friend ?? ;)
Cheers everyone.
Oh, and boo Jack Johnson.
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