Such an underrated film.
“You pompous, stuck-up, snot-nosed, English, giant, twerp, scumbag, fuck-face, dickhead, asshole.”
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“The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
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But Nietzsche was undeniably hostile to democratic egalitarian politics, something which is at the core of fascist thought, and heavily informs racist fantasies. Nietzsche may not have preached natural inequality along racial lines, but he still argued that humans were inherently unequal. The alt right are not misreading him on this point, because they generally want strong hierarchies even within totally white societies.
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I always felt like he disliked lazy do-nothings - that there seemed to be a lot of - and didn’t seem like they were going to reduce in number.
"Lo! I show you THE LAST MAN…
The Earth hath then become small, and on it there hoppeth the last man who maketh everything small. His species is ineradicable like that of the ground flea; the last man livith longest…They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they need warmth…
A little poison now and then: that maketh pleasant dreams. And much poison at last for a pleasant death…One still worketh, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest the pastime should hurt one…One no longer becometh poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wanteth to rule? Who still wanteth to obey? Both are too burdensome…
No Shepard, and one herd." - TSZ
I’m not sure this is a direct rebuke of democracy but it does seem like he didn’t trust the majority’s decisions. I feel that way from time to time.
I think the problem is when people take FN to be some sort of demigod. I like his writing and think much of it beautiful - it’s such a shame that so many racist dip-fucking-shitbags carry his name in their slackjawed breathholes.
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Yes! One of the funny things, though, is Nietzsche was certainly a misogynist. But even then, not like the right wing dorks are.
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I think of him as being misogynistic to the degree of a modern day stand-up comedian, like when he says women are like cows and not capable of being friends - not a prescription for how society should behave.
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I dunno; Kevin Kline did win an Oscar for his role in it…
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In my experience “being seriously into Nietzche” is a developmental stage. It hits somewhere between age of 17 to 21. About time when adolescent boy should start forming a mental model of his own place in society.
But remember kids just because you read one book doesn’t imply that you and the pack of your drooling friends are Übermensch. I don’t know what makes people assume so. Also if you need support of a pack of a pack of likeminded morons to feel secure and you deed a fürher to follow you are no übermensch by definition.
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It’s not like they like Nietzsche because they’ve actually studied him (or anybody else for that matter) in the sense of actually read him, put him in context by reading some of his contemporaries, think about it, discuss it, formulate a considered own opinion, and so on.
Nietzsche offers some catchphrases that are very handy, especially for the extreme right, so by now he is like a default option for them.
Most people are not born as psychopaths. If you want to radicalize them, you’ll need something that will allow them to convince themselves that what they do is not only okay, but the right thing. At this point, philosophy, ideology and religion becomes interchangable. It doesn’t really matter which one is used as an instrument, as long as it works.
Have you ever watched someone talking thelselves into doing something they knew was wrong or bad for them? But they did it anyway and came up for a “reason” to do it? Up to a point this is normal behaviour to deal with life. But beyond that point, and on a larger scale, this is the key to turning average persons into a murderous mob. If you provide them with an easy way to delude themselves into thinking that they are the good guys, what they do is right, that it is their privilege, their duty, their destiny to do it, you will also get them to agree that even the most extreme means are justified to do it.
And like I said, lots of handy catchphrases in Nietzsche’s works for that.
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@RConBB “…racist dip-fucking-shitbags carry his name in their slackjawed breathholes.”
Thanks, mate, that’s pure poetry.
I think that there might be a bit of an overlap with people who read Ayn Rand and take her stuff seriously too. At least they can probably pronounce Rand’s surname. Hearing earnest Americans say “Knee Chee” always makes me laugh.
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But that’s the whole point of reading philosophy!
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How very interesting. You’re a true vulgarian aren’t you?
Quite. If you want an underrated film, try the sort-of sequel “Fierce Creatures”.
Amazingly disappointing compared to A Fish Called Wanda but still pretty funny on its own merits.
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There is a sub-plot in Louis de Bernières’ debut novel The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts concerning the young, unimaginative but more or less decent Capitan Asado, who is promoted to colonel and charged with routing out the Communist subversives in the novel’s fictional Latin American country. His gradual descent from a firm but fair(ish) approach to capricious, unnecessary and counter-productive evil is appalling, riveting and completely believable.
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Camus is my man! I’m surprised there’s no bizarre misunderstood reinterpretation of The Stranger, what with tho whole killing an arab dude and everything.
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Yes! This is one of the best and most terrifying things I have ever read.
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Strange to think that, if it hadn’t been for the tuberculosis, he might have ended up as a little regarded Algerian Goalkeeper. Still he wouldn’t have been the only great philosopher linked to the beautiful game.
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This is what happens when you keep to the right.
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It’s fair to criticize Nietzsche’s hostility to democratic politics. But that doesn’t make him a fascist. How many times have I read commenters right here on Boing Boing say things like “this country’s a mess because voters are too stupid to recognize what’s in their true interests.” That’s a very Nietzschean sentiment.
At least Nietzsche was consistent in his disdain for democracy. He didn’t cheer when elections went his way and complain when they went against him.
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