Politically Exhausted

Weather: blah
Listening to: Rhythm & Muse II (Thanks W Hotels)
Currently Reading: One Thousand Years of Non-Linear History - Manuel de Landa

I'm politically exhausted and bored to tears with politics in general. Every political speach is predictable and dull. Even the extreemists have ho-hum ideas these days. So what gives? I'm chalking this mood up to a continually firmer belief that politicians are inherently devoid of interesting ideas. The best we can do is decide which set of vapid politicians is going to do the least amount of harm. Niether one of them is going to change my mind at this point, so I'm going to avoid thinking about either of them until November; at which time, I will cast my vote anonymously and that will be that.

As for this book I'm in the middle of... de Landa has some interesting ideas. He does occasionally make a commonly ocurring mistake though. Intellectuals tend to build momentum with their arguments which leap from one factual and believable point to another until he suddenly leaps into ideology and makes some half-cocked remark that only barely rests on his previously solid points. I always get the fealing that the author thinks that if he uses language that is confusing enough when he slips something in there like that, he can trick his readers into buying it without question. I used to see that a lot in architecture school. Kids would talk about philosophy and social science and then point to a design that was supposed to embody all that talk... However, if you were actually following the talk, all you could say about the design was, "huh?" I really hate people who use intellectualism as a mask to intimidate people who intend to judge them or disagree with them. Personally, I think talking over people's heads is rude and cowardly.

But back to de Landa's book. It's a fascinating look at the forces at work on society and the earth. I like a book with some depth of fields. Manuel de Landa has a lot to talk about and that makes it interesting and enjoyable so far. It is entirely possible that my political exhaustion is making little things more irritating than normal. We'll see.

I'm off to Maryland this weekend so Monday will be my next post.