Stupid Is As Stupid Does

[spectralbovine]

I don't understand why people are stupid. Like, blatantly stupid in a professional environment. How does someone get to have to the same title as I do and demonstrate such a lack of comprehension/understanding of grammar, clinical trials, chronology, time, and reality? Why do they still have jobs? Why are they being paid for me to have to waste my

Comments

[marzipan_pig]

Stringing you along ah ha ha.

I read Cat's Cradle a while back and I liked it, though now I don't remember exactly why. The satire about religiousity really got me, I guess? Also though a friend read it around the same time and I think the same stuff I liked was why it DIDN'T work for him.

[sophia_helix]

:( :( :(

Bokononism is what the book is actually about, and the futility of trying to find meaning in such a cruel and terrible world...and how beautiful it is that humans try at all, and are ever able to make any kind of fragile connection with each other or express any kindness. Bokonon is Vonnegut/the universal author, telling lies and telling you that he's lying, but that's the only way to convey the truth. There's some absurdity and satire on religion intended, of course, such as how the religion survives precisely because it's outlawed, but I think Vonnegut was actually being as sincere as he ever was when he wrote those portions, and I've found them more profoundly meaningful as I got older.

Maybe reread sometime, now you know what to expect from the story? I've had books annoy me on first read because they didn't do what I thought they were doing, and then enjoyed them later for what they actually were (most notably Jonathan StrangeAnd edit, I would try reading a hard copy, I feel like it's a book better read at your own

[spectralbovine]

Yeah, I was thinking that a re-read on paper would help me appreciate the book more. Part of the problem was that after I lost interest, I stopped paying as much attention, and that just compounded the problem, of course. It's a book you're supposed to think about, and that doesn't work as well when you're listening to it in your car.

[sophia_helix]

Yeah, and I was thinking about the layout, all those short chapters and those great titles, and how much punchier the lines are when you can see that they're the last line in a chapter as you're reading. I can imagine the weirdness of the book just rushing by as everything collapses if it was being read to you, especially if it felt like it was going off the rails from what you'd expected.

[prophetkristy]

I know, right? It makes me wonder why I work so hard, when apparently I could do 10% and still be employed.

[spectralbovine]

Some days I truly understand Toby's pain.

Do these people have no self-respect? No sense of accountability? No pride in their work? I mean come on.

[trailer_spot]

I hope you aren't referring to a person working at Amgen. ;)

[ethanvahlere]

I don't understand stupid people either.

How much of Vonnegut have you read besides these two novels? I only ask because my impression was Breakfast of Champions is Vonnegut basically taking everything he'd ever written up to that point, putting it in a blender, setting the controls to high, and the result was the novel. It is a strange novel, but I liked it. A word of warning, though; if you haven't seen it already, avoid the movie at all costs. You'd think a movie version with Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey, and Owen Wilson, among others, and made by one of my favorite cult directors, Alan Rudolph, would have worked, or at least have been an interesting failure, but it is truly deadening to sit through.

I concur with sophia about Cat's Cradle, especially in that you should actually sit down and read it as well. I do admit having a soft spot for the novel, not just because it's the first Vonnegut I ever read, but also because we studied it in English my junior year in high school, with the best English

[spectralbovine]

As I said, all I'd read was Slaughterhouse-Five before these two.

You'd think a movie version with Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey, and Owen Wilson, among others, and made by one of my favorite cult directors, Alan Rudolph, would have worked, or at least have been an interesting failure, but it is truly deadening to sit through.
I don't even understand how you would make a movie of that book. What would even be the point?

Maybe one day I will give Cat's Cradle another try. At the moment, my reading queue is basically full until the end of the year.