I don't think there's a word the makes me fly into a rage quite like "zeitgeist". It's the kind of word that scenesters and pretentious art/culture snobs use to sound smart, but do so without the self-awareness to understand how stupid it really sounds. If you were to say to me something like "This books really captures the zeitgeist", I can assure that as I hear you say it, I will be repressing the urge to rip off your head and shit down your neck, as will everyone within earshot of hearing you say it.
But it's blatent pomposity is not what makes me mad; I bump into blatently pompous people every day, and I usually mock them with joy, not try to kill them with furious anger. What makes this word so infuriating is that it's so fucking descriptive. I can't think of another word that can pretty much encapsulate a sum of current human experiences in such a precise efficient way. As much as we like to distinguish ourselves, there is more to unite than divide us, and one of those things is when how mass cultural changes affect us. Nirvana was not a niche band; Kurt's feelings of displacement spoke to our feelings of displacement. We were together in our loneliness. If your one conceit was that no one understood you, well, Nirvana proved there were MILLIONS like you who were ham-strung by their own self-absorbed sadness. Nirvana (here it goes) captured the zeitgeist. Please don't beat me.
I bring all this zeitgest business up because there seems to be a whole industry of people whose job is to "capture the zeitgeist"; to make bold sweeping generalizations about a big group of people based on a few, very specific examples. And it works. Generation X told a very particular story, but somehow we're all Gen Xers, whether we read the book or not. That's because the experience of the characters in that book had resonance...they were both particular and universal at the same time. Of course, the same can be said of marriage and childbirth and death and having your heart broken in the 9th grade when you find out the love your life dumped you for the jock asshole who doesn't have have the depth and sensitivity that you do. See? I've captured the zeitgeist!
But the thing about Generation X, or Prozac Nation, or Nirvana, or Sex Drug & Cocoa Puffs and other heavy industry zeitgeisters is that they appeal to our collective sense of isolation. If you read that back, that sounds ridiculous (we're together because we're so apart) but I'm not joking. We ARE all together in that we all feel separate from each other. And I think we like it that way. Sure, we all feel really bummed out, and that sucks, but at least everyone else is bummed out too, which makes me feel better, I guess, but no one will be truly as bummed out as I am, which makes us feel worse again (but strangely proud, because I'm different in my bummed-out-ness). It's like we all lost an arm in tragedy; we can all empathize, but it doesn't stop us from wishing we had our arm back.
Which is not to say that capturing the zeitgeist is bad, or it's a scam(although I keep thinking of that Rollins song "Liar" when he sings "I'll tell you things you already know, so you say 'I identify with you'"). A lot of the people who try are sincere, and exposing their pain or lonelieness can be an act of courage. But I think what they want, what we all want, is for people to get past the all the bullshit and look at the good stuff, the stuff that makes them proud to be who they are (I won't say unique), and by doing that, maybe we'll draw some hope (there's that word again...I KNEW I was thinking about Havel for a reason) about people and ourselves by knowing that stuff.
Which leads me to my final point (because I have ADD and shit to do)...this was what Suicide Girls does. It too is in the "Capture the Zeitgeist" business (when you say it like that, it sounds like one of like intramural sport, don't it?). We are lonely people together. And hopefully, by looking around at each other in our isolation, we see stuff that's truly wonderous, and makes us feel proud to be part of something...humanity, in particular.
Enough talking out my ass. I hope you've had a good new year, and donate to Asian tsumani relief if you have the chance.
But it's blatent pomposity is not what makes me mad; I bump into blatently pompous people every day, and I usually mock them with joy, not try to kill them with furious anger. What makes this word so infuriating is that it's so fucking descriptive. I can't think of another word that can pretty much encapsulate a sum of current human experiences in such a precise efficient way. As much as we like to distinguish ourselves, there is more to unite than divide us, and one of those things is when how mass cultural changes affect us. Nirvana was not a niche band; Kurt's feelings of displacement spoke to our feelings of displacement. We were together in our loneliness. If your one conceit was that no one understood you, well, Nirvana proved there were MILLIONS like you who were ham-strung by their own self-absorbed sadness. Nirvana (here it goes) captured the zeitgeist. Please don't beat me.
I bring all this zeitgest business up because there seems to be a whole industry of people whose job is to "capture the zeitgeist"; to make bold sweeping generalizations about a big group of people based on a few, very specific examples. And it works. Generation X told a very particular story, but somehow we're all Gen Xers, whether we read the book or not. That's because the experience of the characters in that book had resonance...they were both particular and universal at the same time. Of course, the same can be said of marriage and childbirth and death and having your heart broken in the 9th grade when you find out the love your life dumped you for the jock asshole who doesn't have have the depth and sensitivity that you do. See? I've captured the zeitgeist!
But the thing about Generation X, or Prozac Nation, or Nirvana, or Sex Drug & Cocoa Puffs and other heavy industry zeitgeisters is that they appeal to our collective sense of isolation. If you read that back, that sounds ridiculous (we're together because we're so apart) but I'm not joking. We ARE all together in that we all feel separate from each other. And I think we like it that way. Sure, we all feel really bummed out, and that sucks, but at least everyone else is bummed out too, which makes me feel better, I guess, but no one will be truly as bummed out as I am, which makes us feel worse again (but strangely proud, because I'm different in my bummed-out-ness). It's like we all lost an arm in tragedy; we can all empathize, but it doesn't stop us from wishing we had our arm back.
Which is not to say that capturing the zeitgeist is bad, or it's a scam(although I keep thinking of that Rollins song "Liar" when he sings "I'll tell you things you already know, so you say 'I identify with you'"). A lot of the people who try are sincere, and exposing their pain or lonelieness can be an act of courage. But I think what they want, what we all want, is for people to get past the all the bullshit and look at the good stuff, the stuff that makes them proud to be who they are (I won't say unique), and by doing that, maybe we'll draw some hope (there's that word again...I KNEW I was thinking about Havel for a reason) about people and ourselves by knowing that stuff.
Which leads me to my final point (because I have ADD and shit to do)...this was what Suicide Girls does. It too is in the "Capture the Zeitgeist" business (when you say it like that, it sounds like one of like intramural sport, don't it?). We are lonely people together. And hopefully, by looking around at each other in our isolation, we see stuff that's truly wonderous, and makes us feel proud to be part of something...humanity, in particular.
Enough talking out my ass. I hope you've had a good new year, and donate to Asian tsumani relief if you have the chance.
Hunger and preventable diseases kill way more people in those areas that natural disasters do, and there's not really a good reason for this. This world has the resources to save millions of lives, never mind the *relatively* small numbers that might be saved with the $2 Billion relief operation.
I guess when I think about it, personally I'd rather die from, or be a survivor of (with probably many friends or family dead) a natural disaster than live with starvation and disease my whole life.
Maybe this world is just so jaded to things like starvation that it takes something shocking for people to start caring. I don't know. This planet is just too fucked to comprehend.
Don't take this as criticism or anything, it's not really directed at you or anyone. You just reminded me of that. I'm also not opposed to tsunami relief funds either, just trying to bring up something that I've been thinking about.
Hmm, I think I should post this on my page.