David Foster Wallace discusses Consumerism (2003)
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- David Foster Wallace discusses the ethos and pitfalls of consumerism.
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"To obey every impulse and gratify every desire seems to me some kind of slavery." Wow!!
Boring
@@Ace-ls6yl cope. you are a slave to your desires.
Cringe
"He who commits sin is the servant of sin" ~ Jesus
He’s right, many people can become slaves to their emotions and impulses. For some it’s a worse problem than others but I think we’re all guilty of being selfish sometimes.
“We don’t want things to be quiet ever anymore.”
Me listening to this video doing dishes because I can’t do dishes without listening to something: 😬
That part reminded me of the time a was shopping at a local supermarket and all of a sudden the music died for a couple of minutes. The silence was defeaning in a way. A strange sense of agitation started rising in me. I felt like I did not know why I was in here and I wanted to get out. And I felt relieved and almost thankful when the music finally came back on.
@The Sharpest Dullard At least they are self aware dick face
@Intelligently Stoopid You think corporate spaces haven’t been control group tested in a million ways to determine the “standardized ideal environment for consumption”? The Muzak is a massive part of it. Every piece of that environment has been painstakingly constructed, at great expense. the consumer has become so used to these spaces that to us the individual parts become invisible / unnoticeable...until some piece is abruptly absent and then the artifice is broken. Everything from light levels, color walls, whether or not there are windows, the temperature, the placement/display of products. You think the corporations producing those products don’t spend millions on market research as well? What color packaging, the logo, brand recognition, consumer target group, etc. etc.
Intelligently Stoopid no. You said he they had issues. In a bit of a nasty way. Maybe you’re just having a bad day. If so. Cheers up, pal. Things could ( and probably will) get worse. Lol
Intelligently Stoopid to be fair. I think the whole human race is quite idiotic. Lol
1950: we're going to have flying cars!
2020: i got depression
baserocks206 lol I felt this though
2020 vision
Go eat a tide pod, that always cheers me up
Check out the song depression by zack fox :D
with AI we can teach future cars to express their own meaninglessness.
As a kid, I used to lie down on the grass and watch the dappled patterns of the sunshine through the leaves for long stretches of time. I've tried to do it as an adult, and never been successful; mostly from external interruptions, but plenty of times because I get in my own way. I miss being able to just exist in a space without asserting my will over it.
Do Vipassana :)
@@lordnelsonmc.billionberg9166 I will give it a try. :)
Go camping. You'll do it.
Try painting outside
I used to sit in front of the washing machine and watch it go for hours
Seeing someone so brilliant struggle to put words together is really enlightening. He’s circling the idea in a way that shows his thought process. We don’t normally get to see this from professional thinkers. I feel reassured knowing that thinking is labor for everyone.
Spot on... aka, "perfection is the enemy of the good."
Bri Burke He sounds like a bullshit artist. I assume he was a professor at some point 😒
Original, authentic thinking is difficult. Alot of 'professional thinkers' look like they've memorised a script. Sometimes they have and its legitimate; they might be on a speaking tour or having a night off. Sometimes they have and it's not legitimate but a way of passing oneself off as highly intellectual and worthy of respect and hey, here buy my book. When it came to thinking, Wallace always tried his hardest, always tried his best. He never let up on himself and allowed himself a script.
This is quite often a trait that brilliant writers have
DFW specifically said he didn't really enjoy the act of writing because he found it extremely laborious and difficult. He chose to write in a very difficult way, but I think it echoes your statement here that, being brilliant and struggling to express yourself are not mutually exclusive at all.
The fear of silence he describes is real and it's disastrous. Case in point, the reason I put this video on was to have something to listen ti while cooking. Yeah man. I can relate to everything he says so well.
what he talks about clearly is three things:
1- loss of community
2- loss of sense of transcendence.
3- the fallacy of happiness understood as the mere uncensored pursuit of every hedonistic and emotional impulse
Indeed. I assumed that once I graduated from college(s), that I’d see that people were really not like this. But I saw that was naïveté around my second year of college. It’s become the most prevalent aspect of humanity that I’ve observed since. I’ve ended up trying to see what community is and discovered there is no community, but so many communities. And those communities form around shared aspects of your third item. The second item is one I am still not sure about.
@@skiphoffenflaven8004 I've noticed there is a certain "hive mind" in society but it lacks an actual "hive."
Kind of like British novelist Huxley's 1932 satire, Brave New World.
@@skiphoffenflaven8004 When everyone around you is ruthlessly pursuing their own agenda, even at the expense of society, the environment, humanity, their integrity, their peers, their colleagues, or their own family members we are headed for a massive disaster. The loss is tremendous. We are told that material success and status will somehow make up for that loss. Instead it only frustrates you leaving you feeling alienated and wondering what it's all for. The lies we are told about success and happiness are hollow and leave us emotionally unfulfilled. We lose our sense of purpose, belonging and meaning. We lose a noble and self transcending reason for living. Any self aware person feels this loss tremendously and suffers greatly. Welcome to the age of malignant individualism.
