June 30, 2005
Literary revisionism, 2:  “If instead of a brooding existentialist, Albert Camus were a libertarian” (from the protein wisdom conceptual series)

“[...] At which point Sisyphus, weary of the burden imposed on him by a centralized, elitist pantheon of self-styled ‘Gods,’ changed his fate by finding a willing masochist to assume his unending task—spreading happiness on two fronts and signalling a victory for the free market over the tyranny of an artificial ‘fate’ henceforth shown to be illusory.”

– from “The Myth of Sisyphus”

20 Comments  :::   Post a comment »

  1. Comment by Major John on 6/30 @ 6:55 pm #

    But what does the boulder think of all this?

  2. Comment by Jeff Goldstein on 6/30 @ 6:56 pm #

    Sisyphus doesn’t care. He’s an Objectivist.

  3. Comment by MC on 6/30 @ 7:19 pm #

    Who took on that up-and-down role?

  4. Comment by Phinn on 6/30 @ 8:22 pm #

    The revised version brought a tear to my eye.

    But does he have to be an Objectivist?  Can’t he subscribe to a kind of praxeological Misesian/Hoppean subjective-value marginalist theory instead? 

    It gets the story to the same place, and makes Sisyphus much more likable.

  5. Comment by Matt H. on 6/30 @ 8:33 pm #

    If Sisyphus were an Objectivist:

    Gods: You must roll this rock up and down this mountain.  For eternity.

    Sisyphus: And by what claim do you have on my life, that you can order me around?  I swear by my life and by my love of it, that I will never submit to perform your rock-task, nor do I expect you to do anything for me.  Bitches.  <em>(He said, his austere gaunt frame defiant, his perfect blond locks standing majestically against the wind.)

  6. Comment by Sean M. on 6/30 @ 8:42 pm #

    Isn’t it just beautiful when a willing buyer and a willing seller of lobor come together?

  7. Comment by Jeff Goldstein on 6/30 @ 8:44 pm #

    I posted this on Kate’s Canadian blog, and it would seem, judging by their collective silence, that the Canucks are either mystified awed by market solutions.

    Or maybe it’s just boulders that has ‘em all flummoxed.

  8. Comment by Old Dad on 6/30 @ 9:01 pm #

    But I thought Sisyphus loved his rock. If that isn’t just like a capitalist libertarian whoring out the thing he loves for few shekels.

  9. Comment by me on 6/30 @ 9:06 pm #

    Maybe if it was a goalie trying to keep an eternal stream of pucks out of the net instead of boulders.

  10. Comment by harrison on 6/30 @ 9:25 pm #

    Can I pay some one to take the test for me that is surely coming after all this edumacational stuff?

  11. Comment by rob on 6/30 @ 9:30 pm #

    I had Sisyphus once, took about a week to get rid of it… cool hmm

  12. Comment by MC on 6/30 @ 10:39 pm #

    I posted this on Kate’s Canadian blog, and it would seem, judging by their collective silence, that the Canucks are either mystified awed by market solutions.

    Well, there’s a little poetry afoot, or aboulder…

    Sysiphus apparently needed a hockey stick. No reason not to have a Canadian version of the revision, eh?

  13. Comment by Salt Lick on 6/30 @ 10:48 pm #

    Sounds like Sisyphus got some advice from Tom Sawyer.

    Oh, and thanks for the clue on how I might separate myself from my blog.

  14. Comment by Beck on 6/30 @ 10:54 pm #

    Maman’s glaucoma acted up today, so she smoked some grass.

  15. Comment by CraigC on 7/1 @ 12:33 am #

    Perhaps the Canadians were contemplating the possibility of the boulder acidentally rolling over his foot, and the horror that would ensue in the absence of a single-payer medical system in Ancient Greece.

  16. Comment by rob on 7/1 @ 2:40 am #

    CraigC,

    LOL.. it has nothing to do with that, look for flag burnings and upside down maple laughs tomorrow in the news.

    Were all really pissed up here(in the west), and it may get fun… Canada SUCKS!!

    P.S. – you can take the CDN medical system and shove it up the left wing ass down there, it don’t work. 1 year waiting lists etc., etc..

  17. Comment by Russ from Winterset on 7/1 @ 2:07 pm #

    Schrodinger:  “Goddammit Sisyphus, would you PLEASE get in the box!  No, you may NOT take your cat with you!”

  18. Comment by Salt Lick on 7/1 @ 2:09 pm #

    What do Eskimos get from rubbing noses?

    Sniffalus.

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