a letter to my friend

     Think for a moment about the meaning of life…you say, "what is the meaning of life?"  I only know the answer to that if we as humans are here to find our own path.  If we are here to come together to accomplish something, I do not know what that something is.  Everything that has made life easier has equally made life harder. 
     Let’s use cell phones as an example.  We must admit that carrying a small box of electronics that allow us to access the thoughts of  our friends and our loved ones is enjoyable and productive.  At the same time, we must admit the difficulties of answering the ring of that same box of electronics when we don’t want to.  Once we have realized the need for this technology, we grasp it and even become attached to it…much like electricity.  It should be simple to discover why we (humans) decided this technology was worthwhile when we examine what needs (problems) other technologies have presented us.  Gunshot wounds, stranded cars, crashed computers, and a slew of other problems our technology has introduced.  We can also discover what benefits this new technology affords us.  Access to other humans and their ideas at virtually anytime.  Communicating information that is time sensitive ("honey I forgot the mustard" "make sure to bring your propane tank for the grill"  "Don’t forget to defragment the hard drive before you leave work today.")  
     I guess you probably want me to get to the point.  Everybody survived their lives before this technology was invented.  But as soon as it was invented, we have a hard time living without it.  Every human being is here on Earth to enjoy his life.  When forced to live under a certain set of rules, we have suffered.  When forced to do work that we did not enjoy, we were inefficient. 
     In this day and age we are forced to work a certain amount to complement our needs.  Is this bad?  No.  But if you look closely, you will see that many people do not have to work as much as you to complement their needs.  More importantly those people exceed your comfort and luxury level without struggling as much as you.  This breeds discontent. 
     I will have the answers for the human race, but I need to listen to my fellow humans to understand fully the plight of the human race.  Meanwhile, ask yourself…what do you want to do with your life?  What do you hope to accomplish?  If your answer is, "to take care of the people I love," that is fine.  But don’t forget that you love yourself and you will always accomplish much more when you focus your energy on the things that make you happy.  Money is evil…only love and sex are worth anything on this planet.  Whatever you choose to do in your life, make sure it helps you, your loved ones, and mankind in general and you will have a successful life. 
     I have two rules in life.
1.  Treat people the way you want to be treated.
2.  Take responsibility for your actions.
     Those are the only rules I feel we need to follow.  Don’t they always say, "The simplest answer is usually the correct one?" 
Forget the rules that were taught to you and follow the voice in your head.  The voice in your head is a natural voice and will drown out any learned voice if you allow it. 
     Why am I saying this to you? Because you are an individual…wanting to satisfy yourself…and I think that if you satisfy yourself, you will satisfy all those around you.  I don’t offer the answer, I offer ideas…it is up to you to decide what you want to do.  Everything I ever say about this sort of subject is to allow a human to hear some information, and then make their own decision.  Despite my interest in abolishing the government, Democracy was supposed to be based on the people making their own decisions.  And that is something that I can support.  

quote A she own

To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.

Epictetus (c.55-c.135)   Accuse the government of creating all the misery in your life. Accuse yourself for letting it happen. What's the next realization?
 

media and govt slant of seattle 1999

Concerning the violence of the demonstrators, the following words from Portland student/reporter Jim Desyllas paint a picture rather different from the one given by the mainstream media:

Sunday and Monday, there was no violence. None. The people were aggressively non-violent; they were self-policing. Up until Tuesday at 4pm there was one window broken in the whole city – a McDonald’s window. This compares favourably to the typical rock concert.... I want to emphasise, these protesters were not violent people. They were the most non-violent people I have ever seen. Even [later in the week, after the scene had turned ugly] when I was screaming at a cop, this girl came up to me and said, “Do not scream. This is non-violent.” These people were too much to believe. They must meditate all the time, I don’t know....

Sunday and Monday they had young cops, using them to block the streets. These were trainees. But Tuesday they had the real cops; none of them were young. They were trained to attack people. A small group, maybe 100 people total, struck back. Then these cops herded that group around the city, making sure there were plenty of photo ops of “violent protesters.”

A number of times they had these 100 or so protesters caught between buildings and walls of police. They could easily have arrested and detained this small number of people and gotten it over with. Instead they would gas them and let them go, then trap them again, gas them again, and again let them go. The cops made no arrests that I know of until late Tuesday night though the skirmishing was going on from three till 9:30. The cops would blockade three or five blocks of an area, give the angry kids room to operate, and keep gassing them – when you gas a person, let me tell you, it gets them fighting mad.

lights at the end of the tunnel?

In order to be believed, one must speak from experience. Even then, beliefs are in the eye of the beholders. When I moved to Massachusetts I worked for my uncle laying down carpet and tile. Meanwhile I was looking for a job elsewhere. Not to spite my uncle, but to realize my own dreams. One application I filled out was at Home Depot. If you don’t know, Home Depot is a home improvement warehouse.

Shortly after that, my uncle and I did some work for an electrician friend of his. I expressed that I had a little experience, and he expressed that he may be needing a helper soon. He indeed called me a week or so later. Home Depot called me the day after that. I went to Home Depot and told the manager that I had already found a good job, but I didn’t want to blow Home Depot off. We agreed that I would work part time for Home Depot. Hopefully you can stay with me here.

