455 lines
20 KiB
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455 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
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\ / \ / ____ \ ______|
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| ________ | ( {} ) | _____)
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/~~~~~~~~~~~ | | | | \____/ | |______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
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| |~~~~~~~ / \ / \ / | ~~~~~~~~~| |
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| | |______| |______| /_____________| | |
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| | ...Hogs of Entropy Text Files Present... | |
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| | "Politics, Freedom, and the Human Spirit" | |
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| | By: I Wish My Name Were Nathan | |
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\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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[ Instructions: read forward from sections I to XIX and then stop. ]
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I
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Fear has crept into our hearts and paralyzed our will.
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II
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Ugliness is a virtue! Shitty haircuts rule! Welcomely accept the taboo
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and vehemently reject the accepted and the standard! Common sense is banal,
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anal, nil, and ill!
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III
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Our minds are not steel traps, but sponges. Our bodies are the means by
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which our mind absorbs information. Our hands, eyes, and ears are the tools
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for obtaining information to absorb. Most of us waste these tools, lie
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stagnant, and the forces about us -- television, politics, religion, and
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advertising -- spoon-feed us, flood our minds, wash away the independent ideas
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therein. We must be reminded of free will.
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IV
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How does thought operate in a capitalistic democracy?
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Perversely.
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V
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Good American citizen: go to school, learn about the real world, get a
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job, marry your lover, contribute to society, die happy. This is the tenet of
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our country: Schooling gives you the tools, the critical thought, the
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experience to become a world citizen. A job develops the work ethic, provides
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for you and your family, eliminates the boredom and sloth of spare time. A
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full life is enjoyed, your death is paid for.
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Bullshit.
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A perverse crime against humanity was committed upon wedding the ideas of
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democracy and capitalism. Democracy: the institution by which the people rule
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themselves; the purest, most idealistic form of human existence. Capitalism:
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the institution by which money rules people; the neurotic, paranoid quest for
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money as happiness; the fettering away of a life for the goal of working to
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live rather than living to work; the destroyer of philosophy; the ill-
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conceived mother of spare time.
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VI
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Anarchy is a pipe dream. Disillusioned citizens look to a world without
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freedom-killing laws, mind-numbing standards, and soul-crushing conformity.
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That world contains no politics, no judges, no restriction. That world is a
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simple conception, born to fruition with the mere act of opening people's
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eyes. That world, unfortunately, cannot exist by human nature.
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Philosopher A says that humans are inherently evil, and without the
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restriction of society, would tear off around the world in a rampage of
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selfish, destructive acts. Philosopher B believes that humans are good and
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well-meaning, and that the restrictions of society itself influence humans to
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do wrong. Philosopher C takes the stand that humans are born tabulas rasas --
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blank slates -- and are entirely influenced by the society around them.
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Philosophers are humans, living in societies. They are prejudiced by
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their own minds.
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VII
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Take a trip into the animal kingdom. Before the invention of zoos,
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animals lived exactly as current supporters of anarchy wish to. Animals roam
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free, living off of nature, apparently enjoying life to the fullest. Why
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can't humans live like this?
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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That sentence was repeated twice. You noticed it. I noticed it.
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Notice, as well, that you are reading dots of light shining through a piece of
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glass. We take for granted the distinctly human attributes we have. Most
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notably, intelligence.
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But intelligence is not merely human.
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All animals have brains and memories, and can conduct rational thought by
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synthesizing memory and instinct. Exactly how these memories and instincts
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are formed, no one knows. A squirrel will run across a highway in terror when
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a rumbling growling speeding car approaches; the squirrel heads for a tree,
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runs to a nice spot, and stops. This is an intelligent act.
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An unintelligent being, such as a robot which has precise audio circuits,
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mechanical limbs, touch sensors, and a video camera, could be created by adept
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human engineers. This robot, however, would run off the end of a high tree
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branch to its demise -- actually, it would run into the base of the tree --
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realistically, it would sit in the middle of the road and be run over -- all
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without an artificially intelligent brain.
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Animals, insects, sea creatures, all have intelligence, and in varying
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amounts, to be sure. Humans themselves only use 10%-15% of the brain for
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active thought. Perhaps the same percentages exist in other beings. The
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human's larger brain is only useful for more refined instinct, behavior, and
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communication; and a more comprehensive memory. As well:
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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The remaining portion of the human brain is a center of consciousness.
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We are aware that we exist. For this sole reason, we are human.
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VIII
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Why do humans have language? Why do these 256,000 pixels shining on a
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VGA monitor make you think, scan your eyes from left to right and top to
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bottom? Humans have no more radical a language than animals. A cat's meows
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and cries convey curiosity, greeting, and fear. Why do we not simply utter
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grunts to convey philosophy and economics?
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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Humans realize, through conscious thought, that separate sounds can
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convey separate ideas. A cat only meows because it is not aware that it is
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being so vague.
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From the womb of a primitive hominid, the first human emerged with a non-
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spectacular genetic mutation which gave it consciousness. This human,
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however, did not know a thing about passive participles or oblique cases of
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pronouns. Language evolved slowly over thousands of years.
