Post by DocrodilePost by Perseid RocksAfter Much Chewing of Cud and Cogitation, "Docrodile"
Post by DocrodilePost by Perseid RocksI think we're sucking on multiple tits every day, which are
linked to one much larger tit, the federal government... but since
we the people ARE the federal government, we are effectively sucking
on our OWN tits (I'm trying to keep a straight face after having
said that).
It all distills down into dependence on someone to live our lives. We
can
Post by Docrodilegive up being dependent on someone, but who survives as an island? How
many can you count that you know who do? Realistically, we all depend on
someone to do something for us, or provide a product...yeah, we COULD
produce everything ourselves, each and every one of us, independently of
each other, but that isn't going to be our reality, nor has it been
since
Post by Docrodilecivilization dawned. Let's look at the hard reality of our lives. We are
trapped by powers that we don't want to risk throwing off, and content
(with antidepressants, toys, narcissism, et al)
You don't have to live with daily doses of non-prescription drugs.
You don't have to watch tv ads. You don't have to buy toys which
feed your ego. In short, if you feel trapped by this socio-economic
structure, it's because you've allowed yourself to becomed trapped
by it.
Try going for a hike in the mountains every other day. Read a
good book, learn a new language, expand your mind and horizon.
Break out of the entrapment. Take control.
Sounds like a speech to the Sierra Club... LOL! (I think you forget my age
and I'm well educated, and have experienced many things.)
When you get your backpack on, where did you get it from? Water bottle?
Clothes? Shoes? Underwear? Toothpaste and brush? Munchies? If you get a
headache, where did the aspirin or acetaminophen (etc) come from?
Transportation to the starting point for the 'breakaway freedom hike' --
where did the transporatation come from? The gas for it? The bicycle?
No, we don't have to do 'anything' that is the standard consumer
lifestyle -- that's true. We don't HAVE to. You're right. And, I
reiterate -- how many will choose to accept the easiest, most convenient
path? Most. And how will your rebellion, your resistance, change the
paradigm if you continue to rely heavily on the creators of it, and what
they provide? Cherry picking in your lifestyle, while remaining largely
codependent on the corporate TIT, isn't an expansion of anything
liberating -- it's a resignation, a denial, a delusion that you're moving
beyond 'the masses' into some freewheeling world of DIY, rugged
individualism, iconoclastic trail-blazing.
You might as well be a prisoner in a state institution and fantasize that
the spiritual and intellectual exercises have 'liberated' you from the
prison's electric fences and guards. And, in a way, you'd be right. Your
mind can be liberated, to be sure, but the body remains imprisoned. So, if
you're talking philosophical liberation, I can agree. But, that isn't what
you're talking about, really, is it? And the fact you're pushing it down
here, pretty hard, now is a good indication that what I said is bothering
you. From my perspective, Perseid, which I suspect is quite different from
your station in life at the point you're now at, I see that we are indeed
trapped in a tyranny of corporate power, lies, and codependence. Taking
nice sunny trips in the hills or sailing across the bay feels good, but
you have to come back to depending on a corrupted and controlling power
structure after the 'vacation.' And all the products, practically, you
took along came from that power, that structure. Rather than admit the
painfully obvious fact you're heavily dependent on the controllers, the
shapers, the power brokers, and all they provide for your sustenance, you
instead have preferred to argue about it. You want me to believe you've
escaped, and have cherry picked out what you need, disposed of all the
rest, and have empowered and liberated yourself. Turn off the monitor,
disconnect the internet, salvage the hardware and software, and be truly
liberated from corporate codependence!!! Go ahead...get away from all of
it. Purchase a remote piece of land and set up a shack and carry in the
water, use wood for heat, etc. Be truly liberated from so much dependence.
Then you can have an effective argument. As long as you keep cherry
pickin', kid, you're fooling yourself. When you're younger, it's easier
not to have to face up to yourself. It's much easier to focus on 'the
bunny hoppers' and experience a sort of surreality for a period of time,
in which you think you're facing up to reality, but then, if you're smart,
later on you realize it was a rather fantastical paradigm you'd fashioned
for your convenience.
Docrodile
Post by Perseid RocksPost by Docrodileto keep going in this
direction, this pathway that's been made for us, and accepted by us. We
didn't make the pathway. Greedy powerful people were allowed to
construct
Post by Docrodilethe paradigm we complacently accepted.
I'm ok with some company making something that I can buy
which makes my life easier. Personally, I feel more entrapped
by daily chores than anything else.
Post by DocrodilePost by Perseid RocksWe control our environments in very subtle ways... don't buy
certain products and the product stops getting made and we
don't see it any more... don't respond to certain types of
ads then the ads go away because they're ineffective.
Yeah, Perseid, you're right We CAN and DO, to some limited degree,
control
Post by Docrodilethe products and services we use. But, then, realistically, how many
people are going to do this? Enough that the entire structure is no
longer
Post by Docrodileone of co-dependence, and we just begin to be our own manufacturers of
things we need, service we need?
Again, I have no complaints about some company making a profit
by making something useful that I might want to buy.
And how much stuff is that, Perseid? C'mon, how many things do you DIY,
guy? Give me more details...it'd be better for you in the long run if you
just face up to your heavy dependence, your habit, on sucking on that ol'
BIG TIT just like everyone does. And you might take a hard
self-examination as to why you're trying to fool ol' Doc...or yourself, or
others here. I know you've bought into the popular trend of yuppie types
(not saying you're one) who buy Mother Jones magazine, read Backpacker
magazine, ride a mountain bike around, etc...it's more hedonism and
narcissism, repackaged, than it is individualism, independence,
rebellion...and the corporate guys know this, and do a decent job of
feeding into those folks' collective delusions. It's not easy to accept
what I've said. I know. I didn't like it, either. But, if you were living
on the edge of death at any moment, or great disability at any moment, as
I now do, the delusions and illusions begin to fall to wayside, making way
for some uncomfortable self-realization.
It's fun to poke away at the powers-to-be, and I will until the end, and
cherry pick my rebellion, but I recognize the hypocrisy in myself and many
others these days, and understand why the things I've said produce the
usual reactions they do. No one really likes to admit altruism isn't one
of their dedicated qualities.I would've said much the same things as you
have, and I have said those things many times and argued them against all
opposition. We have this insufferable compex ego system that vexes us,
subverts our reality, and sets into motion all kinds of unneeded conflict,
with ourselves, others, and the paradigm we live in. Ultimately, toward
the end of each of our lives, comes some painful revelation of truth and
fiction, thank god, finally, (LOL!) whether it be on our hospice bed, or
wherever. We may choose to say nothing, and quietly slip away with that
revelation, or voice it before we go...and I guess you could call that a
liberating choice.
Docrodile
Not only all, that but the computer has basically taken over all our lives.