Malignantly

1am, 23 September 2009

Homer Simpson, famously:

“To alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

David Foster Wallace, in the essay “e unibus pluram”:

An activity is addictive if one’s relationship to it lies on that downward-sloping continuum between liking it a little too much and really needing it. Many addictions, from exercise to letter-writing, are pretty benign. But something is malignantly addictive if (1) it causes real problems for the addict, and (2) it offers itself as a relief from the very problems it causes.

Hmm.