@@stevencharron3866 I read a book recently, written by Patricia Evans titled "Controlling People". In her book she says (I'm paraphrasing here) that people often say "we are all alone in this together" which is correct in one sense but more accurately "we are all together against ourselves".
Advertising is how the rich people beg.
Never thought it that way. Well said.
@Human 101 Without taking the word so literally, consider that the context here is the "Advertising Industry" not "to advertise" as a pure verb without context.
Love it.
No, it's the way they manipulate in giving.
perfect
"The Europeans get it." No man, the Europeans were just late in adopting the exact same system.
Slavwave
Big Brother was Dutch first.
Bingo
There is a big difference between europeans and americans for sure.
@Blue Crusader yet eastern Europeans are the ones who are doing worst
@Monsieur Tarzan if you say so man..
The part about sitting in silence, I found the secret and have been doing it for almost 3 years now. I get up at 5:30am and walk 20 minutes to a lake. I sit there in silence and all I can hear are waves. It's wonderful and a perfect start to the day. Even if I lose faith in humanity or have a trigger or anxiety attack during the day, I still have this time all to myself. Yes 5:30am is really early for most, but such a great trade off to get mental cleansing we all need. Try it for a week.
I do something similar. It occurred to me a couple years ago that the most productive time to myself would be in the morning, before anyone else in my life was awake. Good luck! John Vervaeke is a great help, both his lectures and course in meditation ❤
2003. Imagine this guy looking at society today. Every phenomenon he's talking about is still there... multiplied x100.
I believe this is partly why he is not here anymore
He was clearly struggling to get his point across in a way he was comfortable with. I think people like this are better writers. It's like they have so much to say they can't get it out so they have to write
As a writer, I can personally attest to this and tell you it's spot on.
Michael M agreed!
He reminds me of me trying to articulate my thoughts 🙈.
The interviewer is also very crappy and not encouraging or really engaged. Its almost like hes forced to give a speech
He's just thinking as he's talking, nothing wrong with that.
I run a tiny charter boat service in Maine. A few years ago I had a young couple from the Netherlands aboard for three hours. He was from there , his wife had grown up in England and moved to the Netherlands when she got married. Over the course of the several hour boat trip I learned that they had visited the US several times over the past few years and eventually I asked them what they thought about America. After the usual polite, non controversial comments were done with I said, "Yes, but what do you really think about America and Americans?" To the best of my memory this was the husband's reply: "It seems as if every American is dissatisfied with their life, with their job. If you ask a ditch digger if he likes his work he says no, he wants to be a bulldozer driver. If you ask a lawyer if he likes his job he says no he wants to be a judge. If you ask a bank president if he likes his job he says no he wants a seat of the stock exchange. Nobody seems happy or satisfied with what they do or who they are. At home I work as a service writer at a Mercedes dealership. I've been there for ten years and I like my job. The pay is okay, I get good health care, good vacation benefits. I enjoy helping people get their cars repaired. All my friends work at similar jobs and they are by in large happy. Here in America everyone seems unhappy, everyone seems to want more. Whatever they do for a living it's "only until something better comes along." I think that this is what Mr. Wallace is trying to say in this interview!
3 years later and I stumble across your comment. Well said.
Yeah but what did the wife have to say 😂
@@blurredlenzpictures3251 She said she agreed that the people in the Netherlands were far more content than the people she had met on their numerous visits to the United States. She also asked me if I had an application in with Cunard for a spot as a captain…but she was smiling when she did so.
I'm 27, grew up addicted to videogames and chasing my pleasures. These days I have to be high, distracted by some kind of intense videogame, or interacting with my friends in some way to avoid pacing around from room to room. I feel a general sense of dread and meaninglessness, and I don't know what to blame it on besides the fact that I've lived in complete imbalance. Sometimes I make some change in my life, like getting a new job, or going back to school, and the sense of progress has me riding a high for months. But when things become a static grind again, my high crashes and I'm back to reality, where we live one second at a time until we die. I've listened to thousands of hours of great minds like Wallace and others, who point out these faults in our world. But i only agree and feel no closer to a solution than before. Thinking about things hasn't done anything but make my mental health deteriate further. The best times in my life have been working hard in shit jobs next to people I consider my friends. I feel like I'd have been so much better off working hard labor jobs starting around 14-16 years old
@slvshy666 dang this hit hard. I feel the same way. It seems like the only solution is to accept who and where you are at the present moment and take it day by day. Just keep swimming, even if it is the most absurd thing to do.
The way he wrestles with himself to say the word "happy" and then immediately reacts to it with an expression of sheer incredulity. Makes you just wanna hug him.
