I was thinking today about one of my heros. I think chuck palahniuk would scoff at the idea that I took his most popular antagonist as my hero. Tyler Durden wasn't written to be anyone's role model. he was suposed to be a villianof sorts. granted the movie version is diferent. tyler in the book wa wicked, having a genuine desire to hurt people and yet having a more profound deepness to him. While the tyler from the movie was more playful, trying to get people to live thier lives fully. Tyler is my hero because he first got me into the anarcho-primitivism philosophy. Before I read Fight Club, I didn't know anyone thought like that besides me. To explain very briefly what anarcho-primitivism is I quote my good friend wikipedia, because I'm too lazy to word it right myself. So the basic idea acording to wiki:

"the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation. Anarcho-primitivists advocate a return to non-"civilized" ways of life through deindustrialisation, abolition of division of labour or specialization, and abandonment of technology"

It wasn't just that Tyler gave me hope for my ideas, he was to me what he was to the narrator of fight club. he was everything I wished to be. He was driven and charasmatic, he had increadable energy, a wicked sense of humor, and an amazing philosophy.

Just a few quotes from the man himself, taken from both the book and movie:

"You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."

Narrator: What do you do for a living?
Tyler Durden: Why? So you can pretend like you're interested?

(squeezing out of an airliner seat) "Now, a question of etiquette: as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch?"

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

"Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing."

Tyler Durden: We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.
Narrator: Martha Stewart.
Tyler Durden: Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic. It's all going down, man. So fuck off with your sofa units and Strinne green stripe patterns.

"Self improvement is masturbation. Maybe self destruction is the answer."

"You Have To Be Able To Answer This Question: If You Died Right Now, How Would You Feel About Your Life?"

"If Our Fathers Were Our Models For God. And Our Fathers Bailed What Does That Tell Us About God? Listen To Me. You Have To Consider The Possibility That God Does Not Like You. He Never Wanted You. In All Probability He Hates You. It's Not The Worst That Can Happen To You. Fuck Damnation. Fuck Redemption. We Are God's Unwanted Children So Be It!"

"This Is Your Life, And It's Ending One Minute At A Time"

"-I Say Let Me Never Be Complete
I Say May I Never Be Content
I Say Stop Being Perfect
I Say Deliever Me From Swedish Furniture
I Say Deliever Me From Clever Art
I Say Deliever Me From Clear Skin And Perfect Teeth
I Say You Have To Give Up,   Evolve And Let The Chips Fall Were They May."

"The Things You Own End Up Owning You."

"It's Only After You've Lost Everything Your Free To Do Anything"

~*~

okay I got carried away witht he quotes. Anyone else think of Tyler as thier hero? just curious...