September 26th thru October 5thPrevious Entry | Archive Index | Current Blog | Next Entry Apatherati I can't say I am the original creator of the term "snoberati," having just thought it up about ten minutes ago. A quick hop onto Google finds 3 uses with the spelling "snoberatti," and about 17 with "snoberati." More or less, the word means "those in a position of authority who pass negative judgment on nontraditional phenomena." Inherent in the use of the word is a disparaging attitude towards members of the snoberati—one would not claim, without a sense of irony, of being a snob. Snoberati shall be all-encompassing, and seek to refuse acknowledgement of someone's deserved authority. For example, there are the literati, who are well read or educated; and the glitterati, who are part of the glamorous celebrity set—and certainly one's education or celebrity does give one some authority. But the snoberati shall be those who pass judgment without bothering to explain or justify themselves. " I am a professor and a peer and rich and it's crap because I say so." Also inherent in the appellation is the idea that the snoberati pass judgment automatically: they assume that because something is traditional, it is worthless. And yet, they acknowledge that the new phenomena is worthy of being judged at all— they fail to treat something worthless as it should be geniunly treated—by ignoring it altogether—and so they automatically undermine their own authority: a kind of hubris. Standing in stark contrast of the snoberati are the anti-intellectuals, and I am moved to coin a term for them too, using this –erati ending. Stupiderati? Dumberati? Plainerati? These all seem ham-handed, and lose power expressly because they are too forced. Egaliterati, though, might work. The idea is to set up the same disdain for the egaliterati as for the snoberati- that they, too, pass judgment with justification, but still acknowledge something that, genuinely, should be ignored, and so are possessed of the same hubris. The anti-intellectuals are snobs of a different sort, inverted snobs so to speak; in any sense, any group that considers itself better than another group just because the other group is an "other" is guilty of snobbism. So the two words then exist in opposition due to their popular perception, and not due to the inherently hypocritical nature of their motivation. Me, I'm tired of all of them. And in an effort to be ironic, I want to come up with a term for those of us who do not consider ourselves part of the snoberati, for we do not dismiss new or popular phenomena without considering it's merits, nor do we dismiss things that are accomplished or intellectual just because we do not understand it; instead, we pass disdainful judgment on the judgers, which, again, is a kind of hubris, since we should ignore the damned snobs the sorry fools. Apatherati shall be this word. I am an apatheratus, one of those who think people who call something stupid are stupid. Clumpy Zuihitsu The Lawrencian, the newspaper for which I write horoscopes, is 1 year old.
I am writing this on Monday, but don't intend to post it until Tuesday.
Finished Alias Season 3. Went to the Puyallup fair a week ago. No fried twinkies. Sad emoticon.
I've been watching Deadwood, an HBO show, thanks to Netflix. Got word: no work off-site meeting in Las Vegas afterall. Thank goodness.
Saw Corpse Bride last Friday.
We still haven’t won any kickball games. I read previous zuis to see what I need to talk about.
Rock and Roll Confidential's Hall of Douchebags is damned hilarious.
Me and the GF have been doin the DDR lately.
Got some new Halloween Rubber Ducks.
Going out to see an Indian comedian tonight.
I'm going to walk around the house now to see if there's anything else I should blog. Pet Peeves
New Respect Prance acts like N Synch are to music what professional wrestling is to sports. Indubitable talent required, some respect deserved, but still nothing without the hypy context. Interestingly, Bret Easton Ellis is trying to generate the same contexts in his new book, Lunar Park. Yawn. While I'm on the subject and feelin old-schooly about reportage blogging, I rented Burnout Revenge, a kick-ass driving game where your goal is to win the race and wreck cars as much as possible. It's slick and fun, and gives me nausea-headaches if I play it for too long, so today I am not playing it. Oh, and, I and mine rented and watched The Jacket. I liked the movie just fine, but that tag line: "Terror has a new name" is so incredibly misleading I'm afraid the producers don't deserve any kind of profit. The flick itself had elements of Jacob's Ladder, Butterfly Effect, and The Time Traveler's Wife. Wikipedia says 12 Monkeys, too. Also, Netflixxed, received, watched pilot of The 4400. Poorly acted, directed, written, but intriguing enough concept to warrant furthur viewing.
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Last Sunday, I performed stand-up.