First of all, they needed to drug test me. I smoke pot. I’m not a “pothead” but I do enjoy the feelings we get from smoking marijuana. In the week leading up to my interview for Home Depot, I didn’t smoke a lot of pot because I just moved to a new land, and had no way to find the black market in this area. But they say that pot takes about a month to be cleansed from your system. I drank a lot of water, drank some pickle juice, and even ate cucumbers soaked in vinegar. Either that helped me cleanse my urine, or Home Depot didn’t actually test me. Maybe my attitude in the interview led them to believe it was a waste of money to test my urine. So maybe instead they paid a smaller fee to schedule an appointment. If I show up, I must not be worried about the test. Or I know that I took the necessary precautions to give clean urine. Either way, they aren’t going to catch me. Moving along…

I went to orientation for my new part time job. They expressed their “new” system of employment. They called it the “inverted triangle” where the workers were at the top of the importance, and the managers were there for support. They offered the security of knowing that the managers are less important than the workers. A noble business…too bad it didn’t mean anything. While I worked, the managers were still the bosses. They still controlled our workplace experience. They still controlled how much money we made, and what kind of benefits we were afforded. Case in point…

For Easter Sunday they offered all employees willing to work an extra days pay. Instead of just the normal overtime they paid on Sundays, they offered double time…sort of. At first they said that you would get extra holiday pay. Then I found out that full time employees would get an extra eight hours of vacation pay, and part time employees would get an extra four hours. My shift was always six hours. So that meant that I would only get four hours of extra pay even though I sacrificed six hours of my Easter Sunday. Most of the other part timers felt screwed. That’s where I had to speak up. I voiced my opinion and eventually was called into the managers office. His only defense was something about me parking my car in the wrong place.  And even in that defense, he couldn't remember what color my car was.   That Easter all workers got exactly as many hours of free pay as they worked on that Sunday. The management played it off as a misunderstanding…but they weren’t too happy about one of their workers speaking up about the injustice.

So as you can see, the inverted triangle was only a concept…not a practice. As long as they could convince the workers that “what will be, will be” they could continue to pretend they had that concept in place.

Since then somebody told me/asked me about Home Depot being a cult. In theory they were trying to create a different kind of workplace…but it was labeled as a cult to make people suspicious about that inverted triangle. How do you balance that? In reality it is the workers that have made this world…yet it is the managers that make so much money…the managers job is no harder than yours, just different. Until we demand the profiteers to contribute what we the workers contribute, we will be mired in a huge slump of ineffectiveness. There are many ideas out there…find them out, and use your own reasoning to understand them. Only then will you be able to make your own decisions. Do I want you to blindly follow me? No. Do I want you to think? Yes.

this mess

As I try to explore America before it became what it has become today, I find many obstacles in my path.  I tried to find the true Declaration of Independence.  I tried to find the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglas.  I try and try, but only to find that these writings are less available than finding out what men want in bed, or which lipstick to use.  I pose this question to all those who read this.  If you can send me text of the writings our forefathers and any civil rights activists since then...I will send you $10 (first come, first served).  Either add a comment to this entry, or email me, or call my phone at 781-986-4394.  That's right folks...there is my phone number.  Feel free.

from savings cards to insurance

One of the essential things to life is food. In this day and age, you might as well lump your basic hygiene necessities such as soap, deodorant, tampons into that essential category. My point is this. Most of the big corporations that provide these amenities offer their “savings card.” The peculiar thing is that at the bottom of your receipt is usually displays “your savings this year to date.” Whether the file is computerized or not, there is a file that has to keep track of this. To keep “your savings” separated from everybody else’s. Are they saving just the amount of money you pay, or are they also saving everything that you bought?

Profits depend on supply and demand. It would be very beneficial to find out what the American people are purchasing. It would even be beneficial to know which kind of stores you frequent. If they see that people are buying tons of pasta, they can squeeze the pasta makers by subsidizing them to shut down for a short time. That will reduce supply, therefore raising the price, and the profit. Did this pasta become more expensive for companies to produce? No. In fact it is much easier for the government to hide the subsidies in the endless books of taxes than it would be for the pasta industry to raise prices on their own.

A more dangerous way to use this against you is to threaten you with the loss of these items unless you support a new law of some kind. Even more dangerous is knowing that a terrorist computer hacker (Arab OR American) could possibly find out this information and destroy the masses by focusing on what they are buying. If they focus their efforts on contaminating that pasta factory, we could be in big trouble.

I apologize to the pasta producers of the world, because I was only using them as an example. But I hope you see my point. Although having thought of this years ago, it was tucked away until my friend brought it up to me, yesterday. This is the same friend that recently said she was “tired of hearing about the system.”

We can’t stay blind forever, the system may indeed be well and good, but if we don’t explore it, we will never know.

Who controls the government? Politicians. Who are the easiest targets of complaints, ridicule and scandal? Politicians. Who made the present laws that confuse and stifle us? Politicians. What kind of government are we SUPPOSED to have? Democracy. Who controls the government under a democracy? The people. Who complains about the government? The people.

I want anarchy, but I’m willing to subscribe to this democracy if the people will actually rise up and take control of this country. “But the government is so damn complicated,” you say. Well lets simplify it. Wipe away the nonsense, get rid of the bureaucrats and start taking responsibility for that coffee you spilled in your lap. Which brings me to my next point.

In anarchy, that huge corporation wouldn’t exist. There wouldn’t be millions of dollars sitting in their bank accounts to pay off that lawsuit. On the other hand, if that corporation made all that money squeezing your hard earned cash out of your hand, what’s wrong with somebody exploiting the system and using it against them? Unfortunately we can not all do that. Most of us prefer to take care of ourselves, be more careful with that cup of coffee, walk carefully across a sheet of ice. A lot more of us would be careful if there wasn’t a monetary protection company. These are called insurance companies. If the people didn’t have insurance to rely on, they would drive a lot more carefully. Wouldn’t that be nice?

