Politics The Hangar Tinfoil/Spirituality/Off key ramblings thread

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TheBrightSide said:
Kind of related to this is "The Venus Project", fascinating stuff. There's more video's on Youtube too.
The cynic in me was waiting for talk of Jesus, God, or Aliens, but it never came. :)

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Watched the first 20 on the train, pretty cool!

Guess it's unfortunate, there's no undoing what we have here, the only way is Armageddon of some kind and rebirth I guess?
 
Howard Moon said:
Watched the first 20 on the train, pretty cool!

Guess it's unfortunate, there's no undoing what we have here, the only way is Armageddon of some kind and rebirth I guess?
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It's gonna take something big for sure.
Has there ever been a bloodless coup? Fingers crossed this is the first one. :)
 
TheBrightSide said:
It's gonna take something big for sure.
Has there ever been a bloodless coup? Fingers crossed this is the first one. :)
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feel free to ignore this if its too silly, my ramblings can go off on tangents sometimes..

But say, we reached a fork in the road - there was a groundswell of support for revolutionary social change by free thinking types like the above, but still solid resistance from the establishment.

The world got together and made a pact (i did say far fetched) they said OK, all you who want out of our capitilist utopia, put your hands up - we will donate you a savage reservation, a large parcel of fertile(ish) land that you can all go and live in your communal lifestyle, we wont bother you, if you dont bother us - we will cease to know each other. Here you can have the continent of sth america. (dont bother thinking of hows or whys, just work with the hypothetical)
We dont expect you to be cave men, here are some seeds, here are some animals and some building materials - now go forth.

How many of the worlds 7 billion would take up the offer? surely not just the empoverished?
How long before the equal communal system starts to gain layers and levels of people?
How long til different languages and customs are formed in the different reigions?
How long til currencies would be formed?
How long til the new utopia would just run into the same old course as the old busted humainty did?
how long til there is haves and have nots?
How long until there is internal conflict?
How long til theres is war?
Would you choose the new world? or the safe reliable old world?
 

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Howard Moon said:
feel free to ignore this if its too silly, my ramblings can go off on tangents sometimes..

But say, we reached a fork in the road - there was a groundswell of support for revolutionary social change by free thinking types like the above, but still solid resistance from the establishment.

The world got together and made a pact (i did say far fetched) they said OK, all you who want out of our capitilist utopia, put your hands up - we will donate you a savage reservation, a large parcel of fertile(ish) land that you can all go and live in your communal lifestyle, we wont bother you, if you dont bother us - we will cease to know each other. Here you can have the continent of sth america. (dont bother thinking of hows or whys, just work with the hypothetical)
We dont expect you to be cave men, here are some seeds, here are some animals and some building materials - now go forth.

How many of the worlds 7 billion would take up the offer? surely not just the empoverished?
How long before the equal communal system starts to gain layers and levels of people?
How long til different languages and customs are formed in the different reigions?
How long til currencies would be formed?
How long til the new utopia would just run into the same old course as the old busted humainty did?
how long til there is haves and have nots?
How long until there is internal conflict?
How long til theres is war?
Would you choose the new world? or the safe reliable old world?
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Wow, some big questions here. Volumes could, and probably have, been written on them.

Firstly, I'm not sure there would be many volunteers for the new Free State.
I tend to think most people don't know how hard we are being screwed by the Powers that be, even I'm not fully aware of the whole scale. Only in hindsight will it become apparent how s**t everything is currently.

I kind of see us like animals in a zoo, not a great life at all, but our basic needs are met. And you can't just open up the cage and let the animals out and expect it to go well.
We've also been relatively spoiled with technology, which would be hard to let go of.
Even I would think twice about heading off to the Free State if they didn't have decent wifi.
I'd like to continue trolling on the Hot Topics Board. :)

Historians and Philosophers will tell you that any future society will be doomed by the same failures of the previous ones.
But there are actually some successful examples, the "Earth tribes", the greatest one being in our own back yard. (I'm defining success as both longevity and sustainability)
The fundamental premise being that we are one with the earth and each other. It may seem like an esoteric or "pie in the sky" notion, but it's actually quite literal and easily proven by science. If you harm the earth, you harm yourself in the long run.
Any future endeavor which doesn't recognize the importance of this truth, is surely doomed to fail.

Okay, rant over, I'll take off my tin foil hat and continue to pretend to be a normal member of society.
 
