note: i was invited to a facebook group called ‘alt lit shadow council’ and thought i left it, but received a notification re the above post and responded w the following:
as someone who feels very aware of my tiny ‘carbon footprint’, tiny economic influence, (current) tiny ‘aesthetic appeal’/influence (in terms of ‘mass-communication’), and tiny existence as 1 of ~7 billion+ organisms, it earnestly seems insane (a quality i desire not to exhibit/communicate to people i like) to express anything besides these observations. i think insane-seeming behavior is conceptually akin to cancer cells developing in a body, via following lines of DNA or thoughts re how humanity functions that are inconsistent with the overall ‘function’ of the system in a manner that seems out-of-control/undesirable and could destroy the system, however i don’t have the same perspective on humanity as i have on cancer, so i don’t know
i am not opposed to myself or anyone making ‘grandiose’ statements/gestures/expressions in the content of their prose or other work, but the impetus for making ‘pieces’, for me, is not to ‘overthrow’ or ‘contest’ any existing hierarchy (i perceive ‘alt’ as referring to ‘different from’ not ‘in opposition’ to) as much as it is to validate my own experience as a human. i feel very content with the knowledge that everything i do in life changes the world slightly and have no desire to change it more or less than i currently do, partly because the more influence one person exhibits, the more it seems people consider them responsible for fucked circumstances, which seem inevitable; partly because i consider human communication more valuable on an [individual interacting with other individual] basis, than by thinking of any collective, group, community, state, country, or [larger, segmented collection of individually terrified/impulse-driven/goal-pursuing humans] as a [discernible-as-autonomous] thing
i don’t discuss and feel no interest in using the internet to address the following ideas for these reasons:
‘The imPact of Commercialism on Contemporary Art’
—i don’t understand what ‘commercialism’ or ‘contemporary art’ are in concrete reality and think any human who thinks these are discernible aspects of the human experience is probably more ‘rhetoric-driven’ than me
—i, therefore, don’t address them because i don’t want to confuse my friends/audience or convince them of anything except to, somehow, attempt to cause them to feel less bored during their brief and difficult experience being alive
‘Why minimalism? what does Alt Lit’s minimalist Shtick tell us about Contemporary Society?’
—note: the word ‘why’ seems indiscernibly abstract to me
—i enjoy work considered ‘minimal’ because, i think, most pieces considered part of that genre (that i’ve read) seem void of moral/narrative/’collectivist’/pro-religion/anti-anything themes, which seems more desirable, to me, re thinking about concrete reality, than existing in concrete reality and feeling preoccupied with ‘clearly imagined’ concepts/circumstances (i.e. ‘mythology’ and any derivative concept, i think)
‘Why a’Pathetic Solipsism? why is Alt Lit a’Fraid to tackle Larger Themes ( see the “I don’t have an Opinion” Meme spread by Tao Lin / Blake Butler, the preDomience of then this happened then this happened then this happened Journalistic Writing )’
—for the most part my opinions about things seem to be ‘this is shitty’ or ‘this is good’ which both seem like oversimplification of my reaction to things that i may conversely like or dislike in the future for reasons unknown, based on my current understanding of them
—i don’t feel afraid expressing these opinions but i do feel disinterest toward the idea of feeling obligated in social situations to justify them, so i don’t express them in places or to people where i feel pressure to ‘explain why’ because ‘why’ seems irrelevant to my opinion, and, as far as i can tell, my opinion about [anything] could change for any reason, at any moment
‘Why is Every One so depressed / alienated and what can we do about it?’
—i feel no desire to change this quality in people, seems ‘valuable’ maybe, in terms of how creatively stimulated they are, idk
‘If People feel dissatisfied with their Lives ( as is Commonly xpressed by Alt Lit Authors ) how can we change Society to make it More fulfilling?’
