Not Feeling Clever?

Sad to say, most hardcore Anarch-Objecti-Libertarian types never reach this level of intellectual development:

I haven't lost any of these convictions, but they seem so bland now. The fun part was figuring myself out. Do I want to be a geek? Do I want to be an objectivist? Do I want to be an anarchist? Do I want to be an atheist? What is the meaning of life? What is the secret to happiness?

I answered all those questions, and now I find them boring. (The answers, for those who care, are: No. Hell no. Oh dear god, no. I can't help it. The pursuit of happiness. Congruence between reality and desire.)

After spending some time with these questions, I felt like a parody of myself. Let's face it, even when they're right, people who harp on political and religious opinions are incredibly tedious.

You have to be a bit fanatic to preach this stuff, and fanatics are, by definition, very narrow people. I want to be libertarian, atheist, and geeky, without necessary harping on any of these things. I'm comfortable with these positions now. I don't have anything to prove.

I want to be a gentle, broadly-educated person who can find something good in any point of view. "I can see why you would want to be a Communist." is not the same as "Communism rocks!" Or even, "Communism works."

And ultimately, that approach teaches you more about people than the knee-jerk, "Communism is Ultimate Evil!" ever will. (Although I still subscribe to the David Seldaris "all Communists are boring" rule.)

I selected literature as the path to this broader self, and I believe it has worked, for the most part.

This is the voice of a mature intellectual -- someone who is comfortable enough with his own beliefs and self to consider the views of others in a thoughtful (not nihilistic) way.

Nicely done.

[Posted at 23:20 CST on 04/04/02] [Link]