September 26, 2004
New Bearded Shrugging Guy
by JeremyThat picture of Marx shrugging is surely among my most important contributions to society, so don't think I've renounced it. But it has occurred to me that casual visitors are probably misinterpreting its significance. Regular readers of this blog will know that our purpose has been neither to praise nor attack Marx or Marxism, though we have certainly expressed strong opinions, positive and negative, about many of the man's contemporary devotees.
The purpose of the banner was just to advertise the idea that self-questioning is the only thing that will save the left, or something along those lines. And whether Marx would or would not be impishly shrugging were he around today, we think it would be a useful exercise for people to imagine it.
But our banner has always cried "Marx!" when it really should be crying "Shrug." I know it doesn't look as cool, but there was something about the idea of Nostradamus shrugging that struck me as funny.
I've thought of having the shrugging person rotate each time you load the page. Marx one time...then Nostradamus...I dunno...Thomas Jefferson...
But I want to stop scaring away both people on the right whose first impression is that we're Stalinists or something, and people on the left whose first take is that we're trashing KM.
Nostradamus freaks? Sure, let's alienate them; I don't especially have a problem with that.
If you have any particular opinions about this then please let me know what you think.
UPDATE: It's rotating randomly between Marx and Nostradamus now, thanks to this brilliantly simple code. Just keep refreshing (it's only the two so you may have to refresh repeatedly). I'll add more self-questioning thinkers over the next few weeks. Any suggestions?
well, I liked the other one just fine, but this one is good too!
hmmmm, maybe its time to talk to Kenner Toys about creating a whole line of "failed philosphers of europe" series. ( collect them all!)
If you're not going to use "marx shrugged", may I? It always made me laugh....
Posted by: Frank Martin at September 26, 2004 01:51 AM
What is that, reverse psychology? You're making me want to keep to poor old dude. And I guess I'm too proud of my handiwork to redistribute that particular piece of wealth. I probably will do a rotating stable of shrugging know-it-alls (your failed European philosophers concept is pretty hilarious).
But Marx is still shrugging away on our sidebar, so feel free to steal him and paste him in your blog (er...with a link to us).
Thanks for the feedback, anyhow; it is much appreciated.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 26, 2004 02:24 AM
Oh yeah, and let me introduce you to our full line of shrugging Marx merchandise. Perfect attire for...eh...that is to say...well they look pretty nifty anyway.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 26, 2004 02:46 AM
That was Marx? Doh! Can I get a refund on my LA education? I thought it was a different furry 19th century guy: Darwin.
More of a 'so this is what we evolved into idea'.
I say again. Doh.
Posted by: Joe at September 26, 2004 07:15 PM
Marx merchandise! With a concept like that you cant lose!
Posted by: Frank Martin at September 27, 2004 12:16 AM
Joe: I'll add Darwin to the rotation. Not a bad idea.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 27, 2004 12:55 AM
How about George W. Bush? I'm serious. I'm finishing up my "liberal case for Bush" essay. A shrugging Bush next to the words "Who Knew?" would fit nicely with my view of him these days. But this is your blog, not my blog, so you just do what you want.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten at September 27, 2004 05:15 AM
When I try to visualize GWB shrugging all I get is a mental image of Alfred E. Newman. I don't think he'll make the cut. But I'm looking forward to your piece on the guy.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 27, 2004 09:00 AM
Forever doomed to be Alfred E in the same way that Dean is forever doomed to be on cheesy rock n roll radio station ID's "WERE 99.9 ROX AND WEVE GOT ANOTHER TEN SECONDS OF COMMERCIAL FREE MUSIC STARTING YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH"
Or something...
Posted by: Dex at September 27, 2004 04:51 PM
I have always wondered what Old Marx was doing on your bog. I guess I thought you were part of the freethinking neo-Marxist strand. Kind of like the Harry's Place-crowd.
Personally, I would be more comfortable without the bearded one. Too many gruesome things have been done in his name.
As for Nostradamus... Hmmm, I don't know... I see where you're coming from, but I'm sure there are better ways of expressing "the shrug" than by either Marx or Nostradamus.
Still really like your blog, though. It's really good to have you around.
Keep going.
Posted by: Frederick at September 27, 2004 05:35 PM
Dex: would it be excessive to have my shrugging bearded banner dudes saying "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH" via some sort of .wav file? I think that would be funny. No, I'm not really serious. But it would be funny, wouldn't it?
Frederick: "I guess I thought you were part of the freethinking neo-Marxist strand. Kind of like the Harry's Place-crowd."
I hovered in that viscinity for most of my young adult life, and I was certainly brought up in that sort of household. But the guys at Harry's Place, and Norm, and the SIAW guys are actual, you know, scholars of Marx. I never had the discipline to be much of a scholar. And since 9/11 I have had even less interest in leftist thought for its own sake. I'm only really interested now in reading people who are honestly struggling to piece together the truth and who understand that theocratic fascism is the enemy of all of us, left and right. It has been a very healthy experience to find myself agreeing (or disagreeing) with people first, and only then being curious as to whether they are left or right.
But I supposed my culture is leftist culture (almost as if it's the town I grew up in) and so a shrugging Marx seemed a good personification of what was going on inside my head after 9/11.
But part of the shrugging concept is the idea of famously self-certain thinkers visiting us now and saying "Look, I thought I knew. Nobody's perfect." And in fact, "Nobody's Perfect" was the other blog name I was toying with.
"I'm sure there are better ways of expressing "the shrug" than by either Marx or Nostradamus."
Like who, man? I want names.
"Still really like your blog, though. It's really good to have you around./Keep going."
Thanks!
Posted by: Jeremy at September 27, 2004 09:04 PM
I was thinking of people like Karl Popper, Raymond Aron, Albert Camus and Simon Weil. There are probably many more, but these are the ones I can come up with off the top of my head.
Posted by: Frederick at September 29, 2004 10:57 AM
Thanks for the names, Frederick. I'm not as well read in all of the people on that list as I probably should be, but what I've been reading on them in the last 24 hours impresses me. They do indeed seem to embody the shrug I'm going for. I guess, though, that I'm trying to impose a shrug on people who have shaped or reflected history in such a way as to reinforce one kind of orthodoxy or another. So I'm reaching for the unlikely shrug, the against-type shrug. The people you list might be better placed at the opposite end of the banner where they would be pointing with a thumb toward the shrugging icon and offering a triumphantly raised eyebrow.
But more to the point: I want to read more by or about them. At least Aron and Weil. Camus I've read. And, crucially, I juggled in Washington Square Park a handful of times with Camus' grandson (more than 10 years ago). But I digress.
Posted by: Jeremy at September 30, 2004 03:03 AM
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