August 10, 2015

Dawn walk thoughts.

1. It looked like this...

IMG_0762

... as the sun rose over Milio's sandwich shop.

2. For perhaps the first time in nearly 12 years, I woke up, read the internet (part of it anyway) and instead of feeling like blogging anything, went out for a walk.

3. I hate the news right now. Everyone seems to think the thing to talk about is Donald Trump, which strikes me as profoundly stupid. I watched 5-and-a-half Sunday morning talk shows yesterday, and I heard the same thing over and over. Trump has lost some unregainable portion of the women. He can never get them back, but he could never have won anyway, and really what he is is America's expression of anger. We're an angry, angry America, and this lout is, apparently, an embodiment of our collective id.

4. That's id, not ID. You need an ID to vote, but bring your id.
The id (Latin for "it") is the unorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. It is the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. The id contains the libido, which is the primary source of instinctual force that is unresponsive to the demands of reality. The id acts according to the "pleasure principle"—the psychic force that motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse—defined as seeking to avoid pain or unpleasure (not 'displeasure') aroused by increases in instinctual tension. According to Freud the id is unconscious by definition:

"It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality... We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations. ... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle."
5.  "I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing" is the epitaph the writer Guy De Maupassant wrote for himself. He looked like this when he was 7:



6. I think young people take all those selfies to say I am young and beautiful and I'm here. That's fine. Older people look askance at selfies because that's no longer what they have to say. On my travels — mostly mere walks — I take pictures of the sunrise over Milio's or the flowers by the sidewalk and these aren't so different from the young person's selfies. I am old, life is beautiful, and I'm here

50 comments:

madAsHell said...

For perhaps the first time in nearly 12 years, I woke up, read the internet (part of it anyway) and instead of feeling like blogging anything, went out for a walk.

The beginning of the end for the blog.

Curious George said...

Kind of like Forrest Gump going out for a run.

Walk, Althouse, walk!

David Begley said...

You are so right about Trump and 53% of the electorate. I am sick of him.

He will NOT win Iowa.

David said...

"I am old, life is beautiful, and I'm here."

Selfie: "I am beautiful, you are old, life is in my cell phone."

chickelit said...

If people can't control themselves, the government will. If the government can't control itself, another government will.

The Ich (Ego) is the most important aspect of personality because it maintains the balance between the irrational and the super-rational. The Freudian model is also a model for self-governance.

Bay Area Guy said...

A good walk is highly therapeutic. Taking the dog and kids for a walk in Tilden Park almost always puts me in a good mood. Way better than politics or the Internet.

MadisonMan said...

The weather has been nicely conducive to walking of late. Pleasantly cool, not much humidity (except for yesterday). It's a great tonic to walk around and view all the flowers in bloom, and to see what the neighbors are building. I'm appreciating the addition to a bungalow sort of near my house -- the second story add-on has all the details that the original house had.

~ Gordon Pasha said...

Finished walk with dog.
Thunderstorm is coming in.
Summer in Boise.

Hagar said...

OTOH, Hillary! has had a breather to consider the state of her campaign and corrective measures to be taken.

MadisonMan said...

The best part of a walk in summer is running into neighbors -- maybe you can't do this at dawn however. A walk in winter is usually just a walk, not a walk with interspersed conversations.

whitney said...

That is so true about the selfies. All the pictures in my phone are nature and animals, no people at all. But I'm completely aware that my best picture would not be a close up:)

Laslo Spatula said...

Sometimes early in the morning hot women are getting dressed for work with their windows open.

There needs to be an internet page with these addresses.


I am Laslo.

chickelit said...

Just for balance:

Hillary has lost some unregainable portion of the men. She can never get them back, but she could never have won them anyway, and really what she is is America's expression of control. We're an unruly, fragmented America, and this ______ is, apparently, an embodiment of our collective super-ego.

buwaya said...

Don't understand selfies.
Been a camera nut from the age of 7.
Never had the urge to see ME.
I guess some people think this way, now, but it didn't seem that many did, then.
Or maybe that's why girls carried mirrors in their purses; it wasn't all about checking their makeup, possibly.

Bill said...

Would love to walk here at dawn but the mountain lions are crepuscular, and hungry.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Trump is bigger than life. He has invaded your dreams and now you know you want him. Stop fighting your desire, drop that girly-man Walker and embrace The Donald. While your confusion and trepidation is understandable, he is almost too magnificent, put aside your fears, submission to The Donald is the right path for you.

Scott said...

The id isn't so much of a mystery in blogs. The superego--the id's jailer--seems to fall asleep when people write blog comments. I look at the comments in the gay pride parade post earlier, and wonder if the commenters would actually say those hateful things to a stranger on the street.

