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Tomorrow People, part 2

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, August 13, 2013, 06:17:25 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

August 13, 2013, 06:17:25 PM
There are a great many things that can push you out of Tomorrow, back to Today or even Yesterday.  Most of these things happen when you're not paying attention, and they can shove you backwards and be over with without you even knowing it.

The first is future shock.  Not just technology, mind you, but social changes as well.  You see one too many corrupt cops.  You hear about one too many batshit legislators.  Too many teabaggers downtown.  What this REALLY is, is seeing the present - our past - and accepting it as part of or a function of Tomorrow, rather than some ghastly holdover from many Yesterdays ago.

The second is the uniform you're wearing.  No matter how enlightened you consider yourself, EVERYONE has a uniform (more than one, really), to some degree.  You are a Tomorrow Person unless and until that particular uniform is challenged, then - perhaps only on that subject, perhaps in general - you slide backward in time.   What this really is, is unexamined ideas allowed to settle in your head.  When something causes you to yell, "YEAH, BUT...", then you've found one of those ideas.  Stop and THINK about it before digging your heels in.

The third way is exhaustion.  Life isn't easy, especially in The Future.  Hell, if you're doing it right, you're not even allowed to procrastinate (because, well, it's already tomorrow).  Things pile up.  There's the job.  School.  Kids.  Society breaking down your door and pissing on your bed in unexpected ways.  Exhaustion SEEMS like a reason to give up.  This is obviously crap, when you think about it.  Exhaustion means you REST, it doesn't mean you just DROP EVERYTHING and say "fuck it".  The two don't necessarily or even usually go together, after all.  The main reason people do the latter is that exhaustion makes you think badly.

The fourth way is peer pressure.  If everyone around you says the sky is pink, pretty soon you're going to start doubting your own perceptions...Especially since, on most things, things are nowhere NEARLY as clear cut as the color of the sky.  THIS IS THE TRICKY ONE.  You have to sit down and figure out if YOU are seeing it wrong, or if THEY are seeing it wrong.  And this is where you STOP and LOOK.  And maybe even THINK.  It can be easy to go along with the group, and in some cases, THE GROUP IS RIGHT.  But not always, of course, a million people CAN be wrong, and often ARE.  Again:  STOP and LOOK.  Get some evidence.  Do some research.  Challenge BOTH your assumptions AND the group, because another possibility is that EVERYONE is wrong.

The fifth way is the most insidious.  It's your own self-doubt and shitty self-image.  Telling yourself you're not smart enough or not good enough or whatever.  This is no accident.  You have since toddlerhood been told that you aren't quite meeting the standard.  Not living up to the child genius you weren't, or the barbie doll/GI joe physique that NOBODY has.  The trick here is to remember that IT DOESN'T MATTER if you don't measure up, because there actually isn't ANYTHING TO MEASURE UP TO.  All that shit they pumped into your head was BULLSHIT.  Are you a fat bastard?  So what?  Does that invalidate your thoughts in some manner?  Are you convinced you're ugly?  SO FUCKING WHAT?  You on your WORST day aren't going to look as bad as MY shaving mirror, so QUIT YOUR BITCHING.  It's what you use your grey matter for that counts.  Are you DUMB AS FUCK?  Great.  So am I, and it has never slowed me down and it NEVER WILL.

Or Kill Me.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Ben Shapiro

#1
August 13, 2013, 06:54:18 PM
"Are you DUMB AS FUCK?  Great.  So am I, and it has never slowed me down and it NEVER WILL."

/thread

Junkenstein

#2
August 13, 2013, 07:09:05 PM
Excellent piece.

Particularly this:
QuoteChallenge BOTH your assumptions AND the group, because another possibility is that EVERYONE is wrong.

Far too few people are ever willing to concede that everyone being wrong is even a possibility. It tends to be the case to a surprising degree all the time.

Big words treatment?
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

The Good Reverend Roger

#3
August 13, 2013, 07:09:47 PM
Quote from: Junkenstein on August 13, 2013, 07:09:05 PM
Excellent piece.

Particularly this:
QuoteChallenge BOTH your assumptions AND the group, because another possibility is that EVERYONE is wrong.

Far too few people are ever willing to concede that everyone being wrong is even a possibility. It tends to be the case to a surprising degree all the time.

