Vanity Fair

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/06/hitchens-proust-questionnaire-201006

Christopher Hitchens (13 April 1949–15 December 2011) has died of esophageal cancer. He admitted in part that, staying up too late with friends smoking, drinking to keep the conversation going may have been the reason that cancer formed. Not a whole lot I can say here about this 'demigod' that has not been said before but he may not been a teacher in the classical sense but he is one to learn a great deal from.

Having a female friend who gets Cosmopolitan, I see they have many surveys but they are a little too female oriented.  Combining these two threads is the topic of the link above. It is safe for work and life. If I may, in defiance to ACTA/SOPA,PIPA and take this survey myself to enjoy a mental exercise:

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Pain, misery, hunger, sickness when these things are so easily fixed in our community and world by sheer economics of needing to maintain a society where profit rules supreme.


Where would you like to live?
The future; I would like to know more about the universe, the sciences of the mind, and where we were going as a civilization.  Do we prosper or something worse?


What is your idea of earthly happiness?
non-contingent happiness.  Some sort of intrinsic happiness.


To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
To my appetite and sometimes to my listlessness


 Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
The characters of Star Trek.


Who are your favorite characters in history?
That's more difficult to nail down for history usually has a lens on it.  I would say the writers of our constitution, or the many unnamed, often times soldiers, through time who stood up to tyrants, theocratic leaders, and despots AND who knew they were doing a moral right.


Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
All those women who wrote under male names or anonymous


Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Evey in V for Vendetta, Star Trek Heroins especially Uhura for a female character in a technical role that commanded respect and not subservience. 


Your favorite painter?
If I can abuse the openness of the question I would say Bill Watterson, even though he may be more of an animator.


Your favorite musician?
How do I pick just one? In my teenage years the one group that was most influential for me was Korn.


The quality you most admire in a man?
Not being afraid to fail, while not possessing arrogance but still not being submissive to the thoughts of others.


The quality you most admire in a woman?
The same as above but with the seemingly innate sense to take care for one another.


Your favorite virtue?
Honesty, in life and in truth


Your least favorite virtue, or nominee for the most overrated one?
Like Hitchens', faith. and piety.


Your proudest achievement?
I'll Let you know when I find one remarkable.


Your favorite occupation?
One that you can earn money on your owns terms. I have not found it yet.


Who would you have liked to be? 
The US president after Sept. 11th 2001. I would hope I would have had the strength to differ in the course we took for this nation in nearly every regards. Especially so in how we have wasted our respect in the world that took so many years to build up.


Your most marked characteristic? 
Internally; question everything. Externally; my height.


What do you most value in your friends? 
The will to challenge me in a positive way.


What is your principal defect?
 Intolerance of bad ideas or perceived stupidity


What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
Living a life not worth dying for.


What would you like to be?
Free of daily physical pain in the chronic sense


What is your favorite color?
Clear


What is your favorite flower?
The tulip or possibly the Iris


What is your favorite bird?
The Mallard


What word or expression do you most overuse?
Expressions of frustration and/or disbelief, although  feel I may not be at fault.


Who are your favorite poets?
Song writers. Vague I know but the marrying of music with words moves me the most. Pink Floyd for instance.


What is it you most dislike?
Myself sometimes.  The monetary system.


Which historical figures do you most despise?
The Stalins, Pol Pots, Maos and Che Guevaras, the REAl bastards


Which contemporary figures do you most despise?
The Jerry Falwells of the world, Pat Robertson


Which events in military history do you most admire?
The desperate ones in retreat. The English Expeditionary Force in WW2 for instance. Its history combined with an emotion.


Which natural gift would you most like to possess?
Oration in front of many strangers.


How would you like to die?
At a ripe age and with as little pain as possible.


What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I'm balding with glasses and fat which makes it hard to choose


What is your motto?
Paralysis through analysis




How would you do?


Thank you.

Some inane ramblings......

.....which may have a semblance of an actual point.


"When the poet stands at nadir the world must indeed be upside-down. If the poet can no longer speak for society, but only for himself, then we are at the last ditch.”— Excerpt from, The Time of the Assassins

By what measurement, in what amount, would we have, what constitutes free will?  By what paradigm do our brains occupy, that would be an indication that we have such a thing?  Is our free will injured?  It would seem to me that free will also falls under the umbrella as free choice as well as free thought.

Lets take a classic example of a duality which interferes which such notions; capitalist vs communist.  At their most elemental neither are necessarily evil. Certainly in the practical workings one may be "better" than the other but is it really this way?  We can talk about poor leaders and abuses in the system but that is not the core argument I'm trying to make.  How much do these systems interfere with our ability to be "free" of coercion is. Coercion defined as the act of compelling by force or authority.

Authority seems to be a central part in an institution or systems ability to function.  The more authority over a person or group the more power it possess for its own purpose.  Every systems central function would be to hold authority over, in the least a !part! of your mind and the larger the piece the better.  "If it were not for Democracy, you would not have freedom and then you'd be a communist."  A small example on how insidious and how innocent even, a comment can begin to control your thinking. 

How many times in your life have you taken one of your most closely held beliefs and questioned it?  Have you ever sought out a person who held an opposing belief?  Have you ever questioned American exceptionalism?  Maybe you didn't know there was such a thing? Political party, religion, monetary systems, governmental policy ect, have no such thing as an objectively correct basis with which to declare an authority.  Take time to ask yourself; The ideals that I hold true, have I actually agreed to them or acquiesced to them?  I see that there is a massive and detailed difference between those two states we inhabit.

Another way we can look at how vulnerable we are to various states and level of indoctrination we're under is a game of word association to emotion.  What is it you feel emotionally when I say the words Muslim, Christian, Atheist or Democrat, republican, occupy wall street.  How guarded do you feel when someone else wants to vote for Obama or Mitt Romney.  Politics is easy to counter; we can argue all day who is better or what candidate is repugnant but step outside of the insane hurricane and we can all agree that there is something very, very wrong with the system as a whole.

I guess my point is that "Is this the best we can do, only if it is only for our self?"

We would like to call it objectivity but I do not envision on how we can have such a thing. The world is so insidious in its indoctrination's from birth, not to mention our inadequacy to have all the facts at hand how can we have free thought at all? Being a contrarian may not be so bad after all. 

In ending: “In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay.

And unless it wants to break faith with its social function,

art must show the world as changeable.

And help to change it."

~ Ernst Fischer