Why Society Wants You to Be Mediocre
To defeat the forces aligned against “those who would be great” Nietzsche offered a sort of “intellectual superpower.”
But there are two great barriers that prevent most folks from wielding Nietzsche’s great weapon …
Barrier #1: The Smear Campaign Against Nietzsche
Both Nietzsche, and his superpower, are widely misunderstood. One might even say they are “unfairly maligned.” (Is this part of “the conspiracy,” too? Ha! Who knows …)
It’s hard to even mention Nietzsche these days without being labeled a Nazi. Yes, Hitler was, in fact, inspired by Nietzsche’s writing. But then, so were hundreds of other intellectuals, artists, leaders, scientists, and philosophers.
What makes this smear so extremely ironic is the influence Nietzsche has had on many Jewish intellectuals and even on the Zionist movement itself.
So, no … reading Nietzsche does not make you a Nazi.
Barrier #2: His Greatest Work is a Notoriously Difficult Read
It’s important to understand that all of Nietzsche’s work is a grand departure from most all other philosophy. Indeed …
“Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far has been: namely, the personal confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir.”
- Nietzsche
Nietzsche had to examine himself with unprecedented clarity to avoid this trap.
What did he discover?
Well, you could trudge through Beyond Good and Evil yourself to find out.
… or …
You can simply take the next 5 minutes to be entertained by our easy-to-read cartoon summary of this inscrutable (but essential) great book (included in the famous Great Books of the Western World set published by Britannica, in fact).
Simpleology Summaries:
Beyond Good and Evil
download now (while it’s free)
WARNING: the “morality” of this book is questionable (inside joke – you’ll get it when you read the summary). You may not agree with the ultimate conclusions, but the foundational ideas are quite liberating. (Especially the first two paragraphs of page 7. These ideas will not only grant you an intellectual superpower, they will also help you understand much of what’s happening in the world today.)
