Althouse: Bore....

December 30, 2010

Bore....

.........dom.

36 comments:

Scott M said...: You realize, of course, that this is exactly why Rome fell.; 12/30/10, 1:37 PM
coketown said...: Which raises the question: If you're interested in boring things, is it boring? I'm sure that's just paraphrasing the debate on whether the boringness is a quality of the object's nature or a product of our perceiving and interpreting it.

And I was originally going to say "which begs the question..." but there are boring people out there who get off on noting that begging the question in this context isn't correct.; 12/30/10, 1:38 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: "Boredom enthusiast" seems like a contradiction in terms along the lines of jumbo shrimp and military intelligence.; 12/30/10, 1:40 PM
Scott M said...: New York snow plow intelligence.

There...fixed it for ya.; 12/30/10, 1:41 PM
SteveR said...: A boring article for sure; 12/30/10, 2:03 PM
reader_iam said...: Robe mod.; 12/30/10, 2:25 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: After a much-needed break, a drawing was held. Some of the winners got a DVD called "Helvetica," a 2007 documentary about typography.

Seen it.; 12/30/10, 2:31 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/30/10, 3:05 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm a sucker for the long cut-and-paste today.

Joseph Brodsky gave my college commencement address, In Praise of Boredom, which he turned into a moderatly famous essay. It was unlike every other graduation speech I've ever heard. He kept referring to us, the graduates, as "young and newfangled."

An excerpt:

A substantial part of what lies ahead of you is going to be claimed by boredom. The reason I'd like to talk to you about it today, on this lofty occasion, is that I believe no liberal arts college prepares you for that eventuality. Neither the humanities nor science offers courses in boredom. At best, they may acquaint you with the sensation by incurring it. But what is a casual contact to an incurable malaise? The worst monotonous drone coming from a lectern or the most eye-splitting textbook written in turgid English is nothing in comparison to the psychological Sahara that starts right in your bedroom and spurns the horizon.

Known under several aliases--anguish, ennui, tedium, the doldrums, humdrum, the blahs, apathy, listlessness, stolidity, lethargy, languor, etc.--boredom is a complex phenomenon and by and large a product of repetition. It would seem, then, that the best remedy against it would be constant inventiveness and originality. That is what you, young and new-fangled, would hope for. Alas, life won't supply you with that option, for life's main medium is precisely repetition.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing.; 12/30/10, 3:08 PM
Unknown said...: One man's boring is another's obsession.; 12/30/10, 3:13 PM
ricpic said...: There is probably a high correlation between lovers of boredom and lovers of irony. Both are escape/coping mechanisms for those who are afraid of life, which is to say those who are afraid of other people.; 12/30/10, 3:23 PM
Scott M said...: I've found, as I've gotten closer to 40, that I'm somewhat afraid of boredom itself. Over-stimulation 4 teh win.; 12/30/10, 3:36 PM
Anonymous said...: I look at it the other way, ricpic. Getting wrapped up in the details of others' lives is simply an escape/coping mechanism for people who can't accept the meaninglessness of life -- who are afraid of the void.

Oh, the irony!; 12/30/10, 3:41 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/30/10, 3:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Peggy Lee sings it. Is That All There Is?; 12/30/10, 3:51 PM
Lincolntf said...: Not boring at all here at the lincolntf homestead. We just got the letter/contract in the mail notifying my wife that she's been awarded tenure. Vent on Academia all you want, God knows I certainly do, but as of today at least one card-carrying member of the "elites" is NOT a total Libtard!; 12/30/10, 3:56 PM
ricpic said...: Hey, you may be right t-man, you may be right. WhattaIknow. My only excuse is that sometimes the urge to bloviate is irresistible. ;^); 12/30/10, 3:57 PM
Michael said...: Dunbar in Catch 22 used boredom as a life extension mechanism. As I remember he would wait in long lines and when near the front retreat to start the wait over. He waited in dentist offices. Etc.; 12/30/10, 4:22 PM
The Dude said...: I've been to Boring, Maryland and Boring, Oregon. Haven't been bored since I was a teenager, however.

