Felix Dexter: 1961-2013

Thank you for everything and for all the LOLZ!!!, Felix, and for giving Fagburn his favourite - and the most profound - phrase of the 21st Century...

"What is point?"

Diogenes, Ravachol, Beckett, Camus, Gramsci, Wittgenstein, Bertrand Russell, Kenneth Williams, Dorothy Parker, Morrissey, Chomsky, Fatso Wilde...
They would have all killed for that line.
It is everything, and it is everything as nothing.
What is point?
x

Fagburn: On Re-Imagining Greek Myths And Considering Their Possible Application Towards The Revolution Of Everyday Life

So Diogenes met Sisyphus,
and Diogenes said; "Give up."

Cynicism: Isn't It Wonderful?

If there's one thing that makes me cynical, it's optimists. They are just far too cynical about cynicism. If only they could see that cynics can be happy, constructive, even fun to hang out with, they might learn a thing or two.
Perhaps this is because I'm 44, which, according to a new survey, is the age at which cynicism starts to rise. But this survey itself merely illustrates the importance of being cynical. The cynic, after all, is inclined to question people's motives and assume that they are acting self-servingly unless proven otherwise. Which is just as well, as it turns out the "study" in question is just another bit of corporate PR to promote a brand whose pseudo-scientific stunt I won't reward by naming. Once again, cynicism proves its worth as one of our best defences against spin and manipulation...

Julian Baggini, The Guardian.

• Illustration shows Diogenes - original cynic and one of Fagburn's heroes - telling a fawning Alexander The Great; "Get out of my fucking sun!"

A brief history of Western philosophy; Socrates > Plato > Aristotle > Diogenes > Fagburn. Fin.

Diogenes: Propaganda Of The Deed

"I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels."

After being caught wanking in the marketplace Diogenes said; "If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate."

Diogenes: Yes

Diogenes - the only honest man in ancient Greece and a founder of the cynics - lived in a wine barrel.
He'd turn his pitcher to face the sun.
Alexander - of Alexander The Great and king of the known world fame - went to meet him.
He asked the D if he had any desires.
Diogenes told him; "Yes. For you to get out of my fucking sun."

• "I have left society, because I cannot endure the evils I see and detest in it."