carving your own space
I have never felt much allegiance to America. Having grown up in the deep south of this country, from a young age I was rather appalled by the normative culture around me. Stuffing as much Gingsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, William Blake, and Nietzsche into my head all the while listening to Velvet Underground from Junior High School on over the next few years confirmed my young but ever-growing distrust in casual assumptions and systematic conventions. At my age now, the Beats just seem maddeningly inarticulate, William Blake too vague, Nietzsche rather demented. But the qualities they all shared are still meaningful. And now more than ever I am frightened by the majority opinion. I've always liked this quote by Nietzsche, seems appropriate for these days:
"I mistrust all systemisers and I avoid them. The will to a system is a lack of integrity."
- Friedrich Nietzsche from The Twilight of the Idols
Oh, and I still love the Velvet Underground as much as I ever did.
Comments
yeah, i just wish friedrich would have written some lyrics for the velvs...that would have rocked.
Posted by: r. | November 6, 2004 9:23 PM