illusion of invisible

The philosopher Aaron James posits that people with this personality type are so infuriating—even when the inconvenience they cause us is negligible—because they refuse to recognize the moral reality of those around them.

It’s a pathology that seems increasingly common, I suspect in part because people now spend so much time in the solipsist’s paradise of the Internet that they carry its illusion of invisible (and inaudible) omniscience back with them out into the real world. ■

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Kreider, Tim. “The Quiet Ones.” The New York Times. 17 Nov. 2012. Web.

the busy trap

Perhaps the world would soon slide to ruin if everyone behaved as I do. But I would suggest that an ideal human life lies somewhere between my own defiant indolence and the rest of the world’s endless frenetic hustle. My role is just to be a bad influence, the kid standing outside the classroom window making faces at you at your desk, urging you to just this once make some excuse and get out of there, come outside and play.

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Kreider, Tim. “The ‘Busy’ Trap.” The New York Times. 30 June 2012. Web.