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Indifference Quotes

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Indifference Quotes

“Like all disappearing forms, art seeks to duplicate itself by means of simulation, but it will nevertheless soon be gone, leaving behind an immense museum of artificial art and abandoning the field completely to advertising. A dizzying eclecticism of form, a dizzying eclecticism of pleasure - such, already, was the agenda of the baroque. For the baroque, however, the vortex of artifice has a fleshly aspect. Like the practitioners of the baroque, we too are irrepressible creators of images, but secretly we are iconoclasts - not in the sense that we destroy images, but in the sense that we manufacture a profusion of images in which there is nothing to see. Most present-day images - be they video images, paintings, products of the plastic arts, or audiovisual or synthesized images - are literally images in which there is nothing to see. They leave no trace, cast no shadow, and have no consequences. The only feeling one gets from such images is that behind each one there is something that has disappeared. The fascination of a monochromatic picture is the marvellous absence of form - the erasure, though still in the form of art, of all aesthetic syntax. Similarly, the fascination of trans sexuality is the erasure - though in the form of spectacle - of sexual difference. These are images that conceal nothing, that reveal nothing - that have a kind of negative intensity. The only benefit of a Campbell's soup can by Andy Warhol (and it is an immense benefit) is that it releases us from the need to decide between beautiful and ugly, between real and unreal, between transcendence and immanence. Just as Byzantine icons made it possible to stop asking whether God existed - without, for all that, ceasing to believe in him.”

“The simulation of Western values is universal once one gets beyond the boundaries of our culture. Is it not true, though, that in our heart of hearts we ourselves, who are neither Alakaluf nor Aboriginal, neither Dogon nor Arab, fail signally to take our own values seriously? Do we not embrace them with the same affectation and inner unconcern - and are we not ourselves equally unimpressed by all our shows of force, all our technological and ideological pretensions? Nevertheless, it will be a long time before the utopian abstraction of our universal vision of differences is demolished in our own eyes, whereas all other cultures have already given their own response - namely, universal indifference.”

“With indifference people are continuously breeding a society full of disparity – they are constantly aiding the creation of more inequality. We are constantly making way for a world where some parents give their kids x-box to soothe them, for their birthday, and many more parents are forced to use leftover cardboard boxes as cradle for their babies because they don't even have a roof over their head. This is our so called civilization - this is our so called modern humanity - shame on us - shame on us as a species - shame on us as civilized beings - shame on us as thinking and breathing individuals of conscience. No more - no more - we must break this disparity - and we must do it right now - and we are not going to do it by fighting over whose ideology is the best - we are going to do it only by taking actual responsibility of our society - by taking actual responsibility of the world - we are going to do it by acting as a living cure for those disparities, by using our own resources as means to erase those gaps however we can. Only with action born from our heart can we end disparity, not with talks of argument and inaction of complacency.”

“His stomach turned inside out, like a glove, and he vomited. It wasn't disagreeable at all. Almost like a liberation, in fact. A kind of suicide, in a way. These particles of matter that showered from his mouth, after he had thought them consumed and digested, did not disgust him. No, he was completely indifferent to them; and to everything else, for that matter. It was only when he vomited that he could be indifferent even to life itself.”

“From the realization of oneness rises the desire for justice - from the realization of oneness rises the desire for equality - from the realization of oneness rises the desire for unification. And do not confuse the realization of oneness to be a comforting experience, for the moment you become one with the rest of humanity, is the moment the sleeplessness and restlessness begin. Because once your mind is one with humanity it can't rest in peace till it sees the sufferings, disparities and discriminations alleviated. And remember, better sleepless for justice than soulless in indifference - better sleepless for equality than soulless in apathy - better sleepless for harmony than soulless in complacency.”

“Synthetic Civilization (The Sonnet) The watchwords of civilization, Are reason and inclusion. Yet we live by the golden rules, Of rigidity and exclusion. We dress up in fancy clothes, To feel powerful and important. Beneath the lies of civilization, Beats a heart most impotent. We boast proudly about equality, Unaware of our biases most inane. We admire the rights of our own, Rights of others are business of the UN. Enough of this make belief ascension. It’s time to humanize our synthetic civilization.”

