rant · moment 9 of 9
Finding Meaning Beyond Art: Kids, Breaking Bad, and Getting Older
from Pick Your Meat · #83
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minTim pivots into a philosophical riff sparked by an argument about whether Breaking Bad says something about society, arguing that true meaning in life comes from having children and family rather than from art, referencing Churchill and teeing up a mention of Trump and Eric Trump.
- 40:20Tim argues with a friend about Breaking Bad, defending it as a great show against claims it needs to say something universal about society.
- 40:42The meaning you're looking for in art you'll never find there—you find it when you have a baby and wife you love.
- 41:38People at a certain age have to stop looking for everything out of art, because it's not going to be there.
- 42:00Personal growth and the meaning you want won't come through appreciating even the greatest works of art.
- 42:27Historical figures who accomplished things weren't reading Proust in their 40s—they were getting things done, like Churchill bombing shit and building walls in his backyard.
- 43:00Heterosexual men at a certain point have to have kids because it enables deeper joy and makes their life bigger than it was.
- 43:44Looking at a 60 or 65-year-old guy who never got married and never had kids, there's something sad about it.
- 44:17Career trajectory eventually stops going up, and at that point having other elements in your life becomes very important.
- 44:42Everyone listening to this show who doesn't have children should know this section isn't for them.
- 44:55Trump achieved everything—he's rich, he's president, he has phenomenal foreign policy—but if he didn't have Eric Trump, what would it all mean.
Donald TrumpBreaking BadChurchillThe WireThe AmericansEric Trump