—i feel incapable of discerning what ‘society’ is
—seems like all humans may be dissatisfied with their lives, dissatisfaction with life seems consistent throughout all types of communication, possibly in more indirect ways via advertisement, popular fiction, ‘blockbuster’ movies, etc
—directly expressing ‘i feel dissatisfied’ seems better, to me, than indirect or repressed feelings/thoughts re ‘i feel dissatisfied’ if one’s goal is to communicate clearly, which is a goal i have/pursue
—i don’t think having more influence/money/fans or any different type of governing system will satisfy anyone (everyone) who is chronically dissatisfied
^ this is straightforward and reasonable and smart and I appreciate / agree with the vast majority of it, (thank you bcup)
![stephenmichaelmcdowell:
note: i was invited to a facebook group called ‘alt lit shadow council’ and thought i left it, but received a notification re the above post and responded w the following:
as someone who feels very aware of my tiny ‘carbon footprint’, tiny economic influence, (current) tiny ‘aesthetic appeal’/influence (in terms of ‘mass-communication’), and tiny existence as 1 of ~7 billion+ organisms, it earnestly seems insane (a quality i desire not to exhibit/communicate to people i like) to express anything besides these observations. i think insane-seeming behavior is conceptually akin to cancer cells developing in a body, via following lines of DNA or thoughts re how humanity functions that are inconsistent with the overall ‘function’ of the system in a manner that seems out-of-control/undesirable and could destroy the system, however i don’t have the same perspective on humanity as i have on cancer, so i don’t knowi am not opposed to myself or anyone making ‘grandiose’ statements/gestures/expressions in the content of their prose or other work, but the impetus for making ‘pieces’, for me, is not to ‘overthrow’ or ‘contest’ any existing hierarchy (i perceive ‘alt’ as referring to ‘different from’ not ‘in opposition’ to) as much as it is to validate my own experience as a human. i feel very content with the knowledge that everything i do in life changes the world slightly and have no desire to change it more or less than i currently do, partly because the more influence one person exhibits, the more it seems people consider them responsible for fucked circumstances, which seem inevitable; partly because i consider human communication more valuable on an [individual interacting with other individual] basis, than by thinking of any collective, group, community, state, country, or [larger, segmented collection of individually terrified/impulse-driven/goal-pursuing humans] as a [discernible-as-autonomous] thingi don’t discuss and feel no interest in using the internet to address the following ideas for these reasons:‘The imPact of Commercialism on Contemporary Art’—i don’t understand what ‘commercialism’ or ‘contemporary art’ are in concrete reality and think any human who thinks these are discernible aspects of the human experience is probably more ‘rhetoric-driven’ than me—i, therefore, don’t address them because i don’t want to confuse my friends/audience or convince them of anything except to, somehow, attempt to cause them to feel less bored during their brief and difficult experience being alive‘Why minimalism? what does Alt Lit’s minimalist Shtick tell us about Contemporary Society?’—note: the word ‘why’ seems indiscernibly abstract to me—i enjoy work considered ‘minimal’ because, i think, most pieces considered part of that genre (that i’ve read) seem void of moral/narrative/’collectivist’/pro-religion/anti-anything themes, which seems more desirable, to me, re thinking about concrete reality, than existing in concrete reality and feeling preoccupied with ‘clearly imagined’ concepts/circumstances (i.e. ‘mythology’ and any derivative concept, i think)‘Why a’Pathetic Solipsism? why is Alt Lit a’Fraid to tackle Larger Themes ( see the “I don’t have an Opinion” Meme spread by Tao Lin / Blake Butler, the preDomience of then this happened then this happened then this happened Journalistic Writing )’—for the most part my opinions about things seem to be ‘this is shitty’ or ‘this is good’ which both seem like oversimplification of my reaction to things that i may conversely like or dislike in the future for reasons unknown, based on my current understanding of them—i don’t feel afraid expressing these opinions but i do feel disinterest toward the idea of feeling obligated in social situations to justify them, so i don’t express them in places or to people where i feel pressure to ‘explain why’ because ‘why’ seems irrelevant to my opinion, and, as far as i can tell, my opinion about [anything] could change for any reason, at any moment‘Why is Every One so depressed / alienated and what can we do about it?’—i feel no desire to change this quality in people, seems ‘valuable’ maybe, in terms of how creatively stimulated they are, idk‘If People feel dissatisfied with their Lives ( as is Commonly xpressed by Alt Lit Authors ) how can we change Society to make it More fulfilling?’—i feel incapable of discerning what ‘society’ is—seems like all humans may be dissatisfied with their lives, dissatisfaction with life seems consistent throughout all types of communication, possibly in more indirect ways via advertisement, popular fiction, ‘blockbuster’ movies, etc—directly expressing ‘i feel dissatisfied’ seems better, to me, than indirect or repressed feelings/thoughts re ‘i feel dissatisfied’ if one’s goal is to communicate clearly, which is a goal i have/pursue—i don’t think having more influence/money/fans or any different type of governing system will satisfy anyone (everyone) who is chronically dissatisfied
^ this is straightforward and reasonable and smart and I appreciate / agree with the vast majority of it, (thank you bcup)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/6ccc893180616e494e7ced4d1c2f265b/tumblr_mg4brbki2Q1qa9zryo1_500.png)