Big words treatment?

Sure.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Nephew Twiddleton

#4
August 13, 2013, 07:10:01 PM
"Challenge BOTH your assumptions AND the group, because another possibility is that EVERYONE is wrong."

I think this is an important thing to remember. It's all too easy to think that someone has to be right. Probably because it's easier than figuring out what's right. That takes effort.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

The Good Reverend Roger

#5
August 13, 2013, 07:14:37 PM
There's going to be more, but I am no longer in the right headspace to write it.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Junkenstein

#6
August 13, 2013, 07:26:52 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 13, 2013, 07:14:37 PM
There's going to be more, but I am no longer in the right headspace to write it.

I've just caught the first part, I'm thinking it would probably work best as a sequence of posts, depending on how many more you're thinking about with this one. Weekly/daily change could work nicely?
Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

The Good Reverend Roger

#7
August 13, 2013, 09:30:54 PM
Quote from: Junkenstein on August 13, 2013, 07:26:52 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 13, 2013, 07:14:37 PM
There's going to be more, but I am no longer in the right headspace to write it.

I've just caught the first part, I'm thinking it would probably work best as a sequence of posts, depending on how many more you're thinking about with this one. Weekly/daily change could work nicely?

Do as you see fit.  I have no sense for this sort of thing.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

#8
August 13, 2013, 09:31:22 PM
This is great. Interesting to note that seeing NOW is Tomorrow behavior.

The Good Reverend Roger

#9
August 13, 2013, 09:32:18 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on August 13, 2013, 09:31:22 PM
This is great. Interesting to note that seeing NOW is Tomorrow behavior.

Hindsight is 20/20, yes?  And if you can force yourself to see things as they REALLY are, that's a reasonable approximation of hindsight.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Nephew Twiddleton

#10
August 13, 2013, 09:33:26 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 13, 2013, 09:32:18 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on August 13, 2013, 09:31:22 PM
This is great. Interesting to note that seeing NOW is Tomorrow behavior.

Hindsight is 20/20, yes?  And if you can force yourself to see things as they REALLY are, that's a reasonable approximation of hindsight.

I had been wondering about that part. That explains it nicely.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

The Good Reverend Roger

#11
August 13, 2013, 09:35:06 PM
Quote from: Aloha Ackbar on August 13, 2013, 09:33:26 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on August 13, 2013, 09:32:18 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on August 13, 2013, 09:31:22 PM
This is great. Interesting to note that seeing NOW is Tomorrow behavior.

Hindsight is 20/20, yes?  And if you can force yourself to see things as they REALLY are, that's a reasonable approximation of hindsight.

I had been wondering about that part. That explains it nicely.

Thing is, you can never see things as they REALLY are, though you can always get closer to doing so.  It's asymtotic.  That's okay, though, because hindsight isn't actually 20/20, either.

The thing is, perfection is the enemy of the good.  We'll never be perfect, but we can continuously improve.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

#12
August 13, 2013, 10:15:21 PM
The more I think about it, hindsight is IN NO WAY 20/20. It's forced blindness.

Hindsight brings out the worst of the Lo5 patternmaker in us all. We look back, and a NARRATIVE emerges. We cut out every inconvenient fact that gets in the way of a good story, and dismiss the rest.

The Good Reverend Roger

#13
August 13, 2013, 10:16:50 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on August 13, 2013, 10:15:21 PM
The more I think about it, hindsight is IN NO WAY 20/20. It's forced blindness.

Hindsight brings out the worst of the Lo5 patternmaker in us all. We look back, and a NARRATIVE emerges. We cut out every inconvenient fact that gets in the way of a good story, and dismiss the rest.

Depends, I suppose.  When we troubleshoot a problem, we think back and say "Jesus, why didn't we see that right away?"

Then the next time the same problem occurs, everyone else in the conference room insists that we reinvent the wheel...

um.

So, you're right.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

#14
August 14, 2013, 04:07:54 PM
I LOVE THIS.

Yesterday, in one of my classes, we were talking about social change in marriage trends, and it was fascinating to see how many people leapt immediately to "THE PAST WAS BETTER". But then, gradually, other stories started to emerge  that exploded that idea, until the one thing that remained on the board as possibly having been better in the past was "lower divorce rates". And even that's arguable in terms of being better for society.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."

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