Pleasure is Lame, People Who Fuck Are Fuckers

More ammo in my never-ending quest to decry all things romantic: Baltic
philosopher Slavoj Zizek has somewhere and recently come out with the
notion that, essentially, "there is no inherent emancipatory potential
in pleasure." Meaning: drinking, screwing, eating fast-food and
carrying on are not all they're cracked up to be. This became
particularly relevant this weekend as I attended a disgusting
couple-fest of a party where the dictatorship of "hooking up" seemed to
take full precendence -- even amongst the most mature members of the
gathering, meaning mid-30s -- over other potentials we may have
contained. Ken Wilber talks about declaring an open and global ban on
all sub-worldcentric behaviors, so why shouldn't this include public
displays of affection? Aren't such acts the ultimate in stating ones
overemphasized regard for some beings (usually one) versus the rest of
the world. Couples making out, codependent and lost in their
hot-breathed lust, versus caring and independent autonomous individuals
engaged in deep--and painful--conversations with actual, rather than
apparent, emancipatory potential.

Those of us learning to play music for the first time know this deeply.
Playing music, for the beginner, is the exact opposite of pleasure, in
fact it is WORK in its most gruesome sense, a form of work that a true
artist must engage in to manifest the deeper energies attempting to
pierce his/her skull and enter the world. Couplehood, from what I've
been seeing as of late, acts almost as a direct impediment to this
(disregarding the rare cases of mutual support), miring eager young
idealistic males in the circuituous emotional maelstroms of the fairer
sex, leaving all creative potential to grow old and gather must.

Of course, I did get a girl's phone # tonight......