It's batshit insane to me how a writer can summarize my views more perfectly than any modern political figure. More people should see this in my opinion.
Alberto Balsalm I just don't do it. If someone asks why, then I say as little as possible by just stating why as simply as possible. If they want more info, that's on them. This is a very good way to not sound pretentious.
Alberto Balsalm Alberto, I feel the same way. However, there is still good in the USA society, just not much of it on a nationwide level. If you look at a society, such as the USA, and realize that it's been steadily built upon a platform where money rules everything around people, then what you get is what you see today, and will continue to see. I don't have the answer as to how to fix such a problem, since it's part of the culture now, but personally, I look towards other cultures and that gives me hope for a better life. It's impossible to save the world, let alone a single person, because people have to do this themselves. My advice is don't worry about it, but never stop pondering the situations society faces, and as soon as you can as cheaply as you can, travel the world. I did it partially by hitchhiking on sailboats. People needed crew to help them sail, so I found such people on online forums. And just like that, I was out on the open ocean for five months.
In the beginning I thought it was just going to be audio and that was just a picture of him. He scared me when he started moving and blinked. He looked frozen before.
Harold Pinter made similar comments in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech about the level of comfort that Americans want to maintain, at the cost of looking honestly at what is happening in the rest of the world. DFW said things that did not come from a prepared cheat sheet. It is evident that he was not afraid to point out problems, even if they did not have simple solutions.
When the Twin Towers came down on 9/11 so many people in the USA who previously might have appeared to be relatively aware, educated, informed, knowledgeable and lucid suddenly revealed themselves to be surprisingly inexperienced, naive and even irrational. As unimaginable and unprecedented as the catastrophe was, and as traumatic as it was in terms of its visual impact--its out sized surreal theatricality--the tragedy was for me, on an emotional and psychological level, a sad confirmation of my more grim and morbid convictions about humanity. I was shocked and stunned and bewildered upon witnessing live on TV the outrageously horrific spectacle, but it didn't in any significant way disrupt my long held pessimistic world view. In fact, the nightmare vision of the iconic landmark--flamboyant symbol of our nation's most salient, truest position in the larger world--crumbling so thoroughly unfortunately only reinforced my existing cynical attitudes. At the time I was what is perhaps more commonly referred to as a skeptic, a wary doubter of the impossibly noble image which the USA presented to the world. If the USA was so eager and enthusiastic to describe itself as the freest, most democratic, most civilized nation on the face of the planet, well, I knew better. I'd lived overseas as a child in what is referred to as third world countries where it was possible to witness first hand the full brunt of the the imperial colonial practices and policies by which the Western Powers, including the USA, had built their empires and continue to exert oppressive control and influence through myriad corrupt economic and political policies and practices. Through viciously exploitative enterprises the affluent, more dominant nations subjected the weaker, poorest nations to centuries of inhuman barbarism. Even seemingly conscientious individuals who express sincere deep revulsion at the mere notion of human slavery are ill-equipped to confront the horrendous reality of the savage methods by which so many world powers achieved and continue to maintain their positions of global dominance. Because so many, many people's psyches were impacted so profoundly by the events of 9/11--so utterly shattered--it's only that much more evident to me just how blind, how oblivious Americans were, and still are, to how things actually work in this not so pretty, often very ugly world.
Can't help but disagree with you. Wealth is not a zero-sum game, and developing countries can definitely modernize if they follow capitalist practices, such as protection of property rights and the rule of law. Foreign investment in less developed countries is a good thing, with people previously being unemployed getting a job in a factory, thereby increasing their standard of living and helping out the country in the long run. Yes, the working conditions in such areas are undesirable, but it's relative. The US and Europe one hundred years ago went through the same process. There was child labor, extremely long work days, no paid vacation leave, no paid medical leave. But as the country develops, it'll eventually be able to afford such practices. As of right now, unfortunately, most of the world cannot. In addition to this, if working conditions in areas such as India and Vietnam were forced to be the same as European countries or the United States, there would be no reason to invest in such areas, which would hurt those developing countries in the long run. TL;DR Foreign investment in less developed countries by more developed countries is a net positive for all involved, not an exploitative endeavor.
Luke Hamilton Development in the 3rd world--as well as the rest of the world--is coming at an extremely high cost to those nations as well as to the entire planet, in ways which simply isn't measured by the basic, limited metrics by which you've formied your opinion. You, apparently, are thoroughly, utterly oblivious of the direct costs and consequences of the materialistic lifestyle which you so blithely champion. The cost alone in quantifiable real terms to the environment and to natural biological systems is staggering and is rapidly decimating the very systems which support nearly all life upon this planet. Rather than alleviating critical conditions, "development" is hastening and ensuring the devastation of increasingly vulnerable lands. Globalization is a scourge upon the planet and it's inhabitants, if you value the natural world and the irreplaceable priceless natural treasures which are being annihilated faster, more permanently everyday. You really ought to extract your mind from the realm of naive philosophy and cynical propaganda, and acquaint yourself with reality, as disturbing and grim and shocking as that option may be.