People complain about drivers almost as much as politicians. Let me share a quick story with you. In New Mexico (that IS a United State, by the way) you are required to have insurance on your car. But proof of insurance is limited to a card that you are issued when you open your policy, and then every year after that. If you pay the down payment on your premium, the insurance company issues you a “proof of insurance card” and gives you a payment plan. If you don’t pay your bill, your insurance gets cancelled, but you retain that insurance card. If you get pulled over, you will avoid a “no insurance” ticket because you have this card. In your heart though, you will know that you have no insurance and you will be careful on the road. I knew many people who did this, but more importantly when somebody did this for a while, and then finally got the money together to buy insurance again…(pause for emphasis) THEY CRASHED THEIR CAR!

an example of the system

So I recently discovered a way to hang out on the roof of our apartment building.  We did it a few times and had fun.  But tonight I went on the roof to play a prank on my friend/neighbor.  I lowered a bound and gagged Elmo stuffed animal from the roof.  I banged it against the window of my friend.  I even had somebody video taping it from the parking lot.  Within 30 seconds of being on the roof the cops showed up...They never showed up before, so I guess somebody called them.  But that's not important.  What's important is this.

While talking to the cop I asked him why I couldn't be on the roof.  He said, "because"  I said "because why?" and he said, "because you might fall."  So I said, "I understand you are here to keep us safe, so thank you."

Guess what he said to me next.

He said, "No but if you fell you could sue the building for not making sure you couldn't get on the roof"  If you have read my previous entries to this journal you will understand what I said next.  "I only live by 2 rules...treat people the way you want to be treated, and take responsibility for your actions." 

He asked if I had been drinking.  I pointed to myself and said, "obviously."  He didn't hassle me much more, but I still am disturbed that a policeman expressed to me that he was only interested in the landlord avoiding a lawsuit.  His goal wasn't to make  my life better...it was to make the landlord's life better...is this the kind of police protection we want?. 

Is he responsible for this shit?  no.  he is just following the laws that have been put forth for him to feed his family. But I thought the police cared about our well being.

why the protection?

There seems to be a movement that is gripping the American. Let’s keep the kids blind to real life until they have to live it. Shouldn’t we be letting them know what is ahead? Life sucks, and if a kid thinks life is good until he/she finds out it sucks, they will be totally unprepared for the real world. Just tell the kid…fuck it, this is how it is. But no, we (not me, but the collective we) feel we should “protect” these kids. It’s too bad. Too bad that we can’t help them survive…

We are on our way...let's do it now!

 If you glance over history you will see that the whole life of man has been a struggle for existence. In his primitive state man fought single-handed the wild beasts of the forest, and helplessly he faced hunger, cold, darkness, and storm. Because of his ignorance all the forces of nature were his enemies: they worked evil and destruction to him, and he, alone, was powerless to combat them. But little by little man learned to come together with others of his kind; together they sought safety and security. By joint effort they presently began to turn the energies of nature to their service. Mutual help and cooperation gradually multiplied man's strength and ability till he has succeeded in conquering nature, in applying her forces to his use, in chaining the lightning, bridging oceans, and mastering even the air.

Similarly the primitive man's ignorance and fear made life a continuous struggle of man against man, of family against family, of tribe against tribe, until men realized that by getting together, by joint effort and mutual aid, they could accomplish more than by strife and enmity. Modern science shows that even animals had learned that much in the struggle for existence. Certain kinds survived because they quit fighting each other and lived in herds, and in that way were better able to protect themselves against other beasts.1 In proportion as men substituted joint effort and cooperation in place of mutual struggle, they advanced, grew out of barbarism, and became civilized. Families which had formerly fought each other to the death combined and formed one common group; groups joined and became tribes, and tribes federated into nations. The nations still stupidly keep on fighting each other, but gradually they are also learning the same lesson, and now they are beginning to look for a way to stop the international slaughter known as war.

Individuality

When released from your inhibitions that your parents or the government have taught you...what would you do?  You would get creative...express your individuality...when I hear about dress codes at school, I get sick.  The schools are trying to smother individuality...and the more they do it, the more humans rebel...The revolution is coming.  Make no doubt about it.

Unemployment and anti-voting schemes.

Maybe a quick thought, maybe not. Someone told me that if the people at the top suddenly lost their “jobs” (it’s hard not to laugh when I say that) unemployment rate would rise. Well if you ask me, I want unemployment rates to rise, so that we could all do much less work everyday to survive. Watch any animal…they spend 3 hours or less a day to make sure they survive…maybe an hour or two of hunting for food, and an hour or two scaring off other animals. If what we do day to day is what keeps this country alive, why not have the unemployed do a little of our work? How many of you would love work if it involved doing something you love. I personally know of somebody who loves trains. If you feel motivated to make model trains, if that was your interest, you could make model trains for a guy like him, and that would make you worth living in our society…whatever your passion is… Ya know? We want to be free…if we were free, all the bad things in the world wouldn’t burn in soon to be criminals heads. Because they would be free…don’t discriminate. Are public servants worth less than the rich? Do they do less work? What would you do if you had to find a way to discard your trash? Go to the dump? What would you do if there weren’t guys working to collect everybody’s garbage at the dump and finding a place for it? Yet they make less money than a guy who can make a good speech…maybe even a guy who can’t make a good speech. People who are supposed to find out the best interests of us, yet don’t even read the rules to impose on you before they sign?!?!

In history class we learned about checks and balances…but yet when it is obvious that something is worth considering, it doesn’t seem to matter if one of those checks and balances is absent…two of the three “checks” want one thing, but the other one doesn’t…but not because the people of America were able to vote for it…We voted people in so we wouldn’t have to deal with the government…but we were supposed to be voting about all issues…HEY!!!! I have a great plan! Lets present so many fucking issues that they won’t WANT to have to vote for every little thing….(light bulb)

R U afraid of lazy people getting as much as you?

"Does that mean equal pay for all?"