TheBrightSide said:
Wow, some big questions here. Volumes could, and probably have, been written on them.

Firstly, I'm not sure there would be many volunteers for the new Free State.
I tend to think most people don't know how hard we are being screwed by the Powers that be, even I'm not fully aware of the whole scale. Only in hindsight will it become apparent how s**t everything is currently.

I kind of see us like animals in a zoo, not a great life at all, but our basic needs are met. And you can't just open up the cage and let the animals out and expect it to go well.
We've also been relatively spoiled with technology, which would be hard to let go of.
Even I would think twice about heading off to the Free State if they didn't have decent wifi.
I'd like to continue trolling on the Hot Topics Board. :)

Historians and Philosophers will tell you that any future society will be doomed by the same failures of the previous ones.
But there are actually some successful examples, the "Earth tribes", the greatest one being in our own back yard. (I'm defining success as both longevity and sustainability)
The fundamental premise being that we are one with the earth and each other. It may seem like an esoteric or "pie in the sky" notion, but it's actually quite literal and easily proven by science. If you harm the earth, you harm yourself in the long run.
Any future endeavor which doesn't recognize the importance of this truth, is surely doomed to fail.

Okay, rant over, I'll take off my tin foil hat and continue to pretend to be a normal member of society.
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Come to the free state! you know its better!

But i reckon youd get everyone below the povery line by default, every persecuted minority, most of the have nots of the real world, bit of a hot bed to begin with hey..

Reckon there is a very interesting phenomena unfolding here on the planet. Maybe new age thinking has transcended the old idea of a bunch of drug f**ked hippies holding up peace signs. Maybe our consciousness, collectively and individually is raising now..seeking the understanding of truth, of whats really going on around us and to us. It’s not for everyone, but its there for anyone who looks without the clouded fog of judgment. Its hard to break the judgement - everyone wants to belong, not lookm like an idiot or a flake...

Maybe most people have been conditioned to need proof or scientific fact or for it to have been on the TV news to believe anything - but what about spirituality? isnt that the understanding that everything or anything can exist? most of which we are unable to comprehend?

Some of us have a constant niggle, a constant urge, maybe a feeling that soemthing is not quite right with everything. Its a feeling that compels you to keep looking, listening and never stop expanding. Maybe you buried it, or it was shaken out of you at school or you never fully felt it in the first place. Some might be blissfulyl happy in their lives, in this world we have and good luck to them! but its kinda deep and scarey, makes you feel pretty tiny and huge all at the same time, knowing that every concept, every thing, place, thought, feeling, consciousness exists because it is merely a form of the same energy that makes up everything else.

When you’ve lived in a life that constantly bombards you with the opposite, its pretty hard to shift your reality unless you allow it. Unless you make the conscious decision to open your mind to the possibilities of the infinite ,you probably wont ever experience it.

There’s so much dross on the internet and on TV, how are we suppose to pick apart what is real and what is placed to guide us along the wrong path? There are loads of real truths on the internet and TV that pique your interest, expand your understanding or atleast set you on the path. It’s all about feeling the truths..not thinking or looking but feeling. We were built with insticnts that are probably stronger than the other senses alone, course all of our senses combined provide us with our reality once fed into our super computer brain for processing.

Sometimes you are walking in the dark and you feel soemthing isnt right - you are being watched or something - sure enough you turn and see someone is there. But none of your senses should have been able to know that. how does that happen? dont you get the same feeling sometimes about society? - just hunch or a feeling that there is something playing out that you cant see?

I want to know more... i dont care if its bad or terrible. If i was given the choice between living blissfully happy and unaware, or knowing the truth and knowing what i or we are being held back from what we are destined to be... id take b all day long

sorry dunno where that headed off too!

early morning train brain dribble rant reply over
 
Howard Moon said:
Come to the free state! you know its better!

But i reckon youd get everyone below the povery line by default, every persecuted minority, most of the have nots of the real world, bit of a hot bed to begin with hey..

Reckon there is a very interesting phenomena unfolding here on the planet. Maybe new age thinking has transcended the old idea of a bunch of drug f**ked hippies holding up peace signs. Maybe our consciousness, collectively and individually is raising now..seeking the understanding of truth, of whats really going on around us and to us. It’s not for everyone, but its there for anyone who looks without the clouded fog of judgment. Its hard to break the judgement - everyone wants to belong, not lookm like an idiot or a flake...

