The desire to start over.
I've been doing a little stoned thinking, and have managed to cobble together a little random experimental philosophy that neatly explains a great deal of why America once held such promise, but now seems to be holding on desperately to the past. It's a thought about what we are and what we desire, and I think it explains a great deal about why people at least in our society, want to start over.
Let's start with a basic thought. This is NOT the thought process of the old guys who run this country, and have had a desire to dominate and kill everyone who stood in their path. In many ways they're the exact opposite of this thought process. Instead, I want to focus on the thoughts and dreams of those of us in the 99%. Those people who we see every day, but never hear about because it is far more fun in the MSM to focus on either the enforcers of the status quo or the most radical elements opposed to it. (Since the message is always, Stay the course, any reasonable opinion opposed to the current trajectory is verboten.)
There exists a very strong desire in America to start over. To learn from the mistakes of the past and to project them into the future. We see it in our rhetoric ("Look Forward") and our entertainment. ("Apocalyptic" fiction) The idea that somehow things would be better if we were able to let go of the chains of the past, and instead make it better, to somehow move on from the crushing weight of the past and move on fully.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The chance to start over is implicit in that poem. Much of it is no longer quoted, merely the last part in support of immigration. What needs to be focused on is not that, however, which is merely poetical political point posturing, but rather the spirit of the poem. The idea that the current world is a wretched experience, and yet there is a place for them here. A new chance, a chance to begin again.
The idea is so powerful that it is the preferred entertainment of our youth. So many younger people play games based off survival, or any other task that would in a non-technological society be a day to day activity, that the numbers are quite staggering. However, it is not the survival aspect that I believe is the greatest draw. It is the freedom to fail, and to begin again that seems to grab the most attention.
We no longer have the freedom to fail in our society. One simple mistake can dog you for years. Words written in the past, perhaps in anger, can be used for all manner of sanction. A "Youthful" indescretion can lose you the vote, shelter, food, and all manner of aid. We have become the society that holds such value in debts that they can no longer be discharged. We have lost all sight of the chance to begin again, even so far that children are expected to have their economic and educational choices readied before birth.
But there is one group that does get to start again. If you can pay for it, you can always start again. If your family can pay for it, you can fail over, and over again, and even become president. You can reinvent yourself as many times as you wish, with a new identity, a new craft, a new set of morals. All things can be forgiven, with the proper indulgences paid to the gods of the media.
That was what America used to stand for. The chance to begin again. If America will no longer give us that chance, the people will no longer believe in it. The people will retreat from it in droves, as we have seen from election after election. They do not offer the ability to start again anymore, just more of the same with a different colored suit.
Comments
the freedom to fail
Readied and paid for, too!
Hence the high levels of Cynicism in the 99%!
Great Essay, dmw!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Once in a while, I just like to PUI.
I ramble a bit, repeat myself, etc...
but I think my prose improves.
Which is why it's no shock to me whatsoever that Shakespeare smoked pot.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqmfrqAVeK0]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Probably Opium too
for Will.
Ps. This was sterling work.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
I concur, great essay
and this paragraph is worth a thousand pictures!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Thank you. Was thinking about this on my walk today.
Just happy that this makes sense to other poeple.
Was thinking about this because I enjoy playing games in "Ironman" mode, where your decisions are permanent through the whole game without reloading... Of course, you can always start ALL over again if you screw up...
I guess my point is I like to learn from mistakes by also seeing how you can recover from bad turns of fate or errors. Of course, if you never allow yourself to fail by reloading over and over again, you don't learn a damn thing.
I blame my grandfather for teaching me how to play chess, beating me quite badly, but always being willing to show me where I went wrong.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks Like Darkest Dungeon.
Like Darkest Dungeon.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hey, I love that game!
Of course, I did a very stupid thing and bought it on GOG when I had a bank account... Unfortunately Steam doesn't sell the expansion ALONE, so I'd have to buy it again if I wanted to play the new one...
But yeah, Darkest Dungeon is that same kind of thing I like... I actually believe that in a fair challenge, Losing is FUN! Even in a slightly unfair challenge, it's still FUN! Even in a TOTALLY unfair challenge that I'd have to be a genius to even last five minutes... Losing is FUN!