It does. Or, what amounts to the same, equal participation in the public welfare. Because, as we already know, labor is social. No man can create anything all by himself, by his own efforts. Now, then, if labor is social, it stands to reason that the results of it, the wealth. produced, must also be social, belong to the collectivity. No person can therefore justly lay claim to the exclusive ownership of the social wealth. It is to be enjoyed by all alike.

"But why not give each according to the value of his work?" you ask.

Because there is no way by which value can be measured. That is the difference between value and price. Value is what a thing is worth, while price is what it can be sold or bought for in the market. What a thing is worth no one really can tell. Political economists generally claim that the value of a commodity is the amount of labor required to produce it, of "socially necessary labor," as Marx says. But evidently it is not a just standard of measurement. Suppose the carpenter worked three hours to make a kitchen chair, while the surgeon took only half an hour to perform an operation that saved your life. If the amount of labor used determines value, then the chair is worth more than your life. Obvious nonsense, of course. Even if you should count in the years of study and practice the surgeon needed to make him capable of performing the operation, how are you going to decide what "an hour of operating" is worth? The carpenter and mason also had to be trained before they could do their work properly, but you don't figure in those years of apprenticeship when you contract for some work with -.hem. Besides, there is also to be considered the particular ability and aptitude that every worker, writer, artist or physician must exercise in his labors. That is a purely individual, personal factor. How are you going to estimate its value?

That is why value cannot be determined. The same thing may be worth a lot to one person while it is worth nothing or very little to another. It may be worth much or little even to the same person, at different times. A diamond, a painting, or a book may be worth a great deal to one man and very little to another. A loaf of bread will be worth a great deal to you when you are hungry, and much less when you are not. Therefore the real value of a thing cannot be ascertained; it is an unknown quantity.

But the price is easily found out. If there are five loaves of bread to be had and ten persons want to get a loaf each, the price of bread will rise. If there are ten loaves and only five buyers, then it will fall. Price depends on supply and demand.

The exchange of commodities by means of prices leads to profit making, to taking advantage and exploitation; in short, to some form of capitalism. If you do away with profits, you cannot have any price system, nor any system of wages or payment. That means that exchange must be according to value. But as value is uncertain or not ascertainable, exchange must consequently be free, without "equal" value, since such does not exist. In other words, labor and its products must be exchanged without price, without profit, freely, according to necessity. This logically leads to ownership in common and to joint use. Which is a sensible, just, and equitable system, and is known as Communism.

"But is it just that all should share alike?" you demand. "The man of brains and the dullard, the efficient and the inefficient, all the same? Should there be no distinction, no special recognition for those of ability?"

Let me in turn ask you, my friend, shall we punish the man whom nature has not endowed as generously as his stronger or more talented neighbor? Shall we add injustice to the handicap nature has put upon him? All we can reasonably expect from any man is that he do his best-can any one do more? And if John's best is not as good as his brother Jim's, it is his misfortune, but in no case a fault to be punished.

There is nothing more dangerous than discrimination. The moment you begin discriminating against the less capable, you establish conditions that breed dissatisfaction and resentment: you invite envy, discord, and strife. You would think it brutal to withhold from the less capable the air or water they need. Should not the same principle apply to the other wants of man? After all, the matter of food, clothing, and shelter is the smallest item in the world's economy.

The surest way to get one to do his best is not by discriminating against him, but by treating him on an equal footing with others. That is the most effective encouragement and stimulus. It is just and human.

"But what will you do with the lazy man, the man who does not want to work?" inquires your friend.

That is an interesting question, and you will probably be very much surprised when I say that there is really no such thing as laziness. What we call a lazy man is generally a square man in a round hole. That is, the right man in the wrong place. And you will always find that when a fellow is in the wrong place, he will be inefficient or shiftless. For so-called laziness and a good deal of inefficiency are merely unfitness, misplacement. If you are compelled to do the thing you are unfitted for by your inclinations or temperament, you will be inefficient at it; if you are forced to do work you are not interested in, you will be lazy at it.

Every one who has managed affairs in which large numbers of men were employed can substantiate this. Life in prison is a particularly convincing proof of the truth of it and, after all, present-day existence for most people is but that of a larger jail. Every prison warden will tell you that inmates put to tasks for which they have no ability or interest are always lazy and subject to continuous punishment. But as soon as these "refractory convicts" are assigned to work that appeals to their leanings, they become "model men," as the jailers term them.   

No matter what your skills are, you are worth something.  I have seen countless movies where somebody who is deemed lazy finds a way to use his knowledge to help the cause.  We are all intelligent.  We all have our own interests and skills.  In this current government you know there is no way to survive without a job.  Some of you subscribe to the 9 to 5 type of  job...but if it's not something you are interested in, you don't give it your all.  I enjoy being an electrician which is why I love my work.  I enjoy helping people solve their problems, which is probably why I have the friends I have...but the only friends that survive in my little world are the ones that I know would use their skills and advantages to help me.  Refer to previous entries if you think this government is necessary for us to live together.  But know that intelligence is merely a description for how much you can learn, know, and apply.  It doesn't matter what you know about, it matters that not everybody has put as much interest into learning what you learned.  Some may go to school to learn how to repair the human body.  Some may learn how to build an awesome car.  Some may know how to contort long balloons into animals.  We are all intelligent, but discrimination against certain kinds of intelligence has ruined us.  But we can bounce back...nature always finds its balance.  And even that criminal who devised such a solid plan to rob a bank, has intelligence to offer.  And his calling may be to help bring down the injustices that all government has cursed us with.  Think about it.

