Come Christmas, Come Ice

"Do they know it's Christmas time?" some artists sung back in the 80s, I have always wondered why. One can hardly escape the Christmas barrage; starving people all over the world included. Funny time of year; Christmas. Everybody is merry, and full of good intentions, and "Christmas spirit". Yeah. It's the only time of year, indeed, when people act as though they are possessed by some benevolent umbra. Benevolence aside: a ghost is a ghost, and in my book ghosts are never good. Not good at all. Too bad exorcists are in cahoots with the rest of them. Them. Yeah. You know the people who adore Christmas. So.

So. What do I think of Nietzsche? It's a question that strangely enough has become current. I had thought about Nietzsche and his mongrel philosophy several years since, and after an initial period of detestation I found several of his works well worth a read. But, to be honest, his philosophy never managed to set its talons firmly in my flesh. I'm more of a Schopenhauer, Heidegger, Hegel, &c. aficionado. Eh. Philosophy's only rocked my boat when put in a certain (historical) context. For instance, when I read on modernism I read Nietzsche. When I read on the Romantics (Byron, and his band of brothers) I read Rousseau. In general, I find philosophies a bit troublesome; it's like religion: everyody has an opinion, and makes it vociferously known, regardless of what the general consensus is (not that the general consensus is worth much in the grand scheme of things; but, eh, it represents a general willingness if not a general way of thinking. Ideas should be introduced with the utmost care. Nietzsche's philosophy has been used to justify all sorts of sordid deeds, and twisted ways of thinking), and tries to covince you of its Truth.
For instance, 'Christmas spirit' is used to flog all sorts of stuff, which we do not need. An altruistic ideal gets perverted into a commercial ideal. Nice.

Lucky me spent the greater part of the day in bed, listening to music, and dreaming of Chris Keller, eh, yeah. It was a nice dream. Unfortunately, at around six in the evening I sprang up, afraid I had overslept... which was not the case. And try as I did I could not grasp the shards of my dream that fell like leaves to earth..

"Bye, bye dream. Please, come back and visit me soon..."