Okay, this pisses me off a bit. There are certain areas where Linux is flat out lacking in software, and graphical HTML editors is one of them.
Because some linux users have their OS as a replacement for some kind of manhood or penis size in their own head, they cannot admit that Linux is lacking in certain areas, and so they insist you use a text editor for HTML.
I am a contract-oriented programmer who, unfortunately, must do design work (and in a rush, too) in order to get certain programming jobs. In those events, I don't have the time or desire to sit in front of a text editor and work the code by myself from scratch. It doesn't even make sense. I am fully able to put something together using a text editor. Most of my personal pages I do by hand, just so I don't get rusty with the code.
But how about a huge business website where someone is on the phone telling you changes as you are uploading the last changes they made?! HUH?!
Macromedia Dreamweaver 2 is far and away the best editor to use, and its quick code editor allows you to remain true to your code beginnings.
I personally have been harassing Macromedia for a Linux port. Anyone else want to join me? ----------- open source everything
'm originally from Panama (Central America, kids), and came during the Noriega fiasco to finish high school (10-12th), so I was in high school not too long ago and I know a little about "police states" (or military juntas)
Who the hell do you think was behind the military junta in Panama? Noriega and George Bush went way back, up until we illegal invaded Panama in 89 to clean up our little mess. The US prefers to establish police states in countries that are far from our borders -- such behavior doesn't go on here, but we sure benefit from it.
The police state here is a little more subtle. The US has the highest incarceration rate of any industrial country. There are millions in prison and millions more who are legally bound to the criminal justice system. The entire system is racist and classist. ----------- open source everything
Our country is an attemt to change that. It is not perfect, but it is not bad. Please don't ruin everything that people have done to improve the balence of power in our country by advocating mindless anarchy.
Our country was founded on the principle of the secret ballot -- but only for rich white men. Most of our visionary founding fathers were slave-owning, slave-raping bastards. Within five years of the founding of the United States, George Washington was out with military troops suppressing an insurrection over taxation, the very cause that created the US.
You are right that the U.S. was founded with the new principles about human rights, laissez-faire government, etc. That's nice, but that was centuries ago. Those ideas are not revolutionary anymore. It is time for new revolutionary ideas. Just as the American revolutionaries overthrew the yoke of British monarchy, so must the future generations progress past racist American class-based tyranny -- of course, whether you think it is a tyranny depends upon your station in life. ----------- open source everything
I don't know if you'v had a job or just work in the wrong places. But I've found I get rewarded more/better because I am individualistic. Sure they would look at me funny if I came in with green hair tomorrow, but my bosses have recongized I think differently then most of the drones. I voice my opinions.
Of course, to a degree a job will reward someone who speaks up and contributes to "the team" more than someone who sits and contributes nothing. But you can count on there being some well-defined limits to what you say. Why don't you mention starting a union? Why don't you mention fairer distribution of profits within the company? Anything that would infringe upon the company's control or profitability is where your input becomes meaningless to them. Count on it. ----------- open source everything
Always, huh? I had a pretty good time in high school. (A better time in college, but that is beside the point). That is flawed thought #1.
Here's a thought... maybe you are one of the jackasses that everyone on these message boards is referring to...
Mandatory? Drop out and get your GED if your so smart. Flaw #2 for those counting at home.
Anyone who has dropped out to get a GED instead will tell you what you lose by not being at a regular school: the lack of contacts, the lack of references, the lack of the little "inside" things that help you get into a good college. A GED basically is a worthless license you pay to get in order to qualify for the most substandard jobs. Great alternative you've presented.
So basically they become productive members of society... I'm with you so far...
Now you're starting to catch on -- productive members of an oppressive society are the tools of oppression. See? I think you'll eventually get it.
Anyway, if you don't like it, opt of out the system, move somewhere else. Enjoy your workers paradise.
Good point -- although the old "move to russia" argument went out of style quite some time ago. That should be the answer for any progressive movement... the U.S. should take in all foreign resistance movements, so when people in China are like, "you think its so great move to america" -- and they could.
Oh please....anyway, I've got to snip some of this, its just not even worth responding to.
Another good argument. Do you deny that the majority of the world's wealth and power is centralized in a very small (5-10%) of the population?
Oh and the thought that you want some plain old internet anarchary on a system that was developed by the miliatary, run by large telcoms, and is accessed by computers that are built by large corporations is very ironic in that Alanis Morisette sort of way.
Not only is it ironic, it is pretty cool if you think about it. The US invested all this money to create a technological infrastructure with Cold War motivations -- only for the world to co-opt it and use it for organizing and communication, etc. Why is cryptography illegal again? ----------- open source everything
But they do change. They grow up. They mature. Their values change. They are not the same at 32 as they were at 18. Neither are the geeks.
Yeah, you're right, the jocks do not walk down the halls at their office job randomly punching people and starting fights. But that does not mean bullies are eradicated, they just take a different and more dangerous form -- the "jock cop" comes to mind, who fucks with you just because you looked at them the wrong way. How many bosses and teachers (dealing with other adults, i.e. parents) and politicians are bullies in their own right, not physically like in high school, but using the power that is available outside of high school.
3. In the real world, money is the major criteria of someone's worth. Not your looks, social skills or hobbies.
Right, but how much money you end up with largely depends on your parents, who you know, your ability to kiss ass and hobnob with people who have money, etc. Same shit -- different situation. ----------- open source everything
Ah, right -- usually an intelligent statement would include something substantial, instead of a hollow jab that basically says my opinion isn't trendy enough for you. ----------- open source everything
So what are we to do about all of the problems we're discussing here? The first thing to realize is that there are a lot of folks who have come to see things as fucked up already -- and who are moving to work at doing something about it.
No matter how much some of us would like to admit it, free software is a process that is revolutionary compared to the capitalist mode of production and distribution. But the "open source" process outlined in ESR's Cathedral essay applies to more than just how software is made. Anarchists, anti-authoritarians, punks, Chiapas rebels, Spanish rebels -- long before ESR, they've all realized that decentralized, co-operative, not-for-profit, mutual aid is a more equal and better process methodology than the closed, proprietary, competitive capitalist process. For everything -- food, music, books, etc.
So instead of throwing some messages on the/. message board, do something and help out a movement that has already spontaneously started to overthrow capitalist hierarchy:
If all of us, whatever our individuality, challenged our own roles, we could have control over what we produce, how it is produced, and also how the product will be of use to other people. We would, therefore, threaten the existence of capital, wage-slavery and the commodity. - Karma Sutra ----------- open source everything
People who spend a long part of their life supposedly fighting for a cause they believe in who later in life give up on that cause and become everything they hated when they were younger are not wiser --- they were probably just following a trend in the first place. In college, the trend is to rebel. As you get older and your circle of friends become more responsible to the needs society has of you, you start following a different trend. How many of the Woodstock Generation could care less about creating revolution, and did what they could do appear hipper and more revolutionary than the next guy, all with the intent of getting laid or something?
Especially when you see all the hippies who were in it for life -- who stood behind their words and did not run away when it became uncomfortable and inconvenient.
My main problem here is your assertion that at some point, "we all end up the same, so why are we fighting now?" Some people end up giving into the conformist nuclear family mentality, and some people go on to fight for something. My point is just that your generalization is off. ----------- open source everything
My point is both Bills are different from the norm, and yes they do run things. Pop-stars RUN A HELL OF A LOT why do you think Marilyn Manson sells-out crowds? Why do kids immitate him? Control the kids--control the future.
And what you don't get is that no matter how quirky you think Marilyn Manson or Bill Gates are, the function they serve in society is the same old shit: corrupt, controlling, superficial power mongers. Marilyn Manson is the KISS of our generation, selling records to kids by scaring their parents. That kind of empty rebelliousness is not what I'm talking about.
What I mean is that as long as everything that matters in society -- education, food distribution, what we do with our daily lives -- is controlled by people who lead a privileged, elite life, everyone else will be treated as (wage-)slaves. ----------- open source everything
Get ahead - we're smarter, more capable, more creative, and more understanding than the majority. Get to the top, and then do things your way.
You need to read your history and learn why this is a fatal mistake. This is exactly the rationale for nearly every hippie sell-out that ever existed.
The danger of this plan is that the problem is not necessarily who serves as the de facto dictators for the rest of society -- the problem is the power imbalance that allows dictators to exist at all! Becoming a boss yourself does not solve anything besides benefiting yourself. You may think you are an open-minded, enlightened boss -- but that's what every damn boss thinks. It is that mentality that spawns corporate "team spirit training" or "spiritual renewal classes" -- in the end, though, the corporation exists to make money, so if you infringe on that in the slightest with your creativity, desire for freedom, skin color, gender or whatever -- you are gone. ----------- open source everything
The commonality you are describing does not happen to people across the board, and amongst people interested in making a change, people like that are called "sell-outs."
