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- From: stevi@no-spam.frii.com (Stephanie Deter)
- Newsgroups: alt.angst,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: alt.angst FAQ -- Monthly Posting
- Message-ID: <MPG.11b12212c2fd93b989682@news.frii.com>
- Expires: 1999/22/06
- Followup-To: alt.angst
- Keywords: FAQ
- Organization: Things that hurt very much for a long time
- Reply-To: stevi@frii.com
- Summary: This posting concerns angst, and why your life is so pathetic
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- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- X-Copyright-Notice: This document is in the public domain.
- Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 21:21:11 -0600
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- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.angst:138850 alt.answers:42002 news.answers:158407
-
- Archive-name: angst-faq
- Last-Modified: 1997/03/17
-
- ***
-
- 1) What is Angst?
-
- Any feelings of anxiety, grief, unhappiness,suffering,
- misery, depression,sadness, and fear.
-
- The Oxford English Dictionary has:
-
- "Anxiety, anguish, neurotic fear; guilt, remorse."
-
- Webster's 9th Collegiate Dictionary defines it as:
-
- "A feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity."
-
- Above all, True Angst (tm) arises from the notion that
- life is essentially pointless and absurd, and that our
- miserable existences count for very little in the grand
- scheme of things. There are two main categories of Angst:
- emotional, and intellectual. Emotional Angst encompasses
- the typical experiences of human suffering. Intellectual
- Angst is primarily concerned with The Great Sucking
- Void of Existence.
-
- Other related words and definitions:
-
- Weltschmerz -- Mental depression or apathy caused by
- comparison of the actual state of the
- world to an ideal state.
- Schadenfreude -- Taking joy in another's misfortune.
- Angstogen -- An angst producing agent.
- Angstrom -- The unit of angst:
- more angstroms = more angst.
-
- As far as etymology goes, Angst is found in the
- Danish, Dutch and German languages. Weltschmerz and
- Schadenfreude are both German.
-
- "Angstogen" was probably coined here, although it may
- have been spun off of "peeveogen," from alt.peeves, or
- vice versa. "Angstogen" is also used in Dutch and means
- something like "eyes filled with fear"
-
- 2) alt.angst Protocols and Acceptable Behaviors:
-
- a) alt.angst does not tolerate cheeriness in any form.
- This includes use of the notorious smiley (which is
- conspicuously absent here). If you feel inclined to post
- any stories with a happy ending, post them to
- alt.good.news, or some other forum -- perhaps
- alt.romance.chat. You'll be lucky if other members use
- such kind words to tell you to do the same.
-
- b) Posting to alt.angst: Traps and Tips
-
- Some alt.angst posters will, occasionally, flame you
- for failing to display sufficient amounts of angst in one
- or more of its commonly accepted forms. These individuals
- have earned themselves the nickname "angst.cops." You
- have been warned.
-
- Also, questions asking _why_ men or women are mean and
- nasty and hurt your widdle feelings do not belong here.
- This includes the now-infamous: "Why do girls always go
- for jerks" and all its pathetic variations. There are a
- number of psychology studies that answer precisely this
- question. Our advice here is to use your newly-found
- computer skills to dig up any relevant literature.
- Essentially, if you have to ask _why_ humans are mean and
- nasty, you probably don't belong here.
-
- Form is very important in alt.angst. If you can't be
- bothered to write clearly, you can't expect your readers
- to make the effort to understand you. And whatever your
- style, don't post poetry. This isn't a poetry reading.
- Teen angst poetry is especially likely to be mocked. Most
- posters have written reams of it themselves, recognized
- its self-indulgent immaturity, and moved on.
-
- Other than that, you can use the rule of thumb that
- states: if it feels bad, post it. Chicken Little is an
- excellent example of someone who should have posted to
- this group. Here, the sky is always falling. Our world is
- in constant crisis with spectres of war, famines and
- starvation, poverty, abuse of the environment, racism and
- bigotry, corrupt leaders, religious zealotry, fear of
- death, and soured personal relationships, not to mention
- the biggies, like "is there a point to existence,
- anyway?" These questions, and any others you may uncover
- or dream up, should leave no shortage of grist for your
- personal angst mill.
-
- 3) The Importance of Angst
-
- We all embrace angst here. It is what defines our
- existence. After all, what use would life be if
- everything was easy and there was nothing to worry about?
- Angst is a necessary element in the growth and
- development of any human being. It is what builds
- character; it provides contrast and depth to the human
- experience. Angst, at its simplest, is that which makes
- us human.
-
- 4) Distilled Angst (190 proof): The Angst Calendar,
- compiled by Steven Snedker and hacked into MS-Windows
- Help format. Amiga reader also available
-
- Available via anonymous ftp from ftp.mantis.co.uk
- directory /pub/alt.angst.
- Hacked into neat little pop-up window at
- http://www.angst.org/calendar/.
