Frayzer said:
This sticks out to me the most from that article an is completely true in my case:
"For the past, at least, 25 years, I've been told to do more and more to keep a woman. But nobody's told me what they're doing to keep me."
I'm glad that line grabbed someone else's attention, too. Spoken like a truley entitled millenial robot drone awaiting further programming.
The sentence structure itself just screams "victim".
This sentence sums up dynamics which underly a variety of influences in a man's life.
"For the past, at least, 25 years, I've been told I'm lucky to have a job. But nobody's told me they are lucky to have me working there."
"...I've been told to do more and more to get a raise. But nobody's told me I'll actually be getting a cost-of-living increase."
"...I've been told to PAY more and more TAXES. But nobody's told me what they're doing to keep me PAYING TAXES."
"...I've been told to do more and more to make minorities "equal". But nobody's told me that I'm the minority."
"...I've been told to do more and more to keep up with technology. But nobody's told me why I should throw away something that works for something that's newer."
"...I've been told to vote republican or democrat. But nobody's running that I actually want to vote for."
"...I've been told to go to college, get a good job, get married, and have kids. But nobody's talking about how overpopulation makes that path the least intelligent one."
"...I've been told to hold doors open for ladies. But there aren't any ladies [wearing whale-bone corsets, hoops skirts, or even heels; much less offering a thank-you]."
"...I've been told to do more and more. But nobody's told me what's in it for me."
At some point, when the ridiculousness of our daily routines becomes obvious, there is motivation for change. There has to be some sort of "chipping away at the prison wall", if even with only a spoon. Instead of taking those tiny chips out, and watching the cumulative results over time, guys don't have the foresight. Had a guy been chipping away, he would be sitting in a pile of concrete bits, staring at a hole in the prison wall. Instead, he's looking at a screen, next to a pile of cable, electricity, and credit card bills. "There is no spoon" has a different meaning for blue-pill types.
Why don't people think past two chess moves out? I mean, it blows guys' minds if you explain the investment versus the reward. It's like there was never an option to do anything else with their time. Nope. Everyone MUST pay for a tv, a video game console, and video games. And, since everyone MUST have those things, then you MUST get the fastest internet, the fastest computer upgrades, and you need to use electricity. You MUST pay sh¡tloads of money to waste a sh¡tload of your time and have a sh¡tload of nothing besides obsolete-the-next-day land-fill fodder, burnt coal, and
potentially a high score.
Now, stop, and take another look at that video game microcosm. When you see it as a mini-model of the bigger system, that's when the unplugging from that matrix begins. "Wait. All the american jobs are going overseas? Who is paying taxes in that void? Where are the cost-of-living dollars coming from, then? How can the supply/demand not jack up prices of everything? How is it, that, the harder I work, the harder I
need to work, in order to simply
keep working? And, how could I ever become 'successful' if the means to my success is taken away? I keep playing and playing this game, but instead of getting better, my scores keep getting lower? Why do I play this game?"
Like "Jurgis", from Upton Sinclair's
The Jungle, every adversity is met with "I must work harder". We automatically jump to "I need more money" as the be-all-end-all fix. If we thought beyond two chess moves out, we'd see beyond "make more money to have more stuff". Instead of earning more money, with jobs that aren't there, to buy sh¡t we don't need, to attract women we don't want, guys are jumping off that treadmill.
And look, the unemployment numbers are dropping! Look everyone! Numbers! Look over here! Don't think! Wait for somebody to "tell you" what to think. Don't see that people are unplugging from the matrix: that's bad, you know. Don't believe me? I'll tell you again, on another channel, then: that's bad. People aren't giving up, they're getting jobs! See! Numbers! Graphs!
I...
believe...
*square eyeballs, drooling*
It couldn't possibly have anything to do with people's unemployment benefits running out with still no job to be found, or just plain ol' not bothering.
Psst... Psst! there are more benefits to being unemployed than just a government hand out. Shhh... don't tell anyone.
"For the past, at least, 25 years, I've been told to do more and more to keep a woman. But nobody's told me what they're doing to keep me."