I want to hug you :)
@@cadenceenglish You can hear him being sad I think. I'd hug him and both of you too.
What is happy anyhow. A prolonged joy?
A deeply sensitive and intelligent man. I wish he was here today making sense of this world for us.
If you like this guy, my books might appeal to you. They pick apart the upside-down state of America in non-fiction format with sarcasm and satire throughout.
You bear your own fire and must carry that for you and pass it on to your progeny. You do not need him anymore to make sense of this world. By bearing the burden of speaking the truth, or at the very least, telling no lies in all of your interactions, will elucidate your path infallibly. The difficulty, of course, is speaking the truth.
He wouldn't have made it to this part of the timeline. America was still in a good place when he passed.
@@WilcoxNotreallythere Are you saying we're in the zombie apocalypse? Souls being judged?
@@WilcoxNotreallytheretotally agree. Things are currently worse than I think he could stomach. Btw did you ever see End of the Tour? It was quite well done.
As brilliant as he was, he was so riddled with self-doubt. His periodic cringing faces and sweating in light of not feeling he explained complex ideas perfectly
I don't see that as a necessarily bad thing. Would disingenuous confidence give more merit to his message?
@@kinleyage I think it's tragic how his genius caused such an overwhelming perfectionism. I think that's what the OP was getting at.
@@kinleyage In a way, relaxed confidence might make him more likely to sell his idea and to convince a larger crowd. At the same time, people like him, who feel like they don't know enough to share their idea with confidence, are the once who go out of their way to learn more and change their views if evidence requires them to do so. Also, his plea for introspection and quietness might be more authentic from someone like him, rather than a salesman-type of person. So yeah, his self-doubt is both an advantage and disadvantage (like many traits are imo).
It's not easy to explain certain concepts exactly accurately, and he obviously strives to do that. But yes, he is a nervous person. People that are geniuses often can be like that. They don't live in a simple world mentally, and there's often a lot of different things going on in their head.
brilliance and self doubt define one another; there is no "but" here
The never being quiet thing is so true. I have it too. I will literally put off doing something I until I find the perfect piece of media to escape to while doing it, it’s a really strong compulsion. And it’s pretty fuckin weird when I think about it.
The devil likes to distract us
J O it sure does
🤔 here are my thoughts: the things you put off are probably easy for you to do, and you can't be completely absorbed in them. So you want to do them while listening to something entertaining or informative, just so you won't feel like you're wasting time.
Thus also avoiding the anxious thoughts about the future, or the painful memories of the past.
Not weird at all.
how do you concentrate on something that requires quiet if you need to listen to something while doing it? personally, if i'm working on something that requires deep thought, i can't listen to anything, unless the thing i'm deeply thinking about is listening
This comment really hit home for me. I feel ya man.
"Most of the problems in my life have to do with my confusing 'what I want' and 'what I need'."
Amazing quote.
True that, comrade
it is universal he has no claim to it's origin
It is a universal.
I was brainwashed to be a consumer. I remember ordering something and checking the mailbox daily. I'm no better now, probably worse
I love the care and discipline put into each phrase. He refuses to let any of his sentences become mindless utterances and will pause as long as required to get it right.
I’d like to be more like this.
That’s my admiration watching this
It’s exhausting
Super weird comment. Sus infact.
alternatively, he was really good at expressing simple ideas at needlessly extreme length. four minutes in and all he's said is "consumerism breeds isolation"
@@yasirzainal1that's passion
"Strange kinda Slavery" ... a great title for a book about America!
@bizkitgto Being drawn like Moths to constantly desire "things", to purchase, being a slave to consumerism; an Aldous Huxley kinda future vs. Orwellian
I wish I could go back in time and tell this man that he would be needed and loved in 2020.
He is useful to us in 2020. Great writers are immortal.
I am on my third round of listening to this and it just makes my heart ache. I feel his loss in the world so glaringly. I am so grateful for videos like this though.
"When nothing is sacred, everything will be destroyed." Vorveit the Ubiquitary
The irony of watching this one minute and then allowing my attention to be hijacked by something on youtube that's more"comfortable," escapist, colorful, entertaining, the next. The irony of a platform whose algorithm for suggested videos is based on what I want, what I will be more likely to engage in, what will generate clicks on videos and revenue for content creators, but which also sometimes suggests insightful videos that critique all of it (depending on where I am allowing my attention and desires to wander). I wish I could hear his thoughts on the paradox of an absolute explosion of information becoming so intertwined with technology, entertainment, and consumerism on the contemporary internet. But I guess we just have to extrapolate from what he wrote and apply it to this new world ourselves. Time to re-read Infinite Jest.
One of the ironies or paradoxes that I think he speaks to as being able to exist in such a complex and multifaceted economic and cultural system.
