Friday, February 16, 2007
(8:00 AM) | Dominic:
Friday Confession: Monkey Love and Baader-Meinhof
I confess that I have got into the habit of looking at people and trying to imagine them as apes. Children become baby apes; old people become distinguished old gorillas with wise faces. Television newsreaders make especially good baboons. This may be the closest I will ever get to a generic love of humanity.I confess that listening to Black metal does not make me feel any better. Stopping listening to Black metal makes me feel marginally better, compared to how I felt when I was listening to Black metal. I confess that this is the least promising mood-control technique I have
tried since I first took up smoking.
I confess that when I was a teenager my mother was terrified that I would join the local equivalent of the Baader-Meinhof gang. I confess that I have never been remotely likely to do anything of the sort. I confess that I get exactly the same kicks now out of arguing with
hard-leftists as I used to get out of arguing with members of the Christian Union at school. I confess that I am completely unserious, and will never contribute anything of value to any revolutionary movement.
I confess that I have been completely mentally enslaved by Badiou, and now see everything in terms of axiomatic set theory. I confess that this will wear off eventually. I confess that going by past experiences of complete mental enslavement by major continental philosophers this is likely to take about five years. I confess that I am very boring to talk to right now.
I confess that IT is beating me at chess. I confess that I am unreasoningly cross about this. I confess that I used to play board 11 for the County under-13s (or was it board 13 for the County
under-16s?). I confess that I got very tired indeed of all-day chess tournaments, even though they were among the few occasions besides Christian Union get-togethers when I ever got to meet girls of my own age (and girls who were into chess, moreover). Once at an all-day chess tournament three girls came up to me and asked me which of them I fancied most. I confess that I had absolutely no idea, and told them that I would have to know a lot more about their personalities before I would be able to respond meaningfully to their question. I confess
that the way they laughed at me still haunts my dreams to this day.
Now it is your turn. Confessions about chess and girls especially welcome - and multiply so if you yourself are a chess-playing girl.