Because 9 times out of ten, if I lose, I learn something. I really love learning.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks It's fun right up
It's fun right up until all four enemies in a row crit your level 6 Houndmaster and your Occultist goes: 2. 0. 4.
And your Houndmaster gets three death blows in a row and on the last one, finally succumbs.
Yes, that just happened.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I like to have a grave robber in position 3...
her long term DOT is awesome. I do usually go with a vestal, unless I'm feeling lucky in which case I bring along a diablist and LOTS of bandages...
Yes, the RNG is brutal in that game. Reason I prefer RNG games where you can recover from one or two bad rolls, OR minimize the number of times the RNG gets to mess with you.. (Blood Bowl, Mordheim, XCOM, etc... The trick on those for me is minimizing risk as much as possible. Occasionally you have to take big chances, but keeping the number of times low and the odds good is the strategy I find works... Think Blackjack, but with role playing.
)
However, I do love Darkest Dungeon for the fact that it's another scenario where the odds are stacked against me, yet I still play.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks In other words, it
In other words, it's fun as long as there's something to learn. If what you have to learn is: the RNG on that really sucked, or even the AI is smart enough to concentrate its fire entirely, then it's not as fun.
But the only other lesson I can derive from that event is that one shouldn't bring an Occultist, but a Vestal. Even if you have two other characters that can do a little additional minor healing (the HM healed himself in there too. Can you believe it?)
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@detroitmechworks But I still love
But I still love that game, and am going to play a crazy amount of additional hours on it.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Without failure one can't experience success
sure silver spoons are everywhere for
the entitled these days, but like you chess
which took me many years to get good at is
a wonderful example for your story, one I can
surely relate to.
I had a buddy who beat me mercilessly for months
before finally I got to say checkmate.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Some people say Gamers don't understand the real world...
I think we understand more than many politicians do, with their talk of "game theory" and other incredibly nauseating concepts of anything BUT fair play...
Of course, I could also go into the changing state of the industry, and how "Paying to Win" has become the new status symbol among the larger developers... It's an incredibly good microcosm of America, and you can learn a lot from it... even the bad parts.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
With game theory
this applies to the max GIGO garbage in
garbage out, luckily for us Mook didn't understand
that so we sidetracked having her heinous as our
ruler, and though we got das pumpkinfuhrer instead
I thinks he's a step above her heinous, ok maybe a
baby step.
either way this country is rapidly on the slide.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@ggersh I think the
I think the chances are less than 0% that we would already be at war with Russia had she won. So, in that sense, yeah, he's a half step above (only a half step since he started rattling sabres at North Korea).
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
But rattling those sabres w/NK
is just himself shadow boxing
look who's in the mirror.
We gotta remember, LOTE is still evil
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@ggersh I think I
I think I phrased it really badly.
What I really meant is that if Hillary had been elected, it's a greater than 0% chance we'd already be at war with Russia. So, despite Trump's bullshit with North Korea, I still prefer anything but Hillary.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
might you be missing a couple of digits
before that zero?
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@ggersh Yep, but
Yep, but I don't really know how great the chance is, so I figured I'd just say more than 0%. Which, given we're talking about near-immediate Armageddon, is too much.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Debbie gets it. And she's really pissed.
chuck utzman
TULSI 2020
Deep thinking while altered has its benefits
This statement holds so many truths.
Because of how the crime bill was enacted, people who have a felony record can not receive benefits for housing or if anyone who is living in public housing commits a felony, the whole family is kicking out and they can't reapply for 5 years. The person who committed the crime is S. O. L for life.
And the way that welfare reform was written, it is still affecting thousands of people today. Last June (2016), thousands of people were kicked off food stamps.
States are writing legislation that will make people who want to get food will need to work 30 hours a week, yet most people who are on the program are already working more than that. Many are working two jobs and they still qualify for it. More people than ever applied for food stamps during Obama's tenure.
Many of the people who work at Walmart qualify for it as well as Medicaid and public housing. Each Walmart store costs the government over $900,000 a year.
Instead of taking away Walmart's subsidies and tax breaks, the government is supporting the Walmart economy.
How this makes sense is beyond disgusting, delusional and stupid.
