Open Thread - Friday, March 29, 2019
1. Trust your eyes, ears, common sense
2. Don't have baseless faith in institutions
3. Don't look for saviors
4. Look out for those more vulnerable than you
5. Stop caring what people think of you
6. Don't lie to make people feel better -- including yourself!
7. Live your values
- Sarah Kendzior -
This week, funkin' chattering class and political spinners are particularly agitating.
My eyes and ears tell me the politicians, plutocrats and oligarchs serve their own interests and do not give a funk about you, nor I. Politicians serve the donor class and oligarchs serve their bank account. Plutocrats are simply a hybrid of the two. That's what my eyes and ears have observed.
What the funk is wrong with these people?
That was a rhetorical question. There are no funkin' heros.
Nor funkin' saviors. Ain't that a kick?
Last Friday, as per usual, I went to the pub. There was a large work gathering, with a bunch of people wearing scrubs. There was a guy in the next group over loudly pontificating first about AOC and socialism. At first, I let it ride. That is until he uttered something about Native Americans getting $3K/month from the government and having no incentive to work. That was a bridge too far, so I piped up to call bullshit, and said something along the lines of, "What's next welfare mothers?". We debated for a few minutes and I brought up healthcare and mental health. The boy genius, in scrubs, said, "It all started when we closed the looney bins.". So I teed him up and whacked him about being a healthcare provider that refers to mental health facilities as looney bins and questioned his professionalism. The guy went absolutely ape shit nuts, called me an idiot, called me an asshole and stated that I should mind my own business. I replied that he was a loudmouth making it impossible to mind my own business, precipitating a full scale melt down. I resisted the temptation to spike the ball and do a touchdown dance, because I sensed he was about to snap. So, I went quiet, smiled and laughed at his antics. He spewed vitriol for a minute or two, then stormed out. I never got to thank him for earning me free beer, from people who heard the exchange.
I know, I have a big mouth, I am a smart ass, I am a button pusher and I am a dirty funkin' hippie. It sucks to be on the receiving end of my disdain. My new friend picked a bad spot to spew nonsense, and got his ass handed to him. It was illuminating that not a single co-worker interceded. They let boy wonder crash, burn and flee. I imagine a few enjoyed my doing what they would like to do, if only they did not have to work with the guy.
I guess I am lucky that I did not have to defend myself from physical attack.
It was good for both of us. I have a bad attitude, and do not suffer fools lightly. I suppose the stoic aura of not chasing the escalation bait and old guy mystic was enough to dissuade the young man.
Have a great weekend! The thread is OPEN.
Comments
Good morning, Tim ~~~
It always warms my heart when I hear of someone standing up to bullies. That guy was a bully that no one had yet confronted. It was time. It was probably past time, which is why it landed in your lap. It takes a special big mouth, smart ass, button pushin', dirty funkin' hippie to pull it off. Thanks for your service.
A couple of Saturday's past, I, too, had to confront an asshat in the local bar, who loudly stated he didn't want to watch a bunch of black people running around on a basketball court. No one challenged his statement, so I said, "I love black people! Can't wait to watch this Duke game!" Then I ordered a hamberger, signaling I wasn't going anywhere. The jerk finished his beer, tried to make a few smart ass remarks and slithered out of the bar half way through the first half. Good riddance!
I'm sick of these people and their ignorance. My tolerance level is nigh zero.
Have a beautiful day and weekend, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
It was fun
One of the reasons to be @ the pub is March Madness on Tobacco Road. Lot's of people wearing gang colors, and lots of energy in the patrons. Plus food trucks on the weekend! There is a food truck rodeo, @ a nearby brewpub, this weekend!
I am not sure what my new friend was expecting when he started yelling at me, but I feel fairly certain he did not expect defiance and laughing in his face. I saw the doubt and fear in his eyes.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Lord Knows.....
Tobacco Road, The songs author John D. Loudermilk put out this great version.
One of my touring road buddies worked for these guys back in the day.
This is my fav' version, Texas family style...
Lou Rawls Tobacco Road
thanks I didn't see the Winter version yet, but I love that Eric Burden vid. LOVE "gonna build be a new road" right on higher ground
Lou Rawls - Tobacco Road - 8/18/1991 - Newport Jazz Festival (Official, Ironical)
smooth
Stand up
Stephen Carter for me has the most brilliant definition of integrity. Simply put, he defines it as:
1. Know the Good
2. Do the Good
Simple so far, we all think we are doing 1 and 2 and would never consider the possibility that we are behave outside of the "The Good" as we see it.
3. Stand up for the Good.
Ah, yes. This is the hard part. What you did in the bar that day takes courage. More importantly, if we fail to do this when the moment arises, we are failing in our obligation to #1 and #2. #3 becomes the most important, and therefore the most difficult part of having integrity.
