Tom Hodgkinson’s book How to be Idle was an entertaining, yet not realistic, account of how people should lead and ‘idle’ life.  Using a creative ’schedule’ to outline how to be idle – a day in the life of a true idler – Hodgkinson covers a variety of topics ranging from when to get up, when to go to the pub and drink, whether or not to have tea, and how to call in sick for work.  Although many of these ideas sound appealing to the stressed and tired worker, loafing around is not always the solution to stress and tiredness.

Hodgkinson argues that some of the world’s greatest thinkers were loafers – sitting around coffee shops talking, sleeping late, and even just staring at the ceiling laying in bed at 11:00am.  He writes about Walt Whitman wandering around the city of New York writing poetry and refusing to take up ‘normal’ work.  I would argue, however, that Whitman was able to ‘work’ at his craft and be successful enough to enjoy his idling lifestyle.  Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that we should discourage everyone but the most talented from leading a life that is stress free and relaxing.  However, I am arguing that while Whitman’s actions would have been relaxing and idling to a cursory observer, he was working at his craft. 

I would argue that we should not all stop our ‘daily grind’ and begin idling to create great thinkers and amazing art; instead we should as a society embrace the idea that an individual should love their work.  Success needs to be measured by a person’s contentment in life not the amount of money they make.  Some people, myself included, are only truly content when we are working from dawn until dusk.  Others would rather work for about three hours a day and spend the rest idling.  I respect both lifestyle choices, but I think Hodgkinson needs to recognize differences in situation and temper when doling out advice on how to live a happier life.

In my personal situation, I would not take Hodgkinson’s advice on sleeping in late and just laying in bed thinking.  Like my mother, I thrive in getting up with the sun and watching sunrises while sipping coffee (another taboo object in the life of an idler) or hot chocolate.  It is at this time of day that I feel the most spiritually connected to the world around me.  If I get up and go exercise for half an hour to an hour, I feel even more refreshed and rearing to go!  When I am on ‘vacation’ and at home, I actually get up earlier than I would at school when I have pressing engagements to attend to.

Although I respect Hodgkinson’s want to choose his own vices – in his case smoking and drinking – I would also not join in these pursuits.  I am not a teetotaler, but I believe that smoking is a downright stupid habit that is like slowly committing suicide and drinking in moderation is fine, but for many people (like my family who has a history of addictive personalities) moderation is not respected when it comes to alcohol. 

Generally, Hodgkinson’s critique of society that it creates a ‘hive’ effect where people act like bees swarming around all day without independent intention or purpose is relatively accurate.  Yet, I challenge Hodgkinson to consider the individual who actually thrives in a busy, filled life.

When reading How to be Idle” I thought of this John Denver song, “Poems and Prayers and Promises.” I have linked both the ‘normal‘ version, and the version that includes muppets!  I hope you will enjoy what the song is saying and if you are interested in becoming an idler like Hodgkinson will explore this type of ‘western’ idling – out in nature by a campfire with your closest friends and family.

“Whatever it is we’re against it”: Unter diesem schönen Motto schreibt seit längerer Zeit das 3:AM Magazine über interessante Literatur (und in zweiter Linie über interessante Musik), meist aus dem angelsächsischen Raum. In den dortigen Kellern liegt ein Interview mit Tom Hodgkinson aus dem Jahr 2001. Über dieses uralte, staubige Papier stolperte ich neulich, als ich auf der Suche nach etwas Interessantem war.

Wenn alle so wären wie dieses Tier, bräuchte es keine Revolutionen

Tom Hodgkinson ist mittlerweile fast schon ein Star. Seine Bücher („How To Be Idle“) sind in mehrere Sprachen übersetzt und in England sowieso Bestseller. Bekannt wurde Hodgkinson aber zuvor: als Herausgeber von „The Idler“, einem ziemlich großartigen Magazin im Buchformat, das – wie der Name schon sagt – das Phänomen des Müßiggangs aus verschiedenen Perspektiven beleuchtet. Regelmäßige Beiträge kommen unter anderem vom KLF-Mastermind Bill Drummond oder vom Gründer der Punk-Anarcho-Band Crass, Penny Rimbaud. Es gibt Kurzgeschichten, Comics, Reportagen, praktische Lebenshilfe für den Müßiggänger von heute und reichlich Kunst. Müßiggang als Lebensform, so die Quintessenz des Idler, ist für den Menschen gesund und für die Welt lebensrettend. Ein neuer Idler zum Thema „Smash The System“ ist im Juni erschienen. Bitte kaufen, es lohnt sich. Im Interview nun beschreibt Hodgkinson, wie er zum Idler kam:

“I was really lazy and lacked motivation. So I’d be in my flat and I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed and then I’d finally decide to get out of bed and decide to have a bath and then I wouldn’t be able to get out of the bath and then it’d finally be about noon or one. And I was kind of beating myself up about this and then I read these essays by Dr Johnson called ‘The Idleree’, done in the 1750’s. (…) He was describing the character of an Idler and what he was describing was not someone who was just lazy but someone who worked in a different kind of way (…) So the idea is that you can lie in bed thinking and then when you do work you work very quickly and get it done and then you get off to the pub. This is an attractive way of working to me. Idleness is not something that I should beat myself up about. It can be something positive. So I thought there might be room for a magazine that explored these ideas.”

„Ne travaillez jamais“: Was Tom Hodgkinson da beschreibt, kennen bestimmt einige. Ein interessantes Phänomen: Der herkömmliche Verwertungsrhythmus menschlicher Arbeitskraft passt nicht zusammen mit dem eigenen Rhythmus. Bei einigen endet das im verzweifelten Anpassen an Arbeitszeiten und Hierarchien oder gleich in der Hartz IV-Tristesse. Tom Hodgkinson hat den Idler gegründet. Die Lettristische Internationale wäre wohl noch weiter gegangen: „Arbeite niemals!“, malte die Bewegung, die sich als Fortsetzung von Dada und Surrealismus verstand, an eine Mauer des Seine-Ufers (auf Französisch versteht sich). Was haben nun Hodgkinson und die Lettristische Internationale gemeinsam? Und wo sind die Gedanken zum Crack, die in der Überschrift angekündigt sind? Nun denn: Gemeinsam haben sie zunächst nur, dass ich gerade ein Buch lese, in dem sich recht intensiv mit der Situationistischen Internationale (die aus den Lettristen hervorgegangen ist) auseinandergesetzt wird. Aufgehängt am allerletzten Konzert der Sex Pistols, begibt sich Autor Greil Marcus in „Lipstick Traces“ auf eine spekulative Spurensuche nach den Wurzeln des Punk. Gab es solche Gegenkulturexplosionen, wie Punk zweifelsohne eine war, zuvor? Marcus zieht dabei Verbindungslinien von den Gnostikern zur Pariser Commune zu Dada zur Situationistischen Internationale und wahrscheinlich zu vielem mehr (bin erst auf Seite 199). Aber zurück zu Hodgkinson und der Situationistischen Internationale. Letztere existierte von 1957 bis zur Selbstauflösung im Jahr 1972. Nicht zuletzt wegen ihres ästhetischen Anspruchs wurde sie Stichwortgeber für viele folgende Subkulturen. Ihre Protagonisten, Guy Debord und Asger Jorn die Bekanntesten, kamen von der Kunst (erst Malerei, Literatur, dann Film, Architektur), wollten aber nichts anderes, als die Kunst zerstören, gleichzeitig aber Kunst realisieren, die eine echte Kunst ist, also aus dem Leben kommt. Situationen erschaffen, die die Logik des Kapitalismus (oder wie sie dessen Inkarnation im gesellschaftlichen Leben nannten: die Logik des Spektakels) sprengen. Leute löst euch von eurem Waschpulver-Wahn! Von euren Jeansmarken, die ihr kauft, weil sie euch versprechen, dass ihr seid wie das konstruierte Markenimage des jeweiligen Etiketts! Esst eure Kreditkarten!! 1968 hatten sie Erfolg. Bezogen auf die Pariser Mai-Unruhen sagt ein junger Malcolm McLaren in einer sehenswerten Dokumentation: „They practically brought down Charles de Gaulle.“

Dieser Schrank hat’s begriffen, aber "die da oben" wollen ihn nicht lassen.

„Auf Facebook kostet ein Freund 13,8 US-Cent“: In „Die Gesellschaft des Spektakels“ von 1968 schreibt Guy Debord:

„Während in der ursprünglichen Phase der kapitalistischen Akkumulation “die Nationalökonomie den Proletarier nur als Arbeiter betrachtet”, der das zur Erhaltung seiner Arbeitskraft unentbehrliche Minimum bekommen muß, ohne ihn jemals “in seiner arbeitslosen Zeit, als Mensch” zu betrachten, kehrt sich diese Denkweise der herrschenden Klasse um, sobald der in der Warenproduktion erreichte Überflußgrad vom Arbeiter einen Überschuß von Kollaboration erfordert. Dieser Arbeiter, von der vollständigen Verachtung plötzlich reingewaschen, die ihm durch alle Organisations- und Überwachungsbedingungen der Produktion deutlich gezeigt wird, findet sich jeden Tag außerhalb dieser Produktion, in der Verkleidung des Konsumenten, mit überaus zuvorkommender Höflichkeit scheinbar wie ein Erwachsener behandelt.“

Das trifft es sehr gut (auch wenn ich mich in genau dieser Position, „Arbeiter“ in einem System, das auf Wachstum angewiesen ist und mich deswegen nicht nur braucht, weil ich fräsen/malen/rechnen kann, sondern weil ich als Kaffeetrinker/Fußballfan/Gartenzwergsammler auch Konsument bin, eigentlich auch ganz wohl fühlen kann. In beiden Positionen.). Der Mensch heute ist nicht nur bei der Arbeit gebeutelt, auch in der Freizeit ist er es. Facebook ist so ein Beispiel. Tom Hodgkinson hat im Guardian dazu einen sehr interessanten Artikel geschrieben. Facebook: eine Entwicklung aus neokonservativen Kreisen, finanziert aus Töpfen des Venture Capital-Arms der CIA. Facebook will im zweiten oder dritten Schritt die Welt beherrschen. Selbst wenn (was unwahrscheinlich ist) Hodkinsons Recherchen aus dem Reich der Märchen und Verschwörungstheorien stammen, selbst dann wäre Facebook immer noch der Teufel, denn dort findet Freundschaft und sozialer Kontakt im Wettbewerb statt. „Die Zeit“ meldete neulich, dass es Firmen gibt, bei denen man Facebook-Freunde kaufen kann. Kostenpunkt: 13,8 US-Cent pro Freund. So werden nach und nach die letzten Bastionen des „echten Lebens“ in Verwertungskreisläufe umgemodelt. Gemein! Aber nun endlich zum Crack:

Die Bienen wissen längst, wie der Hase läuft

The Crack oder „Busy Doing Nothing“: Wie alle anständigen Revolutionäre hatten auch die Situationisten, die sich übrigens sympathischerweise mit so gut wie jeder anderen künstlerischen und politischen Bewegung ihrer Zeit nach Strich und Faden zofften, eine Hoffnung. Die, ähem, Revolution. Wo andere nur harten Beton sahen, schreibt (frei übersetzt) Marcus, hat dieser Trupp selbstbewusster Revolutionäre gedacht, er hätte einen „Crack“ gesehen: Irgendwann würden der Überfluss, die Banalität und Langeweile der falschen Welt von einer echten „Internationale“ erkannt, als das, was sie seien: Hebel der Tyrannei. Mit den Waffen der Satire, des Bluffs, der Ironie und schließlich der Gewalt würde der Crack identifiziert und aufgerissen. Und dann käme eine neue Welt. Neue Welt, das ist gut. Satire, Bluff, Ironie auch. Aber Gewalt, so finde ich, ist over. Und hier kommt wieder Tom Hodgkinson ins Spiel: Anstelle der Gewalt Hodgkinsons Version des Müßiggangs zu setzen, ist eine reizvolle Idee. Der Logik des Mehrmehrmehr ein selbstbewusstes „Tue weniger“ entgegensetzen. Mehr Bäume pflanzen, weniger Arbeit, weniger Kauf. Das ist der Crack. Da sollten wir hin. Und da endlich kommen Hodgkinson und die Situationisten zusammen. Zumindest für mich.
M

P.S.: Das Schönste am Bloggen sind die Statistiken. Gestern wurden wortpong zum Beispiel gefunden, als irgendjemand „weihrauch sport“ suchte. Noch besser ein anderer, der „die gschichte des kunstdarms“ wissen wollte. Falls irgendjemand hier auf diesem Blog die Worte „Gschichte“ und „Kunstdarm“ findet, ich schicke ihm ein Überraschungsgeschenk!

P.P.S.: Oben habe ich natürlich vergessen, das Buch zu empfehlen, weswegen ich überhaupt auf die Idee kam, eine Art politischer Meinung zu äußern: Greil Marcus’ „Lipstick Traces“ ist meines Wissens gerade nur antiquarisch zu kaufen. Deutsche Übersetzung kenne ich nicht. Englisch ist nicht gerade einfach (deswegen ist meine Darstellung wahrscheinlich so spekulativ wie das Buch). Die meisten werden es schon vor langer Zeit gelesen haben, wer es aber noch nicht kennt: Es öffnet viele interessante Türen zum Weiterforschen.

P.P.P.S.: Zuletzt muss noch erwähnt werden, dass die Biersorte „Irseer Kloster Urtrunk“ in den kälteren Jahreszeiten unser absolutes geschmackliches Vertrauen verdient hat.

Trotz guten Bieres: Religion ist auch keine Lösung

jak dostałam tę książkę w swoje ręce, pomyślałam, że to moja nowa Biblia

tam jest wszystko, czego trzeba, żeby nie zginąć we współczesnym świecie i nie zgubić siebie.

a najlepsze jest to, że żeby być leniwym trzeba być niesamowicie twórczą i odważną jednostką!

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3 a.m. Eternal

o drugiej żałujesz, że nie poszedłeś wcześniej do domu, a o 4 robi się zimno. Za to 3 jest magiczna. Racjonalne myślenie gdzieś wyparowało i liczy się tylko chwila. Otwierają się drzwi percepcji. Rzeczy zdarzają się.

*

This appeared in the summer 2009 issue of Flux magazine (issue 69, pp. 50-51):

The Importance of Doing Nothing

You know something is seriously awry when even the Tory leader claims we should be focusing on GWB as well as GDP. General Well-Being is a catch-all phrase, but in our long-hours culture it can only mean one thing: striking a better work-life balance. As Paul Lafargue — Karl Marx’s son-in-law — pointed out, God seems to have sussed it from the word go: “after six days of work, he rests for all eternity” (The Right to be Lazy, 1883). Although scripture is notoriously open to interpretation, prelapsarian Eden is patently presented as a work-free environment. It is only after the Fall — and, crucially, as a result of it — that men were condemned to earn their dough: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:19). Women, for their pains, would bring forth children “in sorrow”. The word ‘travail’ — French for ‘work’ — also happens to refer to labour pains: it derives from the Latin tripalium which, fittingly enough, was an instrument of torture. As for ‘labour’ itself, it comes from labor meaning ‘trouble’. No wonder work is a four-letter word (to quote the 1968 Cilla Black number famously covered by the Smiths).

In ancient Greece, work was restricted to slaves — a set-up which provided a blueprint for the West until the Industrial Revolution. By the early nineteenth century, however, “the voice of busy common-sense” — as Keats dubbed it — had become deafening (“Ode on Indolence,” 1819). Nietzsche observed how people were beginning to feel guilty of “prolonged reflection”: “Well, formerly, it was the other way around: it was work that was afflicted with the bad conscience. A person of good family used to conceal the fact that he was working if need compelled him to work. Slaves used to work, oppressed by the feeling that they were doing something contemptible” (The Gay Science, 1882). “It is to do nothing that the elect exist,” Oscar Wilde reaffirmed defiantly in the face of a triumphant work ethic. Contemplation, he lamented, had come to be regarded as “the gravest sin of which any citizen can be guilty” rather than “the proper occupation of man”. It is this gradual erosion of the contemplative life — “the life that has for its aim not doing but being” — which writers and dreamers have always tried to resist (“The Critic as Artist,” 1891). Robert Louis Stevenson — who poured scorn on those “who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation” — argued that idleness “does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formulations of the ruling class” (“An Apology for Idlers,” 1881). In How to be Idle (2004), Tom Hodgkinson — co-founder of The Idler magazine (1993) — reminds us that “living is an art, not something that you fit in around your job”.

Pockets of collective anti-work resistance appeared at regular intervals throughout the 20th century, from the drop-out beatniks to the unemployed punks. The Sex Pistols’ brazen “I’m a Lazy Sod” contained the classic line: “I don’t work, I just speed; that’s all I need”. Bow Wow Wow’s second single — “W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No! No! My Daddy Don’t)” — turned the tables on Thatcherite austerity by celebrating the rise of the idle poor. Many like Morrissey went looking for a job and then found a job and heaven knows were miserable now. 1991 saw the release of Slackers as well as the publication of Generation X whose protagonists relocate to the Californian desert after opting out of the rat race. Douglas Coupland’s downshifting classic was subtitled “Tales for an Accelerated Culture,” mirroring the parallel rise of the Slow movement anticipated by Bertrand Russell (“In Praise of Idleness,” 1932) and chronicled by Carl Honoré (In Praise of Slow: Challenging the Cult of Speed, 2004).

“Our epoch has been called the century of work,” Lafargue wrote, back in the 1880s, “It is in fact the century of pain, misery and corruption.” “Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of,” D. H. Lawrence echoed in the 1920s (“A Sane Revolution”). Unsurprisingly, Dr. Frank Lipman’s current diagnosis is that we are all completely knackered (Spent? End Exhaustion & Feel Great Again, 2009). So what are we to do? One option is to follow the advice of New Rich guru Timothy Ferriss whose best-selling The 4-Hour Work Week (2007) is designed to teach you how to let money make itself by outsourcing your business. Alternatively, we could turn to Melville’s Bartleby who, when asked to do anything, answers: “I would prefer not to” (Bartleby, the Scrivener, 1853). We could also take our cue from Jerome K. Jerome — the forefather of Phone In Sick Day — and get our kicks from the illicit thrill of skiving: “There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do” (“On Being Idle,” 1889). Following Thierry Paquot (The Art of the Siesta, 1998), Hodgkinson prescribes hitting the snooze button where it hurts: “Edison promoted the idea of ‘more work, less sleep’. The idler’s creed is ‘less work, more sleep’”.

One man who devoted his life and, er, work (8 slim volumes in 65 years) to sleep was Egyptian émigré Albert Cossery. His was a militant form of idleness which he saw as the only way to fully enjoy “the Edenic simplicity of the world”. In an early short story, the inhabitants of an impoverished neighbourhood are prepared to kill off those who interrupt their sacred slumber before noon; in another, an Oblomov-style character refuses to leave his bed for a whole year. Cossery was convinced that those who rejected (or were deprived of) material wealth gained access to a heightened state of consciousness hence the constant association between destitution and nobility. In 1945, he checked in to a poky hotel — on the very same Parisian street where the iconic “Ne travaillez jamais” (“Never work”) graffito would soon appear — and remained there, doing precious little, until he passed away last year. Cossery chose to get a life instead of a job. Perhaps more of us should do the same — the world might be a better place.

Er det bra å være lat? Ja ifølge Tom Hodgkinson:)

Britiske Tom Hodgkinson ga nylig ut The Idle Parent – why less means more when raising kids. Mammadamen har oversatt endel av deres grunnleggende tanker, det kan du lese her ( hos Mammadamen).

Jeg gikk umiddelbart inn på siden deres og leste mer. Jeg likte det jeg leste!  Jeg opplever ofte å være uenig i mye når jeg leser om barneoppdragelse, men denne gangen syntes jeg det var utrolig mye inspirerende og flott!

Dette er egentlig en motpol til mye av det man kan lese ellers. Her er det lite metoder og adferdsteori, og mer fokus på å være tilstede sammen med barna. Her handler det lite om pedagogikk og moral, og mer om å være foreldre.

Anbefaler dere å ta en titt! Det er nok ikke alt som er like aktuelt ( sånn er det jo nesten alltid) men det er absolutt mye godt å plukke med seg!

Takk til Mammadamen som viste meg denne siden:)

“Nicht Arbeit, sondern Muße ist das Ziel des Menschen – oder schöne Dinge herstellen oder schöne Dinge lesen oder einfach die Welt mit Bewunderung und Entzücken betrachten.” Oscar Wilde: Oscariana – Oder Wildes Denken, Zürich 2000.

Ein aktueller Bestseller über den Müßiggang? Erstaunlich! Die Welt am Sonntag nennt ihn “eine fulminante kulturgeschichtliche Rechtfertigung der Faulheit”. “Je länger man in dem Band liest, desto idiotischer erscheint ein Großteil der emsigen Routine, die unser Leben dominiert”, schreibt die Sunday Times.

Die Übersetzung von “How to be idle” des Briten Tom Hodgkinson ist nun bei Heyne unter dem Titel “Anleitung zum Müßiggang” als Taschenbuch erschienen. Es wurde in England 2004 bei Penguin Books herausgebracht und im selben Jahr erstmals im Rogner und Bernhard Verlag bei Zweitausendeins auf deutsch aufgelegt.

Was macht dieses Buch zum Bestseller? Welchem Autor ist dieses Kunststück gelungen ist? – Tom Hodgkinson, geboren 1968, hat englische Literatur studiert und in vielen Jobs gearbeitet. Nach dem Rauswurf bei einer bekannten Boulevardzeitung hat er von der Sozialhilfe gelebt, bevor er die Zeitschrift The Idler (www. idler. co. uk) gründete. Mittlerweile lebt er mit seiner Familie in North Devon. Hodgkinson weiß, wovon er schreibt. Er ist kein Workaholic, der als Fleißaufgabe zu all seinen anderen Verpflichtungen noch den Müßiggang strapaziert. Der Autor ist über seine eigene “Praxis” zur “Theorie”, genauer: zur Geschichte des Müßiggangs bzw. zu der seiner weitgehenden Abschaffung gestoßen. Mit den im Buch eingestreuten Plaudereien aus dem Nähkästchen lässt der Autor die Leser an seinen persönlichen Bemühungen um den Müßiggang teilhaben. Das Werk ist das Ergebnis seines Durchforstens der Geschichte auf der Suche nach literarischen und philosophischen Gustostückchen zum Thema Müßiggang. Das 365 Seiten lange, großteils sehr kurzweilige, flüssig und flott zu lesende Buch ist in 24 Kapitel unterteilt: in die 24 Stunden eines Tages. Jedes Kapitel behandelt ein Thema, das zur Stunde passt.

Was das Buch jedoch nicht bietet, sind theoretische Analysen über die tieferen ökonomischen Ursachen der Muße verhindernden Verhältnisse. Das Fernziel, das der Autor benennt, ist zwar durchaus die Schaffung von menschengerechten Verhältnissen, aber der Fokus der Perspektive, die öfter angesprochen wird, richtet sich eher auf kurzfristige, individuelle Möglichkeiten innerhalb der aktuellen gesellschaftlichen Situation.

Es macht wohl den Erfolg des Buches aus, dass es sehr unterschiedlich gelesen werden kann. Erstens als spannende, amüsante Kulturgeschichte des Müßiggangs sowie als Anregung, die Bücher der Autoren, aus denen die Fülle an historischen Zitaten und Beispielen stammt, auch selber aufzuschlagen. Zweitens als Anstoß für den Leser, sich – trotz der widrigen Lebensumstände – mehr Müßiggang zu verschaffen. Und drittens als Ermunterung, weitreichende Konsequenzen zu ziehen bzw. gesellschaftlich einzufordern und mitzugestalten. – Es ist bestens – auch als Geschenk – für jene geeignet, die nicht gerne trockene Theorie lesen, sich aber zu vergnüglicher und gleichzeitig radikaler Arbeits- und Stresskritik verführen lassen wollen. Jedoch auch Theorie-Versierte werden staunen, was die 141 bekannten und unbekannten, großteils aus dem angloamerikanischen Raum stammenden Werke, in die sich Tom Hodgkinson vertieft hat, zum Thema Müßiggang, bzw. zu den Bedingungen, die ihn verhindern, zu bieten haben.

Eine illustre Runde bedeutender Denker und Dandys durchwandert das Buch:

• Karl Marx’ Schwiegersohn Paul Lafargue (1842-1911) mit seinem “Recht auf Faulheit”.
• Der britische Mathematiker, Nobelpreisträger für Literatur, Friedensaktivist und Verfasser gesellschaftskritischer und philosophischer Schriften Bertrand Russel (1872-1970) mit seinem “Lob des Müßiggangs”.
• Der britische Wirtschaftshistoriker, Journalist, Essayist und Friedensaktivist Edward P. Thompson (1924-1993), der 1956 aus der Kommunistischen Partei austrat, mit seinen historischen Arbeiten über die britischen radikalen Bewegungen des späten 18. und frühen 19. Jahrhunderts, insbesondere mit seinem Buch “Die Entstehung der englischen Arbeiterklasse”, das Historiker der Arbeiterbewegung auf der ganzen Welt beeinflusste.
• Der deutsche Philosoph, Literaturkritiker, Übersetzer und Flaneur Walter Benjamin (1892-1949) mit seinem mehr als tausendseitigen unvollendeten “Passagen-Werk”.
• Der englische Maler und Dichter William Blake (1757-1827), ein früher Kritiker der “tyrannischen Zahnräder”.
• Und die bekannteste Koryphäe in Sachen Müßiggang: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) mit seinem Leben im Allgemeinen – er verband Kunst und Kritik auf exquisite Weise -, seiner Literatur im Besonderen und ganz speziell mit seinen Essays “Der Sozialismus und die Seele des Menschen” und “Der Kritiker als Künstler”. Letzteres “Mit einigen Anmerkungen über die Bedeutung des Nichtstuns”.

Diese exzellenten Köpfe und Genießer Ihnen und Euch ganz besonders ans Herz zu legen möchte ich nicht versäumen.

Kein fröhliches Durcheinander

Die Themen der 24 Kapitel sind sehr vielfältig. Sie lesen sich großteils wie eine Auflistung all dessen, was im Laufe der Zeit scheibchenweise abgeschafft wurde oder heute gerade dabei ist, abgeschafft zu werden zugunsten des einzigen Zwecks, der noch zählt, des Selbstzwecks Wertverwertung, sprich Geldvermehrung: Das Im-Bett-Bleiben am Morgen, das Bummeln und Flanieren, das Mittagessen, das Mittagsschläfchen, die Teezeit, das Kranksein, das Angeln (”Wasser kann hypnotisieren und beruhigen, inspirieren und elektrisieren wie kaum ein anderes Medium”), das Nichtstun daheim, der Sex (jenseits von Tantra-Sex und jener kruden “Mischung aus Religion und Sport”), die Kunst der Unterhaltung, Meditation, genügend Schlaf oder das Betrachten von Mond und Sternen.

Im 9-Uhr-morgens-Kapitel “Müh’ und Plagen” geht es um die Herrschaft der Arbeit, also um jene Ideologie, die jedem Müßiggang den Garaus machte. “Die Vorstellung, dass der , Job’ die Antwort auf alle Sorgen ist, individuelle oder soziale, ist eines der bösartigsten Märchen der heutigen Gesellschaft. Es wird von Politikern, Eltern, Zeitungsmoralisten und Industriellen auf der politischen Linken und Rechten verbreitet: Das Paradies, sagen sie, ist die , Vollbeschäftigung’.” (S. 28) Auf das weitverbreitete Argument von der Wichtigkeit der Arbeit der sozialen Aspekte wegen entgegnet Hodgkinson: “Nimmt denn irgendjemand allen Ernstes an, jedes menschliche Miteinander würde aufhören, wenn wir ohne Job wären? ” (S. 30)

Forschungsergebnisse von E. P. Thompson werden präsentiert, Schritte in der Entwicklung von “Tätigkeiten” hin zum alles bestimmenden “Job”. Die Weber beispielsweise waren vor der Erfindung der Dampfmaschine größtenteils selbständig und arbeiteten, wann und wie sie wollten. Wo die Menschen ihr Arbeitsleben selbst unter Kontrolle hatten, wechselten Perioden intensiver Arbeit und der Muße. Das ist heute höchstens noch bei Künstlern, Kleinbauern und Studenten der Fall. Seit der Industrialisierung wurde der “Lebensqualität ein schrecklicher Schlag versetzt. Fröhliches Durcheinander, Arbeit im Einklang mit den Jahreszeiten, die Uhrzeit am Sonnenstand erkennen, Vielfalt, Abwechslung, Eigenregie: All das wurde durch eine brutale, genormte Arbeitskultur ersetzt, an deren Auswirkungen wir noch heute leiden.” (S. 34) “Der Kapitalismus hat den Job zu einer Religion gemacht, tragischerweise aber auch der Sozialismus.” (S. 42) – William Blake über den Schaden, den die industrielle Revolution angerichtet hat: “Und alle Künste des Lebens verwandelten sie in Künste des Todes”. (S. 353)

Hodgkinson resümiert die Rolle der Massenmedien: Sie propagieren die “Arbeits- und Konsumethik”, indem sie einerseits mit ihrer Berichterstattung Angst schüren, andererseits mit der Warenwerbung Lösungen anbieten (von Alarmanlagen und Versicherungen über Autos und Kühlschränke bis hin zu Sexberatung und Duftkerzen), für die man allerdings Geld, also einen Job braucht.

Oscar Wilde hat auf die Absurdität der Arbeit folgendermaßen hingewiesen: “Zu bedauern bleibt, dass ein Teil unserer Gemeinschaft praktisch im Zustand der Sklaverei dahinlebt, aber es wäre kindisch, dieses Problem dadurch lösen zu wollen, dass man die ganze Gemeinschaft in die Sklaverei zwingt.” (S. 43). Und er stellte lakonisch fest: “Es ist tragisch, dass so viele gutaussehende junge Männer ins Leben treten, um in einem nützlichen Beruf zu enden.” (Oscar Wilde, Sämtliche Erzählungen, Zürich 1981) – Dass dasselbe nun auch fürs weibliche Geschlecht gilt, nennt sich Emanzipation der Frau!

Aufschlussreich auch der Hinweis auf den ILO-Bericht von 2004, wonach durch Arbeit jährlich 2,2 Millionen Menschen bei Arbeitsunfällen und aufgrund arbeitsbedingter Krankheiten sterben. Weitere 270 Millionen Menschen erleiden jährlich Arbeitsunfälle; allein in Deutschland sind es rund eine Million, davon 20.000 mit besonders schweren Verletzungen. Viele Unfälle, auch im Auto-, LKW-, Flug- und Zugsverkehr haben überdies ihre Ursache schlicht in Schlafmangel! Angeblich auch der Supergau von Tschernobyl.

Flaneure und Schläfer

Gegen all diesen höllischen Nonsens setzt Hodgkinson so unterschiedliche Müßiggänger und Flaneure wie Sherlock Holmes und John Lennon, Baudelaire und Walter Benjamin, Victor Hugo und Jim Morrison, William Blake und Beethoven, sowie große Schläfer und Im-Bett-Schreiber wie Cicero, Horaz, Jonathan Swift, Rousseau, Voltaire, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Proust, Colette und Winston Churchill. Schön zu erfahren, welche der Philosophen und Künstler zu den sinnlichen Müßiggängern zählten! Die große Epoche der vornehmen flanerie in London war das 18. Jahrhundert, Dies spiegelte sich auch in den Namen der Zeitschriften wider, die in diesem literarischen Jahrhundert gegründet wurden: Spectator, Observer, Tatler (Plauderer), Wanderer, Rambler (Flaneur), Adventurer.

Für Walter Benjamin ist “der Müßiggang des Flaneurs … eine Demonstration gegen die Arbeitsteilung”. 1926 und 1927, als er in Paris lebte, entstand sein schon erwähntes “Passagen-Werk”, eine umfassende Sammlung alltäglicher Beobachtungen, kurze Reflexionen, Notizen zur Stadt- und Mentalitätsgeschichte von Paris im frühen 19. Jahrhundert, ein Klassiker der flanerie. Flanieren, das bedeutet für Benjamin, die Augen offen zu halten: “Aus der Haustür treten, als sei man gerade aus einem fremden Land angekommen; die Welt entdecken, in der man bereits lebt; den Tag so beginnen, als sei man gerade vom Schiff aus Singapur gestiegen und habe noch nie seine eigene Fußmatte oder die Leute auf dem Treppenabsatz gesehen … es ist dies, was die menschliche Natur vor dir enthüllt, unbekannt bis zu diesem Augenblick.” (S. 144) – Der Inbegriff des Flaneurs war Baudelaire, dessen Bedeutung sich Benjamin im “Passagen-Werk” ausführlich widmete. Er berichtete auch, dass es 1839 elegant war, beim Promenieren eine Schildkröte mit sich zu führen, was das “Tempo” des Flanierens in den Passagen veranschaulicht.

Ohne Geld viel Musik

Ein großes Manko des Buches sind inhaltliche Vereinfachungen, bedingt durch fehlende theoretische Analysen. Beispielsweise gibt es zwar historische Zitate, in denen die Maschine als Erleichterung bzw. als Ersatz für die menschliche Arbeitskraft genannt wird, aber der brisante springende Punkt in Sachen Arbeit bzw. Müßiggang kommt nicht zur Sprache: Während es bis dato nur gewissen gesellschaftlichen Kreisen vorbehalten war, ein müßiges Leben zu führen, wäre das heute aufgrund der enorm gestiegenen Produktivkraft allen Menschen auf der Welt möglich. Mit geringem personellen Aufwand könnten alle bestens versorgt werden, und es bliebe viel Zeit für ein Leben jenseits von Fremdbestimmung oder der reinen Reproduktion. Um dies tatsächlich zu verwirklichen, ist jedoch der Bruch mit der Waren-, Geld- und Arbeitsgesellschaft Voraussetzung. In einer befreiten Gesellschaft könnte der Schwerpunkt dann tatsächlich auf “Kunst und Leben” anstatt auf “Arbeit und Tod” liegen. Von ersterem ist im Buch viel die Rede. Kunst ist aber auch eine der schönsten Arten, Unnützes, Träume, Möglichkeiten bereits vorwegzunehmen.

Als Mangel kann auch empfunden werden, dass viele spannende Details oft zu wenig ausgeführt werden, wenngleich sie zum Weiterdenken und Weiterlesen anregen. Weiters mutet manches oberflächlich und trivial an und persönliche Muße-Vorlieben des Autors kommen mitunter als allgemein Gültiges daher. Begriffsklärungen gibt es keine: etwa bezüglich der gelegentlich auftauchenden “Anarchie”. Der Übersetzer Benjamin Schwarz, der in der Heyne-Ausgabe keinerlei Erwähnung findet, hat die zahllosen englischen Zitate offenbar nicht, wie bei Profis üblich, in einer deutschen Ausgabe nachgeschlagen, sondern selbst – unzureichend – übertragen. Es fehlt auch ein Namensregister und im Literaturverzeichnis das Ersterscheinungsjahr.

Jenen, die einen ersten Anstoß zum Müßigsein oder einen geschichtlichen Einblick in den Müßiggang wünschen, sei dieses Buch empfohlen, die anderen sollten lieber gleich zur zitierten Original-Literatur greifen oder sich dem Müßiggang selbst hingeben.

Tom Hodgkinson: Anleitung zum Müßiggang, Heyne Verlag, München 2007, 360 Seiten, 8,95 Euro (D).

Quelle: Streifzüge

Mr Hodgkinson telling you how to be more free and enjoy life. The tune is more down to earth (and joy!) than a guide to zen-like harmony with your inner and outer aspects of your so highly spiritual life.

What’s it about

It’s about Tom slapping you in the face [a friendly slap, that is] and thus making you think for a while about the world and how you live in it. It’s about how to live more freely in a society where everything seems to be based on consumption. Many examples and situation and many more thoughts around them.

About that the system we’re living in isn’t solid proof. People create the system with their own actions.

First impressions

For first, there’s a good sense of humor in the book and that’s good because being more joyful and happy is also the message here.

I also had some mixed feelings on this; at the same time I agree on many things and feel those solutions he gives are basically OK, but also sometimes I feel the world has been, intentionally or not, watched through some naive goggles.

Still I feel this is a book everyone should read. It’s easy to get lost in a world where the pace is often ‘run’. Maybe the biggest achievement this book has is that it points out the value of things really worth for and unveils the curtain of false satisfaction some behavour [like over consuming and joyless protestant way of an attitude towards life] can give you.

The chapter by chapter format is nice. I read it through couple of chapters per night.

Possible inspirations

• Stress less about things you don’t have.
• Makes you ponder the things what are really valuable in life. There’s nothing too spiritual in Tom’s thoughts, more like “Do you want to live kicking and screaming from birth to death, or would you rather laugh and show you bottom to those who wrinkle their forehead all the time?”. Why to punish yourself all the time from nothing.
• State of things is always a result of the things in the past.

Possible turn downs

• Like I said, there are some things and ideas that may sound a bit odd. I don’t know if they are only meant as provocative or does the writer really mean them. I think Hodgkinson sounds smarter than the latter option.
• Sometimes I feel that Tom tries to justify drinking and smoking with his philosophy. Also there’s no mentioning about exercising in this book, except just one: gyms are  bad for people. Which I feel is a bit lame expression about the subject.
• Not everyone can grow their own vegetables and collect wood from the forest [there's just too much people and too much living in the city]. But, I enjoy an occasional gardening and can underwrite the idea that it reliefs anxiety and can give you a peaceful mind. But still, I wouldn’t have time to watch over a kitchen garden.

Some things from the book

• One creates his own chains.
  
• Nice look into history giving us some thoughts why we are in this mess.
  

For who?

To people who sense there’s something wrong with the system and want to hear more thoughts about the subject. Basically to all, but sadly I know there are people out there who consider this kind of thinking as some kind of liberal hippie thing.

Other reading from the author:

How To Be Idle
The Freedom Manifesto: How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste
The Idle Parent

Links:

Wikipedia article about Tom Hodgkinson
The Idler website

Patrick Ijzendoorn sprak voor De Groene Amsterdammer met pragmatisch anarchist Tom Hodgkinson naar aanleiding van zijn net vertaalde boek “Luie ouders heben gelijk“. Daarin pleit Hodgkinson ervoor dat ouders hun kroost niet de hele dag in de gaten houden of laten houden. Hij mag er rustig van leer trekken tegen ploetermoeders, overactieve vaders en hun manier van opvoeden waardoor kinderen het tegenwoordig altijd maar drukdrukdruk hebben.
Hij ventileert er ook zijn afkeer voor de commercialisering van de opvoeding en de veramerikanisering van de cultuur, waarbij spontaniteit weggeorganiseerd is en bezorgde ouders vrijheid hebben opgeofferd voor veiligheid, hun kinderen soms zelfs met camera’s in de gaten houdend.

Heerlijk politiek-incorrect is overigens ook de pijprokende vader die de cover van het boek van Hodgkinson siert.

True to form, its taken me nearly two years to get this blog up.

Is that how long it takes for an idea to move from inception to action?

Depends on a number of factors:

1) Consequences of inaction – very little as far as I can see here…

2) Desire to do the action- sitting in front of a PC, again, pretty dull way to spend my time, so in fact should have happened ages ago. Yet dullness and idleness are not necessarily the same thing. The crucial difference being that dullness is a kind of deadening while idleness is a form of rejuvenation and nourishment.

3) Connection to immediate reality. Well this is always questionable! Here I mean – Does the action have much of a relationship to my immediate surroundings and needs:  Will it pay the rent? Is it something I am talking about with my friends.

4) Is my heart in it? Finally and crucially, very few things are rewarding if they do not come from a heart felt desire, some kind of inspiration. I think this is probably most important. And for me it is in idleness that we really have time to connect our selves and our uniqueness.  Yet idleness is severly marginalised in our culture. Under the battering ram of the “NOW!” era we are emersed in, how are we to reflect, to find inspiration? Of course, crisis often necissitates change, but jumping out of the fying pan is not always the answer, unless of course the fire has been dreamed into extinguishment.

Ironically, I love action and adrenalin, but I have to admit that it may be as much out of a conditioned fear of retribution than it is out of love.  So these are the words for my inspiration today:

The art of living is the art of bringing dreams and reality together. I have a dream. It is called love, anarchy, freedom. It is called being idle.- Tom Hodginson

Thankfully we all have different dreams, but without giving them a window, we are less of ourselves and that is why I am in praise of idleness.

You may have noticed that in our run-down of ethical supermarkets and ethical banks, the Co-op came top in both. But what is a co-operative anyway?

The International Co-operative Alliance defines a co-op as ” an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.” The co-operative movement began in the early 19th centry, inspired by a utopian named Robert Owen, who opened the first co-operative store to serve the workers at his cotton factory.

A group called the Rochdale Pioneers took this philosophy on board in 1844 in founding a food shop that was co-owned by its own customers. The movement grew over the next century, and by 1950 they were quite a force, with 90% of self-service groceries running on co-operative principles. It has declined since then, but some of the original companies live on, including the aforementioned bank and supermarkets, a holiday company, phone provider, and several others. Other, smaller co-operatives start up all the time, as local initiatives, village shops and the like.

With big businesses struggling, and the government failing to hold them accountable, it may be time for a co-operative comeback. Tom Hodgkinson, a man dedicated to “working out how to escape from capitalism and live like a king into the bargain” sings their praises  in his latest Ecologist column.

“Any company whose shares are publicly available and tradable commodities is always necessarily going to put the interests of it shareholders… before quality of product, staff welfare, customer service or pleasure and fun in the workplace.” Businesses run on the co-operative model are very different.

Co-operatives are inherently more ethical as a system of business, because the people who are most often exploited to increase profits for corporations are decision-makers in the co-op model.

For example, a credit card company may choose to improve its bottom line by overcharging customers, changing their rates unexpectedly, introducing annual fees, or hiring too few staff to man telephone helplines. A co-op can’t put the squeeze on its customers that way, because the customers own it.

Likewise a clothing company can exploit its workers by paying low wages, making them work long hours, and cutting sick pay or holiday. In a co-op, the workers are partners in the company and get a vote.

Co-operatives are businesses that you can participate in. They can be held accountable. They can make ethical decisions even when they might lower profits – something a corporation cannot countenance. If they were to do that, their shares would plummet as shareholders walked away. Shareholders are only looking for one thing – a profit on their investment. A company can commit horrific atrocities with impunity, as long as it delivers a dividend.

“We all need to disengage from any dealings with shareholder-owned companies and switch to co-ops” concludes Hodgkinson. And we don’t need to stop at supermarkets and banks either, he suggests: ” can we imagine petrol co-ops, car co-ops, train co-ops?”

Pe ce-aş da blogul ăsta, la trei ani de când am scris prima oară, îşi intitulează Iulian Comănescu un text recent.

Ce face Iulian: aruncă un titlu aşa cum dai la linguriţă. Lansez, mulinez… ia să vedem ce se prinde. Pe ce-aş da blogul ăsta, la trei ani de când am scris prima oară nu este despre blog, ci despre o carte ce va să vină, asta-i ştirea.

Nadă, momeală: “proiect nou”; “Cum să devii un nimeni”; “mecanismele notorietăţii şi lumea media”; “Humanitas”; “tiraj de pornire măricel”; “preţul de copertă destul de jos” etc.

E amuzant să citeşti comentariul unui simpatizant: “Eu sper ca nu-l vei da … pe nimic altceva!” şi răspunsul hoţoman al lui Iulian: “blogul e ce fac atunci când nu fac altceva, n-am zis că îl închid”, replică care ar suna mai bine: “fac blogul pentru a face (şi) altceva”.

Puţin pe titlul cărţii: sună (auto)ironic, haios-rautacios, pare sa coboare din Tom Hodgkinson (How to Free Yourself from Anxiety, Fear, Mortgages, Money, Guilt, Debt, Government, Boredom, Supermarkets, Bills, Melancholy, Pain, Depression, Work, and Waste).

Iulian Comănescu spune că-i negativ, dar când toţi în jurul nostru sunt “cineva”, “un nimeni” stands out in a crowd, nu-i aşa?

All this snow that we’ve had recently — including several more inches this morning — and our kids’s desire to be out playing in it has given me an opportunity to think anew about the role of play in urban naturalism and in our lives in general.

What do I mean by “play”?  Play is creative, spontaneous and collaborative engagement with one’s surroundings.   Play is creative in that the imagination of the participants is only minimally constrained by mutual agreements and by the appropriate demands of propriety and safety.  People, objects and plotlines are freely imagined and sometimes creative substitutions are made (this stick becomes a sword, that bag becomes a hat).  Play is spontaneous in that the structure and/or “rules” are not detemrined beforehand.  Finally, play is collaborative in that if there are multiple people involved, it does not become a competitive event.  A game of pick-up soccer, which undoubtedly would be fun for many people, is not play by this definition.  (Additionally, I think many of the recreational activities of adults from shopping to video games to sports leagues are by this criteria not play).  The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a recent clinical report in which they conclude:

“Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children.”

Despite the benefits of play, it has been my experience in mainstream American culture that as we mature into adulthood, we are socially formed to wean ourselves off of play.  Some social scientists have described play as a child’s work (E.g., Vivian Gussey Paley, A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play), and while I understand that the nature of play changes as become older and take on additional responsibilities, I think it is unfortunate that we tend to lose our ability to play.  Tom Hodgkinson, whose work I’ve discovered only recently, has had similar realizations about our inability to play, out of which he started “The Idler” magazine and now has written a couple of books on idleness ( most notably How To Be Idle, and most recently The Idle Parent – not yet available in the US.)  He said the following in an interview:

“Idleness for me is not a giving up on life but a spirited grabbing hold of it. I was idle when faced with wage slavery, i.e., doing boring work for somebody else at times of their choosing, in return for money. In that situation, I would become very lazy. But idleness really consists of doing stuff which is not really recognized as productive behaviour in our profit-driven economies. I might look as if I am lying in bed, but in fact I am turning ideas over. Often I get good ideas in the bath, when I am perfectly relaxed and my mind is flowing freely. And now that I am in control of my own work, I find that I am quite productive. Since retiring from the world five years ago, I have written three books, edited twelve more, written countless articles, run a small magazine from home, and had time left over to play a role in our local community, teaching ukulele at the local school, for instance, and to play with our children. In general I work from nine am till 1, and the rest of the day is for sleeping, outdoor work, walking, playing, cleaning, etc.”

So, we’ve had all this snow recently, and our kids — especially Miriam — have been so excited to go out and play in it and Jeni and I have gone out several times with them.  One evening, the kids and I played for a long time on the mounds of snow that had been plowed up in the church parking lot.   Some other kids had dug tunnels in the mounds earlier in the day and our kids loved that and I helped them dig a new tunnel.

On Sunday afternoon, all five of us spent awhile outside building a snowman, which the kids had never done before (The last couple of winters have been too warm for much snow.)  The kids all loved making the snowman and Miriam had the idea of using black olives for the eyes and mouth.   Playing together in the snow is fun for all of us, and the kids are learning to enjoy the wintry weather.

L’articolo è un po’ datato, ma non – ahinoi – il suo inquietante contenuto (meritoriamente segnalato da Bernardo Parrella nel suo net critique):

Tom Hodgkinson, With friends like these… (UK Guardian, 01/14)

Facebook has 59 million users – and 2 million new ones join each week. But you won’t catch Tom Hodgkinson volunteering his personal information – not now that he knows the politics of the people behind the social networking site

The Idler have a new campaign: Do Less in 2009.

The gist of it is to do less of everything, for the environment and for ourselves. Less work, less earning and spending, less shopping.  Less doing will leave more time for being.

“The era which privileged the busy high achiever is coming to an end” says Tom Hodgkinson. “That system has been found wanting, and there is a new world out there, a world of more fun, more freedom, more time for reflection and contemplation, community and cooking, making and mending.”

In true Idler style, the campaign will advance with an ambitious schedule of nothing at all, although you may be able to buy a t-shirt.

Together with Tim West, Simon Key runs The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green. I’ve mentioned the place a few times on the  blog. It’s an excellent bookshop that exclusively sells copies of my book –  and both Simon and Tim are very nice fellows, who always offer me cups of coffee and self-help manuals. They also do loads of interesting events made all the more unlikely by occuring on a sidestreet in N22.

Anyway, here’s the interview:

1) How did The Big Green Bookshop come about?

There was a Waterstone’s bookshop in Wood Green once. Me and Tim (the co-owner of the shop they call ‘The Big Green Bookshop’) used to work there, until one sunny day in August 2007, we we’re told the shop was closing in 9 days time. It was a bit of a shock, not only to us, but to our customers. This was the only bookshop in the area, and Wood Green is a highly populated area. We could have stayed at Waterstone’s, but instead decided that we should open our own bloody bookshop in Wood Green. So we did. And here it is. And we bloody love it

2) A lot of people think Wood Green is a dump, but you love it. Why?

Because I live here, I work here and I’ve met some of the most generous, honest and helpful people in my life here. Wood Green has a very strong feeling of community which is often overlooked. When we got the keys to the internet café that was to be the Big Green Bookshop I sent a message to our facebook group asking for people to help us with painting etc. The next day an army of volunteers turned up. We had people making us homemade biscuits, giving us lifts to and from building suppliers etc. and generally being lovely. I don’t think there are many places in London where this would happen.
 
3) What has been your favourite event at the bookshop?

We’ve done more than 70 events in the last 9 months, and there are a number that stand out. Tom Hodgkinson was probably my favourite. The editor of The Idler magazine is a bit of a hero (or Idol) of mine, and he turned up to talk about his ‘Book of Idle Pleasures’, an antidote to our non-stop culture. It was our first event and Tom was charming. He brought along his Ukulele and played a few songs too.

I’m putting together our events programme for this year at the moment, and there’s some bloke called Greg that might be doing a turn in a couple of months time….
 
4) What is selling well at the moment?

Haruki Murakami and Barack Obama in our shop, the all day breakfast in the café next door and getting a vertical line shaved in your eyebrow at the barbers a couple of doors up.
 
5) What are your favourite books?

The ever changing list is ever changing, but one of the permanent fixtures is Coming Up For Air by George Orwell, where George Bowling desperately tries to recapture happiness, long departed. Bleak, pessimistic and prophetic, the lad Orwell could certainly write a good book. Among others at the moment are Isle of Dogs by Daniel Davies (Dogging and CCTV) The Outsider by Albert Camus (bleak and pessimistic), Meat, by Joseph D’Lacey (seriously good horror), Company of Liars by Karen Maitland (14th century mystery tale, which I expect to be massive this year), The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (50ish pages long, and one of most powerful books I’ve ever read), Nights At the Circus (Angela Carter at her very very best), I Smell Esther Williams by Mark Leyner (cult US fiction, fast furious exhausting and exhilarating) and Snow is my Favourite and My Best (a brilliant Charlie and Lola story that my 6 month old daughter is beginning to tire of). Ask me again next month and it’ll be different. So don’t.

 6) Have you ever had a meaningful encounter with a celebrity? If so, what happened?

I met God a few times when I was a teenager, but he was all mouth and no trousers. I had a nice chat with Muhammad Ali when he came over to promote a book about 15 years ago. That was pretty awesome. I met Sophia Loren who was a bit of a drag, Spike Milligan who was hilarious, but I’ve never met any real celebrities like Eric Bristow or Pat Sharp. There’s still time.
 
7) If you had to make a mixtape of your favourite music for someone, what would be on it?

Probably some writing saying, ‘here’s a mixtape of some of my favourite music’.

Or… in no particular order;

Soldier Girl by The Polyphonic Spree
Janie Jones by the Clash
No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age (Dave Grohl on drums)
Suite Pee by System of a Down
Limassol (or Apply Some Pressure) by Maximo Park
Excellent Choice by the Horrors
In the City by Madness
Whole Lotta Love by led Zeppelin
Goodnight, Goodnight by Hot Hot Heat
Sylvia by Special Needs
Life’s A gas by T-Rex
She Is Beautiful by Andrew WK
Spiral Staircase by Kings of Leon
The Way It’s Meant To be by The Features
Horror Show by the Libertines
Albion by Babyshambles
She’s Attracted To by The Young Knives
My Little Brother by Art Brut
We Can No Longer Cheat You by The Cribs
Tell Me What You See by the Von Bondies
19 20 20 by the Grates
New Rose by The Damned
Shot Down by Nine Black Alps

It’s a 120 minute cassette

Why do you support Bristol Rovers?
I don’t know Greg, why do you support Arsenal?

(Note from Greg. Simon supports Bristol City, but I mistakenly wrote Bristol Rovers. What a fool I am)
 
9) Are you ever going to sort out your hair?

It’s gone beyond that now. It’s out of anybody’s control. I thought I’d grow it a little bit longer. Then, when things started getting nasty I thought a hair band would do the trick. Now it’s just too late. Now go, save yourselves, before it gets you too.
 
10) Can you cook?
If you want me to invite you round for a meal, there are better ways of doing it. I’m very lucky that my girlfriend Katie is an extraordinary cook, who not only produces exciting food every night, but also loves cooking.

I can cook, and I like to think I can construct a fair plate of food, but nothing in comparison to Katie. Do you want to come round for a meal sometime?

Thank you Simon. And here’s a photo of Simon alongside Alan Dobbie, the mayor of Haringey. The Big Green Bookshop had just won the award for Best New Business  in Haringey.

En rolig och inspirerande timme med Tom Hodgkinson som skrivit handboken “How to be idle.” Hans idéer är en uppfriskande motpol till vår tids arbetsnarkomani och den protestantiska arbetsmoralen. Budskapet är tydligt: ta makten över ditt liv och återta rätten till lättja!

Författaren Tom Hodgkinson bor i England och är redaktör för tidskriften “The idler”; hans föreläsning blir då förstås på engelska. 

Pris: Gratis!

När: fredagen 6 februari 

Tid: 15:30

Var: Wärdshuset Gamlegård

       N. Storgatan 9 i Helsingborg (mitt i centrum)

Vem: alla som är intresserade

Serveras öl? definitivt.

Arrangör: Samuel West 

Anmälan: samuel ((at)) samuelwest.se (jag måste veta hur många kommer)

Mer info: www.samuelwest.se eller tel: 0709-386298

Varför: Jag blev helt frälst efter att ha läst boken om idleness och vill nu sprida budskapet om lättjans fördelar. Hela tillställningen är 100% icke-kommersiell, inget förlag, inga sponsorer, ingen reklam etc vilket skulle gå emot budskapets anda. Jag är säker på att det blir en mycket givande och rolig träff för alla!

Samuel West

According to Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler magazine, we should be lowering our sights for achievement rather than raising them.  I found his interview on Radio 4’s Today programme somewhat comforting as I continue to do battle with stats and revision for my forthcoming exams.  Follow the link below to hear what he had to say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7800000/7800035.stm

I look foward to some ‘beginner level idling’ in a few weeks’ time.

Admittedly I am struggling for inspiration today, however, it seems I am not the only one.

I can take heart from the fact that the vast majority of people I know (or rather the 300 plus people who I happened to meet once and said hello to, accidently made eye contact with, trod on, spilt a drink over etc) are struggling too.

And how do I know this?

I took a moment to cast my eye over their Facebook statuses.

Here are some of the ‘gems’ that I just discovered (names not included for legal reasons):

•  ‘…is LAUGHING SO HARD!’
• ‘…is watching sperm whales have sex…and no, it’s not out of choice’
• ‘…is not liking the weather’
• ‘…’s leg looks like it’s been attacked by a stapler
• ‘…is looking forward to Saturday’
• ‘…is going to stay in bed all day tomoz’
• ‘…is da bomb ting bruv!’

Do we really need to know this information?  Does it really add to the rich tapestry of life? Does it make any difference to anyone what so ever?

Even scarier than the mundane status updates, is the fact that someone, somewhere is recording all of this information.

Someone is watching

As Tom Hodgkinson discussed in The Guardian in January, ‘millions of Facebook addicts voluntarily upload their ID details, photographs and lists of their favourite consumer objects. Once in receipt of this vast database of human beings, Facebook then simply has to sell the information back to advertisers’.

For all the Facebook users out there who thought that the adverts alongside their page were randomly generated, think again.

We are entering a world similar to the one depicted in Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report, where personalised adverts practically shout out your name and tell you why you should be buying their product.

A disturbing example of this occurred when I was bombarded with dating agency websites after I recently became single.

Someone really is keeping a close eye on me and the other 59 million-plus Facebook users.

‘Neoconservative libertarianism’

In his article, Hodgkinson discusses the founders and board members of Facebook and reveals some rather disturbing information.

He concludes that: ‘Like PayPal before it, it is a social experiment, an expression of a particular kind of neoconservative libertarianism.’

These characters are promoting some rather unsavoury dogma and reading this article really has made me consider my use of the social networking site.

Hodgkinson explains: ‘Clearly, Facebook is another uber-capitalist experiment: can you make money out of friendship? Can you create communities free of national boundaries – and then sell Coca-Cola to them? Facebook is profoundly uncreative. It makes nothing at all. It simply mediates in relationships that were happening anyway.’

Anyone remember landlines?

I am one of the last few in the generation who remember what life was like before mobile phones and Facebook.

When I wanted to meet a friend I had to call their landline and arrange a time and a place to meet them.  There was no other contact until we actually met.

This form of socialising has now almost completely disappeared.

Everyone has a lot less privacy and apparently we all know a lot more about one another…or do we?

Admittedly, I am more aware of my friends’ social movements as a result of Facebook, however, this has led me to become very lazy in arranging to actually meet up with all of them.

Privacy…What privacy?

Despite my reservations about several things surrounding Facebook, I have rather given in to the fact that I am one of the herd.

Sadly, this is exactly what the designers want me to feel like.

I am aware that it is worse of me to acknowledge my reservations and do nothing about them than it is to be totally unaware of why I should be questioning Facebook in the first place.

For now at least, I will remain a user, however at least I know what I am using, which is a lot more than most people.

As Hodgkinson says, there is not real opt-out from Facebook, your details will be stored forever, you can check the privacy policy for yourself.

With this in mind, I feel that it is already too late for me to be saved, however, there are still people out there holding out against Facebook, and I for one am an admirer of their refusal to bow to peer pressure.

Era octombire si aveam lectie de civica. “Democratia.Valori si principii”, lectie la sfarsitul careia eu si colega mea de banca am ajuns la concluzia ca democratia nu are nici valori nici principii.  Bertrand Russel in “Libertatea fata in fata cu autoritatea in educatie”,1928 avea dreptate…” Democratia, asa cum o concep politicienii,este o forma de guvernare, adica o metoda de a-i determina pe oameni sa faca tot ceea ce vor conducatorii lor si sa aiba impresia ca fac exact ceea ce doresc”. Din cauza a ceea ce politicienii au facut din ea democratia nu mai are nici valori nici principii. Ca tema pentru urmatoare ora de civica am avut de copiat nu mai stiu ce de 50 de ori,care la mine erau copiate numa de vreo 38 in schimb mam incapatanat sa scriu de 50 de ori -democratia nu are valori sau principii….si ora urmatoare am avut o satisfactie cand iam aratat  profesoarei de civica chestia asta.

Urmatoarea saptamana am facut o excursie cu niste prieteni la munte…am aflat in acel weekend ca un prieten de-al meu  face campanie pentru un partid(precizez ca suntem adolescenti)…..am iesit grabita pe terasa, imi treceau prin fata ochiilor toate verile pierdute cu el la cabana parintilor nostri de la munte, toate povestile pe care le-am spus, tot ce am discutat…. pe vremea aceea nu aveam nici griji, nici probleme, nici dileme, nici nu ne pasa, nici nu ne interesa…asa ca…n-am vorbit niciodata de politica, nu i-am spus niciodata cat detest politica pentru ca (cel putin pe plan mondial,in trecut) s-a omorat cu sange rece ca sa ajunga unii politicieni unde au ajuns, s-a calcat pe cadavre asta s-a intamplat, numai daca il luam pe Stalin si o sa vedem ca a avut mai multe victime decat Hitler, numai ca Stalin nu avea organizare nemteasca si nu le-a tinut socoteala cum o facea Hitler…nu….nu i-am spus… si nu i-am citat niciodata capitolul “Faceti uitat guvernul” din cartea lui Tom Hodgkinson, “Cum am ales libertatea”…”Guvernele fac prea multe si tot ce fac iese prost. De exemplu ele trebuie sa ne apere de atacuri.Numai ca nu o fac prea bine. In realitate ii incurajeaza pe altii sa ne atace prin faptul ca ii ataca mai intai pe ei.Teroristi au ucis mai putini oameni decat am facut-o noi insine trimitand soldati in razboi. La data editarii acestei carti, in Irak au murit ucisi 27.000 de civili, iar teroristii de origine islamica au ucis 50 de persoane in Marea Britanie.Guvernele tin la teroristi, pentru ca acestia le pun la dispozitie o reclama buna privind nevoia de a avea un guvern care sa ne apere. Guvernele iubesc razboaiele, deoarece acestea le dau un motiv sa existe-sa ne salveze de necredinciosi. (…) Se considera ca alternativa-anarhia,ori autoguvernarea-conduce la nelegiuiri si dezordine.Dar, ca pacifist si autor al cartii: “Razboi si pace”,  Lev Tolstoi ne explica: “[...]chiar daca absenta guvernului a insemnat anarhie in intelesul de dezordine negativa al acestui cuvant-ceea ce nu este nicidecum cazul-nici chiar atunci o dezordine anarhica nu ar fi mai daunatoare decat pozitia spre care guvernele si-au impins popoarele si spre care continua sa le conduca.” Mai exista ceva putred in ceea ce priveste guvernele-respectiv ca a ajunge la putere este sinonim cu alegerea unei cariere. Primesti salariu penru asta.In plus, nu mai platesti taxiul, te alegi cu mese copioase, iar lumea scrie despre tine in ziare(…) Politica este academia renumelui pentru cei lipsiti de orice talent, Factorul X pentru oamenii plicticosi. Faptul ca orice politician face din politica o cariera si incearca sa castige cat mai multi bani si sa ajunga in pozitii cat mai inalte in cadrul ierarhiei, nu constituie  dovezi evidente ca sa respingem tot esafodul? (…).Asta nu inseamna desigur ca nu exista multi politicieni bine intentionati, dar cei cu bune intentii pot provoca daune mai mari decat cei care evita sa se amestece. Neindoielnic, puritanii au fost animati de bune intentii cand au interzis Craciunul! Politica nu este arta de a conduce o tara, ci arta de a-i convinge pe oameni ca au nevoie de un anumit grup de politicieni platiti care sa conduca tara. Iar liderii nostrii se pricep ca nimeni altii la aceasta arta neagra. Ca sa ramana la putere ei trebuie sa ne vanda ideea  ca ei sunt salvatorii si mantuitorii nostrii, precum si convingerea ca fara ei nu am putea merge mai inainte. Cu alte cuvinte, trebuie pur si simplu sa ne convinga de faptul ca suntem prosti si neajutorati. Si exact asta se straduiesc sa faca. Acest lucru se realizeaza, in principal, prin interventia constanta a mass-media. Fiecare ziar, fiecare buletin radio, fiecare emisiune de stiri- toate sunt pline pana la satietate de aspecte al politicii de partid. Si beneficiaza de o publicitate pe care serviciul de relatii publice al unei companii private abia de-l poate visa. Iar toate aceste buletine de stiri ne vand gogosi despre inevitabilitatea si necesitatea unui guvern pentru noi. Recunoastem ca o fac foarte bine, majoritatea prim-ministriilor ar putea deveni vanzatori convingatori de masini la mana a doua- serios nici nu ma pot indoi ca majoritatea v-ar putea vinde si cocaina in timp ce v-ar convinge  ca asa ajutati economia sa isi revina si ca, pe de alta parte, asta v-ar imbunatatii starea de sanatate.(…) In alta ordine de idei, mai exista si spectacolul alegerilor generale. L a fiecare 5 ani,sau cam asa ceva, oamenii, mai mult sau mai putini ignorati de politicienii de la alegerile precedente, se trezesc dintr-odata bombardati de ideea ca mersul la vot este foarte important. Ca intr-o piesa de teatru absurda, sefi de partide apar la  televiziune si “oamenii obisnuiti” le pun intrabari. Acest spectacol TV care se deruleaza timp de o ora la fiecare 5 ani, trebuie sa-i convinga pe telespectatori ca traim intr-o democratie. Se distribuie fluturasi, candidati tineri si plini de viata, politicieni de cariera in ascensiune iti bat la usa promitand ca vor inlatura haosul creat de guvernarea precedenta. Ziarele gem de speculatii nesfarsite si de prezentari ale campaniilor electorale. Presupun ca toata viermuiala asta poate fi considerata, cateva clipe, ceva distractiv. Gresim daca ne inchipuim ca totul are vreun sens sau relevanta pentru viata noastra. Alegerile  se desfasoara, fierberea se termina iar lucrurile revin la normal, iar partidul ales face ceea ce crede el, deoarece  sefii lui sunt convinsi, ca poporul i-a ales.(…) NU MAI VOTATI!!!”

Mda….cam asa sta treaba in mare si in romania. Si pe langa toate astea se mai adauga si lucruri precum un partid- doua, care vor sa infiinteze cate o aripa pentru tineret( adica 16-19 ani) de ce nu? daca ii  putem manipula de mici cand au inca mintiile fragede si nu pot discerne de ce sa nu o facem?… si nu la 16 ani nu esti in stare sa discerni, nu sunt in stare sa discearna adultii toti, dara-mita copiii. Ca sa discerni trebuie sa stii legislatia,constitutia, si istoria contemporana. Si se ajunge la inocularea ideilor cu care am fost condusi si pana acum, unei noi  generatii, si adio salvare venita din partea tinerilor!…..Si apoi mai sunt si altele, in romania majoritatea candidatiilor ori sunt certati cu legea ori au fost turnatori la securitate, iar cand apare in Academia Catavencu Lista Candidatiilor Patati dintr-o data dispar ziarele din Cluj si Timisoara, cumparate cu baxurile dimineta inainte sa le vada oameni. S-apoi sa -i mai votezi, nu? Da, da! bine ca exista Academia  Catavencu care sa scrie articole despre adevarata  politica din romania, presarate cu ironii ca altfel nu stiu zau….In concluzie vreau sa va zic, ca nu, nu “e foarte important sa votezi”, mai ales cand n-ai pe cine vota, cand tot ce poti face e sa inlocuiesti o liota de clovni cu alta liota de clovni…. drepturile si libertatiile nu constau numai in “a vota”, mai important mi se pare dreptul la exprimare spre exemplu…iar libertatea se afla la un pas de noi.Serios, catusele sunt inventii ale mintii!

This is a perfect Alice in wonderland moment. A shop has appeared in Bloomsbury called “the school of life”

 The purpose of the school is according to the website to …”offer intelligent instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life”. Sophie Howarth, its Director, aptly described the school/shop as “an apothecary of the mind” providing courses in “Love”, “Politics”, “Work”, “Family”, and “Play”, as well as arranging trips abroad with artists and writers; meals surrounded by interesting people; individual psychotherapy; and “Bibliotherapy…the perfect way for you to discover those amazing but too often elusive books that can transform and illuminate your life”. Sign up to their mailing list, lots of interesting things are bound to happen.

The people behind this include Alain de Botton, Geoff Dyer, Susan Elderkin, Tom Hodgkinson, Brett Kahr, Robert Macfarlane and Martin Parr.

I re-read one of my favourite books last week, How to be Free, by Tom Hodgkinson. Tom is the editor of the Idler, author of How to Be Idle, a columnist for the Ecologist magazine, and the only mainstream writer I know to have used the phrase make wealth history. To sum up his philosophy, the world would be a better place if we all did less: ”there’s far too much ‘doing’ going on in the world” he writes. “The responsible response to a world in which interfering has created terrible health and environmental problems is to do less, not more.” 

The world we live in is characterised by “greed, competition, lonely striving, greyness, debts, McDonald’s and GlaxoSmithKline”, a treadmill of earning and spending that is destroying the earth, oppressing its people, and hasn’t even made us happy in the process. Instead, argues Hodgkinson, we need to liberate ourselves. 

How to be Free serves as a kind of how-to manual for breaking free from all this, the debts and mortgages run up trying to buy our way into the good life, from the fear of living differently. The first step is to reclaim our personal choices from the ones set before us, and realise that “like it or not, you are free. The real question is whether you choose to exercise that freedom.”

The book is full of insightful observations on consumer culture and the things that keep us trapped in the earning and spending system. Fear for example, the relentless doom and gloom of the news, the fear of rising crime, in the face of statistics that say otherwise. (Check those statistics for yourself here – pdf). Or boredom, or the competitive nature of the ‘career’, as opposed to a calling or a vocation. He talks about housing, and the fact that “the conventional wisdom is that you are supposed to take on the biggest mortgage you can.”

The answer might just be to do less. If we work less, we will have more time for the things that matter in life – like people. In order to work less, we have to be happier with less money, and to make do with less money we need to want less stuff, be more creative, make our own entertainment, and be more self-sufficient. So, grow your own vegetables, says Hodgkinson, learn to play an instrument, throw parties. Work less and live more, and it will be better for us, for those around us, and for the earth too.

There’s plenty of good advice in How to be Free, and lots of fascinating sources of inspiration. Hodgkinson draws from the medieval age of the guilds, from the distributists, who called for each family to have their own land, Masanobu Fukuoka’s experimental farming, or the 1960s political surrealist situationist movement, right through to Damien Hirst and The Libertines. 

The best thing about How to be Free is that it describes a much more sustainable life, both environmentally and socially, without you even realising it. It is a positive articulation, casting a vision of a better way to live. It’s provocative, inspiring, and very funny too. If you remain convinced that a sustainable lifestyle will be one of sacrifice and deprivation, How to be Free might just change your mind.