Ask Nathan Anything 2: Self-Absorption Boogaloo

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I did one of these earlier in the year and it lasted for several pages before dying out; an attempt to resurrect it didn't bear fruit, but since several other posters have started new ones in the last few days, Why Not Me?

[Hindsight was 2020]

What anime is your sig from?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What anime is your sig from?

It's from Black Lagoon, which is a delightful genre pastiche of big, dumb, nihilistic 70s-90s action movies. I changed it from McThief the Crime Cat to better reflect my current tired-of-the-BS outlook.

[John Dule]

Name your top five favorite philosophers/political theorists.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Name your top five favorite philosophers/political theorists.

Philosophers:

Nagarjuna
Pseudo-Dionysius
David Hume (surprisingly)
Immanuel Kant
Martin Buber

Political theorists:

Mencius
Whatever absolute FF seventeenth-century Englishman wrote this poem
Eduard Bernstein
Walter Benjamin
Giorgio Agamben (sometimes)

Figures are chronological within each list. The fact that each list begins with an Asian philosopher before moving into the Western tradition is coincidental and I assure you that Nagarjuna and Mencius aren't there as tokens.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Would you rather attend a Knocked Loose show or a Pentecostal church service?

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Would you rather attend a Knocked Loose show or a Pentecostal church service?

So impressed that you're able to take a thread that is meant to focus attention on a single user and try to refocus it on yourself, your preferences, and your idiosyncrasies.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Would you rather attend a Knocked Loose show or a Pentecostal church service?

The latter, easily. I have a personal and professional interest in religious practices other than my own; I don't have a personal or professional interest in music I don't like.

[morgankingsley]

Do you hope to have more posts than BRTD one day

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Do you hope to have more posts than BRTD one day

No, of course not. BRTD is the irreplaceable cornerstone upon which Atlas Forum rests--il miglior fabbro, as Dante would say.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Would you rather attend a Knocked Loose show or a Pentecostal church service?

The latter, easily. I have a personal and professional interest in religious practices other than my own; I don't have a personal or professional interest in music I don't like.

Follow up: Do you prefer Knocked Loose or Paramore?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Would you rather attend a Knocked Loose show or a Pentecostal church service?

The latter, easily. I have a personal and professional interest in religious practices other than my own; I don't have a personal or professional interest in music I don't like.

Follow up: Do you prefer Knocked Loose or Paramore?

I actually like Paramore a lot and have since I was in high school.

[H. Ross Peron]

Do you follow South Korean politics in detail? I'm asking because there are many fascinating dynamics at play that may be of interest to you such as all three left-leaning Presidents of South Korea having been Catholics (though Roh was lapsed by the time of his death iirc).

What is your opinion of New England style Chinese American cuisine?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

What anime is your sig from?

It's from Black Lagoon, which is a delightful genre pastiche of big, dumb, nihilistic 70s-90s action movies. I changed it from McThief the Crime Cat to better reflect my current tired-of-the-BS outlook.

@Hindsight is 2020, Nathan’s sig turned me onto it and, 12 episodes in, I can say it’s pretty cool!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Do you follow South Korean politics in detail? I'm asking because there are many fascinating dynamics at play that may be of interest to you such as all three left-leaning Presidents of South Korea having been Catholics (though Roh was lapsed by the time of his death iirc).

I don't, no. In grad school I took a class called East Asian Christianities that discussed South Korean Catholic leftist figures such as Kim Chi-ha, but I didn't realize that extended to South Korea's Presidents. Fascinating. (Incidentally, Japanese Catholics as a demographic are also left-leaning, although there are conservative Japanese Catholics such as novelist Sono Ayako and current Deputy PM Asō Tarō--both of them massive HPs in my book, for reasons not directly related to their political or religious views.)

What is your opinion of New England style Chinese American cuisine?

I had to look up what this was; I only went for Chinese food two or three times when I was living in the Boston area, and none of it was this particular fusion. It looks interesting, but I myself couldn't say whether I think I'd like it or not.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Henry VIII vs Ibn Saud.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Henry VIII vs Ibn Saud.

