I see alot of people basically saying "shutup, you're parents should be checking up on you because they care", and I can't help but wonder how the/. crowd can be so immensely stupid. Weren't you people there? Am I the only one here who went to an american public education system? If the kids parent's cared they'd yank his ass straight out of that school and start trying to teach him something. And I'll bet that something wouldn't be television commercials for coke and nike like channel 1. Or back asswards history like "it was progress when we slaughtered 90 million natives but those nazis were real bastards". Hey, if it wasn't for the public schools, this kid might even get to live up to his potential instead of studying the same damn thing every other year while waiting for his classmates to catch up. Even putting my politics aside, and assuming that commercials and genocide are what all kids should learn, the schools here still suck. I've been up for altogether to long and don't feel like explaining, but I highly recommend "The Comprachicos" by Ayn Rand for a thorough explanation of why our educational system is shit (of course, Rand is a bit more eloquent:)
And one more thing before I go to sleep, what do you people think this kind of surveillance is going to teach kids? Alot have said this kid needs to be more trustworthy, but how the hell is someone supposed to learn trust without seeing it? Without recieving it? Not even from their parents. And oh yeah, the security sucks.
Ahh... the whole who own's the land issue. Fifteen fan? Yeah, I say we do. Who owns the air, the water? Don't get me wrong, my philosophy is largely based on objectivism, but what gives them more right than me to lay claim to so many acres of land besides an arbitrary mob (government) in which I had no say? And yeah, I know it's not possible to completely seperate myself from society, but I can damn well try. And I intend to. Living off the fat of that society is all well and good for now, but it still implies involvement to some extent. So yeah, I do have a problem with that, and one day I hope to remedy it. Hopefully by somehow managing to acquire a little place where I can grow my own food and never even have to consider working again. In short, perfection may not be attainable, but that's no reason not to try. BTW, from what I've been able to gather most libraries while gov. funded on paper recieve very little from their government and usually end up community supported. But that's just from the VERY little I've seen of it, so don't quote me on that. I guess what I'm saying is that we can live off the fat of this society until it's gone, and when it is gone, everyone will again have access to there own resources to grow food/raise a family/travel or whatever they wanna do.
I could drop everything I own right this instant and not worry, I don't value any of it
That, to me is what's important. Knowing that will bring you more happiness than all the crap you can consider dropping. As long as you know you mean it. =)
As far as being happy with your career, that's great for you. I just always thought that I could find more constructive ways to use that time. For ecample,instead of maintaing a part time job to feed yourself, find alternative ways to get food. They do exist. And once you get the idea of how to do it, it's alot easier. And besides that, I find it morally wrong to work for anything besides subsistence, in this particular country. But that's not because of the work itself, it's because of the taxes. I think government, especially ours, is the most evil institution ever. It honestly does keep me up at nights to think that I gave those fucking pricks 6 cents on every dollar I spend. That's why I started consuming less. The rest is just a pleasant bonus. =)
First off, no, I'm not just loafing around on mommy and daddy. Secondly, I'm quite certain that anyone can just up and quit their job. Sure, it could be rough for a while, but you learn to consume in accordance with what you need as opposed to what you want. That is something alot of people get very confused about. For example, people buy a car so they get can get to work (largely) so they can pay their car payments. Does that make sense? Why not just quit, then you won't need a car. Alot of people I know seem to think that they need a TV it sounds dumb, but this really is the attitude I encounter alot. People actually consider TV a basic necesity. Same goes for clothes. People actually believe that they _need_ to get new, fashionable clothes. People think they need to eat out, or have ice cream on a regular basis. Not that most would admit considering this a need, but almost everyone would scoff at the idea of giving it up. It's alot of confusion about want vs. need that leads us to work as much as we do. I think that if we examine our priorities, we would realize we really need very little. In my case, I've decided that i need
1 Set of clothes (easily acquired without working) Something to read (libraries, borrowing) Something to eat every now and again (alot easier to acquire than you think). Some good times and good friends
Alot of people scoff at the idea of consuminig less because it runs very contrary to everything that our society has taught us. In home and work and school we are judged by what we have, and what we're into(buy into that is.. hip hop/new wave/pop/rock/R&B the simpsons/Rep or Dem. Hot topic or The gap etc.. etc...) as opposed to what we _ourselves_ think and do. No matter what you enjoy, there's something for you to consume. I think over-consumption is one of the root causes of most of our societies ills. We are a FAT society in every sense of the word. We want the biggest SUV (to chug the most gas to put the most crap in the air). We want the biggest big mac ( to kill the most life.. every big mac destroys 55sq ft. rain forest). We want the biggest tv (to block out the most reality). We want the biggest empire (don't delude yourself about that one... even the CIA concedes that Iraq has no WMD's). We're americans dammit and we want the BIGGEST EVERYTHING! And, unfortuantely, the list just keeps going. Do an experiment, the next time you buy something, think"Do i need this or want this. Who suffers for this?" Then follow through and find out. You'll most likely be surprised at the sheer number of companies that either use sweatshops/destroy the envirionment/enlist private armies to take over small islands(ahem...pepsi). And if you realize whatever your buying cost more to someone else, try not buying it again. You'd be amazed at just how little you need.
