2017: the Year of Nothing

One of the running gags in David Foster Wallace’s masterwork Infinite Jest is the idea of raising government revenue through corporate sponsorship for each calendar year.  It starts auspiciously with the Year of the Whopper, which is followed by the Year of Tucks Medicated Pad, with succeeding sponsors including Perdue Wonderchicken, Depends Adult Undergarments, etc. etc. 

With a Republican majority preparing to take control of Congress and a licensing wunderkind about take up residence in the White House it seems as if Wallace’s vision may be on the brink of becoming a reality at last.

That’s part of the reason I have decided to steal a march on the new administration by preemptively declaring 2017 as the Year of Nothing.

And how should we ready ourselves for this Year of Nothing?  It marks an occasion for us to clear our palates and declutter our lives.  Less is the new more.  With the proliferation of fake news and the dearth of real news, it’s a good time to turn off the television and let the newspapers pile up by the front door.  I’ve heard something similar from many friends in recent days – in fact, ever since November 8^th many of us are opting to remain studiously uninformed. Tuning out seems to be a sensible and increasingly popular choice in light of the hopeless corruption of our public discourse.

But this doesn’t mean that we must retreat into solipsism and despair.  Starting out the New Year by looking inward and contemplating nothing, it is very possible that the upcoming Year of Nothing will provide us with a much-needed collective fresh start.  Nothing may turn out to be quite as refreshing or restorative as nothing – particularly for those of us who have been inundated by the sound and fury of the recent election and accompanying media storm. 

So best wishes to all of you in the Year of Nothing.  And in the spirit of the great George Gershwin, as we embrace plenty of nothing, I hope all this nothing turns out to be bountiful and fulfilling indeed.  

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Addendum:  I would also like to briefly mention that my postings to this blog will be diminished in the coming months, in part as the result of my new writing project, which is a new book with the working title The Little Book of Nothing.   Now instead of just doing and thinking about nothing, I have decided to try and make proper account of myself, and perhaps give a lie to Shakespeare at the same time, by proving that a little something may come out of all this nothing after all.