Monday, October 2, 2006

Philosophywatch, week of Sept. 25 - Oct. 1

Welcome to the 4th edition of Philosophywatch.

This past Tuesday, previewing a Paul Simon concert for The Province (Vancouver), John P. McLaughlin has this to say about the popularity of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence":

It seems the JFK mourning, hula-hooping nation was ready and eager for a self-referential ode to angsty-alienation, and young Simon had pretty much hit the Nietzsche on the noggin.

On Friday, in a feature on pasar-pasar malam (Ramadhan bazaars), the Malay Mail suggested that the bazaar can be seen as "the great leveller of society," which is fine... but then they gilded the lily:

If you think that Aristotle or Michel Foucault would not have been impressed, that's because they had never experienced haggling over the price of rendang tok, whilst a seven-ring circus, which would have impressed Caligula, trundles merrily by. Trust me - they would have bought their sirap bandung just like you would, and slurp it loudly before getting to the car....

OK... Anyway, according to the Sunday issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, Silicon Valley star attorney Larry Sonsini has employed a little Camus to reassure us that his role in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal won't permanently damage his career:

Sonsini summed up the nonstop treadmill of success and defeat that powers Silicon Valley in March when he accepted an award as business leader of the year from the Harvard Business School Association of Northern California. With a nod to French existentialist Albert Camus, he said: "The fall is brutal, but we set out again."

In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, dated Oct. 2, Steve Rushin profiles Dane Rauschenberg, who works in a patent licensing office in Chevy Chase, Md., and runs a marathon every single weekend. (Full text for subscribers only.) After comparing Rauschenberg to T.S. Eliot and Melville (because these office workers also "forged beauty in the crucible of the cubicle"), Rushin concludes with these immortal lines:

What makes Dane run? Read James Joyce, who once worked as a Berlitz instructor to fund his passion a body of literary genius that includes the short story After the Race, in which he wrote, simply, "Rapid motion through space elates one."

Finally, in today's issue of the St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press, an aspiring poetess writes to Amy Alkon, the Advice Goddess columnist, for pointers on dumping her boyfriend, a "failed professor with no ambition" who out-argues her every time she tries to break up with him. (Boyfriend has a Ph.D. in philosophy with a specialty in logic, we are informed.) The Advice Goddess somehow manages to work Aristotle, Emily Dickinson, and Gertude Stein into her reply:

Sorry, but Aristotle mud wrestling Emily Dickinson this isn't. The guy's an ambitionless, ethically vacant mooch.... Lemme guess, couples counseling, single payer? Thanks, but you already have a fantastic shrink — one who's cheap, brief and dead. Yes, Gertrude Stein told you everything you need to know about your future with this guy: "A sponge is a sponge is a sponge."

Ladies and gents: the winnah!

Previous installments: 1 | 2 | 3

Posted by Joshua Glenn at 10:09 AM

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