farenheit 9/11

I just watched farenheit 9/11 and I'm so mad I'm shaking.  You should see it...they show videos of Iraq weeks before our attacks...there are little girls playing with dolls, boys playing ball,  women outside doing laundry, every one is laughing and playing...then they show after the attacks, people crying, mutated, just all around devastated...I thought we were there to free them from the evil Saddam?  So we took their perfectly fine lives and ruined them.  We have ruined our young ones by sending them over to overthrow a man who had never attacked this country, who never threatened to attack this country, and had no weapons of mass destruction.  The government is a big business that is slowly leading towards a dictatorship, regardless of who is the president.  Each country with a government like this is out to make money.  So they fuck with your fears until you will do anything they say.  How many people are happy to have their freedoms taken away to secure safety?  We are a country of humans that want to be free, if you take that away from us, then bring on the terrorists, because life isn't worth living.   by the way, I don't remember even hearing the words republican and democrat except twice when one person in the movie said she was a conservative democrat...and another guy mentioned having been a republican before he saw what he saw in Iraq.

Who are the terrorists?

OK...first of all, beliefs in general should be personal...if you wish to share them with people you may.  but to try to force other people to believe in you is wrong.  If you can't convince somebody by laying out the plain facts, you should go on your way...instead, the government has used your fears to implement their beliefs on you.  All I can do is show everybody how this government is fucking them over...if they choose to remain fucked over, I did all I can do.  I don't offer the fear of what the government COULD do, I only display what they HAVE done.   So far, everybody has seen how the government has screwed them, (of course I haven't talked to any elected officials, they like the system...it has treated them well.  But wait, people get mad as hell when they find out they are being screwed, except when the government is screwing them.  Why is that?  The fear of losing their freedoms?  The fear of terrorists overtaking our country if the government goes away?  What is it that every terrorist has attacked?  Even the white Americans...they attack the government and all big business.  They have no interest in running your life, they are interested in ridding the world of this evil creation.  Two major terrorist attacks on American soil...one bye a white guy, and one by A saudi...they found the white guy pretty fast, and its easy to get lost in this country...they still can't find the saudi, and refuse to question his family.  All other attacks were on our government buildings overseas.  The conclusion for this is Just like atheism, where I just choose not to believe in a god...I choose not to believe in a government, and that's all.  The simplest answer is usually the right one...and this government ain't simple.  But if I live under this government I am forced to believe in this government or I go to jail.  How were most of the mobsters imprisoned...they were convicted of tax fraud or evasion.  It was easier to arrest them for breaching the system than it was to prove any other wrongdoings.

The first wave of negativity

Obviously with my recent ravings about the evils of the government of man, I have encountered many attitudes. Mostly positive, but I want to discuss the negative responses. One of these is a completely negative response, and one was a mere attitude based on a misunderstanding. The negative comment is “I’m tired of hearing about the system” and I will get back to that after I explain the other misunderstanding first. My friend was debating my views. He has been pretty open to what I’ve said, but like we all should do, I think that he processed some of this stuff over time, and started making his own conclusions. 1. He thought I was talking about the American government specifically. It is easy to understand why since I have the greatest knowledge of this government as opposed to others. I am doing everything I can to learn about other governments, but for now, I cite examples from my government to open eyes. 2. He thinks that all the people who have government jobs such as teachers and policeman will be out of jobs and will discontinue helping society because they are no longer getting paid. He is right in his belief that we need those two entities, but people who want their services can pay them for their services. His argument was that not every person can afford that protection, and he might even be scared that only the rich fat fuckers in this world would be the only ones afforded those particular services.

What he is failing to realize is that money is the root of that evil. And those guys that got rich from controlling people wouldn’t be accepted in an anarchy based society. And the taxes that we pay to support all the bullshit government jobs (obviously teachers and policeman are not bullshit government jobs) would stay in your pocket…therefore giving you more money to subscribe to teacher’s and policeman’s services. So you would not lose those services. You would only lose the oppression that every government has forced upon its “constituents” and you would be able to be yourself. Imagine the stress relief, if you could be yourself. Imagine the creative ideas that would stem from people who no longer had to be censored. Creativity is the mother of invention.

When America was new and pure, the colonists had been living together, producing what was necessary to live under an English government. When they revolted, what happened? They continued to live together and produce what was necessary to survive. How can that be?If we need the government, how were those people able to maintain every day life without the English government telling them what to do? Will you say that our new government helped us organize that? How could it have? They barely even knew what this new government was…how long did it take to write a constitution? So were the streets mired in chaos and rioting until they finally came up with The Constitution? I could tell you the answer, but I’d rather you find out for yourself. If you don’t want to, come to me. Let the sheep be herded, I only want to be heard by people who care.

As for the negative comment I can only say this. My ideas are not just about bringing “the system” down…yes I believe that we will all be better for it, but what I am truly fighting for is our individuality. I am showing you what is truly right and wrong in this world. You don’t need to be a slave to anybody. Native Americans didn’t have a government. The chief of any tribe was not there to control his people. He was revered as the chief because everyone could trust that he could help them live WITH the land, as opposed to ON the land. He didn’t make up laws for people to follow, anything that was provided for him was in exchange for his wisdom. Life goes on as the saying goes. If you believe the chief was anything like the president, tsar, or king of any nation, ask yourself this: “Do you live your life based on your president’s wisdom? Does your president teach you how to survive?” Again, I can give you an answer, but you must decide for yourself.

