Thursday, October 20, 2005

Killing Yourself To Live

Music of Choice:
Tool - Opiate

I often wonder whether sociologists write to inform, or be discussed. Follow me on this one for a second. I was reading “Killing Yourself To Live”, a great book by Chuck Klosterman, and somewhere between packing his suitcase to tour the dead rock star walk of fame and talking about a hot girl he was in love with, he mentioned that he had met Elizabeth Wurtzel. She is the author of the book “Prozac Nation”. He mentioned that his co-worker did not approve of her demeanor, and you can (and should) go read the book for the whole story, but it got me thinking. I am becoming the person I used to make fun of in high school. And I can’t stop it.

Hear me out on this. I have within the last 3-4 years slowly been more and more drawn into the world of sociology. I find myself now reading 1 book a week straight from the section of books titled by the same name at Borders and Barnes & Noble. The people I always assumed read these books were the loonies who hung out at Starbucks until midnight drinking $12 mocha’s and chasing them with $18 lattes. They are also prone to bitching, whining, moaning, and preaching about society and every damn thing under the sun that was believed to be a conspiracy. Modern day hippies, I believe, was the title I attributed to them. They were harmless if you ignored them, but if you were to engage them in a conversation about, say pie, they would rant for hours on how much of a “sheep” or “lemming” you were. Thankfully they just ramble on unaware that they can aspire to no greater beings than that of unemployed modern socialites commencing in wasted language.

Lately though I have begun to actually enjoy what I read. I still don’t enjoy the people I just mentioned and I never will, but the subject itself makes more sense now than in high school. I wonder why that is? Could it be I have matured? I doubt it. I think it is just that as you grow older you tend to grow out of the things you loved (usually) and begin to take interest into things that actually MATTER (hopefully). Here in lies the dilemma I mentioned in the first sentence; do they really care or are they just trying to make everyone believe they care? I will go out and read “Prozac Nation” within the next 2 weeks so as that I can do a follow up, but until then I am left with that same burning question. I hope that the answer is that they sincerely believe there is a problem with society and it needs to be brought to attention. That would make me feel a whole lot better to know that they didn’t waste all those hours at Starbucks spouting off gibberish and really aren’t trying to just make a buck and a name in the spotlight. Here’s to hoping.

-B
Deaf and Blind and Dumb and Born to Follow

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've become fascinated with Peace Studies and the words of Gandhi. I want to move to Japan and be a translator. It's kind of scary growing up. I had no interest in either of these passions in high school.