wSep 26, 2005


My graphpaper needs to be less bare

I'm going to be sad when the fruit cart is gone for the winter. It's in a very convenient location (right at the start of State Street) and I enjoy purchasing dried banana chips and other random food there. Ditto for the farmer's market - I'm excited to go there next weekend to get stuff to make a dinner (if that's still the plan...).

Does anyone want a ticket to the Indiana game this Saturday? I'll be gone, obviously. Maybe I'll just sell it at exchangehut.com.....arranging stuff can be a hassle, though. But $50....hmm.....

Tonight I had to watch the movie "The Fountainhead" for my Political Theory class. It was made in the 1940's, apparently. Thus it was graced with random terrible dialogue and a female character who enjoyed tripping when she was overcome with passion and a dragging plot. Despite these shortcomings (seriously, movies hadn't been around too much at this point), it was a really good movie. The themes! Everywhere! I feel like I must forsake you all and stand alone. Lock myself in a room and write, and create, and not conform for anyone's sake! Self-sacrifice is a sack of crap, as is mediocrity for the sake of preserving the community as opposed to the individual!

Or something. I have to wake up early tomorrow morning, :/ But in good news, I'm going to be going with lots of random people I know to a rented-out theater on Thursday night for the midnight premiere of "Serenity." I'd like to see Neil Gaiman's "Mirror Mask," too - both seem to be awesome. Here's an interview with Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman. I found it to be very cool.

Steph brought back lots of gourds and honeydew and squash with her from her grandpa's farm thing. So now I have cute little gourds on my shelf (and in the window sill), and ate some delicious honeydew for lunch. I'm going to be bringing some stuff for the wallspace from home this weekend, and maybe we'll hang up the rest of the lights, and then I'll actually take pictures of what our room looks like for you all to see, :O

I should do a load of laundry....I wish I didn't have to be a track athlete to accomplish this.

Current Music: Xenosaga 2 trailer song (my new favorite song....too bad I don't know the name or artist!)
scribbled mystickeeper at 11:57 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:

I read about 1/2 of the Fountainhead before I gave it up in utter disgust. Ayn Rand has the worst, meanest philosophy ever and the dullest prose. Ugh.

By Blogger Gretchen, at 7:40 AM, September 27, 2005  

Ayn Rand has the worst, meanest philosophy ever

Maybe it makes more sense if you think of it in terms of politics?

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 8:23 AM, September 27, 2005  

I'm sorry, but if the philosophy is applied to politics it's even worse. The purpose of a politician is to stand as proxy for his/her constituents. "I feel like I must forsake you all and stand alone"??? That flies in the face of what a politician's JOB is. It's a cruel, free-market sort of thing and it props up this country's cult of the individual. I'm all for individualism, but sometimes negligible self-sacrifice (like shelling out a little bit more for Louise's family-owned breadstore bread instead of getting wonderbread from Walmart or something) is ultimately rewarding. What a shitty world we'd live in if everyone walked around emulating Ayn Rand.

By Blogger Gretchen, at 8:40 AM, September 27, 2005  

In the class, we've been spending the last few weeks looking at different forms of government (or lack thereof) such as anarchy, elitism, populism, and democracy with completely open minds and debating them in terms of practicality and what is actually best for society. Is the majority of a society always right? Indeed, is a majority of society EVER right? A majority of Americans enjoy marginilizing people because of their sexuality - I'm surprised that you would want all politicians to simply represent the majority of their constituents.

The premise of the movie/book is that the main character is an architect. Unlike basically every other architect, he has unconventional ideas about how buildings should look. Lots of people get pissed and refuse to hire him because it would be going against the grain. They keep telling him to subordinate himself to the will of the majority, and he refuses.

Geniuses are supposedly dangerous men, and should not aspire to be things that ordinary men can not share.

In terms of self-sacrifice, the movie was referring to having to give up your integrity, or your freedoms, for the sake of mediocrity - for the sake of letting everyone else feel good about themselves because they can still see themselves as equal to you. In essence, sacrificing your very spirit so that nobody feels uncomfortable.
It is in this sense that the main character is happy to be "selfish" - to not give in.

I'm not quite sure whether I agree with the movie, but I do agree with the fact that especially when it comes to politics, a majority of any kind is often dangerous because everyone knows that the vast majority of people are uninformed and apathetic about politics - especially when they are local (shouldn't this be the opposite?).

If a politician knows that the tyranny of the majority that he/she represents will result in something bad, is he/she still obligated to not stand alone (until election day comes and they are deserted)?

That said, I am a fan of self-sacrifice. Just not the kind where you have to give up intangible things that make you who you are.

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 1:52 PM, September 27, 2005  

Ooo, I feel pwnd. You are so right. I guess I read the book (soph in High school) in terms of its characterization, rather than its political implications. The subtlety of how arrogant, self-serving assholes are good for society was lost on me then until you so assiduously pointed out the dangers of a majority-rule society.

Go you.

By Blogger Gretchen, at 4:25 PM, September 27, 2005  

XD

What can I say, sometimes I win one!

By Blogger mystickeeper, at 4:34 PM, September 27, 2005  

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