Pet Peeves and Idiosyncrasies (Aphorism No. 4)

Pet peeves are things about everyone else that annoy you; idiosyncrasies are things about you that annoy everyone else. With one of these all fights begin.

Previous aphorisms: Dressing for Existence (no.1), Art (no. 2), The Gentleman Formula (no. 3)

The Gentleman Formula (Aphorism No. 3)

If you dress like a gentleman, you'll feel like a gentleman. If you feel like a gentleman, you'll act like a gentleman. If you act like a gentleman, you'll be a gentleman.

Previous aphorisms: Dressing for Existence (no.1), Art (no. 2)

Art, an Aphorism

Nietzsche's aphorisms vary widely in length, sometimes occupying a single line, sometimes going on for several pages. By this standard, every entry on this blog (and most others) qualifies as an aphorism (see here for more on this). But I have also inadvertently begun a series of posts dedicated to coining aphorisms in the more narrow sense of short sayings (see here for the first time I tried this). Here then is one on art:

The best art examines you more than you examine it.

Nietzsche Was a Blogger

I know, I know; Nietzsche would hate being called this, but hear me out.

Because the internet is systematically making us dumber via training us to prefer our information in bite-sized pieces (see here), the task of the blogger is to say as much as possible in a matchbox of space. Every word must count; every thought must be clearly -- and, in the best-case scenario, beautifully -- expressed.

The other day, I was talking to my good friend (and Nietzsche scholar) about this curious and intellectually challenging enterprise. He said "Well, you know, that's essentially what Nietzsche was going for in his aphoristic style." But, he pointed out, the problem with such a pithy, aphoristic format is that it makes the author extremely susceptible to being misunderstood.

Indeed.

I'm not sure what to say about this latter fact, but I will say that with such a forefather in our lineage, practitioners of our craft (that is, blogging) have much to live up to and, in my opinion, change.