It’s Society’s Fault

September 11th, 2009. By Andrew

I actually think living in this society makes you dumb.  Not permanently so, but it numbs the mind.  Day after day of mindless drone work, followed by television, drinking, as well as the general bombardment of advertising and useless pop culture gossip that you can’t avoid even if you try.  It’s mind numbing.  And I have a case study: my own life!  I sort of swore off psychedelic drugs since college.  Haven’t tripped in 3 years, until this weekend.  When I was tripping, all that society-stuff that clutters the mind washed away.  I experienced what it feels like to have a mind at peace, a mind that’s not constantly prodded.  And I felt like a motherfucking genius.  And that clarity of thought has lingered into the week.  Still, I can feel the fog of society creeping back in, bringing me down.  I need to stay on top of it this time, try to drown out the distractions if possible and keep my mind limber with reading and writing.  And I think I need to trip more often than I have been.  A least once a year, if not more.  Clarity lies there.  I know, clarity is not what one traditionally thinks of when one thinks of tripping, but I tell you my friends, I had clarity like you wouldn’t believe that day.  Pure, simple, beautiful clarity.  And it’s so simple.  You just need to avoid distractions, and not get wrapped up in them.  I thought pot was my problem, I can now firmly say that it’s not.  Cliché as it is, it’s society’s fault.

Posted in Drugs, Mass Delusions 9 Comments »
  1. 1 That Guy
    September 11th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    I stopped watching TV a long time ago. Now when ever I watch it, I feel like I’m in some Paul Verhoeven film. The pot makes it humorous. Now I understand why our corporate masters work so hard to keep substances ilegal. It removes all that hard work they’ve put in suggesting to us what is important in life.

    Reply to That Guy

  2. 2 Joe Genius
    September 11th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
    How is this society’s fault? You have the right to stop watching TV, stop reading REDDIT.COM, stop doing all the mass culture shit that is ‘ruining’ you.

    Reply to Joe Genius

    1. 1 Andrew
      September 12th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

      Yeah the same way a crack addict is free to stop smoking crack. And it’s especially hard when wherever you go crack is being shoved in your face.

      Reply to Andrew

  3. 3 I trip Too
    September 11th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
    I trip once a year maybe twice and it resets my perspective in a way that is enduring and meaningful. However I study neuro-pharmacology and psycho biology and have to say that its the Dopamine and Seratonin. Which also means that the drugs are not truly providing insight or clarity only providing a forum for clarity to thrive. Most people would say what’s the difference. The fundamental difference lies in the fact that the subjective approach to ones life will dictate their perspectives not learned behavior from a broken or misdirected society. Tripping is all well and good as long as the user remembers that their consciousness is the real vehicle to clarity not the drugs. Overcoming the mind/heart numbing society is our only chance at real clarity, is what I’m trying to say.

    Reply to I trip Too

    1. 1 Andrew
      September 12th, 2009 at 1:23 pm

      I totally agree, it’s not the mushrooms that provide the clarity. They simply wash away all the clutter and allow clarity to emerge. Without all the clutter, I think the clarity would emerge by itself and I wouldn’t need mushrooms.

      Reply to Andrew

  4. 4 Frank
    September 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
    Amen, brother. All that numbness is by design. The whole point of advertising, TV, etc. is to tell a story to you, to lead you along toward a conclusion. There’s no give and take, no discussion. Your mind grows stagnant without any real engagement. It’s only through organic, open discussion that we are free to grow and evolve. Unfortunately we can only ignore so much, and its at this point we all wonder how we could change things for the better. But what do you do, live in the woods? Burn it all down? Fear and anger never really fix anything. I feel like the only real answer is to address the problem at its roots, at the people. There will always be people willing and able to take advantage of others. The only real solution is to take that desire out of the people, to address the problem at its most basic level (demand). I don’t know how to teach people to dig deeper in to their lives, to realize that there’s more to life, but if you think of an answer, let me know.

    Reply to Frank

    1. 1 Andrew
      September 12th, 2009 at 1:25 pm

      I don’t really know what the answer is Frank. I think people do have a tendency to dig deeper if given the chance. I also think, though, that so many people are extremely indoctrinated at this point that they will actively resist such efforts. My only hope is that since the system is inherently unsustainable it will ultimately destroy itself.

      Reply to Andrew

  5. 5 Pollywogs! » Blog Archive » 1 + 1 = 2
    September 11th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    [...] It’s society’s fault + Amusing ourselves to death = Huxley WAS correct… [...]

    Reply to Pollywogs! » Blog Archive » 1 + 1 = 2

  6. 6 Stephan Andreas Jensen
    November 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Thanks for an hilarious post. However, if the problem is “society” (which is what, by the way?), how do you solve it? Forcing everyone to become culturally enlightened hipsters is hardly an option. Isolation by means of pot is an alternative that is just as numbing as (if not more than) “indoctrination”.

    The point is that you have to stop worrying about how dumb and unenlightened everyone else is. Who cares if you can’t avoid being bombarded with pop-culture – do as Hermann Hesse recommends in Steppenwolf and laugh at it. Suddenly you have an endless source of entertainment everywhere you go.

    And frankly, where else do you get inspiration, input, etc. from if not from society. Interesting people, books, art, this blog – even psychedelic drugs – is part of society. Defining it so narrowly that it only encompasses those features of human networks you don’t like is not satisfying – you’re assuming your conclusion. Frankly, not being part of society pretty much means not being human.

    Reply to Stephan Andreas Jensen

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