April 20, 2001

4:57 AM

Apathyology: Ten or twelve years ago, back when I was in high school, some friends of mine were gonna start something called the National Apathy Society. I say were cuz we never did. That was the joke. We were all members of a club about apathy but we were too apathetic to... well you get it don't you? You don't? Well I don't care. My point is, and I do have one, I am highly suspect of any organization which claims to be apathetic but they actually have a website. Especially since I didn't think of doing it first.
posted by ZachsMind (10 comments total)

How would that work though? Would it be just you in high school? That wouldn't be very national, unless you went out for recruitment and sent out brochures and such.

Nobody could care less, they might think they care less but it's really just more clutter to cause in out already little brain, sorting out what important and whatnot; what if you made a mistake? I think most people already have a good sense of balance and figuring out the important stuff; but then again, some people don't.

Maybe I just don't like what happens when people take these 'philosophies' too seriously, or groups that do the same, as I agree with Zach here. I think there are quiet a few people that are trying to be cool by being apathetic, you know, after watching that 6-hour Daria marathon. I wonder if that worked for anyone.
posted by tiaka at 5:17 AM on April 20, 2001

Your suspicion of supposedly apathetic web-builders is valid. It reminds me of The Idler - if they're so slothful, how come they update their website so often?
posted by tobyslater at 5:26 AM on April 20, 2001

Tiaka asked: How would that work though? It would take too much effort for me to explain how we did it. Would it be just you in high school? No it was a bunch of us really. In fact we learned that there were many more members than we thought we had, but that some of the members were just too lazy to get around to officially signing up. This was okay, because we were too lazy to sign them up and so we just made them all honorary members. That wouldn't be very national... Oh believe me it was. In some ways it still is. Nobody could care less Exactly. what if you made a mistake? I am assuming we made many mistakes but time heals all wounds. In 20/20 hindsight the fact we didn't worry about them at the time turned out to be the right course of action.

TobySlater asked: "if they're so slothful, how come they update their website so often?" This would only work for me if it was clear they had some other more important things to do, but updating their website was in comparison more slothful, and they were idling away their time with the website in order to avoid the more pressing matters. Even still, that doesn't explain apathy, but it is a cool looking site. Better looking than the apathy one.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:58 AM on April 20, 2001

To paraphrase the late 20th century philosopher Pinky:

If they didn't care that Jimmy cracked corn, why did they bother to write a song about it?
posted by gimli at 6:28 AM on April 20, 2001

For the record, the song was not about apathy. It was about grief and ennui. And about the need for integrated pest management. Jimmy was just the hook.
posted by anapestic at 6:53 AM on April 20, 2001

I just don't care about this whole "apathy" thing. Oops, too much emphasis on "care" in that sentence.
posted by davidmsc at 12:54 PM on April 20, 2001

There's a difference between apathy and laziness that I think we're missing here. According to Webster's Dictionary...awww, screw it...
posted by jpoulos at 1:54 PM on April 20, 2001

I would comment in this thread, but I'm too lazy!!!


Ahhahahahahahahah! Geddit?! Geddit?!
posted by sonofsamiam at 1:55 PM on April 20, 2001

I had a solipsist club in high school. It was difficult to have meetings, because we all thought we were the president of the club.
posted by Jart at 2:42 PM on April 20, 2001

Of course, the site shouldn't be confused with this Apathy.
posted by dogwelder at 3:11 PM on April 20, 2001