Cops gone wild

[P3nT4gR4m]

We're on the subject of how things should be, again.

I prefer to focus on how things are.

Yeah, sure, if everybody stood up en masse and said "enough is enough" all the oppression and shitheadedness in the world would just stop, same as it would if I found a genie in a magical lamp.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I have to contend with a whole bunch of wrong things like filth who will stab you sooner than look at you, government who will screw you sooner than look at you and a finite life expectancy, regardless of how many fun habits I give up.

Fuck if I care what the filth get up to. Long as I'm where they aren't I'm golden. Problem solved.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

We're on the subject of how things should be, again.

I prefer to focus on how things are.

Yeah, sure, if everybody stood up en masse and said "enough is enough" all the oppression and shitheadedness in the world would just stop, same as it would if I found a genie in a magical lamp.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I have to contend with a whole bunch of wrong things like filth who will stab you sooner than look at you, government who will screw you sooner than look at you and a finite life expectancy, regardless of how many fun habits I give up.

Fuck if I care what the filth get up to. Long as I'm where they aren't I'm golden. Problem solved.

Sometimes, having an idea of how things SHOULD be is useful in terms of social reform.

I actually believe in trying to change things for the better, and complaining about shit that isn't right is a good start. See: Civil Rights movement.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There is a HUGE gap between "unattainable utopian ideals" and "addressing injustice". I'm not really big on the "just lie down and accept it" approach to institutionalized injustice. We wouldn't have made the progress we HAVE made, if people didn't fight for it. Women would be still powerless, blacks would still be slaves, or at least unable to own property, gay people would still be hanged.

So, you know, go fuck yourself and all that.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah, Turkey thread got me thinking. Maybe we, as a collective, aren't quite past the point of kicking the powermongers into touch after all. Still no fucking idea how to rouse the masses, tho. Not my forte. Maybe incidents like this are part of the process of telling the law - "fuck you we're sick of your bullshit" All the kids make a point of telling them where to get off and they run out of batons and mace or something.

You're right, tho. It's happened in the past. I'm just one of those lucky bastards who's never been successfully oppressed before. I forget that sometimes.

[Doktor Howl]

Yeah, Turkey thread got me thinking. Maybe we, as a collective, aren't quite past the point of kicking the powermongers into touch after all. Still no fucking idea how to rouse the masses, tho. Not my forte. Maybe incidents like this are part of the process of telling the law - "fuck you we're sick of your bullshit" All the kids make a point of telling them where to get off and they run out of batons and mace or something.

You're right, tho. It's happened in the past. I'm just one of those lucky bastards who's never been successfully oppressed before. I forget that sometimes.

Sure you have.   You just did it to yourself.

Observe:

Fuck if I care what the filth get up to. Long as I'm where they aren't I'm golden. Problem solved.

Getting away with things you should be able to do isn't the same as being free to do them. 

Also:

You say basic rights. I say pie in the sky fairy stories.

That is the language of the beaten.

Lastly:

When confronted by the authorities you should immediately apologise politely for whatever it was that got their panties in a knot. And assure them it won't happen again.

That is the tactic of a slave.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Whilst I disagree with the last one - it's the language of the tactician - I gotta confess that the others sound about right

Having a shithead day apparently. Just ignore me. I'll get it sorted asap.

[Left]

gay people would still be hanged.

Lobotomies were popular in the 50's.
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/07/lgbt-history-the-decade-of-lobotomies-castration-and-institutions.html

Yup, we auto-oppress.
But I did get my ass kicked by Houston's finest in 1992, Republican National Convention, and in the build-up to Iraq war two, I got put in a cop car for hanging a banner over a freeway.

...After being unable to stop that clusterfuck of a war, I sort of gave up on giving a shit.

[Doktor Howl]

gay people would still be hanged.

Lobotomies were popular in the 50's.
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/07/lgbt-history-the-decade-of-lobotomies-castration-and-institutions.html

Yup, we auto-oppress.
But I did get my ass kicked by Houston's finest in 1992, Republican National Convention, and in the build-up to Iraq war two, I got put in a cop car for hanging a banner over a freeway.

