Who is talking?

What is "swarhj"

Ok all that aside, i like this 100x more than N. Gandhi seems to have emotion! He's not a german robot. One of the coolest things i thought Gandhi talked about was railroads. "It was after the advent of railways that we began to believe in distinctions" and that through railways "we are beginning to abolish those distinctions" It's a very unique idea that Gandhi proposes. I'm not a big U.S. history buff, but i wonder if the same was true for the U.S. during the advent of the railroad and the establishment of air travel.

I also liked his long discussion on Religion. My favorite quote had to be "If everyone will try and understand the Core of his own religion and adhere to it...there will be no room for quarreling" There is a whole ton of wisdom packed in there, mostly established on self discipline, understanding, and wisdom (all things religion promotes). I have big problems with religious hypocrisy (even though i commit it myself making me an even bigger hypocrite) so it was nice to see this and definitely something i'll try and adopt to my own life.

Nietzche claims that "for a time the tyranny of such paradoxical and paralogical concepts as 'guilt', 'sin', 'sinfulness', 'depravity', 'damnation' " (128). I agree that these words and the ideas behind these words exercise some amount of control over people. They exercise control over me due to my beliefs, but people subscribe to these. They say, 'i accept these beliefs as true and therefore accept the meanings behind this new vocabulary i will begin using'. The people who use these words choose to put meaning into them and are not under a tyrannical rule, but under a governing system they agree to. John Locke's second treatise of government (reading in leadership studies) discusses how people choose to be governed or not. This is definitely a situation where people choose to be ruled (in this case by words) and thus the system is a legitimate and appropriate governing system.

So again, sorry Nietzche i have chosen to go against your thoughts. I do agree with some of your stuff, its just more fun to write about things i don't like.

Some of his own medicine.

I have a hard time siding with all this nihilism. Maybe a little here and there, but Nietzsche is nihilistic all the time, and thats a little too much to handle. I'm still working my way through the reading, but interestingly enough i have found something i agree with in here.

"an even more highly valued means of combating depression is the prescribing of a petty pleasure that is easily attainable and can be made into a regular event" pg. 135. Thats how i'm handling Nietzsche right now. I'll read ten pages of his depressing outlook on things (which though insightful is very depressing at times) and then i'll take a nice nap where I let my brain relax and take a break from all those nihilistic pressures.

Alright Fred, yes because you and i are not getting along i'm using a more derogatory version of your name. Sure i didn't agree with you before, but now the trend seems to be continuing and this can't be good.

Well, you continued on this good bad and evil thing, and you know how i feel about that, but now you are mocking me. I am a christian and you are beating up our 'love your enemies" policy. Now i admit it is a little crazy and darn near impossible to do but i don't see you offering any great advice. All i see you saying is that we as humanity are tired of other men! How insightful, thank you. Any advice for aiding the development of humanity? helping us exist together even if we get tired of each other? no? well then what good have you done? you've torn down our social beliefs and presumptions, but how are we supposed to fix it. I want some answers here buddy not just some ideas on how messed up our beliefs are.

I did like how at the end of section 11 you state that a higher man is affirming life. I'll support you there.

Sorry friedrich, i don't agree. There are legitimate concepts of good bad and evil. Sure some of these may be based off other values, but the total idea of 'good' or 'bad' based of a mixture of those other values.

"that which has proved itself useful is good" - see i don't agree with that. There are many things that would be useful. Slavery would be extremely useful. Cheap labor = cheaper products and less civil (for lack of a better word) drama. Yea that would be more useful.

Another problem i have: I have never heard the rich call themselves or be called the "truthfull". I don't know any wealthy people who consider themselves more truthful than others, i know plenty who know they are liars.

I feel like i'm watching a televangilist or a stuck up forbes reporter or a political figure who speaks like they know the people and the peoples thoughts/needs, but they really don't.

in short: Nietzsche, i'm not in agreement sir.

