Wednesday Open Thread: Existentialism?

It's Day 353 of the Year 2018 CE
So, December 19, 2018 - for my reference if nothing else.


manet_balcony_1869


ex·is·ten·tial·ism
/?egz?'sten(t)SH??liz?m/Submit
noun
a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.

Who? Whom? Which? What? WTF, it's Jean Genet, born 12/19/1910.

Existential writ large, compadres, writ large. Petty criminal, ne'er do well, novelist, poet, essayist, playwright, absurdist, and political activist. The scope of his activism would surprise you. A supporter of Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Danny the Red), The Black Panthers, Angela Davis, George Jackson, Yasser Arafat, as well as Michel Foucault and Daniel Defert's Prison Information Group and others. Such of his writings asOur Lady of the Flowers, The Balcony and The Blacks perhaps less so, unless you haven't read them, in which case, do so.

We can add another who lived quite a life. She wasn't known as an existentialist, but nonetheless:
Milord:

padam padam:

La Vie en Rose:

Edith Piaf (aka La Piaf), born 12/19/1915. Abandoned by her mother and raised in a brothel until she became a street performer at an early age. Lost a daughter and a lover, was seriously injured in a car wreck, then survived two other near fatal crashes and struggled with morphine and alcohol addictions as a result. She eventually became France's national songstress with somewhat augobiograpical songs and famously declared, in song, Je Ne Regrette Rien:

So, just as one may sing the tale of one's life, one might also sing the tales of one's lifetime, and be a 'singing journalist". That is how the illustrious Phil Ochs, born 12/19/1940 described himself and his work. A prolific writer of what he called "topical music", he is best remembred as a protest singer, even though much of his work was social and/or political commentary, much of it still as relevant as it was then.

And then again, I and many of my generation followed his call to arms and swore to forsake the natinal pastime no matter what the cost


Existentialists? Well, Sartre thought Genet was, and his writings and life fit the pattern, though he was no "philosopher". A list of famous or great existentialists usually contains almost exclusively philosophers and maybe Kafka and Sartre. But if you ignore that shitty definition up there, yeah, for sure they were. The word is invariably defined as a school of philosophy or philosophical inquiry and those who dabble in it. But that very school of thought, itself, holds that it is individuals, and they alone who give meaning to their lives and existence by living and living authentically in the face of the absurd world that envelops them. In that respect, they all more than qualify, and I'll suggest one more, one who lived authentically and died on 12/19/1997. I believe his output established well enough his awareness of the absurdity abut him.

Perhaps you've heard the term "Chicago Blues". That was Jimmy Rogers, at least far more so than anybody else. Born in Mississippi and raised in Georgia and Tennessee, he leaned to play harmonica as a kid and guitar as a young teen, playing in Est St. Louis along with the likes of Robert Lockwood Jr. He moved to Chicago and joined Muddy Waters and Little Walter in what became Muddy's band and the three of them pretty much created and defined South Side Chicago Blues. He stuck with Muddy and did some solo work, then eventually played with Howlin' Wolf for a while before he finally quit, drove a cab and started a clothing store that burned down. At that point he started up as a solo artist again. His best known songs are probably "That's All Right" and "Walking by Myself", but if you really want to get a feel for his work, get a copy of "Blues, Blues, Blues" by "The Jimmy Rogers All Stars" (Jimmy Rogers, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Jeff Healey, Johnnie Johnson, Freddie Crwford, Ted Harvey, and Steven Stills are credited, and who knows who else sat in).

(Image: manet_balcony_1869 in "Art Gallery ErgsArt" )

OK, it's an open thread, so go for it ...

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

The Aspie Corner's picture

up
0 users have voted.

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

enhydra lutris's picture

@The Aspie Corner
viewed it yet, but the headline is certainly an attention getter. Being not fully awake yet, it calls to mind the positin best expounded by (I forget whom) that "alienation" in Marx's works isn't the mere physical alienation imposed by the modern means of production, its external ownership, and the frequent unaffordability of the product, but a total existential alienation akin to anomie. This tells me I need more coffee.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

enhydra lutris's picture

@The Aspie Corner
presentation than I had initially anticipated. Thanks again.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

I'll put a link to it below.
This will give the Bernie haters more to spew about.
Trouncing Biden and Beto, Bernie Sanders Emerges as Clear Frontrunner in 2020 Straw Poll

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@jbob
heads up and the link. I can already sense the teeth gritting, especially with Hillary's seeming choice, Kamala not in the top 3 because, no doubt, "SEXISM & RACISM". Here we go again, more work for the Russkies to get all racist and counter the Hillbot cabal's attempt to exalt a false and superficial form of identity politics over platform, progress and an actual vision for helping the people (all of them) instead of the polutocrats. The entertainment value of the Democratic party is becoming unsurpassed in this world of remakes, covers, and cookie-cutter music and flicks.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris now he is the Clear Frontrunner in Howard Dean's PAC Pulse Poll (members only again). huh