Wonderful insight. Thank you.
Sorry I’m failing to understand any paradox or irony in your comment, if there are any
Well put. My therapist suggested I read the infinite jest. I just hope it doesn't lead me to Me. Wallace's ultimate solution.
Time to start microdosing again...
"My guess is the forms of rebellion that will end up changing anything meaningfully here will be very quiet and very individual and probably not all that interesting to look at from the outside."
I really resonate with this. Keep changing and growing; the process can be invisibly cumulative.
All one needs to do to rebel in today’s society is to say no.
Yes the only way change occurs is healing ourselves
The only way to heal ourselves is by shutting out the outside world
This gives me hope.
There is an incredible amount of insight here being distilled in just 15 minutes. I am obviously no DFW but I have found enormous benefit to my own life by foregoing immediate pleasures and choosing to be patient with all things - music, film, literature, sure - but more crucially, people. The perspective shift saved my life in a literal sense - from attempting suicide in my late teens, dealing with depression really most of my life (from age 15 until, well, today, age 33), a lot of things saved me but this perspective shift is a major one.
Could you go into detail?
That's a brilliant piece of individual self improvement. Good on you friend.
Hyperconsumption and hyperprofits come at the expense of the human soul. He was ahead of his time and we'd do well to heed his increasingly relevant words.
There is no soul in transhumanism
I'm missing this guy without having known about him while he was alive. I wonder what he would have to say about the world we live in today.
Right?!!!
Agreed but much of what he said came ture
Baptiste Watiez // XPol podcast I think he would be confused with the world or at least the USA today. The anger, hate and a divided country was not a vision he pictured.
a lot of what he said 20 years ago still very much applies to the world we live in today...
He'd probably kill himself.
I think we need him now more than ever
he dead
@@ZaddyZavid wrapped in plastic
we need each other more than ever. we need people like us to spread ideas and generate a better humanity that loves intelligence and the vision forward
@@ZaddyZavid Ya but his ideas will live on. What have you done that will live on?
Squirrel Gray calm down, he’s just stating he’s dead. And also that’s not true that his ideas will always live on. If we have a nuclear war and all of humanity is wiped out, no one will be alive to share those “ideas”
13:57 “You find some way to make the attack on entertainment entertaining, in which case you’ve been captured by the very thing you’re fighting against.”
This perfectly summarises Infinite Jest. Genius.
Entertainment or for that matter attacking it in entertaining ways fails to stimulate the brain in its full capacity, by definition. There is not much that is thought provoking or memorable. Now, why would the species opt for it? Wallace provides very good answers. I would venture to add this: wit, intelligence, the aphoristic style, shortcuts, are mixed in to make entertainment appear satisfying to the brain. There is always a bit of the good mixed in with the bad to make what is bad palatable.
No it is not. Shut the fuck up.
But the difference is that Infinite Jest isn’t passive entertainment, not just because it takes a lot of effort and focus to read but also because you’re actively flicking to and from the footnotes, and it has value, it has profound things to say.
- No-one likes to read and challenge because they dread quiet
- You can't resist Pamela Anderson
- 'I don't have a TV'
- Not sure about people getting tear-gassed
Well, here we are in the future. No-one has a TV, Pamela Anderson is an anti-porn crusader, we listen to our challenging ideas in bootleg youtube videos, and half of America has just about finished tear-gassing the other half.
You can tell he has another monologue in his head parallel to this one. Almost like his intellect is a curse of being too aware, too many voices at once
Yes.
well said
Seeking illumination has the downside of showing the obscure darkness that surrounds us all
Plato's cave
@@ajafta7674 not exactly...the cave is concerned with what is shown on the screen and behind... it's a parable about perspective...seeking like the OP suggests leads you off into the dark that comprises the _rest_ of the cave, the place where our unseen things hide
@@wrongfootmcgee yes sir.
The man who leaves the cave and after suffering the sight of true light grow accustomed to it, he then returns to tell his fellow cave dwellers that their games in the dark are futile, but he's seen by them to be a mad man
@@ajafta7674 and I maintain that the allegory of the cave doesn't reach into the depths to reveal the machinations of man, it is simply a (now trite) story about perspective, and touches on the nature of hidden or forbidden knowledge.
What it does NOT do is explore the inner workings of man, to try and explain why it is he gets up to such fiendish things against one another.
Who set up the screen in the cave, with the clear intent at misleading and deceiving?
This is 'obscure darkness that surrounds us all' and Plato's Cave does not address it in the least bit.
@@wrongfootmcgee your choice of relevance narrows the range of such an ”hypothetical experiment”? And it's possible conclusions or deductions. But understand what you are saying.
I can't help but think of David Foster Wallace as a cautionary tale of what happens when you do something well and the world tells you good job, but deep down you feel disconnected from the very thing youre being recognized for. Speaks to the uncanny ability people have to put themselves through a meat grinder just to be called ground beef.
