10 Comments

1. Mike  •  Sep 10, 2009 @3:40 pm
   

   Let me savor my own two minutes of hate….Inhales…

   So you're getting a PhD in English, but you're such a loser that you're writing shit about someone else's thought and works? This is what those morons do? If you have a B.A. in English and can't write your own shit, then you suck and need to hang it up. I mean, maybe get an M.A. if you really like reading and want a credential that signals to others your love of reading….But a PhD in English on another person's English? How lame!

   I watched less than 20 hours of television over a 5-year span. Had never seen an episode of Seinfeld. When 9/11 hit, I had no idea whom Osama bin Laden was. I did read serious literature, books on science, and philosophy.

   Now I follow all the news and am current and shit. I'm also about 10 IQ points less intelligent. It's better to sleep than watch television.

   TV is shit. People need to learn how to become bored. Sit in a room with nothing but yourself. You'll figure something out. You might even get rid of the fear of being alone – which is itself responsible for most human problems. You're afraid to be alone, so you attend stupid cocktail parties conversing with morons when you could be spending time thinking about timeless truths and classical literature. Or even having an original thought or two.

   Times up. Thanks for the forum to share my hate!

2. Chris Berez  •  Sep 10, 2009 @4:08 pm
   

   OK then, have fun with that.

   Meanwhile, I'm going to play my PS3 for 90 minutes or so. Then I'm going to spend the rest of the night watching football. Then I'm going to go to bed happy.

   I love reading, too. But I also like doing non-intellectual things like playing video games, watching TV and reading comic books. And you know what? I'm not some slobbering, knuckle-dragging moron.

3. Ken  •  Sep 10, 2009 @4:11 pm
   

   Mike, it's perfectly fine to hate TV, and to avoid TV.

   But I am confident that you don't go around gratuitously dropping into conversations the fact that you don't/didn't watch TV. I'm confident that if you met someone at a party, you aren't one of those people who would say, "OH. Well, I don't even OWN a TV!"

4. mike  •  Sep 10, 2009 @6:29 pm
   

   Ken: Of course not. If antthing, TV writer man is superior to PhD. After all, he is producing something of his own rather than becoming a "doctor" by footnoting someone else's work.

   Chris: different things give people different pleasure. Where did I say otherwise. I like reading and going to strip clubs. If you get you dopamine elsewhere, good for you.

5. Chris Berez  •  Sep 10, 2009 @7:09 pm
   

   Mike: Yeah, sorry, I realize that came off as overly-defensive and kinda dickish. My apologies. I didn't mean to be a jerk.

6. Mike  •  Sep 10, 2009 @7:15 pm
   

   I'm usually 1/2 troll, so it's all good. Now enough with this love fest. Two minutes of hate is good for the soul.

7. Patrick  •  Sep 11, 2009 @6:56 am
   

   Let's get away from all this soul revelation, and back to the point: It's an awesome story.

8. Chris  •  Sep 11, 2009 @7:23 am
   

   I'm just amazed that Pynchon was on the Simpsons. I need to find that episode.

9. Linus  •  Sep 11, 2009 @10:13 am
   

   What does it say about me that I haven't the foggiest idea of who Pynchon is, but I could immediately name (The Homega Man) the Simpsons episode with the line "Oh, I've wasted my life."

10. Mike  •  Sep 11, 2009 @10:17 am
    

    +1 Patrick. Imagine, too, if the PhD had been nice to the writer. Maybe they'd have developed a relationship leading to Pynchon actually agreeing to receive a copy of the guy's dissertation. Instead, the PhD became a blog's punchline.