echo says:

this reminds me of a post i did on TALK TO ME. no one responded to it. i don't think you were there yet, so maybe you didn't see it.

one of the many reasons i hold humanity in such contempt is that they believe in politics. and they have no clue what goes on behind the scenes. they actually seem to think that these people running things are looking out for them. or at least consider them. you are only considered as something they consume, something that feeds them. you are cattle. to be corralled and controlled. here is a description of what i'm talking about, from joseph nye's book, soft power.

"The basic concept of power is the ability to influence others to get them to do what you want. There are three major ways to do that: one is to threaten them with sticks; the second is to pay them with carrots; the third is to attract them or co-opt them, so that they want what you want. If you can get others to be attracted, to want what you want, it costs you much less in carrots and sticks."

nye is a harvard professor; i saw him in a pbs program. he is frighteningly intelligent. i think people like him, as well as the people in power, really do see the masses as cattle. literally. the gulf between nye's intelligence and the average person's is about as great as between an average person's and a cow's. the same formula applies to those in power; though they are not as smart as nye, they feel superior in the same way. so they are no more concerned for your welfare than you are for a cow's. and some are less concerned. it would be like a cow voting and seriously considering who would be the best rancher to be owned by. if you are a dairy cow it's not so bad, still you are only given enough to get you to produce the volume of milk they want. and of course you are regularly gotten pregnant and having your calf taken away in order to get you to produce milk, not to mention the calf.

i too want out of the corral. you can get out. it's hard, but you can.

posted May 15

Sean Marie says:

I hadn't seen the TALK TO ME post--funny that the metaphor keeps resurfacing from independent sources. It's sad, really--all these opportunites and resources wasted on people who just want to be told what piece of plastic crap they should buy, or eat, or worship this week. You're right that the "ranchers" care less about the masses than they would about cattle. Anyone raising livestock understands that universal health care, decent food and clean water are an investment, not a gift.

I could really use a desert island right about now.

posted May 15

echo says:

i'm in southern california, i've had enough desert. the barrenness is getting to me. i'm going tropical.

i'm not so sure caring for people would have the same financial benefit as caring for livestock. how would it, exactly? it would take money out of their pockets, and what return would they get?

posted May 15

that michael guy says:

It wasn't long ago that I felt the same way about people. All I wanted to do was escape to somewhere. But where? I had to ask myself, "What's it going to take to make me happy or at least content?" Then I wrote a list of things or "blames" of why I was so unhappy.
Throwing money at it or running away from it would just bring up other problems. It will never be enough. My solution and the change I had to make was me. I had to believe in myself. I had to like myself and know that there was something here worth saving. The corral was and still is in my head. I always have to convince myself that I deserve to be on the outside. When I'm able to stand in that place inside of me and accept all that I am and all I have done and still believe in myself, I find peace.
I find amazing qualities in all of you here. I even find myself wishing I had some of your talents. Maybe that would make me happier....maybe that would make me complete. You want instant change, buy a new wallet or a keychain. Like anything else it gets old fast.
In my opinion, you need to ask yourself what it's really going to take to make you happy.
I'll probably get ripped apart by everybody here, but I thought I'd share how I deal with it.

posted May 16

Sean Marie says:

I won't rip you up, Michael, and I do know what you mean, but there are occasions when you have to say, "It's not me, it's you." Standing in the cold, driving rain, I might try to find it invigorating, I might think of all the things that are worse than being wet, I might count the reasons I deserve to be warm and dry--or I can take shelter. It's nasty out there right now, so I'm staying in.

