Plutonomy: A Leaked Citibank Memo

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Maybe there's a massive unconscious realization that the system has chosen its course and nothing is going to stop it from running that course. Maybe everyone, whether they think so or not, is just waiting for the inevitable collapse so they can start over.

If I were completely cynical, if I had given up completely on the thought of a real change for the better, I'd say Obama's purpose was exactly to show off just how powerless and meaningless a huge movement for change really is these days. Good thing I'm not that cynical.

[Captain Utopia]

The "huge movement for change" died with Obamas inauguration, did it not?

[Cain]

Anyone who thinks the current status quo will simply fizzle away without any form of violence is UTTERLY INSANE and historically unaware.  But mostly the former.

FFS, even the Saddam loyalists in Iraq took to the street with car bombs and RPGs, and Saddam ruled a dusty patch of earth with a river running through it.  What do you think happens when TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS and global hegemony is at stake?  Yeah, I'm sure Goldman Sachs, Xe, Dyncorp, BP and the rest will roll over and play dead.  It's not like they've deposed regimes or run death squads before, right?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

It would say, in shaky handwriting, YOUR handwriting: "Don't mess with time travel".

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well the irony is that they voted him in expecting him to take care of everything by himself.  If there was a progressive arm with the energy and commitment of The Tea Party,

Un, the Tea Party fizzled this spring...About the time the media got sick of them, and they learned the horrible truth that the liberals took 35 years to learn.

The only point I was trying to make is that in our current environment, where it has never been easier to form groups, it also devalues the assumed meaning we have historically granted large organised movements.  The Tea Party is the perfect example of this, regardless of their current political fortunes.  In the same way that the first few large internet petitions may well have carried more weight, before the system adapted to the new political reality which technology enabled.

Which Horrible Truth are you thinking of?

1.  It's so easy to form groups now that the groups are all small and ineffective.  And silly.  Factionalism is a funny thing.

2.  The fact that protesting doesn't work anymore, because nobody's paying attention.  After a while, they realize that they're the only ones buying the hype.  Did you see the numbers for the last teabagger rally?  Likewise, the Gay Pride day I witnessed on Boston Common was exuberant and well organized...but SMALL.  And there were many signs being held that showed that even a relatively small group as that couldn't stay on message.

The main gathering occurred after you had headed back to Providence, and was quite large outside City Hall.

Edit: By which I mean, it occurred the next day.

[Template]

i wonder what the constitution would have been like if it had been written by discordians.

Wonder what it would have been like if it hadn't been written by Discordians!

[Kai]

We can't possibly beat the plutonomy. There is no way I as an individual can wrench that control away, even by voting; the plutocrats have a xanatos gambit on party politics.

Instead, I think of this more like a tribe in the forest, with the assholes at the top supplying the dangers all around. How do I survive in a dangerous forest of plutocracy?

1. Cultivate cohesive community, on the small scale. None of this anarchist/libertarian "every man for himself" bullshit. A community of like minded individuals who help each other in need and are aware of the dangers can survive where an individual would be ground to bits.

2. Think for yourself. Yes, as Discordians we should be doing that anyway. New situations require new techniques and new tools. And as the plutocrats want to push me into a box/herd and guide me along a path that gives them the highest payout, I should (to my benefit) limit the messages that prime my mind into their want. Not watching television, for example. So much out there is a trap. How do we avoid traps?

3.  Learn skills. How do you survive in /this/ forest? What skills will get me out of danger? And I'm not talking about how to interview or balance a checkbook, but the skills we need to manipulate the hell out of the system from day to day. And stay the hell out of trouble in the process. AND, we should be teaching these to each other.

4. Cultivate self control. Probably the most important thing. Without self control, resetting priorities is impossible. A person without self control will endlessly fall back into old habits.

[Doktor Howl]

i wonder what the constitution would have been like if it had been written by discordians.

Wonder what it would have been like if it hadn't been written by Discordians!