I think that that was what he was referring to towards the end of this clip when he said he feels sometimes that the very thoughts that people may have of him could have an impact on his work, his utterances. How insulated can someone actually be from that influence is anyone's guess.
His work was inherently self-destructive and neurotic. When people tell you you are doing a good job fir destroying yourself you will ultimately destroy yourself, one way or another.
@@joeya289in what way was his work self-destructive? Just curious as I haven’t heard this critique before.
@@ramieal-hazar2438 inferred from the conclusion
@@joeya289 right…..🥴
“It seems significant that we don’t want things to be quiet…anymore. Ever.”
I miss his voice, and the ideas and observations he shared with us, whether I agreed with him or not. A staggering loss.
This might sound totally crazy, but I find Peter Thiel to have a similar cadence and wisdom. While many of his observations are completely different, he is a deep contrarian thinker and his essay about the straussian moment kind of lays this empty consumerism at the feet of, of all things, the enlightenment - which he regards as a bit of a philosophical retreat. You might also enjoy some Matthew Crawford, whose book "the world beyond your head" addresses the lack of silence in today's world as well.
He’s describing just about everyone I know, myself included.
I'd go one further: Americans, yes even "poor" Americans don't know what it's like to actually be poor. And it's where a lot of stuff like the subreddit "antiwork" comes from. Or just general hate on capitalism. The poorest in America have cell phones and cars. They have computers and TV's. I really can't stand the bullshit of American life being a grind and a struggle. Americans have jobs like: Acting, Yoga instructor, Musician, Comedian, Writer, Microbreweries, Skateboarder, Artist or Art Teacher, Hi-Fi Audio repair, etc etc etc. All of these industries are leisure activities, and you can make money being a professional leisure activity teacher or artist. Could you imagine in Somalia telling your parents you're going to teach skydiving for a living?? The privilege that's not noticed in America is unbelievable .
Complex ideas are always hard to express with words.
Hamsandwichindahouse I very much doubt that. I understood perfectly well what was being put across here, Abstract but very real. Words are a only good for practicalities.
"you have every right to", "freedom of choice", "every year the culture gets more and more hostile" : this resonates as almost 20 years later I listen to my kids school board meeting, filled with "invited speaker" that tell us about their kids freedom
He was so insightful, aware and emphatic. If the whole world will only be just like him, we'd all live in a better place.
It cannot be forgotten that he was not perfect. Yes, he was a genius, but also an abuser and narcissist.
Even he, a so called genius, is balanced out by nature. His persona must be examined and remembered just as he saw things: rounded.
@@okay8136 the comment above mine was talking about how we all should be like him lol
@@andrebutron7456how was he a narcissist? Genuine question, I haven't heard of him for years. He seems very far from a that
@@imbored4615I’ve never heard any of that either and am curious. Especially about the abuser claim…
@ramieal-hazar2438 His ex girlfriend accused him of stalking and abusing her. He was also an alcoholic and drug addict, which may have caused the stalking and abuse.
Funny getting an advertisement before this video starts. Flashy visuals, pop music, and "buy, buy, buy!" followed by a thoughtful monologue on consumerism.
Download the browser Firefox. Download the extension uBlock Origin.
@@epik151 I have ad blockers already, just don't always use them. I just thought it was ironic.
@Comrade Kong This may be ironic but you need to pay for youtube premium in order to be free of ads.
Adblock Plus is your friend. I haven't seen a TH-cam ad in years.
"that feeling of having to obey every impulse and gratify every desire, seems to me to be a strange kind of slavery. Nobody talks about it as such though - instead its freedom of choice or you have the right to have things."
Our society runs on Consumerism. We’re essentially programmed into this way of thinking; because it benefits the current order.
I’ve seen it from middle schools to colleges: the committees responsible for encouraging student success/engagement/“outcomes” get attached to corporate/commercial items or concepts. Brand name products are on offer at events meant to do those things for students, but they are inundated with, and often made attractive by, sureties of coupons, freebies, or prizes. Nothing but an appeal to the consumer, so much so, that the event becomes memorable only because of what the students were given or they obtained materially. It’s disgusting.
DFW was a genius; that much is obvious. He was also depressed, and, separately, deeply flawed as a person. Perhaps people who have made mistakes are uniquely qualified to identify flaws in our society. Even still, we can evaluate the message independently and thank David for his work without giving anyone a pass for anything.
What were his flaws?
@@dannyfallonhaha It seems he made some pretty abhorrent mistakes. Not really in the frame of mind to go through them with you but you can find them
Copy that.