Top five results from the DFA poll (members asked to pick top three):
Bernie Sanders, 36.14%
Joe Biden, 14.88%
Beto O'Rourke, 12.34%
Elizabeth Warren, 7.89%
Kamala Harris, 6.95%
See the full results here: http://poll.democracyforamerica.com/results

---
For old times' sake, let's do a Democratic Party straw poll

...
16678 votes
WHO IS CURRENTLY YOUR FAVORITE 2016 CANDIDATE?
Hillary Clinton-45%
Bernie Sanders-53%
Other-1%
No Freakin' Clue-1%

screaming coat tails

up
0 users have voted.

was so loved by so many in France as well as around the world. I have the impression she was especially loved by the 99 percenters :). She seemed to 'belong' to the common people. I like the phrase 'journalist musician'. I think that describes some of my favorites. They are the ones who tell stories about our life that ring true. That is one of the reasons that many of us love them so much. Edith Piaf was one of those and she was so fabulous. I grew up on her music because my mom who was a small-town midwestern girl had all her records. We listened to them all the time.
We also listened to Brecht's The Three Penny Opera in german because my mom was trying to learn the language. (We lived in Austria at the time.) Brecht was also an amazing person, and, I would guess had existentialist influences in his plays :).

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx
I would call Brecht something of an existentialist for sure. He was a Marxist, and there is an undercurrent of existentialism throughout Marxism, and his work and vision for the theater included an openly expressed non-Aristotlean thrust. He wanted to eschew catharsis and the complacency he felt it generated in favor of creating a tension and angst intended to inspire viewers to go out and do things and take actions to improve the world as a reaction to the alienation and perceived injustice portrayed in his works. In his case there is an odd fusion, because he participated in some collectives and was something of a collectivist, but to my mind that isn't such a big contradiction because one can be an authentic self-defining actor within a collective because collective's aren't simply gatherings of clones and drones.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

I love your OT. I will have to re-read it when I have time tonight. What a treat. I can't wait.

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Nina Simone. Big H/T to smiley 7 who introduced me to this artist.

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@randtntx

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Anja Geitz's picture

@enhydra lutris

That last note she holds is hauntingly raw and full of life. Love her.

[video:https://youtu.be/D5Y11hwjMNs]

up
0 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

magiamma's picture

Et al ..,

Thanks for the great info and music. Love it. Travel day for me and must post once i arrive. Heh. Damn i love me those existentialists. I hv decided we need a plan for the revolution. So i am going to draft one Top down design as in a program execute. Bc there is a lot of talk but there are only so many things that can be realistically executed. Basically find the gating points (bottlenecks) and figure out where to go from there. Big cities. Transportation. XR is doing a good job. As are the gilets jaunes. Life as we know it has to change radically and soon. Every thing we consume has a long upstream production impact on gaia. And then there is the mic. Don’t forget the mic. Rambling rose. Yellow rose of texas. Arise arise...

up
0 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

enhydra lutris's picture

@magiamma
and focusing on choke points is also a yes. Accommodating them is a step further. In one of their general strikes (I forget which) the Wobblies took pains to see to it that the hoi polloi still received the necessities for survival, making sure that milk was delivered to families with children and such. This kept the laboring class from turning against them.

Also
Intro to ecology of cities => energy (power & food) + supplies and raw materials in : waste out. Capping the waste stream produces chaos and stagnation, but, unfortunately, disease and pestilence as well.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@enhydra lutris
One of the founders of ER has his ?phd in essentially, organizing protests iirc. So a look at what they are planning is a good place to start. I don’t see how it is possible to stp the big offenders per se but disruption of production is possible both by lessening consumption (by us) which will require educating folks Young follks get it and will be, and already are, first adoprers. The other focus has to be the disruption of production of primarily oil, but of all extractive processes. E.g. German stoppage of forest destruction by lignite producers. There must be a bunch on how to out there already.

Time now to, imho, move onto the next phase - beyond just talking. Yes to city ecology.

Also need a clearinghouse or something for info so folks know what others are doing.

up
0 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

dystopian's picture

We would be remiss to talk existential without mentioning this classic...

up
0 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian
pataphysical, and I must rush the clock

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

great thread starter. Thank you!

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@HenryAWallace

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Anja Geitz's picture

There's a scene in "Saving Private Ryan" where Tom Hanks character listens to a recording of Edith Piaf. The sound of Piaf's voice echoing through the empty streets of a small evacuated French town during WWII is quite moving.

I never knew her background before. Amazing woman.

up
0 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

enhydra lutris's picture

@Anja Geitz woman and a great chanteuse to boot.

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

lotlizard's picture

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/medien/gefaelschte-reportagen-spiegel-legt-b...

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/betrugsfall-beim-spiegel-preisgekroenter-...

The latter story compares Der Spiegel’s discredited reporter Claas Relotius to two previous cases in the U.S. concerning Jason Blair at the New York Times and Jack Kelley at USA Today.

By the way, our “sister site” JackPine Radicals (JPR) has finally gone live with its spiffy new software. As I understand it, registering anew is required.

up
0 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@lotlizard

up
0 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --