Go Start a Fight
January 28, 2011
By this time next week, each guy on the Assault Committee has to pick a fight where he won't come out a hero. And not in fight club. This is harder than it sounds. A man on the street will do anything not to fight.
Although "understood" as a work of nihilism, Fight Club is a book about revolution. In order to revolt, people must first be taught to rebel. A man's emotions must evolve from the blind rage of a cubicle rat - who seeks solace and escape in video games - to focused anger.
Focused anger requires a person to select a target. It requires a person to fight. People have forgotten how to fight:
The idea is to take some Joe on the street who's never been in a fight and recruit him. Let him experience winning for the first time in his life. Get him to explode..."What we have to do, people," Tyler told the committee, "is remind these guys what kind of power they still have."
In the United States, there is a unifying culture - a national motto. It works to the advantage of criminals on Wall Street and government. It allows political insiders to loot and rape with impunity. The national motto has even achieved a moral status, with those rejecting it facing judgment from those who treat it as the First Commandment.
"I do not want any trouble."
People pass through the streets anonymous and terrified of confrontation. When I confront someone for cutting in line, my companions invariably tell me that I've embarrassed them. Or that I'm going to be shot. They, being slaves and supplicants, never consider that it's the other guy who should be worried about me.
"Please, please, please just mutter under your breath. We will whisper to one another about this breach of the social contract. We will not talk loudly enough for our voices to be heard. We don't want any trouble.
Well, fuck you all. I want trouble.
It's not just physical confrontations that people fear, as a perusal of most legal blogs reveal. How many blogs are even worth reading? Almost all of them are a unified effort to get along. It's all back slaps and circle jerks. I'll squeeze your cock if you stroke mine.
What does this circle jerk give? The circle jerk is a dose of soma, "the warm, the richly coloured, the infinitely friendly world of soma-holiday. How kind, how good-looking, how delightfully amusing every one was!"
People wake up wondering what nice things others have said about them. People actually Google their names on a daily basis! Mornings are made when someone has given us a virtual blow job.
Yet as a nation of druggie, we understand the unstated deal. The dealers dole out the good stuff to those who praise them. If you criticize others, you will not get the soma.
"I don't understand anything," she said with decision, determined to preserve her incomprehension intact. "Nothing. Least of all," she continued in another tone "why you don't take soma when you have these dreadful ideas of yours. You'd forget all about them. And instead of feeling miserable, you'd be jolly. So jolly,"
Cows are jolly - until their heads are crushed with a captive bolt pistol. Cube rats were jolly - until their jobs were outsourced to India. Homeowners were drunk on debt - until housing prices collapsed, leaving them without jobs and homes.
People want you to feel good for one reason only - to fatten you. "Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."
When something infuriates you, push back. Throw away the supplicating drugs for a drug of action.
Adrenaline is a fight-or-flight hormone. When I was younger, the adrenaline would overwhelm my system, leading to tears. A good conflict should have your hands trembling in rage, and leave your face flushed. At first...
Soon enough, adrenaline becomes your trusted friend. Adrenaline always has your back. You inhale deeply through your nostrils, and feel the life-affirming drug lift your soul. Your cheeks are not red - although red would be preferable to the white of today's zombies. Your cheeks are rosy - flush with power and prepared for a punch.
You wake up. Your vision is focused. You have an enemy, and this enemy must be destroyed.
What is the point of make enemies? What is the point of fighting? Isn't it senseless? Why fight just to fight?
Fighting is never pointless, as its goal is the training of fighters. "In the mountains of truth you will never climb in vain: either you will get up higher today or you will exercise your strength so as to be able to get up higher tomorrow."
Today in the United States, there are many things worth fighting for. Wall Street bankers have stolen your money. TSA officials list sexual assault as resume bullet point. The United States government wants an Internet kill switch, silencing all who would dissent
There are many fights, but there are no fighters. You are not ready. There is only one way to prepare for a fight, and that is to start one.