These were the 3 words auto correct suggested.
Good essay.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
And both teams are playing for team Walmart
It's not even a good exhibition game where they are getting ready for a challenge, so everybody's trying their best.
It's a company softball game... where everybody has to make sure they don't piss off the boss by playing too well...
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
I call this the new game between
The Washington Generals and the Harlem Globetrotters. It's just theater to make people think that each party is different than the other one, while they are both on the same team. The only difference between the parties is on social issues and they don't hurt TPTB's profits.
And for some reason, the democrats are always the Washington Generals. They are made to look stupid while the republicans are always the winning team.
Republicans can place holds and use the filibuster when they are the minority party, but when the democrats are, they don't ever use them.
The republicans "blocked" Obama's legislation for 6 years and now that Trump is president, they say that they are willing to work with him. WTF?!
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I'm sure the clintons come into play
as a cause of this, after all Arkansas
ain't got much else.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@snoopydawg
As always, a great comment, but I hope you don't mind if I add a small point? So many people think of public funding as 'belonging to the government', when it belongs to The People, as does the government, to the various public offices of which The People delegate their power in order that it may be used in The People's interest. If we began to speak of such money as being public funding, perhaps we could overcome the programming which is used to disempower The People in a massive con enabling self-interests within government to dispossess the people in order to further benefit those already having the most, with which to bribe them?
It reads differently, as well as more accurately, that way, doesn't it? The public are being robbed blind, but the PR used - the framing - convinces them that the government can do as they please at public cost and that The People can do nothing because they do not think of public property and public funding as belonging to The People as a Commons intended to be used for the commonweal.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commonweal
If we must be dragged back to more primitive times, let's at least include some of the concepts of sustainability and survival which have been so far left out by The Psychopaths That Be now running the asylum...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Did you take a look --
at the Maddaddam trilogy? "Crake" wanted to start over.
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
Never read it.
But I never read Atwood because I just wasn't interested.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
You might want to try this one.
The books center around an attempt to replace the human race with a new, genetically-engineered human race.
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
Sounds about right I'll check it out.
Joe Haldeman wrote something similar in a book called "Old Twentieth".
(His was even more nasty though. The 1% kill everyone else in the world in "Self Defence" after they develop an immortality drug... that is extremely expensive and the 1% won't drop the price... Couldn't get into the story because it focuses on the 1%ers who are so lonely and forced to spend eternity with the same people... )
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Wonderful essay
Maybe a starting point for many more essays.
Let's start over.
At 60, I am starting over.
Thank you.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Jubilee is a grand concept.
And there's a reason so many spiritual traditions follow the "Rebirth" model. The idea of starting over, but with the knowledge of the past is quite interesting.
I suppose it makes sense in the reincarnation concept as well...
I'm rambling, but I agree.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Are you ready
?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj3e2iL6vvo]
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Great essay, DMW
It jumps out at you.
The felony conviction that hangs over your head, for life. Preventing you from voting, and public assistance as noted above. Shut out from good jobs in certain industries and government.
Even minor offences recorded in perpetuity.
Bankruptcy protections for only the wealthy and corporations. Bad credit scores held for longer and longer times.
Student loans you can never discharge, no matter the circumstances.
You can never start over, even with someone reaching a hand.
The Albatross continues to weigh you down.
Until the spirit is completely broken.
You nailed it.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I think I've hit on the Malaise...
that seems to be everywhere. There seems to be no hope for redemption in the material life. (Hell with the spiritual, even basic living and human rights seem to need a savior these days.)
Just a load of snake oil being peddled by false prophets who replace the Phe with a Fi...
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
evening dmw...
renewal and redemption through a clean slate was based upon a now largely disparaged western value system. there are still remnants of the value system which occasionally cause conflict - see usury and/or martin shkreli for example.
the revocation of the possibility of renewal and redemption through a clean slate is the logical extension of a system based upon continuous growth in a finite system and the commodification and exploitation of human persons to harvest the value of their labors.
I had a partial classical education...
So, I admit that my worldview is heavily based on it.
(I got the Latin Language and the Greek Mythology.)
