concern Yourself

[Salty]

*******************
Side note:
You fuckers! I've been here, two weeks or so? Yeah. Well, it gets harder to post, especially if I post little conversational things I haven't put a lot of thought into, even more so when I post something that makes me look like an asshole. I feel more exposed, like I have more to lose. Or something. I don't know. I like it here though.
*******************


Step right up and pick a cause, any cause.

Find something to pour your wounded heart into, give it shape, keep it beating.

Make a Difference.

But what difference? What change will you impose? What is your concern?

Is it The Kids? The constant battle with The Man? Women's Rights? Health Care? Maybe just The Injustice Of It All?

Thing is...you have to pick, if you're going to care at all. You may get away moonlighting, but odds are you'll only get so far before burning out. Instinctively, we know this and settle on one or two issues and lay into them. But which to choose? What kind of basis do you decide what's important*?

Why, from your own experiences, of course. After all, why should you march and write letters and donate your weekends to stopping domestic violence unless you or someone you know was the victim of it? Oh, sure, you're not heartless, it's not like you just don't give a shit. But why should it take time out of your schedule, money out of your pocket? Right? And besides, you're giving your time and heart away to another cause, one that's just as important. Right? You can't solve all the worlds' problems, can you?

Nor should you. Too much pressure. You can turn into a real asshole trying to fix everyone and everything. I know.

So while you champion worker's rights or fight substance abuse or want to LEGALIZE IT! or what the fuck ever...

-Children are still starving to death/being beaten to death/neglegted to death/drugged to death/bombed to death/raped to death. Or worse: They're left alive after to grow with hate and bitterness and resentment and turn into, well, people like us. People "worse" than us. Sometimes, people "better" than us.

-Women still make less $ per $ than men, who so far have done a brilliant job on leadership. They're beaten by their lovers and denied healthcare coverage because domestic violence is treated as a pre-existing condition, which is to say not treated at all.  They're sex slaves in every single country. I don't mean sex-workers, I mean slaves.

-Gay people are not just kept from getting married, but kept from renting places to live, kept from employment, kept from walking down the street safely.

And this shit is just in America.

-In Egypt gays are just kept from living.
-In many places the world over women are kept from leading a life with their freedom or genitalia intact.
-Child soldiers, infant atrocities that I can't even type and don't need to.
-And of course, humanity's favorite, Oppression. We just LOVE to be the bigger monkey to as many smaller monkeys as possible. Even in civilized (pah!) society passive aggressive, beaurocratic, authoritative oppression reigns supreme. Even if you're self employed, you still gotta serve somebody.

And, my god, you all know this. You know how fucked up shit is. And yet, no matter what you've seen, odds are, there are people who have seen worse, have lived worse. Have not survived worse.

There is horror, subtle and extreme, at every level of human action. Much in the same way that disease worms its way into every aspect of the human machine, the body; so strong, so complex, yet so delicate and open to the harsh, unrelenting hand of nature. Don't get me wrong, I think there are great things about life and humanity and the fucking sunshine with the rabbits and the pink posies and all that bullshit too. Typically, I only find that when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, completely alone, without a sound that comes from a machine. Yet, I find things worth looking for inside of these vapid, stupid, selfish monkeys as well, but only every now and again. Drops in the bucket.

So, do I suggest that you take your cause and shove it up your ass?

No.

I like people who have something to care about. Even if it's something stupid. Even if it's really, REALLY, just an escape from the horror. Even if it's doing more harm than good (because who the fuck knows one single measure that does the opposite universally? Over-hydration can kill you FFS). Anything, any fucking thing but that slack-jawed, glassy-eyed, strained-neck-and-stooped shoulder look of those god-damned zombies. God DAMMIT how do those people not get the zombie metaphor? How can they not SEE IT? Fucking pisses me off. Sorry, lost track...


I DO want you to pick a cause, any cause, and care about it and defend it and make it your own.

But I DO want you to notice the teeth around your neck while you struggle and flail; and though it may take a long time, I want you to notice that your struggles are in vain. The teeth will snap shut.

Or worse, the teeth might miss and leave your body serene and intact, but your mind scarred forever.

I want that you to know that. That's my cause. Well, one of them.






*It is a constant source of my own amusement that important is TWO letters away from impotent.




Edit: for htmfail and other assorted fail.

[Roaring Biscuit!]

important is two letters away from impotent.

other than that   

pretty good stuff

x

edd

[Salty]

important is two letters away from impotent.

other than that   

pretty good stuff

x

edd

YOU'VE CRUSHED MY AMUSEMENT!
Man, I probably would have gone an awful long time without noticing that.
Thanks!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

*******************
Side note:
You fuckers! I've been here, two weeks or so? Yeah. Well, it gets harder to post, especially if I post little conversational things I haven't put a lot of thought into, even more so when I post something that makes me look like an asshole. I feel more exposed, like I have more to lose. Or something. I don't know. I like it here though.
*******************

I know how you feel.  Except that I stopped caring about looking like an asshole, sometime in 2006/2007.  Best thing that ever happened to me.

Rant your guts up.  The worst thing that can happen is that people laugh at you (which does occasionally happen) or derail your thread.  Then you shrug and write another one.

On to the rant itself, I like it, even if it's a bit naive (though well-written).  Giving A Fuck is a dying art, and anything that encourages it is a plus, especially now that the John Wayne/Hammerhead Shark school of thinking is back in vogue amongst the humans.

[East Coast Hustle]

I liked it.

would read again.

