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Johnny Rotten · 08-14-2004, 12:24 AM

I feel that this kind of discussion is difficult to plumb because it requires, in my mind, an experimental group and a control group. We have nothing to compare the human condition to and must struggle to define it through inference and collation of anecdotes, leading to the slippery slope of statistics, a field in which every survey system has a significant flaw. I think modern civilization is, taken as a whole, selfish and cynical. The farther away something is, the harder it is to care.

Compounding the problem of compassion and morals is the daily drugdery of of work, commuting, bills, property maintenance, and everything else that drains our time and money without adding something substantial to our lives. Compounding that problem is the mountain of cheap trinkets we collect in our need to lessen the impact of the grind. DVDs, videogames, clothes, gadgets, toys, et cetera.

We're taught to buy our way through it and to donate our way out of guilt. We're taught that there isn't time or purpose for introspection, meditation, contemplation. And, eventually, the task of taking a step back becomes very difficult because of the psychological detritus that's already accumulated. It's so much easier to take a drug, whether it's in the form of a culturally insulting TV show like 5th Wheel or World's Greatest Police Chases, or actual medication (not that drug therapy isn't useful--I'm talking about impulsive, head-in-the-sand doping).

I can't really judge those who shop at Wal-Mart and gravitate to Starbucks. Someday, I'll have a wife and kids and a mortgage and car payments and the whole shebang and might find myself walking down that same path of megacorporate iniquity. I hope not.

But the fact is, we're all pretty much married to our checkbook. You take a look at average debt versus investment return, and it's atrocious. Credit cards hit you for around 10% APR to start with, but your bank account is bringing you 0.25%. Annually. Only the ruling elite have enough starting capital to invest an amount that outpaces their debts. Everyone else is faking it. Everyone else is living hand to mouth or only a step or two above that.

In order for me to live in my semblance of comfort, I had to establish a position of having no college loans, credit card debt, car payments, mortgage, child support, IRS payments, medical bills, legal bills, etc. I know people who are making more money than me but can barely get by because of all the debt.

That's a long way of saying that it's difficult to live nobly when so many of us can barely keep our heads above water--when the overwhelming majority of us are locked into living as consumers, instead of creators, in a world where the sources of entertainment and baubles merge into an increasingly monolithic and impenetrable wall of insidious, invasive and inescapable marketing. We as individuals are outsmarted at every turn by highly-paid experts trained specifically to convince us that we should by Product X, for whatever reason, as soon as possible. We're also conditioned to believe in credit and loans as the functional equivalent of actual money. And we're trained to measure ourselves by the baubles that surround us.

Edit: typo

08-14-2004, 12:24 AM	#19 (permalink)
Johnny Rotten lost and found Location: Berkeley	I feel that this kind of discussion is difficult to plumb because it requires, in my mind, an experimental group and a control group. We have nothing to compare the human condition to and must struggle to define it through inference and collation of anecdotes, leading to the slippery slope of statistics, a field in which every survey system has a significant flaw. I think modern civilization is, taken as a whole, selfish and cynical. The farther away something is, the harder it is to care. Compounding the problem of compassion and morals is the daily drugdery of of work, commuting, bills, property maintenance, and everything else that drains our time and money without adding something substantial to our lives. Compounding that problem is the mountain of cheap trinkets we collect in our need to lessen the impact of the grind. DVDs, videogames, clothes, gadgets, toys, et cetera. We're taught to buy our way through it and to donate our way out of guilt. We're taught that there isn't time or purpose for introspection, meditation, contemplation. And, eventually, the task of taking a step back becomes very difficult because of the psychological detritus that's already accumulated. It's so much easier to take a drug, whether it's in the form of a culturally insulting TV show like 5th Wheel or World's Greatest Police Chases, or actual medication (not that drug therapy isn't useful--I'm talking about impulsive, head-in-the-sand doping). I can't really judge those who shop at Wal-Mart and gravitate to Starbucks. Someday, I'll have a wife and kids and a mortgage and car payments and the whole shebang and might find myself walking down that same path of megacorporate iniquity. I hope not. But the fact is, we're all pretty much married to our checkbook. You take a look at average debt versus investment return, and it's atrocious. Credit cards hit you for around 10% APR to start with, but your bank account is bringing you 0.25%. Annually. Only the ruling elite have enough starting capital to invest an amount that outpaces their debts. Everyone else is faking it. Everyone else is living hand to mouth or only a step or two above that. In order for me to live in my semblance of comfort, I had to establish a position of having no college loans, credit card debt, car payments, mortgage, child support, IRS payments, medical bills, legal bills, etc. I know people who are making more money than me but can barely get by because of all the debt. That's a long way of saying that it's difficult to live nobly when so many of us can barely keep our heads above water--when the overwhelming majority of us are locked into living as consumers, instead of creators, in a world where the sources of entertainment and baubles merge into an increasingly monolithic and impenetrable wall of insidious, invasive and inescapable marketing. We as individuals are outsmarted at every turn by highly-paid experts trained specifically to convince us that we should by Product X, for whatever reason, as soon as possible. We're also conditioned to believe in credit and loans as the functional equivalent of actual money. And we're trained to measure ourselves by the baubles that surround us. Edit: typo __________________ "The idea that money doesn't buy you happiness is a lie put about by the rich, to stop the poor from killing them." -- Michael Caine Last edited by Johnny Rotten; 08-14-2004 at 11:18 AM..