bellybelle wrote:i hate to say this but....
only the privileged in this situation get to turn an altruistic effort into a pissing contest to see who is more benevolent. i fully admit to my complacency. i can tell you why too. i am desperately impoverished. i don't own anything or hope to in the near future. i haven't bought new clothes in about a year and a half. new shoes in about a year. there are several weeks where my diet consists of rice and salt. i work hard. every single day. for half of what i am due but i can't find another job because no one wants to pay and the job market isn't moving. i don't really go to shows or go out to movies or lots of activities because since i got my car (really necessary in tampa) i can barely afford to get bread once every two weeks. not counting the $50K worth of debt I have for a college degree thats not counting for shit. sure i smoke herb...even with a copay, medicine is expensive. and thank goodness i have insurance, even though i really can't afford it, because if i got ill, i would be ass out. i'm beyond living paycheck to paycheck. it would be nice if i could afford to be consumerist but i can't. and as for involvement in the system, the fact that i haven't turned a trick, had to serve, or had to strip to earn my keep proves more of my dedication to the cause than switching to canvas bags for groceries or complaining about people i do not know and their effort.
i don't have to pee for anyone to be validated. i don't have to explain my behavior or actions to anyone. i am satisfied because even though i am in a rather desperate situation, i still hold my head up high and work towards constantly learning and understanding. and yeah, it might not be a march on Philadelphia. I did that when I was younger. But a few things have changed since then:
1. I graduated college
2. Because I graduated, I had to work for a living
3. Because I had to work, I had to worry about rent and groceries
4. I no longer had the freedom or the liberty to pursue little more than minor pleasures in between days of droning.
when i was in school, one of the things we would discuss was this problem of privilege. And we realized that we were also part of this, because we had the liberty in life to pursue theorizing and pursue radical action and pursue canvasing and campaigns. But don't ever forget that if you have true liberty to discuss, and to a degree, corrupt and turn into a power struggle of one up manship, then you are equally privileged. Not everyone enjoys the liberty to pursue lofty goals. Some only have the liberty to survive.
If you are privileged enough to see the problem, then do something and do it because in your heart, you believe it is the right thing to do. Don't do it with arrogance and don't do it for ego masturbation. Do it from a pure place that needs no outside validation. And if you have the privilege, do the work for those who can't. Remember....you're not doing the work to eek out a measure of social dominance. You're doing it to improve your situation. And you're doing it for those who can't.
I used to do volunteer work at nursing homes, fed homeless in soup kitchens, handed out flyers for socialists in Harvard square, went to rallies with unions and taken buses for miles for protests. But I can't do it now--I'm too broken financially. But even if the only thing I'd ever done was voted in the primaries, I shouldn't have to explain a goddamned thing to anyone who isn't paying a bill. If you're involved its because you're trying to make a better place. Not to prove you are the best grassroots protester or most compassionate as long as it can be codified.
You wanna help? Then do it. Thats all thats required of you. The will and the freedom. Will is easy. Freedom isn't. And if you have both, then do your part to make this place a better place to live. Trust, I will be doing the same in ways I can't ever explain or measure but equally invaluable.
Nice and honest story.... here we take loans(talkin about Iceland) You really have to own an apartment without paying a loan to really fucking survive in here! Rent is way to high(almost all my paycheck goes to live in a shitty apartment) And THEN comes the expensive food, and then comes the expensive gas.....The list is to long
This is one problem i'd like to throw out here in the open, i had a year after school where i wasnt doing shit...nothin, just producin!(And i didnt get anywhere, except for alittle progress) I was deeply depressed and didnt want to do shit, then i moved to Iceland...back to my origins, and guess what i found out? Life's a bitch!
I figured out that my mental health was progressing slower and slower, only becouse of all the time and energy i waste on a job i fucking hate(But hey, pays my bills)Then i waste even more time and money on my other problems, this stress really kills your braincells people! I have no energy to think, as much as i used to....just cant, i want to give up in a way infront of the fucking Television when i come home! Im to worn out!
This problem is to common in so many soceities, no wonder the world is full of buttstupid asswankers! We just simply let us get over stimulated by things around us, such as Media and culture!
96% of all people dont over bother to look outside the box and to be alittlebit more aware of thier surroundings!
This whole cultural and capitalistic system is a program that drives on stereotypes, and we fucking buy it! Iceland is so fucking over stimulated by US television shows and music, that it affects almost everybody here!
And its scaring the fucking hell out of me! I Do not believe that there is some evil behind it, but i do think its a braindead culture we live in! (yeah talkin about the UK(IN GENERAL) ) aswell!
And we can NEVER as human beeings get out of this braindead trap unless we start to take diffrent kinds of breaks from work!
My solution:
Dont think of the 'EVIL' US.....Dont listen to Radio, Dont watch TV, dont touch your fucking internet Browser!
And go the fuck outside and play, CLEAR your mind!
(some people might need aloooot of time for this)
And see how lame your life's really are(NOT POINTING OUT TO ANY SPECIFIC PERSON IN HERE)!
The people who run this biznizz are money hungry people, its not the people who want to earn a fucking living! They want to earn other people's livings aswell to add thier bank account numbers up to heaven!
But that isnt really the point, the point is that people are OVER stimulated zombies, and there is nothing behind it! Only money making, Think of all those concepts you inhibit during the day!
Every commercial you see is a concept, if a person talks about her/his life....She refers to it as a concept!
How much of concepts does it take to stimulate you into it?
ONE!
How many does the avrage person inhibit? ....countless....
I think THIS is the REAL enemy, not the ....evil....
Goverment....
I try to suggest this to people, i do this when i have time!
I feel good for weeks after, when i take a weekend off on the country side alone or with my girl!
I strongly believe that the next step is not to complain to much or spin off conspiracies, but the next step should be to do something new!
Try something new, show other people!
Dont fight the power, change it!
YAY!!! I Try my best, once i have my hand on the Music industry, ....something will change i hope.....(Just hope that no Retro 80's shit will start again lol)
(and i really should stop drinking late at night) lol
