Shakespeare lets Macbeth contemplate Existential Nihilism.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more;
it is a tale Told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Nihilisman: An existentialist view of the world and life, that argues everything is basically meaningless. The Nihilist abandons values and knowledge, the word is a derivative of the latin root Nihil, that which doesn’t exist. It is used in the word annihilate.
The existential nihilist is often consumed with profound hatred and the belief that Nothingness will prevail and the world is meaningless.
The most well-known Nihilist, Friedrich Nietzsche, lost control of his faculties when he saw a horse being mistreated; he began sobbing uncontrollably and collapsed into a catatonic state. He died August 25, 1900, diagnosed as being “Utterly Insane.”
The Tea Party is probably the purest example of Existentialist Nihilism you are the most familiar with; If we analyze the essence of the Tea Party, beneath the casual conversation, the Existential Nihilism is undeniable. Remember, the basic conversation is meaningless; however, it captures the spirit of nothingness and of insanity in its purest form. The Tea party says No to God and denies humanity the power to feel the power of self. The insanity is present, but it is ignored by those who participate. In a certain respect, the Tea Party becomes the purest expression of Existentialist Nihilism. For the Tea Party labels all values as worthless, therefore, nothing can be known or communicated and it associates itself with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that has no loyalties.
We now join Alice as she approaches the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse at their dining room table: (You surely realized, I was referring to Alice’s Tea Party, I hope.)
There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. `Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,’ thought Alice; `only, as it’s asleep, I suppose it doesn’t mind.’
The Mad Hatter and the March Hare represent the Elites of our two party system. They have their elbows on the dormouse, who is the public. He is uncomfortable, but lethargic and unaware of how the Hare and the Hatter are using him for their own comfort and convenience. Alice represents a voice of sanity and reason. She is unwelcome at the table.
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: `No room! No room!’ they cried out when they saw Alice coming. `There’s plenty of room!’ said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.
Mad Tea Party
`Have some wine,’ the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. `I don’t see any wine,’ she remarked.
`There isn’t any,’ said the March Hare.
`Then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,’ said Alice angrily.
`It wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,’ said the March Hare.
`I didn’t know it was your table,’ said Alice; `it’s laid for a great many more than three.
‘The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’
The Hatter and Hare don’t like the idea of being exposed by reason and sanity; a ruse is employed to throw off the logic of Alice.
`Come, we shall have some fun now!’ thought Alice. `I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles.–I believe I can guess that,’ she added aloud.
`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?’ said the March Hare.
`Exactly so,’ said Alice.
`Then you should say what you mean,’ the March Hare went on.
`I do,’ Alice hastily replied; `at least–at least I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.’
`Not the same thing a bit!’ said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I see”!’
Hatter engaging in rhetoric
`You might just as well say,’ added the March Hare, `that “I like what I get” is the same thing as “I get what I like”!’
`You might just as well say,’ added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that “I breathe when I sleep” is the same thing as “I sleep when I breathe”!’
`It is the same thing with you,’ said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much.
The Hatter was the first to break the silence. `What day of the month is it?’ he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.
Alice considered a little, and then said `The fourth.’
`Two days wrong!’ sighed the Hatter. `I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!’ he added looking angrily at the March Hare.
`It was the best butter,’ the March Hare meekly replied.
`Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,’ the Hatter grumbled: `you shouldn’t have put it in with the bread-knife.’
The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, `It was the best butter, you know.’
Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. `What a funny watch!’ she remarked. `It tells the day of the month, and doesn’t tell what o’clock it is!’
`Why should it?’ muttered the Hatter. `Does your watch tell you what year it is?’
`Of course not,’ Alice replied very readily: `but that’s because it stays the same year for such a long time together.’`Which is just the case with mine,’ said the Hatter.
Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter’s remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. `I don’t quite understand you,’ she said, as politely as she could.
`The Dormouse is asleep again,’ said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea upon its nose.
The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, `Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.’
`Have you guessed the riddle yet?’ the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
`No, I give it up,’ Alice replied: `what’s the answer?’
`I haven’t the slightest idea,’ said the Hatter.
`Nor I,’ said the March Hare.
Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,’ she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.’
`If you knew Time as well as I do,’ said the Hatter, `you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.’
`I don’t know what you mean,’ said Alice.
`Of course you don’t!’ the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously.
Rather than deal with Alice honestly, they obfuscate, throw out misleading statements, and try to confuse the naive and honest Alice, who is unused to such bizarre behavior.
When the Hare and the Hatter try to explain their actions with logic and honesty, the ruse collapses.
Jay Carney attempted to explain President Obama’s view of Obamacare, it was a disaster, but it exposed the strategy of the Obama Tea party.
