a mix

I'm currently a mix of Nietzsche, evolution, Marilyn Manson, Jacques Lacan, and CoD4. I think it takes some bending and a little rattling to temper the mind. Here's to greater awareness or schizophrenia, whichever should come first.

hypothetically speaking

We live in hypotheticals. I mean our thinking is inextricably bound up with hypotheticals.

The future is hypothetical. We expect that it will come because we are used to this kind of regularity. On a more basic level, we are constantly preoccupied with imagining the consequences of our actions. Furthermore, the only way to have an opinion or belief about something is to imagine the thoughts and feelings we will have when confronted with the object of our opinion. I dislike the color red. I imagine that if I were to see the color red I would have a negative reaction.

This is all very hypothetical.

Similarly, hypothetical situations are just imagined situations. Many situtations in which people find themselves were hypothetical before ever being actual. That is to say we often imagine situations and then make them happen. We may either cause situations to happen or merely anticipate them.

So...

...yesterday I decide that I'm moving on in my life, but then, today, precisely that which I had my mind made up about pops, of its own accord, back into my life. Perfect timing. And by that I mean ridiculously rotten timing. So much for being resolute.

And that paper I have to write for Philosophy of Mind -- on emotion... it promises to be equally as confusing as the real-life phenomenon.

bring it on, all of it.

being yourself and living in accordance with your own will

it's like your being glad is your will showing through (what you want), and same for me

so if another person's being glad takes precedent over your own, then you let their will and what they want take precedent

it's easy for people to consciously and subconsciously use approval-seekers, but a lot of the time approval-seekers are just kind of false and annoying cause they're not really being themselves, they're being who they think others want them to be

that's why I think everyone really want to be a badass, b/c a badass says things like "no" and "fuck that" and "screw you" and are their own person. the trick is to be a badass, but not because you aim to be a badass

a response

If you examine The Downward Spiral, one can easily say he does know about Nietzsche and you can see the same lines drawn from Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson, which TR Produced. I cannot say for certain though since Down In It is PHM era.

"The Becoming" is clearly a Will to Power statement. "Destroy yourself to become what you are."

"Everyday is Exactly the Same" is evident of Nausea towards life.

"Happiness in Slavery" is a mocking of slave morality. "Claims he does what he wants"

That's it, I'm going to read Nietzsche.

(do "burn." first)

this is gentler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIhFbGH0uEU

burn.

real.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdhKnAw6VZw

lyric analysis (part II)

Okay, so:

It's really interesting that someone I know has said that "Down In It" (Nine Inch Nails) moves from Apollonian to Dionysian. I'm actually just starting to read The Birth of Tragedy and so I have some idea of what this means. But my question is - do you think Trent Reznor meant, or is aware, that the lyrics for "Down In It" should have anything to do with the Apollonian and Dionysian?

That's kind of why I felt awkward describing his lyrics as existential, because he may have written them without any existential knowledge or intent, and I wouldn't want to project onto his lyrics.

Also, I don't know if I could see TR as an existentialist. I'm trying. I think about the themes in his work and I see a lot of determinism, helplessness, the-world-is-a-cruel/absurd-place, living-is-pain, etc. It seems like he (or his musical persona) at least struggles with competing views about life and the world (as most thinking people probably do). For instance--

Deterministic:

-Something I Can Never Have
-That's What I Get
-Happiness in Slavery (the end of this one seems especially deterministic in its lyrics)
-Closer (the endless drum beat, the repetition, "can't help me get away from myself," "my whole existence is flawed," it's like he can't escape 'the human condition.')
-The Becoming ("all pain disappears / it's the nature of my circuitry/ drowns out all I hear / no escape from this - my new consciousness" & "the me that you know / used to have feelings / but the blood has stopped pumping / and he's left to decay / the me that you know / is now made up of wires...")
-All the Love in the World (all except the end, which is a radical reversal in mood that builds gradually throughout the song)
-Every Day Is Exactly the Same (repetition, lyrics, this is the epitome of determinism, "I believe I can see the future / because I repeat the same routine. / I think I used to have a purpose / but then again, that might have been a dream.")