WV: nucki - that alone is enough to prevent boredom.; 12/30/10, 4:34 PM
AST said...: My kids always talked about being bored as the worst thing that could happen.

So is this now the new t.m.?

Mantra: (YAWN); 12/30/10, 4:44 PM
Michael said...: I am not sure I have ever been truly bored. There really is a lot to do, a lot to learn. Of all the many things that piss me off is one of my kids telling me they are bored.; 12/30/10, 4:44 PM
AST said...: Gosh, Ann, you have the most interesting life!; 12/30/10, 4:45 PM
Titus said...: Reader is a female.

My new goal is to really get to know everyone here rather than everything being about me.

I did not see one fucking bald eagle today and my niece puked on me.; 12/30/10, 4:47 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Good link t-man.

Embrace your boredom.; 12/30/10, 5:06 PM
dbp said...: As I was reading this piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, I thought two things: 1. This is just the sort of thing that Alhouse would blog about. 2. Most of the "floating off the page" articles fall into the class of things Alhouse would blog about but (to my recollection) has not been in the habit of doing.

Auxiliary thoughts which followed were that maybe she is unaware of these bits if they are not all published on-line. But then, a big-time blogger should be able to get News Corp to send her a free print subscription. Ah, but to be blogworthy it must have a link to the story (not behind a pay-wall either, so that was the end of my thought process on that subject.; 12/30/10, 5:06 PM
dbp said...: Ah, and here is the missing )

wv: fired--what I would be if my job was editing blog posts for mistakes.; 12/30/10, 5:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Boredom is Einstein's cosmological constant..; 12/30/10, 6:14 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Emergency alert negative control at helm!!

Emergency alert negative control at helm!!

we are being pulled in by the cloud.; 12/30/10, 6:15 PM
chickelit said...: I like the way your title shows up on the sidebar of other blogs--almost like a statement.; 12/30/10, 6:47 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm never bored... as long as I can control my own time. Stuck in a meeting, with other people talking... I could be bored. But as long as I'm free, I'm never bored.; 12/30/10, 6:56 PM
reader_iam said...: I'm never bored... as long as I can control my own time. Stuck in a meeting, with other people talking... I could be bored. But as long as I'm free, I'm never bored.

A good thing, too, given what you yourself have said on this very blog about what happens when you're bored** (I'd link it again, but I'm terrifically busy at the moment--feast due in 20 minutes--and have no business posting this damn comment anyway, therefore).

** : ); 12/30/10, 8:40 PM
Clyde said...: Only one song for this one!

Buzzcocks - Boredom

(Here is a live version of the song, if you'd prefer that to the album version.)

I noticed that the event took place in London. I think this shows the effects of sending adventurous, risk-seeking people off colonize and run an empire for a couple of hundred years. Skim off the cream, only the milk is left.; 12/30/10, 9:07 PM
Leon said...: i read the article then i went to his web site and then to the one about candy bars. whilst not hugely enthralling they were interesting. their secret was not raising expectations too high. they knew that they were not going to change the world but for what they were the candy was in fact compelling. the candy sight gave an in depth look at london's news stand and convenience shops. by concentrating on one type of candy bar we get to see what these shops are like on the whole. we can compare prices, attitudes towards the product and customers. this blog is brilliant in ways i doubt its author could envision when he started it. also i liked the buildings that many of these shops were in. the type of buildings that make up london life but never make the glossy book tour guides.; 12/30/10, 9:33 PM
Calypso Facto said...: Whatever...; 12/30/10, 10:11 PM
The Musket said...: from the article: "But a survey of more than 1,500 U.S. Marines, published in September in the journal Aggressive Behavior, suggests that being bored may be a bigger risk factor for such behavior than war trauma is."

Experience shows this to be true -- my usually bicker free kids have been housebound for over a week and it's starting to show.; 12/30/10, 11:53 PM
john harvard said...: I must object to the use of the "Helvetica" DVD as a boring door prize. I watched the movie and was very excited to learn all about the font that defines the modern era!; 12/31/10, 9:52 AM