THIS.  That whole crowd was a pack of freaks.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

We can't possibly beat the plutonomy. There is no way I as an individual can wrench that control away, even by voting; the plutocrats have a xanatos gambit on party politics.

Instead, I think of this more like a tribe in the forest, with the assholes at the top supplying the dangers all around. How do I survive in a dangerous forest of plutocracy?

1. Cultivate cohesive community, on the small scale. None of this anarchist/libertarian "every man for himself" bullshit. A community of like minded individuals who help each other in need and are aware of the dangers can survive where an individual would be ground to bits.

2. Think for yourself. Yes, as Discordians we should be doing that anyway. New situations require new techniques and new tools. And as the plutocrats want to push me into a box/herd and guide me along a path that gives them the highest payout, I should (to my benefit) limit the messages that prime my mind into their want. Not watching television, for example. So much out there is a trap. How do we avoid traps?

3.  Learn skills. How do you survive in /this/ forest? What skills will get me out of danger? And I'm not talking about how to interview or balance a checkbook, but the skills we need to manipulate the hell out of the system from day to day. And stay the hell out of trouble in the process. AND, we should be teaching these to each other.

4. Cultivate self control. Probably the most important thing. Without self control, resetting priorities is impossible. A person without self control will endlessly fall back into old habits.

1. Set up a group of people. Hold regular meetings, say, once or twice a week. At these meetings, share stories of personal experience within this dangerous "forest," both good and bad, to keep others aware of the dangers and to give them the motivation to meet the challenges they face.

2. Draw from the experiences of other people in your group and look for patterns in the methods used to trap and punish people who buck the system. Keep a running log of events, and convene a group of people who draw on these data to offer advice and guidance to those seeking it.

3. Compile a list of behaviors that are known to help. Include stern warnings for failing to adhere to the list. Educate young people in these behaviors. Help the entire group to stay vigilant by having them admit when they have failed. Share new knowledge with the group.

4. Establish a set of easy-to-remember poems or anagrams that might help to both focus on the goal of staying out of the system and divert attention from the system. Have a few people on the lookout for traps set up by the system and proactively help people in the group from falling into them.




sorry, i know i'm being counterproductive... just ignore me

[Kai]

There are evolutionary reasons for religion. Just saying.

[Doktor Howl]

There are evolutionary reasons for religion. Just saying.

Yeah.  Poor old flat-footed, short-sighted Oog hardly gets anything to eat because he can't hunt worth a damn, and can't get laid because he isn't big and virile like that bastard Alley Oop, so he thinks to himself, old Gronk is due to recover from her cold any day now, so I'll just use some...um...MAGIC STONES to "cure" her.  Presto, he's a shaman, gets the pick of the grub, and gets to mate after all.

Which explains where Pentacostals come from.

And that, boys and girls, is also how the "priest meme" first began, only backwards.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Religion is also the closest thing (in the West, that I'm aware of) to a complete economic model that exists alongside but is not completely dependent on the mainstream economy. These are groups of people that (at least have to potential to) assist one another regardless of each other's standing in the mainstream economy,  who have developed (atrophied) systems for communal wealth and labor, and who would be among the most able to persevere in the event of a complete economic collapse (or an absolute plutocratic dictatorship).

[Kai]

Sometimes it is so damn frustrating interacting with you people.

[Doktor Howl]

Sometimes it is so damn frustrating interacting with you people.

Um, wut?   

[Kai]

Sometimes it is so damn frustrating interacting with you people.

Um, wut?   

So our human intelligence evolved as a direct result of selection on 2C scheming. Does that mean that our intelligence is bad? The same thing for religion; it evolved via group selection because it had some survival benefits and added to group cohesiveness. There are bad aspects to it, but that doesn't mean that religion in essence is bad, no more than intelligence is bad.

Can't we talk seriously about this stuff? I'm not trying to rag on you or vex, I am just frustrated, wanting to change at least my life and help the lives of those I care about.