I had a moment like that with my beer night golf buddies. As I recall some jackass made a comment about soldiers coming home from Iraq being soft for "complaining" about their PTSD. Meanwhile I knew full well that his kid was off in some elite little Ivy College somewhere far from the front lines. Needless to say, I gave him gentle (fist pounding on the table spilling beer) redirection that is still talked about to this day. I laid my marker down. It felt good. It could have cost me my friendships but it didn't but that was a risk that I felt (didn't feel, acted viscerally) I had to to take.
We need to be prepared to engage more and more when these moments arise. This is no time for silence.
Thank you for telling that guy to Funk Off. Thank you for your spirited defense of what you know is right.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8i5NLyXZdc]
Thanks, jobu ~
I’ve never been able to keep my mouth shut. Sometimes it’s good sometimes it doesn’t turn out so well. However, I will always speak up - it’s in my dna! And good on you, too!
[video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTXb-ga1fo]
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
"I am lucky that I did not have to defend myself"
Good morning funky Friday, me too. I am done crying at
3am4am after talking to a homeless guy on the street at 2am, "hey what ya doin' on my neighbor's truck?". none of my businessConversation went from "you're lying, don't touch me!" to "my family's having a hard time right now" the guy was all over place emotionally. Maybe he was going through the recycle bins 'cause Friday is garbage pickup day. I forgot all that and just remembered someone carved a nasty on the hood of my neighbor's truck last year, so it cost money for insurance to fix, and it that felt bad so I am suspicious. But not enough to call the cops, only enough to go out on the street in PJs and say "hey what's up?". Someone else called the cops anyway, at the same time Robert from under the bridge walked by, we all immediately dispersed and fuck this shit.
I'm lucky the guy didn't feel stabby 'cause we have that kind of violent crime now, gangs and stuff. Because the economy is so great! We're amerika's coming attraction. The future happens here first.
Couple in campground murder-suicide had health, money problems
maga
I almost hate myself enough right now to go drown, but not quite that mad yet. Yesterday I saw two GBHs flying together in a thunderstorm down by the river, it is high. utopia not
Guns yet another Stop and Drop for old people. Cars, trains, cliffs, ropes, selfies, rip tides, we got 'em all. violent ends r us
dystopia head
triple murder
me myself I
LOL I'm listening to the Tulsi interview and she is saying "I'm pretty chill." right on cheer up keep going why not fuck it all.
Good Day
It is probably better not to involve the police, they have a knack for making things worse.
The state of the world certainly is depressing. I concentrate on optimizing my own situation and dealing with the people I contact directly.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Public House reject
thanks, uh huh nod. The people I contact directly, the agora. I am phobic.
heh I feel lucky to have survived yesterday's anniversary. If I talk about the fourteen pound rock in my backpack, maybe I won't go wading, that's the professional advice I can no longer pay for. Yelling at clouds now. collapse denial
Virginia Woolf Believed Dead
bomb bomb homeless homeless war war
bombed out burned out flooded out sold out rented out garbage in garbage out
59er over out
howzat for streamin'
Trust your eyes, ears, common sense
Mornin' Tim and all. Wish more people would use their critical thinking skills (or any original thought) to understand the world around us. This mass induced social confusion is getting a bit hard to take.
~
~
Mind the Gap by Marija Tiurina via Colossal under the surreal section
~
Enjoy the weekend!
Heh
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Critical thinking skills are becoming a lost art in the US
I blame the dumbing down of our public education "shitstem". Then the corporate "yes person" culture reinforces lack of critical thinking within the herd mentality. People from other countries have not lost these skills and it does not bode well for a favorable long term US outcome. We are going to continue to lose ground in the world order. I see the erosion of trust in our institutions like the FAA from other countries as great example of this. USA!, USA!, USA!, USA!......
You forgot
Brown nosing, butt kissing, worshipping false idols, …
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
no pubs in the boonies
I hear tell there's a pub in nearby Mentone, but I've not driven there to check it out. There is an old farts club up the way. It is at an old 1860's log cabin, where a bunch of retirees come hang out in the afternoon and have a beer and refreshments. However, it is inhabited by several Trumpeteers, so it is a bit tiresome. There is no amount of fact and evidence to help them see how horrible T-rump is. The other folks that hang out there were Obummer fans, and there's no amount of fact or evidence to convince them of his poor for-profit performance either. So the political free for all is fact free...just like the MSM news. I no longer make the effort, and rarely attended except when there is music making or a big cook out.