"The fact that we're strong militarily and economically is a good thing, but it's also a frightening thing." The relevance of Wallace's words today can not be underestimated.
"I don't know whether I can say something about (...) that anybody else couldn't say..." How smart can a person possibly be to start an answer like this. In those few words there is an huge amount of thinking, intelligence, reality. Come back DFW.
One of the main things I look for when talking to people about sensitive or complex subjects is how willing they are to put caveats and qualifications on their statements. Few things are more indicative of thoughtfulness, in my opinion, than an awareness of one's own intellectual limits.
"I'm now hoping for less interesting, rather than more interesting. Violence is interesting, and horrible corruption and scandals and rattling sabres and talking about war and demonizing a billion people of a different faith in the world: those are all interesting. Sitting in a chair and really thinking about what this means and why the fact that what I drive might have something to do with how people in other parts of the world feel about me isn't interesting to anybody else."
If freedom equals freedom of religion, equal rights etc then yes people hate freedom. But I understand his point, when we say it here in the US its portrayed as them hating us because we are free...which is stupid. The president keeps saying this today, they need to make it a little more obvious what freedoms the "bad guys" hate. I wish David was still alive, hes one of the people who you could disagree with and still come off blown away by and in awe of. His positions are never meant to attack or sway someone or to prop up those who feel the same way.
"When I was younger, I used to think that some of the political and social corrections that I thought should be brought about would happen when there was some sort of cataclysm or misfortune where we weren't as comfortable anymore. The fact that we now have clear evidence that the way we live and the relationships we have with various other countries are causing some people to hate us so much that they want to kill us, and may succeed in killing a great many of us, frightens me only because - well, one of the mythological periods, for us, growing up, was the great depression- Weimar era - where, the story goes, everyone pulled together; there were hard times and no one had enough, but everyone pulled together. It seems to me, now, that the country's reaction to feeling frightened and insecure is to buy sports utility vehicles that are large and massive and tank-like, and make individual people feel safer, but also get four miles to the gallon in a country where gasoline is probably one fifth as expensive as it ought to be. There's a sanity in Europe about gasoline prices and fuel consumption that there isn't here, yet. And yet, are voting for people who are deciding to go over and very possibly kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in order to kill a few enemies. And none of which is important, but the fact that no one here is talking about the connection between how we live and what we drive and the things that are happening -- the speed with which it's become 'those bad people, those bad fanatics. They're evil, what they really hate is our freedom and our way of life,' which is just hard to swallow, right? Like who hates freedom? People hate people, not freedom." "I don't think American people are evil. I think that we've had it very easy, materially, for a very long time, and we've gotten very little help in understanding things that are important besides being comfortable. And I don't think anybody knows how we will react if things get hard here. And the fact that we're strong militarily and economically is a good thing, but it's also a frightening thing -- to some of us, as Americans."
What is it like to taste success? What is it like to be proud of yourself and enjoy your life?..... I would do anything to feel that. Even for just a day.
I know a few people that are "successful" (the right job, the 'right' female) and they are miserable and can't figure out why. So don't be pinning your angst on lack of "success". You have hooked together the idea of "success" and enjoying your life as if those two things are inseparable. OK - some people are "successful" and happy, but 9 out of 10 times, they were happy before they were "successful".
Bro, you can success if you just put the hours in. It's that simple. Art like Dave's grows into books like Pale King because it's fed so much time. And like the writer Mishima said, Writing became as important to me as 3 meals a day or sleep. I had to change my reality. My advice is just start writing - it doesn't even matter what at first - and the more you feed it the more evolved it will become and the better you'll feel about yourself. However, that's not the same as becoming famous. If you want to become famous, write chic lit, kids' "he/she's the chosen one!" or Jame Patterson-esque literary grey goo.. Write 1000 words a day for a year and see how you go..
Don't look to be successful. All Americans make this mistake, if you look for success it does not mean fulfillment will come. Just think about how high stress it would be successful in a certain areas, happiness and contentment will elude you. Do what fulfills you first then success will come.
He’s not saying anything deep here, guys. “America scares me” and your hearts melt like you were looking at a puppy. I respect Wallace as a writer and I’m sorry he is gone, but he even says he’s not the guy you want to ask about these topics. As is glaringly obvious now after the most recent Paris attack, it’s not an issue of Islam v Americans. Or hating our freedom or whatever. Or what did WE do to deserve the attacks. I’ve always thought such a line of thinking to be kind of disgusting. It’s weird to read so many comments treating it as though it were a valid question.
+Bradley Paul Valentine And yet it's the only question we can ask. What wrong with them? That's a question we cannot ask sensibly unless we find the answer to the former. To assume that they are evil or that they hate us because we're free is silly and counterproductive. To keep bombing and invading has been evidenced so clearly as exacerbatory and in fact productive to more "terror," which is in itself terror. If the automobile as a villain seems simplistic and reductive, well, it's as good a place to begin as any.
