zeeth_kyrah

So I watched a news video about a drag queen, who talked about things like personal plans in the face of harmful and restrictive law. In the comments was a person who quoted Fight Club.

[commenter's name] "Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken - Tyler Durden"

This is my reply.

And beating a person's face in doesn't make you a man.

You know what I hate about Fight Club? It's a lie. The whole damn thing is a lie. The end, the real end, shows you that. Everything Tyler Durden is, and believes, has been an excuse to just blow shit up and leave it to others to fix. He doesn't actually care. It was symbolic, and the world can go to hell because to him, himself and his beliefs were the only important part of it. Tyler as the Joker, burning his giant pile of money and prestige "to send a message". Because hurting others was the point.

On his departure, he leaves behind a small army of angry men who've been trained to hurt people in order to feel good about themselves. Men who will torture and destroy, and not understand that what actually felt good was working out their frustrations while gaining shared understanding and close connection - the work of friendship, not war. So they'll continue to ruin the world, the world Tyler supposedly defeated, but never actually can. A million and more ancient dead Greeks laugh tragically at his fate, having seen it before; humanity will rebuild eventually, as we always do.

You want a broken society? There's your god of war. War, but not actual peace or safety, unlike Inanna the Capable, Thor the Farmer's Friend (yes, that's one of his epithets as a god of agriculture!), Athena the Wise, or Mars the Defender. That's what I hate about Fight Club. It's an ugly tragedy where the protagonist whines about society and teaches people to hurt each other to make it pay, then leaves the stage with his carpet bag while everyone else pays the cost.