Rise If You Must

Fashion Versus Ideology

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:09:22 -0400

I kind of love twentysomethingtales. Her tumblr is very frank and open about her life, and she writes with an easy, economical and natural style.

Early this morning, after a bout of insomnia, she found herself thinking about her time in Paris. Somewhere in a Paris kitchen she found herself talking to an older French girl about their ambitions. The Parisian wanted to start a jewelry company, while twentysomethingtales wanted to start writing for women’s magazines. This prompted mockery from the Parisian.

“Are you serious? You want to write shitty crap for publications that make society a horrible place?” she said

The irony of that girl’s put down is that she was hardly working to make the world a better place, unless selling pretty bangles counts. (And maybe it does.) A girl who wants to start a jewelry company shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss a girl who wants to write for women’s magazines.

What’s more, it’s a subtle kind of sexism to believe that women’s magazines make the world worse while men’s magazines don’t. And by “men’s magazines” I don’t even mean GQ and Esquire, much less Playboy or the like. I mean even the news magazines and political commentary magazines. (Yes, I know women read these things but traditionally they were considered “men’s” magazines.) These often give people, especially men, the illusion of knowledge, allow them to have strongly formed opinions that they mistake for well-formed opinions.

In Plato’s dialog, “The Gorgias,” Socrates confronts a man named Gorgias, who is said to have taught the citizens of another city to be able to answer every question boldly. They have become the kind of people who lust after wisdom, according to the popular description of Gorgias’ accomplishment.

I hate to say this, but it helps to look at the ancient greek to understand why this is a put-down in Plato’s view. For Plato, philosophy (love of wisdom) is the highest human activity, and it’s basic cognitive activity is questioning. It involves an awareness of the permanent questions of human being. But Gorgias hasn’t make people philosophers. He has taught them philo-erasty. The greek word for a desirous, lusty seducer is erastes. He has made the citizens erastics for wisdom.

Too often we fall into the same trap, mistaking identifying the problem of ignorance with finding a solution to it. We’re very down on ignorance but forget that the alternative is often arrogance rather than knowledge.

Uhm, I forget where this was going. Oh, right. I’m not sure that magazines which encourage women to concentrate on fashion or beauty are worse than magazine that encourage men to become dogmatically ideological about things that they don’t really have much influence over, don’t really effect their lives that much and may distract them from their friends and family. Actually, if the end effect is to make women pretty and men politically committed beyond warrant, I’m pretty sure women’s magazines are better.

As you can tell, I’ve become very tan after nearly a week...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:28:00 -0400

As you can tell, I’ve become very tan after nearly a week at the beach.

Is Julia Allison writing the "Out Of Your League Girl" scripts?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:14:00 -0400

Is Julia Allison writing the "Out Of Your League Girl" scripts?:

I swear the “On Passion” segment sounds exactly like one of her Lodwick-era blog posts.

(And, yes, with this post I’ve violated everyone of the Rise If You Must stylebook rules. No Julia. No Jacob. No viral marketing. No metablogging about rules for this site. Next up I’m going to start posting pictures of myself. Or have I started that already?)

Here in Fire Island we’ve taken people watching meta....

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:01:35 -0400

Here in Fire Island we’ve taken people watching meta. We’re watching people watch themselves. These girls spent about twenty minutes examining their looks in this mirror.

What it looks like to be the last one awake in the FireHouse on...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:50:18 -0400

What it looks like to be the last one awake in the FireHouse on a Tuesday night.

It’s a late night, damp and dark at FireHouse. Meghan, aka...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:58:48 -0400

It’s a late night, damp and dark at FireHouse. Meghan, aka just enough…for the city, strikes a very familiar tumblr pose.

It’s been way too long since we rocked out like this....

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:47:49 -0400

It’s been way too long since we rocked out like this. Also, why did we used to have girls dressed up in Hooters uniforms out with us so often and how can we arrange to bring that back?

This doesn’t bode well.

