[b]Dave Eggers
There’s nothing to be gained from passive observance, the simple documenting of conditions, because, at its core, it sets a bad example. Every time something is observed and not fixed, or when one has a chance to give in some way and does not, there is a lie being told, the same lie we all know by heart but which needn’t be reiterated.[/b]
If only we had an actual context, he thought.
It all meant something. Until it didn’t.
Or: It all meant nothing. Until it didn’t.
I cannot count the times I have cursed our lack of urgency.
Or: I cannot count the times I have cursed our reckless urgency.
We feel that to reveal embarrassing or private things, like, say, masturbatory habits, we have given someone something, that, like a primitive person fearing that a photographer will steal his soul, we identify our secrets, our pasts and their blotches, with our identity, that revealing our habits or losses or deeds somehow makes one less of oneself.
And then there are the folks on Jerry Springer.
Live long enough and you’ll disappoint everyone.
I think I already have, he thought.
I mean, all this stuff you’re involved in, it’s all gossip. It’s people talking about each other behind their backs. That’s the vast majority of this social media, all these reviews, all these comments. Your tools have elevated gossip, hearsay and conjecture to the level of valid, mainstream communication. And besides that, it’s fucking dorky.
Wow, this will stop them!