“Once she had thought belief depended on inclination. But she fought against this new realization as hard as she could, trying to shut out the future as before she had shut out the past; yet still it gained ground. It mingled with her daily life, with the war, with the winter, until it scarcely seemed a separate thing at all, but merely a state of mind produced by living alone, living in England and all the rest of it. She deeply hoped it was. There were times when it seemed a trivial and shallow depression. And there were times when the fear of it touched her as cold as wet steel: when she could see herself hardly aware that she was unhappy, because her feelings had so nearly atrophied, and receiving no compensations in return.”

“You want revolution? Then dismantle all indifference and stand up - stand up and do not move - do not move from your conviction of justice - do not move from your conviction of equality - do not move from your conviction of humanity - do not move an inch - even if all the artilleries in the world are charged against you - do not move and do not harm - just stand - keep standing - keep standing like a pillar of insanity - an insanity for sanctity - an insanity for serenity - an insanity for unity - let them break every single bone in your body - let all the blood in your veins pour out - let every trace of life seep out of your wounds - but still do not move - till there is a single kernel of life left in you. This is what revolution looks like - this is what civilized revolution looks like - no guns, no bombs, not even a baton, just a whole lot of determination, that even the mighty gods cannot deter - a revolution that turns an animal world into a human world - a revolution that turns a jungle into a modern society – a revolution that turns distance into unity.”

“Indifference is silent, so is realization, but the difference between the two is that the silence of indifference sustains a life of complacency, whereas the silence of realization pours in your veins such courage that you no longer are able to maintain indifference of any sort - wherever and whenever you see injustice and discrimination you leap in revolution - you leap with a strong conviction of equality and humaneness - you leap in an act of revolution.”

“The dream of identity ends in indifference. What can be read between the lines of these stories is that chance and destiny are not to be found elsewhere, in some imaginary decree. Chance is already present in the unpredictability of ordinary life. There is nothing more unpredictable than any moment of daily life. All one needs to do is to acknowledge immediately the non-existence of this individual structure, and to recognize that the ego exists only in the showing-through [transparition] of the world and all its most insignificant possibilities. It is no use wondering where freedom or identity lies and what is to be done with them. Human beings are the coming-to-pass of what they are and what they do. Therein lies the movement of becoming, and what they wanted to be is not an issue; their ideals or free will are not an issue: these are merely retrospective justifications.”

“Here lies the total abstraction and the source of all domination: in the breakdown of the dual relation. The strategy of domination is, indeed, to ensure that, through all the techniques of communication, through inescapable, streaming information, there can no longer be any response. It is a domination by signs empty of meaning. But, on the other side, there is an equal indifference and blank resistance.”

“Sonnet of Breath The heart holds a breath, A breath that is indivisible. Yet we rarely take it in, For we are raised as vegetable. We are seeking joy here and there, Yet there's an ocean of it within us. It's a joy that comes alive when we care, At the sight of selfishness it disappears. Intimacy breeds stability and serenity, But not the one that thrives on body. Intimacy that's chaste and unifying, Manifests only in innocent amity. Human mind is the source of all ascension. We are the origin of all civilized creation.”

“I'm no expert, but in my limited experience, women aren't born women. They start out as girls. And every girl, from the moment they can dream, imagines the rescue. The knight. The castle. Life in a fairy tale. If you don't believe me, watch boys and girls on a playground. No one teaches us to do this. The kid in us actually believes in things that are too good to be true. Before life convinces us we can't and they're not. Then life kicks in. Boys become men. Girls become women. For any number of reasons we are wounded and, sadly, wounded people wound people. So many of us grow into doubting, hopeless, callous adults protecting hardened hearts. Medicating the pain. Life isn't what we imagined. Nor are we. And we didn't start out trying to get there. Far from it. But it's who we've become. One day we turn around, and what we once dreamed or hoped is a distant echo. We've forgotten what it sounded like. Once pure and unadulterated, the voice of hope is now muted by all the stuff we've crammed on top of it. And we're okay with that. For some illogical reason, we stand atop the mine shaft of ourselves, shoving stuff into the pipe that is us, telling our very soul, 'Shut up. Not another word.' Why? Because the cry of our heart hurts when unanswered. And the longer it remains unanswered, the deeper the hurt. In self-protection we inhale resignation and exhale indifference. [Murphy Shepherd]”

“ক্লাশভর্তি উজ্জ্বল সন্তান, ওরা জুড়ে দেবে ফুলস্কেফ সমস্ত কাগজ! আমি বাজে ছেলে, আমি লাষ্ট বেঞ্চি, আমি পারবো না!”

