for themselves and have to accomplish something to get paid, and people
who've spent their time climbing the "attaboy" ladder.
The "attaboy ladder starts in elementary school, when kids who get A's
and follow the lead of the authority-figure teacher and don't ask the
wrong questions get rewarded and moved up, and kids who make things
difficult for the authority-figure get marginalized and punished.
It continues through high school and college. And that's all fine, it's
innocent enough, except that the scope and content of "academics in
this country has increasingly been molded by corporate/ wannabe elitist
interests, and therefore the intended product of the 12-16 years of
mindf'king in the factory school is a nice generic corporate factory
worker.
An ideal citizen, to that system, is an unquestioning rote-spitting
drone whose sole purpose in life is the swallowing and regurgitation of
whatever is handed to hir, in the form of forms or assembly line
products or sales- and the pleasing of the boss- in return for a
paycheck that provides just barely enough for a vinyl-sided palazzo and
ample carcinogenic carbs to pad the asses of one's self, one's mate,
and one's 2.5 grubs and Playstation.
And here we are after years of shoehorning people into that box,
9-11'd, smelling acrid smoke [it's the bodies] and wondering why our
financial house is falling down.
Whereas somebody who works [and/or thinks] for themselves has the
dubious distinction of having to deliver something tangible- be it a
faux finish or a Mickey Mouse mural in a vinyl sided palazzo or the
repair of a toilet, it has to occur in reality, or the person doesn't
get paid [and sometimes even then, the fatassed drones feel justified
in not paying for the artwork they've redecorated around]. There is no
"security in such a life, but that's one's own damn fault for not
being a good respectable drone.
We've seen the difference between the two models over and over again
when we look at what we're going through as Rome, New York burns. The
"attaboy" kids have been shoving the actual doers out of the way for
decades now, destroying the foundations of the hierarchy they have
inherited by dint of entitlement. Incompetent flash, rooted in social
eugenicism, has trumped actual effort. Corporate has trashed Labor.
Theft has triumphed over the fruits of one's toil. The work of our
grandparents in the unions has faded out of memory, and we the
grandchildren would not pay their like a living wage now. Not cost
effective.
If you're stupid enough to be someone who works with their hands
creating actual buildings, or clothing, or food, or art, or if you're
some other good-for-nothing free thinking noncorporate person, like a
writer, and you ask that any vinyl sided palazzo designated perks be
extended your way, by God you're a Commie, and Rush Limbaugh's gonna
beat you up [although, being a fat assed lifelong corporate ass kisser
himself, those of us who've actually used our muscles in recent years
will probably break him like a stale Starbucks biscotti].
We have a society that has spent billions valuing Clever Tricksters who
can game the system and keep the money away from the workers [by
sending the jobs overseas to slave labor camps] and then we stand agog
when they do what they've been trained all their lives- socially and
fiscally- to do. Endemic sociopathy does that.
It's not the same thing, though, when it's the Middle Class [or Upper Middle Class]. We're Entitled. How dare they?
But it's not the Tricksters per se that are at fault, it's the system. And we're all in it.
Corporations are golems. They are artificial constructs built for the
sole purpose of acquiring wealth. They are mindless predators. They
swoop into an econo-system that has taken centuries to grow, they suck
the wealth out of it, and they move on. Giving a corporation
"personhood is like flooding a nursery school and giving the keys to a
great white shark. Of COURSE they're going to destroy every person in
their path- humans are not considered wealth, they are ancillary, and
therefore what happens to them is unimportant.
We continue to organize ourselves within a gigantic pyramid scheme. We
continue to believe that people raised to be Clever Tricksters all
their lives, with bullshit and social standing as their foundations,
are somehow superior.
These people, who honestly believe that sociopathic behavior worthy of
a follower of Molech somehow renders them "elites", spoiled princesses
[male and female alike] who have no understanding of the fact that
every living thing is a miracle in a universe bereft of any other life,
these people are in need of a real education about what is precious.
I'd much rather know a carpenter with solid skills than ANY Wall Street
whiz kid, any day- even before the crash. A carpenter is USEFUL. A
"whiz kid knows whose ass to kiss and how to get lucky and cash in on
it. A "whiz kid has been carefully taught that people are disposable,
that value is determined by trickle-down, and that a good lie is an
acceptable substitute for an inconvenient truth. The ideal of
Entitlement is the only one [s]he understands.
And here we are, Katrina'd, wondering where the formaldehyde smell is coming from in our trailer [it's the bodies].
As for the assignment of blame? I'm sick of listening to it. I'm to
blame- for not telling the lying sacks of shyte I've come across in my
life- more frequently- that they're lying sacks of shyte. I'm to blame
for not standing on a corner wearing a sandwich sign reading "You
stupid selfish thieving bastards should be shot. I'm to blame for not
immediately slashing the tires of every f'king Ford Explorer or Hummer
I ever saw.
Do you really need to blame somebody? [and is that all you know how to
do?] In that case, blame our systems, our illusions, and our
perceptions [or lack thereof]. Blame every person who's ever watched
the morons on television for more than five minutes a day.
Blame every mindless gum-chewing factory worker who refuses to find out
anything about politics. Blame every politician who thinks that
mindless gum-chewing factory workers aren't worth their concern or
honor.
Blame every teacher who is satisfied to only tell their pupils what is
written in the texts the corporate publishers have issued. Blame every
pastor who has not challenged his parishioners to forgive. Blame every
rabbi who hasn't demanded that her parishioners rise up and help the
poor. Blame every CEO who helicopters to work over the projects in the
Bronx. Blame every stupid fat lying radio show host who knows he's a
schmuck and doesn't choose to change the fact. Blame every sponsor and
producer of said radio show for propagating hatred in this great nation.
Here we are Bernie'd, wondering who the shadowy figures are in the corners of our mental alley [it's the bodies].
Our values are in need of serious review, and our systems of organizing
as well. I've gone on at length on this subject, it's my dead horse to
beat [see "the pyramid and the net" for more of same]. Top-down is a
relic of Roman Empire, eugenics and class are relics of the British
Empire, and the concept of monoculture goes all the way back to Egypt.
THEY ARE LONG-DEAD EMPIRES. WHY ARE WE EMULATING THEM? As we've seen
via study in all the sciences: monoculture is dangerously weak in any
environmental system- or social system- or military system- or monetary
system. It's not even good for a diet. We must learn to value
diversity- strongly- if we're going to survive.
That means diversity of thinking, doing, and being. The only thing we
should all have in common is a purpose as a people. And defining our
purpose as a people can be very simple, clear, and common: in order to
survive, we must now save the life force that the previous generations
have done so much to destroy. And the first step towards that is to
begin to value humans above golems, whales before fishing boats, coral
reefs before oil rigs, homes before mortgage companies- and so forth.
Get over how freaking right "you are and how freaking wrong "they are
and start cleaning up the mess we've all made. Stop thinking that "them
who has, gits - or you'll be the next one gotten. Stop believing that
if you somehow kiss the right ass, you'll escape, or that somebody else
hadn't done something right and that's how they fell.
There are people starving on the streets of America, you pompous ass,
and if you have a package of Ramen Noodles, you should be out there
giving it away. Right now.
Consider it a tithe for the privilege of sitting in a heated home
reading my bullshit on the internet instead of doing something
tangible.
I'm tired of reading about all the bodies.
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