Yeah, last night went out to watch a
friends band perform. Really
well developed show, that one.
Ended up having a conversation
with a young lady about some
concepts of corporate activity, social
pressure and social transformation.
She has more information than me being as she
has been studying these things at the University
here in Calgary. The debate centered around the
idea of whether one should choose to work
within the system for change or if it is better
to operate as an obvious opponent.
So...big, huge topic, right?
Personally, I find it hard to believe that the
most effective, interesting approach is to don
the suit and assist the systematically dehumanizing
and environmentally destructive system make cash
with the intention of eventually being able to alter their
practices is at all the best approach.
Seems to me that approach offers the individual
practicing it the sense that they are working towards
assisting the many, many millions being crushed
out of existence by systemic violence, media manipulation
and so on without having to take any actual personal risk.
You still have a job.
You can get a mortgage.
Line of credit, in short...you are still a player
in the game of property, control, social manipulation
and feeding off the sweat of others.
You are socially acceptable in your thinking.
(Not wholly true or correct that last paragraph. Help me
sort this idea out)
It seems to me that the system has designed itself to
swallow resistance in a number of ways. We are provided
the right to peaceful assembly that allows the participants
to feel like they have used their voice. An action that
may or may not feel personally rewarding but in the
public sphere it can be very easily distorted, by shifting the context,
misrepresenting the activists intentions or, most likely, ignoring it
completely.
Now, if one was to take employment with an enormous
corporate organization then one would have spend a good chunk of
time emulating the culture you've joined in order
to be trusted enough to really have a voice within the organization.
After that, if they don't like what you're after...regardless of the logic
of your argument or the quality of your intention (which in the case
of this particular young lady seemed to be the idea that profits and
appropriate community relationships could be balanced out
in a way that serves all individuals involved, a logical vision) they
can simply oust you using a variety of techniques. I've seen this in
action already this year, a hardworking, driven lady I know was
subject to a Human Resources investigation following a
complaint she made regarding the behavior of some of her
co-workers. She was quite clearly in the right and, yet, the
decision of the organization was to terminate her employment,
calling her difficult, claiming she rocked the boat and was over-
sensitive, this action causing a series of problems to manifest in her personal life.
Now, to represent accurately the organization didn't totally leave
her hanging, she received a small payout for her troubles but nothing
that accurately reflected the ringer they put her through.
It seems to me that the system has designed itself in
such a way that the only way to be an effective agent of
change is to become a criminal.
Not really.
Not in the heart.
Not because you are actually wrong.
But because their laws are making you into that.
One works on one's own mind and raises the question
of who are these people...no, these parasitic creatures
that put themselves and their profits between us as human
in real-time. Where do these ideologies come from? Why do
I think the thoughts I think? Why do I want a new car? Why do
I feel slightly embarassed to have no savings whatsoever in
my early mid-thirties? Why am I expected to put in hours of
my life to build up someone else's dream? Why does my own mind
judge me for not believing in the cultural mythology? How was
I trained to not trust my instincts and instead follow through on
the absolutely disinteresting and barely sustaining?
How was I convinced that I should accept some sort of
limited expression in order to be allowed to eat?
(And so on, please add more questions, the ones that you have gone through,
Communication is the key here...)
And you see...one finds oneself caught in the center
of it all. I have realized I do it to myself. I have been
trained since the beginning to do it to myself.
I have been trained in right and wrongism. I have been
trained in self-destructive self-doubt. I have been taught
to disbelieve my own judgements. I have been told to
disregard my instincts.
I have been told it for a long time.
And for a long time, I embraced it.
It still happens, everyday it happens. Everyday, I have to
work from a center that some days I can barely find
in order to clear away the sickening, offensive onslaught
of other ideas that have been thrust upon me.
That suggest it is a type of duty to serve profits.
To serve a country.
To serve.
To be socially appropriate.
To enjoy responsibly. Within clearly defined limitations.
To express through acceptable channels.
You like art? Be a designer...you can help
us sell things. You play music?...write jingles.
There is a place for you. Accept this violence.
Digression...not really. The point is this is
what has been done. Now, think it through
(disagreement is welcome, please, offer me clear
counter-arguments...work in progress always, everyday
a new day, I'd love to be wrong, those homes look comfortable
and driving fast cars is fun).
It does not make me believe that the people who are
deeply involved in keeping the machine grinding away
are particularly interested in either good community
relations or logic. They may find the illusion of community
important to the masking of their goals. They may find logic needs
to be adhered at the town meeting while carrying out their agenda in other
forms.
The more time I spend with these ideas, the more I believe that
humanity is under attack from its own creation. We have let the idea
run wild and transform itself into a tool for spiritual murder.
There are laws about what you can do to your own mind.
There are inappropriate thoughts.
There are messages everywhere, streaming through our awareness
and changing us in subtle ways. There is enforcement, using weaponry, lies,
and fucked if I know what else, of a set of ideas designed to force people
to serve agendas that actually hurt...very badly. Pay attention to your
day...feel when you are beside yourself. Feel when and how it happens.