As for the few things that are needed, I myself am willing to live off the fat of the land, and at present there is plenty of it. But what about if everyone does it my way? Simple, every person whp decides to stop being a consumer is one person added to my community. Right now, as I type, my community consists of about 5 people. Each of us is self-sufficient in as much as getting what we need. But if I should happen to fall short, they're right there. We've all left that world behind together, and we all know we can count on one another. I often times wonder if the workers world knows of any friendship that can even begin to compare to that. I know my friends are there. Whether it be in getting arrested at the next protest next to me, or giving me bread when I have none. The further our community develops, the easier everything gets. AND THE LESS WE ALL WORK.
You seem to think my ideas of a lifestyle are impractical, but I've got ot ask, are societies any better? Our present way of life can no longer be sustained by our environment, is that practical? Within in the next generation or two we Will see our entire ecosystem collapse unless some very drastic changes are made. Is that the way to support our kids? For anyone interested, I STRONGLY suggest the book "Ishmael" be Daniel Quinn.
Right now, I am imagining a world where everyone took my advice, and it looks good. In my world , we spend the majority of our time hanging out with friends, and finding new adventures. We can eat raw fruits and weggies in the forest , cuz we never decided to cut it down and replace it with a factory farm so that we can produce a tenth the food and sell it at a huge profit just so that we have enough money to feed ourselves later that night. We speak, sing scream and travel as we please, cuz someone was finally wise enough to.... well, there was gonna be a comment about the office of homeland securitry there, but I'm honestly afraid now.
I seriously find it pretty disturbing that there can be an article about "what to do with your life" and the whole thing talks about different careers. Am I really the only one who thinks that work is the very last thing I want to do with my life?
Not that I'm lazy mind you. There's plenty of things I do as hobbies all the time that I could make a career out of, but why would I want to? I don't know about anyone else, but I've never met anyone happy with their career. I've never met anyone who would continue working if they were rich just because it makes them happy. I'm sure these people exist, but how many? So far everyone I know keeps telling me "you can do anything.... just apply yourself... don't you want to go to college...can't you at least get you H.S. diploma to fall back on... don't you want some money?.... wouldnt it be nice to be comfortable.... you can't just bum around forever........
Like hell I can't! Recently, I limit myself to one line of reasoning when talking to these people "That's what you did. Are you happy?" So far noone has answered "yes". Instead they just look scared for a second, freeze and wait for me to continue. When I do continue, everyone eventually admits that they only keep working because they fear poverty and wouldn't know what else to do.
Fear poverty?! I'm gonna have to agree with crimethinc. (http://www.crimethinc.com/) "crime, poverty, homelesnes: if your not having fun your doing it wrong!" And, the "lower" I sink on societies generally accepted scale of "succes" the happier I find myself becoming. I remember the last time I dropped out of High school and realized that I could never go back, I spent the night walking around town drinking with a friend. The night was somewhat intimidating because I had realized that I was now more or less permanently cut off from that world. i knew that I had a thousand opportunities, which I had just carelessly thrown on the trash heap. A job, college, a wife, kids, a car, a house, a swimming pool, a big screen tv, rack mount home theater, cutting edge computer and last but not least, taylor made armani threads with a professional manicure and the hair cut to match. It's funny to look back and admit that there was I time i might be afraid of discarding that whole "2.3 kids and a picket fence" lifestyle. Nowadays I can't even fathom what would compell a person to get by on that. That night when I first realized I had lost all that, I realized I had gained much more. Namely a group of close friends who I knew to be in this with me together, and free time. Alot of it.
