I HAD A DREAM

[East Coast Hustle]

I had a fucked-up dream. I dreamed that after all these years of thinking I was the only one who understood how thoroughly FUCKED everything is, I finally encountered people like me. people who understood. people who weren't afraid to stand up and yell to the teeming masses "Hey! this shit is FUCKED UP!" People who wouldn't be afraid to challenge the idiocy of those in charge. people who wouldn't hesitate to piss into the prevailing wind of conventional wisdom (an ill wind, to be sure) if that became necessary.

but then....then my dream turned into a nightmare.

the time came. the call went out.

NO ONE answered. Not one single person. I tried to leave, to return to my previous state of isolation, but it was impossible. I was rooted to one spot, held powerless under the weight of the collective will of my "comrades". Everyone sat there drinking and laughing as the world burned around them, and this was NOT the clean-burning fire of renewal and rebirth...no, this was the slow, choking burn of THE END. In a panic, I began screaming at my captors.

"Don't you see? If we don't DO something, everything we love will be broken forever!"

"Shh!!! Stop trying to disturb things...we'll be fine, for as long as we keep singing and laughing, nothing can harm us."

"Please! Please let me go!! I have no desire to share in your fate!"

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible. You see, if we let you go, we run the risk that you will succeed where others have failed, and that we will have to stop singing and laughing."

Hair and clothes began to smolder. embers, like butterflies from hell carried by the forewinds of the firestorm, began to touch down on the tables. sheets of music began to burn, but the players carried on, improvising their last twisted measures with lips on molten pipes and fingers flaying on red-hot strings. at a card table, four gentlemen carried on a game of cribbage as their fingers burned on the chits of fire that used to be playing cards.

I began to scream louder.

"You bastard motherfuckers! Let me GO!!!!"

"Shh...it's OK. Come, sit with us and listen to the song. You'll feel much better if you do."

The head of the lady who was addressing me suddenly burst into flames. All around me were burning skeletons, still dancing and singing and playing their songs, only now, in the funhouse mirror of the apocalypse, I could see that the singing was actually terrified shrieking and the dancing was a thousand feeble attempts to outrun the flames.

As the cacophony surrounded me and my flesh began to burn, the last thing I remember thinking was...

"...damn. I guess I really WAS the only one."

I did not wake up.

[Horab Fibslager]

maybe you were going about it the wrong way?

maybe you missed through all the singing and laughter, the... ?


oh unless of coruse. you are Teh One. the One prophesied to blah blah blah.


fuck it forget it. burn it.

[Cain]

You realize if you piss into a prevailing wind it just hits you on the way back, right?  The trick is to move into a position where you can piss into a downwind to put out the fire.

More on this once the pain in my head vanishes.

[LHX]

STANDING OVATION



this is the winning contest entry of the contest that is organized after a post so good it warrants having been a contest winner


to be known as the ECH merit award of HELL





i have to go put my fist thru something

ill be back in a second

[Bella]

I've said this before and I'll say it again.

Why is there a tendency to assume that just because people talk about pie and cookies and laugh and sing on an internet forum, that they actually do nothing in real life to try and make things better - or worse, depending on definition?

Ranting is great, but that alone doesn't change anything. Pies and cookies are yummy, but that also doesn't change anything. It's what we do, or fail to do, in our everyday lives that makes the difference.

[Cain]

He can't help it.  He was The Catalyst after all.

[East Coast Hustle]

maybe you were going about it the wrong way?

maybe you missed through all the singing and laughter, the... ?


oh unless of coruse. you are Teh One. the One prophesied to blah blah blah.


fuck it forget it. burn it.

I suggest you read it again, if you think that's what I was on about.

OTOH, if you were just executing a preprogrammed response to be a prick, then good job.

[LHX]

the line between the intranet and in real life is disappearing




it might not be a bad assumption to make

[neongenesis816]

Someone has some pent up anxiety *cough*.

[LHX]

Someone has some pent up anxiety *cough*.

prolly lots of people

[neongenesis816]

Someone has some pent up anxiety *cough*.

prolly lots of people

Oh I'm definitely one of them.  It was kind of a cynical commentary on his dream.  I know how he feels tho.  Feelings of powerlessness are my forte.

