Regal Cinemas

This is a disgusting world. Can these really be humans that surround me? This is humanity? That is happiness? I feel an impulse to grab them, shake them by their shoulders, and tell them that surely they cannot really be happy; “sir, you know that life is deeper than this, don’t you?” There’s no point denying it – disgust is the only word that comes to mind. Disgust? I sound like Travis Bickle prowling the streets of New York. But if Travis distained the dark and dirty, I am repulsed by the colorful and clean.

“I get along quite well with someone only when he is at his lowest point and has neither the desire nor the strength to restore his habitual illusions,” said Emil Cioran.

That’s what I distain – illusions. A world of spectacular illusion; a whole society built on spectacle.

I like to think the people at work see past the spectacle by virtue of standing outside its reach. I imagine they look at me – just another patron – with distain as well. After all, aren’t I also indulging in the illusion?