Your father did not "become normal" -- he was slowly worn down by the demands society places on people to conform. It was time to suck it up and get a comfortable job, raise a nuclear family, and leave the messy world of radical politics.
The problem is that for the true outcasts in society, simply walking away from the problem is not an option. How many Black Panthers do you think up and decided to quit their revolution and join the corporate world, with a nice job? How many of the outcasts even came close to seeing the inside of a college in the 60's? ----------- open source everything
HUH? I really doubt that Bill Clinton sees that much wrong with the United States -- considering he is your typically corrupt politician -- involved in shady business and campaign deals, not to mention his womanizing, sexual harassment, and casual disregard for any kind of integrity left in the office of the leader of the free world. And let's just forget about his mindless abdication of military decisions to the war-mongering Pentagon, causing hundreds of people to be bombed and murdered during his term...
Do I even need to begin on Bill Gates, the world's richest man whose organization has more power than many countries? Or Newt Gingrich, the fascist champion of the Republican Party, brave enough to take on single mothers, minorities, gays and anyone else against the Amerikkkan Way?
Yeah, they're just like the rest of us. ----------- open source everything
Of course you had a good time in high school. Most people can think of some good times they had -- or at least nostalgic times, because that's an important turning point in your life.
But there is something far more insidious going on at a systemic level. Everything coming out recently is an indication of that, let alone the facts about our society, like the stratification, the power disparity, the racism and classism and sexism that all points to a rigid and vicious hierarchy underlying every facet of our lives.
So you shouldn't feel abnormal about remembering good things about high school. I remember tons of good things from that time in my life -- more good things than bad. Other people are not as fortunate, though -- their luck being a bit worse than ours. But I specifically remember the torture of being at school every day, of sacrificing total control of your life for a mandatory 8-10 hours a day to a bunch of incompetent, uncaring, overworked teachers who are getting paid next to nothing. In other words, prison guards, with a PR facelift.
Hell no! What we need is less rules, less of the same old authoritarian mentality that is at the root of the ridicule, the idea that one human's mannerisms or color or sex or whatever are inherently superior to another. People do not want to admit that the U.S. is a seriously oppressive country, and just want to chalk it up to the lack of the right kind of rules and punishment.
Who do you think these jocks and "respectable christian high school students" turn into? They are the boss at work, the cop on the street, the corrupt senator, the demented high school teacher, the obnoxious temp recruiter -- their role as the crapworker for an inherently screwed-up system continues once they leave the confines of high school.
Let's try to get at the fundamental problem here, and not just pass a law that will give the jocks and teachers one more excuse to throw someone out of school (or worse, juvenile psych or detention). Any new law will be disparately targeted towards the people it is supposed to be protecting. ----------- open source everything
The mandatory hell referred to as high school will always be one of the most detrimental experiences an individual can go through until some fundamental changes take place.
What we need to understand is that the jocks, preps, and wacko administration kiss-asses do not go away once high school is over. They become the new generation of teachers, cops, judges, businessmen, etc. They do well in life because they already have the advantage of being well-to-do, accepted by the rest of the mundane society, and "on the right track." In case anyone hasn't figured it out, high school is a training ground for the workforce. All the necessary skills of obedience, blind acceptance, kissing butt, the willingness to sacrifice 66% of your day to mind-numbing and pointless work or sleep --- these are the "job skills" that need to be learned by the innately free-willed human being to fit into our mechanical capitalist hell.
Of course, nothing of this has to do with the fact that our society has been running on an authoritarian structure that places a small group of people as an elite over other groups and, ultimately, all of the "masses."
Black, poor, gay, freak, geek --- your individualism is useless to the machinery of global profit-making.
But there is more to it than that. Your individualism is more importantly dangerous to the button-pushers and their servile middle-men (the managers -- cops, teachers, landlords, corporate scum). They will always do whatever they can to appease you. And they will try to appease you over Colorado. They will become more "open" -- at least on the record. But in the end, when push comes to shove, they are "they" for a reason: they have the power and they will do anything to keep it.
Our generation has the cynicism from watching the extended hippie revolution joke, the anger from being further polarized and born into a violent, oppressive culture, and the numbers to make a difference.
So what are we doing whining about it on this message board? Let's overthrow the music industry with MP3's, overthrow the tech industry with free software, and overthrow the corporation-state's power monopoly through plain old internet anarchy!
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, this pisses me off a bit. There are certain areas where Linux is flat out lacking in software, and graphical HTML editors is one of them.