“No Compromise (The Sonnet) Only cowards make compromise, When it comes to affairs of humanity. Beings of conscience and character, Prefer revolution over indignity. Only bugs bow before oppression, Driven by insecurity and indifference. Creatures called the homo sapiens, Choose annihilation before compliance. Only wild animals of the cruel jungle, Accept self-preservation as the norm. For advanced organism such as humans, Inclusion is life in joy and in storm. Those with backbone stand up for humanity. Unarmed and unbending we'll conquer inhumanity.”

“Crazy Not Callous (The Sonnet) I'm crazy, But not obnoxious. I'm free in mind, But not callous. I'm ignorant in many things, But I ain't no intolerant. I may not know much etiquette, I know caring with commitment. I am but a lover most naïve, No scholar of nothin'. I am but a warrior unbending, Got no time for philosophizin'. To live for people is the mission. In lifting the fallen lies salvation.”

“Break Destiny (The Sonnet) Be the one to make and break destiny, For all powers of universe are in you. Be the one to make and break paradigm, For the very source of creation is you. Cowards and vegetables talk of fate, While the valiant is up and working. Those who can't do mock the doer, Yet there's no progress without a dingaling. If taking a stand makes you a nutcase, Be the nuttiest case that has ever walked. But never you compromise with insanity, Even if it is endorsed by the whole world. You are the defender of all society. Even in hardship never forget your duty.”

“Giants in Jeans Sonnet 49 Vegetables have destiny, Humans have responsibility. Vermin have luxury, Humans have simplicity. Nightcrawlers have insecurity, Humans have dignity. Bedbugs have stability, Humans have community. Donkeys have self-love, Humans have self-annihilation. Horses have competition, Humans have revolution. Fancy castles of glass belong in fairy-story. No time to rest, we have too much duty.”

“Why stay silent, why stay asleep, why - why - why - no more - no more - wake up, wake up from indifference, wake up from practicality, wake up from mystical moronism - wake up and take charge - take charge with conscience, courage and compassion - throw all nonsense of magic, dogma and habit overboard, and stand up with a fresh breeze of reason and clarity in your heart. Only then - I repeat, only then shall the world know true progress - only then shall the world know true humanity.”

“Such are the incalculable effects of that negative passion of indifference, that hysterical and speculative resurrection of the other. Racism, for example. Logically, it should have declined with the advance of Enlightenment and democracy. Yet the more hybrid our cultures become, and the more the theoretical and genetic bases of racism crumble away, the stronger it grows. But this is because we are dealing here with a mental object, an artificial construct, based on an erosion of the singularity of cultures and entry into the fetishistic system of difference. So long as there is otherness, strangeness and the (possibly violent) dual relation -- as we see in anthropological accounts up to the eighteenth century and into the colonial phase -- there is no racism properly so-called. Once that `natural' relation is lost, we enter into a phobic relationship with an artificial other, idealized by hatred. And because it is an ideal other, this relationship is an exponential one: nothing can stop it, since the whole trend of our culture is towards a fanatically pursued differential construction, a perpetual extrapolation of the same from the other. Autistic culture by dint of fake altruism. All forms of sexist, racist, ethnic or cultural discrimination arise out of the same profound disaffection and out of a collective mourning, a mourning for a dead otherness, set against a background of general indifference -- a logical product of our marvellous planet-wide conviviality. The same indifference can give rise to exactly opposite behaviour. Racism is desperately seeking the other in the form of an evil to be combated. The humanitarian seeks the other just as desperately in the form of victims to aid. Idealization plays for better or for worse. The scapegoat is no longer the person you hound, but the one whose lot you lament. But he is still a scapegoat. And it is still the same person.”