Omss-Culture: Culturebox: Angry Nerds



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culturebox Angry Nerds How Nietzsche gets misunderstood by Jared Loughner types. By Matt Feeney Posted Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at 11:22 AM ET If we never discovered that Jared Lee Loughner honed his murderous outlook while sitting alone in his bedroom, reading Nietzsche and thinking about nihilism, that would have been real news. Instead of real news, though, we've gotten a dreary iteration of a cultural cliche. The New York Times and other media are saying the addled and alienated young man arrested for trying to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords, and for the murders of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green and five other people, took himself to be a Nietzschean. Of course he did. I suppose we could start plucking out incendiary quotations from Nietzsche's works and assess how much blame to lay on his head for Loughner's alleged crimes and the crimes of other young men with similar philosophical interests, but such a project would tend toward philistinism or obscurity. Better, I think, to leave aside the indictment and treat the nexus of Nietzsche and troubled young manhood as Nietzsche himself would have--that is, anthropologically. To continue reading, click here. Matt Feeney is a writer in Oakland. He blogs at The American Scene. Follow him on Twitter. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Why the Lebanese Government Collapsed, and Why You Should Care Searching for the Michel Gondry Touch in the Crushing Mediocrity of The Green Hornet Did Female Bodies Evolve To Thwart Rape?	Advertisement
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Now playing: *Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V* at www.slatev.com.
culturebox Angry Nerds How Nietzsche gets misunderstood by Jared Loughner types. By Matt Feeney Posted Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at 11:22 AM ET If we never discovered that Jared Lee Loughner honed his murderous outlook while sitting alone in his bedroom, reading Nietzsche and thinking about nihilism, that would have been real news. Instead of real news, though, we've gotten a dreary iteration of a cultural cliche. The New York Times and other media are saying the addled and alienated young man arrested for trying to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords, and for the murders of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green and five other people, took himself to be a Nietzschean. Of course he did. I suppose we could start plucking out incendiary quotations from Nietzsche's works and assess how much blame to lay on his head for Loughner's alleged crimes and the crimes of other young men with similar philosophical interests, but such a project would tend toward philistinism or obscurity. Better, I think, to leave aside the indictment and treat the nexus of Nietzsche and troubled young manhood as Nietzsche himself would have--that is, anthropologically. To continue reading, click here. Matt Feeney is a writer in Oakland. He blogs at The American Scene. Follow him on Twitter. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Why the Lebanese Government Collapsed, and Why You Should Care Searching for the Michel Gondry Touch in the Crushing Mediocrity of The Green Hornet Did Female Bodies Evolve To Thwart Rape?	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters on Slate Unsubscribe \| Newsletter Center \| Advertising Information Please do not reply to this message since this is an unmonitored e-mail address. If you have questions about newsletters, please go here.
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to newsletters@slate.com. Copyright 2010 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC \| Privacy Policy Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive \| c/o E-mail Customer Care \| 1150 15th Street NW \| Washington, D.C. 20071

Culturebox: Angry Nerds

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