Love , Wreck and Philosphy : Annie and the Underworld , Chapter LXVIII
Annie and Rossi were at it again,
this time the argument was about the idea of evil and its coexistence . The
topic swirled from Christian theosophy, various world religions, God and Plato.
Names of Philosophers flew from
each others arguments, they were thrown at each other like they were sharp, ninja
weapons with an objective to severely hurt the other person - without the
intention of killing each other – Nietzsche, Husserl, Hume, Hegel , Kant, Marx,
Freud, Jung all of them emerged and disappeared, the question or the opposing views
between the two was the very definition of Evil – to Rossi , a free thinker
with partial leftist leanings , Evil simply did not exist, as evil was
popularly defined and thought, to Annie it was meaningless to redefine evil, to
her evil remained an horrific human scourge, a disease, that required civilised
society to step forward, identify every
possible strategic means to eradicate and Annie wasn’t convinced about any of
the current global efforts, in fact she condemned almost all those efforts too
! For her the deeper understanding of Evil, its psychological aspects, its
deepest motivations and triggers, in all
its dimensions and manifestations in the
Human society was an essential search for ‘truth’ as a contemporary Philosopher.
For Annie , ideas of Freedom, Liberty,
Free Will were meaningless – Annie felt that evil was all pervasive in her
words large parts of human society were overtly, covertly or subtly suppressed and
governed by Evil. For rossi it was human naivety basically, the differing views
between the two was wafer thin, but yet when they argued it became a confrontation
of two aggressive titans, rossi ridiculed the mind that continued to view ‘Evil’
as a stereotype of human behaviour rather than view it as an archetype, so for
rossi, the problem was not the actors of evil acts or the actors of evil thoughts
it was basically the very perception, for Annie it was a waste of time
redefining – for her it was the process of evolution and its sublimation that
mattered .
Annie said : Fuck the definitions
, the stereotypes etc etc Rossi just let us talk about Philosophy taking up a
leadership role, to help mankind, identify means to sublimate and heal evil.
Rossi retorted : Stop being
stupid and ideologically naïve, how the fuck do you expect the world of
Philosophy to deliver any concrete progress on ‘Evil’ while keeping ‘evil’
predefined ? as ‘evil’ ? absolute rubbish !
Annie ( Livid ) : Who do you
think you are Robinson Crusoe ? the only man alive on an island ? happily sodomising
his man Friday ? and then arguing with his imaginary god to redefine sodomy ? Sodomy
is sodomy , enough thinkers have debated it, defined it and accepted it as a deviant
behaviour and then comes one Rossi questioning a millennium of human thought …
oh ! fuck you Rossi … fuck you … don’t give me that crap …
Rossi : Well, fuck you too Annie
, and fuck all your fucking philosophers , who, like you … are stuck in the
claustrophobic world of archaic thought and rigid manuscripts , if you ask me
that seems like the very definition of the problem facing contemporary philosophy
– you think there’s nothing more to define – you are slaves of the thought that
‘nothing true is new, nothing new is true’ ! You morons have completely twisted
the very basis of the Socratic aphorism , twisted it beyond redemption – What Socrates
really meant was ‘ You know Nothing’ as a premise to start a dialectic ? Did he
not say …
Annie ( interrupting Rossi ) :
Question everything ?
Rossi : No , doubt about ‘reality’
, that what we think is reality is probably “twice” removed ?? that this chair
before it was crafted into this chair was probably a different chair that the
carpenter conceived and the whole ‘conception’ cold have doubtful origins, let’s
talk about that …
Annie : there goes Mr. Complexity
! people like you specialise in complicating ideas, you mystify what’s has been already demystified long back,
what has been simplified over several thousand years of human intellectual
progress ( Annie, delivered this part with a huge amount of contempt and ridicule
knowing fully well that that would surely get Rossi’s goat, get him hopping mad
because the tone questioned Rossi’s knowledge and intelligence while
simultaneously hinting and touching upon several other historical events registered
in the minds of two )
Rossi [ reacting ] : Annie’s
provocation had its desired effect , rossi stood up in controlled rage while simultaneously
throwing a book he was reading across the room, the book just flew like it was
a captured bird being thrown out, he pushed his chair hard [ the chair turned turtle
with a thud ] and all his actions were pointing towards a finale that he was
about to stage a walk out …
Annie : ( Wasn’t letting go of
Rossi so easily … ) “I knew you did not have all that’s required to complete
your argument and your best response would be to walk out” – she was speaking to
Rossi with him facing her back , Annie knew exactly what was happening , she
knew everything that Rossi was doing even if she wasn’t facing him )
Rossi Responded , his tone was already
loud but now it was even more louder “ I
would rather walk out than indulge in this verbal sling match that seems more oriented
towards personal attacks and vilification” Annie responded “ …truth is a bitter
pill to swallow” Rossi spat back “ remember that statement can swing on both
sides” now it was clear Rossi too had decided to stoop he too used the
insinuation weapon and soon all the intellectual dust and storm created by two
people confronting each other’s intellectual polarity was getting mixed up, in
a murky sewage drain and thickening, settling down to an element resembling
something more darker, uglier “ Annie turned around, anger clearly pounding out
and hissed ‘what do you mean ?? what are you insinuating ? you cheap fucking
sonofabitch? What tricks are you using to win your argument ? you want to win
this argument by suggesting ‘I’m a whore ? ‘ Rossi responded with equal
anger ‘Yes, you are one, you are such a
bitch !! Rossi uttered the last word placing a huge amount of stress on even
the least stressed syllables ’
As often their argument could go
for days or even months , this one was now about 3 months and yet no signs of
showing any kind of slowing down – Annie and Rossi , 2 intelligent, evolved
individuals , each had access to a certain kind power and influence - through
their wide, global network of people who admired them - they were mutually
concerned about the existence of evil in society, committed to go out there and
put all the required efforts to try give their all to diagnose an intensely
emotional global problem that was currently the most debated among almost every
contemporary student and scholar of Philosophy – but, alas, it looked like the
two were themselves victims of a mind that permitted and provided all fertility
and nutrition required for the growth of that very same sense – evil .
Their feelings for each other ,
the emotional space they shared for each other, was beginning to show an intensity
and intention that of two minds perpetuating evil than diagnosing it.