If we assume it’s a tax, President Obama’s plan becomes legal, but violates his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000; as a mandate, it is illegal under the Supreme Court ruling, but it is in line with his campaign promise. Obama wants it both ways: it’s a tax for purposes of legality, but because of politics, it must be a mandate. Carney, like the Hare and the Hatter tried to explain this absurd lunacy:
But if I could just add as a matter of policy, it is simply a fallacy to say that this is a broad-based tax. That’s not what the opinion stated that was authored by the Chief Justice. The Affordable Care Act is constitutional under Congress’s taxing authority, but this is clearly a penalty that affects less than 1 percent of the American population.
Do you feel like Alice at the Tea Party? They want you to be like the dormouse.
A professional horseman for over 50 years, Skook continues to work with horses. Skook has finished an historical novel, Fifty Thousand Years, that traces a mitochondrial line of DNA from 50,000 years ago to the present. The story follows a line of courageous women, from the Ice Ages to the present, as they meet the challenges of survival with grit and creativity. These are not women who whimper of being victims, they meet the challenges of survival as women who use their abilities without excuses or remorse, these women are winners, they are our ancestors.
Fifty Thousand Years is available in paperback and e-book, it is getting great reviews. You can purchase a copy here; Visit me on Facebook.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dylantheauthor
skook I don’t know what tea party you are talking about, alice in wonderland I guess, since it definitely is not the Tea Party I and my friend belong to here in Goochland VA.
In early articles, I wrote of the days of my youth and running a huge government trapline. The trapper makes a living out of fooling animals with snares, traps, and dead falls. You learn how to catch and kill some of the most cunning animals in the world, but now in my later years, I enjoy snaring humans. It’s a bloodless sport and requires no license. Humans are more unpredictable than wolves, coyotes, marten, fisher, beaver, wolverine, and lynx, so it requires stealth. When it is over, you can have a good laugh together, instead of skinning and stretching, unless they are sore losers.
@Skookum:
You threw me in the beginning as well. Figured it out when you got to Alice, the Mad Hatter & March Hare.
Ditto: It went according to plan. We need a little humor before the bloodletting starts.
So…..
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Well….for one answer….
Both produce flat notes.
On what has been a rough two weeks and a really rough day, you once again come through. Brillaint and funny! Thanks for making my day Skook
Skook – You almost had me with the Tea Party…The first few lines I was saying to myself Skook surely you jest…’must’ be some other tea party he is talking about…. sure enough…
This is really such a Great analogy of the Left…
Faith and Joe, I am glad you enjoyed the article. I always refer to the political Tea Party as the TEA Party.
I must admit, I was traveling when I thought through the article and stopped in a Starbucks to type it out on the computer. I was laughing while I was typing and I am sure I unnerved several of the people sitting around me, since I am not shy about laughing and not many people laugh while they are typing.
I could just imagine people getting wound up and thinking I had gone on around the bend. LOL
Skookum@#8 – LOL
This should be taught in Internet 101. What we have here is the opposite of a troll post. I call it bait, a bait thread. Usually good for a nice emotional reaction.
Bastard, good job.
Of course, the Supreme Court did not say is was a tax. Justice Roberts, whose decision was the turning point in determining the Constitutionality of the mandate, said it fell within the purview of the IRS—to raise taxes OR impose penalties. The ultra-right-wing chooses to call it a tax, in order to discredit Obama.
You don’t read so well, do you? The majority opinion and Roberts said:
1: It is unconstitutional as commerce regulation because it is an overreach of Commerce Clause powers by Congress
2: It is *not* a penalty since it does not criminalize not purchasing health insurance
3: That is does fall with Congressional taxation powers via the 16th Amendment… tho that’s not what the idiots who wrote the bill said in Section 1501, where they laid out their Commerce Clauses powers as authorization.
Lastly, speaking of idiots, the IRS doesn’t have the power to raise taxes or impose penalties. That is the a power reserved only to Congress. Absolutely embarrassing to see the unmitigated ignorance displayed here that government agencies, who implement the dictates of passed legislation, can arbitrarily raise taxes or impose penalties without direction from the Legislative Branch.
There’s an Civics 101 class calling you, libzero
SKOOKUM
YOU did it again,
and I learned another word.
thank you.
BYE
I was discussing this with a liberal friend of mine, and I told him that the Obamacare mandate has turned the money that I used to voluntarily purchase my health insurance into a tax. He didn’t understand what I meant so I told him…
By issuing an unfunded mandate on me, the government is forcing me to purchase a product that I otherwise would purchase voluntarily. This has turned my voluntary health insurance premiums into a tax as it has done for every American in the United States who purchases health insurance.
It doesn’t matter if they tax me and spend it on me, or if they force me to spend it on myself. The fact that I am being taxed doesn’t change.