Solipsistic:

-I Do Not Want This ("I have lived so many lives all in my head / Don't tell me that you care / There really isn't anything, is there?") ("And maybe I dont have a choice / And maybe that is all I have / And maybe this is a cry for help")
-Only (the song title itself, "Less concerned, about fitting into the world / Your world that is, cause it doesn't really matter anymore ... / ... Yes, I am alone, but then again I always was / As far back as I can tell, I think maybe it's because / Because you were never really real to begin with / I just made you up to hurt myself / There is no you, there is only me.")

This is what I see. Are there other ways we can categorize NIN songs? (I'm not usually a fan of categorization, but these are extremely loose categories and I don't mean for any of this to be set in stone!)


**Aside -- I love the whole moral dilemma about "Kinda I Want to" (And I know it's not the right thing, and I know it's not the good thing, But kinda i want to.) Same with "The Only Time" (i'm drunk. and right now i'm so in love with you. and i don't want to think too much about what we should or shouldn't do.). Also love the line: well i want to rip it up and swim in it until i drown, my moral standing is lying down.

my brilliant catchphrase for UMBC ©

I can't believe I didn't think of this before; I came up with this ages ago. I'm recording it here now so that anybody who comes up with it after of rips it from me can be easily pwned when I refer to this documentation.

Without further ado

You're always in The Loop at UMBC!©

amorality and amoralists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorality

How in an amoral life can one think of anything as 'good' or 'bad'? Furthermore, it seems to me that since human beings have the capacity to value, and thus we have opinions of what "ought to be," being human precludes the condition of being amoral.

Rocks are amoral. Nothing rocks "do" can be considered right or wrong in any sense of the words.

I suspect "amoralists" are those who pretend not to have moral opinions. I simply don't believe that adult human beings functioning at usual levels can be amoral.

be you (cliché)

Be you, not people's image of you. Misconceptions are bound to occur; they can be dealt with later.

on human beings and animals

Ryan: I know my dog has a while (left to live) but (and this sounds terrible) for some reason I feel more sad when I think about her dying than when I think about death and most other people I know.

Celia: That doesn't sound terrible to me.

I mean it doesn't sound great, either.

But still. I think sometimes we have a greater connection with our pets than we do with some people.

Ryan: Yea, I wonder why there is that strong connection.

Celia: Because pets aren't judgmental.

Ryan: Wow.

Yeah.

True.

Celia: Our pets don't see us as bad or mean or anything like that even when we feel we are. They always come up to us, tails wagging or meowing. They really are man's best friend because they are always there when you need them.

Ryan: Well they can certainly see us as bad or mean, but I get what you mean; they don't make us feel like we did something wrong.

Celia: Yea, and they don't care what we look like or what we wear and things like that; and sometimes people do.

Ryan: Haha, I think most people do, all of the time.

Celia: Haha. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, I guess. Well maybe that's a lie.

Ryan: But, you know, pets do care about what we look like, they just never criticize us for it.

Celia: How do you figure?

Ryan: A dog will growl at a really large shady looking man who's a stranger.

Celia: Haha that's a good point.

Ryan: But the dog isn't ever going to say that it's wrong to be a large shady looking man.

Celia: Maybe that is what dogs are saying when they bark: "Stay back creeper!"

Ryan: But even then they aren't saying that it's wrong to be a creeper.

Celia: That's true.

Ryan: It's a big difference, I think, between dogs and human beings.

A dog shows you how it feels; it never tries to impose a way of feeling on you.
[Animals don't seem to challenge human autonomy; they only ever act and react.]

We love them for that.

But we make pets feel bad on purpose all the time: "Bad dog!"

Celia: Yea but that's just a way of parenting; parents make their children feel bad to teach them.

Ryan: Well I'm not saying it's good or bad, I'm just saying that dogs don't ever do that (judge us) and I think that's part of why we like them.

Celia: No, yea, I completely agree.

Ryan: I think you brought up a hugely important topic.

Celia: I didn't mean to haha. You asked.

Ryan: I mean, in moral philosophy the treatment of animals and the difference between human beings and animals are huge subjects. Sorry for being all philosophical (it is like my life). [says the philosophy major]

Celia: Haha. Well animals are my life. So it worked out. [says the pre-veterinarian major]

the source of wisdom

...is in seeking to understand and be understood.