"... had some kind of nobility, hating this thing here, and that thing there, and that other thing over there, and making sure that everybody around me knew it, not just knew, but felt it too, contemptuous of beauty, contemptuous of joy, contemptuous of happiness in others, well, this whole attitude just felt, I don’t know, in the end, sort of dumb."
Writes Nick Cave, responding to a fan who asked "When did you become a Hallmark card hippie? Joy, love, peace. Puke! Where’s the rage, anger, hatred? Reading these lately is like listening to an old preacher drone on and on at Sunday mass" — at The Red Hand Files.
After his younger son Arthur, aged 15, fell off a cliff and died, Cave thought about "the precarious and vulnerable position of the world" and felt he ought to try to help the world, "instead of merely vilifying it, and sitting in judgement of it."
In 2022, his older son Jethro died, aged 31.
31 Comments on Althouse: "Sitting around in my own mess, pissed off at the world, disdainful of the people in it, and thinking my contempt for things somehow amounted to something..."
This is not exactly a revolutionary thought that Nick Cave came up with, you know."
And someone responds you gotta be kidding you let the outside world bother you that much?
Followed by much vilification for being braindead heartless etc.
But really, they gotta be kidding, right?
Maybe if WWIII breaks out...."
He got off to a rough start on fatherhood. His first two kids were born ten days apart, to different women. He said he basically ignored one of them (the one who just died) for several years, but eventually they built a relationship. The younger son had taken LSD before his accident; the older one was schizophrenic and had attacked his mother. That's a lot for a parent to have to carry around."
There's a Stop Smiling Magazine but I'm not sure of the connection, if any.
Speaking of bookstores and universities, I once had an African academic doing research in my department who was there in our reading room when an undergrad came in looking for either or both Malcolm X's and Frantz Fanon's books to check out. Our books didn't circulate, and the stack copies were checked out or missing and the kid was desperate, even willing to buy copies if they could be found in town.
The researcher overheard our discussion and suggested that the student check at the socialist bookstore. In Memphis, in the year 1999 or so.
Dear man.
"
Faith, Hope and Charity FTW."
Say, here I am
On the road again
There I am
Up on the stage
Here I go
Playin' star again
There I go
Turn the page
Bob Seager - Turn the page."
Kudos to Cave for gaining a little wisdom. Losing two kids very prematurely is the hardest thing.
Yes, from a philosophical point of view, most hatred is dumb. But from a political point of view, it is useful. The lust for power, especially prog power, relies on the cultivation of hatred. It's dumb simply to declare it dumb."
He does however have an exception ability to perform very well with some outstandingly talented women: Marianne Faithfull, Debbie Harry and Neko Case. You don't just get lucky for that to happen, you need to know exactly what you're doing.
. . . . . smart guy."
"The world" is neither precarious nor vulnerable. It is, in fact, quite stable and invulnerable. It has been around in its current form throughout history, and the prehistory before that.
I learned this in elementary school and every subsequent school that I was fortunate to attend. It is confirmed in the exhibits of The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum in London, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and others.
Nick Cave needs to get outside, take a walk and, as they say, smell the roses."
But, if the world must conform to your liking for you to be happy, you never will be. So, you have a choice: get with the program, man; or let your cognitive dissonance create an environment of hate, misery, resentment and self-pity.
Of course, if you pick the latter, you have a ready-made excuse for your unhappiness, all the “bad” luck visited upon you and your failure to realize all the goodies that you birth-right should have bestowed upon your victimized self. None of your misery is your fault.
I feel for those who believe that all their problems are the fault of others. And, since they do not have a problem, you can’t help them. No one fixes a problem they do not have.
Pray for them?"
He sounds like a good guy and from above comments a good artist.
However, my first two reactions were:
1. How do you sit in judgement of the world? That strikes me as highly narcissistic.
2. The world has always been precarious and dangerous. It is less so now. It is not the Hobbesian life that was nasty, brutish and short.
I do not mean to criticize the guy, but to challenge simple minded assumptions about the modern world."
I wonder if these nit-wits understand Trump isn't president anymore?
We had peace and prosperity during Trump. Period.
Now - UNDER Crook Biden - we have inflation, tax rape, open borders, crime and war.
"
But, despite it all, he reached a state of rational, moral enlightenment."
and felt he ought to try to help the world, Or simply, Be of service to others.
Feel like crap and don't know why? Try being of service to others. No you don't have to sell off all you have to start a homeless shelter. Do simple things throughout the day. You are really not helping others. You are getting out of yourself. Right sizing your ego. While making another persons day go a little smoother. "