January 20, 2007
The word I need is an antonym for "nihilist"
Charlene went on the annual west coast Walk for Life today. As usual my thoughts were less on the issues of the moment than on the clash of underlying ideas. And so I was very taken by the contrast seen here between two pieces of architecture. The Vaillancourt Fountain is the perfect expression of the view that there is no meaning to life, no certainty, no hope, and that only a fool would have noble aspirations or dream of finding truth. (Or beauty! Blehhh.) It's nihilism embodied. And there behind it you see the tower of the Ferry Building, which has a very different story to tell.
The walk was a big success, as far as we could see. We hiked for many miles in the middle of the crowd, and never once were we able to see the beginning or the end of the procession. There had to be way over 10,000 people out on a beautiful day. And the counter-protesters we saw were just a hundred at most, maybe two, and none of them looked like anyone you would want to know. Trashy chomskys. It was a pathetic showing for the Culture of Death.
If any of our St Dominic's friends are reading this, that's Anne Whitaker in front of me, in pink...Charlene was on the walk last year, and says the protesters were much less obnoxious this year, probably because there were fewer of them...
My God, that thing is hideous. It looks like a leftover from the set of Damnation Alley. All you need are mutant, man-eating cockroaches!
Miami is inflicted with similar, though smaller (and not water-emitting) monstrosities. Here's one. The Giant Rubber Bands are coming to get you!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 20, 2007 06:33 PMPS: my mother worked in that building behind the sculpture. She worked for the Draft Board during Vietnam. We used to go downtown and pick her up. Miami has the most Soviet-looing government buildings in America.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at January 20, 2007 06:34 PMI was going to say "Nyahh nyahh. Our Federal Building is more Stalinist than your Federal Building." But when I went to google an image I discovered we have a NEW SF Federal Building! Which I didn't even know about. (I've seen it being built, but I didn't know what it was.)
I think it is a sort of temple of Gaia worship; greener than green. ("to promote a healthy, happy and productive staff...") I guess that's better than nihilism...
Posted by: John Weidner at January 20, 2007 09:53 PMJohn,
I followed the link you gave to that new Federal building, and my first thought was "ugh", followed by "what a maintenance headache". Wanna bet the elevators will never work right, the ventilation system will fail on the hottest day of the year, and the fancy-pants "skin" designed to help keep out the Sun's heat also fails about the same time as the ventilation system?
The designers obviously have no acquaintence whatsoever with Murphy, and I suspect he's going to repay their disrespect with interest.
Posted by: Hale Adams at January 20, 2007 10:33 PMNo no, "healthy, happy and productive." You'll see. These will be bureaucrats transformed. No penny of taxes-due will remain uncollected. All regulations will be enforced to the limit of the law. The economy will be fine-tuned by experts, and the shocking wastefulness of uncontrolled capitalism will be a thing of the past. San Francisco will blossom under the ministrations of government, and children will have bright teeth and shiny hair.
All it takes is natural ventilation...
Posted by: John Weidner at January 20, 2007 10:43 PMAn antonym for Nihilism...Yes we do need one.
Something more than Post-Nihilism...
Sanguinism? Positivism?