Maybe most people have been conditioned to need proof or scientific fact or for it to have been on the TV news to believe anything - but what about spirituality? isnt that the understanding that everything or anything can exist? most of which we are unable to comprehend?

Some of us have a constant niggle, a constant urge, maybe a feeling that soemthing is not quite right with everything. Its a feeling that compels you to keep looking, listening and never stop expanding. Maybe you buried it, or it was shaken out of you at school or you never fully felt it in the first place. Some might be blissfulyl happy in their lives, in this world we have and good luck to them! but its kinda deep and scarey, makes you feel pretty tiny and huge all at the same time, knowing that every concept, every thing, place, thought, feeling, consciousness exists because it is merely a form of the same energy that makes up everything else.

When you’ve lived in a life that constantly bombards you with the opposite, its pretty hard to shift your reality unless you allow it. Unless you make the conscious decision to open your mind to the possibilities of the infinite ,you probably wont ever experience it.

There’s so much dross on the internet and on TV, how are we suppose to pick apart what is real and what is placed to guide us along the wrong path? There are loads of real truths on the internet and TV that pique your interest, expand your understanding or atleast set you on the path. It’s all about feeling the truths..not thinking or looking but feeling. We were built with insticnts that are probably stronger than the other senses alone, course all of our senses combined provide us with our reality once fed into our super computer brain for processing.

Sometimes you are walking in the dark and you feel soemthing isnt right - you are being watched or something - sure enough you turn and see someone is there. But none of your senses should have been able to know that. how does that happen? dont you get the same feeling sometimes about society? - just hunch or a feeling that there is something playing out that you cant see?

I want to know more... i dont care if its bad or terrible. If i was given the choice between living blissfully happy and unaware, or knowing the truth and knowing what i or we are being held back from what we are destined to be... id take b all day long

sorry dunno where that headed off too!

early morning train brain dribble rant reply over
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Yes I think the Free State is probably the wise choice.
As long as they have a sense of humor there. I'm really tired of everything being so serious. It's too draining.
Any school of thought which doesn't have room for a giggle is not for me.

It is quite a strange time here, there's a kind of spiritual vacuum. Organised religion is declining (Thank God!) and nothing has really taken it's place. I'm familiar with quite a bit of the New Age sentiment, but it is temporarily satisfying at best for me.
There is a lot to digest out there, it's like information overload with no filter for the pure nonsense. The waters are muddy.

It's an intersting choice between ignorant bliss, and the (possibly) scary truth. I'm actually not sure what I would choose.
The optimist in me likes to think that they both coexist together.
 
TheBrightSide said:
Yes I think the Free State is probably the wise choice.
As long as they have a sense of humor there. I'm really tired of everything being so serious. It's too draining.
Any school of thought which doesn't have room for a giggle is not for me.

It is quite a strange time here, there's a kind of spiritual vacuum. Organised religion is declining (Thank God!) and nothing has really taken it's place. I'm familiar with quite a bit of the New Age sentiment, but it is temporarily satisfying at best for me.
There is a lot to digest out there, it's like information overload with no filter for the pure nonsense. The waters are muddy.

It's an intersting choice between ignorant bliss, and the (possibly) scary truth. I'm actually not sure what I would choose.
The optimist in me likes to think that they both coexist together.
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I remember years ago I met this bloke at earthcore one weekend, chewed my ear off on a hill top about this theory for hours.

We are all the centre of our own universes, like when you a child it's true, you are the centre of your own universe and I guess it can come across as pretty selfish, nothing else matters except what is yours and what you are doing, as you age you learn or are conditioned to play your role or your part of the greater machine, the greater universe..which transforms you from being everything there is, to a tiny speck of a bigger picture.

He Said we are infact still the centre of our own universes, every body, every situation that we come across day to day are just projections of our own consciousness. When you meet a troublesome character that's your fears being projected, when you meet your lover that's your desires manifesting themselves..ect ect. Everything you project day to day are tests you set yourself on the way to enlightenmet.

So maybe you are right! Maybe they can co exist, if we are all running our own races in our little bubbles , the outside world or what the powers are doing dont even matter, they might just be a projection of inferiority :p

Or maybe we were just wacked off our ****...
 
Howard Moon said:
I remember years ago I met this bloke at earthcore one weekend, chewed my ear off on a hill top about this theory for hours.

