Reason Number #572 why I Feel Dumb: from an AIM conversation last night...
BrownBoyUT: Man, you gotta love a country where "Jackass" can become the number one movie in the land. :D
lydaclunas7: Can I love the country, but despise the stupidity that pervades our culture like a pepetual haze of idiocy?
BrownBoyUT: *shrug* I guess so.
lydaclunas7: OK. That's where I stand, then.
BrownBoyUT: I might have guessed.
lydaclunas7: "Jackass" is part of the haze, naturally.
BrownBoyUT: I don't know. I think there's a deeper level to it all, myself.
lydaclunas7: what? like, "it's not just a show, it's a religion"? ;-)
BrownBoyUT: No, no... more than that.
BrownBoyUT: I think the guys are trying to say something with their work.
BrownBoyUT: The whole thing of bringing joy to others through their own pain is really profound.
lydaclunas7: *waves hand nonchalantly* Some guy in 1900 came up with that observation. It's hardly new.
BrownBoyUT: Hey now, I'm kinda new to this whole cultural analysis thing. Cut me SOME slack, will ya?
BrownBoyUT: ;-)
BrownBoyUT: And just because an idea is old, doesn't mean it's not valid.
BrownBoyUT: If that were the case, what would people say about Catholicism?
lydaclunas7: Well, Henri Bergoson's writing is somewhat less adapted to American pop culture than Jackass is.
lydaclunas7: *Bergson's
lydaclunas7: "In laughter we always find an unavowed intention to humiliate and consequently to correct our neighbour."
BrownBoyUT: Wow...with the "u" in "neighbor" and everything.
lydaclunas7: Well, I'm quoting.
BrownBoyUT: I know, I know.
lydaclunas7: Though he was French, in point of fact. Heh.
BrownBoyUT: That was my next guess. That, or French-Canadian...
lydaclunas7: He was a French philospher and (IIRC) won a Nobel prize.
BrownBoyUT: Nobel prize... they give those to anyone nowadays, don't they?
Now, I was actually trying to make somewhat of a point in the above conversation. But the fact that my friend (who shall remain nameless) could pull up a quote like that without batting an eye totally amazes me. (Then again, this friend did mention that she first learned of Bergson back in HIGH SCHOOL...)
Anyway, it seems as though every time I talk to this person, I feel like I'm back in one of my AMS classes that I had last spring. It would be my last class of the day on Tuesdays, second to last on Thursdays. The other classes were really wide-ranging (Postmodern America, American Culture Since 1865, Life and Times of Muhammad), but this class really challenged me. So much so that I really didn't care for it much, or for the people in it. I know they probably didn't mean to, but the conversations that would go on before class made me feel out of place. As if I still hadn't learned enough after nine semesters to be able to participate in a "highbrow" class such as this. (It didn't help that they would discuss all their other choices of schools, and their "disappointment" in going to Texas.)
I guess all I'm saying is that I really don't feel smart enough to deserve a college degree. But I figure if it worked out for Dubya...
BrownBoyUT: Man, you gotta love a country where "Jackass" can become the number one movie in the land. :D
lydaclunas7: Can I love the country, but despise the stupidity that pervades our culture like a pepetual haze of idiocy?
BrownBoyUT: *shrug* I guess so.
lydaclunas7: OK. That's where I stand, then.
BrownBoyUT: I might have guessed.
lydaclunas7: "Jackass" is part of the haze, naturally.
BrownBoyUT: I don't know. I think there's a deeper level to it all, myself.
lydaclunas7: what? like, "it's not just a show, it's a religion"? ;-)
BrownBoyUT: No, no... more than that.
BrownBoyUT: I think the guys are trying to say something with their work.
BrownBoyUT: The whole thing of bringing joy to others through their own pain is really profound.
lydaclunas7: *waves hand nonchalantly* Some guy in 1900 came up with that observation. It's hardly new.
BrownBoyUT: Hey now, I'm kinda new to this whole cultural analysis thing. Cut me SOME slack, will ya?
BrownBoyUT: ;-)
BrownBoyUT: And just because an idea is old, doesn't mean it's not valid.
BrownBoyUT: If that were the case, what would people say about Catholicism?
lydaclunas7: Well, Henri Bergoson's writing is somewhat less adapted to American pop culture than Jackass is.
lydaclunas7: *Bergson's
lydaclunas7: "In laughter we always find an unavowed intention to humiliate and consequently to correct our neighbour."
BrownBoyUT: Wow...with the "u" in "neighbor" and everything.
lydaclunas7: Well, I'm quoting.
BrownBoyUT: I know, I know.
lydaclunas7: Though he was French, in point of fact. Heh.
BrownBoyUT: That was my next guess. That, or French-Canadian...
lydaclunas7: He was a French philospher and (IIRC) won a Nobel prize.
BrownBoyUT: Nobel prize... they give those to anyone nowadays, don't they?
Now, I was actually trying to make somewhat of a point in the above conversation. But the fact that my friend (who shall remain nameless) could pull up a quote like that without batting an eye totally amazes me. (Then again, this friend did mention that she first learned of Bergson back in HIGH SCHOOL...)
Anyway, it seems as though every time I talk to this person, I feel like I'm back in one of my AMS classes that I had last spring. It would be my last class of the day on Tuesdays, second to last on Thursdays. The other classes were really wide-ranging (Postmodern America, American Culture Since 1865, Life and Times of Muhammad), but this class really challenged me. So much so that I really didn't care for it much, or for the people in it. I know they probably didn't mean to, but the conversations that would go on before class made me feel out of place. As if I still hadn't learned enough after nine semesters to be able to participate in a "highbrow" class such as this. (It didn't help that they would discuss all their other choices of schools, and their "disappointment" in going to Texas.)
I guess all I'm saying is that I really don't feel smart enough to deserve a college degree. But I figure if it worked out for Dubya...
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