Friday, December 10, 2010

Reflections on Procrastination: in lieu of examinations, final, and deadlines.

With regards to procrastination, a couple of things have currently struck me as interesting. First is how uninteresting the word "interesting" actually is. As a writing tutor or a teacher, I am quick to point out words that say something without meaning anything at all: good, bad (evil*), fun, exciting, thing(s), important, sad, or interesting. Formally, I disapprove of language that has been repeated or embraced to the point where it's ability to operate as a distinguishing, and therefore signifying, term has been lost. Nonetheless, when talking or thinking to myself I use the word quite often. "Interesting" even seeps into my conversations as responses to the thoughts of others. This isn't to say I'm not interested in these thoughts, but just that I privately allow for a term which I must formally disapprove of. Such are the hypocrisies of teaching something, of being paid to correct habits that we may ourselves possess, which regardlessly have snuck through the education system without considerable harm to our own development (we hope). The word "interesting" is one of these things. Even though I must resist the urge to describe how "interesting" certain scholarly articles are in light of a research project, and instead continually search for more accurate or succinct language, I am personally entertained by the allure of the simply Interesting.
There is a danger in interesting, its ability to inhibit is very real. For exampe, if I like a movie or a book because it is interesting than I have committed the first step towards authentic investigation. Something spoke to me, I am attentive, at least for a short period of time. Interest is a gateway to continued study, pointing the way but not revealing anything of value. If something is interesting long enough then the investigation will ensue. The next question becomes then, how long does it take for matters of the heart to switch gears from interesting to worthy of invested consideration? What will we dedicate our time to? This is an interesting question, but it is a question that often prevents us from making a second point.

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* What's interesting about Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is, as well as its claim on morality, its insight into the workings of vocabulary. Perhaps "good" and "evil" had merely come to be words which were overused and lacked substance. Not to say that the search for a more apt word or group of words should be abandoned, but that "good" and "evil's" forms were being grossly misrepresented.

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