We are all the centre of our own universes, like when you a child it's true, you are the centre of your own universe and I guess it can come across as pretty selfish, nothing else matters except what is yours and what you are doing, as you age you learn or are conditioned to play your role or your part of the greater machine, the greater universe..which transforms you from being everything there is, to a tiny speck of a bigger picture.

He Said we are infact still the centre of our own universes, every body, every situation that we come across day to day are just projections of our own consciousness. When you meet a troublesome character that's your fears being projected, when you meet your lover that's your desires manifesting themselves..ect ect. Everything you project day to day are tests you set yourself on the way to enlightenmet.

So maybe you are right! Maybe they can co exist, if we are all running our own races in our little bubbles , the outside world or what the powers are doing dont even matter, they might just be a projection of inferiority :p

Or maybe we were just wacked off our ****...
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Funny, as soon as you said there was a guy at Earthcore talking for hours, I just assumed there were chemicals involved.
It's interesting when under the influence how you can have some huge revelations that blow your mind, then you remember them the next day and think, meh. Great at the time though.

I really like the Bill Hicks drug bits, it's a perspective that you don't hear much.

 
TheBrightSide said:
Funny, as soon as you said there was a guy at Earthcore talking for hours, I just assumed there were chemicals involved.
It's interesting when under the influence how you can have some huge revelations that blow your mind, then you remember them the next day and think, meh. Great at the time though.

I really like the Bill Hicks drug bits, it's a perspective that you don't hear much.

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thats true, i thought writing that post was a good idea at the time.. and i was stone cold sober! ;)
 
Howard Moon said:
thats true, i thought writing that post was a good idea at the time.. and i was stone cold sober! ;)
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Just to clarify, I wasn't implying what that guy at Earthcore said wasn't interesting (well I thought it was)
I was probably referring to my own moments of "clarity". I've probably had a few, but can't recall any that were very noteworthy!
 

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Howard Moon said:
Do we have a today version of Hicks or Carlin?
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Doug Stanhope does a bit of anti establishment stuff, not too bad, but I haven't heard very much and need to check out some more.

Such a shame Bill Hicks is no longer with us. There is so much potential material.
I would LOVE to hear his rants on 9/11, Bush Jr, terrorism and Trump.
 
TheBrightSide said:
Doug Stanhope does a bit of anti establishment stuff, not too bad, but I haven't heard very much and need to check out some more.

Such a shame Bill Hicks is no longer with us. There is so much potential material.
I would LOVE to hear his rants on 9/11, Bush Jr, terrorism and Trump.
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Its kind of funny,

The lines between comedian and social commentator can be pretty blurry now. You could be a straight down the line social commentor but...the world is so absurd now that its humerous.

Even somelike like Larry Aavid, really, he is just talking about the absurdities of our lives - and its hilarious.
 
doug85 said:
He also stole his 'arsehole' bit from louis ck.
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Hadn't heard that before but I'm not surprised.

Denis Leary[edit]
For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian Denis Leary. But in 1993, Hicks was angered by Leary's album No Cure for Cancer, which featured lines and subject matter similar to Hicks's routine.[25] According to American Scream: The Bill Hicks Storyby Cynthia True, upon hearing the album "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff, and even bought bits from one another. Milton Berle and Robin Williamswere famous for it. This was different. Leary had practically taken line for line huge chunks of Bill's act and recorded it."[26] The friendship ended abruptly as a result.[27]

At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks's material as well as his persona and attitude.[28][29][30] In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."[31] In another interview, Hicks said, "I have a scoop for you. I stole his [Leary's] act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and, to really throw people off, I did it before he did."[32] During a 2003 Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast.[33]

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream:

Leary was in Montreal hosting the "Nasty Show" at Club Soda, and Colleen [McGarr?] was coordinating the talent so she stood backstage and overheard Leary doing material incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: "Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. The plot thickens." When Leary came offstage, Colleen, more stunned than angry, said, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks's material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and briskly left the dressing room.[26]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hicks
 
i really wish i wrote this!


THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F**K

In my life, I have given a f**k about many people and many things. I have also not given a f**k about many people and many things. And those f**ks I have not given have made all the difference.