I feel like DFW was just projecting his own unhappiness onto society at large. He acts as though "higher standard of living" simply means more toys and more hedonism. It does, but it also means better access to food, water, medicine, and overlooking these things to focus on the negatives is exactly the spoiled first world perspective he seems eager to avoid. The sense of alienation, hunger for purpose and struggle toward happiness he alludes to is an eternal one. Some people can't find a reason to be happy and others don't need one.
Best comment.
and this was made quite a bit before the iPhone too. cannot imagine what he’d have to say about this country today. same with George Carlin and all these amazing thinkers. RIP
He’s a deep thinker, and he does have a harder time expressing himself in an interview as opposed to on paper, but the fact remains that he’s right on every point. 100. No doubt.
@@chineseRATFACE even if it’s true, it doesn’t matter. He expresses very clearly how a system of beliefs designed to profit capitalsts is pushed upon people withouth consent on a very fundamental level, exploiting a basic need humans have, to believe in something.
He is spot on. And this is before the age of social media! Imagine how much worse it is now. People unable to sit with themselves, with their thoughts, with some silence. Most people staring at smart phones flicking mindlessly through social media.
Always with the need for stimulation, and its never that satisfying. Ive felt it in myself many times and can feel the difference between calmly doing something and being caught between many things.
Social media has something called 'context changes' which means each story/video is about something entirely different and your brain needs to adjust, as opposed to watching a film or reading a book where its about one thing and one narrative.
Seneca said, even when painted in a corner, you can still leap into the sky. The idea is to live a life of depth versus a horizontal life of accumulating things. We may be trapped in a prison, but we hold the keys to our shackles within. We always seem to look out there for the keys to our shackles but they are within us.
I love listening to the guy, but I found his writing style overly elaborate for my taste. Check out his commencement speech to the graduating class of Kenyon College. Great.
We read that speech in our AP Lang class this year! Such an eye-opening piece!
Thanks, I will read it.
After a divorce and time away from you’re kids you can all of a sudden go for instant gratification. Example he used applying to me -I’ll trade this amount of money to forget that I can’t see my children til the end of the week. I am really glad I watched this I hadn’t read him in over a decade. But, this was something I can take to heart and will help me remember that I’m being selfish. I know I don’t want to be selfish but it’s so easy to for her that I am. And there are other things I can do. Like enjoy quietness which I genuinely do like.
i wish my dad had your instrospection
I am watching this in the Year of the Depend Undergarment.
Michael Conroy holy shiiiiiit I need to reread this book
Me too
I watched it the Year of The Whopper.
weird hearing some of this coming from a 2003 video, because by comparison to today 2003 was a utopia.
For the record, I’d rather watch you than Pamela any day of the week, David.
That part about how happiness and doing what you want aren't the same thing anyway was gold. He was a wise guy for someone who was still young, God rest his soul.
How about a single mom who raised her two kids without help from my deadbeat, piece of shit father who never paid child support? She never had the option to just go off and do whatever the fuck she wanted. She had to work her ass off at menial, hard jobs just so we could eat, pay rent and survive. Fuck all this metaphysical, deep thoughts bullshit....if you do not work, you do not prosper and your children will fucking starve and be taken from you. People who step up and just work hard at shitty jobs and do what they have to do in order to provide for their families are the true champions and warriors.
@@blaineedwards8078 No one cares about your personal experience. Abortion wasn't what she wanted. But it was what she needed.
@@kephartacus5454 Fuck you, asshole.
He was 41 in this video.
@@michaelneufeld4515lol that’s young. 90 is old.
His mannerisms remind me of James Spader's character in Sex, Lies & Videotape
Wow, you're right
whoa now I can't unsee it lol
Robert California!
it's touching and moving. He says multiple times: "Do you know what I am saying? Does this make any sense?" He is the most intelligent and insightful people in the world, and what he sees is a really subtle but compelling issue in front of us that needs a lot of reflections, thoughts to really see it. And it is embedded in the cultural-social system we triumph. It is like that love-hate struggles you are having with your parents. they constitute so much of our pride, memories, and experience but at the same time can be so subtly damaging, to hinder you from being authentic, independent and rewarding. It needs great courage to acknowledge that and it needs a whole lot of resilience and clarity to move forward without being tricked or trapped.
He used to teach at college, in his core he's a didact - that people comprehend is essential for him.
Wow, well put.
It’s a bit condescending to be honest.
@@sanraku888 It came off that way to me also. He wasn't saying anything that was hard to understand.
@@jeffweber8244i think he was simply asking not just the general interpretation of words.. But can the urgency or complexity can be understood..
Fascinating, but I disagree with comments that claim his intelligence outpaces his ability to articulate.. Many of his interviews depict a person that is very insecure and almost self-loathing. To me, it seems that he is always upset with himself for not being able to articulate his thoughts more clearly, which is what seems to be happening in his interviews. Basically, it seems that he loathes his responses and wishes he was more fluid in expressing his thoughts. Just my opinion.