+Bradley Paul Valentine it’s not an issue of Islam v Americans. Or hating our freedom or whatever. Or what did WE do to deserve the attacks.--then what is the issue
In this sense, freedom is referring to the freedom or religion, freedom of speech, and social liberalism - cornerstones of Western Civilization - things that Islam in its fundamental sense opposes. Attacking, beheading, murdering someone because they are "free" of course seems ridiculous, but when you believe you are doing something for Allah, the creator of the universe, when a person believes they are fighting for the noblest cause imaginable, a previously civil person can turn into a barbarian. Their beliefs in an all-powerful deity not only justifies, but promotes their actions, as seen in many verses in the Koran and in the Hadiths. These attacks are ideologically driven, and are enabled by their childhood environment as well. US and EU foreign policy have also caused these ideas to spread in popularity, causing the terrorism on the world stage that we see today.
I wonder if Wallace ever read 'The Denial of Death' by Ernest Becker who was Freuds friend. It's essentially about how our entire society is created by our fear of death and avoiding thinking about it.
It's unlikely that it is a coincidence. It's very common for people to commit suicide around special dates, like Christmas or the birthday of some dead loved one or whatever. Also remember 2008 was the biggest stock market crash since 1939. Money losses, even if not his own, but by people around him, a sense of "worst years are yet to come". That was no coincidence.
yeah, i wasn't fond of that part either. rebellion isn't individual, because rebellion must at least have the possibility of being effective. sitting around thinking about your choices won't have any effect. collective action might be effective. building institutions to wield collective power might be effective. people are afraid of that though, or they think it's impossible: they're afraid of it because institutions generally suck and do shitty things that they find distasteful; they think it's impossible because it is genuinely really hard.
his insight was phenomenal. a very brave statement considering how all anti-iraq war protestors and intellects were being call "un-patriotic", and anti-american" at the time. dfw does a nice little piece on what his home town looked like after 9-11... i remember personally patching a couple of bumper stickers together at the time that read "god bless my ass." an angry response to what appeared everywhere. "god bless america" was everywhere to the point of ad nauseam and you could see america turning into the corporate/theocratic/military/security state it is today. just look at what's going on with the "north dakota access pipeline protests", the american government, on the behest of oil companies have all but declared war on people who want to protect their clean water, on their own land, and our so called "socialist" president and the media are completely absent from this fascist/corporate/military response to environmentalism. and the candidates for president? they wouldn't dare resist the corporate/military/security complex that funds our now buyable elections.
You are very wrong. His opinions are followed because they are deep, personal, and resonate even through he has been dead for 8 years. Our society lacks that level of thinking and humility. I don't particularly agree with him but highly respect his sharing. I am pissed off that he decided to bail out on the world inside of continuing to share his amazing talent.
"In still other words, what if we chose to accept the fact that every few years, despite all reasonable precautions, some hundreds or thousands of us may die in the sort of ghastly terrorist attack that a democratic republic cannot 100-percent protect itself from without subverting the very principles that make it worth protecting?" Absolutely. We can and should. The harder we push for our elected officials to protect us, the more desperate they become to keep their jobs, the more of our liberty they will have to encroach upon to give us what we want. Careful what you wish for, people. There is an inverse relationship between liberty and security that is inviolable and inherent which demands sacrifice, either way.
I understand what he's saying. he was one of the few liberals that I would actually sit and listen to. Now what he said about killing hundreds of thousands of civilians to kill a few enemies is bad point on his part. We don't try to kill civilians and we are trying more than a few enemies.
+jam714 +jam714 Did you get the context of that side note though? The point he was making was that people are *voting* for politicians who are ready to cause all this "collateral damage", if you wish, and yet somehow not at all seeing the connection between the western lifestyle (the massive oil consumption, for example) and these enemies you talk about. He was saying that this is actually the only thing that scares him about the state of US foreign affairs, not so much the "enemy", but the US itself.
Ahh I agree with him on every other point practically but the idea of Jihadists as political actors responding to Western foreign policy has proven totally untrue in the time since he did this interview.
sorry can you elaborate more? I don't think anyone has to be political actors to respond to western foreign policy with fear and terrorism. and actually I'm a little confused in general about what 'political actor' means.
sorry, "what they really hate is our freedom and our way of life" is something I actually believe. "those bad people over there" have been exploited, indoctrinated, kept as pawns and kept in the dark ages mostly through hatred, so however they got that way "bad people" is exactly what fanatics are. I love this guy, but evil does exist, evil has a platform, and that platform is envy. its expression is the enjoyment of hatred and the will to violence. peace to those who disagree.
downeybill im no defender of islam, but the arab world has many plausible reasons to despise the USA, as does the 3rd world. through its self appointed role as police of the world, the USA has propped up countless dictatorships who were put there to play ball with lucrative resource deals. when in the national interest, democracy and the well being of other nations has usually been at the forefront in rhetoric but everybody knows places like iraq, syria and afghanistan were way better off before the cowboys rode in to "protect their freedom"
+downeybill Have you ever asked yourself, how come they don't hate the freedom and way of life people enjoy in places like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Holland...? As a matter of fact, Scandinavians enjoy a higher standard of living than Americans. And yet it is always America that is the number one target of Islamic hatred. Just a coincidence?
+NYCBG ...the answer is your premise is incorrect. Until the most recent Paris attack, America is simply the country most media ever reported about. That and America is the dominant country in the world and a symbol for the rest of the “western” world.
Bradley Paul Valentine If it were only a "symbol" you would be right. However, America is much more than that. It is the very real superpower that is trying to run the rest of the world. And that is something that most non-Americans despise. That is also the difference between America and countries luke Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc., that I was alluding to.
I appreciate DFW opinions on most things, but I disagree with him on the Weimar Republic being good for Germany. Sadly he went full SJW toward the end of his life.
LIl Pontoon Most gifted, intelligent people throughout history could easily be considered social justice warriors. Especially modern intellectuals. They understand what it takes to make a community, because they have spent time thinking about their own circumstances and the circumstances of others
He never said the Weimar was good for Germany, he said that people in America bonded together during the Great Depression, and then he said the the interviewer, who was a German women, that he was referring to the Weimar Era to make sure she knew the time period he was referring to. Just curious, how do you see the later DFW as an SJW? I've never really pegged him as particularly liberal, even in The Pale King...
Not to mention was a giant fucking creep of a man. Seriously, Wallace would be crucified if he were alive today for his past interactions/stalking of women.
Pha Q You know nothing of suicide. You're just so terrified of an alternate option that you make it sound inconceivable in order to protect your own narrow opinion of life. You're the coward here. Suicide isn't easy and it takes a lot of guts in all honesty
I mean...... I just want to be successful at something and enjoy something.... And right now I'm getting close to 30, but I'm not getting close to either of the aforementioned. And once your 30 or older, if your neither successful nor happy, it's embarrassing. And that's something I just can't have. I'll kill myself before I face embarrassment like that, and I actually mean it.....I do.
bigtime89 Hey, just wanted to say, that life is beautiful weather or not you complete your check list of things. You are still worth the world as a human being even if you have trouble enjoying things or if you don't feel as accomplished as you'd like. Your worth is inherent, it isn't measured by those things. I know the future may be daunting and full of things that are not all together fulfilling, but you are worth so much more than your circumstances. Please, think on this, and know that someone accross the Internet is thinking of you too.
bigtime89 Hey, just wanted to say, that life is beautiful weather or not you complete your check list of things. You are still worth the world as a human being even if you have trouble enjoying things or if you don't feel as accomplished as you'd like. Your worth is inherent, it isn't measured by those things. I know the future may be daunting and full of things that are not all together fulfilling, but you are worth so much more than your circumstances. Please, think on this, and know that someone accross the Internet is thinking of you too.
Then do something about it. Watching suicidal writers and whining about not being successful won't help you. Move a little forward everyday, every time you want to give up suck it up for five more minutes, and you'll have success within a matter of years. Christ some of you people need to go live in the third world or genuinely connect with people who have grown up in legit garbage dumps. It'll put your existential bullshit into perspective real quick.
''...and very possibly kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in order to kill a few enemies, and, none of which is important...'' wow, that sounds humane
His mind is so ahead of this mouth... Attests to his brilliance
It's batshit insane to me how a writer can summarize my views more perfectly than any modern political figure. More people should see this in my opinion.
I've been rebelling quietly for many years now. I wish more people knew how to do this.
Samuel J. Bass me too. i dont even own a car. most people think that's unthinkable, unfortunately
7kurisu Lets see if you own a car in 5 years. Respond back 7-31-2020
Mazzodude
I would rather own a boat and live off the grid.
Alberto Balsalm
I just don't do it. If someone asks why, then I say as little as possible by just stating why as simply as possible. If they want more info, that's on them. This is a very good way to not sound pretentious.
Alberto Balsalm
Alberto, I feel the same way. However, there is still good in the USA society, just not much of it on a nationwide level. If you look at a society, such as the USA, and realize that it's been steadily built upon a platform where money rules everything around people, then what you get is what you see today, and will continue to see. I don't have the answer as to how to fix such a problem, since it's part of the culture now, but personally, I look towards other cultures and that gives me hope for a better life. It's impossible to save the world, let alone a single person, because people have to do this themselves.
My advice is don't worry about it, but never stop pondering the situations society faces, and as soon as you can as cheaply as you can, travel the world. I did it partially by hitchhiking on sailboats. People needed crew to help them sail, so I found such people on online forums. And just like that, I was out on the open ocean for five months.
In the beginning I thought it was just going to be audio and that was just a picture of him. He scared me when he started moving and blinked. He looked frozen before.
Quiet and uninteresting rebellion - 6:10 That is the best rendition I think I've ever heard of how to change the system w/o blood shed.
Harold Pinter made similar comments in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech about the level of comfort that Americans want to maintain, at the cost of looking honestly at what is happening in the rest of the world. DFW said things that did not come from a prepared cheat sheet. It is evident that he was not afraid to point out problems, even if they did not have simple solutions.
+Noe Berengena . It is a cliche...
+J Cliches are often cliches because of their truth.
+J On the contrary, it's a home truth and it's well said!
When the Twin Towers came down on 9/11 so many people in the USA who previously might have appeared to be relatively aware, educated, informed, knowledgeable and lucid suddenly revealed themselves to be surprisingly inexperienced, naive and even irrational. As unimaginable and unprecedented as the catastrophe was, and as traumatic as it was in terms of its visual impact--its out sized surreal theatricality--the tragedy was for me, on an emotional and psychological level, a sad confirmation of my more grim and morbid convictions about humanity. I was shocked and stunned and bewildered upon witnessing live on TV the outrageously horrific spectacle, but it didn't in any significant way disrupt my long held pessimistic world view. In fact, the nightmare vision of the iconic landmark--flamboyant symbol of our nation's most salient, truest position in the larger world--crumbling so thoroughly unfortunately only reinforced my existing cynical attitudes.
At the time I was what is perhaps more commonly referred to as a skeptic, a wary doubter of the impossibly noble image which the USA presented to the world. If the USA was so eager and enthusiastic to describe itself as the freest, most democratic, most civilized nation on the face of the planet, well, I knew better. I'd lived overseas as a child in what is referred to as third world countries where it was possible to witness first hand the full brunt of the the imperial colonial practices and policies by which the Western Powers, including the USA, had built their empires and continue to exert oppressive control and influence through myriad corrupt economic and political policies and practices. Through viciously exploitative enterprises the affluent, more dominant nations subjected the weaker, poorest nations to centuries of inhuman barbarism. Even seemingly conscientious individuals who express sincere deep revulsion at the mere notion of human slavery are ill-equipped to confront the horrendous reality of the savage methods by which so many world powers achieved and continue to maintain their positions of global dominance.
Because so many, many people's psyches were impacted so profoundly by the events of 9/11--so utterly shattered--it's only that much more evident to me just how blind, how oblivious Americans were, and still are, to how things actually work in this not so pretty, often very ugly world.
***** Liar, you read it. And you luved it.
Can't help but disagree with you. Wealth is not a zero-sum game, and developing countries can definitely modernize if they follow capitalist practices, such as protection of property rights and the rule of law. Foreign investment in less developed countries is a good thing, with people previously being unemployed getting a job in a factory, thereby increasing their standard of living and helping out the country in the long run.
Yes, the working conditions in such areas are undesirable, but it's relative. The US and Europe one hundred years ago went through the same process. There was child labor, extremely long work days, no paid vacation leave, no paid medical leave. But as the country develops, it'll eventually be able to afford such practices. As of right now, unfortunately, most of the world cannot. In addition to this, if working conditions in areas such as India and Vietnam were forced to be the same as European countries or the United States, there would be no reason to invest in such areas, which would hurt those developing countries in the long run.
TL;DR
Foreign investment in less developed countries by more developed countries is a net positive for all involved, not an exploitative endeavor.
Luke Hamilton Development in the 3rd world--as well as the rest of the world--is coming at an extremely high cost to those nations as well as to the entire planet, in ways which simply isn't measured by the basic, limited metrics by which you've formied your opinion. You, apparently, are thoroughly, utterly oblivious of the direct costs and consequences of the materialistic lifestyle which you so blithely champion. The cost alone in quantifiable real terms to the environment and to natural biological systems is staggering and is rapidly decimating the very systems which support nearly all life upon this planet.
Rather than alleviating critical conditions, "development" is hastening and ensuring the devastation of increasingly vulnerable lands. Globalization is a scourge upon the planet and it's inhabitants, if you value the natural world and the irreplaceable priceless natural treasures which are being annihilated faster, more permanently everyday.
You really ought to extract your mind from the realm of naive philosophy and cynical propaganda, and acquaint yourself with reality, as disturbing and grim and shocking as that option may be.
"The fact that we're strong militarily and economically is a good thing, but it's also a frightening thing." The relevance of Wallace's words today can not be underestimated.
"I don't know whether I can say something about (...) that anybody else couldn't say..."
How smart can a person possibly be to start an answer like this. In those few words there is an huge amount of thinking, intelligence, reality. Come back DFW.
+Andrea Polli yes . . . almost all his responses show this kind of high functioning or sensitivity - this mind of his, what a loss to all of us
One of the main things I look for when talking to people about sensitive or complex subjects is how willing they are to put caveats and qualifications on their statements. Few things are more indicative of thoughtfulness, in my opinion, than an awareness of one's own intellectual limits.
it's such a good exercise for the brain hearing to DFW talk or, preferably, reading his words.
"I'm now hoping for less interesting, rather than more interesting. Violence is interesting, and horrible corruption and scandals and rattling sabres and talking about war and demonizing a billion people of a different faith in the world: those are all interesting. Sitting in a chair and really thinking about what this means and why the fact that what I drive might have something to do with how people in other parts of the world feel about me isn't interesting to anybody else."
this is amazing.