People often say the key to confidence and success in life is to simply “not give a f**k.” Indeed, we often refer to the strongest, most admirable people we know in terms of their lack of f**ks given. Like “Oh, look at Susie working weekends again, she doesn’t give a f**k.” Or “Did you hear that Tom called the company president an arsehole and still got a raise anyway? Holy s**t, that dude does not give a f**k.” Or “Jason got up and ended his date with Kelly after 20 minutes. He said he wasn’t going to listen to her bullshit anymore. Man, that guy does not give a f**k.”

Chances are you know somebody in your life who, at one time or another, did not give a f**k and went on to accomplish amazing feats. Perhaps there was a time in your life where you simply did not give a f**k and excelled to some extraordinary heights. I know for myself, quitting my job and moving overseas with nothing was in the “didn’t give a f**k”. Hall of fame. F**ks given? None. Just went with it.
Now, while not giving a f**k may seem simple on the surface, but there is an art to it. Most of us struggle throughout our lives by giving too many f**ks in situations where f**ks do not deserve to be given. We give a f**k about the rude shop attendant who gave us too many coins. We give a f**k when a show we liked was cancelled on TV. We give a f**k when our co-workers don’t bother asking us about our awesome weekend. We give a f**k when it’s raining and we were supposed to go jogging in the morning.

F**ks given everywhere. Strewn about like seeds in spring time. And for what purpose? For what reason? Convenience? Easy comforts? A pat on the f**king back maybe?

This is the problem, my friend.

Because when we give too many f**ks, when we choose to give a f**k about everything, then we feel as though we are perpetually entitled to feel comfortable and happy at all times, that’s when life f**ks us.

What we don’t realise is that there is a fine art of non-f**k-giving. People aren’t just born not giving a f**k. In fact, we’re born giving way too many f**ks. Ever watch a kid cry his eyes out because his hat is the wrong shade of blue? Exactly.

Developing the ability to control and manage the f**ks you give is the essence of strength and integrity. We must craft and hone our lack of f**kery over the course of years and decades. Like a fine wine, our f**ks must age into a fine vintage, only uncorked and given on the most special f**king occasions.
This may sound easy. But it is not. Most of us, most of the time, get sucked in by life’s mean trivialities, steamrolled by its unimportant dramas; we live and die by the sidenotes and distractions and vicissitudes that suck the f**ks out of us.

This is no way to live, man. So stop f**king around. Get your f**ks together. And here, allow me to f**king show you.

SUBTLETY #1: NOT GIVING A F**K DOES NOT MEAN BEING INDIFFERENT; IT MEANS BEING COMFORTABLE WITH BEING DIFFERENT

When most people envision giving no f**ks whatsoever, they envision a kind of perfect and serene indifference to everything, a calm that weathers all storms.

This is misguided. There’s absolutely nothing admirable or confident about indifference. People who are indifferent are lame and scared. They’re couch potatoes and internet trolls. In fact, indifferent people often attempt to be indifferent because in reality they actually give too many f**ks. They are afraid of the world and the repercussions of their own choices. Therefore, they make none. They hide in a grey emotionless pit of their own making, self-absorbed and self-pitied, perpetually distracting themselves from this unfortunate thing demanding their time and energy called life.

My college was recently screwed by a work mate at work. Had I been indifferent, I would have shrugged my shoulders, sipped some mocha and downloaded another season of Curb.

But instead, I was indignant. I was pissed off. I said, “No, screw that, we’re going to HR to go after this arsehole. Why? Because I don’t give a f**k. I will ruin this guy’s life if I have to.”

This illustrates the first subtlety about not giving a f**k. When we say, “Damn, watch out, He just don’t give a f**k,” we don’t mean that He doesn’t care about anything; on the contrary, what we mean is that He doesn’t care about adversity in the face of his goals, he doesn’t care about pissing some people off to do what he feels is right or important or noble. What we mean is that He is the type of guy who would write about himself in third person and use the word ‘f**k’ in an article 127 different times just because he thought it was the right thing to do. He just doesn’t give a f**k.

This is what is so admirable the overcoming adversity stuff. The staring failure in the face and shoving your middle finger back at it. The people who don’t give a f**k about adversity or failure or embarrassing themselves or shitting the bed a few times. The people who just laugh and then do it anyway. Because they know it’s right. They know it’s more important than them and their own feelings and their own pride and their own needs. They say “F**k it,” not to everything in life, but rather they say “F**k it” to everything unimportant in life. They reserve their f**ks for what truly f**king matters. Friends. Family. Purpose, and because of that, because they reserve their f**ks for only the big things, the important things, people give a f**k about them in return.

