From In the World Interior of Capital: Towards a Philosophical Theory of Globalization by Peter Sloterdijk:

One of the most notable side effects of the current para-philosophical wave is the proliferation of unverified statements that no longer stop at the borders of nation-states. Pirated copies of cluelessness circulate freely in the whole world.

Pirated copies of cluelessness is a brilliant way to characterize the media space, for instance. Or Facebook “news.”

Klara has known how to say “Mama” for months. But just like with the action of holding her own bottle, she saw no reason to apply this skill. When her somewhat older cousin came to visit, though, she noticed that he was saying “Mama”, realized it was trendy to do that, and now is saying it all the time. 

It’s incredible how fast kids learn from each other. 

It’s not OK to say aloud that a candidate for the position of Full Professor (tenured) of Spanish literature speaks Spanish at the level that would merit her a C in an Intermediate Spanish course.

It’s not OK to say aloud that an aspiring professor of foreign languages has a really bad speech impediment that makes everything she says entirely incomprehensible.

It’s not OK to say aloud that at the age of 65 is too old to start a tenure-track Assistant Professor position.

It’s not OK to say aloud that a candidate for the position of an instructor of dance has a bad limp that will prevent her from teaching the course she is hired to do.

It’s not OK to say aloud that another candidate for the position of an instructor of dance weighs 300 lbs and will be even worse at the job than the one with a limp.

It’s not OK to say aloud that a student should save time and money and drop a course he has no chance of passing because of his non-existent Spanish.

It’s laudable that people are trying not to be mean but we have long ago sacrificed sanity to the pursuit of this fake, dishonest kindness that, in reality, is nothing but self-serving indifference. In order to spare ourselves a couple of embarrassing or tense moments, we create untenable situations where many people suffer. But they can’t say it aloud, so it’s OK.

Why are people so eager to debase themselves, fling themselves like used rugs at the feet of somebody who has artistic genius? Theodore Dreiser, one of the greatest American writers, was an irredeemably nasty human being. Petty, whiny, self-pitying, antisemitic, plagiarizing, dishonest, incapable of a tiniest gesture of kindness or loyalty, he abused every friend and repaid every favor with meanness. He wasn’t a grand evildoer. Just a petty little bastard.

But women and men let him walk all over them long before he had any money because the temptation of standing close to greatness was impossible to overcome. Fear of death makes people desperate to appear even just as a footnote in the life of somebody who will not be instantly forgotten. 

Swanberg wrote a great biography of Dreiser back in the 1960s. The biography is almost as long as Dreiser’s interminable novels but it never bores. I had no idea, for instance, that Dreiser was not into reading and wrote with atrocious spelling mistakes  (your for you’re and to for too). It’s incredible how great works of literature spill out of somebody who is superficial, dumb, ignorant and very boring as a human being.