Hearing stories like eyo's makes me glad I'm in the boonies. People have been poor here since before the depression. Having a teacher's pension makes us well to do in our neighborhood. So my area may be a political dead-end/blind, but it has advantages...like lots of forests and protected areas. So it is a trip to Chattanooga or Rome to find a brew pub when we are so inclined.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvJGs6MhZM0]
Weather has been beautiful here. Hope you are all having a nice spring.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Two beautiful days coming
I think I will head for the boonies, on a motorcycle. A friend's band is playing the food truck rodeo, so tomorrow should be grand.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
The European Union’s notion of “freedom of speech” really isn’t
https://www.dw.com/en/calling-prophet-muhammad-a-pedophile-does-not-fall...
Heh
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Great description, Tim.
I particularly like to hear of, and engage myself in, these types of encounters.
Most of these guys live in their own heads, poisoned by relentless dehumanizing propaganda in which they unwittingly jettison their human instinct for compassion and empathy for the conditioned response of resentment and fear. When challenged publicly it's they who look ridiculous to the assembled, spouting all this he-man Individualist bootstrap bullshit, when most everyone in their midst (and including himself) has been touched by tragedy in at least some small way and appreciates the peace of mind that comes from a society that is ostensibly there for them.
The RW reactionary worldview is a huge and immediate loser once exposed. Doesn't take much to get beneath the veneer to see a bigot and more than likely a racist formed by really debased propaganda masked as "culture." I also instigate these conversations as much as possible, and make sure that others are in earshot.
Keep up the good work, Tim. Need to saddle up to the bar for a tag-team duo one of these days.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Sounds good
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good morning all
I concentrate on avoiding people. I can do that. I'm retired. I said it would take me a year to get out of my PJs. Turns out that was a conservative estimate. I am not depressed, I just don't like homo sapiens, reptiles, and insects.
I have a hard time understanding why life has to be so hard. When I look around, I am grateful. Still......I'm a huge fan of happily ever after, and I have a hard time accepting the fact that it doesn't exist.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Determined to ...
live it up, here and now.
Longing for female companionship. Just funkin' sayin'.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
It's not a fact, staying in PJs sounds like good idea
thanks, since my first terrible comment this morning, news got more awful so don't read it must be the answer. I don't know. loco local
Fight between brothers turns deadly in Healdsburg, police say
fight between brothers
south county representin':
Two dead in east Petaluma shooting
CA-02
surf blue
Reading the news is a big no,no...
If it isn't online, I'm not looking at it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Sometimes I hear my pajamas calling me
While I'm at work. I'll hear them whisper.." zoebear, I'm so soft and comfortable..ahhhh"
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Morning all! Had a good night at Judo last night with the kids.
I'm dying to get back on the mat, and have to keep reminding myself that if I jump back too soon I'll be out for FAR longer. It's a great motivation to keep my head on straight and maintain the discipline. (Who would have thought that it would take more discipline to NOT exercise? I sure as hell didn't expect this, but I miss the adrenaline and the rush of martial training. Mainly because it helps exorcise through exercise.
)
And I'll toss in some random music that I'm listening to this morning.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZn7k5rZLQ]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Down in Chapel Hill last week, Tim, thought of you; but
didn't have extra time as day was spent in tests. Good to see spring down home which reminds me since it's cycle weather; ride on up the hill in a few weeks as the mountain bounces between spring attempting to come and winter; snow forecast for next Monday.
If in a bar dust-up now with my o2 levels; i'd only last about 30 seconds; so as always, best to made the first punch count.
Miss you and sending vibes for a wonderful weekend.
Yo Tim...
keep it clean, baby!
Hola
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Hola Tim y todos otros. Getaway day here. We're north of Yaqui
pass and hence the most dret way wst is up Montezuma Grade. i haven't gone up that since the days when one risked oveheatng and/or vapor lock, and never towing, so it'll be a new experience. (I'm sure that my current pick up will easily aul our small trailer up it with no trouble.) The trip should climb through several vegetatiion zones with different palnst and blooms, but I probably won't get to look at too much.
Everybody hve a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Down
Can be more challenging than up.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Boy, am I sorry that I got to this thread so late in the day.
I would have loved to have witnessed that scenario. However, I loved reading the story of it, too.
I have difficulty (1)remaining silent or (2) saying something because I know it's what people want/expect me to say. I am almost never in a bar. So, the good news--and the bad news--is that people are likely at least somewhat sober if and when my mouth hits the fan.
See you next Friday, I hope.
Debating someone not equal to your skill
Can understandably be very satisfying. Alternatively though, the adrenaline from their outrage can permeate the room in a lightening charge fog of acrimony that sometimes leaves me weighing the benefits of engagement.
Since Trumps inauguration, I've enforced the "No Politics" rule in our shared lunchroom at work when any one from either side of the aisle starts repeating their party's talking points. Not surprisingly, enforcing that rule has made lunches in our small break room much more digestible.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hi Tim, nice beats
You’re sounding pretty spunky today.
[video:https://youtu.be/U5TqIdff_DQ]