UGH. At least the worst effects of Henry's toxicity were mostly confined to England within his lifetime, I guess.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Who, in your opinion, was the most and least appalling among three main antagonists of the Count of Monte Crust: DE Wilford, Danglars of Mercer? (I'm leaving Caderousse out, because he was a small fish.)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Who, in your opinion, was the most and least appalling among three main antagonists of the Count of Monte Crust: DE Wilford, Danglars of Mercer? (I'm leaving Caderousse out, because he was a small fish.)

That's tough, mostly because it's been over a decade since I read the book, but also because each of them is so awful in his own way. Going by what I remember of it, Morcerf pissed me off the most because he literally sells some of the other characters into slavery, and Danglars pissed me off the least because I thought his daughter was a pretty cool character. I'm willing to be unpleasantly surprised by de Villefort if I reread it, though!

[Antonio the Sixth]

What elements are you most looking for in a work of fiction (be it novel, film, or TV)? In other words, looking at your favorites, what aspects do you like more in them? And what are the aspects that you feel less strongly about, and on which you're more willing to forgive flaws?

Conversely, what do you think are your own greatest areas of strength and weakness as a writer?

[John Dule]

Name your top five favorite philosophers/political theorists.

Philosophers:

Nagarjuna
Pseudo-Dionysius
David Hume (surprisingly)
Immanuel Kant
Martin Buber

Political theorists:

Mencius
Whatever absolute FF seventeenth-century Englishman wrote this poem
Eduard Bernstein
Walter Benjamin
Giorgio Agamben (sometimes)

Figures are chronological within each list. The fact that each list begins with an Asian philosopher before moving into the Western tradition is coincidental and I assure you that Nagarjuna and Mencius aren't there as tokens.

Interesting-- how do you see Hume fitting into your philosophical/political worldview? Most people I know just try to forget he exists because he makes life a lot more uncomfortable for them. He's extremely rational, though, which I like. I won't ask why you like Kant; his daily routine is more or less identical to that of the average Atlas user.

[afleitch]

David Hume is probably my favourite philosopher too (though I'm always wary of idolising philosophers particularly as he was a stock 18th C racist.) so I'm interested in why you like him or what he proposed.

His grave and statue are in Edinburgh and what I love is that his grecian style statue is low to the ground and people rub his toe for 'good luck'. I think he'd wryly like that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I like Hume because he presents such a robust challenge to so many aspects of my worldview--my religiosity, my tendency to take the phenomenal world at face value, my quasi-animist emotive attitude about the natural world, etc. I don't agree with most of his conclusions, otherwise I'd be, well, closer philosophically and religiously to you guys, but sometimes exposure to one of the strongest cases against one's worldview can be clarifying, challenging, and even kind of fun.

[afleitch]

I like Hume because he presents such a robust challenge to so many aspects of my worldview--my religiosity, my tendency to take the phenomenal world at face value, my quasi-animist emotive attitude about the natural world, etc. I don't agree with most of his conclusions, otherwise I'd be, well, closer philosophically and religiously to you guys, but sometimes exposure to one of the strongest cases against one's worldview can be clarifying, challenging, and even kind of fun.

It's always healthy. And Hume (a bit like Adam Smith) is more nuanced than the '101' that people read/assume.

But be warned (not really. It's just me...); Hume and His Dark Materials (which-i-thoroughly-reccomend-watching-because-ruth-wilson-is-amazing) did more than anything to gut my Catholic apologism.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I like Hume because he presents such a robust challenge to so many aspects of my worldview--my religiosity, my tendency to take the phenomenal world at face value, my quasi-animist emotive attitude about the natural world, etc. I don't agree with most of his conclusions, otherwise I'd be, well, closer philosophically and religiously to you guys, but sometimes exposure to one of the strongest cases against one's worldview can be clarifying, challenging, and even kind of fun.

It's always healthy. And Hume (a bit like Adam Smith) is more nuanced than the '101' that people read/assume.

But be warned (not really...); Hume and His Dark Materials (which-i-thoroughly-reccomend-watching-because-ruth-wilson-is-amazing) did more than anything to gut my Catholic apologism.

I read (and enjoyed!) His Dark Materials as a kid. For whatever reason, it didn't "work on" me, although I respect Pullman's artistic and intellectual achievement in it. In general, bad pro-Christian polemic tends to give me more pause and cause me more doubt than good anti-Christian polemic.