While we're on this, antinatalists love Schopenhauer, but they missed this paragraph
"'In fact, the conviction that the world and man is something that had better not have been, is of a kind to fill us with indulgence towards one another. Nay, from this point of view, we might well consider the proper form of address to be, not Monsieur, Sir, mein Herr, but my fellow-sufferer, Socî malorum, compagnon de miseres! This may perhaps sound strange, but it is in keeping with the facts; it puts others in a right light; and it reminds us of that which is after all the most necessary thing in life — the tolerance, patience, regard, and love of neighbor, of which everyone stands in need, and which, therefore, every man owes to his fellow.""
As hard as it is humanly possible to miss a paragraph.
So let me get this straight. You want to fly on a magic carpet to see the king of the Potato People and plead with him for your freedom, and you're telling me you're completely sane?
You know, there is a good point in there under the snobby tone. A very good point, actually,
Can you elaborate on this, please?
Consuming fiction because other people seem to like it and people expect you to know it is not the way to enrich your experience. Reading widely initially and refining and understanding your own tastes is good, but it should not be driven from outside. Knowing what your own standards for good writing are and exposing yourself to different ways to achieve that should be a personal prerogative, not some slog through another's canon or some grand attempt to scry "what gets the people going." What entertains and provokes thought in and speaks to you is the essential thing.
That, and let's face it: Life is too short to bore yourself with things you just don't like because other people did.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
That's a good reason why I stopped watching English-language TV.
Because people are saying that it's prestigious and amazing and blah blah blah blah I really don't want to care. I don't want to see more of a world that I will never know or be able to interact with.
Comments
Gentlemen, i wish to give your lives meaning.
i guess my only hope is the potato king.
So let me get this straight. You want to fly on a magic carpet to see the king of the Potato People and plead with him for your freedom, and you're telling me you're completely sane?
Consuming fiction because other people seem to like it and people expect you to know it is not the way to enrich your experience. Reading widely initially and refining and understanding your own tastes is good, but it should not be driven from outside. Knowing what your own standards for good writing are and exposing yourself to different ways to achieve that should be a personal prerogative, not some slog through another's canon or some grand attempt to scry "what gets the people going." What entertains and provokes thought in and speaks to you is the essential thing.
That, and let's face it: Life is too short to bore yourself with things you just don't like because other people did.