Ok Nietzsche, I know you're an extremely influential man who defined or influenced whole sections of western thought, but come on. Did you really write On The Geneology Of Morals because you didn't like Dr. Ree's book. I mean sure, you can disagree and respond to him, but i refuse to believe that this whole text that is so influential to modern thought was simply a response to this guy's book as "precocious" as it may be!

You say some very intelligent things here, like how "we have never sought ourselves" and how we only want to "bring something home" I still can't fully understand or explain these things that you say in the beginning of the preface, you barely skimming the surface of your arguments. Yet when i read them something clicks and i know there is some form of truth in these tangled arguments.

In other words Nietzsche, give yourself some more credit.

Rives Blog

I almost liked his blog more than his poetry. Its obvious he is just putting up thing that interest him and that he wants to share, not necissarily making any kind of statement with the items. His coverage of the only patially attended debate at Morgan state was very entertaining. I loved how he muted the guy next to him because he 'could talk, and talk'.

The artists convent looked like fun. How interesting would it be to go to your window and not know what you will see when you look out it (in a good way)?

The video of people making rooster noises was my favoite little bit. I could easily tell that all these people were making the sound of a rooster, but it was definetly not the sound i would make. Its interesting how our brain can connect it but still doesn't adapt it.

Rives

I'm a huge fan of this guy. He blends his thoughts and musings on life with pop culture (homer-homer simpson) very well. I love the speed at which he speaks, he is moving almost as fast as i can think, which is considerably slower than I can speak. I'm going to give my comments on each one as i re-watch them for the 2nd or third time.

Mockingbird:
"The Johnny Appleseed of Sound" - Rives says he's going to plant sounds everywhere and to a slight extent thats what i see rap and hip hop music doing. 3 years ago (i think) tim mcgraw and nelly teamed up to make a song (which was WAY overplayed on my local radio station), but anyway they mix 2 sounds together to make a 'beautiful' song, and if it hadn't been so over played i would agree.

OP Talk:
He's not even telling a full story, its small little stories telling the story of 'OP' talk, but you still get this feeling, this deep understanding, of his relationship with his sister. Ha i love the inclusion of Prince's 'When Dove's Cry'. The ending is so sentimental without any real explanation of his sister, but just their way of interacting. I'm amazed at the level of emotion he can elicit from me with so little background info.

(I really liked Kite even though it wasn't on our list).

DPJ:
I never thought of poets being deaf, of course they can be poets, it just never crossed my mind. I loved the end line. The connotations in his voice, the motions of his body the way he finally pulls 'voice' out of his throat. wow. it was good stuff.

Gorgeous:
"Gorgeous is an extra special helping of appropriate" - that is an awesome way of phrasing things.
I just got his little joke about 'Gorgeous is not charismatic, i know because i shave me" - I like his level of self understanding and a bit of self-deprecation
"people put the ow in shallow" - my guess at this is that there is something reasonable in 'face value' logic, but people basing all their judgments on face value assumptions hurts others.
I like how at the end, after spending all this time saying how he and we arn't usually gorgeous, he turns it around and claims he is, and by association, all of us are.

Sell out:
He is a pretty good harmonica player. I like his little joke "i don't even know whatever the hell that means" and "if talk is cheep why are they charging 10 bucks to get in"? I like people who can see the humor in their own lives/lifestyle
"all i know is my life is like a poem" If he is really asking if he is a sell out, my answer is no. He, according to his own defense, is just telling his life in a way he is skilled at and enjoys, and people pay to hear these. So no, he's not a sellout.

He uses poetry in our modern words and our modern situations, but makes it lyric and finds some kind of meaning within it. Most of the time i can't even figure out the meaning, but i know its there. Like seeing a car through fog, i know its there, but i can only see the headlights.

My Taoist Poem

Decisions cause unrest
Unrest fills the empty.

Decisions lead to peace or chaos

Life is a balance of peace and chaos
Trying to maximize peace
And minimize chaos is the task of life

Peace is found in the letting go of value.
Empty value and you empty all

Chaos is an abundance of value
Filling all and still more

Act as though there is value,
Live as you know it does not exist

That is Te.