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A newborn baby does not know a thing about passive participles or oblique
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cases of pronouns. Language evolves slowly over several years. The
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difference lies in the fact that the baby's parents consciously decide to
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teach it everything they know, in hopes of providing a necessary advantage
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over the animals.
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IX
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The human mind acts much as Freud describes, with the three levels of the
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id, the ego, and the superego. The id is simply inherited from the animal
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kingdom, providing the instinct to survive. The ego and the superego are
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shaped by consciousness, providing respectively the drives for personal and
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selfish desires, and moral and communal needs.
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Animals have subsets of the human ego and superego, such as in the
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concept of marking territory and following the herd, respectively.
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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How, how, how are we so cursed? Consciousness gives us the ability to
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actively learn, invent, and synthesize. Without consciousness, we wouldn't
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have the selfish or communal need to do such things. Why is this a curse?
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The human is torn between the ego and the superego. These otherwise
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primitive facets of the mind are blown up into opposing and continuously
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compromising forces by the means of consciousness, which suddenly makes them
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very important.
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X
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An idealistic anarchy is impossible due to the superego. Anarchy is an
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all-ego condition, where everyone is independent, free-thinking, selfish, and
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loving it. The superego is what forces people to form governments, organize
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themselves, maintain order.
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A true communism is impossible due to the ego. This government is an
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all-superego condition, where people live together and provide for each other,
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no one has power, and everyone loves it. The ego is what causes leaders to
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see themselves as individuals, and independent, powerful ones at that, and
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which leads to corruption. As well, the ego causes subjects to react against
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their superconformist society and rebel.
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The basic power struggle is the result of the war between the ego and the
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superego. If an anarchy were established, someone would want to control
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someone else. If a true communism were established, someone would want
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independence, and would want to control someone else.
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Our current government, a republican representative democracy, provides
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the means for a well-nourished ego and superego. The ego is appeased by
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freedom, and the superego is contented with fair law and the right to vote.
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But...
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XI
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Capitalism fucks us over.
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Money fucks us over.
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Our current American political system provides us with two major parties,
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Republican and Democratic. No matter how these parties were created, they are
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now mainly the representatives of money. Main planks of the parties'
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platforms, such as abortion, national defense, civil rights, are actually, in
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a large part, money issues.
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Abortion is most often a way to prevent the high costs of raising a
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child. The sheer idiocy of having a cost of living itself is a direct result
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of money.
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National defense is unnecessary, but the Defense continues. The United
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States has not been directly attacked as a means of takeover in nearly two
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hundred years. Defense spending is an excuse both to protect our financial
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interests in other nations, and to give people jobs to enhance the technology
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which allows us to do so.
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Civil rights on the surface is purely social. Groups of oppressed people
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seek dignity and self-worth. But people are guaranteed these things, as well
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as freedom and legal power, by the Constitution. Only a money-based society
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forces civil rights to exist. Affirmative action is the current topic of
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debate. This is clearly related to money. There is a need for civil rights
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legislation only for discrimination leading to financial complications.
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Otherwise, as mentioned before, we're inherently guaranteed civil rights by
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the Constitution. Of course, an ideal vision and real life often clash.
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In America, where slavery and dictatorship are illegal, the basic human
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struggle for power is satisfied by the Dollar. Economic class provides a
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gauge of power over one's fellow citizens. Rising to the top of the money
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ladder, whether it be through entrepreneurship or pure crime, is the power
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goal.
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Intellectual power and conscious thought are useless to an American.
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Intellectual power and conscious thought are useless to an American.
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Unless these tools can be used to make money flow.
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XII
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An aside before moving on:
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Stuff caused by money:
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o education, giving the tools to make money (20th century bent)
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o much crime
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o materialism
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o greed
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o social stratification
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o taxes
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o gambling
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o social security
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o corruption
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Stuff fucked over by money:
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o obtaining an education
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o fashion
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o art
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o law
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o health
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o living
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o happiness
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XIII
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A thinking person will often ponder the eternal question: "What is the
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purpose of life?" The purpose of life is to make money. Money is power.
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Money is happiness.
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This is the capitalist form of happiness.
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There are alternatives.
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XIV
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Humans are cursed with consciousness. Consciousness brought us politics,
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prejudice, lust for power.
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Be idealistic, though. Imagine a society without any of the bad things
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associated with current and past world governments. No politics. No kings or
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queens. No power struggle. No corruption. No ingrained spoonfed
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philosophies about life's purpose, death, creation, or the bell curve. What
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is there left?
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Certainly we'll see human equality if all this hierarchy were destroyed.
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Right?
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No.
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Humans are animals.
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The male is stronger than the female. Females bear children, limiting
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their productivity for nine months at a time, in the name of life. The male
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is free to run about and impregnate females, with only a fifteen-minute period
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of down time between conceptions. There you have it: males and females
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cannot be equal on a physical or gender basis.
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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People have various levels of intelligence. Smarter people come up with
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new ideas. These ideas serve the community. People are grateful. The
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smarter people are elevated to a position of power. There you have it:
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humans cannot be equal on an intellectual basis.
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Humans are animals.