[singer]

It's pretty TFYS.  I think it goes along quite nicely with the whole  "it all goes to shit when the monkeys are bored" thing I have been reading elsewhere around here.

In fact, if I had permission, I might want to print out a few copies to leave strewn about various public places I will be passing through on my next road-trip.

Any objections, Alty?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

A++, highly recommend this rant, would read again.

[Salty]

*******************
Side note:
You fuckers! I've been here, two weeks or so? Yeah. Well, it gets harder to post, especially if I post little conversational things I haven't put a lot of thought into, even more so when I post something that makes me look like an asshole. I feel more exposed, like I have more to lose. Or something. I don't know. I like it here though.
*******************

I know how you feel.  Except that I stopped caring about looking like an asshole, sometime in 2006/2007.  Best thing that ever happened to me.

Rant your guts up.  The worst thing that can happen is that people laugh at you (which does occasionally happen) or derail your thread.  Then you shrug and write another one.

On to the rant itself, I like it, even if it's a bit naive (though well-written).  Giving A Fuck is a dying art, and anything that encourages it is a plus, especially now that the John Wayne/Hammerhead Shark school of thinking is back in vogue amongst the humans.

It took me a good full day to think about the naive bit, and I'm pretty sure I know what you mean. I went out on a limb on this one, trying new things.

As for naivety in general, WHOOOO!, I got THAT in spades. Comes from living inside the glowing box for 10 years*, being pretty distant from the other monkeys, and my family. These people are the reason the term rube was created. I'm like a fucking Libertine in comparison.

It's funny of the things you can pick up, and then fail to notice huge, glaring fuckups. Like the important/impotent thing. I mean, I TYPED OUT BOTH THE WORDS CORRECTLY and yet still managed to make a completely wrong connection.

Thanks for the feedback.


*More on that later.

[Salty]

It's pretty TFYS.  I think it goes along quite nicely with the whole  "it all goes to shit when the monkeys are bored" thing I have been reading elsewhere around here.

In fact, if I had permission, I might want to print out a few copies to leave strewn about various public places I will be passing through on my next road-trip.

Any objections, Alty?

No objections. Pretty damned flattering actually. Just please attribute to A. Alterton and you may not use it for any money making endeavor.*




*AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[typ3]

Most people around here (living in TN) seem too busy giving a shit about keeping their own rut from collapsing than helping an external cause. Does the concept of giving a shit still look as grim from up there? I'm honestly naive about people that are capable of change, beyond filling out an online petition. Unfortunately, I'm keeping my own rut from collapsing now, and couldn't spare the resources to do anything that'd contribute to my personal concerns yet.  

[Salty]

I think it's hard enough for most people to take care of their own rut without shitting on somebody else. Or eating them. In fact, I don't think you can live anywhere (and certainly not the US) without cannibalizing others to a degree.
Kind of like veganism. Sure, you can try but you're still contributing to that which you're trying to avoid whether you like it or not.

[typ3]

Yeah, but I can't help to think that our passive negative impacts are grossly overestimated. We can end up polluting the atmosphere, depleting fossil fuels, create metric fucktons of waste, cause the death of a million trees, and all of that junk. However, the same evolution that has caused this will also cause the ability to handle this mess, easily. Besides that, I doubt any of us cause gays to get massacred on the other side of the world.

As for contributing to good, perhaps people with surplus wealth perfectly capable of change spend on themselves instead of helping others because a sort of spiritual crisis. A la "it's lonely at the top". Anybody that has considerable amount of money has probably abandoned either free time, or true close friends (or born rich and moral-less). The expensive cars, meals, and general excess amount to temporary cures for the spiritual void. The ever blanding luxury serves to accelerate this cycle.

Epicurus said it better, though.

[Kai]

Yeah, but I can't help to think that our passive negative impacts are grossly overestimated. We can end up polluting the atmosphere, depleting fossil fuels, create metric fucktons of waste, cause the death of a million trees, and all of that junk. However, the same evolution that has caused this will also cause the ability to handle this mess, easily. Besides that, I doubt any of us cause gays to get massacred on the other side of the world.

As for contributing to good, perhaps people with surplus wealth perfectly capable of change spend on themselves instead of helping others because a sort of spiritual crisis. A la "it's lonely at the top". Anybody that has considerable amount of money has probably abandoned either free time, or true close friends (or born rich and moral-less). The expensive cars, meals, and general excess amount to temporary cures for the spiritual void. The ever blanding luxury serves to accelerate this cycle.

Epicurus said it better, though.

On this note, I've read studies suggesting that over a certain yearly income (which of course depends on the cost of food and housing in a given location) people don't increase in happiness. This suggests money is only a vehicle to procure survival needs and insofar as that it provides for happiness but above and beyond that it is simply excess.

[LMNO]

Our "fake" needs increase with our ability to aquire them.

For example, I actually needed to make enough money to pay for rent, anywhere.  Once I could do that, I "needed" to make enough for rent in a place that wasn't a shithole.  Once I could do that I "needed" to be able to afford a mortgage.

I currently make enough that I could easily pay the rent of my first one-bedroom bachelor pad, without a second thought, and have enough left over to do anything I wanted.  But comfort has supplanted need.

I must say, I like comfort.  Between my wife and I, "tightening our belts in these economic times" means not going out to dinner as often.



LMNO
-so bourgeois it hurts.

[LMNO]

The point being, if you're not happy with yourself, nothing will ever be good enough.

Even when you escape the oroburos of survival needs, nothing will ever be "enough".