Deny it all you want.
I do not believe that this thing is going to be dramatically altered
from the inside. I don't like the way I feel talking about it.
The system is out to make you a criminal for choosing
to express yourself. I am coming to believe that the only
things that can upset the equilibrium enough to actually
raise the questions society needs have been criminalized.
If you resist they will choose to force you out.
They will trick you into thinking it is your own fault.
This culture will bash you around until you're certain
that you are broken.
It is not the poor who are parasitic.
It is not the angry who are wrong.
This culture is waging a war on you.
On your children.
Believe it or not.
Painting in the street is not criminal,
telling people they have to work like a
fucking dog to barely survive is.
Eating your mushrooms is not criminal.
Selling drugs that ruin people livers, cause them to
become suicidal, and limits their ability to
think clearly is.
Being broke is not criminal.
Holding knowledge hostage and forcing people
into debt for it, is.
Hitting people right in the center of their being
with fear, the threat of hunger, of violence for believing that it isn't right to
steal the land and poison the water...and fuck with their brains,
force them to send their children to prison(oops, school, you'll
figure it out, thumbs up to Contented MaMa) is fucking war.
It is not wrong to hit back.
Please share your thoughts with me.
Let's build something better, those of us who care, please.
And after their shitty culture flatlines...we'll share our
bread with those who fell for it.
Much love.
Share your information with me.
Believe it or not companies are not out to get you, they don't care if you are happy, sad, community oriented or any other emotional crap which people try to attach to their lives. All big companies want is for you to 'do the job you were hired to do.' It was estimated, at the company I used to work for, that it costs an average of $150,000 to get a person hired, trained, and experienced enough where they were productive members of the crew. That is an average cost, some positions are much, much higher in costs. I don't know how many times I heard people saying that all the company wanted to do was figure out how to fire their employees, that is a batshit crazy idea. Any company would only be shooting themselves in the foot if they actually followed that line of thinking. The bottom line is that they do not want to have a high turnover because it costs them big $$$$. Yes there are bullies in the workplace, where are there not? Yes there are genuine people who want to see their workers happy, but there are also fuck heads who give a shit. Those are some of the issues you run into when you work for someone other than yourself. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand 99% of the people I have worked with deep down inside really only care about the paycheck, they could give a rat’s ass about the company, unless it means losing that check. The people who devote themselves to making the company better, stronger, richer are usually in it for better compensation, or own it. The schmucks whose identities are tied into what they do are the ones who end up getting screwed, or die right after retirement because they don’t have a real life. I bet no one ever said that they wished they would have put in more overtime on their death bed.
If you don't want to work for "the man" and you don't want to tow someone else's rope then lucky for you, you happen to live in a country where it is easy to make your own way. Or if hard work isn't your style (working for yourself is one thousand times harder than working for someone else) then congratulations you live in a country which has social support for those who can't, or won't, get a job. Try that in most of the other parts of the world you will either starve to death, or get killed. It is a dog eat dog world out there, and if you are a lazy dog you are supper.
Just so you know, when you say sending children to school is like sending them to prison, it reads like you are a typical cosseted, uninformed, pampered, fatuous individual who needs to open his eyes and see the world as it is. This comment is not written as "fighting words" it is me showing my frustration. The only thing standing between mankind and barbarism is education. The smarter, more educated, and thoughtful children are, the better off the planet is. People who are educated are a lot more likely to give a shit about pollution, the environment, the economy, and peace. People who are educated are a lot less likely to be manipulated by fear mongering jerk-offs who want to control the masses. It is a lot more difficult to talk someone into blowing themselves up for a fictitious invisible juju man in the sky when that person has even a general understanding of the world. It is a lot more difficult for the pointy hat wearing dipshit in Roman to talk people out of wearing condoms when they know that it will protect them from diseases. To be continued...
Part II...
ReplyDeleteMany, many mothers, fathers, and children all over the world literally go without food for days in order to come up with the money to send their children to school, yet here in the western world, where education is free and mandatory, it is taken for granted so people act like it is some sort of heinous punishment.
What you do with that education is your business, if you want to try to save the world but feel you cannot do it from the inside then, by all means, develop a plan, start a business, join an organization, or be the lone voice in the wilderness, that is your right, and your prerogative. If you do not want to be a “sheeple” and do not want to conform to social norms, then hey, you go for it here you can do that too as long as you don’t break the law of the land. You don’t like the laws? Then do something to change them, or move to a different country where you feel the laws suit your personality.
But remember this, people are social animals, we have evolved over millions of years into the beings we are today. We live in packs (herds, pods, groups, schools, flocks, or whatever you want to call it) so that means we have had to develop ways of being able to live with each other….that means rules of conduct, social etiquette, laws, conventions, tenets, and canons. If you don’t like it you have the choice to try to change things (very difficult but sometimes attainable), or you can go and live in a cave, or on an ice floe. Again this is the privilege of living in this society count yourself lucky. Nuff said.