Roger Sweeny said...

Freud, writing in Germany, called them das Ich, das Es, and das Uber-es, which translate directly into English as the I, the It, and the Over-It. That didn't sound nearly scientific enough so Strachey (a follower of Frued) translated them into English by translating them into Latin: the Id, the Ego, and the Super-ego.

ricpic said...

As regards the De Maupassant quote: don't be too hasty to believe what he said about himself. The famous quote in this regard is "trust the tale not the teller." And judging by De Maupassant's tales he did take pleasure in a great many things, writing itself being not the least of them.

chickelit said...

That didn't sound nearly scientific enough so Strachey (a follower of Frued) translated them into English by translating them into Latin: the Id, the Ego, and the Super-ego.

Lytton Strachey, the "martyr to the piles" did that? I had no idea.

Laslo Spatula said...

If this post were a sound it would be a French Horn.


I am Laslo.

Roger Sweeny said...

Oh, my God, did I mess that up. Das Es is the It (Id), das Ich is the I (ego), and das Uber-Ich is the Over-I (Super-ego).

Gusty Winds said...

and really what he is is America's expression of anger. We're an angry, angry America, and this lout is, apparently, an embodiment of our collective id

And what part of us does Hillary represent? Her candidacy is the most ridiculous of anybody in the field - either party.

Trumps numbers are what they are right now because Republicans like people to won't take shit from the arrogant, dishonest media establishment. Even Fox News. All those people think they are in charge, and they're not. They're not even interested in reporting the truth.

Trump is no worse than anyone else in this play. The only squeaky clean Eagle Scout is Scott Walker, and look at what the ding dongs in Madison think of that guy.

ndspinelli said...

Go see a fucking shrink. Or, pay me $225/hr. to listen to your rambling.

Laslo Spatula said...

"If this post were a sound it would be a French Horn."

This got me Googling. the-absolute-definitive-list-of-the-greatest-rock-n-roll-french-horn/ .


This post had an 'After The Gold Rush' Vibe. I like it when the dots connect.

I am Laslo.

chickelit said...

Freud, writing in Germany, called them das Ich, das Es, and das Uber-es, which translate directly into English as the I, the It, and the Over-It.

To quibble, Freud called it the "Ueber-ich" not "das Ueber-es."

And Freud was making a model for individuals. If we are to talk about collective counterparts, shouldn't we switch to the plural: das Die, das Wir, and das Ueber-Wir?

khesanh0802 said...

"I am old, life is beautiful, and I'm here." Lovely, Ann!

Laslo Spatula said...

I am here, girls are beautiful, and I am Laslo.

I am Laslo.

Gusty Winds said...

The id acts according to the "pleasure principle"—the psychic force that motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse—defined as seeking to avoid pain or unpleasure (not 'displeasure') aroused by increases in instinctual tension. According to Freud the id is unconscious by definition:

It must be the id that allows liberals and feminists to turn their cheek and ignore the wholesale market for baby parts being distributed by PP. Sex without consequence = immediate gratification.

Terminating the unborn for life's ease and convenience = immediate gratification and the avoidance of unpleasure.

Disguising it as and issue of 'choice' or 'health' could only be spoken by the id.

"Eve pull down the apple, and give a taste to me"

Oh Yes. Donald Trump is the problem...

chickelit said...

Roger Sweeny said...

Oh, my God, did I mess that up. Das Es is the It (Id), das Ich is the I (ego), and das Uber-Ich is the Over-I (Super-ego).

It's OK, Roger. I think it was a Freudian slip. That's why it's worth setting it straight.

The ego is derided as in "egotistical." And yet we say "he has a healthy ego" (I made that case for Brian Wilson here).

Althouse has a healthy ego. We don't say "she has a healthy id."

Original Mike said...

MadisonMan: Do you know how this summer's temperature compares with the average? It seems a tad cooler than average to me.

Ann Althouse said...

"And what part of us does Hillary represent? Her candidacy is the most ridiculous of anybody in the field - either party."

Most candidates are not characterized as embodiments of voter feeling. They're regarded as individuals presenting qualifications and character traits that we assess as we think about who to hire for a particular job.

But then there are candidates that we support (supposedly) because we're trying to express something. That's what the commentators were all saying about Trump.

I don't think Hillary feels like that to people.

MAJMike said...

"Beware the monsters of the Id." -- "Forbidden Planet"

Otto said...

Alas it appears that the addled diminutive Jersey princess's boat has no rudder. Next step full Nietzsche.

MadisonMan said...

