More Fun Than You Really Wanted, part III of V

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Tucson is full of drones.

I don't mean the predator, etc, sky drones, I mean people who spend their entire lives accomplishing nothing.  They have no skills, either because they went to some remnant school in Central Filth or the Hive District, or because they were raised in Oro Valley or the Foothills, and went through their lives until about age 25 not believing that they'd need skills.  Everything up to that point was always handed to them, and they didn't believe in their gut that it would ever actually stop.

Hell, the entire town of Marana is composed of drones.

Some of you may remember Von Melee and Nurse Mayhem, from this very board.  They are essentially human tapeworms...They find a host, move right in, and then live off of their host for as long as possible, until the host is destroyed by the drain on resources (Much of which is wasted...Food prepared and then left to rot because the fridge is a whole 8 feet away, etc), the dismal atmosphere of useless indolence exuded by the pair...and the crust of filth that is generated by both of them, as they are not only too lazy to pick up after themselves, but also too innured to raw garbage to care.

They're pretty much a worst-case scenario, of course.  Most of the drones in Tucson do something, but don't seem to actually accomplish anything.  Maybe 20 hours a week flipping burgers, or whatnot...And there's no shame in that, if it's keeping body and soul together.  The difference between a drone and someone trying to get a leg up from the bottom is this:  The drone makes no effort to rise above the minimum wage, etc, that allows them to veg in front of the TV or the game console.

And when they ARE presented with an opportunity, they sabotage it, both because they're afraid of success and because the opportunity might involve doing some work beyond mindlessly dropping the fry basket at Wendy's. 

Oh, they'll tell you all about their plans, of course.  They'll tell you about the Great American Novel they're going to write, or the art they're going to do, or the courses they're going to take at Pima Community College...But, of course, that's later.  Right now, they feel like shit...And, besides, they have to finish the Wii game they're playing for the 8th time.  Lots of talk, but nothing ever gets done, and woe betide anyone who swallows their shit long enough to get roped into getting involved with them on one of the projects that they will never actually complete (or even properly begin).

The real problem this presents is that it's not just limited to Tucson.  There's two whole generations running around with no ambition.  Eventually, reality will come round and settle accounts.

And they'll take you down with them.

Or Kill Me.

[Phox]

Tucson is full of drones.

I don't mean the predator, etc, sky drones, I mean people who spend their entire lives accomplishing nothing.  They have no skills, either because they went to some remnant school in Central Filth or the Hive District, or because they were raised in Oro Valley or the Foothills, and went through their lives until about age 25 not believing that they'd need skills.  Everything up to that point was always handed to them, and they didn't believe in their gut that it would ever actually stop.

Hell, the entire town of Marana is composed of drones.

Some of you may remember Von Melee and Nurse Mayhem, from this very board.  They are essentially human tapeworms...They find a host, move right in, and then live off of their host for as long as possible, until the host is destroyed by the drain on resources (Much of which is wasted...Food prepared and then left to rot because the fridge is a whole 8 feet away, etc), the dismal atmosphere of useless indolence exuded by the pair...and the crust of filth that is generated by both of them, as they are not only too lazy to pick up after themselves, but also too innured to raw garbage to care.

They're pretty much a worst-case scenario, of course.  Most of the drones in Tucson do something, but don't seem to actually accomplish anything.  Maybe 20 hours a week flipping burgers, or whatnot...And there's no shame in that, if it's keeping body and soul together.  The difference between a drone and someone trying to get a leg up from the bottom is this:  The drone makes no effort to rise above the minimum wage, etc, that allows them to veg in front of the TV or the game console.

And when they ARE presented with an opportunity, they sabotage it, both because they're afraid of success and because the opportunity might involve doing some work beyond mindlessly dropping the fry basket at Wendy's. 

Oh, they'll tell you all about their plans, of course.  They'll tell you about the Great American Novel they're going to write, or the art they're going to do, or the courses they're going to take at Pima Community College...But, of course, that's later.  Right now, they feel like shit...And, besides, they have to finish the Wii game they're playing for the 8th time.  Lots of talk, but nothing ever gets done, and woe betide anyone who swallows their shit long enough to get roped into getting involved with them on one of the projects that they will never actually complete (or even properly begin).

