Inter-relational normativity.
I know an economist who is almost autistic in his inability -and one assumes it is a lack of ability rather than a failure of the will-to break out of his own narrow world. At first it was merely irritating, but trying to distance myself from it (perhaps with too cold a heart) I''ve begun to think about this person quite a lot.
One reason for doing so is, of course, to reflect on my own inability to be open. I hear some awful bores talk and I just can't bring myself to laugh at their silly jokes, nod at the appropriate time or even feign interest. This may just be a seasonal thing, or maybe it's middle age wrapping itself up in a nostalgia for the past and what is deeply familiar? In any case, it is not quite as bad as "hell is other people" but it is getting there. I think part of the problem is the lack of attractive/charming women in the workplace...
Then I wonder: is this a more general phenomenon? Is there something irreducibly private, atomistic about the human condition so that someone will always find themselves-at least to some extent- opposed or confronted by the world and other people? But even if this is a universal tendency, does it become more accentuated under certain historical conditions? Do late capitalism, modern technology, and mobility preclude the possibility of us being grounded in a shared sense of place? Does the sheer scale of the information overload mean we are always looking for ways of blocking out "noise"? Or does this irritability stem primarily from boredom?
----
By the way, Roxana, where are my pictures?
---
Back to the robot, though, for when all is said and done I am fascinated- in a rather unhealthy way, admittedly- by this freak. 'I' before the world; 'I' at the centre of the world. In his emails if one were to take out a few worlds what one would be left with would go something like this...'I...I...because..I...and ..I...but ...I...'
I know an economist who is almost autistic in his inability -and one assumes it is a lack of ability rather than a failure of the will-to break out of his own narrow world. At first it was merely irritating, but trying to distance myself from it (perhaps with too cold a heart) I''ve begun to think about this person quite a lot.
One reason for doing so is, of course, to reflect on my own inability to be open. I hear some awful bores talk and I just can't bring myself to laugh at their silly jokes, nod at the appropriate time or even feign interest. This may just be a seasonal thing, or maybe it's middle age wrapping itself up in a nostalgia for the past and what is deeply familiar? In any case, it is not quite as bad as "hell is other people" but it is getting there. I think part of the problem is the lack of attractive/charming women in the workplace...
Then I wonder: is this a more general phenomenon? Is there something irreducibly private, atomistic about the human condition so that someone will always find themselves-at least to some extent- opposed or confronted by the world and other people? But even if this is a universal tendency, does it become more accentuated under certain historical conditions? Do late capitalism, modern technology, and mobility preclude the possibility of us being grounded in a shared sense of place? Does the sheer scale of the information overload mean we are always looking for ways of blocking out "noise"? Or does this irritability stem primarily from boredom?
----
By the way, Roxana, where are my pictures?
---
Back to the robot, though, for when all is said and done I am fascinated- in a rather unhealthy way, admittedly- by this freak. 'I' before the world; 'I' at the centre of the world. In his emails if one were to take out a few worlds what one would be left with would go something like this...'I...I...because..I...and ..I...but ...I...'
No comments:
Post a Comment