a person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.

The word ?bermensch [designates] a type of supreme achievement, as opposed to 'modern' men, 'good' men, Christians, and other nihilists ... When I whispered into the ears of some people that they were better off looking for a Cesare Borgia than a Parsifal, they did not believe their ears.

Nietzche's depiction of two tight-rope walkers suggests two versions of the Fool (Parsifal.) Percival, being one of the knights to find the Holy Grail, represents revelation through being unbound by the past.

Nietzche seems to say that even though his language suggests mystical revelation, he was just being tricky. He spits on mysticism the way he spits on pretty much everything.

Though he seemed to be talking about social evolution, again he was just being tricky. Humanity in general get his spit.

Maybe he's mostly loved because of misinterpretation. There's no "everything's going to be ok" in Nietzche... only thunder.

I think you are right that many people misinterpret him. I think he willfully did not write with the greatest clarity, because if you are not an ?bermensch, he was not writing it for you anyway, so it need not be easy to understand.

I think one of the sources of his popularity comes from "angry young man" types and adolescents who are angry with their parents and the world. If you are dissatisfied with the world, you have found a somewhat kindred spirit in Nietzsche who, as you say, spits on pretty much everything. And, if your parents are religious, what better way to drive them crazy than with statements like "God is dead"? It hardly matters what he meant by it for such purposes. And, of course, he sometimes had a poetic flair, which adds to his appeal.

So N wrote somewhat like a How-to manual. Like "The Idiots Guide to Becoming a Sociopath" Or "Sociopathy for Dummies"?

I've been pondering something economist Lawrence Summers said. He suggested that in our time, the most important actions a government can take to secure the health of its society in the long-term are to shore up the position of the middle-class. In thinking about why this is, this occured to me:

A society with a healthy middle-class is strong for several reasons:

1. When people think opportunity is before them, they love stability. They need social stability so they can see where their opportunities lead. This kind of stability can't be bought with any amount of police force... because it comes from the desires of the people.

2. A healthy middle-class believes in prosperity now and in the future.

3. Stability, prosperity, and communication are the prime ingredients of innovation. These are the conditions in which good ideas come out of people's basements and into the light. One good idea bounces off another... snowballing. Technology offers to release human life from the need for slavery.

4. Where there is opportunity, women have a greater chance to become educated and contribute to their worlds in ways other than childbirth. One feature of the modern "core" nations is that population growth rates are close to zero (in France, it's negative.. or was last time I looked.)

So there appears here a pattern of life that in many ways is self-reinforcing. It's a relatively stable society with zero population growth. Could this pattern become the prevailing pattern of life in our world?

Thinking philosophically, the main obstacle would be this: in societies that enjoy this pattern of life now, secularism is firmly rooted: secured by the need for tolerance. Tolerance is one of the prime virtues in these societies. One could argue that this actually stems from the demand for stability I mentioned. Secularism is a religion-killer. It creates a vantage point from which a religion can be seen from the outside. When people begin to see their religion from the outside, that religion is headed for the museum. Thusly nihilism plagues the societies of the core nations. A pattern of life that comes with built-in nihilism won't become the prevailing pattern of human life. It's not possible.

The Ubermensch, on the other hand, is free of both religion and nihilism. Since he freely creates his own world, one assumes he also creates the pattern that he fits into.