it's just a ride
[views:63600][posts:187]_______________________________________________
[Mar 8,2005 4:11pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud. And it's fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: 'Is this real? Or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and they say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid - ever - because... this is just a ride.' And we kill those people.
'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry; look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.'
It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that - ever notice that? - and we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because... it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings and money. Just a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy bigger guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.
Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, into a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would do many times over - not one human being excluded - and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever. In peace. - another fallen hero
[Mar 8,2005 8:44pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
a Tibetan monk sets himself on fire.
"what what are you doing ? "
"making you deal with your shit. "
[Mar 9,2005 6:17am - psychogirl ""]
it's lovely to notice that other people started to think as well. but it's only a dream of a better world which will not come true. capitalism is the main thing of the world these days. and we can't stop it, it can only kill itself.
[Mar 9,2005 6:24am - psychogirl ""]
forgot to say something very important: you're very cool, dude.
few months ago i thought like you do. but now i lost the motivaton. i didn't gave up trying to change the thoughts of the people but i finally look through it. we're like marionettes. you can't make anything than the best out of it.
[Mar 9,2005 1:52pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
has nothing to do with changing peoples minds, people are gonna do whatever they want. the can expierence life or go along with it.
and for that matter why didnt someone ever shoot the person who said "that's just how life is."
why wasn't that person taken down right then and there, hmm.
back and to the left, back and to the left
[Mar 9,2005 5:07pm - KeithMutiny ""]
i seriously wish i could think of something tremendously stupid to say right here.
[Mar 9,2005 5:08pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
that was pretty good.
[Mar 9,2005 5:10pm - KeithMutiny ""]
i figured that would work
[Mar 9,2005 5:57pm - thegreatspaldino ""]
i eat mac and cheese a lot
[Mar 9,2005 6:07pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
that must be gratifying
[Mar 9,2005 6:08pm - thegreatspaldino ""]
it is
[Mar 9,2005 7:04pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
there can be only one !
[Mar 10,2005 9:59am - malettey ""]
a lot of christians wear crosses around their necks...do you think that when jesus comes back, he ever wants to see a fucking cross? that's like going up to jackie onassis with a rifle pendant on..."just thinkin of john, jackie..."
whiskey_weed_and_women said:back and to the left, back and to the left
bill hicks was fucking awesome
[Mar 10,2005 3:55pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
awesome doesn't quite cover it, i wish he was alive today to die from a heart attack after seeing how worse this place has gotten.
[Mar 10,2005 4:39pm - dread_104 ""]
i find myself wishing he were alive all the time. weird
[Mar 10,2005 4:45pm - dftg nli ""]
capitalism will always beat out every other system because it has more money to work with.
[Mar 10,2005 5:40pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Ha...hope you make more then me, cause money is what's really important at the end of the day.
[Mar 10,2005 8:24pm - DaveFromTheGrave ""]
I didn't say I like it. I said that's how it is.
[Mar 10,2005 8:36pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
no, sorry sir. that's how it is for you. well hope you enjoy the home version of the game please try again at your earliest convience. while you're at it try some some new crystal clear pepsi and i heard the JLo is putting out a new album goodluck with that.
nothing has to be anything, you told at an early age you can do anything, so then why when you reach a certain age is the coin flipped to people saying that's just the way it is. no it's not, you're letting it be that way. everything and anything starts with one person.
also i would like to cept this award and thank my mother, god, my agent, and the 3ft tall bright pink bunnie with angel wings hanging in my window.
goodnight arizona.
[Mar 22,2005 1:31am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Hear me people. We have now to deal with another race – small and feeble when our fathers first met them, but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.
- Chief Sitting Bull, speaking at the Powder River Conference in 1877
The Powder River Conference ended ninety-five years ago, but the old Chief’s baleful analysis of the White Man’s rape of the American continent was just as accurate then as it would be today if he came back from the dead and said it for the microphones on prime-time TV. The ugly fallout from the American Dream has been coming down at a pretty consistent rate since Sitting Bull’s time – and the only real difference now… is that we seem to be on the verge of ratifying the fallout and forgetting the Dream itself… This may be the year we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it – that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
- Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail (1973)
… and still nothing’s changed…
[Mar 24,2005 10:11pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
In October of 2003, on the LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, Warren Zevon made his final public performance. When Dave asked Warren if his illness gave him any special insight into life and death, Warren shrugged and said he didn't think so, "Not unless I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich." There was a hush in the audience.
That night, Letterman ended his broadcast with his arm around the dying singer and said, "Warren, enjoy every sandwich."
[Mar 24,2005 10:23pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I’ve got to change my way of living - allman brothers
[Mar 25,2005 1:36am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
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[Mar 25,2005 1:42am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The death penalty would be even more effective, as a deterrent, if we executed a few innocent people more often.
~
The rebel is doomed to a violent death. The rest of us can look forward to sedated expiration in a coma inside an oxygen tent, with tubes inserted in every bodily orifice.
