David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace's Opinions

Religion Is suicide morally acceptable? Agree All this business about people committing suicide when they're "severely depressed;" we say, "Holy cow, we must do something to stop them from killing themselves!" That's wrong. Because all these people have, you see, by this time already killed themselves, where it really counts. ... When they "commit suicide," they're just being orderly. They're just giving external form to an event the substance of which already exists and has existed in them over time. Edit Pitches 01 Jan 1984    Source Does God exist? Agree There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship -- be it JC or Allah, bet it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles -- is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. Edit Pitches 21 May 2005    Source

Art Is "good" art purely subjective? Disagree And I think it's impossible to spend that many slackjawed, spittlechinned, formative hours in front of commercial art without internalizing the idea that one of the main goals of art is simply to "entertain" give people sheer pleasure. ... I think TV promulgates the idea that good art is just art which makes people like and depend on the vehicle that brings them the art. The Mob Pitch   Edit Pitches 01 Jun 1993    Source Can art be defined? Agree In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it. Edit Pitches 01 Jun 1993    Source Democracy Is politics a waste of time for ordinary citizens? Mostly Disagree My own plan for the coming fourteen months is to knock on doors and stuff envelopes. Maybe even to wear a button. To try to accrete with others into a demographically significant mass. To try extra hard to exercise patience, politeness, and imagination on those with whom I disagree. Also to floss more. Edit Pitches 01 Nov 2003    Source

Comparisons with Other Experts and Influencers

The similarity between David Foster Wallace and each expert and influencer is calculated by looking at how the same questions were answered. These figures are used to calculate conforming, nonconforming, and projected opinions. The accuracy of the analysis depends on David Foster Wallace's coverage, which grows with the number of their opinions entered into TakeOnIt.

Conforming Opinions

David Foster Wallace's conforming opinions are opinions that align with the group of experts and influencers David Foster Wallace typically agrees with.

Projected Opinions

David Foster Wallace's projected opinions are opinions David Foster Wallace is expected to have if their opinions align with the experts and influencers that they typically agree with.