If freedom equals freedom of religion, equal rights etc then yes people hate freedom. But I understand his point, when we say it here in the US its portrayed as them hating us because we are free...which is stupid. The president keeps saying this today, they need to make it a little more obvious what freedoms the "bad guys" hate. I wish David was still alive, hes one of the people who you could disagree with and still come off blown away by and in awe of. His positions are never meant to attack or sway someone or to prop up those who feel the same way.
+Steve Frank Hating us because we're free: Yes, we are all of us, as is Lloyd Blankfein, free to sleep in the gutter, apologies to Anatole France!
"When I was younger, I used to think that some of the political and social corrections that I thought should be brought about would happen when there was some sort of cataclysm or misfortune where we weren't as comfortable anymore. The fact that we now have clear evidence that the way we live and the relationships we have with various other countries are causing some people to hate us so much that they want to kill us, and may succeed in killing a great many of us, frightens me only because - well, one of the mythological periods, for us, growing up, was the great depression- Weimar era - where, the story goes, everyone pulled together; there were hard times and no one had enough, but everyone pulled together. It seems to me, now, that the country's reaction to feeling frightened and insecure is to buy sports utility vehicles that are large and massive and tank-like, and make individual people feel safer, but also get four miles to the gallon in a country where gasoline is probably one fifth as expensive as it ought to be. There's a sanity in Europe about gasoline prices and fuel consumption that there isn't here, yet. And yet, are voting for people who are deciding to go over and very possibly kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in order to kill a few enemies. And none of which is important, but the fact that no one here is talking about the connection between how we live and what we drive and the things that are happening -- the speed with which it's become 'those bad people, those bad fanatics. They're evil, what they really hate is our freedom and our way of life,' which is just hard to swallow, right? Like who hates freedom? People hate people, not freedom."
"I don't think American people are evil. I think that we've had it very easy, materially, for a very long time, and we've gotten very little help in understanding things that are important besides being comfortable. And I don't think anybody knows how we will react if things get hard here. And the fact that we're strong militarily and economically is a good thing, but it's also a frightening thing -- to some of us, as Americans."
ty 4 upload
What is it like to taste success? What is it like to be proud of yourself and enjoy your life?..... I would do anything to feel that. Even for just a day.
I know a few people that are "successful" (the right job, the 'right' female) and they are miserable and can't figure out why. So don't be pinning your angst on lack of "success". You have hooked together the idea of "success" and enjoying your life as if those two things are inseparable. OK - some people are "successful" and happy, but 9 out of 10 times, they were happy before they were "successful".
Bro, you can success if you just put the hours in. It's that simple. Art like Dave's grows into books like Pale King because it's fed so much time. And like the writer Mishima said, Writing became as important to me as 3 meals a day or sleep. I had to change my reality. My advice is just start writing - it doesn't even matter what at first - and the more you feed it the more evolved it will become and the better you'll feel about yourself. However, that's not the same as becoming famous. If you want to become famous, write chic lit, kids' "he/she's the chosen one!" or Jame Patterson-esque literary grey goo.. Write 1000 words a day for a year and see how you go..
Don't look to be successful. All Americans make this mistake, if you look for success it does not mean fulfillment will come. Just think about how high stress it would be successful in a certain areas, happiness and contentment will elude you. Do what fulfills you first then success will come.
Then fucking do it.
Yawn..
Jack, Yes, to all your questions.
He’s not saying anything deep here, guys. “America scares me” and your hearts melt like you were looking at a puppy. I respect Wallace as a writer and I’m sorry he is gone, but he even says he’s not the guy you want to ask about these topics. As is glaringly obvious now after the most recent Paris attack, it’s not an issue of Islam v Americans. Or hating our freedom or whatever. Or what did WE do to deserve the attacks. I’ve always thought such a line of thinking to be kind of disgusting. It’s weird to read so many comments treating it as though it were a valid question.
+Bradley Paul Valentine Yup, as soon as he went on a rant about gas prices and SUVs I rolled my eyes...
+Bradley Paul Valentine And yet it's the only question we can ask. What wrong with them? That's a question we cannot ask sensibly unless we find the answer to the former. To assume that they are evil or that they hate us because we're free is silly and counterproductive. To keep bombing and invading has been evidenced so clearly as exacerbatory and in fact productive to more "terror," which is in itself terror. If the automobile as a villain seems simplistic and reductive, well, it's as good a place to begin as any.
+Bradley Paul Valentine it’s not an issue of Islam v Americans. Or hating our freedom or whatever. Or what did WE do to deserve the attacks.--then what is the issue
In this sense, freedom is referring to the freedom or religion, freedom of speech, and social liberalism - cornerstones of Western Civilization - things that Islam in its fundamental sense opposes. Attacking, beheading, murdering someone because they are "free" of course seems ridiculous, but when you believe you are doing something for Allah, the creator of the universe, when a person believes they are fighting for the noblest cause imaginable, a previously civil person can turn into a barbarian. Their beliefs in an all-powerful deity not only justifies, but promotes their actions, as seen in many verses in the Koran and in the Hadiths. These attacks are ideologically driven, and are enabled by their childhood environment as well. US and EU foreign policy have also caused these ideas to spread in popularity, causing the terrorism on the world stage that we see today.