That's the free time to pursue your dreams, in case you weren't paying attention. To me, that was the free time to read more than most people do in a lifetime. That was learning how to play guitar. That was starting to write again. That was going out for long bike rides around town. That meant becoming a fairly proficient chess player. That meant sitting around pots of coffee hammering out the finer points of anarcho/objectivist philosophy. While chain smoking like a fiend. That still means not having to worry about the effects of said chain smoking, because I'm alive TODAY. My values, my hopes my dreams...none of these are rooted in tommorow.
And of course, that's the biggest swindle of them all: delayed gratification. And I don't mean we should all get what we want right now in every situation, but working 40 hours a week for the next forty years of your life so that you can have a happy retirement?!? Was that a fucking joke that went to far? Most people get done with their 40 years, and then spend their time alone, becuase their family is now busy with their own careers, their friends are in nursing homes and the family dog just didn't last that long. Or worse, they're in nursing homes. What were they working for all that time? A bedpan? Was it that catheter they found to tempting to resist? Maybe late retirement was a reasonable thing back in the olden days when our society still believed in lookin out for your family and parents, but that's not the case anymore. Now it's just "dump 'em in a home and get back to work." And of course why would you argue, you've got debt. Your trapped in your mortgage, car payment, college loans, credit cards, shiney new DVD player, and those air jordans your kid would have DIED without. And who could blame you, you HAVE to get back to work. Otherwise, you'll never get out of debt and get YOUR happy retirement. Oh wait, that's not coming anyway.
I suggest instead... retire now. Yup today.Just get up, turn off your computer and go tell your boss " I regret to inform you that I no longer believe this non-sense to be in my best interest" or, tell him to take his job and shove it. Whatever you prefer. Just do it. Then, you can go home and spend some time with your family. You can have a beer with your friends. The possibillities are endless. You can play a game with your kids. You can start writing that book. You can try to do something positive for the world. Go to a treesit. Work with food not bombs. Go to D.C. on Jan. 18 and see first had that anarchy DOES work. You can start trying to figure out what to do with your life. Just keep in mind that this is your retirement and you can do whatever you want. Yeah , say it again with me "whatever you want".
I think that people are responsible for their government no matter what, because even though the power may reside in Beijing, it is still drown from everywhere else. All it takes for a given gov't to lose power, is for the majority of it's citizens to stop tolerating it. Governments are only able to dole out rights becuase the people they govern gave up those rights in the first place. I hate to argue by analogy but... Lets say we had ten kids in a room. One of them is the dictator of the rest and he tells them everything, when to eat, shit, sleep lay down or stand up. And none of them ever argue. If one day all nine of them simply say "No more. We do whatever we want now" What would the leader do? He would look frightened. Then he'd get used to it.
It's the same thing in any other government. All we have to do is stop being complacent and the rest follows. In a monarchy, dictatorship, democracy, republic, commune or fascist state, the state draws it power from the number of it's people and the size of it's army. In essence saying "Hey, shut up cuz I've got ten kids behind me and their aint shit you can do about it".The way to change something is to stop tolerating it, and hopefully convince some of those ten kids to do the same. In other words, their compliance is the states power. And it is my personal belief that everyone is responsible for what they do with their own power.
Good point. Yes. If I can find a way I do intend to stop paying taxes. Secondly, I said that money controls everything in a capitalist society, but it is unfortunate that we do not live in an entirely captalist society. The society we live in is closer to a socialist state, and as such the state controls more than money. If you don't believe me go work out the percentage of your money that goes to taxes. Off The top of my head (I'm no acountant or economist so cut me some slack on these numbers) I would have to say that about 40% of my paycheck is gone before i even get it. Then we can start including sales tax. (Approx. 6% of the rest of my paycheck). That's 46% right there, and If i were to start including all the other petty crap that the gov't reaches their hands in my pocket to pay for, I'm certain it would work out that they get the majority of my money. And what about people who are richer than me? IIRC Don't they lose a much larger percentage of their paychecks? In short, options besides boycott are necessary (In my opinion) because we Don't live in an entirely capitalist society. But a boycott is a beginning. It's a start, and It helps. Maybe not much, but it helps. And I don't have to stop their either. And as far as stopping the DMCA, I'm all for civil disobedience. But most importantly, I do agree with you. We need to get involved with political movements. Communities. Organize and make our voices heard. So I shall.
