| Viewing Single Post From: Musings of a Superfluous Man | |
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| Duke parent 2004 | Aug 14 2008, 08:48 PM |
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NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED When asked by friends to write an autobiography, Albert J. Nock (see my avatar) balked: I have led a singularly uneventful life, largely solitary, have had little to do with the great of the earth, and no part whatever in their affairs or for that matter, in any other affairs. Hence my autobiography would be like the famous chapter on owls in Bishop Pontoppidan's history of Iceland. The good bishop wrote simply that there are no owls in Iceland, and that one sentence was the whole of his chapter. Nock eventually relented. His “intellectual” autobiography, Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, has ever since its publication in 1943 charmed thousands of readers who--perhaps because they, too, could call on no escapades in the Foreign Legion on which to expand in their diaries—readily assented to Nock’s conclusion that “it is certainly true that whatever a man may do or say, the most significant thing about him is what he thinks; and significant also is how he came to think it, why he continued to think it, or, if he did not continue, what the influences were which caused him to change his mind.” Like some of his critics, I think Nock paid insufficient attention to that enigma we call “character.” Although character may itself be influenced by books and teachers, it is much more (and sometimes much less) than the product of their convergence in one’s noggin. Indeed, some have argued that one’s character plays gatekeeper, admitting only those intellectual notions already agreeable to a mind whose predilections are far less matters of choice or ratiocination than we’d like to think. Nevertheless, and whether or not the chicken works it out with the egg, we can hardly avoid acting as if what we think (or how we justify what we think) matters. Liestoppers would be an exercise in futility were this not so. The success of Liestoppers highlights another fact of modern life that Nock, who died in 1945, could not have foreseen: the average American spends many more hours before a glowing monitor than before a printed page. One monitor in particular, the one tied to a computer, facilitates “interactivity,” which itself has created something altogether new in the world—namely, cyberfriends. Many members of this board have become cyberfriends of one another. Of my own cyberfriends, the most consequential are the original Blog Hooligans, because they have relentlessly pursued justice where others—some perhaps even more intelligent or eloquent—have faltered. But, alas, these admirable hooligans have finally stumbled, for they have set aside this thread for my ramblings. At first I wondered if the offer were but a clever variation on that story of the perfect host—you know, the fellow who at his parties always sported a garish shirt, thereby guaranteeing that no guest would be the worst-dressed person in the room. After being reassured by Tony Soprano and Joan Foster that I was not to construe myself as that host or the other posters at Liestoppers as those guests, and after also winning from them a promise that hooligan-archivist Maggief would never release the full text of the letter I penned to my mother confessing shock at having just learned that the tooth fairy did not exist (I was then a sophomore in college), I agreed to give this thread a try. In this space I hope principally to amuse and distract, sometimes to enlighten (myself as well as you), and occasionally to provoke. Because I have not yet escaped the financial wars, I cannot promise to post here on any regular schedule. My unpaid (indeed, non-existent) research staff persists in being unreliable. Expect no consistent themes or topics on which I’ll comment. Do expect a point of view. Above all, try not to approach this thread with “worm in the spaghetti” prejudice; although I can’t help staying with me even after gagging on something I previously wrote, you have choice in the matter, which I hope you’ll graciously exercise in my favor especially after I’ve disgorged a howler—or, worse yet, driven you to cleaning out your already clean garage. In order to improve your opportunities for finding earlier postings of mine on which you can then commit unnatural acts, the board administrator intends to make this thread “read only.” If you wish to comment on my entries, please do so in an “interactive” thread below. Members of Liestoppers may also communicate with me by “private message.” Non-members may send me e-mails at Dukeparent2004@gmail.com. Note that Google has provided me an enhanced “Delete” button for that address, which the Blog Hooligans have suggested I use without hesitation should any of you nefariously overwhelm my in-box with sweet songs of devotion.  Edited by Duke parent 2004, Aug 31 2008, 10:06 AM.
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| Musings of a Superfluous Man · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers | |
2:45 AM Dec 4
