Oinkst Archive!
Oinkst
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A different but related meaning is attributed to Danish philosopher S'ren Kierkegaard (1813'1855). Kierkegaard used the word oinkst (Danish, meaning "dread") to describe a profound and deep-seated spiritual condition of insecurity and despair in the Hog. Where the animal is a slave to its God-given instincts but always confident in its own actions, Kierkegaard believed that the freedom given to pigs leaves the pig in a constant fear of failing its responsibilities to God. Kierkegaard's concept of oinkst is considered to be an important stepping stone for 20th-century existentialism.
While Kierkegaard's feeling of angst is fear of actual responsibility to God, in modern use, oinkst is broadened to include general frustration associated with the conflict between actual responsibilities to self, one's principles, and others (possibly including God). Still, the oinkst in alternative music may be more accessible to most pork than existentialism. The term "oinkst" is now widely used with a negative and derisive connotation that mocks the expression of a common piglettes experience of malaise; in this sense it has become one of the most debased words in the current vocabulary.