Dearest echo, the financial benefit of caring for people comes from the expenses that are avoided. It's just like ranching--you're better off taking care of the whole herd equally. Trying to protect a few prize head is futile--once disease gets a foothold, you can lose it all. Tuberculosis has been creeping back into our population--there's a cure for it, but it's very expensive and it takes about a year of treatment. It's mostly found among the homeless and otherwise neglected, but once they get it, nurses get it, then even the well-heeled patients having elective procedures get it, then their families get it, and so on, and so on. The problem of contagion also applies to poverty, violence, ignorance, etc. Disease is just the easiest example.

posted May 16

echo says:

first of all, i've had it with that silly little freak brian fogerty and will be deleting all of his comments. if anyone wants to see only one of the reasons (there are many) why i find him so revolting check out 2 comments he left on the photo page of a sixteen year old girl:

a lovely cute picture of you...I love your eyes and lips...you look like a naughty angel. Last night I actually dreamt we met and kissed! Amazing eh? Take care, TTFN.

this is delightfully lovely...my fave so far...love your hair...by the way, when I dreamt we kissed before, don't worry, I woke up before anything too naughty happened!

and my response to that was:

doesn't anyone else find this intolerably creepy? a 50 year old man not only dreaming about kissing a 16 year old child (which is bad enough, but ok, his creepy perversions are not under his control while he's dreaming), but then to think it's fine to talk about it?

i bashed him before and put that in, but felt maybe he didn't deserve public humiliation, so i took that part of it out and just wrote him off and deleted him from my friends. now he's making absurd, nonlinear, annoying comments here, which i have deleted and will continue to do so.

if anyone wants to hear any of the other reasons i find him repellent, i might indulge you.


a line from a song came into my head while i was thinking about michael's and sean's thoughts. weirdly enough, it has a direct tie to brian fogerty. that's all tied up into how he got on my friend list, which i'll tell if anyone wants to hear it. here's the song:

LONELY PLANET - THE THE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2joLK8OZlu0 (don't look at the video, it's atrocious, just listen to the song, i think it's worth the bother)

Planet Earth is slowing down
Overseas, underground
Wherever you look around
Lord, take me by the hand
Lead me through these desert sands
To the shores of a promised land

You make me start
When you look

posted May 17

echo says:

into my heart
And see me for who I really am

If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself

I didn't care if the sun didn't shine
And the rain didn't fall from the sky
I just cared about myself
From this world to the next
And from the next back to this
By our actions we are bound
We're running out of love
Running out of hate
Running out of space
For the human race
Planet Earth is slowing down

You make me cry
When you look into my eyes
And see me for who I really am

If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself
If you can't change the world change yourself
And if you can't change yourself ...
Then change the world

I'm in love with the planet I'm standing on
I can't stop. I can't stop thinking of
All the people I've ever loved
All the people I have lost
All the people I'll never know
All the feelings I've never shown
The world's too big and life's too short
The world's too big and life's too short
The world's too big and life's too short
To be alone ... to be alone

if you don't know it michael, it's right up your alley.

i agree with both of you. there are always things about ourselves we need to change, things that should be better, and would result in less distress, if not more satisfaction. but there are also legitimate outside causes for our distress, in this world that is full of rot. to see these things clearly for what they are is quite tricky. it is easy to see the vileness in others; not so easy to see it in ourselves.

yes, tuberculosis and such afflictions can jump the dividers and affect more than the poor. but to treat all of the ills of the poor would be a cost far greater than to just treat the few above the line who are affected, who can bear the brunt of that cost themselves in any case. i'm not talking from a humanitarian point, purely a financial point. i think it is more effective to use them as fodder and a renewable resource.

posted May 17

echo says:

i always had the loud, raucous, angry impression of you. which i like by the way. so at least you're you here. that's what comes across on your page. so you'll figure the rest out. this is a start. that's what this is about. you can't begin to change until you can look at what it is.

posted Apr 20

echo says:

that's all i want. it is refreshing in a wasteland of insincerity.

posted Apr 18

echo says:

the greatest cause of atheism is the lack of any credible evidence. the hypocritical christians are just the reason for hating religion.

posted Apr 21

El Evan says:

wow

posted Mar 25

Sean Marie says:

I'm with you, allison. I have everything I need, I can do anything I want, yet I oppress and neglect myself. I own a lovely condo, free and clear--I've turned it into a barely-habitable hovel. I have an excellent education and a thousand books--I lie on the sofa and watch TV. There are hundreds of lovely places and interesting people within easy reach--I go straight home to my cat. I just got a promotion (less work, more pay), and it seems to have made things worse. I keep searching myself for a fuse box, a pilot light, something that needs to be switched on or relit--I can't find it and I'm too ashamed of the malfunction to ask for help.

posted Mar 27

echo says:

i do the same. i don't know why i don't move towards improving my life. i keep telling myself i'll do it tomorrow. perhaps we shouldn't permit ourselves to come here (to virb, not the group) until we can prove we have spent at least 10 minutes each day in a useful manner.

posted Mar 28

Brian Fogarty says:

You need to get over yourselves as wallowing in self-pity is not a healthy hobby and I think you should find something else to do instead, like taking an interest in other people. Reading a few pages a day of Henry Thoreau's "Walden" might help lift and tuck your minds and spirits ("we need the tonic of wildness") and serve as an antidote to these virb blues where we are all but shadows reaching out to touch and clutch the hands of other shadows. In my opinion you should count your blessings and not be so glum - after all, if you can find the money and the time to be on the internet 24/7 you can't be that hard done by compared to most other people in the world, can you? You seem to have momentarily lost your sense of self-worth, courage, fun, playfulness, and wonder...as for me I wake up each morning with a smile grateful to still be alive and eager to get on and live my life while I still can - after all, in the end we'll all be dead for a very long time :}

posted Apr 10

echo says:

spoken like a man who has never know real depression. so i don't think you are qualified to judge. i have always been annoyed by those by comparison judgments. that man has both legs cut off so stop crying about having nothing more than one leg cut off. that's bullshit. you have a point in there somewhere, but your method of conveying it is quite counter-productive and demeaning.

i have been debating since you posted the comment below on whether to delete it. it is frivolous and ridiculous and has nothing to do with the intent of the group, which i take seriously. and the concept of worshiping a woman to that extent because of an accident of genetics is absurd and shallow. i am prepared for your counterattack which i know you are fond of whenever you feel criticized, though you try to make the two things seem unconnected.

posted Apr 21

Brian Fogarty says:

Your own "confession" is glaringly obvious and therefore trite. Why not put your money where your mouth is and tell us something we didn't know about you already, or has your own life been that uneventful there really is nothing to report? Come on out and stop pointiing the finger at the rest of us from behind your wall of pretense and pomp and join the human race!

posted Mar 16

echo says:

my wall of pretense and pomp is a core issue i'm dealing with. and it is frightening to try to give it up. and i'm trying. and i'm scared. and i'm looking for a little company while i do it. so, again, i ask for anyone to join me, however trite and obvious their confession may be. even if it was obvious to everyone, it still is progress for me to state it bluntly and work towards changing it. i went for years ignoring the fact that i did that and leaving myself in a place that was not healthy. all these glaringly obvious things about each other that we never say still get in the way.

join the human race? that's not so enticing. you all are so honest? i would say most indulge in more pretense if not more pomp than myself.

and i would love to know that people know the ugly things i see in them so i don't have to have the frustrating feeling of wanting to tell them.

posted Mar 16

echo says:

i actively look for things in people to look down on in order to feel superior to them in a sick attempt to assuage my insecurity.

posted Mar 9

after8 says:

I steal toilet paper from my friends' flat for my squat

posted Mar 10

Erratic Muse says:

I'm a hypocrite who rants about how much she hates hypocrites. >.< it's painful to realize it and feel like I have no control over it. though I probably do...

posted Mar 27

echo says:

we are mostly hypocrites. with a few exceptions, and they are rare. if you realize it and fight it, you're ahead of most. it's hard....

posted Mar 27

El Evan says:

i love so intensly i let people hurt me. as long as they feel better about themselves or life.

posted Apr 1