I like Camus because the importance that he places on the idea of absurdity. Other philosophers put great importance on the idea of God as a source of meaning in life, but I think that Camus saw the idea of meaning, and the subsequent fact that people go through their lives acting as if meaning or grand purpose exists as absurd. It is this absurdity that i find compelling to believe in. That when it comes down to it, there really is no right path that is the one true path; there is no ideal way of doing things, and the idea that there is ridiculous enough to make me laugh.
I think that my generation, although I'm not sure when it starts or if it has ended, has grown up on this idea as something that connects people. As I look at shows, and movies and music that has influenced people over the years, I really think that this comes through. Part of Nirvanas disenfranchisement with things was this idea that you had to play the game of industry in order to be a big fucking success. It seemed to me that most of the band kind of just hacked there way through musical stardom and didn't put a lot of thought and effort into it, and when all the moguls and interviewers started asking them poignant questions about their music and selling their music, they really didn't seem to know what to do. I feel like a lot of people dug this.
Really this was the cornerstone of Simpsons success. Constantly taking the piss out of the absurd. This is the comedy of the 90's, the same sort of "did you ever notice how�?" thing that Jerry Seignfeld used; this was comedy that made fun of how absurd the way people act. From Homer's hideous political shotgun action, to the commentary how everyone's fucked when it comes to politics, race issues, gender and sexuality ideas, mob mentalities, etc.
For those that remember the 1st episode of the 7th season, this was the death of the show. Like the last episode of Seignfeld, the writers took a risk, by making a not-funny show, in order to try and show the world that the people that we laughed at every week, were not actually cool, or normal or anything. But they were instead shallow assholes who fell ass-backwards through life fucking everyone up and taking pleasure in the pain of others; only to screw people who actually deserved to make it�cue in Frank Grimes. The people in the Simpsons and Seignfeld are us. We elect mayor Quimby all the time and allow Mr. Burns to run our businesses. We let our kids buy Malibu Stacey dolls and watch itchy and scratchy.
The other day, I saw a great clip of John from the Daily Show, being the most honest star on Television and just beating CNN talkshow guys over the heads. One thing that the CNN guys asked him, was who would be better for his show Bush or Kerry. His response was that it didn't really matter. That his show was based on making fun of the absurdity of these people in office, so even if Kerry was elected, his show would find just as much material from him if he and his executive acted absurd. Of course he did add that topping the Bush in absurdity would be pretty difficult.
The point is that for reasons unknown to me, the western world feels like it's finished. Talking to a guy who grew up in the 30's about making unions, he believed that we are gunna sit on our asses and laugh at the absurdity of what people in power are doing to us until one day we realize that we're fucked. Then we'll rise up again. Today is my Birthday and president Bush was elected to a 2nd term in probably the most important election in my lifetime.