I don't give a shit about not giving a shit.
Like anything else you want to succeed at, apathy is something that requires a lot of practice. You can't just walk into a situation and claim to not give a shit about it when, in every other situation of your life, you've expressed care. You'll fail miserably. People will see right through your fake tone of voice, your fake facial expressions, and your overall fake mannerisms. But when you've practiced not giving a shit for so many years and have applied what you've learned to many different situations, you can actually begin to convince yourself (not entirely, however) that you actually don't care.
It takes a highly intelligent person to accomplish this, however. The individual needs to think of many different ways in which the target situation is not going to matter in the future. The problem is that the human race thrives upon being able to accomplish something that is likely to yield a reward in as little time as possible. In a situation where an individual has the opportunity to gain an immediate, short-term reward by involving him/herself in a specific activity or they have the opportunity to refrain from being involved in the activity and gain a non-immediate, long-term reward, that individual will almost always choose the former situation. Hypothetically (based on the hypothesis just mentioned), in the all-to-common situation where two individuals are thinking of engaging in intercourse, but alas have no form of prophylactic, the two individuals will, more often than not, choose to engage in intercourse sans prophylactic (provided there is a sufficient amount of "passion", of course). They will do this even though they have been educated over and over about the dangers of not wearing a condom. They will do this regardless of how many times they have heard the percentages of potential pregnancy. They will do this because they're "hot and bothered" at that particular moment and to engage in intercourse would mean satiating an immediate, burning hunger for sex. So, the load is shot, there's no time machine around, and hindsight becomes a persistent annoyance. Then, a couple of weeks pass and she starts bleeding and you both throw your hands up and rejoice, champagne rains down from the heavens, and a coat-hanger is spared. They swear they will never take that risk again because it was so nerve-racking. But the week passes and one night they're drinking beer and getting happy and horny and he tells her he is going to give her the rogering of a lifetime and they're back at it again. Short-term reward has prevailed once again.
Procrastination is the classic example used in every psychology textbook I have ever read. It's a week before your "big test" and you know you should be studying, but buddy "A" just bought a case of beer and needs someone to help him consume it. The week progresses with many "legitimate" distractions and, congratulations, you have thus far been able to successfully convince yourself that every wasted second was worth it. Then the night before the test comes and you're having a panic attack because, well, let's face it, you're a stupid asshole. But even though there's about 5 hours before your test, you all of the sudden find some "really good internet porn" and before you know it, you're reaching for the box of kleenex and convincing yourself that this will really take a lot of pressure off. You convince yourself that your intelligence will redeem your procrastination.
Now, this wild tangent brings me back to me original topic of apathy. Now, many of you will say that these examples are more of an example of apathy than a counter-example, but you're just not thinking about it in the right way. You might say, "Fuck you, you know-it-all-piece-of-shit, if the horny cum-dumpster and seed-spreader cared about pregnancy, they wouldn't have engaged in intercourse." You're looking at it from the wrong perspective. They obviously cared about satiating their hunger for sex. They may also have cared about what each other would think if they said, "No thanks, man. I'm driving." And they may also have cared about what each other would think if they said, "No thanks, man. I don't feel like having a hefty dose shot into my slop-hole tonight." Let's move forward to even before the two met each other: If either one of them never cared about their feelings of "lust" or their "teenage hormones" or their need to feel wanted in the first place, the intercourse situation never would have occurred to begin with. They would never have to think about what shape the coat-hanger should be bent into for such a procedure and they never would have to think about what kind of gun would obliterate their head into the most pieces.
Complete, universal apathy...Apathy across the board in everything you do. Is it attainable? Obviously it isn't. If it existed, happiness would be a rarely used word and suicide would be an epidemic. Rewards wouldn't exist. A psychopath would be the closest type of human to being completely apathetic. But there's still the concern about which extremity would make the best trophy or whether the brain truly IS the most delicious part of a human. There's still a concern of how long after their prey should be dead before they penetrate it's lifeless anus.
