Postcards:

For all things philosophical.

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Dalek Prime
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Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

Again, I am.the furthest thing from a conservative. I only mean that I am no longer a risk-taker. I would have to say I'm a socialist, and an antinatalist. Does that sound conservative to you, David? I have apoplexy over capitalism, social conservatism, and the rich/poor divide. It's much to do with the world as it stands that I've forgone bringing others into it, though not the sole reason.
Last edited by Dalek Prime on Sat May 30, 2015 11:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Dalek Prime
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Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

Yes d63, I think the author of that statement definitely confused, or mixed together, two completely different definitions of conservatism, and it's used to denigrate others who are not political conservatives.
David Handeye
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Re: Postcards:

Post by David Handeye »

Dalek Prime wrote:Again, I am.the furthest thing from a conservative. I only mean that I am no longer a risk-taker. I would have to say I'm a socialist, and an antinatalist. Does that sound conservative to you, David? I have apoplexy over capitalism, social conservatism, and the rich/poor divide. It's much to do with the world as it stands that I've forgone bringing others into it, though not the sole reason.
No, that doesn't sound conservative to me, but why antinatalism? Anyway, I'd say I have an opinion of my own: if we are here, if we are born, it was necessary. Think about it, we are now and here, living our lives, despite our will we were born in this world, we could not not to come at this world, I mean even if your parents didn't want to have children, who tells you? You will never have the countercheck.
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

Actually, David, wrote an essay on this. But keep in mind that I only offer it pending your time, interest, and patience: http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopi ... 6&t=181077

In answer to your question: when it comes to conservatism, it can mean a lot of different things depending what conservative you're talking to. But one thing that seems to be consistent among all of them (in fact, may well be written into the very definition of conservative (is a natural resistance to change.

Also, Dalek: more of a social democrat myself.
David Handeye
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Location: Italia

Re: Postcards:

Post by David Handeye »

d63 wrote:Actually, David, wrote an essay on this. But keep in mind that I only offer it pending your time, interest, and patience: http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopi ... 6&t=181077

In answer to your question: when it comes to conservatism, it can mean a lot of different things depending what conservative you're talking to. But one thing that seems to be consistent among all of them (in fact, may well be written into the very definition of conservative (is a natural resistance to change.

Also, Dalek: more of a social democrat myself.
Thank you d63.
And do you also think that conservative attitude comes along with advancing age? Or with better social status regardless your age? For example fascist and nazis totalitarisms claimed to be conservative ideologies only to be opposed to socialist one, despite their social attitude were mostly revolutionary. What's the real nature of conservatorism and is it nowadays yet to be proposed?
Dalek Prime
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Location: Living in a tree with Polly.

Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

Needs a log in to read it. Can you post here? Really, I've seen all the arguments against antinatalism. None convincing. But I'd read it anyways. Perhaps in a new thread, so we don't clog d63's thread?
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

Sorry, Dalek: I thought you could just read it.
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

I'll post it here when I get a chance.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

It happens. Thanks.
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

I have no problem with wandering off topic. I'm not snobbish about digression when you never know where it will take you. It's my job, as the OP, to try to guide it back to topic when it seems necessary. So feel free to write about antinatalism if you want. For instance, what is it?

I mean it's not like me posting my essay wouldn't constitute a digression.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

What is antinatalism? I'll keep it to definitions, for now, and post two, because they differ, but I like them both.

Antinatalism is a philosophical position that assigns a negative value to birth, standing in opposition to natalism.

Antinatalism is the belief that procreation is morally problematic. It seeks to end the imposition of life, and all the suffering that accompanies it.
David Handeye
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Re: Postcards:

Post by David Handeye »

Logically antinatalism should not exist.
Dalek Prime
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Re: Postcards:

Post by Dalek Prime »

Seems you've made your mind up already, David. I don't feel you're ready to discuss this openly. I'd still like to read your essay, anyways.
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

To be honest, guys, I’m starting feel to like I’m running out of things to write about –as if I have depleted the reservoir. The upswing though is reflected by Sartre in Nausea:

Today: Nothing: existed.

Those are the kind of days I get more sleep.
*
Still, I have to keep writing as it is the payoff of all the reading I do. But I approach it with a sense of dread as it has become like sex with a hooker or masturbation: an itch that won’t stop till it’s scratched and invariability leads to a feeling of being dirty.
*
“Duchamp had two strategic objectives. First, to destroy the hegemony exerted by an establishment which claimed the right to decide what was, and what was not, to be deemed a work of art. Second, to puncture the pretentious claims of those who called themselves artists and in doing so assumed that they possessed extraordinary skills and unique gifts of discrimination and taste.” –from Alistair McFarlane’s article, Brief Lives: Marcel Duchamp in Philosophy Now (issue 108)

