Kunal Dutta: There's a time and a place for philosophy – and this isn't it
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Independent Minds
Poems on the Underground always felt like an awkward cultural injection to the stress of a daily Tube journey. But at least it was unobtrusive, offering literary enlightenment for those in search of something deeper than ads for weight loss or last-minute holidays.
But now the prospect of a Tube ride replete with a driver spouting sentiments of Albert Einstein or Jean-Paul Sartre has the makings of a transport-related cultural calamity. As someone who has suffered philosophy lectures for years, there is a time and place for intellectual platitudes, but it is not during rush hour. When I'm late for work, stuck in a tunnel because of the same signal failures from two weeks ago, even a heartfelt apology feels meaningless. I can't imagine anything better will come from a smug philosophical recital, even if it is Mahatma Gandhi's belief that "there is more to life than increasing at speed". Right sentiment, wrong time.
Besides, London Underground long ago lost its right to make such Tannoy announcements. The proud voice that tells us of a "good services on all lines" is in itself a curious exercise in deductive logic. Do we really need to be informed that the service we pay to work properly is doing so?
Ultimately though if TfL still truly believe that dark existential mutterings are the stuff of better commutes, then why stop at Sartre? Surely the most relevant thoughts to travel to would be Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground.
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Comments
I think you dont laugh in life,Married?,Divorced and plenty of kids in the kitchen? Dad and Mom with you and wife run away? now that is your problem. Try putting on a smile even if you have false teeth. We have no cash and I think any humour does the trick to divert us from the daily news(last week the thefts, this week death of a dancer( I dont dance to tunes )next week Allah knows , So let us live today for this day the Lord hath made rejoice unto it waste it not . Kunal see you in 2012 okay you sound like a very nice person but Allah knows better RELAX EAT PEA NUT I am told they are good fro sex Vit K E D but you your zoo first your doctor it has oil
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla
Surely the most relevant thoughts to travel to would be Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground.we used these in wars 1 2 3