"So if I think that America is doing something evil, I can destroy a couple of privately owned business towers"
Don't dare to put words in my mouth. I never said anything of the sort. I would however say that if, for example, your tax money is being spent to imprison political prisoners (*cough* MUMIA *cough*) then you would be justified in liberating your tax dollars. Fraudulant income tax returns and the like. But just because you disagree does not give you the right to hurt someone else. Privately owned businesses are not the problem. Gevernment is.
I agree with you, in as much as a different solution is necessary, I only intended to point out a start. I'll just tread cautiously and say that I had no intention of stopping there.
Some may say that this is going to far, that we as citizens should not "take matters into our own hands" in vigilante fashion...
As far as that is concerned, our country is already a democracy, and we are in control of it. I would call it fair to say that by extension we are responsible for the actions of our government. In short, when we don't agree, it is not only acceptable, but our obligation to take matters into our own hands.
On another note, it's good to see I'm not only one thinking this way.
Or instead, these companies could stop providing the false illusion of control. When the gov't gets the false illusion of control, the people get the false illusion of freedom. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of the false illusions, and maybe get some real freedom?
Let me start out by saying that I am about as capitalist as a human being can be. I love capitalism and think it's a great idea. I hold alot of respect for big business. I have a huge amount of respect for Bill Gates. I think anyone who can make $40B selling crap deserves a pat on the back. But I still use linux. Because I don't want to help him sell crap. And I won't help cisco build jails either. I'll vote with my dollars.
And as for the chinese people who posted to say "it's not so bad", it would be alot worse if you had any un-popular thoughts. The government of any country is formed by the people of said country. And all those peoples are responsible for the actions of the government. I don't know, I've never studied Chinese politics (I've got enough problems with my government), but when I read that, I've got to wonder "how many people were killed or imprisoned because they held un-popular beliefs? IIRC, I've read about at least one incident of a Chinese person being imprisoned for disagreeing with the governemt. One is far too many. But you don't care. You think it's "not that bad"?! That's a real person. Going through REAL SUFFERING! Sitting in a real jail, with bars and shitty food and not enough warmth. Dealing with real boredom and real loneliness. And you sit in your nice office with a hot cup of coffee saying "it's not that bad"!? It is that bad. I believe that compassion and empathy are a part of humanity. For you to sit there and not even care degrades us all. You can be apathetic, that's your opinion, here's mine: Not giving a damn about anothers suffering, and in fact helping it along, makes you scum. You are the lowest of the low. I hope you choose to disagree one day and rot in a cell for it.
Well, you might not care, but I damn well do.So I will now refrain from using cisco products, because I will not help them limit freedom. If I thought that I had in helped them find one more dissident to put in jail, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. If I bought a cisco catalyst, I would have problems sleeping. I'd be kept awake thinking "they spent my money to build a jail". They are capitalists, and I expect them to act in the interest of profit, But anyone who expects me not to act in the interest of freedom is insane. To that end, I will try and make their interest in profit and my interest in freedom coincide. By never using their products (and I was gonna be a CCNA).
We live in a capitalist society, and in a capitalist society money controls everything. That's good, because money doesn't discriminate, and if we want to make a change, all we have to do is with-hold our money. Fuck Cisco. Fuck their products. Let _them_ do it. I won't help. I'll boycott cisco. Will my change help anything? Maybe not, but it's a start. And 20 years from now, when we're all presenting our national ID's for minimal access to _our_ national cisco firewall, I'll look back and think " I tried". You can look back and think "I helped them do it."
"The system doesn't care because the system is you. Nothing ever changes because that's what _you_ choose." -- A//Political
AGE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE OLD!?!?! you gotta be friggin kiddin me! I'm a teen and I can't go to school/walk the street/step foot in a respectable business establishment etc.. just because everyone i see assumes that anyone under the age of thirty is a criminla,druggie or some other form of scumbag. And you wanna whine because nobody belives your a 1337 h4x0r?! your a fool. You should quit your whining and appreciate the fact that you don't get pre-judged as a second class citizen.
