n a t b s » Stupidity

One Year Later

Andrew — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:19:41 +0000

Just happened to check on this thing exactly one year since my last post. Andrew is still going crazy. A lot of things are good in his life but all the fundamental problems still exist. Of course they do. They’re too deeply ingrained into all of history to simply disappear. And if they did, this blog would no longer exist. As long as I’m able to write this virtual thing in this virtual world on plastic keys, the problem persists. Did I just switch from 3rd to first person?

Yes.

The problem still persists. I’m more sure than ever that there is a problem and I’m not just crazy. But still, it persists.

I feel tingly right now.

The problem persists.

When things have been wrong your entire life, and your parents’ entire life, and their parents’ entire life, and their parent’s entire life etc. What do you do? It’s a monumental accomplishment just to realize things are wrong. And once you do, it’s even more monumental to convince others. And it’s even more difficult to change it.

It’ll probably just have to collapse on it’s own, and when it does, I’ll be ready.

I Don’t Know

Andrew — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:05:20 +0000

What to do when the whole world is crazy?

When “sanity” is anything but sane?

When you realize you’re hopelessly trapped?

When your mother is dying and your soul has been stolen?

What to do?

New York City

Andrew — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:39:27 +0000

A woman and her poodle-with-a-coat walk past a freezing homeless person. An intellectual blogs about it from his iPhone.

Society

Andrew — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:14:25 +0000

When you think about it, society is really a machine that uses us. I’m not sure who invented it or who controls it (no one?), but we are mere cogs in this giant machine. And the reason we don’t respect human rights is because all we care about is the machine. If it says that these 300 people need to be fired, they get fired. It doesn’t matter what it does to their lives because the interest of the machine is what’s most important.

I guess it is run by people. Let me clarify that, it’s run by a few people. Several thousand at most. And I think the point of the machine is to make their lives better. The lives of the few that run it. As for everyone else, it’s purpose is to provide us with just enough that we don’t revolt. That’s right, it gives the people the absolute minimum that it takes to keep us pacified and never an inch more. The selfish bastards who run the show have no interest in us other than as instruments of cheap labor. All they really care about is themselves and their families. We’re so hopelessly oppressed we’ve forgotten that we are oppressed. But we are, and we’ll never be free as long as we buy into their crap. All this consumerism, and nationalism, and religion, it’s all bullshit. All are modes of oppression. We are not free people, for ”slavery is determined neither by obedience nor by hardness of labor but by the status of being a mere instrument, and the reduction of man to the state of a thing.”

I’m a human being, not a cog in your goddamn machine.

My life has value. My autonomy matters. I’ll never find what I need in a store.

Mushroom Kingdom

Andrew — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:01:20 +0000

the void that connects us

it is what it is

a weekend in reality

before returning to the madhouse

Earth

Andrew — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:17:05 +0000

I wish we lived in a world that self-regulated.

I wish we lived in a world that produced abundant free food by itself.

I wish we lived in a world where you can litter because everything biodegrades.

I wished we lived in a world of infinite beauty and mystery, and peace.

A world that cleans its own pollution, and where my body heals itself.

A world without factories or weapons of war.

A world without chains.

Oh wait, we do.

Executing For Excellence

Andrew — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:07:15 +0000

Stupid corporate pablum. What does that even mean? Doesn’t that sound like something a facist dictator would say regarding some kind of mass execution? And why are they telling average employees, the grunts, about srategic goals? It’s some misguided attempt to get us interested in the broader funtioning of this company. But no one cares about that, you know why? Becuase if the comapny saves $50million this year, do we see any of it? Not a dime. We still get our regularly schedualed paltry raises. When ____ was talking about all these savings and thanking us for our hard work in achieveing them, I really wanted to say “So, we all get big raises now right?” Becuase that’s how it should be. Somehow the rich man convinced the poor man that helping him get richer was good for him. It’s not, the rich man is greedy and he uses people. The poor man should see that. It’s as plain as day. WE ARE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF. Ownership essentially boils down to taking things and keeping them through violence. And it leads to exploitation. It’s a platform for exploitation.

With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.

Andrew — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:33:40 +0000

Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of them in his log:

They…brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks’ bell. They willingly traded everything they owned…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, the took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.

-Christopher Columbus, from A People’s History of the United States.

Captialism

Andrew — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:58:37 +0000

I wonder why as a society we don’t work less: then we would merely have less things, but we would gain more time…. Personally, I’d choose time over things. But it seems that human society actually reveres the creation and peddling of crap wares. If we’re not doing that we might as well not be alive. But why? What is everyone afraid is going to happen? Why must we build everything and anything above and beyond basic food and shelter? I’m not saying I’m completely against doing this, I’m simply questioning that we MUST do it, or do it to the extent that we do now. Why do we put so much value in such valueless things? “You get to have a home and food becuase you make ipods or websites” but not “you get to have a home and food because you are a human being“ that never happens. It’s as if we posit material goods and the destruction of the planet as more valuable than human life. Can someone please tell me why it’s this way? Why does our society seem only to function on and reward the consumption of more resources when it seems obvious that we need to be using less resources? Maybe it’s the elites that put us on our empty task; an army of workers shoveling gold into the mouths of a few elite capitalists…

John McCain Explains The Bush Doctrine To Sarah Palin

Andrew — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:46:09 +0000