One has to wonder if philosophy isn’t in need of a Marcel Duchamp. Or did thinkers like Deleuze and Derrida fulfill that role?
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“As the right-wing has clearly demonstrated (that is in their almost religious embrace of producer/consumer Capitalism (there is no reasoning with these people. And this is because their reasoning is subject to their baser impulses. Of course, Germany and every other western industrialized nation has seen the results of that kind of thing. So the main problem lies in America (a comparatively adolescent country (and the cut-throat Capitalism we have managed to shove down the throat of every other country.” –me

“Superficiality is the general characterization of US culture in Europe, especially Germany. This is, because Capitalism is more "pure" as money fetishism is more dominate there!! A bad environment for the deeper thinking required for philosophy!!”- Harald Helmut Wenk

Something I didn’t get to in the previous response to this was my understanding of “superficiality” as America’s (especially as concerns the rightwing element (deficiency in critical thinking: that which can be described as a willingness to push (via the tools of logic and reason and whatever other tools are available: anecdotal, instinct, subjective experience, etc. etc. (beyond one’s present understanding. I, of course, have done a lot of harping on terms like “reason”, “logic”, “objectivity”, or “the scientific method” because I have mainly seen them used as badges of authority which allows the individual to flash them and demean the other despite the lack of real proof on their part. Such terms basically appeal to socially programmed responses to socially programmed cues while failing to satisfy the criteria of critical thinking by putting more emphasis on the tools than the agenda: understanding. Such terms are too often used in support of the status quo.
*
This is what it always is: the ability to approach a blank space and fill it with something: words, images, sounds, something, anything….
d63
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Re: Postcards:

Post by d63 »

Has anyone noticed how Republican’s tend to resent the wealth of celebrities who espouse leftist ideologies while overlooking the wealth of corporate CEOs: that which is actually effecting their lives.
*
“I as a writer definitely procrastinate when it comes to writing. The ideas for the story come so quickly yet the work involved in developing the story is so mundane. Usually I can rectify this by writing with different color pens on different colored paper.

Still, I fall into the mundane quickly. I push myself to research things relevant to the story only to find myself down the rabbit hole of websites that get further away from my initial search finally landing on Facebook.

I think my will power is fleeting when it comes to buckling down and pursuing the passions that would allow me relief from the mundaneness of working for other people. Well that coupled with a minor fear of success and performance anxiety to outdo the book I haven't written yet.” –Elizibeth

Feel your pain, Elizabeth.It's not just the tedium that writing can sometimes involve. It's the fear and dread that comes down to facing the blank page and not knowing whether you'll be able to fill it with anything meaningful. Therein, lies the value of free writing with no expectations about the quality. This why it is best not to dwell on the book you haven't written yet, and focus more on breaking that book down to easily managed projects -once again: Hemingway's 500 words a day.

The other really good advice I got on the matter was from a book about making art. It was critiquing the various myths about art. And the one that really struck me was the myth of art being a mystical activity. At first, this took the fun out of it. But then I realized that looking at art (or any creative act (as a mystical activity can only stifle an artist (especially a young one (since it could leave them with the idea that the only time they should be writing is when they happen to be inspired. And how does one develop the craft of writing doing that? You have to look at it as an act similar to a cabinet maker: an activity that one engages in (inspired or not (because it is what they do. As Picasso said: taste is the enemy of art.

(On a side note: Picasso was an artist and likely not one to haggle too much on the terminology he was using. For instance, he might have recognized that Art is actually a matter of taste since it is the social expression of the creative act subject to public scrutiny. The creative act is the private activity: that which sustains itself through a sense of Play. Art is the public discourse it hopefully evolves into. Therefore, I would (for our purposes (revise his statement to taste is the enemy of the creative act. (

That said, Picasso's point becomes a two edged sword for us on the boards. We have to be wary here of the instant gratification of instant publication when what we are mainly doing here is the equivalent of the sketches and studies (a form of Play (of an artist working towards a finished piece they hang in a gallery. This is basically a workshop as compared to a platform. And that really becomes a problem when you find out that the more finished piece you developed online is not publishable because most magazines want their content to be seen for the first time. Poetry magazine, for instance, explicitly asks you to confirm that you haven't published online when you submit.

Still, the draw of it is hard to get beyond. I can hardly write anything without seeing what it looks like on a message board. But I've been thinking about putting my vice to work for me and create a completely private board that no one can read but who I invite: those who are interested in developing their private projects. A workshop in the rhizome cafe if you will.
*
"The search for human wisdom is intimately bound to life in the street" -spike

As well as the Promethean heroics of taking fire to the people.
*
“I'm not of the belief that writing for the sake of writing is a good thing
Your first post mentioned it being okay to mumble. Do you like when people mumble? Do you like when people ramble?

You are your own witness, and I don't think you should aim to annoy yourself.” –unsuper

Good luck with your process, unsuper.
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