How do I be more sincere?

There's this movie about a kid who starts being less of a fag when he finds a gun mistakenly sold as a toy. He just carries it around in his pocket knowing that he could kill someone at any moment.

Must be a nice feeling.

Yeah, my inner voice is pretty lame, and I'm very insecure.
I'm 5'4, overweight, mentally ill, and black with a small dick.

I guess insecurity is sincere, but I don't think anybody would like to hear about that.
This thread is on Veeky Forums, but I'm asking because I want to be a rapper, which is seen as some as poetry so I guess being on Veeky Forums isn't completely inappropriate.

Every verse or bar I try to write comes off as insincere and impersonal.

Ladies and gentlemen, a prisoner who has learned to love his cell.

Honestly, I think people are pretty sick of the rich hot badass trope. That's not to say that isn't always going to be there, but I think there's room for more. I disagree that no one would want to hear about insecurity. It's probably the most universally relatable part of the human condition. "Black Stacey" by Saul Williams is pretty simple, but a good example of a song about taking ownership of insecurity. Honest emotion without being whiny or pathetic, vulnerability with sort of an empowerment vibe. That may or may not be helpful, but that's what I've got.

I hate sincere people. I'm in a philosophy department in a flyover state, and I am surrounded by smalltown, "sincere" hicks who go about their lives in an authentic manner yet have the sophistication of a gorilla. Sincerity is raw unadulterated plebianism that lacks the humor and high culture of ironic detachment. Sincere people have bad taste in literature, philosophy, everything. They haven't read Kristeva or Laurelle. They consume garbage pop culture or whatever is on Fox news. These people should be rounded up in labor camps like the Kulaks that they are.

Commit violence sparingly and you will have no reason for insincerity

>is a writer
>hates sincerity
>tfw nosebleed in ivory tower

3/10

death to the enemies of julia kristeva, our queen demands their heads. death and cruelties

we'll fuck up some small-town hicks for laruelle too

>Honest emotion without being whiny or pathetic, vulnerability with sort of an empowerment vibe.
That's the problem, I don't know how to not be whiny or pathetic.
I know that it's very possible that there's a market for sincere hip-hop, I just don't want to be the first to do it.
Others have done it, but not to the degree I would, the only rapper I've ever saw talk about having a small dick was Eminem, and he might've been joking.
I just don't know how to go about it.

Black Stacey is great. I downloaded two or three Saul Williams albums after hearing it and was disappointed no other song was similar.

Comprehend the sublime.

Believe in God.

Don't.

>this

>Believe in God

>implying anyone sincerely believes in God

I sincerely believe in God

Sincerity is boring and so obvious its obscure. I don't understand what DFW's problem with irony was. Irony is the best tool to make a point, because its substitution with one thing for another (or its exaggeration of the thing) is revealed by its contrast.

I'm starting to think DFW was just stupid and couldn't really understand irony to begin with.

such a good post... not

That wasn't an accusation, user, that was a generalization.

Nor an argument.

Check out Silent Knight.

What is your reason for rapping about your small dick? If it's to get it off your chest, then who gives a fuck how it's received? If it's about giving people what they want, it's not sincere.

If it's about giving people what they NEED, are you willing to sacrifice yourself?

Pretend that you already are and start worshiping your ego. Sacrifice everything to sate its hunger.

>lacks the humor and high culture of ironic detachment
That's the part where bait becomes already obvious. 3/10, try better next time.

>DFW
What the fuck has sincerety to do with being DFW? If you are sincere then you are genuine with your feelings and act upon it. How the fuck can you down for whatever then?

Reading sincerity and authenticity by lionel trilling is a good place to start.

Bret pls

Wow, that's a very honest, though opinionated, reflection on our society. I appreciate your frankness.

>I'm starting to think DFW was just stupid and couldn't really understand irony to begin with.

Well, I'm tempted to say you're "just stupid" and not aware or too dull to recognize the effects that constant irony and sarcasm have on the soul

Oh, come on. It's wordplay. We're on /lit./

Of course, I'm not the OP, so maybe they were talking about literal guns. Who knows? Doesn't matter: it's interpretation. We're on Veeky Forums.