-
- If you don't know what anonymous ftp is, then goto
- news.announce.newusers and read everything. If it doesn't
- help, get the post named "How to find sources" from
- news.answers.
-
- The calender is available as either hpack'ed or tar'ed
- and gzipped file. The README file in the alt.angst
- directory details how to unpack such files.
-
- Mantis, the most intellectual site on the net, also
- stocks some terrific files in directory alt.atheism, that
- you really owe it to yourself (and the rest of the net)
- to check out. They are also periodically posted to
- news.answers by the great mathew. Thanks mathew.
-
- Note: The alt.atheism FAQ on constructing a logical
- argument should be required reading for _anyone_ who
- plans on posting to the Internet. Please, _please_ read
- it, understand it, and internalize it before wasting
- valuable bandwidth with meaningless drivel.
-
- Angsts or Angstful Notions or Angst Suggestions or The
- Angst Catalogue
-
- The alt.angst calendar covers most of the subject of
- angst. But it's 250 kb. Here's a little handy list you
- can keep close at hand, whenever you feel the urge to put
- words on your feelings/situation. After the angst
- suggestion there will sometimes be a pointer to other
- angsts it might be rewarding to check also.
-
- 1. Life is pointless/meaningless. There is no reason.
- 2. Death is eternal (making life all the more
- pointless).
- 3. Reincarnation (No relief, just more of the same
- unbearable pain for eternity).
- 4. Unpleasant feelings are true and pleasant feelings
- are temporary and empty.
- 5. Lost opportunities. Lost excitement. I was once
- young and screwed it up.
- 6. I'm wasting my time. (8,9,11,12).
- 7. Things will never get better (in the sense that
- it's all going downhill).
- 8. The future is just more of the same (worthless
- crap).
- 9. Rejection (MOTAS, work, whatever).
- 10. Boredom.
- 11. Loneliness, being insignificant.
- 12. Nothing brings me joy (hobbies, school, work,
- "friends," family).
- 13. There is no escape, no hope.
- 14. This mess is my (0-100)% own fault (5,9,11,15).
- 15. Strong hate (self, others, places, phenomena).
- 16. Insanity (depression, panic attacks,
- schizophrenia, suicidal tendencies).
- 17. For all my efforts I was never rewarded
- (12,9,7,5).
- 18. Science, art or humans cannot help you
- (19,13,12,10).
- 19. Nothing has any absolute value (1,16).
- 20. Wishes coming true will not help (13,7).
- 21. Lack of "the basics" (good physical/mental health,
- money, love).
- 22. I'm in an unpleasant situation (1-21).
-
- 5) Cures for Common Angst: Home Remedies and Elixirs
- (list by Michael Chase)
-
- 1. God(s).
- 2. Drugs.
- 3. Significant other.
- 4. Booze.
- 5. Insignificant others.
- 6. Physical fitness.
- 7. That spiritual purity trip.
- 8. Some godawful 12 step program full of losers not
- nearly as intelligent as you.
- 9. Shrinks, who are either OK but ineffective, or
- completely screwed up themselves (what is it with them
- anyway?).
- 10. Attitude:
- a. Hostile
- b. All-knowing
- c. Able to help others but not yourself
- d. Humorous
- e. Cynical
- f. Spacer
- 11. Turning the pressure into something 'useful.'
- 12. Acceptance.
- 13. Writing stuff nobody will read.
- 14. Exploring your past until you forget what
- you remember.
- 15. Waiting patiently to grow out of it.
- 16. Waiting patiently to see where it will all lead.
- 17. Waiting for that dude with the AK-47.
- 18. Getting pissed off that you can't kill yourself
- without bumming your friends.
- 19. Isolation.
- 20. Reading everything anybody has to say on the
- subject.
- 21. Developing a mild but sincere pride in yourself
- for surviving, which actually helps a little but still
- depends on the problem for its own existence.
-
- 6) Sources for More Information About Angst
-
- Angst central
- http://crystal.palace.net/~angst
- Ken's angst home page:
- http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/krawling/angst.ht
- ml
- Sean's Who's Not Who page:
- http://www.iafrica.com/~alleycat/who1.htm
- Stevi's list o' links page:
- http://crystal.palace.net/~angst/angst.html
-
- There is much literature available that conveys angst
- in its true forms.
- From Thoreau ("The mass of men lead lives of quiet
- desperation.") to Sartre, Dostoyevsky, Plath, and Dante;
- to ancient sages like the Buddha ("Life is suffering.");
- to Shakespeare and Steinbeck. The Brothers Grimm are an
- excellent source of childhood angst should one desire to
- educate one's children. As for visual art, Bosch, Van
- Gogh, and Munch spring immediately to mind. However,
- there is so much angstful art out there that we do a
- disservice to the art world by including only these
- names.
-
- In sum, almost all true works of art serve as little
- more than monuments to angst, so one can hardly go wrong.
-
-