Because some linux users have their OS as a replacement for some kind of manhood or penis size in their own head, they cannot admit that Linux is lacking in certain areas, and so they insist you use a text editor for HTML.
I am a contract-oriented programmer who, unfortunately, must do design work (and in a rush, too) in order to get certain programming jobs. In those events, I don't have the time or desire to sit in front of a text editor and work the code by myself from scratch. It doesn't even make sense. I am fully able to put something together using a text editor. Most of my personal pages I do by hand, just so I don't get rusty with the code.
But how about a huge business website where someone is on the phone telling you changes as you are uploading the last changes they made?! HUH?!
Macromedia Dreamweaver 2 is far and away the best editor to use, and its quick code editor allows you to remain true to your code beginnings.
I personally have been harassing Macromedia for a Linux port. Anyone else want to join me?
-----------
open source everything
'm originally from Panama (Central America, kids), and came during the Noriega fiasco to finish high school (10-12th), so I was in high school not too long ago and I know a little about "police states" (or military juntas)
Who the hell do you think was behind the military junta in Panama? Noriega and George Bush went way back, up until we illegal invaded Panama in 89 to clean up our little mess. The US prefers to establish police states in countries that are far from our borders -- such behavior doesn't go on here, but we sure benefit from it.
The police state here is a little more subtle. The US has the highest incarceration rate of any industrial country. There are millions in prison and millions more who are legally bound to the criminal justice system. The entire system is racist and classist.
-----------
open source everything
Our country is an attemt to change that. It is not perfect, but it is not bad. Please don't ruin everything that people have done to improve the balence of power in our country by advocating mindless anarchy.
Our country was founded on the principle of the secret ballot -- but only for rich white men. Most of our visionary founding fathers were slave-owning, slave-raping bastards. Within five years of the founding of the United States, George Washington was out with military troops suppressing an insurrection over taxation, the very cause that created the US.
You are right that the U.S. was founded with the new principles about human rights, laissez-faire government, etc. That's nice, but that was centuries ago. Those ideas are not revolutionary anymore. It is time for new revolutionary ideas. Just as the American revolutionaries overthrew the yoke of British monarchy, so must the future generations progress past racist American class-based tyranny -- of course, whether you think it is a tyranny depends upon your station in life.
-----------
open source everything
I don't know if you'v had a job or just work in the wrong places. But I've found I get rewarded more/better because I am individualistic. Sure they would look at me funny if I came in with green hair tomorrow, but my bosses have recongized I think differently then most of the drones. I voice my opinions.
Of course, to a degree a job will reward someone who speaks up and contributes to "the team" more than someone who sits and contributes nothing. But you can count on there being some well-defined limits to what you say. Why don't you mention starting a union? Why don't you mention fairer distribution of profits within the company? Anything that would infringe upon the company's control or profitability is where your input becomes meaningless to them. Count on it.
-----------
open source everything
Always, huh? I had a pretty good time in high school. (A better time in college, but that is beside the point). That is flawed thought #1.
... maybe you are one of the jackasses that everyone on these message boards is referring to ...
Here's a thought
Mandatory? Drop out and get your GED if your so smart. Flaw #2 for those counting at home.
Anyone who has dropped out to get a GED instead will tell you what you lose by not being at a regular school: the lack of contacts, the lack of references, the lack of the little "inside" things that help you get into a good college. A GED basically is a worthless license you pay to get in order to qualify for the most substandard jobs. Great alternative you've presented.
So basically they become productive members of society... I'm with you so far...
Now you're starting to catch on -- productive members of an oppressive society are the tools of oppression. See? I think you'll eventually get it.
Anyway, if you don't like it, opt of out the system, move somewhere else. Enjoy your workers paradise.
Good point -- although the old "move to russia" argument went out of style quite some time ago. That should be the answer for any progressive movement... the U.S. should take in all foreign resistance movements, so when people in China are like, "you think its so great move to america" -- and they could.
Oh please....anyway, I've got to snip some of this, its just not even worth responding to.
Another good argument. Do you deny that the majority of the world's wealth and power is centralized in a very small (5-10%) of the population?
Oh and the thought that you want some plain old internet anarchary on a system that was developed by the miliatary, run by large telcoms, and is accessed by computers that are built by large corporations is very ironic in that Alanis Morisette sort of way.
Not only is it ironic, it is pretty cool if you think about it. The US invested all this money to create a technological infrastructure with Cold War motivations -- only for the world to co-opt it and use it for organizing and communication, etc. Why is cryptography illegal again?