@OriginalMike: June was 0.1 degrees above normal, July was 0.7 degrees below normal. Your inclination is correct, so far. Not many 90 degree days yet, but we recently had a pretty decent string of 80-or-above days (July 17th-Aug 3rd) that was long enough to crack the top 25 in Strings of Days at or above 80. (Arcane Record Alert).

Original Mike said...

Thanks, MM. Looks like I picked a good summer to take the AC out (knock on wood). I removed the old unit to make way for the deck I'm building and will not install a new unit until next year.

mikee said...

I take no selfies. I know who I am.

Etienne said...

The problem with French, as I see it, it takes too much of your time to learn it. Like Latin, the details are endless, and life is short. I often say it will be the next dead language.

People like Guy de Maupassant were lucky to be born into the filthy rich, and while I would never criticize his art, it is certain he never missed a meal. Even joining the Army in a war that reduced the size of his country and forced my grandfather to become a German, he gets a job as a clerk in the rear. A tit-less WAC we used to say.

The thing about French literature is that it requires its own tenses. Tenses you would never use in public, because the dock workers would pummel you to death. They are school girl tenses, and at all times the little pinky should be extended when holding your tea cup. Your mother will probably put you in a dress.

My mother used to hold a big cup in two hands, cupping the warmth to enable it to radiate up her arms to her whole body. I would often wonder why she never extended her pinky, but was content in our station in life.

I remember my French teacher telling us kids, do not worry about 'le passé simple' and 'le passé antérieur' you will learn this in college. Yea right, college, if I survive the gooks shooting my ass out of their fucking rubber plantations.

Don't worry about 'Je partis après que...' it will be like dog shit on your shoes. You won't understand how it got there, but you know what it is, and how to get it off.

We would say 'go with the flow' in the 60's, but of course there is no translation of that.

I say a dead language, because if you go to France or Quebec you will notice that spoken French is a mish-mash of crap now. The kids have to write one way (by decree) and speak another way. You know damned well this is not sustainable.

I think we should recycle all the paper books by Maupassant, as we recycled all the paper Latin books to paper pulp in the 60's.

There's a lady in France who makes a living teaching English students 'spoken french'. She speaks French and English fluently, but I am often amused at her written French and English sentences. She is fluent in the spoken, but not in the written. But let's assume written language is probably not going to be needed in the next century, so why dwell on this.

She demonstrates speaking French by telling you all the crap to remove as superfluous and unnecessary. Gasp! But she's right. Do you really need to say 'ne' when you say 'pas'? "hell no, we won't go!"

Roger Sweeny said...

Lytton Strachey, the "martyr to the piles" did that? I had no idea.

Not Lytton. I should have been clearer. Freud's English translator was James Strachey, along with his wife Alix. James was Lytton's younger brother.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Chickelit should do the 'Althouse thoughts' in CNN Anthony Bourdain's voice.

jaydub said...

Trump is not a candidate, he's making an infomercial for a yet-to-be fully develped political reality show. At some point, when he thinks he's sufficiently milked the press and the public, his campaign will transition into that reality program, which he will then sell to Fox and which Meghan Kelly will host. He'll never run as a third party candidate because that would tick off at least a third to one-half of his intended audience demographic, plus, he will need to have this program up and running during the heat of the 2016 campaign to keep the buzz going. You heard it here first.

Ron said...

To me, Babe Ruth was the purest expression of id. Eat it, drink it, screw it, smoke it....the Babe went for it all in abundance.

khesanh0802 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
khesanh0802 said...

@ Coupe A great line: " Even joining the Army in a war that reduced the size of his country and forced my grandfather to become a German," - a succinct description of French war making . Thanks for the smile.

averagejoe said...

"Everyone seems to think the thing to talk about is Donald Trump, which strikes me as profoundly stupid."

Says the woman with 36 Donald Trump posts on her blog in the last week... What's the word for someone who says one thing and does the opposite?

Lyle Smith said...

My nearly 80 year old mother has taken selfies for the exact same reasons as the youth.

traditionalguy said...

This seems like as good a time as any for all good men and women over 60 to watch American Graffiti again and relive the middle of the 1960s.

Losing that beautiful Americana forever should cause a tsunami of anger. And Trump is as good a man as any to lead us in our refusal to go gently into that good night.



Pragmatist said...

As I get older I find that walking is the best form of meditation and sometimes meditation seems much more important than tuning into the hysteria on the collective id grid.

dwick said...

"Trump has lost some unregainable portion of the women. He can never get them back, but he could never have won anyway, and really what he is is America's expression of anger. We're an angry, angry America, and this lout is, apparently, an embodiment of our collective id."

If you think it's only Trump, then you evidently haven't listened to Bernie Sanders' populist campaign screed.

chickelit said...

4. That's id, not ID. You need an ID to vote, but bring your id.

Id-entity politics