Slashdot Mirror
I see alot of people basically saying "shutup, you're parents should be checking up on you because they care", and I can't help but wonder how the /. crowd can be so immensely stupid. Weren't you people there? Am I the only one here who went to an american public education system?
If the kids parent's cared they'd yank his ass straight out of that school and start trying to teach him something. And I'll bet that something wouldn't be television commercials for coke and nike like channel 1. Or back asswards history like "it was progress when we slaughtered 90 million natives but those nazis were real bastards". Hey, if it wasn't for the public schools, this kid might even get to live up to his potential instead of studying the same damn thing every other year while waiting for his classmates to catch up. Even putting my politics aside, and assuming that commercials and genocide are what all kids should learn, the schools here still suck. I've been up for altogether to long and don't feel like explaining, but I highly recommend "The Comprachicos" by Ayn Rand for a thorough explanation of why our educational system is shit (of course, Rand is a bit more eloquent:)
And one more thing before I go to sleep, what do you people think this kind of surveillance is going to teach kids? Alot have said this kid needs to be more trustworthy, but how the hell is someone supposed to learn trust without seeing it? Without recieving it? Not even from their parents.
And oh yeah, the security sucks.
Ahh... the whole who own's the land issue. Fifteen fan? Yeah, I say we do. Who owns the air, the water? Don't get me wrong, my philosophy is largely based on objectivism, but what gives them more right than me to lay claim to so many acres of land besides an arbitrary mob (government) in which I had no say?
And yeah, I know it's not possible to completely seperate myself from society, but I can damn well try. And I intend to. Living off the fat of that society is all well and good for now, but it still implies involvement to some extent. So yeah, I do have a problem with that, and one day I hope to remedy it. Hopefully by somehow managing to acquire a little place where I can grow my own food and never even have to consider working again. In short, perfection may not be attainable, but that's no reason not to try.
BTW, from what I've been able to gather most libraries while gov. funded on paper recieve very little from their government and usually end up community supported. But that's just from the VERY little I've seen of it, so don't quote me on that. I guess what I'm saying is that we can live off the fat of this society until it's gone, and when it is gone, everyone will again have access to there own resources to grow food/raise a family/travel or whatever they wanna do.
And oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, beer is _THE_ easiest thing to get without money! =)
I could drop everything I own right this instant and not worry, I don't value any of it
That, to me is what's important. Knowing that will bring you more happiness than all the crap you can consider dropping. As long as you know you mean it. =)
As far as being happy with your career, that's great for you. I just always thought that I could find more constructive ways to use that time. For ecample,instead of maintaing a part time job to feed yourself, find alternative ways to get food. They do exist. And once you get the idea of how to do it, it's alot easier. And besides that, I find it morally wrong to work for anything besides subsistence, in this particular country. But that's not because of the work itself, it's because of the taxes. I think government, especially ours, is the most evil institution ever. It honestly does keep me up at nights to think that I gave those fucking pricks 6 cents on every dollar I spend. That's why I started consuming less. The rest is just a pleasant bonus. =)
First off, no, I'm not just loafing around on mommy and daddy. Secondly, I'm quite certain that anyone can just up and quit their job. Sure, it could be rough for a while, but you learn to consume in accordance with what you need as opposed to what you want. That is something alot of people get very confused about. For example, people buy a car so they get can get to work (largely) so they can pay their car payments. Does that make sense? Why not just quit, then you won't need a car. Alot of people I know seem to think that they need a TV it sounds dumb, but this really is the attitude I encounter alot. People actually consider TV a basic necesity. Same goes for clothes. People actually believe that they _need_ to get new, fashionable clothes. People think they need to eat out, or have ice cream on a regular basis. Not that most would admit considering this a need, but almost everyone would scoff at the idea of giving it up. It's alot of confusion about want vs. need that leads us to work as much as we do. I think that if we examine our priorities, we would realize we really need very little. In my case, I've decided that i need
1 Set of clothes (easily acquired without working)
Something to read (libraries, borrowing)
Something to eat every now and again (alot easier to acquire than you think).