I just see that common thread of renewal in almost all the cults that were eventually subsumed under the Roman cult. Course the Romans added their own little twist of paying for your forgiveness, and gave the whole thing a bad name... (Thinking Dionysus cults, Mithra Cults, Hermian mysteries... etc. All focused on learning and ritual as the way to transcend the past, as opposed to the pay to win system of modern religions...)
I dunno, while I understand there is a fairly strong religious association with the concept of forgiveness and renewal, I still see flashes of it in older mythology and culture, so YMMV on that one.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
not to get too deep into it...
but i think that if you traced the lineage of the american notions of renewal and redemption, they'd probably (my guess) have more linkage to judaic roots than the roman cults. that's not to say that the popular religion of the time did not have strong roman and greek roots and much appropriated from those cultures.
Rgr. Well, everything borrows from everything...
Which is why the corporate elimination of the public domain was an amazing stifling of free thought...
But I digress. Thanks for adding a little more perspective to my rambling and slightly incoherent thoughts.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Good essay.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I'm a little more prosaic and a lot less deep.
I tend to think people want to start over because the path we've been on has been ugly and untenable in obvious ways for at least 35 years, and people are getting sick of being told there is no other path.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
It is a horrible path.
But those making the money either don't care, or think that they've licked the system and that THIS time it will be a thousand year reich...
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@detroitmechworks A thousand years? They
A thousand years? They'll be lucky if they have a hundred years.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
starting a new path
is it's own reward. not sure where this one leads, for you or anyone, but it does seem to be right out front, ahead and filled with wonder and potential...what we make of it is of our own design. going toward a happier place rather than escaping the bads.
The door in the last line was golden because it opened onto
free land. Free land was the linchpin for both the economy and the democracy that developed on the North American continent. It provided both instant assets and a place to start over, to drop the social constraints of the Old World and become a part of a new one. That sort of thing can become enchanting. Now, of course, we have covered the entire continent in paper. Makes starting over much more difficult. Maybe it will become more a matter of re-purposing whatever is left from the past.
If this essay is the product of stoned thinking then it must be good stuff!
Repurposing would be wonderful,
Of course, I'm of the opinion that if we're going to be opening up new areas for people, we really need to look into either Arcologies or another form of new city design.
I really hate that we seem to have a corporate free for all on all the lands that "We the People" agreed were going to be hands off. (Hell, they're STILL sticking it to the Natives, and the MSM just goes along with it when anybody protests...)
But again, that's my whole "Dreams are for EVERYBODY, not just the rich" thing.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Oh, and the Mix is a blend...
Of Key Lime Pie, High THC hybrid, aaaaaand...
Some Blue Diesel Indica High CBD...
I find I need high levels of both to get the desired effect.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ei5rwO7ZI]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Far out, mannn...both the video and
the description.
Say, with the legalization of weed, might it become possible to walk into a shop anywhere and get
"Key Lime Pie, High THC hybrid" or "Blue Diesel Indica High CBD"? Is it becoming standardized to that extent? When I stepped away from it it was "Panama red" or "Maui zowie" and "Kona gold" or Mexican reg or home grown. Be interesting to see if certain strains become brands you can ask for.
Mostly in the E-Cig market the brands are more pronounced.
As it is, there isn't a Dole or a Fresh Express for Weed yet... (THANK GOD) Mostly just local growers who sell to local shops. Keeps the quality up, since sketch crops don't sell, and stores don't rebuy, and give everybody a much better price on pot. (Honestly spent about 40 bucks on 5/8ths of an ounce... Practically back to 60s prices on REALLY good stuff, and that's not taking inflation into account.
As far as the Concentrates, I don't prefer them, because the ritual of packing a bowl is soothing, but there are some brands I like. I personally really like "WHO?" out of Lake Oswego, but that's because they have a flavor that tastes like apricots... (Still prefer the flower though.)
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Thanks for the info.
I stopped buying when it went over $10 a lid. I said: "that's it, it's not a sacrament any more, it's a commodity which means it's gonna be a rip off." I've about completed my research on single malt whiskies, so I may give it a try. Agreed on the effects of inflation. $80-$90 is about right. I hear Willie's got his own brand.
starting over
Good for you, Marilyn. I started over at 60 and again at 70. Great years. "Beginner's mind," the zen people call it. Every day new.