![A Tahrir Moment on Wall Street [Spanish]](http://www.adbusters.org/files/magazine/teaser/flag_spanish_guardian.png?1317158534 "A Tahrir Moment on Wall Street [Spanish]")
With execution only hours away, and having angrily refused the chaplain’s last rites in his Algiers prison cell, Outsider antagonist Meursault declares “… my last wish was that there should be a crowd of spectators at my execution and that they should greet me with cries of hatred.” Having followed Meursault through his frank admissions of indifference, his trial for murder, his joy in pursuing truth and his unmoving commitment to honesty, Meursault’s last words were Camus’s treatise on how a philosopher ought to live, and ultimately, how it is one should die – that the goal of philosophy itself, as the ancient Cicero said, “is to learn how to die.”
Meursault’s vindication is not the accidental mutterings of alcoholics like Dylan Thomas’s “I’ve had 18 straight whiskies. I think that’s the record,” the delusional finalities like Napoleon’s “France! Army! Head of the Army! Josephine …” or Victor Hugo’s ominous “I see a dark light.” Rather, gazing out the lone cell window, Meursault’s paradoxical lament is more akin to Socrates’s “Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Do pay it. Don’t forget,” telling us that death was merely transformation, or Darwin’s “I have no fear of death.” But this is only part of Meursault’s reclamation of philosophy from the elite tangle of scientific method into the words of earthlings. Surely we can see a coupling in Aldous Huxley’s final words, a request on paper to his wife, “100 milligrams LSD, I.M.” – which she obligingly injected – and Australian outlaw hero Ned Kelly’s “such is life” with Meursault’s experience of finality as an anticlimactic absurd bore. Che’s hopeful provocation “I know you have come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man,” might reckon otherwise with Camus’s absurdity, but Che’s blood bled into the ground all the same. The heartache of Vincent van Gogh’s “the sadness will last forever,” a day after shooting himself in the chest, might likewise cause Meursault’s conclusion pause, save for the fact the painters death was the ill-conceived opus of a genius. Ludwig Wittgenstein said that if you want to be a good philosopher, you should become a car mechanic. That learning to live, and consequently to die, is not found in books and platitudes but in the “such is life” of our lives. The secret is not in the grandeur but in the anonymity. In this search it could be considered that if you want to learn something new about how to die today, something about the mundane in solitude, the anonymous anthology of final testaments on Texas’s death row might have something to show.
Is the mic on?
I done lost my voice.
My heart goes, is going, ba bump ba bump ba bump.
Nothing I can say can change the past.
Man, there is a lot of people here.
I came here today to die, not make speeches.
To my sweet Claudia, I love you.
I’m ready, Warden.
America, the world, needs a
America, the world, needs a Progressive movement. Not an anarchist one. Stop what you are doing and wake up. We are a community, the common good works with a strong Democracy, not anarchy. Again stop, the USA will never be anarchist, give it up and give up you jealousy. You are like Murdoch, simply America haters, OWS is not going to work with you as it's leader. Again the world need more Democracy, and Progress, not chaotic anarchy, Shame On You!!!!
America, the world, needs a
America, the world, needs a Progressive movement. Not an anarchist one. Stop what you are doing and wake up. We are a community, the common good works with a strong Democracy, not anarchy.
You gave not a single reason to support this statement. And I don't know what Democracy™ is but some forms of democracy is compatible with anarchism (if you consider majority-rule non-tyrannic).
Again stop, the USA will never be anarchist, give it up and give up you jealousy.
I thought it was common knowledge that the United
States
of America will never be anarchist, because well, it's a
state
.
You are like Murdoch, simply America haters, OWS is not going to work with you as it's leader.
Some more ad-hominems and something about OWS "working" with "you" as its leader? I didn't even know OWS had leaders.
Again the world need more Democracy, and Progress, not chaotic anarchy, Shame On You!!!!
Sure the world needs progress, and I agree I wouldn't want chaos, but good luck getting us anywhere by electing corporate puppets.
I think you have a faulty idea of what anarchism is (but so do most people).
"Anarchism is a social movement that seeks freedom from oppressive systems of control, whether they be the state, capitalism, racism, sexism, or religious institutions. Anarchists advocate a self-managed stateless society without borders, bosses, or rulers where everyone takes personal responsibility for the health and prosperity of their community."
Anarchisim is an archaic term
Anarchisim is an archaic term associated in overtrowing one oppressor for another, it is also an ism we are post ism and ism's indicate a heirochy of rules and leaders. anarchist want what most people want to live in cooperation where everyone is equal to others all occupations are equally important.People live in cooperation not competition! the only laws should be Respect all life ,harm no one,do not take what is not yours,and work for the good of all .If we all could live by those rules a brotherhood of man ! we could end world hunger ,diease,ignorance and live like the spiritual beings we are ."imagine"
Anarchisim is an archaic term
Anarchisim is an archaic term associated in overtrowing one oppressor for another, it is also an ism we are post ism and ism's indicate a heirochy of rules and leaders. anarchist want what most people want to live in cooperation where everyone is equal to others all occupations are equally important.People live in cooperation not competition! the only laws should be Respect all life ,harm no one,do not take what is not yours,and work for the good of all .If we all could live by those rules a brotherhood of man ! we could end world hunger ,diease,ignorance and live like the spiritual beings we are ."imagine"
Brilliant. My sentiment
Brilliant. My sentiment exactly!
Anarchism, the movement, is
Anarchism, the movement, is not "anarchy", a word describing chaos. For decades anarchists have been reclaiming the word and positing a society based on community organization. Do some reading on what you're trying to condemn before you do so.
