What is Absurd?

What happens in nutty putty cave
stays in nutty putty cave. Body
of spelunker to remain there.

What is absurd? I ask this because I so often see this word used in various contexts, and I know that I myself use it, and perhaps abuse it. Consulting the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary I learn that the two primary meanings are:

1. Ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous
2. Having no rational or orderly relationship to human life

Now you might think with such clear-cut standards it should be simple to agree on things that are absurd. But nothing in human affairs is simple. The claim of absurdity, as we currently use it, is basically just the opinion of an individual. What may or may not be absurd cross-culturally is a problem far beyond the scope of this present document. Here I am interested only in what I take to be the absurdities of American culture. Indeed, I tend to believe that American culture in general is nothing less than a culture of the absurd (obviously not everyone will agree).

What brought this to mind today was another trip to the supermarket. We have only one such market here in our little town, and by big city standards it is really quite a modest supermarket. Nonetheless, when I ran an errand there for my wife I became aware for the first time of the cat food aisle. Yes, there is an entire aisle devoted to cat food. It measures roughly sixty feet long by seven feet tall, and contains kitty litter, cat food, cat toys, and such. Now, I don’t mind cats, indeed I put up with five of them on a daily basis (a result of my wife’s home for wayward cats). But does anyone truly need such a variety of cat foods and litters and toys? I doubt very much that the cats themselves appreciate this variety, if they even think about it. Thus, I believe this is absurd. And across the aisle there is a similar, even longer row of dog food and stuff for dogs. I think this is also absurd. Then when I think of all the starving people in the world, and even here in the U.S., I think it is even more absurd. I would say this is “ridiculously unreasonable,” if not “unsound.” It may or may not be “incongruous,” depending upon your opinion of American culture in general. As I previously commented along these same lines about the huge bin of frozen prepared potatoes, I will leave the subject of American food (a truly absurd subject) for the moment.

Consider the American use of the automobile, pickup truck, motorcycle, snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle, and personal watercraft, all the result of the invention of the internal combustion engine. While there are obvious advantages of one sort or another for such vehicles in certain circumstances, our present-day use of most of these is absurd. The idea that virtually every individual in the country needs their own automobile or pickup truck is absurd, or that is, ought to be absurd. Snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, and personal watercraft may be “fun” as “toys,” but they are terribly polluting, noisy, and destructive of the environment, and as such are, I would say, “ridiculously unreasonable.” And here, where I live, the love affair with pickup trucks is truly a thing of wonder. It is not at all unusual to see women (and sometimes men) doing their supermarket shopping in huge Ford 350, Chevrolet 3500, or Dodge 3500 models, far in excess of just the ordinary pickup. Not long ago I watched in awe as an older, gray-haired lady left her big Dodge running while she entered the supermarket and emerged with a case of beer. There are also many dual wheeled pickups that more than 90% of the time contain nothing whatsoever except a dog. While all of these vehicles might be useful at certain times for certain things, I submit than in general the use of such vehicles in the U.S. is absurd (almost beyond belief).

One further rant while I’m on the subject of the absurd has to do with the use of energy in the U.S. The example of vehicular use as above involves an enormous waste of energy. But that is probably mild compared to our waste of electricity. We are now being told we should conserve energy, and most people probably believe we should. But hardly anyone does. Drive through any city at night and you will observe most if not all of the lights on in every large building left on all night long. And it is not only in large buildings you can observe this obvious waste, it seems like every small business has to leave lights on as well. In most homes it appears to me that the inhabitants rarely turn off lights that are not in use. Sometimes I believe most Americans, especially younger ones, are not even aware that light switches have an “off” as well as an “on.”

Anyway, as long as there is no agreed upon standard for measuring what is absurd and what is not, it seems to me unlikely that people in general are going to ever solve their common problems, or even define what they are. If culture is pretty much a unique human invention for meeting the basic needs of the species for food, shelter, security, health, etc., we have long since passed over the basic needs and elaborated to the point of madness. Absurdity has long since triumphed over practical reality. I do not think it entirely far-fetched to predict it will ultimately lead to doomsday.

LKBIQ:
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture than you are a victim of it.
S. I. Hayakawa

TILT:
The average weasel weighs about 7 ounces.