SUBTLETY #2: TO NOT GIVE A F**K ABOUT ADVERSITY, YOU MUST FIRST GIVE A F**K ABOUT SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN ADVERSITY

Eric Hoffer once wrote: “A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.”
The problem with people who hand out f**ks like ice cream at a fete is that they don’t have anything more f**kworthy to dedicate their f**ks to.

Think for a second. You’re at a supermarket. And there’s an elderly lady screaming at the cashier, berating him for not accepting her discount docket. Why does this lady give a f**k? It’s just 30 cents.
Well, I’ll tell you why. That old lady probably doesn’t have anything better to do with her days than to sit at home collecting dockets all morning. She’s old and lonely. Her kids are dickheads and never visit. She hasn’t had sex in over 30 years. Her pension is on its last legs and she’s probably going to die in a nappy thinking she’s in Candyland. She can’t fart without extreme lower back pain. She can’t even watch TV for more than 15 minutes without falling asleep or forgetting the main plotline.

So she collects discount dockets. That’s all she’s got. It’s her and her damn dockets. All day, every day. It’s all she can give a f**k about because there is nothing else to give a f**k about. And so when that pimply-faced 17-year-old cashier refuses to accept one of them, when he defends his cash register’s purity the way knights used to defend maidens’ virginities, you can damn well bet granny is going to erupt and verbally hulk smash his f**king face in. Eighty years of f**ks will rain down all at once, like a fiery hailstorm of “Back in my day” and “People used to show more respect” stories, boring the world around her to tears in her creaking and wobbly voice.

If you find yourself consistently giving too many f**ks about trivial s**t that bothers you — your ex-girlfriend’s new Facebook picture, how quickly the batteries die in the TV remote, missing out on yet another 2-for-1 sale on hand sanitizer — chances are you don’t have much going on in your life to give a legitimate f**k about. And that’s your real problem. Not the hand sanitizer.

Way too many f**ks given.

In life, our f**ks must be spent on something. There really is no such thing as not giving a f**k. The question is simply how we each choose to allot our f**ks. You only get a limited number of f**ks to give over your lifetime, so you must spend them with care. As my father used to say, “F**ks don’t grow on trees, Mate.” OK, he never actually said that. But f**k it, pretend like he did. The point is that f**ks have to be earned and then invested wisely.

SUBTLETY #3: WE ALL HAVE A LIMITED NUMBER OF F**KS TO GIVE; PAY ATTENTION TO WHERE AND WHO YOU GIVE THEM TO

When we’re young, we have tons of energy. Everything is new and exciting. And everything seems to matter so much. Therefore, we give tons of f**ks. We give a f**k about everything and everyone — about what people are saying about us, about whether that cute boy/girl called us back or not, about whether our socks match or not or what colour our birthday balloon is.

As we get older, we gain experience and begin to notice that most of these things have little lasting impact on our lives. Those people’s opinions we cared about so much before have long been removed from our lives. We’ve found the love we need and so those embarrassing romantic rejections cease to mean much anymore. We realize how little people pay attention to the superficial details about us and we focus on doing things more for ourselves rather than for others.

Essentially, we become more selective about the f**ks we’re willing to give. This is something called ‘maturity.’ It’s nice, you should try it sometime. Maturity is what happens when one learns to only give a f**k about what’s truly f**kworthy. As Bunk Moreland said in The Wire to his partner Detective McNulty: “That’s what you get for giving a f**k when it wasn’t your turn to give a f**k.”

Then, as we grow older and enter middle age, something else begins to change. Our energy levels drop. Our identities solidify. We know who we are and we no longer have a desire to change what now seems inevitable in our lives.

And in a strange way, this is liberating. We no longer need to give a f**k about everything. Life is just what it is. We accept it, warts and all. We realize that we’re never going to cure cancer or go to the moon. And that’s OK. Life f**king goes on. We now reserve our ever-dwindling f**ks only for the most truly f**kworthy parts of our lives: our families, our best friends, our golf swing. And to our astonishment, this is enough. This simplification actually makes us really f**king happy.

Then somehow, one day, much later, we wake up and we’re old. And along with our gum lines and our sex drive, our ability to give a f**k has receded to the point of non-existence. In the twilight of our days, we carry out a paradoxical existence where we no longer have the energy to give a f**k about the big things in life, and instead we must dedicate the few f**ks we have left to the simple and mundane yet increasingly difficult aspects of our lives: where to eat lunch, doctors’ appointments for our creaky joints, 30-cent discounts at the supermarket, and driving without drifting to sleep and killing a parking lot full of innocent bystanders. You know practical concerns.