Some good times and good friends
Alot of people scoff at the idea of consuminig less because it runs very contrary to everything that our society has taught us. In home and work and school we are judged by what we have, and what we're into(buy into that is.. hip hop/new wave/pop/rock/R&B the simpsons/Rep or Dem. Hot topic or The gap etc.. etc...) as opposed to what we _ourselves_ think and do. No matter what you enjoy, there's something for you to consume. I think over-consumption is one of the root causes of most of our societies ills. We are a FAT society in every sense of the word. We want the biggest SUV (to chug the most gas to put the most crap in the air). We want the biggest big mac ( to kill the most life.. every big mac destroys 55sq ft. rain forest). We want the biggest tv (to block out the most reality). We want the biggest empire (don't delude yourself about that one... even the CIA concedes that Iraq has no WMD's). We're americans dammit and we want the BIGGEST EVERYTHING! And, unfortuantely, the list just keeps going. Do an experiment, the next time you buy something, think"Do i need this or want this. Who suffers for this?" Then follow through and find out. You'll most likely be surprised at the sheer number of companies that either use sweatshops/destroy the envirionment/enlist private armies to take over small islands(ahem...pepsi). And if you realize whatever your buying cost more to someone else, try not buying it again. You'd be amazed at just how little you need.
As for the few things that are needed, I myself am willing to live off the fat of the land, and at present there is plenty of it. But what about if everyone does it my way? Simple, every person whp decides to stop being a consumer is one person added to my community. Right now, as I type, my community consists of about 5 people. Each of us is self-sufficient in as much as getting what we need. But if I should happen to fall short, they're right there. We've all left that world behind together, and we all know we can count on one another. I often times wonder if the workers world knows of any friendship that can even begin to compare to that. I know my friends are there. Whether it be in getting arrested at the next protest next to me, or giving me bread when I have none. The further our community develops, the easier everything gets. AND THE LESS WE ALL WORK.
You seem to think my ideas of a lifestyle are impractical, but I've got ot ask, are societies any better? Our present way of life can no longer be sustained by our environment, is that practical? Within in the next generation or two we Will see our entire ecosystem collapse unless some very drastic changes are made. Is that the way to support our kids? For anyone interested, I STRONGLY suggest the book "Ishmael" be Daniel Quinn.
Right now, I am imagining a world where everyone took my advice, and it looks good. In my world , we spend the majority of our time hanging out with friends, and finding new adventures. We can eat raw fruits and weggies in the forest , cuz we never decided to cut it down and replace it with a factory farm so that we can produce a tenth the food and sell it at a huge profit just so that we have enough money to feed ourselves later that night. We speak, sing scream and travel as we please, cuz someone was finally wise enough to.... well, there was gonna be a comment about the office of homeland securitry there, but I'm honestly afraid now.
I seriously find it pretty disturbing that there can be an article about "what to do with your life" and the whole thing talks about different careers. Am I really the only one who thinks that work is the very last thing I want to do with my life? .....
Not that I'm lazy mind you. There's plenty of things I do as hobbies all the time that I could make a career out of, but why would I want to? I don't know about anyone else, but I've never met anyone happy with their career. I've never met anyone who would continue working if they were rich just because it makes them happy. I'm sure these people exist, but how many? So far everyone I know keeps telling me "you can do anything.... just apply yourself... don't you want to go to college...can't you at least get you H.S. diploma to fall back on... don't you want some money?.... wouldnt it be nice to be comfortable.... you can't just bum around forever...
Like hell I can't! Recently, I limit myself to one line of reasoning when talking to these people "That's what you did. Are you happy?" So far noone has answered "yes". Instead they just look scared for a second, freeze and wait for me to continue. When I do continue, everyone eventually admits that they only keep working because they fear poverty and wouldn't know what else to do.
Fear poverty?! I'm gonna have to agree with crimethinc. (http://www.crimethinc.com/) "crime, poverty, homelesnes: if your not having fun your doing it wrong!" And, the "lower" I sink on societies generally accepted scale of "succes" the happier I find myself becoming. I remember the last time I dropped out of High school and realized that I could never go back, I spent the night walking around town drinking with a friend. The night was somewhat intimidating because I had realized that I was now more or less permanently cut off from that world. i knew that I had a thousand opportunities, which I had just carelessly thrown on the trash heap. A job, college, a wife, kids, a car, a house, a swimming pool, a big screen tv, rack mount home theater, cutting edge computer and last but not least, taylor made armani threads with a professional manicure and the hair cut to match. It's funny to look back and admit that there was I time i might be afraid of discarding that whole "2.3 kids and a picket fence" lifestyle. Nowadays I can't even fathom what would compell a person to get by on that. That night when I first realized I had lost all that, I realized I had gained much more. Namely a group of close friends who I knew to be in this with me together, and free time. Alot of it.
