after seeing the movie i jotted this down, though i never posted it:

“between a rock and a hard place, rejecting the rock, rejecting the hard place. i find myself in a difficult position. watching a documentary on derrida i bristled, harumphed, “this is philosophy?” his overly quaffed hair, his leathery tan. the sighs, the long complicated sentences which ultimately express no idea, only circumscribe an assumed profundity like wagons circling a hole in the earth. there was nothing there. only an ego and a self love. narcissist, he says it again and again. “i am a narcissist”. the whole thing made me sick. an old man, applauded by slathering zombies, told he is a genius, believing he is a genius, saying nothing of consequence. prose poems strung together as philosophy.”

the piece i thought i’d write then was about more than derrida, it was about my own general reaction to philosophies. the basic gist of which can be gleaned from the rest of that scattered unfinished post:

“i asked my girlfriend why i always seem repelled by philosophers, by prophets, by “great” men. it is a mystery to me. it is the same with art, with politics, with business. the people expounding at great length their ideas, their beliefs, their better way; they make me angry, frustrate me utterly. the constant masquerade, humble opinions wearing the unassailable armor of truth. i find that i am repelled by what others might call greatness. but then i find i am also repelled by those who don’t seek greatness themselves…”

and it’s tangents:

“people sitting atop a pedestals of their own self regard. constantly the masquerade of the artists explaining his work in 80,000 words as if the work were an impossibly complex function of quantum mechanics, as if the words were the work and the work was nothing more than a cheap surrogate.”

“and there is fandom swooping down, rapt, nodding, paragraphs piling high. these throngs sniff at the asshole of creation hoping to cup a precious turd in their very own hands.”

sound and fury… as the line goes. in any case, as stated i know nothing of this man’s particular ideas and work. so for a more significant “furious sound” we’ll have to look elsewhere.

for a good intro on the man on the occasion of his “outro” see resquiescat in pace written by a particularly insightful friend of a friend michael bérubé. alternately the site hydra has some excerpts of derrida’s writing as well as some audio.

any other more informed perspectives would certainly be welcomed.