Sarge's World

This is one of my favorite movies (and books) of all time. But not because of the fight scenes, Brad Pitt’s bulging abs, or Meat Loaf’s man-boobs. Because of the philosophy it presents.

You see, despite the title, the only fighting in the movie is clumsy. The men in this movie are low class workers. And it is not glorified or portrayed as “cool”. It is bloody, disgusting, and brutal. One of the characters gets half his head beaten to a pulp because Edward Norton wanted to “destroy something beautiful”.

That’s kind of the point. These men are desperate to feel emotion. Their shallow lives are meaningless so they turn to violence because the pain proves that they are still alive. The narrator is the epitome of this - an insomniac, he (SPOILER ALERT) goes so far to invent a character in his mind: the hypermasculine, all-knowing, Tyler Durden.

Durden argues that to be truly free, one must give up everything. One of my favorite quotes is from that movie: “The things you own end up owning you”. 

It’s true. Our materialistic world numbs us to feelings. Our primal emotions - love, hate, anger, happiness - are clouded by the false bravado of life. War, Poverty, and Crime are always going to exist. But for the first time in civilization, we worship the fake. Don’t believe me? Look at the popularity of Jersey Shore. Look at who’s on the news: royal weddings and Kim Kardashian.

Its an emulation of humanity’s worst feature: We love cheap pleasures. Theme parks, movies, drugs, video games, the internet, professional sports, television. It’s our addiction - and its gotten out of control. We become chained down by our possessions, and stabbed in the back by what we hope will spark our lives.

And so, here’s a message from Tyler Durden.

My whole life, I’ve been bombarded with Hinduism. It’s not a bad thing at all; in fact, all kids should have God as a part of their childhood. But isn’t there a point in life where someone just sits you down, and tells you: “Look, we told you that God controls everything you do, that you have a destiny set in stone so really, you don’t need to take responsibility for any of your actions. Oh, and this only applies if you donate to temples and spread the world of God. Yeah, that was all lies.” Sort of like Santa Claus, you can’t live your whole life blindly believing in something. 

But don’t get me wrong; I’m no atheist. In fact, as most scientists agree, there is no doubt that there was a God (or some holy power) that created the universe. Science proves religion. It is in the laws of nature that we see God’s handwriting. But after He created everything, he left it to us. And we, as mankind, did a glorious job of screwing it up.

The world should run on logic and reason, not faith (Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and I agree…Deism is the way to go). Think about your life’s decisions: that spur-of-the-moment decision you made vs the logical decision you made after thinking. Which one was better in the long run?

Yes, ladies and gentleman, thinking. What society lacks. We go to war, we discriminate, we worship annoying celebrities, we are slaves to apathy for one reason: We don’t like to think. Nobody wants to sit and work things out; its easier to nuke someone.

And so, my final conclusion: People are, for many reasons, idiots.

You know, I like this blogging thing.

I love thinking about stuff. Anything from rap to religion, morality to monkeys, and everything in between. So I’ll post random thoughts on stuff.

I also love lists. They’re organized, they’re concise, and they’re easy to read. So i’ll post lists about stuff I like: books, movies, music, tv shows, etc.

So this blog will be awesome and if you’re procrastinating, this is the place to be (once I get it up and running). I’ll try to update once a week, if I’m not busy being busy.

That’s all I got for now.
Peace,
NB