Now that I have secured my own happiness, my only sorrows come from others. Whether or not this government comes down in our lifetime, we should be allowed to be free like so many before us, and so many that will come after us. We are on the brink of WWIII. Do we want that? Do we want to send young men to die in an effort to uphold a system that everybody complains about anyway? Nobody loves the government…they love things that they think the government was responsible for…but the government is not responsible for those things…we as human beings are. We need to take back what is ours, and stop paying guys to make good speeches. Even National Security can exist, but only to protect this nation. When I say I am against this system, I am only against the government of man. I am not against the people of the United States. I love talking with people, hearing about their ideas, sharing a joke with the guy at the bar, sharing the joy of watching our local sports team win, marveling over the young children with all their innocence, laughter and fresh perspectives. If we could live this way, other nations would have no reason or recourse against us, because everybody in the world would want to live like this.  And those few men that were greedy would have no way of controlling us...power is given, not taken.  I just want us to be happy. Anybody that doesn’t want us to be happy, I am against.

chaos shee-eye-t

When we try to control that which is out of our control, we become an anxiety filled society…And that’s what gets us in to trouble. Man is trying to control other men…but unfortunately for him, he cannot control humanity because we live in chaos. Every thing happens. Every action has a reaction. And if that is true…no actions are their own origination. In fact no energy is ever created or destroyed. If you act, it is because you were reacting. You felt hot from the action of the sun, so you took your shirt off (I like when girls do it, though.) You step on the brake, because you saw that you needed to stop. You reacted. When you decide to read a book, it is because something keyed you to learn something new. So if we are this chaotic nowadays, why do we need somebody to control us? Good and bad things are gonna happen all the time anyway, aren’t they? Every life has its ups and downs, but it always seems to return to an even keel. Don’t you think the first Americans were in complete disarray during and after the Revolution? They balanced it out.

Each up and down in all of our lives is a sort of microcosm of all of humanity. The smaller the life form the faster time goes. As an individual human our life is smaller and faster than all of humanity. Our ups and downs can last 5 seconds or 5 years. Humanity is much larger a being than each individual…It just takes us individuals to make up humanity. So humanity suffers longer ups and longer downs. Whether it’s all of humanity, or a regional part of humanity, can you say this is not true?

So throw anxiety out the window…because whatever pressure you feel can be alleviated by failing to recognize that anybody else controls you. Start small, realize that your friends don’t control you. Then work your way up…The boss rivals your parents as a difficult power to emancipate from. Some of you are controlled by a person that claims to be your lover. You must decide what is worth your action and reaction. If the person controlling you is family…not conforming could solve that problem for you. Your family may not like it, but that is because they themselves haven‘t freed themselves. If the person controlling you is a lover, you must understand that you must decide if it is worth it…I’m starting to ramble, so let’s pick this up later.

luxuries of the unnatural kind

On this earth we have been given certain skills and tasks...using these, and learning more, we have come to accept the fact that we can fly now.  All I hear in the news is stuff about how much of a bitch it is to go to the airport.  Traffic into the airport, services inside the airport, delays of the flights and so on seem to be popular reasons to complain about the airports...how about the fact that we CAN FUCKING FLY TO A LAND FAR AWAY WITHIN HOURS?  Stop fucking complaining about flight delays and appreciate that we can traverse this land almost at will...What your complaining does is give the government more reasons to make more laws to rob you of your freedoms.  Nothing in nature is set in stone.  Just because you could fly before, doesn't mean that you can fly always...sometimes natural conditions cause delays.  Other times, our airports have to go through so much beauracratic bullshit just to get you to your destination.  So be happy that you don't have to walk your happy ass across the country, and deal with airport delays...I say this because of the recent news about airport delays...and furthermore!!! wait...lets wait til the next entry.

again with the anthills

If you disrupt a line of ants from their pattern, you will notice a unique experience...some of you have probably already done this.  When ants find some food somewhere, they create a path to get to that food.  When you obstruct their path, by kicking the dirt in the middle of such line, or place some poison in the line...what happens?  At first the ants go into a frenzy.  Some of the ants lose their way, but some of the ants find a new path to that food source.  Nature had a way, but you impeded its way.  Although it became very chaotic for a short time, nature found its balance again.  Ants are tiny...time runs much faster for them.  So the impedance(resistance) on their nature didn't take long for some ant to figure out how to return to their nature.  Humans are bigger, and developments take longer.  The government has impeded your natural order of things, and it will take longer for us to realize that, and return to our natural balance.  Anarchy will cause some chaos, but that chaos is what will help us( or the ant that finds the new path to that food) find our path to our own natural balance...

We already live in chaos...you are not in control of your everyday life...all it takes is the wrong action by some other to disrupt your comfort...we live this day to day, so why be afraid of the "chaos" that anarchy may present in the beginning?  Every great idea must first rear an ugly and monsterous head...I didn't say that, but I don't know who did...so give credit to that guy.

the wonder of pop culture, the good and the bad?