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Concentrated groups of humans evolved over time in different areas around
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the world. In these groups of people, skin color, physical ability, and
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mental ability evolved in different ways. Groups of people who sense some
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difference in themselves will take advantage of these differences. There you
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have it: different races cannot be equal on an intellectual or physical
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basis.
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Humans are cursed with consciousness.
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If I were to continue like this forever, I would eventually demonstrate a
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simple fact: everyone is completely different and inherently unequal. The
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categories mentioned above are by far the most obvious, and therefore take on
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the most importance.
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People can pretend to treat everyone color-blindly, gender-blindly,
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brains-blindly. But people notice differences. Ignoring them is only a game.
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It is a complex game consisting of extensive compromise. No human institution
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can play the game perfectly.
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XV
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In America, we have numerous cultural groups, differentiated by the
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groups' native homelands, economic status, race, gender, religion, and
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beliefs: New Orleans jazz musicians, inner-city gangs, golf-playing
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richbitches, struggling fiction writers, Congressional fatcats, God-fearing
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Christians. One often finds that once a person has found his group, he tends
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to substitute his group's self-image for his own. Amidst wildly-varying
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diversity, there is rank conformity.
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Most people today attempt to individualize themselves, certainly.
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Unfortunately, their steps away from conformity are small, insignificant, and
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bland. Picking from a small variety of popular music, selecting a favorite
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hack writer, picking out a unique wardrobe from a Sears catalog, making
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oneself look like a glamorous movie star, watching a personal combination of
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prime-time networked shows -- this is the American's idea of nonconformity.
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Oh, and hobbies as well -- maintaining the fastest and most expensive personal
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computer setup in the neighborhood, collecting low-priced stamps, reading
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romance novels, buying new fast sports cars, masturbating to the latest
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pornography -- are an American's attempt to individualize himself from his
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peers.
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These steps toward individuality conform to the popular standards of
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acceptable nonconformist deviations.
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In a free society, we are afraid to truly be free. We are too self-
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conscious of our actions. We are embarrassed by _other people's_ actions. We
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wholeheartedly condone individuality, but deride or condemn actions which are
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truly individual.
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In schools, where children are taught the virtues of the American way of
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life, dress codes are enforced, long hair is disallowed, earrings for males
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are still taboo, and free speech is a joke. Standardized tests and routine
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multiple-choice tests numb students' minds into blind subservience. Schools
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attempt to destroy the very basis for a happy, individualistic life.
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After a decade or two of schooling, where conformity is promoted, the
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American citizen is usually left in one of two states. One, as a happily
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brainwashed follower. After schooling he looks around him for his direction
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in life, leeching off the leeched-off lives of others. Or two, as a
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disillusioned angry individualist. This person either keeps his rage to
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himself, going insane, numbly becoming conformist, or expressing his rage and
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finding a quick trip to jail or Congress.
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To find a happy individualist is rare. It also makes you nervous and
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embarrassed to be around him.
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This is sick. It's got to stop.
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XVI
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Once again: What is the meaning of life? What is our purpose? For the
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modern American, life is usually spent working for a living instead of living
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to work, hating politicians and not voting them out of office, watching
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television continuously with a vague sense of resentment, and wishing it all
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weren't so.
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Most likely, the general course of life will follow as such for most
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citizens of this era, who will spend it waiting for Jesus to come back, for
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another war to spice things up, for a comet to smash into earth, for a
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revolution, or for sweet death.
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I am doubtful that anything much will change for a while. Don't be
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depressed by this. I'm simply telling you the facts as I see them.
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So, WHAT is the meaning of life, once all these restrictions are
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considered and accepted?
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The purpose of life is to be as individual as possible, while you can
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muster up the energy, strength, courage, and humor to do so. One person
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cannot change the world -- but one person can change himself
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XVII
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Life is not a drudge. Life is not an inevitable sequence of
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disappointments. Life is not written in stone. You have the power and the
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freedom in most cases to live as you want.
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In order to see this, briefly detach yourself from your immediate world.
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Forget your family, your friends, your obligations, your money, your hatred of
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politics. What is life? It's about eighty years. What is life? It's about
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you.
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XVIII
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Again:
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Ugliness is a virtue! Shitty haircuts rule! Welcomely accept the taboo
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and vehemently reject the accepted and the standard! Common sense is banal,
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anal, nil, and ill!
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XIX
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Our will has not been paralyzed. We have simply forgotten that it
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exists.
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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| _____ Call Goat Blowers Anonymous for the LATEST HoE! _____ |
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| 6/ ^..^ (215) 750 - 0392 ^..^ \9 |
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| \_____(oo) This Issues Featured Support Board is: (oo)_____/ |
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| WW WW ftp.fc.net /pub/deadkat/Hacking/HOE WW WW |
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| etext.arcive.umich.edu /pub/Zines/HoE |
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| corney www: http://www.rit.edu/~mpg4681 |
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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Copyright (c) 1995 HoE Publications, SoB, and I Wish My Name Were Nathan.
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This essay commissioned and financed by the benevolent Exxon Corporation.
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All Rights Reserved. #89-5/5/65
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