“Welcome to Nightvale” is a podcast created by Joseph Fink
and Jeffrey Cranor. In the episodes, you are listening to a man Cecil Gershwin
Palmer as he talks on the town’s local radio station. But Nightvale is anything
but normal. Here’s a quote from episode one for you to see the town’s uniqueness:
“A great howling was heard from the Night Vale Post Office yesterday. Postal
workers claim no knowledge, although passersby described the sound as being a
little like a human soul being destroyed through black magic.”
Philosophy Tube: WTNV
Speaking philosophically, this podcast has a lot in common
with the views of Albert Camus. This man proposed the paradox that life is
completely absurd and meaningless, but that does not mean suicide is the
answer. Instead he says it is recognizing the coldness of the universe and simply
accepting it; much like Cecil and the citizens of Nightvale have done. They
have accepted the weird happenings and now call it their norm.
It is because of this that Camus is usually grouped with
Existentialists, because he talks about finding a meaning to life amongst all
the nonsense. He writes about The Myth of
Sisyphus, which is about a man who has to roll a boulder up a hill every
day, only to watch it roll back down to do it all again tomorrow. Despite this
meaningless act, Sisyphus acts this as his norm and finds happiness in that.
Camus makes the philosophical statement:
Thus I draw from the absurd three consequences, which are my
revolt, my freedom, and my passion. By the mere activity of consciousness I
transform into a rule of life what was an invitation to death, and I refuse
suicide….”Revolt” here refers to the refusal of suicide and search for meaning
despite the revelation of the Absurd; “Freedom” refers to the lack of
imprisonment by religious devotion or others' moral codes; “Passion” refers to
the most wholehearted experiencing of life, since hope has been rejected, and
so he concludes that every moment must be lived fully.
This is exactly what Cecil has done in “Welcome to Nightvale.”
He accepts the absurdities that go on in the town and in fact is very whimsical
and optimistic towards the whole ordeal. He even finds love throughout the entire
mess.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism)
Welcome to Nightvale EP 1
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