Arm yourself. Get good at writing. Show people that you're worth not making fun of. That's how sincerity works. There's nothing to mock if there's nothing to mock. Even if your tone or style or feeling falls on deaf ears, if you can /pull it off/, you can pull it off. Period.

And people will say, "fuck, I really don't like the way that dude shoots. But hell if he doesn't have a god damn gun."

>reading this much into posts on a Guantanaman Chickle-Shitting Forum.

By getting yourself into a weird belt straightening accident involving copious amounts of duct tape.

I mean in literature, user. I'm not saying irony should be primary, but New Sincerity rejects it entirely.

Is this bait?

what was?

DFW was anti-pretension.

For the same reason people say things ironically and then claim that they aren't being ironic.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm not joking. I will actually come into your home and kill you tonight."

etc.

Is that why he killed himself?

>What is your reason for rapping about your small dick?
I wanted to make a song about the expectations of women and the hypersexualization of black men, but that feels lame, impersonal, and insincere too.
Writing songs about just one topic makes me feel like a fraud, even if Kanye does it sometimes.
Most rap songs cover multiple topics in one, in a "free associative" manner, I guess.
>If it's about giving people what they NEED, are you willing to sacrifice yourself?
I want to, but I'm too scared. If I'm honest to the world and unsuccessful than I've accomplished nothing, but embarrassing myself.

>how
>for the same reason
fuckin bullseye of an answer, pal

bump

I don't browse Veeky Forums usually or know anything about guns.

>yfw the point of reading is to interpret, react, respond, and feel what you read, which takes critical thinking
>yfw you don't have the latter

Embarrassment is a reality, yes. Risk it all anyway.

Our words will be hollow if you don't believe in them, and in yourself.

Let us assume that DFW was sincere in his final moments if no other time.

he was a smart guy, he realized the only sincere thing to do in this life is kill yourself. he even said as much in his suicide note, that's why ((((they)))) haven't allowed it to be published. worried it would cause a mass movement of sincere suicide and bring world productivity down 17 percent.

By realizing that sincerity is not about truth but about being truthful to your words.

>the latter half of
These.

>Let us assume that DFW was sincere in his final moments if no other time.
stop trying to talk like you're some educated literary analytic
>he realized the only sincere thing to do in this life is kill yourself
he killed himself because he was depressed, you idiot

Is Meursault sincere?

no he killed himself because he realized his entire life was a lie, he had been unable to escape irony, all the drugs all the audience pussy, all the self help books and self referential novels and pseudo intellectual graduation speeches in the world wouldn't allow him to escape irony but the noose could. so he wrote out his epiphany and climbed up on the chair and did the first and last sincere act of his entire life.

he was so sincere he killed an arab because he felt like it

just b urself desu

Life is better when insincere. I walk into a room filled with my friends, the atomosphere is pregnant with presumed irony at my very existence. I look around, a small grin on my face. "Hey guys". The room erupts with laughter at my potential extremely self referential joke, build up arounds thousands of back and forth previous ironies. Or maybe I'm just walking in a room and saying hi!

Like that Radiohead video eh

desu, you need to be hot.
Imagine fight club, like the film version... but instead of brad pitt playing tyler durden its some random neckbeard. picture him saying all the things that durden says... its suddenly ridiculous. grandiosity... sincerity, anything of that ilk that can be potentially embarrassing... thats only a problem for undesirables, y'dig?

wtf I hate DFW now!?!?!?!

Why?

If I can find a way to say it without sounding whiny, I will.

Yeah, I'm really ugly.

I don't know why people are downvoting you. I think you have a point. I know the sorts of people you're talking about (I think). The sad truth is that the majority of people are extremely gullible. They'll eat up anything if they think it'll signal to their social group that they "intelligent."

>Others have done it, but not to the degree I would, the only rapper I've ever saw talk about having a small dick was Eminem, and he might've been joking.
I honestly can't tell if you're being ironic right now or not.

be reviewbrah
youtube.com/watch?v=OiTuA8FMaME

There's another problem, a lot of times I'm sincere and people think I'm being an asshole or ironic.

