For the past 10 years or so, when the internet has made information easily accessible to our impressionable youth, our children have been reading the works of famous German philosopher Nietzsche. Now at first thought this would sound rather positive; young people voluntarily reading philosophical works. Unfortunately, Nietzsche was basically insane.

Now the most controversial of Nietzsche’s stuff was probably the concept of ‘übermensch’, for this article translated as ‘overman’ or plural ‘overmen’. A common (read; ignorant) misconception is that this is the same as the Nazi’s concept of an übermensch. Which it isn’t. I don’t feel like explaining it right now so you can just cruise over to here. I will however say that the overman is, in Nietzsche’s view a moral construction. That is to say, the only thing that seperates a normal person from an overperson is his morality and his actions, not the genes that make him. On a note; if my using of the word ‘him’ and (over)’man’ bothers you, tough luck.

Now why was I referring to young adolescents reading about overmen being a bad thing? Very simple, most people have this paradoxical need to on the one hand be considered ‘normal’ while simultaneously be ‘special’ or ‘unique’. Teenagers have this feeling a hundredfold. The next logical step is obvious; non-conformists reads about Nietzsche’s idea of the overman, including the fact that the overman is supposed to ‘create his own morality’, interpret this as ‘I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT’ and preach their obnoxious bullshit to their future ex-friends.

I consider myself superior in this respect by virtue that I know very well that I’m not special and not an overman. In fact, I consider Nietzsche’s definition just a little on the soft side. For this, I propose a new  checklist of some sorts for identifying these paragons of humanity from amongst our mids.

• Ø  The overman is at least 20 years of age. If my above paragraph hasn’t convinced you yet, you need to interact with teenagers more. And in case the police forbid you from being within a 100-yard radius of a minor, go to a random teenager-based internet forum and reaffirm your buried knowledge that sometimes, age does bring wisdom.
• Ø  The overman is in excellent physical condition. In this respect, I am much more strict than our German friend. No fatties, no scrawny fucks, only athletic-build persons may pass beyond this barrier.
• Ø  The overman speaks at least 2 languages fluently. Of wich one is the world’s leading language. Well if you can read this, at least you can do the latter. If you’re just a Brit/Yankee or Aussie, go learn something new.
• Ø  The overman exalts in at least 1 field, and is good in at least 2 others. Fields are roughly defined as any skill, be it physical or mental, one may possess. Examples include; Academic fields like mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy, writing, history etc. And athletic feats; anything on Olympic-level, use your imagination for the rest. Note that it does not truly matter whether it is self-taught or learned at some level of eduction.
• Ø  The overman is rational. That is to say, he is able to make up, process and articulate rational arguments based on logic and what not. He is also not afraid to change his opinion if he is converted to another point of view. Following ratinonality;
• Ø  The overman is an atheist. Did you saw that one coming?
• Ø  The overman is charismatic and an excellent manipulator. This is mayhaps the single most important one. One must never forget that men are social critters above all else, we derive pleasure from social interaction. The overman is very good at reading other people’s body language, respond to this and be able to bend the other to his will. Naturally this means that the overman cannot be afraid of people or scare away from social  interaction
• Ø  The overman is highly intelligent. This should be obvious, as he needs it to manipulate or excel in his fields.
• Ø  It is not you. Regardless of how well you may fit these criteria, I can pretty much guarantee it is not you. Sorry about that.

I think that about sums it up. List is subject to change though.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Philosophy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.