RE: article
Van Gogh's last words really should give someone who subscribes to Camus's philosophy pause. In the Myth of Sisyphus, we are told that our reason to continue to live life is to derive enjoyment from the process of philosophy, rather than concentrating on an endpoint or an inherent meaning to life and work in the traditional sense. This overlooks that the people most likely to have suicidal thoughts cannot experience that enjoyment. To put it in layman's terms, you might as well tell a depressed person "never mind that there probably is no god or real "purpose" to your life, just enjoy life itself" when the very reason for the sadness has more to do with the pain of living life than worries about what will come after or what it all "means". Someone who perceives life as neverending sadness needs a different intellectual challenge to start to think differently.
Mental illness is caused by
Mental illness is caused by ignorance not careing about others and the neverending evil atrocities commited and allowed to happen by the greedy power hungry leaders and their mingons (illuminatti). we have turned away from living in cooperation with nature to exploiting it to ruin . the never ending wars to keep the military industrial complex happy making the killing of people thousands of miles away as simple as the click of a mouse,.murder mayhem on tv ,movies novels, desenthizes us to real crimes against humanity so lets all think happy thoughts and be happy! think bad ,be sad! "society mirrors its goverments policys in treating other countries.If a country bullies its smaller neighbors .Its citizens will notice this and also bully its own countryman creating a coiuntry of angry, frustrated, mirrioring the military violent assault as a way to solve their own disagreements and problems by attacking ,robbing their neighbors,Logic dictates if my country can steal natural resources land ,oil to increase its wealth and power then by that logic why cant I as its citizen do the same to increase my power and wealth, This is the type of logic the rothschilds,rockerfellars duponts have ruined this country with act out on as well as lesser known criminals who do not care about others only themselves .Talking all from nature it has to give!
The Washington-based Death
The Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) says that since 1976 – 27 foreign nationals from 15 countries have been put to death in United States without full and proper compliance with international laws. Furthermore, there are at least 135 foreigners of 34 foreign nationalities on death row in the US at present......
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/locked-up-in-us-vs-iran/
Pity - Meursault was as lucky
Pity - Meursault was as lucky as Dr. Elie Lalouz who was murdered in bed by two Israeli prostitutes.
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/french-chemists-killed-by-israel...
The human cost of an elite
The human cost of an elite life
If the ratio is something like 99 to 1 than it takes about 8000 years of human experience to make a present day elite life possible or at least that is the cost exacted by the present system to make such a life possible. But the cost is even greater because the people making the sacrifice wouldn't choose those years. By the standard of choice these are experiences and lives not worth living or having. Think about how US elites have granted their defense forces the delegitimizing ability to disappear anyone these forces think may be a threat.
Is living under such depravity a life anyone would choose? Even the elites will find themselves subject to it. This is the only endpoint that neoliberalism can provide. This total failure means we need a completely new approach. Growth and the market are not the answer.
If anonyminity and mundane is
If anonyminity and mundane is so vaulted then how come most of the quotes are from the popular crowd of unemployment line rejects? I still love this article; it blurbs to the heart of where change comes from, even if it drags on a bit.
What about someone who is deluded into believing they lead an unforgiving and tough life! but in fact have it pretty good compared to many of our 7billion? How less valuable is their take on mortality?
Aren't all these 'philosophers' expressing personal views about their own struggled existence that truly have absolutely no relevance to anyone else's?
Isn't it simply the skill of the wordsmith that is valued more than any revealed meaning? How do you scale experience from "This dude has some tough shit goin' on" to "Sam here was dropped on his head as a child so just let him work it through"There's only one thing that matters in life! and thats what you do, not what you say or experience, if life! is a community of beings sharing a physical space commonly known as Earth.
So you are one of these
So you are one of these philosophers expressing personal views that have absolutely no relevance. For if it is what someone does, not what they say - why should anyone listen to you?
By the way, that is it that you do?
Without each other we'd not
Without each other we'd not have a language. "That which cannot be uttered" is sometimes very frustrating, and Wittgenstein spent happier days fixing motor cars. And good for Socrates worrying about his debts during those final hours. The loudest, I think, is somewhere between "The sadness will last forever" and "Man there is a lot of people here."
Easy biscuit..
Easy biscuit..
I think you are totally
I think you are totally confused.
Please come to the point.
What has this essay got to do with our crippling debt?
Stop fear mongering with this
Stop fear mongering with this nihilism.
"First they came for the
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
martin
niemoler .."
Then they come for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
and I am Muslim , Hindy , or what ! or Imigrant or What !!?? ? and ? NDAA is new law
I am OWS and soon ?
sea Ya' in Guantanamo or Baghram , or just very nice jail ....
good luck OWS !
They are us...it ends and
They are us...it ends and begins with us. You and I are OWS and ultimately the majority rules so take heart my brother.
That is the problem the
That is the problem the majority does not rule. Wealth corrupts and rules. Greed caused this economic crises with a war about oil, deregulation of the banks by corrupted politics and corporations wanting more and more profits. The 99% criticize each other instead of critizing the 1% who corrupt politics and politician and use the police to block free speech. It makes me angry when their equals have the misfortune of losing their ljobs because of downsizing. Look at London, Ontario. The corporation and their CEO used hanouts from our government for jobs only to destroy the lifes of workers with high productivey. I say let them move back to the states. People like them have destroyed the American economy already. We do not want coporations to worsen our country. Also why are Canadians so interested in Republican ideas and ideals. Conservatives in Canada are better than the Repulicans in the States.
But we have to come to the
But we have to come to the point.
Enough time wasted.