Rubbish!
I wonder if Wallace ever read 'The Denial of Death' by Ernest Becker who was Freuds friend. It's essentially about how our entire society is created by our fear of death and avoiding thinking about it.
He killed himself on September 12th. I wonder if 9/11 played a role there. Or maybe it was just coincidence.
+A Whether Moments Poet Not impossible but I think it's most likely just a coincidence.
+A Whether Moments Poet He was in medical treatment for depression for 20 years.
It's unlikely that it is a coincidence. It's very common for people to commit suicide around special dates, like Christmas or the birthday of some dead loved one or whatever. Also remember 2008 was the biggest stock market crash since 1939. Money losses, even if not his own, but by people around him, a sense of "worst years are yet to come". That was no coincidence.
Defining rebellion as a specific reduction or selectivity in consumption is still consumerism, of the milquetoast liberal variety to be specific.
yeah, i wasn't fond of that part either. rebellion isn't individual, because rebellion must at least have the possibility of being effective. sitting around thinking about your choices won't have any effect. collective action might be effective. building institutions to wield collective power might be effective. people are afraid of that though, or they think it's impossible: they're afraid of it because institutions generally suck and do shitty things that they find distasteful; they think it's impossible because it is genuinely really hard.
I don't know who this guy is- well I know now- but damn, great mind. The good ones really do die too young
+HigherPlanes Well he killed himself, dying "too young" was, I guess, his choice.
his insight was phenomenal. a very brave statement considering how all anti-iraq war protestors and intellects were being call "un-patriotic", and anti-american" at the time. dfw does a nice little piece on what his home town looked like after 9-11... i remember personally patching a couple of bumper stickers together at the time that read "god bless my ass." an angry response to what appeared everywhere. "god bless america" was everywhere to the point of ad nauseam and you could see america turning into the corporate/theocratic/military/security state it is today. just look at what's going on with the "north dakota access pipeline protests", the american government, on the behest of oil companies have all but declared war on people who want to protect their clean water, on their own land, and our so called "socialist" president and the media are completely absent from this fascist/corporate/military response to environmentalism. and the candidates for president? they wouldn't dare resist the corporate/military/security complex that funds our now buyable elections.
The lower face (mouth, lips, chin) are somewhat reminiscent of Damian Lewis (from Band of Brothers, Homeland, etc.)
You are very wrong. His opinions are followed because they are deep, personal, and resonate even through he has been dead for 8 years. Our society lacks that level of thinking and humility. I don't particularly agree with him but highly respect his sharing. I am pissed off that he decided to bail out on the world inside of continuing to share his amazing talent.
Sound quality is horrible
secular saint? too good for these times that's for sure
"In still other words, what if we chose to accept the fact that every few years, despite all reasonable precautions, some hundreds or thousands of us may die in the sort of ghastly terrorist attack that a democratic republic cannot 100-percent protect itself from without subverting the very principles that make it worth protecting?"
Absolutely. We can and should. The harder we push for our elected officials to protect us, the more desperate they become to keep their jobs, the more of our liberty they will have to encroach upon to give us what we want. Careful what you wish for, people. There is an inverse relationship between liberty and security that is inviolable and inherent which demands sacrifice, either way.
my god just all of my life opinions in one video will you marry me?
brendan Ladd but he ded. liek so ded.
+Samuel Linstead-Atkinson He hanged himself. Why are you so nasty?
+liquidpersuasion Nice guy, you!
stloupenbray it's true. did i hurt your feelings?
The smartest man who ever lived.
I understand what he's saying. he was one of the few liberals that I would actually sit and listen to. Now what he said about killing hundreds of thousands of civilians to kill a few enemies is bad point on his part. We don't try to kill civilians and we are trying more than a few enemies.
+jam714 I think he just meant as a natural consequence, despite whether or not we truly wanted to kill innocent people, it still happens all the time.
+jam714 +jam714 Did you get the context of that side note though? The point he was making was that people are *voting* for politicians who are ready to cause all this "collateral damage", if you wish, and yet somehow not at all seeing the connection between the western lifestyle (the massive oil consumption, for example) and these enemies you talk about. He was saying that this is actually the only thing that scares him about the state of US foreign affairs, not so much the "enemy", but the US itself.
given the present situation, he'll be glad he's offed himself!
Ahh I agree with him on every other point practically but the idea of Jihadists as political actors responding to Western foreign policy has proven totally untrue in the time since he did this interview.
sorry can you elaborate more? I don't think anyone has to be political actors to respond to western foreign policy with fear and terrorism. and actually I'm a little confused in general about what 'political actor' means.
He seems like a scared little kid. Wouldn't want him in charge of the country.
i would love to hear his outlook on the trump presidency :'(
He could've written Johnny Gentle as Donald Trump and it would've made just as much sense.
sorry, "what they really hate is our freedom and our way of life" is something I actually believe. "those bad people over there" have been exploited, indoctrinated, kept as pawns and kept in the dark ages mostly through hatred, so however they got that way "bad people" is exactly what fanatics are. I love this guy, but evil does exist, evil has a platform, and that platform is envy. its expression is the enjoyment of hatred and the will to violence. peace to those who disagree.