Of course, exercising a certain degree of apathy in different situations is sure to help you avoid a lot of let-down. But what is the ideal, optimal level of apathy? In some situations, I think I have achieved it...a few recent events in my life that I don't care to discuss came to mind. But in other situations, I still need more work. I have been practicing over the years since certain events have caused me to re-evalute my attitudes towards said events. I have to say...apathy is a good thing. I am a lot happier and can easily overcome let-down.
It takes a highly intelligent person to accomplish this, however. The individual needs to think of many different ways in which the target situation is not going to matter in the future. The problem is that the human race thrives upon being able to accomplish something that is likely to yield a reward in as little time as possible. In a situation where an individual has the opportunity to gain an immediate, short-term reward by involving him/herself in a specific activity or they have the opportunity to refrain from being involved in the activity and gain a non-immediate, long-term reward, that individual will almost always choose the former situation. Hypothetically (based on the hypothesis just mentioned), in the all-to-common situation where two individuals are thinking of engaging in intercourse, but alas have no form of prophylactic, the two individuals will, more often than not, choose to engage in intercourse sans prophylactic (provided there is a sufficient amount of "passion", of course). They will do this even though they have been educated over and over about the dangers of not wearing a condom. They will do this regardless of how many times they have heard the percentages of potential pregnancy. They will do this because they're "hot and bothered" at that particular moment and to engage in intercourse would mean satiating an immediate, burning hunger for sex. So, the load is shot, there's no time machine around, and hindsight becomes a persistent annoyance. Then, a couple of weeks pass and she starts bleeding and you both throw your hands up and rejoice, champagne rains down from the heavens, and a coat-hanger is spared. They swear they will never take that risk again because it was so nerve-racking. But the week passes and one night they're drinking beer and getting happy and horny and he tells her he is going to give her the rogering of a lifetime and they're back at it again. Short-term reward has prevailed once again.
Procrastination is the classic example used in every psychology textbook I have ever read. It's a week before your "big test" and you know you should be studying, but buddy "A" just bought a case of beer and needs someone to help him consume it. The week progresses with many "legitimate" distractions and, congratulations, you have thus far been able to successfully convince yourself that every wasted second was worth it. Then the night before the test comes and you're having a panic attack because, well, let's face it, you're a stupid asshole. But even though there's about 5 hours before your test, you all of the sudden find some "really good internet porn" and before you know it, you're reaching for the box of kleenex and convincing yourself that this will really take a lot of pressure off. You convince yourself that your intelligence will redeem your procrastination.
Now, this wild tangent brings me back to me original topic of apathy. Now, many of you will say that these examples are more of an example of apathy than a counter-example, but you're just not thinking about it in the right way. You might say, "Fuck you, you know-it-all-piece-of-shit, if the horny cum-dumpster and seed-spreader cared about pregnancy, they wouldn't have engaged in intercourse." You're looking at it from the wrong perspective. They obviously cared about satiating their hunger for sex. They may also have cared about what each other would think if they said, "No thanks, man. I'm driving." And they may also have cared about what each other would think if they said, "No thanks, man. I don't feel like having a hefty dose shot into my slop-hole tonight." Let's move forward to even before the two met each other: If either one of them never cared about their feelings of "lust" or their "teenage hormones" or their need to feel wanted in the first place, the intercourse situation never would have occurred to begin with. They would never have to think about what shape the coat-hanger should be bent into for such a procedure and they never would have to think about what kind of gun would obliterate their head into the most pieces.
Complete, universal apathy...Apathy across the board in everything you do. Is it attainable? Obviously it isn't. If it existed, happiness would be a rarely used word and suicide would be an epidemic. Rewards wouldn't exist. A psychopath would be the closest type of human to being completely apathetic. But there's still the concern about which extremity would make the best trophy or whether the brain truly IS the most delicious part of a human. There's still a concern of how long after their prey should be dead before they penetrate it's lifeless anus.
Of course, exercising a certain degree of apathy in different situations is sure to help you avoid a lot of let-down. But what is the ideal, optimal level of apathy? In some situations, I think I have achieved it...a few recent events in my life that I don't care to discuss came to mind. But in other situations, I still need more work. I have been practicing over the years since certain events have caused me to re-evalute my attitudes towards said events. I have to say...apathy is a good thing. I am a lot happier and can easily overcome let-down.