Kafkaesque

Perhaps it's not so indiscriminate; so much of our present reality is Kafkaesque. We're already up to 10 pages and counting on this thread, and I think you struck a responsive chord when you initiated it. Thirty seconds of doomscrolling this morning already provided me with enough "oppressive and nightmarish" material to last a lifetime.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Perhaps it's not so indiscriminate; so much of our present reality is Kafkaesque. We're already up to 10 pages and counting on this thread, and I think you struck a responsive chord when you initiated it. Thirty seconds of doomscrolling this morning already provided me with enough "oppressive and nightmarish" material to last a lifetime.
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consider the time in which Kafka wrote

compare with current times

today is overalll wayyyy better

we tend to exaggerate contemporary doom because it's natural to focus narrowly on our own time window

"Franz is no fun"
Mrs. Kafka (probably)
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Perhaps it's not so indiscriminate; so much of our present reality is Kafkaesque. We're already up to 10 pages and counting on this thread, and I think you struck a responsive chord when you initiated it. Thirty seconds of doomscrolling this morning already provided me with enough "oppressive and nightmarish" material to last a lifetime.
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Agreed. Give me some Norman Rockwell as an antidote. ;o)
 
boojum said:
Agreed. Give me some Norman Rockwell as an antidote. ;o)
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Ol' Norm could actually be a bit edgy, sometimes, and even (trigger warning!!!) political. My favorite antidote? Cat videos! Here's my current favorite, actually rather Kafkaesque. And although I don't partake, I suspect it might best be enjoyed after a hit or two off the bong...

 
Retro-Grouch said:
Ol' Norm could actually be a bit edgy, sometimes, and even (trigger warning!!!) political. My favorite antidote? Cat videos! Here's my current favorite, actually rather Kafkaesque. And although I don't partake, I suspect it might best be enjoyed after a hit or two off the bong...

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I think I am going to puke. ;o)
 
boojum said:
Oh, no, I love cats. I've had them as pets. But that movie is mawkish to be generous.
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See, there's the difference. Some folks (think) they have had them as pets. Others (like myself) have been kept as pets by their cats. Those in the second group have undergone the Feline Mind Control, and salivate helplessly at anything with or about cats. Drink the Kool-Aid, sniff the catnip, that sort of thing.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
See, there's the difference. Some folks (think) they have had them as pets. Others (like myself) have been kept as pets by their cats. Those in the second group have undergone the Feline Mind Control, and salivate helplessly at anything with or about cats. Drink the Kool-Aid, sniff the catnip, that sort of thing.
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Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.
 
chuckroast said:
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.
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I think a lot of that derives from how you define your relationship with the cat. I had cats for 25 or 30 years and never fussed over them. I made sure they always had food and water and that the litter box was clean. The cats always came and went as they wished. That's how cats act. They were friendly but not in a neurotic, dependent way. They're cats.

I had dogs for friendly and obedient. But Schipperkes generally failed the obedient part. Great dogs just the same.
 
Retro-Grouch said:
Hey, you started this whole thing! Or should I say, you unleashed it upon the world...
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The term Kafkaesque evokes an individual’s sense of finding himself victimised by large impersonal forces, feeling after a while that he can’t but take it personally – and feeling haunted, too, by the sense that maybe, after all, he deserves it. I am getting that feeling now from having started this thread. I must admit to having hoped for more nw than w.

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Ки́жи, Russian federation, 2005.
 
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