A Cure for Wellness (2016) – Matters of Purity

Finally, being ‘on the right side of history’ does not fix the problem of the so called ur-fascism lurking in the dark; progressives, liberals and socialists of all stripes are guilty of the same instrumentalisation of moral intuitions (purity excluded, admittedly) for the ultimate goal of self-deification. The film thus ends on a disappointing note, one too familiar for our contemporary culture – that of endless denounciation and cynicism; the messed up Lockhart fails to find a cure for his ailments, but simply by escaping the predatory Uber-Swiss blond beasts he somehow is ‘liberated’ of somthing bad, and it is implied that in the end he gets Hannah for himself; both having gotten rid of their tyrannical Patriarchs (Hannah by direct murder, like a good third waver), both free to roam the earth, follow their appetites and maybe become involved romantically, or simply fucking off to wherever their emotivist adventure will lead them next.

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The Inevitable Failure of Centrism

As Westerners we have lived for so long with this disembodied, mass produced entertainment masquerading as culture, that the only reaction we find normal to anyone taking their beliefs seriously is meta-irony. It suits us like a glove; the more layers of irony and cynicism, the better. Any midwit understands it and is able to engage in it.

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Participation vs. Deconstruction

The wide kind of attention is participatory and contextual. It is a ‘gestalt’, a pattern of being-there. An organised whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. Imagine motherhood; the attitudes and inner dispositions of a mother towards her child. It does not exclude focused attention, but it is more than that

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The Anti-Theist Urge to Blaspheme

Those who have spent time on an anti-theist or rationalist forum have no doubt noticed a strange form of catharsis, characteristic of former believers – the desire to curse, blaspheme and profane symbols held as sacred by others. The emotional impulse that urges them to curse God is not an unconscious aspect of their behaviour; they engage in it deliberately, claiming it’s a sign of high intelligence or that it exalts the only virtue held sacred in

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