That's the free time to pursue your dreams, in case you weren't paying attention. To me, that was the free time to read more than most people do in a lifetime. That was learning how to play guitar. That was starting to write again. That was going out for long bike rides around town. That meant becoming a fairly proficient chess player. That meant sitting around pots of coffee hammering out the finer points of anarcho/objectivist philosophy. While chain smoking like a fiend. That still means not having to worry about the effects of said chain smoking, because I'm alive TODAY. My values, my hopes my dreams...none of these are rooted in tommorow.
And of course, that's the biggest swindle of them all: delayed gratification. And I don't mean we should all get what we want right now in every situation, but working 40 hours a week for the next forty years of your life so that you can have a happy retirement?!? Was that a fucking joke that went to far? Most people get done with their 40 years, and then spend their time alone, becuase their family is now busy with their own careers, their friends are in nursing homes and the family dog just didn't last that long. Or worse, they're in nursing homes. What were they working for all that time? A bedpan? Was it that catheter they found to tempting to resist? Maybe late retirement was a reasonable thing back in the olden days when our society still believed in lookin out for your family and parents, but that's not the case anymore. Now it's just "dump 'em in a home and get back to work." And of course why would you argue, you've got debt. Your trapped in your mortgage, car payment, college loans, credit cards, shiney new DVD player, and those air jordans your kid would have DIED without. And who could blame you, you HAVE to get back to work. Otherwise, you'll never get out of debt and get YOUR happy retirement. Oh wait, that's not coming anyway.
I suggest instead... retire now. Yup today.Just get up, turn off your computer and go tell your boss " I regret to inform you that I no longer believe this non-sense to be in my best interest" or, tell him to take his job and shove it. Whatever you prefer. Just do it. Then, you can go home and spend some time with your family. You can have a beer with your friends. The possibillities are endless. You can play a game with your kids. You can start writing that book. You can try to do something positive for the world. Go to a treesit. Work with food not bombs. Go to D.C. on Jan. 18 and see first had that anarchy DOES work. You can start trying to figure out what to do with your life. Just keep in mind that this is your retirement and you can do whatever you want. Yeah , say it again with me "whatever you want".
I think that people are responsible for their government no matter what, because even though the power may reside in Beijing, it is still drown from everywhere else. All it takes for a given gov't to lose power, is for the majority of it's citizens to stop tolerating it. Governments are only able to dole out rights becuase the people they govern gave up those rights in the first place. I hate to argue by analogy but...
Lets say we had ten kids in a room. One of them is the dictator of the rest and he tells them everything, when to eat, shit, sleep lay down or stand up. And none of them ever argue. If one day all nine of them simply say "No more. We do whatever we want now" What would the leader do? He would look frightened. Then he'd get used to it.
It's the same thing in any other government. All we have to do is stop being complacent and the rest follows. In a monarchy, dictatorship, democracy, republic, commune or fascist state, the state draws it power from the number of it's people and the size of it's army. In essence saying "Hey, shut up cuz I've got ten kids behind me and their aint shit you can do about it".The way to change something is to stop tolerating it, and hopefully convince some of those ten kids to do the same. In other words, their compliance is the states power. And it is my personal belief that everyone is responsible for what they do with their own power.
Good point. Yes. If I can find a way I do intend to stop paying taxes. Secondly, I said that money controls everything in a capitalist society, but it is unfortunate that we do not live in an entirely captalist society. The society we live in is closer to a socialist state, and as such the state controls more than money. If you don't believe me go work out the percentage of your money that goes to taxes. Off The top of my head (I'm no acountant or economist so cut me some slack on these numbers) I would have to say that about 40% of my paycheck is gone before i even get it. Then we can start including sales tax. (Approx. 6% of the rest of my paycheck). That's 46% right there, and If i were to start including all the other petty crap that the gov't reaches their hands in my pocket to pay for, I'm certain it would work out that they get the majority of my money. And what about people who are richer than me? IIRC Don't they lose a much larger percentage of their paychecks? In short, options besides boycott are necessary (In my opinion) because we Don't live in an entirely capitalist society. But a boycott is a beginning. It's a start, and It helps. Maybe not much, but it helps. And I don't have to stop their either. And as far as stopping the DMCA, I'm all for civil disobedience. But most importantly, I do agree with you. We need to get involved with political movements. Communities. Organize and make our voices heard. So I shall.
