Re: Taters, Pills & Blarney: Eat 'Em, SHOVE 'Em, Eat 'Em AGAIN

"Ursula" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Reverend Vertigo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > iDRMRSR wrote:
> > > HP:
> > >
> > >>>snip excellent rant<<
> > >
> > > [snip excellent rant]
> > >
> > > What ARE we, anyhow?
> >
> > Obsessed with convenience and willing to pay a ridiculous price for
it... even
> > our VERY SOULS.
>
>
>
>    No, Reverend, not convenience but rather "things," and the shinier
> the better, to fill our empty souls, to distract us from our one true
> purpose here on earth, which is hard work and accomplishment.

<WHATIFS>

What if I want to slack off, smoke 'frop, and masturbate until my eyeballs
implode?  What if my definition of accomplishment is a damn good pencil
drawing of Eddie from Iron Maiden?  What if it makes my Baptist parents near
suicidal?  What if what I accomplish is entirely not what the family brags
to neighbors and other family?  What if I'm a professional dominatrix or a
talented porn star or an exploding blood packet maker for b-movie special
effects or a first-person-shooter game designer? Does that qualify as hard
work and accomplishment if it's anything resembling fun?  Is it hard work
and accomplishment if an entire section of culture calls my line of fun that
makes money completely useless, and a manifestation of cultural degredation?

</WHATIFS>

>As a
> culture, in forty short years we have been socialized to feel good
> about ourselves without real accomplishment, to see self-esteem and
> accomplishment in material acquisition, as something conferred rather
> than earned.

accomplishment=money?  Of course.  It sucks being poor, especially when the
disregard and scoffing of the institutions of common culture become
self-evident in the face of your poverty.   When you are poor, you don't get
justice, protection, or consideration.  That's America.

There are countries in the world where the accomplishment=money standard is
not nearly as present.  They are the grownup countries.

>
>  We're the
> hamsters in that cage turning that treadmill unaware of who the true
> masters are. The true masters are those who control their own passions
> and gluttony whilst others keep the wheel turning for the benefit of
> those in control of the whole shebang. That's the way the game is
> played, sir, and it's been ever thus.

Passion and gluttony are good things.  I'm passionate about my guitar.  I'm
a glutton for good music.  I'm passionate about my fiance.  I'm a glutton
for his kisses and cuddles and hot sex.  I think what you mean to define
here, is not the need for controlling passions and gluttony, but to STOP
LETTING OTHER PEOPLE TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD WANT, and to PAY ATTENTION to
what actually FEELS GOOD.  If it feels good, do it.  If it doesn't feel
good, don't.  And if it feels so good that you have to do it until you
bleed, then by all means, put on a band-aid and keep going.  Moralistic
definition is useless and stupid when suffering is completely relative; one
person's (food, sex, information, music, drugs etc) orgy is another's empty
heartbreak, one person's music is nails on a chalkboard to another.  It's
useless to dictate to anyone what should be.  Just do what makes sense to
you personally and sod the rest.  Eventually someone will relate and buy you
a pint.

>
>    Go to Las Vegas sometime, stand quietly aside in a large casino,
> observe the madness, reflect on the counting rooms in the basement,
> who's counting the money and whether they themselves gamble, drink,
> screw around with whores, etc. and reflect on the wisdom of what I say
> here. These people have been created by much, much smarter people.
> They're called consumers, and they behave just like hamsters on a
> treadmill.

Only because they do as they're told.

alliekatt




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