Well here we fucking go again. Why do I use the word fucking? Cause it adds to the emphasis that I am trying to , um emphasize.
     I just watched two movies in the last few days based on my need to relax and hang out, and not tax my brain, which suffered a concussion. My thoughts aren’t changed that much, but the way my brain has dealt with my motor, nerve, and emotional issues is changed…hopefully only for a short time.
     I watched “Dummy” and “The butterfly effect.” Neither movie presented an idea that I had never thought of before, but both movies touched me deeply. “Dummy” had one message of ‘everything has happened for a reason’ and “the butterfly effect” had a message of chaos.
     Both of these messages exist together. In this chaotic world, everything happens, and when it happens, other things happen…confused? Well a Chaos-type theory tells us that no matter what you do, where you are, you are not in control of what happens next…you are in control of your own actions…but those actions are mostly reactions to the uncontrollable actions of other life forms. Those things that “happened for a reason” only happened by chaos…but you will notice that if you can follow along, and make the best decisions for yourself, it doesn’t matter what chaotic events happen.  You will always adjust to those situations one way or another. Whether it is strumming up enough courage and wits to find your way out of a forest…or finding a way to get your ass to work when your car is impounded, you still had to get a good look at the situation and find out how to overcome it.
     I use the “ant analogy” from time to time. Put something in the path of a line of ants heading to and from a pile of food for the queen. Then observe the chaotic response before finally one or two ants figure out how to get around that obstruction.  I can use that analogy for small or large scale situations. (yes, here comes the system…Haha)
     When the constant line of ants finds itself following a line that doesn’t seem to exist anymore (I.E. a rock, a hole, a line of poison) life becomes pretty chaotic for those ants for a short time. Ants are tiny, and their world moves much faster than ours. So after 5 minutes of absolute chaos, some ants have died, or gotten themselves completely lost. Eventually enough ants scurrying around, find a new path to that food, that they are so destined to find. 
     We are much larger than ants, and therefore our time runs a little slower. Look at nature and realize that the smaller the animal, the more offspring it produces in a shorter amount of time…(ants, mice, rabbit, cats, horses, elephants…catch my drift?) So when something impedes our natural order of things, it takes longer to impede, and longer to overcome.
     The government has impeded humans natural order of things. It took a long time to do so. Now we accept the system, because it is rare that any human being alive today has ever had to live outside of that system. After a certain time of chaos, humans will do what the ants I mentioned did. Some will die when they lose their way, but eventually humans as a whole will find how to keep striving for what this obstruction oppressed them from…the natural way of living.
     Let me turn my attention to Anarchy…Societies labeling of Anarchist does not represent what the true anarchist is about. Notice how I capitalized anarchist the first time, and didn’t capitalize it the second time? The first time was the label. The second time was the belief. Some people say, Anarchy is chaos. I say anarchy is the failure to respond to a government that has no right to control our lives. You already live in chaos. So anarchy is not going to present you with THAT new problem.
     Your problem is this: At this current time, the government has a stranglehold on you. They want as much of your money as they can. More and more fees and licenses that are doomed to expire to take your money. If that money was going to good use, I’m not so sure I would be so offended. But how many of your tax dollars are going to worthless causes…The head of the FCC spent millions of dollars to have a good time. In the eighties we “investigated” why the government was spending hundreds of dollars for things like hammers and toilet seats. Even since the inflation of prices from the eighties, I can buy the best hammer and the best toilet seat ever from Home Depot for $100.
     Politicians have one goal in life, and that is to get some of that tax money to feed their families. Worse than that, they don’t want to stop at supporting their families, they want to live in luxury. How would you like to live in luxury on the sole laborof making a proper speech? Using the money that some taxpayers have given by checking a certain box on their tax returns (check this box if you would like $3 to go to the campaign fund) Underneath the question of whether you want this money to go to campaign funds is the disclaimer, “checking this box will not effect your taxes” Meaning, “Go ahead and check the box, it’s not YOUR money.” But it is your money.
     If enough people check that box, only one of two things can happen. Either the government has to find a way to fit that into their budget, possibly requiring some tax increase somewhere, or they already have a surplus of YOUR taxes to send to various political candidates. I would be happy to find that a political candidate could get his message across to the people, so they could decide what they wanted, but in this system they can only subscribe to the system to get enough funds to get their message out. Once they do that, they have a new agenda. What has 90% of the political population ever done to ACTUALLY make humans better off? Most of them spend their time trying to convince you that THEY should be entitled to some of those tax dollars you give up without any thought at all. I gotta stop typing, because this is making me sick, but I shall return.

hit me...two times

I ran into that “black man” from a previous entry again. I thought I had my chance to talk to him, to learn about him…but he refused to ‘remember’ the incident two days ago, and when I further asked if Eric was being a jerk to him, he blew me off. Maybe he just sees me as one of those “white guys” that want “explore” his world…little does he know that I know that he can help me, and I can help him, and that we could possibly be friends…He seems very quiet. Which means that he has learned a lot from the people that he deals with day to day. On the other hand, maybe he IS just a jerk. Just because there are plenty of good, decent black men doesn’t mean he is one. If I see him again soon, I will view it as a sign…but I don’t know if he can possibly believe that I want to level with him, and discuss things. I don’t know if he cares about discussing such things. I don’t know if he may have stereotyped me. We’ll see what happens.

life continues to change

This is another excerpt from the book I'm reading

Do not underestimate the rôle of these sentiments in the life of man or nation. We do not live by bread alone. True, existence is not possible without opportunity to satisfy our physical needs. But the gratification of these by no means constitutes all of life. Our present system of civilization has, by disinheriting millions, made the belly the center of the universe, so to speak. But in a sensible society, with plenty for all, the matter of mere existence, the security of a livelihood would be considered self-evident and free as the air is for all. The feelings of human sympathy, of justice and right would have a chance to develop, to be satisfied, to broaden and grow. Even to-day the sense of justice and fair play is still alive in the heart of man, in spite of centuries of repression and perversion. It has not been exterminated, it cannot be exterminated because it is inborn, innate in man, an instinct as strong as that of self-preservation, and just as vital to our happiness. For not all the misery we have in the world co-day comes from the lack of material welfare. Man can better stand starvation than the consciousness of injustice. The consciousness that you are treated unjustly will rouse you to protest and rebellion just as quickly as hunger, perhaps even quicker. Hunger may be the immediate cause of every rebellion or uprising, but beneath it is the slumbering antagonism and hatred of the masses against those at whose hands they are suffering injustice and wrong. The truth is that right and justice play a far more important rôle in our lives than most people are aware of. Those who would deny this know as little of human nature as of history. In every-day life you constantly see people grow indignant at what they consider to be an injustice. "That isn't right," is the instinctive protest of man when he feels wrong done. Of course, every one's conception of wrong and right depends on his traditions, environment and bringing up. But whatever his conception, his natural impulse is to resent what he thinks wrong and unjust.