[East Coast Hustle]

I don't know if "anxiety" is the right word, but I DO know that I don't wanna be anywhere near me when the seals blow.

and Bella, honey, I wish I agreed with you. But all I have to do is look at the newspaper or go outside and walk around any city for awhile for it to be plainly obvious to me that even if some of us actually ARE doing anything concrete, it's so ineffectual as to be almost laughable.

[Horab Fibslager]

maybe you were going about it the wrong way?

maybe you missed through all the singing and laughter, the... ?


oh unless of coruse. you are Teh One. the One prophesied to blah blah blah.


fuck it forget it. burn it.

I suggest you read it again, if you think that's what I was on about.

OTOH, if you were just executing a preprogrammed response to be a prick, then good job.

"...damn. I guess I really WAS the only one."

kind of stood out as a prevailing theme in the article...


i agree totally what with bella said. as well as with what cain said.


again i say, what seems innefectual, sometimes has the greatest effect. the smallest thigns often have the most lasting effects.

a stone dropped in the pond...

[Cain]

Right, my brain is hurting less, I'll explain my point.  You all know I'm as up for anyone for throwing numerous moneky wrenches into the machine, sometimes under the guise of a mechanic (yes, you know what I'm on about).

But for something to succeed, I think we need to be sneaky.  I'm a big fan of sneaky, because it often works and often allows you to walk away after without the sophomoric heroics most wannabes die by.  The system can be turned in on itself.  Every ideology carries the seeds of its own destruction.  The true genius relies in making the enemy, and it is an enemy, destroy themselves by allowing and occasionally aiding these elements to come to the fore.

Of course, that in itself is complicated.  Many people arent willing to put in the effort, its true.  Sometimes it requires bending, or outright breaking of the established rules, not only of society but what we have set for ourselves.  Now, I have no problem with that, as my established rules are so few that they rarely ever come into play now.  But the overall focus must be on aiding these elements, pushing the machine too hard one way so its natural constraints work against it.  Then comes the fun (if you can call it that) of overheat, eventual breakdown and collapse.  Of course, the whole mess starts again, but that usually takes a few years, dependent on how far the crash goes and the extent of dependencies on it.

We're nearing that breaking point, but not yet.  I believe acts like 9/11 pushed it back, told people to trust their leaders and the prevaling ideology.  It needs to be pushed harder, rammed down peoples throats until they become sick of it.

That said, this is the age of Kali Yuga.  All our games are played with live ammunition.  It has to be done correctly, or else its probably beyond grasp within our lifetimes again.

As you know ECH, my only disagreement is over tactics, not the eventual end.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

For me, I need cookies and pies to be able to deal with the shitstorm.  I need to have something worth fighting for.  I think there is also a tendency on this forum to assume that things are a lot worse today than they ever were.  That in some mythic yesterday things were a lot better.  For a few people it was better at some point back there.  It was more of a temporary illusion of it being better.  

1  The illusion that at some point in the past wives did not need to work.  that was only ever true for upper middle class whites, for the most part.

2  The illusion that government was ever on our side more than it is now.  We are at a low, I will grant you that, but I can already see the rats of the Republicans fleeing the sinking ship.  The last time government was on our side, in The States anyway, was probably sometime in the late 1700's.  As soon as the founding fathers started dying off, we started getting fucked just like before.

3  The illusion the General Motors helped the communities where its factories were located.  GM used extortion in order to not pay property taxes, saying it couldn't afford to stay in Flint otherwise, promised to stay and left anyway.  Sorry, this one will piss me off as long as I live.

I had other stuff to say, but it wouldn't be productive.  Some people need their illusions.

I have the opportunity to influence a young mind.  As much as some of you don't want to hear about it, that is my focus for the next few years.  If I can raise my son to be a free thinker, that will wreak more havoc than I could ever do alone.  Plus, it really is my job.  

I do a lot of little things.  Some people can do more damage to the machine by doing a bazillion little things.  Some people prefer to do fewer big things.  Doesn't make anyone right or wrong.  I don't think anyone here is so naive as to think the world is a perfect place.  I think everyone here does something to make it better.  It seems like we could put more energy into that some days.  

Turd:  It's not that we don't hear you, it's not that we don't care, it's not even that we don't agree.  We are not you, you are not us, this is not the goo goo g'joob, but somehow, we are all together   I have leftover piiiiieeeeeee  You want cherry or pumpkin.