This guy is upset because nobody's just handed him a winning lottery ticket? Nobody simply gave him the answer to how he should run his life?
Like I said, a millenial drone. "Awaiting next commands." Well done, media and marketing.
Koch Brothers said:
Thanks; you're pumping out perfect consumers, trained exactly to our corporate guidelines. So, we'll still contribute to your campaign. But, times are tough you know, so'll we'll be contributing less. Sorry, but maybe you should consider giving yourself a pay raise using those school funds to pick-up-the-slack in your greed.
After 25 years, would you say "thinking" is something the author is good at? Well, as close as he might be to reasoning it completely through, odds are, he's staying very much checked-in to society. He'll likely over-ride his personal conclusions with the group-think in order to remain hooked up to his lifeline: an ever-dwindling IV drip of money. "PLEASE, NURSE! SOMEBODY! TURN UP THE DRIP! IT HURTS!!! ...WAIT, NO!!! PLEASE!! DON'T TURN IT DOWN AGAIN!!! AAAAAAAARRGGH!!!"
Some eventually see the efforts, and the returns, and come to the knowledge that a great deal of other, more valuable things, are sacrificed in order to lie in that bed of anguish that is the working poor. Which, clearly, is being made bigger such that we can
all lie in it. Sure, folks can hope that there is a way to achieve or overcome. But that's all there is to that "work hard and find a way": hope. Remember Jurgis? Work harder, that's the
only answer. When everyone is working harder to find ways, how many of those people achieve that magical nirvana? You may find more resources to afford comfort (LESS anguish), but do you afford more leisure or happiness (NO anguish)?
When society is structured such that all happiness revolves around the high-score of the video game that is a fiat currency, and that means to happiness is choked off, you bet some folks are going to drop out of that society. It's only two chess moves to think past: happiness? Fiat currency? So, let me get this straight: I'm basing my well being on whatever value
others have of a dollar? I'm basing my well being on group-think? On a mass delusion?
:nervous:
There has come a point in time where the balance has tipped. Whereas once Americans were able to work hard and get a leg up, now there is only work hard and never be ahead. The definition of insanity? To persist is crazy.
The S.S. America is a slave ship. You're down below deck, manning an oar, getting five minute breaks to shove a Big Mac and Fries down your neck. Then back at it, or face the whip. Push hard, and pull hard too, or you'll get the whip.
You: "Hey, wait.... Where are we going?"
Overseer: "The S.S. America is going to get more slaves, of course."
*whip cracks over your back*
You: "But, don't we have better technology?"
Overseer: "Sure, but this is working fine for
us. You're lucky to have a job: Women, Mexicans and Chinese are lined up by the millions to take your spot."
*whip cracks over your back*
You: "To take my spot as a
slave?"
Overseer: "We don't tell them that, we tell them that this is the 'land of opportunity'."
You: "That's what
I was told, too."
*whip cracks*
At some point, any slave would dream of jumping ship and using their remaining energy to swim to shore rather than contribute to getting more slaves. Fight or flight? Get violent and take those risks, or, take the risk of dead-man-floating on the current to a potentially better future? So, the question becomes: "Do I keep going for the dangling carrot? Or, do I get a bird in my hand, instead of nothing in my hand?"
*SplasH*
I chipped away at my shackles, waited for land in sight, then jumped. Three chess moves.
When I get older, and eventually sick, am I going to pay to have more imaginary units extorted from me, only to keep me "healthy enough to keep paying"? Or, do I give those units to my survivors and die when it's my time? That's the place society has us at. How much can you afford to live? Pay or die. You have to exchange imaginary currency units for your health. If you don't offer those units up, the overseers will come and take them at gunpoint, or you die. Some society.
Why would
anyone want to be part of that?
We already have the technology for a better life for all of us: we've had it for a long time. We just volunteer for crappy lives. Don't see the issue as "checking out of society", see it as jumping off the slaveship we volunteered for. ...or, keep pumping away at those oars and try not to think at all.
I would say that it's more cowardly to
stay in this society of women than to check out.