-----------
open source everything
But they do change. They grow up. They mature. Their values change. They are not the same at 32 as they were at 18. Neither are the geeks.
Yeah, you're right, the jocks do not walk down the halls at their office job randomly punching people and starting fights. But that does not mean bullies are eradicated, they just take a different and more dangerous form -- the "jock cop" comes to mind, who fucks with you just because you looked at them the wrong way. How many bosses and teachers (dealing with other adults, i.e. parents) and politicians are bullies in their own right, not physically like in high school, but using the power that is available outside of high school.
3. In the real world, money is the major criteria of someone's worth. Not your looks, social skills or hobbies.
Right, but how much money you end up with largely depends on your parents, who you know, your ability to kiss ass and hobnob with people who have money, etc. Same shit -- different situation.
-----------
open source everything
Ah, right -- usually an intelligent statement would include something substantial, instead of a hollow jab that basically says my opinion isn't trendy enough for you.
-----------
open source everything
So what are we to do about all of the problems we're discussing here? The first thing to realize is that there are a lot of folks who have come to see things as fucked up already -- and who are moving to work at doing something about it.
/. message board, do something and help out a movement that has already spontaneously started to overthrow capitalist hierarchy:
No matter how much some of us would like to admit it, free software is a process that is revolutionary compared to the capitalist mode of production and distribution. But the "open source" process outlined in ESR's Cathedral essay applies to more than just how software is made. Anarchists, anti-authoritarians, punks, Chiapas rebels, Spanish rebels -- long before ESR, they've all realized that decentralized, co-operative, not-for-profit, mutual aid is a more equal and better process methodology than the closed, proprietary, competitive capitalist process. For everything -- food, music, books, etc.
So instead of throwing some messages on the
http://www.ainfos.ca
http://burn.ucsd.edu
http://profaneexistence.com
http://www.honeylocust.com/positive/
http://blackflag.net/chumba/not_corp.htm
http://www.server1.tech-host.com/anok/
http://www.iww.org
If all of us, whatever our individuality, challenged our own roles, we could have control over what we produce, how it is produced, and also how the product will be of use to other people. We would, therefore, threaten the existence of capital, wage-slavery and the commodity. - Karma Sutra
-----------
open source everything
People who spend a long part of their life supposedly fighting for a cause they believe in who later in life give up on that cause and become everything they hated when they were younger are not wiser --- they were probably just following a trend in the first place. In college, the trend is to rebel. As you get older and your circle of friends become more responsible to the needs society has of you, you start following a different trend. How many of the Woodstock Generation could care less about creating revolution, and did what they could do appear hipper and more revolutionary than the next guy, all with the intent of getting laid or something?
Especially when you see all the hippies who were in it for life -- who stood behind their words and did not run away when it became uncomfortable and inconvenient.
My main problem here is your assertion that at some point, "we all end up the same, so why are we fighting now?" Some people end up giving into the conformist nuclear family mentality, and some people go on to fight for something. My point is just that your generalization is off.
-----------
open source everything
My point is both Bills are different from the norm, and yes they do run things. Pop-stars RUN A HELL OF A LOT why do you think Marilyn Manson sells-out crowds? Why do kids immitate him? Control the kids--control the future.
And what you don't get is that no matter how quirky you think Marilyn Manson or Bill Gates are, the function they serve in society is the same old shit: corrupt, controlling, superficial power mongers. Marilyn Manson is the KISS of our generation, selling records to kids by scaring their parents. That kind of empty rebelliousness is not what I'm talking about.
What I mean is that as long as everything that matters in society -- education, food distribution, what we do with our daily lives -- is controlled by people who lead a privileged, elite life, everyone else will be treated as (wage-)slaves.
-----------
open source everything
Get ahead - we're smarter, more capable, more creative, and more understanding than the majority. Get to the top, and then do things your way.
You need to read your history and learn why this is a fatal mistake. This is exactly the rationale for nearly every hippie sell-out that ever existed.
The danger of this plan is that the problem is not necessarily who serves as the de facto dictators for the rest of society -- the problem is the power imbalance that allows dictators to exist at all! Becoming a boss yourself does not solve anything besides benefiting yourself. You may think you are an open-minded, enlightened boss -- but that's what every damn boss thinks. It is that mentality that spawns corporate "team spirit training" or "spiritual renewal classes" -- in the end, though, the corporation exists to make money, so if you infringe on that in the slightest with your creativity, desire for freedom, skin color, gender or whatever -- you are gone.
