Stupid Is As Stupid Does

[spectralbovine]

I don't understand why people are stupid. Like, blatantly stupid in a professional environment. How does someone get to have to the same title as I do and demonstrate such a lack of comprehension/understanding of grammar, clinical trials, chronology, time, and reality? Why do they still have jobs? Why are they being paid for me to have to waste my

Comments

[sophia_helix]

:( :( :(

Bokononism is what the book is actually about, and the futility of trying to find meaning in such a cruel and terrible world...and how beautiful it is that humans try at all, and are ever able to make any kind of fragile connection with each other or express any kindness. Bokonon is Vonnegut/the universal author, telling lies and telling you that he's lying, but that's the only way to convey the truth. There's some absurdity and satire on religion intended, of course, such as how the religion survives precisely because it's outlawed, but I think Vonnegut was actually being as sincere as he ever was when he wrote those portions, and I've found them more profoundly meaningful as I got older.

Maybe reread sometime, now you know what to expect from the story? I've had books annoy me on first read because they didn't do what I thought they were doing, and then enjoyed them later for what they actually were (most notably Jonathan Strange).

And edit, I would try reading a hard copy, I feel like it's a book better read at your own pace and with pauses to think about or laugh at certain things, instead of being moved along by a narrator.

[spectralbovine]

Yeah, I was thinking that a re-read on paper would help me appreciate the book more. Part of the problem was that after I lost interest, I stopped paying as much attention, and that just compounded the problem, of course. It's a book you're supposed to think about, and that doesn't work as well when you're listening to it in your car.

[sophia_helix]

Yeah, and I was thinking about the layout, all those short chapters and those great titles, and how much punchier the lines are when you can see that they're the last line in a chapter as you're reading. I can imagine the weirdness of the book just rushing by as everything collapses if it was being read to you, especially if it felt like it was going off the rails from what you'd expected.