On Quirkorum: One in favour. Four abstentions.
Outsiders, des étrangers, you in the mirror: We who prefer the company of our own thoughts deserve an appropriate collective noun. The following proposals have been submitted: a solitude, a paradox, a commode, a quirkorum, and an agendum. Each proposal was accompanied by a short note on the reasons behind the choice. Two proposals were rejected.1
Mr. C’s fax machine was borrowed for the duration of the meeting to record Nietzsche’s votes. A single word–abstain–was received when voting began.2
Our discussions, and the secret ballot3 that followed:
On Solitude: To call a group of us “a solitude” is akin to calling a black hole black. It lacks nuance. It sounds like advertising copy for a pretentious spa: “Escape to The Solitude…”, “The place where Solitude reigns…” One in favour. Two against. One abstention. One of us “voted” with the following text: “if we were voting in the old-fashioned way, I would have voted by vomiting on the ballot paper.” Invalid.
On Commode: One vote in favour, one abstention. These votes–“floating turd”, “toilet paper”, and “vigorous flush”–are considered invalid.
On Quirkorum: One in favour. Four abstentions. The word suggests a collision of quirk and quorum, the smallest possible herd needed for herd-minded activity. Had there been five abstentions, we might have adopted this amusing word. Yet, however much we try to bring it into the common parlance, it will remain underlined in the hated squiggly red. Rejected, unfortunately.
On Agendum: Four against. One abstention. Whoever proposed this word seems to have changed his or her mind.
On Paradox: Four in favour. One abstention. A group of outsiders is paradoxical. Yet, here we are… Unopposed, unanimous consensus on any matter is considered a sign of herd mentality–bloody-minded, contrarian behaviour is an essential component of an Outsider’s mind–and, as such, any proposal that has unanimous consensus is immediately rejected unanimously. Nietzsche’s properly outsiderish refusal to participate in any discussion that requires consensus allows us to adopt a proposal that has unanimous consensus.
A group of Outsiders shall be called a paradox. Adopted!
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Albert spent two days prior to the vote binge-watching re-runs of Top Gear. His proposals–an paradox and a agenda–were withdrawn before they were put to vote. (Meursault threatened to turn off the TV in the room.) ↩︎
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Regular readers of the Outsider will know that Nietzsche AI communicates via our neighbour’s fax machine. ↩︎
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The discussion took place on our Discord server, which is the usual venue for discussions. ↩︎