The real problem this presents is that it's not just limited to Tucson.  There's two whole generations running around with no ambition.  Eventually, reality will come round and settle accounts.

And they'll take you down with them.

Or Kill Me.

[Adios]

This makes me want to shut down the national electrical grid. More than normal.

[Richter]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

[Adios]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

[Richter]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

Neither am I.  some people start beign motivated, directed folks and fall off it, others are jsut born to udnerachieve, it seems.  I think it's one of those poorly understood bits of community nature.  Some will give up on keeping up with everyone else and just subsist at their own level. 

Ice floes is attractive, but I can see problems with the decision making on that, and the subsequent cheaping of human life it implies

[LMNO]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

There's a physical law of some sort that says a gas will expand to whatever boundries contain it.  That is, oxygen won't stay only in the lower left side of a balloon, it will move to fill it.  And if you increase the volume, the gas will increase to fill it.  Not consciously, of course, but because the oxygen molecules are flying around everywhere.

Ok, so now let's make a crappy metaphor: Our ambition is a gas, and our belief is the container.

Your ambition will naturally expand to fill whatever roles we believe are possible.  But "belief" goes deeper than the frontal lobes.  It has to go all the way back into the primary limbic system, the "lizard brain", the part of the mind where there are only things to eat, and things that eat you.  It's all well and good to say, "This is America; anything is possible!"  But it's so much harder to believe that.  And so, people expect the world to conform to their wishes, instead of expanding what they believe the world to be, and rising to meet it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

Neither am I.  some people start beign motivated, directed folks and fall off it, others are jsut born to udnerachieve, it seems.  I think it's one of those poorly understood bits of community nature.  Some will give up on keeping up with everyone else and just subsist at their own level. 

Ice floes is attractive, but I can see problems with the decision making on that, and the subsequent cheaping of human life it implies

I'm not suggesting we return to that practice, any more than I'm suggesting we go back to any other practices of my youth, such as chasing Irishmen out of town for kicks, or beating on derelicts with burlap sacks full of pig iron¹.  I'm just pointing out the facts.



¹ Though I still think it's okay to do it occasionally, out of nostalgia.

[Adios]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

Neither am I.  some people start beign motivated, directed folks and fall off it, others are jsut born to udnerachieve, it seems.  I think it's one of those poorly understood bits of community nature.  Some will give up on keeping up with everyone else and just subsist at their own level. 

Ice floes is attractive, but I can see problems with the decision making on that, and the subsequent cheaping of human life it implies

I'm not suggesting we return to that practice, any more than I'm suggesting we go back to any other practices of my youth, such as chasing Irishmen out of town for kicks, or beating on derelicts with burlap sacks full of pig iron¹.  I'm just pointing out the facts.



¹ Though I still think it's okay to do it occasionally, out of nostalgia.

We used to throw out a couple of handfuls of quarters and let the bums beat the hell out of each other fighting over them.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

There's a physical law of some sort that says a gas will expand to whatever boundries contain it.  That is, oxygen won't stay only in the lower left side of a balloon, it will move to fill it.  And if you increase the volume, the gas will increase to fill it.  Not consciously, of course, but because the oxygen molecules are flying around everywhere.

Ok, so now let's make a crappy metaphor: Our ambition is a gas, and our belief is the container.

Your ambition will naturally expand to fill whatever roles we believe are possible.  But "belief" goes deeper than the frontal lobes.  It has to go all the way back into the primary limbic system, the "lizard brain", the part of the mind where there are only things to eat, and things that eat you.  It's all well and good to say, "This is America; anything is possible!"  But it's so much harder to believe that.  And so, people expect the world to conform to their wishes, instead of expanding what they believe the world to be, and rising to meet it.

1.  Robert Boyle was a filthy, whiskey-swilling potato-sucker that regularly beat his wife with a peasant, and nothing he said can be taken seriously.

2.  And I think it's more that the chickenshit-to-Johnny Cash ratio in America is very high, and as a result, many people just wimp out, because they'd rather be a drone than to try and fail.

[Richter]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

Neither am I.  some people start beign motivated, directed folks and fall off it, others are jsut born to udnerachieve, it seems.  I think it's one of those poorly understood bits of community nature.  Some will give up on keeping up with everyone else and just subsist at their own level. 

