HUGECOOL
04-03-2006, 11:01 AM
Americans often speak of the freedoms granted them by the Bill of Rights and other legislations. Most of these freedoms, however, are simply promises the state makes to avoid coercing the people from their right to assemble, speak freely or publish. But if you look at the encroachment of laws on these freedoms it is clear that there are very powerful vested interests that want us to ignore these rights in favor of television, shopping malls, etc.
If we were to exercise these freedoms, it would change our society in ways the System would be powerless to control. Our civilization is aware that we're missing something now that living in tribes is a thing of the past. So it has created all of these cultural institutions that RESEMBLE tribes, from the NFL to the Warped Tour. These "pseudo-tribes" let people scratch the tribal itch without actually thinking collectively. People miss being with each other, but civilization cannot allow them to REALLY converge. Civilization depends on mass conformity. The more obedient the people, the less likely they will be to overturn their civilization.
A certain measure of autonomy is doled out officially, so that we forget that we were BORN autonomous. We feel "free" when we're on vacation in a way we wouldn't be able to replicate at home. When we are out of work, we do not feel as good as we do when we are on vacation. That is because while I personally think freedom is the only way to go,it is no vacation.
We do not look at the world as being full of possibility as long as we are free; we look at the world as if it's full of danger and difficulty. The truth is that it's both; the effect of our conformity, however, is to make it difficult to survive if one doesn't fit in. If you don't fit in, you are forced to feel miserable. This is because you are made to feel inferior by institutions and the individuals who are "fortunate" enough to fit in with the system.
The reality is that you are NOT inferior; you simply do not conform into their system. What they REALLY want is for you to focus on your misery. They want you to be MORE miserable because then you will no longer be an iconoclast. You will fit in nicely to their system as "Depressed Person" or "Drug Addict" or "Homeless" or "Reject". This makes you a very useful object lesson to others who want to go their own way.
The more they can drill into you the idea that without civilization you're nothing, the less likely you will be to cast civilization off. Happy people who escape the System are the greatest threat to the System, because they prove that escape IS possible without misery.
If you feel marginalized by society, pretty soon you will find your needs unmet as culture and economy focus on satisfying (and thus growing) the appetite of the Lowest Common Denominator. When you are put to work and accept your burden of work as a lifelong, unavoidable reality of life, the institutions of society make much more sense. Unfortunately.
If we were to exercise these freedoms, it would change our society in ways the System would be powerless to control. Our civilization is aware that we're missing something now that living in tribes is a thing of the past. So it has created all of these cultural institutions that RESEMBLE tribes, from the NFL to the Warped Tour. These "pseudo-tribes" let people scratch the tribal itch without actually thinking collectively. People miss being with each other, but civilization cannot allow them to REALLY converge. Civilization depends on mass conformity. The more obedient the people, the less likely they will be to overturn their civilization.
A certain measure of autonomy is doled out officially, so that we forget that we were BORN autonomous. We feel "free" when we're on vacation in a way we wouldn't be able to replicate at home. When we are out of work, we do not feel as good as we do when we are on vacation. That is because while I personally think freedom is the only way to go,it is no vacation.
We do not look at the world as being full of possibility as long as we are free; we look at the world as if it's full of danger and difficulty. The truth is that it's both; the effect of our conformity, however, is to make it difficult to survive if one doesn't fit in. If you don't fit in, you are forced to feel miserable. This is because you are made to feel inferior by institutions and the individuals who are "fortunate" enough to fit in with the system.
The reality is that you are NOT inferior; you simply do not conform into their system. What they REALLY want is for you to focus on your misery. They want you to be MORE miserable because then you will no longer be an iconoclast. You will fit in nicely to their system as "Depressed Person" or "Drug Addict" or "Homeless" or "Reject". This makes you a very useful object lesson to others who want to go their own way.
The more they can drill into you the idea that without civilization you're nothing, the less likely you will be to cast civilization off. Happy people who escape the System are the greatest threat to the System, because they prove that escape IS possible without misery.
If you feel marginalized by society, pretty soon you will find your needs unmet as culture and economy focus on satisfying (and thus growing) the appetite of the Lowest Common Denominator. When you are put to work and accept your burden of work as a lifelong, unavoidable reality of life, the institutions of society make much more sense. Unfortunately.