Cognitive_Shift said:

The reality is you have to be a bit of a nerd to read books regularly in our culture

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Quote:

While the noble man lives in trust and openness with himself (gennaios 'of noble descent' underlines the
nuance 'upright' and probably also 'naïve'), the man of ressentiment is neither upright nor naive nor honest and straightforward with himself. His soul squints; his spirit loves hiding places, secret paths and back doors, everything covert entices him as his world, his security, his refreshment; he understands how to keep silent, how not to forget, how to wait, how to be provisionally self-deprecating and humble.

A race of such men of ressentiment is bound to become eventually cleverer than any noble race; it will also honor cleverness to a far greater degree: namely, as a condition of existence of the first importance; while with noble men cleverness can easily acquire a subtle flavor of luxury and subtlety—for here it is far less essential than the perfect functioning of the regulating unconscious instincts or even than a certain imprudence, perhaps a bold recklessness whether in the face of danger or of the enemy, or that enthusiastic impulsiveness in anger, love, reverence, gratitude, and revenge by which noble souls have at all times recognized one another.

Ressentiment itself, if it should appear in the noble man, consummates and exhausts itself in an immediate reaction, and therefore does not poison: on the other hand, it fails to appear at all on countless occasions on which it inevitably appears in the weak and impotent.

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Cognitive_Shift said:

The reality is you have to be a bit of a nerd to read books regularly in our culture

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I don't see it that way at all. Thomas Jefferson, who had multiple books arranged on a 'lazy Susan,' is considered a great genius, not a nerd. Why? Because he read excessively during a time when there was no electronic communications? He had a tremendous curiosity. So did many other geniuses from the 17th-20th centuries. John Quincy Adams, son of the the 2nd President  of the United States, and himself, the 6th President, had an unprecedented (pun intended) IQ. HE is never referred to as a nerd. Isaac Newton is never referred to as a nerd, or Ben Franklin. Nerd is a term of mockery that stereotypes intellectuals as being unbalanced people, oblivious to fashion and having poor social skills, perhaps insinuating someone as being on the spectrum of Autism-Asperger's disorders. I am not abnormal any more than that guy who alone refused to raise his arm in a Nazi salute in that pic circulating on the net. He too was in the minority, he didn't belong with the sheeple who bought the big lies. I wonder if he survived the Third Reich.

We live in the Decline and Fall of the United States of America as a one-time place of opportunity for all manner of individuals. Post-Baby-Boomer generations CAN work a 40 hour week but choose to work longer hours because they're addicted to technology and social status. Having outweighs being, and doing outweighs thinking BIG thoughts. Kids don't know what philosophy is and many adults can't even name a philosopher. Maybe Plato's name will come up, but certainly nothing will be known about him. However, ask those same people about the goddamned Kardashians or some equally dumb-ass footballer, and they can tell you the latest gossip.

People race around in cars and on foot like they have important things to do, but they're completely deluded most of the time, deceived by the rules of the game and dazzled by the game's rewards, AS IF personal immortality will be achieved at the result of their frenetic pace. In reality, their inner lives are devoid of Presence, and their relationships keep failing.  They are no more than cogs in a collective machine and little better than the Communist worker of the last century who was told that an inner life apart from the Party was subversive. Reading was discouraged, as was thinking. Pol Pot the Cambodian dictator had people executed just for wearing glasses, since it suggested that they were intellectuals and could read! People in the U.S. calculate their net worth and may be calculating people, but very few WANT to think or even know what thinking is. Adolescents used to tell me they hated to think! Reading is food for thought. No reading, inferior thinking.

Jokeshopbeard said:

I couldn't disagree more. I see nothing about texting that will stimulate the mind in the way dedicating yourself to a book will. Have you been to major city recently and see the zombies glued to their phones? Shit, a 20 year old guy got killed by a truck outside my office recently after he walked into the road without looking - staring at his phone no less. Or couples, sitting across the table from each other, staring at their phones, not talking.

I'm surprised you think they're comparable.

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the dining dead

Reading Kesey's second novel atm, Sometimes A Great Notion.... Do recommend, though anything to do with Oregon is of my interest... Learning this state's history has been something of a challenge, sometimes I feel like I don't have any idea where the fuck I live.

I don't read spiritual fluff anymore, I've done enough of it and enough drugs and have figured out my heart and peace of mind.