Then one day, on our deathbed, (hopefully) surrounded by the people we gave the majority of our f**ks to throughout our life, and those few who still give a f**k about us, with a silent gasp we will gently let our last f**k go. Through the tears and the gently fading beeps of the heart monitor and the ever-dimming fluorescence encapsulating us in its divine hospital halo, we drift into some unknowable and unf**kable place.
 
In April of 1958, a 22 year-old Hunter S. Thompson wrote a letter on the meaning of life when asked by a friend for advice. What makes his response all the more profound is the fact that at the time, the world had no idea that he would become one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Therefore his beliefs about purpose were hypothetical—they were statements of faith, not experience.

I read this all the time, don’t know why but it resonates with the moon!

“To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles … ” (Shakespeare)

And indeed, that IS the question: whether to float with the tide, or to swim for a goal. It is a choice we must all make consciously or unconsciously at one time in our lives. So few people understand this! Think of any decision you’ve ever made which had a bearing on your future: I may be wrong, but I don’t see how it could have been anything but a choice however indirect — between the two things I’ve mentioned: the floating or the swimming.

But why not float if you have no goal? That is another question. It is unquestionably better to enjoy the floating than to swim in uncertainty. So how does a man find a goal? Not a castle in the stars, but a real and tangible thing. How can a man be sure he’s not after the “big rock candy mountain,” the enticing sugar-candy goal that has little taste and no substance?

The answer — and, in a sense, the tragedy of life — is that we seek to understand the goal and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you. Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on. Every reaction is a learning process; every significant experience alters your perspective.

So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything other than galloping neurosis?

The answer, then, must not deal with goals at all, or not with tangible goals, anyway. It would take reams of paper to develop this subject to fulfillment. God only knows how many books have been written on “the meaning of man” and that sort of thing, and god only knows how many people have pondered the subject. (I use the term “god only knows” purely as an expression.) There’s very little sense in my trying to give it up to you in the proverbial nutshell, because I’m the first to admit my absolute lack of qualifications for reducing the meaning of life to one or two paragraphs.

As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors.WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES.
But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors — but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal. In every man, heredity and environment have combined to produce a creature of certain abilities and desires — including a deeply ingrained need to function in such a way that his life will be MEANINGFUL. A man has to BE something; he has to matter.

As I see it then, the formula runs something like this: a man must choose a path which will let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his DESIRES. In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires).

In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing; for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life — the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual.

Let’s assume that you think you have a choice of eight paths to follow (all pre-defined paths, of course). And let’s assume that you can’t see any real purpose in any of the eight. THEN — and here is the essence of all I’ve said — you MUST FIND A NINTH PATH.

Naturally, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’ve lived a relatively narrow life, a vertical rather than a horizontal existence. So it isn’t any too difficult to understand why you seem to feel the way you do. But a man who procrastinates in his CHOOSING will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.

So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life. But you say, “I don’t know where to look; I don’t know what to look for.”

And there’s the crux. Is it worth giving up what I have to look for something better? I don’t know — is it? Who can make that decision but you? But even by DECIDING TO LOOK, you go a long way toward making the choice.

If I don’t call this to a halt, I’m going to find myself writing a book. I hope it’s not as confusing as it looks at first glance. Keep in mind, of course, that this is MY WAY of looking at things. I happen to think that it’s pretty generally applicable, but you may not. Each of us has to create our own credo — this merely happens to be mine.

If any part of it doesn’t seem to make sense, by all means call it to my attention. I’m not trying to send you out “on the road” in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that — no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll have lots of company.

And that’s it for now. Until I hear from you again, I remain,

Your friend,

Hunter
 
Excuse me if its a bit off, I find racism abhorrent, but I have been wondering if this banana lady is all a set up. It all seems too ridiculous - the fact she didn't go off earlier in the game if its alleged she brought the banana as some sort of deliberate act. Gil comes out straight away drumming up a media frenzy - no doubt in his mind it was a planned racist attack. Front page just in time for finals tickets to go on sale how about that.

There's no excusing the actions of somebody doing this, I want to make that clear, I just feel cynical about the way it has all exploded no questions asked.
 
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