Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

The man finished laughing at his own joke, took a sloppy slurp from his cup of coffee, and then told me in the straightest voice he has ever used, “What you don’t understand about the plight of the poor is that society as a whole finds their suffering to be worth the overall benefit that it enables. The pain of impoverished people around the world is heard by people in power, but it is felt as the guitarist feels pain in his fingertips at the height of a sold out concert before an appreciative audience. The guitartist gets the message from his fingertips that they are suffering. He feels their pain, but he demands that they continue. It’s the aesthetically-obsessed brain of the guitarist that insists that the music go on. That brain won’t stand up and tell the audience that the performance has ended until it feels satisfied itself. Don’t expect the toes, or the knees, the eyes or the mouth of the guitarist to stick up for the fingers, either. They may not be enjoying the music as the brain does, but neither do they feel the pain of the fingers. They won’t rebel against the controlling brain and its abstract, grand aesthetic visions until they hurt themselves.”