Intellectual Minimalism

Bitch, please

Our reading for today: "I’ve increasingly been relying more on intuition and less on reason" which you can see here. Further on we learn, "We simply won’t have time to think everything through, and taking that time might not be the best use of ours anyway."

That's right people. Don't think too hard. In fact, not thinking too hard is kind of a requirement for intellectual minimalism. You need to "clear the surface" of your mind. Critical thought, grammar, they're just yokes of the modern world. We don't need more ideas, we've got feelings and Truthiness (and part time jobs). When we free our minds, we free ourselves from the negative voice inside us that says "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" and "This is fucking idiotic. Get your head out of your ass" and so on. Because I have truly dedicated my life to this ideology I have decided to shed all but 10 of my most essential ideas. Here they are:

• Use the wi-fi at Panera Bread
• Buy v-neck shirts
• Wear v-neck shirts
• Blog your way to the top
• Enjoy a cup of oolong tea while brushing your hair every day
• iPhone
• Ride a bike, or if not, just ride in a car that someone else pays to maintain
• Books are like spider webs for your inner mind; don't kill a tree, plant a book
• Make lists all the time
• Give unsolicited advice (you're welcome)

Even other minimalists think Bogue is a douche

I've wondered lately if the contributors to this blog and its (admittedly few) readers are the only people who are willing to stand up against the douche kingdom of Everett Bogue and his cult of minimalists. So today, I did some Googlin', and though it took a lot of wading through pro-Bogue malarkey, I found that we are not alone. In fact, even some people calling themselves minimalists (or something like it) think Bogue is a douche. These people are from the saner faction of minimalists, ones who know how to count, or better yet, ones who don't give a shit about the number of their possessions. Their blogs would almost certainly make Ev cry, as any form of criticism does.

I hope we can all agree that some minimalists - especially those who resist the term "minimalists" - are level-headed people with their hearts in the right place. They recognize the stupidity of owning every single goddamn thing one can possibly own, and they seem to be intelligent enough to realize that Bogue is a hypocrite and a pretentious douche. They advocate for living simply rather than pretending that 100 is the absolute largest number of possessions a person should even think about owning. I hope you click a few of the following links and see that some minimalists and bike snobs are actually sort of reasonable.

Bike Snob on "the new smugness"

Core Minimalist thinks Bogue is a talented propagandist

An Australian blogger advocates for simplicity rather than minimalism

A blog about the minimalist "obsession with possession"

Sorry this post wasn't very snarky; 'tis the fucking season and all. These bloggers just kind of make me happy. If even minimalists and semi-minimalists are on our side regarding Everett Bogue, there may be hope for humanity after all.

Great Minimalists in History

Gandhi was definitely a minimalist.

He probably only had a couple cell phones. Not like all these "consumers" who eat at "McDonald's"...pigs. I consider him a great inspiration to me, and I'm sure that since he was reincarnated as someone else, I'm a great inspiration to him, too.

An African child.

Look at how much this child has been able to shed from his or her (hard to tell) lifestyle. Not tied down by cell phones and jobs and computers. Well done children. I can see that you've seen minimalism on TV and decided to buy into it.

The Rapanui (from the Easter Islands)

These guys were so minimalistical that they pretty much don't exist anymore. Cross "functional society" off your "list of things you own" list.

So it's not that hard, people. You just need to look to people like these who intentionally get rid of material possessions. Go buy a book about it.

How to Count, Part 2

Everett Bogue often likes to state in his blog that he has over 70,000 readers. In fact, the header of his website proudly boasts this statistic:



Lower on the page, however, the counter gives a far different number:


I have a feeling I know which is the more accurate count.