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  • Walter's Blog.
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • About Walter
    • 1980 Joining Up - Grafton Street >
      • Arrival and First Impressions
      • First Week
      • Training
      • Passing Out
    • Yaumati Cowboy >
      • Getting on the Streets
      • Tempo of the City
      • Jumpers, pill poppers and the indoor BBQ
      • Into a Minefield.
    • Why Tango in Paris, when you can Foxtrot in Kowloon? >
      • Baptism By Fire
      • Kai Tak with Mrs Thatcher.
      • Home; The Boy Returns
  • 1984 - 1986
    • PTU Instructor & Getting Hitched
    • Having a go: SDU
    • Starting a Chernobyl family
    • EOD - Don't touch anything
    • Semen Stains and the rules
  • 1987 to 1992 - Should I Stay or Go?
    • Blue Lights, Sirens & Grenades
    • Drugs, Broken Kids & A Plane Crash
    • 600 Happy Meals Please!
    • Hong Kong's Best Insurance
    • Riding the Iron Horse
  • Crime in Hong Kong
    • Falling Crime Rates - Why?
    • Triads
  • History of Hong Kong Policing
    • History 1841 to 1941
    • History 1945 to 1967
    • Anatomy of the 50 cent Riot - 1966
    • The Fall of a Commissioner.
    • History 1967 to 1980
    • Three Wise Men from the West
    • The Blue Berets.
    • The African Korps and other tribes.
    • Getting About - Transport.
    • A Pub in every station
    • Bullshit Bingo & Meetings
    • Godber - The one who nearly got away.
    • Uncle Ho
  • Top 20 Films
    • 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
    • The Godfather.
    • Blade Runner
    • Kes
    • Star Wars
    • Aliens
    • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    • The Life of Brian
    • Dr Strangelove.
    • Infernal Affairs
    • Bridge on the River Kwai.
    • This Is Spinal Tap.
    • Chung King Express
    • An Officer and a Gentleman
    • PTU
    • Contact
    • Saving Private Ryan
    • Family Guy Star Wars
    • Zulu
    • Hard Day's Night
  • The Long Read
    • How The Walls Come Down
    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
    • The Hidden Leader
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"But how can you live and have no story to tell?" Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Reflections on recent events, plus the occasional fact free rant unfiltered by rational argument. 

"If you want to read a blog to get a sense of what is going on in Hong Kong these days or a blog that would tell you wh at life was like living in colonial Hong Kong, this blog, WALTER'S BLOG, fits the bill."  Hong Kong Blog Review

31/7/2017 2 Comments

Übermensch and the Kardashians

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"Nietzsche was astute to recognise that mankind could slip backwards as the world becames comfortable."
PictureNietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, is infamous for having had his work co-opted and corrupted by the Nazis. As a result, it became the intellectual basis for their terrible crimes. The Nazis seized upon his Übermensch or Superman idea to justify the suppression of compassion and the need to take harsh actions. 

This twisting of Nietzsches argument paved the way for Buchenwald, Auschwitz and Belsen. Yet, Nietzsche would almost certainly have disavowed the Nazi's interpretation of his thinking as an illicit and distorted adoption of his philosophy. 

What interests me is whether Nietzsche is relevant today. I'd say yes. He has some interesting observations to make. The predictions he made about how societies may evolve are often overlooked in the post-war discussion of Nietzsche's work. Although, the outcome he predicted may not arise in its entirety.

Nietzsche's renown arises from leading the charge that saw the so-called 'death of God'. He held that the Christian doctrine created a slave morality; you suffered in this life to get a reward in the next. He claimed that by adopting the Christian approach, you fail to aspire by surrendering to your masters. Without power, the Christian contorts a weakness into a strength producing a herd mentality of servitude. 

Nietzsche formed a belief that, at its very core, Christianity has a hatred of human nature as it seeks to suppress our urges. It degrades things that make us human by objecting to experiences that allow us to grow. Thus, Christianity, with its worship of weakness, slows our progress, denting our aspirations. 

Nietzsche struggled throughout his life with illness, a psychological condition probably caused by syphilis. A failed love affair made matters worse. Plus, he dabbled with the ideas of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, a noted pessimist.

A falling out with the composer Wagner helped shape Nietzche's worldview. At times he couldn't write for more than 20 minutes without a break. Yet, despite his many setbacks, he never accepted Schopenhauer's dark sentiments about humankind. 

Nietzsche saw beauty in the mountains, the arts and culture. Moreover, he believed that pain, struggle and hardship made us better people. Of course, you can ascend to the mountaintop by helicopter to admire the view. But to Nietzsche, that's an empty unfulfilling event.

The greater person, the Übermensch, climbs the mountain, huffing, slipping and fighting the elements; he gains more from experience. So, likewise, when love is lost or sorrow visits. Hence his famous affirmation, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger". Nietzsche embraced suffering as unlocking eventual happiness. 

Later in life, the foundation of his work was a failed effort to replace Christian values. In a failed effort, he set out to guide a new generation without God. Unfortunately, illness took hold before he could finish the project. Although his sister published his theories, these are by no means complete or coherent. 

Nietzsche was astute at recognising that humanity could slip backwards as the world became comfortable. He opined the 'last man' turned his back on challenges and dealt with mediocrity and the trivial, wallowing in opulent ignorance. In the title, I've cited the Kardashians as symbolic of what distracts the 'last man'. 

In truth, I'm spoilt for choice. Love Island, Big Brother, and countless computer games in the candy crush milieu, also fit the bill. But I suppose that's the point. There is so much stuff out there that we are constantly distracted.

Watching reality TV, inane game shows and an obsession with mindless computer games affirm Nietzsche's view. That 'last man' devoid of a moral compass, faithless, listless, is average. Without their churches and religious masters, the herd is fragmenting. Polarised cultural choices from the Internet and TV fill a void. 

I could argue there is profound intellectual snottiness in taking that position; because I look around me, people continue to seek the exceptional, make sacrifices and aim for greatness. So, yes, granted, the distracted common herd is increasingly segmented. But that does not mean we have stopped moving forward. ​

2 Comments
Jeremy
22/8/2017 10:05:23 pm

Interesting perspective Walter and synopsis on Nietzsche but what point are you trying to make?

Reply
Anonymous
24/8/2017 12:40:10 am

I suppose that Nietzsche predicted the gormless society we have today.

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    Walter De Havilland was one of the last of the colonial coppers. He served 35 years in the Royal Hong Kong Police and Hong Kong Police Force. He's long retired. 

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