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:32:28 -0400

This doesn’t bode well.

cvxn:My birthday present from Nettie. (This one’s for you,...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:30:49 -0400

cvxn:

My birthday present from Nettie. (This one’s for you, Carney.)
(Pic: Rebecca Bollwitt/Miss604

Even My Mom Knows What's Wrong With Yahoo!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:22:33 -0400

Mom: I've got a question - just saw a pop up about Yahoo announcing a broad reorginization -
Me: Okay shoot.
Mom: my question - is What is yahoo - what do they do? I know people have yahoo email addresses - they have a search function, but I don't know what business Yahoo is
Me: Neither do they!
Mom: figured

(Also, I wrote about my mom on tumblr. This means I get a book deal right?)

Supreme Court Finds Constitutional Right To Own Handguns at 10:30 am

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:48:30 -0400

Three hours later, and I’m now the proud owner of a handgun. Pictures here.

I’m definitely stopping by here tonight. Punk rock...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:33:03 -0400

I’m definitely stopping by here tonight. Punk rock pizza!

lowlife:

Jesse Malin’s pizzeria opened last night
From D-Generation to Niagara to taking over the pizzeria on 7th & A. The dude really is an entrepeneur.
Related: We need a Heart Attack reunion.

GUNS ARE LEGAL!

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:27:50 -0400

GUNS ARE LEGAL!

Guns by D.I.“Do you want reality? Do you want the facts?...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:11:05 -0400

Guns by D.I.

“Do you want reality? Do you want the facts? They’re shooting at me, I’m going to shoot back.”

The court today affirmed the right of every able-minded,...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:39:02 -0400

The court today affirmed the right of every able-minded, law-abiding citizen to own a handgun and keep it in the home. Gun control laws across the US are about to come down.

katiebakes:This is what happens when JC isnt at TJsMy...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:50:58 -0400

katiebakes:

This is what happens when JC isnt at TJs

My “Day Without A Phone” caused havoc across the city.

The Internet Is A Bad Influence

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:54:01 -0400

Now we’ve done it: sparked the first-ever case of drop-out envy.

Out: Everyone went to the same six schools.In: Everyone dropped out of school.

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:15:49 -0400

Out: Everyone went to the same six schools.

In: Everyone dropped out of school.

A Night Out With the Punks of St. Marks Place

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:55:27 -0400

A Night Out With the Punks of St. Marks Place :

This article on the drunk young punks of St. Marks is beautifully reassuring. Every year the kids get older, but punk stays the same rage.

I love that these kids aren’t letting some old fogey tell them that punk is dead and that they really should have been there back in the day. That’s a universal mantra of bullshit.

In 1986, I heard that about Tompkins Square Park and CBGBs.

In 1994, I heard that about eastern Europe.

In 1999, I heard that about the internet.

In 2008, you can hear that about blogging, online video and almost everything that has to do with the internet.

I’m pretty sure that in 1976 someone told Joey Ramone that the whole scene was over a few months before he ever sang “Gabba Gabba Hey!” Hell, Hemingway probably heard that about Europe after World War I: “Man, you should have been here when the Kaiser was around. There’s no point in writing about Europe now.”

Don’t ever listen to this talk. The golden age is now, always.

Drop Out Of School Now

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:36:21 -0400

Writing about avoiding college and the merits of dropping out reminds me of something I wrote four years ago:

Fuck the Schools: Ever since I can remember people have complained that we don’t pay teachers enough. When I was young I thought this didn’t make any sense because teachers only worked two-thirds of the year. In my teenage years I decided this complaint was crap because teachers more or less sucked. I was punk rock enough to see that the schools were a scam meant to destroy the lives and minds of uppity-Americans and replace them with complacent consumers.

I guess I am still punk-rock enough because I still feel that way and I had to choke down the venom when I read Dave Eggers “Reading, Writing, and Landscaping” on the sadness of teachers in Mother Jones. It made me want to go throw a brick through the window of one of the lead-paint and asbestos ridden penitentiaries that pass for schools in New York City. Or go encourage some kid to stop doing homework, stop going to classes and stop listening to the counselors. Becoming a moral drop-out did me nothing but good, and if you’re a high-school student and reading this email me and I’ll explain how to initiate a one-man revolution. First step: Drop out of school.

As I recall, Choire Sicha had the same advice right around that time.

Mike Hudack, who dropped out of high school, also knows what’s wrong with schools.