-----------
open source everything
The commonality you are describing does not happen to people across the board, and amongst people interested in making a change, people like that are called "sell-outs."
Your father did not "become normal" -- he was slowly worn down by the demands society places on people to conform. It was time to suck it up and get a comfortable job, raise a nuclear family, and leave the messy world of radical politics.
The problem is that for the true outcasts in society, simply walking away from the problem is not an option. How many Black Panthers do you think up and decided to quit their revolution and join the corporate world, with a nice job? How many of the outcasts even came close to seeing the inside of a college in the 60's?
-----------
open source everything
HUH? I really doubt that Bill Clinton sees that much wrong with the United States -- considering he is your typically corrupt politician -- involved in shady business and campaign deals, not to mention his womanizing, sexual harassment, and casual disregard for any kind of integrity left in the office of the leader of the free world. And let's just forget about his mindless abdication of military decisions to the war-mongering Pentagon, causing hundreds of people to be bombed and murdered during his term...
Do I even need to begin on Bill Gates, the world's richest man whose organization has more power than many countries? Or Newt Gingrich, the fascist champion of the Republican Party, brave enough to take on single mothers, minorities, gays and anyone else against the Amerikkkan Way?
Yeah, they're just like the rest of us.
-----------
open source everything
Of course you had a good time in high school. Most people can think of some good times they had -- or at least nostalgic times, because that's an important turning point in your life.
But there is something far more insidious going on at a systemic level. Everything coming out recently is an indication of that, let alone the facts about our society, like the stratification, the power disparity, the racism and classism and sexism that all points to a rigid and vicious hierarchy underlying every facet of our lives.
So you shouldn't feel abnormal about remembering good things about high school. I remember tons of good things from that time in my life -- more good things than bad. Other people are not as fortunate, though -- their luck being a bit worse than ours. But I specifically remember the torture of being at school every day, of sacrificing total control of your life for a mandatory 8-10 hours a day to a bunch of incompetent, uncaring, overworked teachers who are getting paid next to nothing. In other words, prison guards, with a PR facelift.
-----------
open source everything
Hell no! What we need is less rules, less of the same old authoritarian mentality that is at the root of the ridicule, the idea that one human's mannerisms or color or sex or whatever are inherently superior to another. People do not want to admit that the U.S. is a seriously oppressive country, and just want to chalk it up to the lack of the right kind of rules and punishment.
Who do you think these jocks and "respectable christian high school students" turn into? They are the boss at work, the cop on the street, the corrupt senator, the demented high school teacher, the obnoxious temp recruiter -- their role as the crapworker for an inherently screwed-up system continues once they leave the confines of high school.
Let's try to get at the fundamental problem here, and not just pass a law that will give the jocks and teachers one more excuse to throw someone out of school (or worse, juvenile psych or detention). Any new law will be disparately targeted towards the people it is supposed to be protecting.
-----------
open source everything
The mandatory hell referred to as high school will always be one of the most detrimental experiences an individual can go through until some fundamental changes take place.
What we need to understand is that the jocks, preps, and wacko administration kiss-asses do not go away once high school is over. They become the new generation of teachers, cops, judges, businessmen, etc. They do well in life because they already have the advantage of being well-to-do, accepted by the rest of the mundane society, and "on the right track." In case anyone hasn't figured it out, high school is a training ground for the workforce. All the necessary skills of obedience, blind acceptance, kissing butt, the willingness to sacrifice 66% of your day to mind-numbing and pointless work or sleep --- these are the "job skills" that need to be learned by the innately free-willed human being to fit into our mechanical capitalist hell.
Of course, nothing of this has to do with the fact that our society has been running on an authoritarian structure that places a small group of people as an elite over other groups and, ultimately, all of the "masses."
Black, poor, gay, freak, geek --- your individualism is useless to the machinery of global profit-making.
But there is more to it than that. Your individualism is more importantly dangerous to the button-pushers and their servile middle-men (the managers -- cops, teachers, landlords, corporate scum). They will always do whatever they can to appease you. And they will try to appease you over Colorado. They will become more "open" -- at least on the record. But in the end, when push comes to shove, they are "they" for a reason: they have the power and they will do anything to keep it.
Our generation has the cynicism from watching the extended hippie revolution joke, the anger from being further polarized and born into a violent, oppressive culture, and the numbers to make a difference.
So what are we doing whining about it on this message board? Let's overthrow the music industry with MP3's, overthrow the tech industry with free software, and overthrow the corporation-state's power monopoly through plain old internet anarchy!
-----------
open source everything