>the latter
So just critical thinking then? You suck at insults.

I can't even tell when I'm being ironic or sincere at this point

...

stop

unironically this

Ha

Theres a scene in Infinite Jest with Eric Clipperton where he brings a gun with him to every tennis match he has, leaves it on the court next to his water jug so everyone can see it and would tell people he would blow his brains out of he didnt win

He never lost but following his ranking as number one, Clipperton killed himself

>Reply
no, he literally had the gun to his head while they were playing. Its a reference to the extreme levels of delusion and pity someone needs to experience in order to succeed in our world.

Change it if you feel like it sucks, not because you're worried other people will think it sucks.

>if you feel like it sucks, not because you're worried other people will think it sucks.
I'm not even sure if there's a difference.

DFW wrote characters living in an ironic world bu yearning for the sincere.
Sincerity is humanity, the weakness and vulnerability and reality, the true self that you rarely show to people if at all, the person under the mask.
Irony is good for critique and humor but offers no solutions.
It creates a passionless person living under various layers, incapable and scared of being a human for fear of insult or having to defend something for once.

All of that being said, sincerity to me leads to mediocrity, man children.
Oh, you really do love my little pony and top 40 pop music dont you, arent you special

>It creates a passionless person living under various layers, incapable and scared of being a human for fear of insult or having to defend something for once
How do I overcome this

bump

keep in mind that this is coming from a nearly friendless virgin with severe social problems, but i think that you need to overcome it by being consistent and sure. I believe that overthinking everything exposes contradictions, and if you are constantly trying to work out your own dissonance, you can not very well go about exposing your mind to other people candidly for fear of appearing stupid or pretentious or whatever it is.

I'm not the person you replied to btw

>All of that being said, sincerity to me leads to mediocrity, man children.
>Oh, you really do love my little pony and top 40 pop music dont you, arent you special

What the fuck? What's wrong with you?

Don't ever tell lies, no matter how little.

But if you don't believe any lies (contradictions), then overthinking is only a problem insofar as you could be doing something better with your time. If you're a writer, your job description is half ragged, over-driven experience and half lonely overthinking.

sincerity and self awareness are sexy even if you're sincerely and self awarely a mess

Listen, asshole, nothing can make me attractive.
And you can only be so sincere. Do you know how many times I've been called a pretentious or contrarian for stating my sincere opinion?

90s hip-hop is generally shit.
Hayao Miyazaki is very overrated and his films usually have a terrible third act, Isao Takahata is the true shining star of Ghibli.
DMX is better than Jay Z.
Outkast were better than Biggie and Tupac.
Kill Bill is a shit movie.

what's the point of hiding who you really are from people? if it ends up driving them away then you just saved yourself from the later pain of realizing the fake relationship you had.

What? I fail to understand the correlation.

the wise say " may his speech be pleasing, may he not speak the truth that is unpleasing , and may he not speak the untruth that is pleasing"

>when u really hate irony

>ctrl+f "Christian"
>0 examples

Stupid plebs and atheists.

OP, if you want to become sincere, become a Christian. Honest Christians are sincere all the time, without exerting much effort. We have to be, because we follow God, who tends not to be ironic.

>tfw Tomoko overshadows everything you just wasted your time typing out

should've ctrl+f'd "God", and fuck that.
I'm technically a Christian, I'm just not religious and don't care to be.

what the fuck is Tomoko, you stupid ass?

>claims to be a Christian
>namecalls and judges people who disagree with his worldview

Good one

Then you're doomed to be ironic in this world of meat and shit. Without God there is no sublime, because if you disbelieve God you disbelieve metaphysics and the supernatural. There is no real beauty, because without recourse to metaphysics all beauty is reducible to mere subjectivity. There is no truth, because everything is subjective. There is, in short, no reason NOT to be ironic, because there is nothing that resists irony with everlasting security. It's all opinion, and therefore it can all be lambasted.

So if you don't want to be ironic, you'd best start believing in something supernatural and strange. Otherwise you're doomed to fail like Wallace failed. He broke precisely because he wasn't religious in any sense.