<p>^^Took the words right out of my mouth :(</p>
<p>Futurexecutive’s douchiness isn’t an excuse to make an ass out of yourself cob.</p>
<p>I love that show! Who doesnt enjoy trashy reality t.v. shows?</p>
<p>@heampopy - I happen to be pagan and libertarian. The television show exhibits what is wrong with the US’ culture and mores, which values fa</p>
<p>I don’t deny that it is the product of a quickly deteriorating popular culture, but how much you enjoy it is an entirely separate issue. We’re immersed in this culture, of course the lay person will know more about a pop icon than a relatively obscure historical figure. As sad as it may be, the Age of Enlightenment is over and you might as well enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>Who is immersed? I have secluded myself from the declining culture, and encourage others to do so so that they might become something better.</p>
<p>Of course a lay person will know more about bread and circuses than someone who is worth knowing of, because this culture is in decline. A sign of this: television dialogue is tailored to the fourth grade level. No wonder most people sound so stupid.</p>
<p>That said, Sulla is hardly obscure to someone who has read Plutarch. Then again, if you are like most of the young people, if it is not shown on the television, you have maybe heard it mentioned in passing, like many things, but forgotten long ago. They bask in the stupefying glow of the television.</p>
<p>The show is a guilty pleasure. Why do you take it so seriously? Yes, it’s trashy, it’s inane. It’s stupefying yet relaxing and I don’t have to think about it after coming home from clerking. </p>
<p>A lack of familiarity with Sulla doesn’t translate into a premature satisfaction with knowledge. So I subscribe to the philosophies of better known individuals like Nietzsche or Machiavelli. Obscurity comes from a lack of relevance. Get over yourself.</p>
<p>From whence does lack of relevance arise? Let us take the example of the caveman - the few things relevant to him are food, warmth, and the subject(s) of his erotic desires. Relevance is not absolute, but significance in the context of the western tradition is something else.</p>
<p>I take this matter seriously because it is a symptom of something destructive and horrid. Like you, many take pleasure in not having to think. Having grown up in the glow of the television, this one is probably the first wilfully ignorant generation.</p>
<p>You have ceded that lack of familiarity does, in fact, translate into premature satisfaction with one’s knowledge on grounds that Sulla is obscure. You excused your own ignorance citing that you are familiar with better-known individuals’ philosophies i.e. philosophers. This also reveals a slight preoccupation with celebrity. </p>
<p>That said, Sulla is not known for being a philosopher; he was known for being a general, consul, and dictator.</p>
<p>Actually I rather enjoy thinking which should be evident in the simple fact that I’m still here discussing the matter with you. I’ve seen the show twice and I’d imagine the same goes for most people who’ve seen it. </p>
<p>If you consider lacing your arguments with platitudes like “Relevance is not absolute”, then more power to you. I wonder if you believe you were making a worthwhile point there.</p>
<p>In what way did I cede that a lack of familiarity translates into premature intellectual satisfaction? However relevant Sulla may be to you doesn’t translate to the masses and in the context of this discussion, most people would be unfamiliar with his works, thus obscure. Why should I subscribe to dated ideas for reasons other than to satiate your overwhelming ego? My interest in the ideas of Nietzsche and other well-known philosophers has nothing to do with celebrity.</p>
<p>You read a couple of classics and you fancy yourself a genius. Congratulations. Your worldview is about as narrow as Ann Coulter’s.</p>
<p>And yes, this thread is really no longer about Jersey Shore.</p>
<p>Good. That televised detritus is worthy of damnatio memoriae, not a thread.</p>
<p>As for the issue of significance in the context of the western tradition, it does not need to translate to the masses. Significance to the masses is another thing entirely; those fools will eat up any rancid meat that is thrown to them like starved hyenas. They were not always fools; therein is the tragedy.</p>
<p>To correct you, Plutarch is the author, Sulla is the subject of his chronicles. Sulla himself has no works to his name, and few “dated ideas” aside from military tactics and reforms of the late Republic. Also, who required one to subscribe? Did I not say that when one know more about Snooki than Sulla, that is a tragedy? Nowhere did I say subscribe. </p>
<p>It is your world-view that is Coulteresque, and mind you, I have read more than a few of the classics for I prefer to educate myself instead of watching garbage, unlike some people.</p>
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<p>You certainly have a flair for the dramatic. I never said Sulla was the author, so I’d thank you to not put false claims in my posts. I prefer to watch a couple of TED videos over pouring over text. Neither way is better, though the ideas I choose to fill my head with are more relevant. The idea of forced “subscribing” came from your obsessive elevation of Sulla’s deeds, as if failing to acknowledge his accomplishments would be disastrous. I’ll read Plato’s Republic or Rousseau’s The Social Contract over Plutarch any day.</p>
<p>I chose Sulla for purposes of alliteration. Had the best-known of those morons started with something other than ‘S’, I would not have mentioned Sulla.</p>
<p>Again, what is this subscription business? I said ‘know more about’.</p>
<p>The one to whom I reply is obsessive. :D</p>
<p>I didn’t know that Jersey Shore and philosophy go together :P</p>
<p>Vanagandr is obviously a ■■■■■, seen also in the “Hardest and Easiest Majors” discussion.</p>
<p>Gym, Tan, and Laundry.</p>
<p>^Amen! !</p>
<p>GTS–>Gym, Tan, Smush</p>
<p>So much self-righteous pretension in this thread I facepalmed involuntarily.</p>
<p>I went to seaside today and I saw Jwoww, Pauly D, and Snooki working in the tshirt shop. And Vinny and Dina (new girl) were on the house roof. Highlight of my summer by far :)</p>
<p>“Let us take the example of the caveman - the few things relevant to him are food, warmth, and the subject(s) of his erotic desires.”</p>
<p>“Sulla is hardly obscure to someone who has read Plutarch.”</p>
<p>“That televised detritus is worthy of damnatio memoriae, not a thread.”</p>
<p>“Significance to the masses is another thing entirely; those fools will eat up any rancid meat that is thrown to them like starved hyenas.”</p>
<p>I could say a lot more than this, but: Seriously?</p>