"So if I think that America is doing something evil, I can destroy a couple of privately owned business towers"
Don't dare to put words in my mouth.
I never said anything of the sort. I would however say that if, for example, your tax money is being spent to imprison political prisoners (*cough* MUMIA *cough*) then you would be justified in liberating your tax dollars. Fraudulant income tax returns and the like. But just because you disagree does not give you the right to hurt someone else. Privately owned businesses are not the problem. Gevernment is.
I agree with you, in as much as a different solution is necessary, I only intended to point out a start. I'll just tread cautiously and say that I had no intention of stopping there.
...
Some may say that this is going to far, that we as citizens should not "take matters into our own hands" in vigilante fashion
As far as that is concerned, our country is already a democracy, and we are in control of it. I would call it fair to say that by extension we are responsible for the actions of our government. In short, when we don't agree, it is not only acceptable, but our obligation to take matters into our own hands.
On another note, it's good to see I'm not only one thinking this way.
Or instead, these companies could stop providing the false illusion of control. When the gov't gets the false illusion of control, the people get the false illusion of freedom. Wouldn't it be better to get rid of the false illusions, and maybe get some real freedom?
Let me start out by saying that I am about as capitalist as a human being can be. I love capitalism and think it's a great idea. I hold alot of respect for big business. I have a huge amount of respect for Bill Gates. I think anyone who can make $40B selling crap deserves a pat on the back. But I still use linux. Because I don't want to help him sell crap. And I won't help cisco build jails either. I'll vote with my dollars.
And as for the chinese people who posted to say "it's not so bad", it would be alot worse if you had any un-popular thoughts. The government of any country is formed by the people of said country. And all those peoples are responsible for the actions of the government. I don't know, I've never studied Chinese politics (I've got enough problems with my government), but when I read that, I've got to wonder "how many people were killed or imprisoned because they held un-popular beliefs? IIRC, I've read about at least one incident of a Chinese person being imprisoned for disagreeing with the governemt. One is far too many. But you don't care. You think it's "not that bad"?! That's a real person. Going through REAL SUFFERING! Sitting in a real jail, with bars and shitty food and not enough warmth. Dealing with real boredom and real loneliness. And you sit in your nice office with a hot cup of coffee saying "it's not that bad"!? It is that bad. I believe that compassion and empathy are a part of humanity. For you to sit there and not even care degrades us all. You can be apathetic, that's your opinion, here's mine: Not giving a damn about anothers suffering, and in fact helping it along, makes you scum. You are the lowest of the low. I hope you choose to disagree one day and rot in a cell for it.
Well, you might not care, but I damn well do.So I will now refrain from using cisco products, because I will not help them limit freedom. If I thought that I had in helped them find one more dissident to put in jail, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. If I bought a cisco catalyst, I would have problems sleeping. I'd be kept awake thinking "they spent my money to build a jail". They are capitalists, and I expect them to act in the interest of profit, But anyone who expects me not to act in the interest of freedom is insane. To that end, I will try and make their interest in profit and my interest in freedom coincide. By never using their products (and I was gonna be a CCNA).
We live in a capitalist society, and in a capitalist society money controls everything. That's good, because money doesn't discriminate, and if we want to make a change, all we have to do is with-hold our money. Fuck Cisco. Fuck their products. Let _them_ do it. I won't help. I'll boycott cisco. Will my change help anything? Maybe not, but it's a start. And 20 years from now, when we're all presenting our national ID's for minimal access to _our_ national cisco firewall, I'll look back and think " I tried". You can look back and think "I helped them do it."
"The system doesn't care because the system is you. Nothing ever changes because that's what _you_ choose." -- A//Political
AGE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE OLD!?!?! you gotta be friggin kiddin me! I'm a teen and I can't go to school/walk the street/step foot in a respectable business establishment etc.. just because everyone i see assumes that anyone under the age of thirty is a criminla,druggie or some other form of scumbag. And you wanna whine because nobody belives your a 1337 h4x0r?! your a fool. You should quit your whining and appreciate the fact that you don't get pre-judged as a second class citizen.