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I think it’s because he’s more comfortable as a writer where he can move around and arrange his thoughts in a more cohesive way
He was insecure for sure. He was also famously bad at speaking, especially public speaking. This isn’t speaking to a crowd, but there is a microphone and a recorder so that same type of pressure is there. In his famous “this is water”
speech he jokes about how he is going to sweat while speaking - and in public he would regularly wear a bandana on his forehead in preparation for the anxious sweating he so frequently experienced.
DFW was extremely unpretentious and self doubting, and that is manifested in his behavior in this interview. He is aware of his own failures and so he knows he is bad at expressing himself spontaneously in speech. His questioning of if his words make sense is easily understood in that context. He was not afraid at all to admit to his own failures.
David Wych right. I mean, think of how much proof reading the guy did haha
That's why he liked writing, it gave him time to pinpoint the words he wanted to use.
Man, crazy to see how invested he was in these issues before he got caught up with Dunder Mifflin.
The layer of irony that is created by the ads immediately following this video is almost unbearable.
Amazing that I am only discovering this guy NOW? I've been reading Chomsky for 30 years. Howard Zinn for a little less. Eric Schlosser since 2001 and Morgan Spurlock since 2004. David Foster is reading my mind - posthumously.
If a movie gets made about this man, they must cast Paul Dano
He's right about the public square no longer being quiet. The bus, a train, sitting on a bench in a park, the library, almost anywhere I am, I have to listen to phone calls because everyone is terrified of being alone with their thoughts (and they often should, especially if they use the walkie-talkie feature). Not that long ago people would read the newspaper or smoke and contemplate. It was much more peaceful but now the intrusion of human noise is constant. Even bicyclists are blasting podcasts on phones as they ride down the trail. Common courtesy is dead and buried, replaced by a perpetual, shallow need to be entertained by external stimuli. A few generations of this laziness will change the brain's wiring.
You generalize far too much.
That coke was shockingly powerful
Oh David
The purpose of life is to be virtuous
Imitating Jesus, Buddha, Lao and many other spiritual Titans.
The art of walking away.
That is peace.
Stay gold.
I’m glad David got out before things got even worse.
I think at the beginning, he’s talking about each individual character, but specifically the pursuit or compulsion unique to each character, representing a piece of the whole that makes up consumerism. Whether it be addiction or a dedicated and regimented effort to compete, those are just constituent elements of the drive that consumerism is. It is a completely fruitless endeavor, but it has become our sole focus insofar as we’ve been sort of formed into believing. The profound emptiness and sadness so prevalent in the upper middle class comes from the knowing, whether consciously or more likely subconsciously that there is a horrible pointlessness to that. It is categorically the wrong thing to strive for.
I miss this guy!
I’d love his opinions on 2023
We’d benefit from his insightful, gentle voice. 😢
Europe is lost to this now too, lots of people infected, including me..
What we want vs what we need: I regularly tell my kids (presently 5 and 8 years old) about the simple logical relation between products and advertising to sow a seed to explain how intrinsically these manipulative measures correlated to the creation of superficial needs and dopamine addicted mindless consumerism. Evidently not in those words - but in specific easier to grasp terms with examples when they are exposed. It's oftentimes seems to be an uphill battle considering our modern environment in which we're surrounded with exposure devices. They don't have smartphones and we restrict their access to TV and PCs altogether in hopping to enable them able to explore the world to the full extent of their senses at a natural unstressed pace. I truly and deeply hope this influence somehow will provide them a foundation that will enable them to navigate and sort through the never ending non-essential noise. We don't need the dopamine deficit disorders being pushed by big tech, big pharma or big money. It's sad that as humans we're so inclined to addictions but hopefully awareness will prevail.
Man would he be horrified by smart phones. I know I am after watching this.
Jokes on you David Foster Wallace, watching your interviews IS entertainment now.
Some souls are simply to beautiful to survive living in this world.
Too weird to live, too rare to die.
beautifully worded Kat
Katherine Kelly like Jesus
Nothing makes you feel more like a cogwheel in a meaningless machinery than standing in a long line at Disney land.
“i don’t know if that makes any sense” he says, making the most sense i’ve ever heard anyone speak
17 years later, it would seem that this is still the case, no change at all
it's speeded up and gotten worse in many ways. I wonder what he'd think of the rise in the "new right" reaction and the whole political landscape in the US
It is getting exponentially worse every year.
a genius gone to soon, may he rest in peace, wherever he is.
What an interesting guy, just became aware of him... thx!
Mateo You should check out his essays in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.
You just want to reach in and hug him. Tell him how beautiful his books are and how brilliant he is. But then you think, there were probably plenty of people who did that during his life time. I hope people saw some of the pain though. I hope he's in some better infinite place.
What do you mean pain?
