"The Flies in the Marketplace" in the Modern Age
The Enduring Relevance of Friedrich Nietzsche's Philosophy
We live crowded lives. Whether in public or our own homes, the noise of the outside world always manages to haunt us. In public, we hear the buzz of idle talk, rumors, and gossip. Whether in venues for recreation, places of business, or in the streets, one can hear the trilling of boasts, conceit, and pontification. Even when we retreat into our homes, our digital devices act as windows from which pests buzz through from to the outside world. Thanks to our digital technology, we gaze into an endless environment teeming with limitless opinions, viewpoints, and “truths”.
Like any other material produced by humanity in our present day, most of the mental capital cranked out in the idea factories between human ears are cheap goods, much of which is not even worth a fleeting moment of our time or consideration. Indeed, a great many people, incapable of anything more than half-baked ideas cobbled together from the driftwood that listed upon the shores of their dismal consciousnesses, are responsible for the vast majority of expressed thought. These people, more driven to merely speak than to say something, end up merely filling the air with senseless noise made up of bar-sink sophistry, regurgitated media swill, and bastardized scholasticism. One would be more inclined to think humans are wiser animals if impulsivity and stupidity hurt enough to deter the mass production of cerebral refuse that predominates our social environment.
Luckily, many intelligent and creative minds do have something constructive to say. It may take a little time and good judgment, but they can be found. These are profoundly brilliant and unique people; ones who either advance or constructively alter the way we look at anything from arts and sciences to our most urgent social and philosophical problems. They are few in number, perhaps the rarest of breeds; yet they are vital to human existence. They all share common traits of critical viewpoints, creative solutions to problems, and enough confidence in their convictions to smash resistance and change the world. To invoke the German philosopher, Arthur Shopenhauer, these are not individuals of excellence, who hit targets no one else can reach, but true geniuses — they strike targets no one else can see. Newton, Galileo, Tesla, Da Vinci, etc., are a few of the more well-known historical examples of such people. In fact, when we consider the small cadre of great people who have graced humanity with their brilliance, the rest of the species -those who merely benefit from them - appear as a superfluous rabble, little more than canaille.
Unfortunately, there has always been a certain degree of danger for such people. No, it’s not failure, although many aspiring creatives fall short of real achievements despite their best and noblest efforts. Indeed, there is still honor in failing when one is aspiring to new and greater heights, and this honor is ever more greatly bestowed when their aspirations inspire other great and noble souls to their own strivings toward greatness. In doing so, they nevertheless make the world a much better place. Indeed, any truly healthy, vital, and luminous spirit, acting out its true will, practically guarantees the betterment of the human species upon success in some way.
The true constant and pernicious threat to genuine creative achievement is the allure of the fame and popularity that the masses of fools and imposters offer. There is infinite value in the words of a true and honest philosopher. For one to be so, he must be willing to stand alone and distinct. To be fearless and unmoving in the face of criticism and demands. Yet that seems to easier side of resistance. The greatest threat to any great person, is the compromising offers for wealth and followership. This brings to mind the story in the Gospel where Jesus of Nazareth encountered Satan himself in the desert, who offered him dominion over the entire world on the condition that he submitted to his will –such is an inevitable event all great individuals. At some point, outsiders and interlopers –be it the masses or the moneymen who prey upon them –offer them among us wealth, power, and influence, on the condition that they bend to their will, play their part, and reduce themselves to people-pleasing Charlatans. It was the goal of Satan to bribe Jesus into submission; today, the great temptation is invoked by countless flies that buzz, “sell out”, in every promising ear. These parasites are drawn to the glow of brilliance the way carbon dioxide draws mosquitoes to their victims. In both cases, they only seek to sap the energy of their prospective prey and thereby spread disease.
The influence of the public, close connections, and even mentors threaten to overtake the precious originality of authentic souls and subvert them until they are nothing more than a warped collage of outside opinions. Therefore, they must embrace the belief that the definition of their thoughts requires the unique innovation that only they can bring about. They must develop an intimate understanding of their hearts and souls, and through that power, overcome the corrosive influences pouring into their ears from all directions.
Schopenhauer once stated, “The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.” This continues to be true when we consider the plethora of idiotic streaming programs, facile memes, and half-baked, self-satisfying Facebook rants. Mirroring Schopenhauer’s attitude, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote about the difficulty of great people to stay genuine in his book, Thus Spake Zarathustra. In it, he equates the public arena of our social milieu to a marketplace, which is filled with masses of idle talkers and pestering critics and nags, whom he metaphorically presents as biting flies. Such flies harass great individuals. They envy and resent them, and wish that they would deign to lower themselves to their insectile level. They hope to win them over to their side, abandon their original selves, and sublate themselves into the swarm, thus abandoning themselves and submitting their talents to the whims of these vermin. This hostile environment is what greatness must withstand if it is to flourish and prevail.
Today, this feat is harder than ever. Nietzsche’s “marketplace” has expanded far beyond the streets of commercial districts. It has burst out of traditional delineations, into our living rooms, and even into our pockets. In 2024, there is hardly any point in time where the idle banter and empty preaching of a billion jackasses, charlatans, and snake-oil salesmen cannot be seen or heard through the click of a button. For someone to retain their integrity, one must resist their poisoned offers and hollow praises; one must cast them aside as the refuse they are.
Yes, companies will whisper in any great individual’s ear and say, “We will make you rich if only we may speak our words through your mouth”; They do not value your message; they only seek to steal your credibility. They hope that you will transform into a shadow of yourself, cloaking their will in the veneer of your former originality.
The masses will cry out, “Your words do not echo my own! They do not put me at ease! They are abrasive and make me restless, so your words must be forged from hate and intolerance! You must change your message!” Ignore them, for the masses do not care for the hard truth.
Perhaps holy fools will cry out, “His words come from the pits of Hell itself!” In this case, one can only smile and laugh, because their sanctimonious egos blind them to the irony that it is they who are playing the part of devils.
All of these people only seek to hollow you out, reduce you to a representation of their values, and turn you into their golden calf. Turn from these multitudes, these despisers of truth and themselves! If they hate the truth you write, then write for those few who stand on their own two feet and hunger for it!
The outcry of these influences is persistent and unrelenting, and the more they detect the vitality of these great ones, the more these mosquitoes will thirst for their blood. There is a degree to which the strong and honest can resist, but even the best, if left to the swarms will succumb to these parasites. At that point, the only solution is to disconnect for a time, to “flee into thy solitude” as Nietzsche once put it. From there, one can redouble their strength, consolidate their integrity, and turn their attention to their work without concern for these insects. After all, there is much work to be done, and “it is not thy lot to be a fly flap.”
Outstanding