A Different Kind of Love
So it's officially official. I live in an ivory tower, so please wipe your feet because reality stains the floors.
I know I live in an ivory tower, (besides knowing Latin) because even though I know my socio-political philosophy is unsustainable in the real world I will continue to argue untheoretically from that standpoint with current affairs nerds. (BTW, fans of Robert Nozick should not, under any circumstance, tell people who sometimes volunteer in soup kitchens that welfare should be abolished.) I also know this is the case because if I have more than one drink during a discussion I will NOT be able to keep on the topic without saying socio-political at least once.
I wonder if there's a formula to derive how many times I say "anthropologically speaking", too. Nah, I'm with Hume on this one, there just may be a black swan sneaking up behind you right now.
There is an interesting aspect to knowing that you know more than most of the world's populace (even the -western- world's populace) on a subject while also being aware that you don't know enough on what you think is important and will -always-, when someone discovers your field, not have read at least one thing they think is seminal. When my current class professor discovered I was a philosophy major, he enquired if I'd read a book called "Endgame". I had not.
I am reviewing the book's topics and argument on Wikipedia right now and I must say I begin to get a glimmer of understanding as to why I packed my bags and moved from corporate-marketville to my lovely new location. At least in my ivory tower I can avoid the bleak arguments that sway people towards the concept of original sin (and Derrek Jensen seems to, though he's referring to complicence in civilizational violence it's complicence from belonging to society even if you abhor it.)
I'm not sure if I'm going to read the book, as I've had my fill of intellectuals trying to convince the populace that all is lost and there's nothing left to do but scrap it all and start over. See, the thing about my ivory tower is it has a sandpit in it, where I can hide my head when things get hard. This is why I'm with someone who sometimes also volunteers at soup kitchens...you know, looking after those that can't look after themselves.
I like my ivory tower, but am I ever damned glad it has a bathroom and kitchen in it.
