Noah's Take -
Once again here in Ch 5 Mark doesn't hold back his punches. Continuing his ideals and opinions about religion and how it affects the humanities. Like usual he starts off the chapter with a story, this time about a fellow named "Nietzche" who is a very controversial man. Mark tells about how Morales could completely change a person's perspective on the world. Live a great easy life with next to nothing ever going wrong, sure, it would be easy to look up at the sky and believe someones up there. However, if you constantly get knocked on your ass and kicked while you're down, a lot of people would have a hard time believing there's anyone up there protecting us at all. Of course it's possible to always keep your head held high, and keep your Morales no matter how may times you get kicked... but that's not as easy to do as everyone tells you it is. And you know it.
Mark then talks about something pretty controversial in a lot of peoples minds, and that's the concept of science versus religion. He points out the fact that science gives people hope through medicine and scientific research. But of course a lot of the religious folk didn't like these ideals due to it taking the spotlight off of the big man. This isn't even a main idea of the chapter, I just really like that Mark is obviously truthful.
Then towards the later half of the chapter, Mark starts really going on about the "Pandora's Box myth which is essentially a Greek version of Adam and Eve. But he uses this story as a way to explain hope as a yin and yang situation. He says quote "Think of it as the yin and the yang of mankind's eternal struggle: everything is always fucked, but the more fucked things become, the more we must mobilize hope to sustain and overcome the worlds fuckedness." Pg 126. Mark has this ideal that sickness will always spread and and the world will never fully heal. But then as long as we spread the cure as well, which he believes to be hope, the world will never truly end.
David's turn -
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Chapter five introduces us to Friedrich Nietzsche. I didn’t know much about this man and Mark tells story in a way that made me feel empathetic as well as admiration for him. Friedrich made a statement,
“God is dead.” This sounds so sacrilege, but the true meaning comes out in the clarification of this statement in the words that were spoken before and after this famous line. I will say that this chapter is a dive into the rabbit hole that I was not ready for. I found some great lines in this chapter – “Talking too much about yourself can also be a means to conceal yourself.” (112) I feel there is truth in this, as many of us exaggerate, boost or lie about ourselves in minor to major statements that gives ourselves an image we want to portray to others and believe to be true. We lie to the point of belief in our own exaggerations.
Mr. Manson tells the brief history of our world from Friedrich's point of view. The formation of master and slave morality leading to perpetual strong emotions, which give us hope. These hopes lead to conflict based just off there opposing viewpoints. (118 – 119) There is so much to digest, and it all made sense to me. I encourage you to read this book and make up your own mind up on Friedrich’s philosophy.
One thing that is pointed out is the conflict that religion runs into with the rise of the scientific revolution. The predictions of conflicts – ideologies built on master and slave moralities, (124) wars, not
being fought for God, but between gods. Those gods being us. (124) Also, I won’t get into the Pandora details, but the Greek gods’ creation of woman, is quite entertaining.
I'll say that this chapter is where this book got its title. The line “hope requires everything being fucked” (127) is where this chapter leads us to, but this is not the end. I really liked the explanation that Hope leads to Truth which must lead to Responsibility. (128 – 129) I plan to apply this reasoning to my life. For me, it’s having the right attitude to take responsibility and put it into action. Going into life with a positive attitude, being kind, and encouraging – this is a big part of what DB Toxic is about. Now, I just hope I don’t get in the way of my own personal growth.