"Protesting Plutocracy"
A SHORT STORY BY KING WENCLAS
In the sterling office of the pseudo-intellectual literary journal n+1, staffers read on their phones and iPads about the "Occupy Wall Street" protests taking place. The staffers carry studied faces of hip concern. Being a literary intellectual is serious business. It takes work.
"Why can't we do something like that?" a staffer asks. "To show our affinity with the protests would increase our credibility. After all, we're supposed to be Social Democrats, aren't we?"
"Yes! Social Democrats!" a colleague affirms.
"Indubitably! Social Democrats!" a third voice agrees.
Heads among the others nod affirmatively.
"But, but what can we protest?" they ask themselves.
A large sign on a wall in the office says, "THINK URBAN," reminding them they're no longer behind the exclusive gates of yale, Columbia, or Harvard. This is Brooklyn. Their Ivy League preppiness, the ascots, bow ties, and cocktail dresses that might be found in a similar office, like the office of New Criterion, for instance, have been left behind.
"Well," one of them decides, "we might protest plutocracy in the literary realm. After all, that's our field, isn't it? We could make that our focus."
"Yes. It's only natural," a second staffer affirms.
It's only indubitably correct and right," a third staffer agrees.
Heads of others nod affirmatively.
"But, but, how do we possibly go about it?"
They sit stoically but glumly for several minutes, waiting for other ideas to arise. Being intellectual is serious work.
"I know! I know!" an inspired young woman says. "Let's ask Chad!"
"Yes! Chad!"
They knock on the door of the office belonging to the journal's brainiac, Chad. The most serious thinker on a staff of serious thinkers. Inside, the man meditates, Franzen-like, in a tiny room filled with pigeons and other winged creatures. But no cellphones! It's a cellphone-free office. The birds look hopefully at the new visitors to the small space. In serious tones the visitors explain their dilemma to the serious man.
(To read the entire tale, including its shocking conclusion, click on the link below.)
http://kingwenclas.blogspot.com/p/protesting-plutocracy-short-story.html
Showing posts with label pseudo-intellectual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pseudo-intellectual. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Spotting the Pseudo-Intellectual
ALL ABOUT HTML GIANT PART I
The Pseudo-Intellectual talks on and on using jargon and incomprehensible thought. If you call the person on it, introducing sense into the conversation, the pseudo-intellectual vanishes.
Another word for "pseudo-intellectual" is "bullshit artist."
Nearly 100 years ago the world lost an entire generation of intellectuals to the trenches of war. Madness. Currently we've lost a generation of intellectuals to the madness of the academy, which has filled their heads with nonsense.
Case in point is the literary hipster site, HTML Giant, which has become a home of pseudo-intellectualizing.
Recently I jumped into a hectic discussion about "Pop" literary ideas. I joined the discussion for obvious reasons, as I'm promoting the idea of Pop lit. The original post was by an HTML Giant regular named M. Kitchell, and referenced in particular pseudo-intellectuals Robbe-Grillet and the well-known literary character Tao Lin. The minute I began to ask embarrassing questions, the discussion dwindled, then halted. I'm sure I came across as someone from another planet.
You'll find the post and discussion here:
http://htmlgiant.com/word-spaces/pop-a-polemic-on-a-contemporary-language-based-objectivity/
As there are a great many comments, 230 in all, you may want to read the newest posts first (choose that option), because I added my remarks fairly late.
The few who attempted to answer my questions escaped so quickly that I never got in many other points-- including about Martin Heidegger, well-known Nazi philosopher and con artist. I could point to on-line essays which argue that Heidegger was a Nazi through and through, in his person and his thought. The thing about Heidegger though is that no one can be sure exactly what he was talking about. He was the Pseudo-Intellectual par excellence. He likely didn't know what he was talking about himself, but was the ultimate bullshit artist, to the extent of b.s.'ing himself out of trouble at the end of the Second World War. The ultimate weasel-- yet his nonsensical ideas have been adopted by American universities and are a major cause of the decline of our nation's intellectual thought.
I'm sure most of the writers and readers at HTML Giant retain sense and intelligence-- or will be able to someday find some. However, Part II of this examination leaves room for doubt. Stay tuned.
The Pseudo-Intellectual talks on and on using jargon and incomprehensible thought. If you call the person on it, introducing sense into the conversation, the pseudo-intellectual vanishes.
Another word for "pseudo-intellectual" is "bullshit artist."
Nearly 100 years ago the world lost an entire generation of intellectuals to the trenches of war. Madness. Currently we've lost a generation of intellectuals to the madness of the academy, which has filled their heads with nonsense.
Case in point is the literary hipster site, HTML Giant, which has become a home of pseudo-intellectualizing.
Recently I jumped into a hectic discussion about "Pop" literary ideas. I joined the discussion for obvious reasons, as I'm promoting the idea of Pop lit. The original post was by an HTML Giant regular named M. Kitchell, and referenced in particular pseudo-intellectuals Robbe-Grillet and the well-known literary character Tao Lin. The minute I began to ask embarrassing questions, the discussion dwindled, then halted. I'm sure I came across as someone from another planet.
You'll find the post and discussion here:
http://htmlgiant.com/word-spaces/pop-a-polemic-on-a-contemporary-language-based-objectivity/
As there are a great many comments, 230 in all, you may want to read the newest posts first (choose that option), because I added my remarks fairly late.
The few who attempted to answer my questions escaped so quickly that I never got in many other points-- including about Martin Heidegger, well-known Nazi philosopher and con artist. I could point to on-line essays which argue that Heidegger was a Nazi through and through, in his person and his thought. The thing about Heidegger though is that no one can be sure exactly what he was talking about. He was the Pseudo-Intellectual par excellence. He likely didn't know what he was talking about himself, but was the ultimate bullshit artist, to the extent of b.s.'ing himself out of trouble at the end of the Second World War. The ultimate weasel-- yet his nonsensical ideas have been adopted by American universities and are a major cause of the decline of our nation's intellectual thought.
I'm sure most of the writers and readers at HTML Giant retain sense and intelligence-- or will be able to someday find some. However, Part II of this examination leaves room for doubt. Stay tuned.
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