Historically the same holds true. More rebellions and wars have been fought for ideas of right and wrong than because of material reasons. Marxists may object that our views of right and wrong are themselves formed by economic conditions, but that in no way alters the fact that the sense of justice and right has at all times inspired people to heroism and self-sacrifice in behalf of ideals.

I have put in bold type what is important here...as life changes, as it will always do continually, it is easy to dismiss this bold faced type.  The difference? Since this script was originally written, humans have discovered a way to get messages across to the masses via TV, radio, and now the internet.  It is much easier for the government to send out messages of injustice to fool you into believing in a war, that in all actuality is about the material benefit to the government itself.

Sf:  but its like ide rather blame myself for everything b/c its easier then proving somone wrong
Jaylectricity:  so don't prove them wrong...they have their path, and you have yours...
tf:  ya
Jaylectricity:  just don't subject yourself to those people, unless they can be open minded and talk with you
Stf:  ya
Jaylectricity:  I don't want to preach, but I wonder if I have some sort of idea of what life is all about...Not only human life...maybe we should be living just like all other plant and animal life on this earth
Stf:  ya i kinda wonder how we seem to be the only ones evolving like why us
Jaylectricity:  personally I don't want either, I just wanna rock...haha...had to put a joke in.

Stf:  why not monkeys or fish or ne thign really
Jaylectricity:  I know...
Sf:  kinda with evolution comes problems
Jaylectricity:  It seems like some humans felt a need to tell other people how to live...but no other animal does that.
Sf:  there r pluses but if u noticed almost every teenager is diagnosed with depression and it seems to me ive never met a depressed fish
Jaylectricity:  If another kind of animal is the "leader" of the pack it is because he is the one that can fight of the other animals...other than that, they all have a job to do.  the depression diagnose is a two part question
Jaylectricity:  #1 the more teenagers they diagnose with depression, the more money depression drug companies make money. 
Jaylectricity:  #2 The longer this fucked up shit goes on, the more depressed EVERYBODY will become
Jaylectricity:  I am supposed to be "part of the system" by now...I'm 29., yet I am just now realizing how fucked up this system it is.

 OizraMiD:  i used to take a medication called Neurontin maybe, 5 years back for depression. This Sunday in the Globe some laywers ran an ad, apparantly there is a class action suit against the makers of the drug for 3bil, people who have taken it have devoloped worse problems (i.e. other mental issues, neurological problems, liver and kidney failure, thyroid disease, diabetes, some have comiited suicide,...). Some people whose Rx's were filled were given just a sugar pill
OizraMiD:  it's funny because i was MY WORST when I took that, that is when all the suicidal thoughts and the anxiety came to play, I HATED THAT MEDICATION.

this was sent in an Instant Message to me.  I have a related story...

My girlfriend(at the time) and I went to Cape Cod one weekend...when we came home we were increasingly itchy all over.  After discussing this with some friends, they told me it sounded like Scabies.  Jenni (my girlfriend at the time) and I both had the same exact symptoms, we sleep in the same bed, we have the same problem right?  We go to the same hospital and get prescribed two different drugs...hers was a liquid that she was supposed to smear on her body, and mine was  a cream...more on this later.

my awakening

it has occured to me that my invidual life is no longer important to me.  The human race, and all of the creatures on this earth are by far more important to me.

my recent regret

I went across the street from my house to get some chinese food and rent a movie (It was a good night to be a homebody.  Unfortunately my desire to chill out and be left alone made me miss an opportunity.

Outside of the Chinese bar, people have been gathering to smoke, since it is now illegal to do so in a bar.  I overheard one of the regulars (I've since learned his name is Eric) talking with a black man who I had never seen before.  It sounded like the guy may have stereotyped the black man and called him a drug dealer.  As I walked by I asked Eric, somewhat jokingly, "Did you say you were a drug dealer?"  I was trying to demonstrate to the black man that I in no way thought HE was a drug dealer(he didn't look like one to me, anyway) and also give Eric the opportunity to air his racism out loud.  He didn't bite on that, but he immediately jumped up, got in my face and asked, "what did you call me?" I'm not one for unwarranted physical confrontation and I responded with, "I didn't call you anything, I asked you if you were a drug dealer when I heard you say the words, 'drug dealer'"  It took him a minute, but he relaxed and played off his confrontation as a joke. 

I continued on my way to the video store, and when I came out I walked over to Eric and said, "Man, you scared me, I have a concussion and I don't think I could have fought you right now."  He had a very judgemental vibe as he introduced himself, and he shook my hand.  I turned to the black man to shake his hand and he did not extend his hand to me.  I looked back up at him, our eyes met, and then he looked away.  I know that he probably didn't want to shake hands with anybody that would shake Eric's hand and I walked away. 

This is my regret. Because I was "taking a break" from spreading my ultimate message, I failed to call him out.  Also the fact that I didn't want to get punched may have played into it, but I know what I should have said, when the black man refused to shake my hand.  I should have said, "I can understand why you don't want to shake my hand, did Eric stereotype you?  Is that why you are angry?"  and I should have told Eric that as long as people continue to stereotype each other, we will never be able to be "a human race" and as soon as we realize this we will become a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the system that is currently in power.  It bothersme that the black man, who looked like a decent man, probably stereotyped me as somebody who would defend Eric before I would defend him.  And that is the exact opposite of what I would have done.

I hope I never get that complacent again, and I guess I better be prepared to fight for my beliefs, but I know that I could learn a lot from that black man.  I wish he would have introduced himself, because now I am stuck with calling him that black man.  The fact that he was black is very important to this entry, but not important in our lives.