Ice floes is attractive, but I can see problems with the decision making on that, and the subsequent cheaping of human life it implies

I'm not suggesting we return to that practice, any more than I'm suggesting we go back to any other practices of my youth, such as chasing Irishmen out of town for kicks, or beating on derelicts with burlap sacks full of pig iron¹.  I'm just pointing out the facts.



¹ Though I still think it's okay to do it occasionally, out of nostalgia.

If I'm following right: add social pressure to keep up your own end, and not jsut scrounge?  I'm down with that.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Do it.  I can work with this.

OP:  ...and there, but for the grace of "Bob", go us.

Not so sure about that.  I've known people that started off with nothing and clawed their way into a life they enjoy, and I've known people who started with every advantage, and pissed it away.

It's a personality type, I think, and since we stopped sticking useless people on ice floes, they have multiplied.

Neither am I.  some people start beign motivated, directed folks and fall off it, others are jsut born to udnerachieve, it seems.  I think it's one of those poorly understood bits of community nature.  Some will give up on keeping up with everyone else and just subsist at their own level. 

Ice floes is attractive, but I can see problems with the decision making on that, and the subsequent cheaping of human life it implies

I'm not suggesting we return to that practice, any more than I'm suggesting we go back to any other practices of my youth, such as chasing Irishmen out of town for kicks, or beating on derelicts with burlap sacks full of pig iron¹.  I'm just pointing out the facts.



¹ Though I still think it's okay to do it occasionally, out of nostalgia.

If I'm following right: add social pressure to keep up your own end, and not jsut scrounge?  I'm down with that.

1.  No, mostly I just want to abuse people, and

2.  Keeping up your own end, yes.  Nobody has to run out and try to be the next Bill Gates...That isn't my point.  My point is that people should DO something before they die, and that - for their own sake - they should at least TRY to support themselves.  I know people that are broke as hell, but who DO things - real, measurable things - that make these people an integral part of society...And I know trustafarians who don't have to work because they're sitting on a fat stack of cash, who are essentially nothing more than parasites.

[Richter]

1.  No, mostly I just want to abuse people, and

2.  Keeping up your own end, yes.  Nobody has to run out and try to be the next Bill Gates...That isn't my point.  My point is that people should DO something before they die, and that - for their own sake - they should at least TRY to support themselves.  I know people that are broke as hell, but who DO things - real, measurable things - that make these people an integral part of society...And I know trustafarians who don't have to work because they're sitting on a fat stack of cash, who are essentially nothing more than parasites.

1.   Doing unto others as it seems funny to do is a valuable service.

2.  ...and amen to that!

[Whatever]

We have come to the age of "because you owe me" that's why.  Where this has come from is very simple, we stopped making life difficult.  In today's world the very whisper of a lawsuit can shut something down quicker than trying to have sex in an ice bath, so many things that used to require an actual effort, in this day require little more than the click of a mouse, if that.

We've stopped teaching our new generation that the whole idea is to work hard, play hard and love even harder.  The only part they even begin to comprehend is play and how hard is the play when you're sitting on your ass with a controller in your hand?  So yeah, you learn to shoot hos and steal badass cars and if you plug in the cheats your car can fly.  The fact that cheating in real life used to get you in jail, now, you get to go into politics.

Oh no, it hurt when you got hit with that rubber ball during a game of dodgeball.  We must ban its play from the entire school system.  Awww your poor little feelings got hurt because you were picked last for kickball (the fact that you kick like an anorexic girl and run slower than moss grows aside) we have to stop letting people have choices and just divide everyone down the middle.

This entire generation coming of age has had everything insulated for them.  If you think the current groups of 20-40 somethings are drones, just wait till these 90's babies start entering the real world.  They've bumped it a notch, they're drones with an attitude of self worth that is not based on actual ability or achievement but a bunch of lies they've been told so their wittle feelings won't be hurt.  

You can only rise above and make something of yourself if there have been challeges put in your path so you can learn how to rise above, otherwise, you stand at that wall and one of two things happen.  You discover the strength within you to do what must be done and climb over, burrow under or blow a fucking hole in it but you get by the wall, or you walk away and say "Fuck it! I'm going to go home and play Grand Theft Auto and eat cheetos!"