Sure everyone has pain, but he seems far better enlightened than the majority of population, and in less pain because of that.
@@Alex-lu3pn well, sadly its otherwise, "for in much wisdom is much grief", alternatively, the same is also correct, as "ignorance is bliss"
What an amazing recommendation from TH-cam. God what I would give to have him state his opinion for 2020, 17 later. Unfortunately Europe just imported the American model, they didn't resist
I think David checked out at just the right time. Right before the world went to shit.
5:02 The problem is, that exactly this is the economic base of america. The consumer-society. There was a reason why G.W. Bush didnt said "be carefull" after 9/11. He said "consume". Because thats the foundation of todays america.
I think the title’s misleading. David Foster Wallace isn’t discussing consumerism as solely the problem with the American public that seems too often to lead to a nihilistic sense that suicide is preferable to continuing with life as is. David’s addressing mindless consumerism mixed with the pursuit of individualism with the intent to avoid embracing a defined sense of the greater good that doesn’t have to be at the expense of oneself or (conversely) mindless conformity.
He seems apprehensive about the absolute certainty of his ideals, which is good. Looking at this in 2020, too many people are absolutely sure that their ideals and beliefs are true; yet never considering if they could be absolutely wrong.
You're being too nitpicking.
The subtle art of not giving a fuck is a great book that talks about stuff like this
Your professors should've taught you how to write lol
Kephartacus and your “professors” should’ve taught you how to think critically.
Testa I could be, but I prefer to nitpick than risk being ambiguous and misunderstood.
I don’t buy a lot of stuff. And I am so happy about it! Love or friendship is all you need. Tons of new clothes or the newest model of a phone. Nahh. You don’t need them. Don’t do this to yourself. You cannot sleep just because of the stress of your debt and the reason you cannot pay your debt as easy as possible is you want to buy tons of garbages! 🤯 It does not make sense at all. I hate the ‘cool’ culture. People define what cool is in a wrong way. Less is more my friend! Trust me. At least, give it a try.
Funny how he talked about Holidays getting sponsored in the 90s, but now all the zillions of data points on us are getting passed around in markets to sell ads thanks to Big Tech.
Makes perfect sense, it is a central tenant of liberalism. Freedom to contract, to purchase, to consume and anyone who says anything against this is anti freedom and part of the counterculture. If you’re consuming, you’re not making someone rich. Sounds like this guy is finding value in experience and not material goods. Good on him.
It's crazy to see just how deeply he devalues himself
He's constantly undermining and qualifying what he says. For example saying "I doubt that makes much sense" after making a strikingly cogent and insightful point about religion...
I prefer him trying to make sure people understand where he’s coming from and downplay his thoughts a lil rather than come off as an arrogant prick
20 years forward: what David Foster Wallace hesitated a lot about formulating seems now like most obvious. So obvious that it's pretty much become trite.
I think it's more about helplessness than hopelessness.
It is. We're born into the system.
I think many Americans, after traveling just little, understand what a consumerist country they live in. Unfortunately, i cant respect anyone who kills themself because they should have just devoted their energy to helping others in true need. Go take care of elderly, go build housing, offer your functional body to help others. Suicide is pure selfishness.
Just saw this for the first time today and wow… David Foster Wallace… what an insightful person. Wish I saw this 20 years ago, it would have made me feel a lot less crazy 😅
This is just chilling 9:51 20 yrs layer
Freedom of choice: You see it played out in the COVID-19 anti-mask sentiment. Now this interview was made in 2003 not in 2020.
what are you talking about
Feeling uneasy? Transport sports, all of them. Physical literacy is human infrastructure.
DFW possessed the gift to view our future from a perspective that would make the most devout idealists of the 20th century swallow a revolver after 1 peek.
peek
@@rodneyashworth1167 thx
@@hamsandwichindahouse kind of like your comment. Boring.
@@hamsandwichindahouse no need to be salty, just pointing out the hypocrisy in your comment. Troll along now...
@@hamsandwichindahouse hahaha did I frustrate a troll who only came here to drop worn-out cliches? oops...
Bingo! Everyone has a belief - even nihilism is a belief - it is metaphysically impossible for human beings to live without some kind of faith in some principle or fundamental rule.
What a beautiful man he was 💔
Go in peace, brother.
The Infinite terrible twos.. gimme cheeseburgers or gimme death
Buy his books on AMAZON!? Lol
i dont get the joke
Hes not affiliated with Google AI
That is funny but also part of the pain all artists feel. Having to sell something you wish you could give away
@@gabrielnuer9899 His work deals a lot with consumerist culture and its downfall. Amazon on the other hand is the epitome of consumerism. ironic i would say
Ever heard of book stores? If you aren‘t tied to a wheelchair or are easily fatigued you could still make s.o. other than Jeff Bezos happy if you’d purchase it there.