Watch part 3 of the Power of Nightmares. Can find it on dailymotion.
downeybill im no defender of islam, but the arab world has many plausible reasons to despise the USA, as does the 3rd world. through its self appointed role as police of the world, the USA has propped up countless dictatorships who were put there to play ball with lucrative resource deals. when in the national interest, democracy and the well being of other nations has usually been at the forefront in rhetoric but everybody knows places like iraq, syria and afghanistan were way better off before the cowboys rode in to "protect their freedom"
+downeybill Have you ever asked yourself, how come they don't hate the freedom and way of life people enjoy in places like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Holland...? As a matter of fact, Scandinavians enjoy a higher standard of living than Americans. And yet it is always America that is the number one target of Islamic hatred. Just a coincidence?
+NYCBG ...the answer is your premise is incorrect. Until the most recent Paris attack, America is simply the country most media ever reported about. That and America is the dominant country in the world and a symbol for the rest of the “western” world.
Bradley Paul Valentine If it were only a "symbol" you would be right. However, America is much more than that. It is the very real superpower that is trying to run the rest of the world. And that is something that most non-Americans despise. That is also the difference between America and countries luke Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc., that I was alluding to.
Honestly, if you didn't know who he was, you'd just think "he's babbling incoherently". Which he mostly is.
5:08 grim
I appreciate DFW opinions on most things, but I disagree with him on the Weimar Republic being good for Germany. Sadly he went full SJW toward the end of his life.
LIl Pontoon Most gifted, intelligent people throughout history could easily be considered social justice warriors. Especially modern intellectuals. They understand what it takes to make a community, because they have spent time thinking about their own circumstances and the circumstances of others
He never said the Weimar was good for Germany, he said that people in America bonded together during the Great Depression, and then he said the the interviewer, who was a German women, that he was referring to the Weimar Era to make sure she knew the time period he was referring to. Just curious, how do you see the later DFW as an SJW? I've never really pegged him as particularly liberal, even in The Pale King...
almost 15 years later and look at our president. the fuck have we learned?
What.
says the guy who romanticized suicide and hanged himself. There's a sea of difference between being a "scared lil' guy" and a downright coward.
Not to mention was a giant fucking creep of a man. Seriously, Wallace would be crucified if he were alive today for his past interactions/stalking of women.
Pha Q You know nothing of suicide. You're just so terrified of an alternate option that you make it sound inconceivable in order to protect your own narrow opinion of life. You're the coward here. Suicide isn't easy and it takes a lot of guts in all honesty
He always looks like he's just eaten a lemon.
+Circa Aeon He has. It's US foreign policy.
Haha :) I feel sad for him, though
+Circa Aeon well, he is dead. so you ought to.
"Living in California" As scary as it gets.
Qualify your commentary, please.
Fakest place on earth, almost impossible to be further removed from the reality of the world.
Hints of a deep nationalism in his rhetoric
what horrible audio
I mean...... I just want to be successful at something and enjoy something.... And right now I'm getting close to 30, but I'm not getting close to either of the aforementioned. And once your 30 or older, if your neither successful nor happy, it's embarrassing. And that's something I just can't have. I'll kill myself before I face embarrassment like that, and I actually mean it.....I do.
Don't do it.
Be a vegetarian or a vegan. It's easy and you can tell everyone how good it is.
bigtime89 Hey, just wanted to say, that life is beautiful weather or not you complete your check list of things. You are still worth the world as a human being even if you have trouble enjoying things or if you don't feel as accomplished as you'd like. Your worth is inherent, it isn't measured by those things. I know the future may be daunting and full of things that are not all together fulfilling, but you are worth so much more than your circumstances. Please, think on this, and know that someone accross the Internet is thinking of you too.
bigtime89 Hey, just wanted to say, that life is beautiful weather or not you complete your check list of things. You are still worth the world as a human being even if you have trouble enjoying things or if you don't feel as accomplished as you'd like. Your worth is inherent, it isn't measured by those things. I know the future may be daunting and full of things that are not all together fulfilling, but you are worth so much more than your circumstances. Please, think on this, and know that someone accross the Internet is thinking of you too.
Then do something about it. Watching suicidal writers and whining about not being successful won't help you. Move a little forward everyday, every time you want to give up suck it up for five more minutes, and you'll have success within a matter of years. Christ some of you people need to go live in the third world or genuinely connect with people who have grown up in legit garbage dumps. It'll put your existential bullshit into perspective real quick.
and the attitude of self-styled rebels in 2023?
drill baby drill
looks like David Koresh
Yeah.. that's one confused person...
''...and very possibly kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in order to kill a few enemies, and, none of which is important...'' wow, that sounds humane
dude was a clever writer..nothing else. and he actually wanted to die. his opinions are worthless
captain generalization
We let him down
#trump.... good lord
Goofball.
Why is he so scared of driving something decent?