...After being unable to stop that clusterfuck of a war, I sort of gave up on giving a shit.

There wasn't any stopping that war.  The American public demanded it, or at least 81-87% of them, depending on who you ask.

[Doktor Howl]

Also, the peace movement as a whole in 2002-2005 was a rancid fucking joke.

[Left]

gay people would still be hanged.

Lobotomies were popular in the 50's.
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/07/lgbt-history-the-decade-of-lobotomies-castration-and-institutions.html

Yup, we auto-oppress.
But I did get my ass kicked by Houston's finest in 1992, Republican National Convention, and in the build-up to Iraq war two, I got put in a cop car for hanging a banner over a freeway.

...After being unable to stop that clusterfuck of a war, I sort of gave up on giving a shit.

There wasn't any stopping that war.  The American public demanded it, or at least 81-87% of them, depending on who you ask.

Also, the peace movement as a whole in 2002-2005 was a rancid fucking joke.

True that, and true that.
...And that's why I said fuck it.

...The American people will be all happy about the next fucking war,  and the one after that.

My tax dollars go to blow shit up while I see homeless people around where I work pushing IV drips, and the schools go all to hell, and the bridges fall into the fucking rivers because having safe bridges is less important than having fucking cruise missiles.  We could have actual jobs making actual things for each other, things we need, but our government's far too interested in blowing shit up.
Also locking not-white people up for having tiny amounts of weed.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yeah, Turkey thread got me thinking. Maybe we, as a collective, aren't quite past the point of kicking the powermongers into touch after all. Still no fucking idea how to rouse the masses, tho. Not my forte. Maybe incidents like this are part of the process of telling the law - "fuck you we're sick of your bullshit" All the kids make a point of telling them where to get off and they run out of batons and mace or something.

You're right, tho. It's happened in the past. I'm just one of those lucky bastards who's never been successfully oppressed before. I forget that sometimes.

Ah, but you're capable of thinking and willing to do so, and that makes all the difference.

I think that we CAN still effect change, but it will probably take something big to do it, like people refusing to pay their debts en masse, or mass walkouts, or riots, something along those lines.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I haven't given up yet.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Yeah, Turkey thread got me thinking. Maybe we, as a collective, aren't quite past the point of kicking the powermongers into touch after all. Still no fucking idea how to rouse the masses, tho. Not my forte. Maybe incidents like this are part of the process of telling the law - "fuck you we're sick of your bullshit" All the kids make a point of telling them where to get off and they run out of batons and mace or something.

You're right, tho. It's happened in the past. I'm just one of those lucky bastards who's never been successfully oppressed before. I forget that sometimes.

Ah, but you're capable of thinking and willing to do so, and that makes all the difference.

I think that we CAN still effect change, but it will probably take something big to do it, like people refusing to pay their debts en masse, or mass walkouts, or riots, something along those lines.

Yeah, that's generally how it seems to happen. Like I said, until that turkey thing, I was of the opinion that we (collectively) had been "domesticated" past the point of being able to take care of that kind of business the way the last couple of generations did.

The thing that fucks me up is time. I'm already way past half my life and it's all downhill from here. I find myself selfishly wondering if I give enough of a fuck about changing things for future generations to waste what little time I have left pissing into the hurricane or do I just get on with experiencing the shit that really turns me on, given that I'm practically immune to the disintegrating civilisation around me.

They say Nero fiddled while Rome burned. If I played violin I'd probably do the same thing.

eta: I'm not saying this is right. It's just how I feel

[Left]

I find myself selfishly wondering if I give enough of a fuck about changing things for future generations to waste what little time I have left pissing into the hurricane

It's ignoble, but I'd like to have a little joy before I have to go.

[P3nT4gR4m]

For me it's the choice between standing in front of some imaginary god, at the end and answering the question "how was it?" with either "fucking hated it and accomplished nothing" or "that was fucking awesome, when can I have another go?"