~
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
~
The great question of life is not the question of death but the question of life. Fear of death shames us all.
~
Those who fear death most are those who enjoy life least.
~
Death if every man's final critic. To die well you must live bravely.
~
The industrial way of life leads to the industrial way of death. From Shiloh to Dachau, from Antietam to Stalingrad, from Hiroshima to Vietnam and Afghanistan, the great specialty of industry and technology has been the mass production of human corpses.
~
The country dog's report on returning from a first trip to town: "Stand still, they fuck you to death; run and they eat your ass out."
~
Mexico: where life is cheap, death is rich, and the buzzards are never unhappy.
~
To live life is to take risks; to always be safe and secure is death.
[Mar 25,2005 2:38am - DaveFromTheGrave ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:[img]
that's super
[Mar 25,2005 10:40am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
DaveFromTheGrave said:that's super
yeah i said to myself, what would Aaron do !
[Mar 25,2005 11:00am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
LeRoy says there's something you should know
Not everybody has a place to go
And home is just a place to hang your head
And dream of things to do in Denver when you're dead
- warren zevon
[Mar 25,2005 5:47pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
… and on occasion I like to wander outside, stark naked and fire my .44 magnum at various gongs I’ve mounted on the nearby hillside. I like to load up on mescaline and turn my amplifier up to 110 decibles for a taste of “White Rabbit” while the sun comes up on the snow peaks along the Continental Divide.
Which is not entirely the point. The world is full of places where a man can run wild on drugs and loud music and fire-power – but not for long.
…
Turn them into grassy malls where everybody, even freaks, could do whatever’s right. The cops would become trash collectors and maintenance men for a fleet of municipal bicycles, for anybody to use.. No more huge, space-killing apartment buildings to block the view, from any downtown street, of anybody who might want to look up and see the mountains. No more land-rapes, no more bursts for “flute playing” or “blocking the sidewalk”… fuck the tourists, dead-end the highway, zone the greenheads out of existence, and in general create a town where people could live like human beings, instead of slaves to some bogus sense of Progress that is driving us all mad.
-HST
[Mar 28,2005 1:52am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Photos of the strippers were on display behind the glass out front. I walked up and ought a ticket. The girl in the cage looked better than the photos. Now I had 38 cents left. I walked into the dark theatre eight rows from the front. The first three rows were packed.
I had lucked out. The movie was over and the stripper was already on. Darlene. The first was usually the worst, an old timer come down, now reduced to kicking leg in the chorus line most of the time. We had Darlene for openers. Probably someone had been murdered or was on the rag or was having a screaming fit, and this was Darlene’s chance to dance sole again.
But Darlene was fine. Skinny, but with breasts. A body like a willow. At the end of that slim back, that slim body, was an enormous behind. It was like a miracle – enough to drive a man crazy.
Darlene was dressed in a long black velvet gown slit very high – her calves and thighs were dead white against the black. She danced and looked out at us through heavily mascaraed eyes. This was her chance. She wanted to come back – to be the featured dancer once again. I was with her her. As she worked the zippers more and more of her began to show, to slip out of that sophisticated black velvet, leg and white flesh. Soon she was down to her pink bra and G-string – the fake diamonds swinging and flashing as she danced.
Darlene danced over and grabbed the stage curtain. The curtain was torn and thick with dust. She grabbed it, dancing to the beat of the for man band and in the light of the pink spotlight.
She began to fuck that curtain. The band rocked in the rhythm. Darlene really gave it to that curtain; the band rocked and she rocked. The pink light abruptly switched to purple. The band stepped it up, played all out. She appeared to climax. Her head fell back and her mouth opened.
Then she straightened and danced back to the center of the stage. From where I was sitting I could hear her singing to herself over the music. She took hold of her pink bra and ripped it off and a guy three rows down lit a cigarette. There was just the G-string now. She pushed her finger into her bellybutton, and moaned.
Darlene remained dancing at stage center. The band was playing very softly. She began a gentle grind. She was fucking us. The beaded G-string was swaying slowly. The four man band began to pick up gradually once again. They were reaching for the culmination of the act; the drummer was cracking rim-shots like firecrackers, they looked tired, desperate.
Darlene fingered her naked breasts, showing them to us, her eyes filled with the dream, her lips moist and parted. Then suddenly she turned and waved her enormous behind at us. The beads parted and flashed, went crazy, sparkled. The spotlight shook and danced like the sun. The four man band crackled and banged. Darlene spun around. She tore away the beads. I looked, they looked. We could see her cunt hairs through the flesh-colored gauze. The band really spanker her ass.
And I couldn’t get it up.
-Factotum
[Mar 28,2005 2:01am - Bradness ""]
fart
[Mar 28,2005 3:40am - damnose ""]
zevon is the man, but "enjoy every sandwich" is a really shitty tribute album.
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner would make for an excellent black metal cover, if only for the subject matter. That son of a bitch van owen...
[Mar 28,2005 4:00am - DEATH2ALL ""]
Any point to this?
[Mar 28,2005 12:00pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
whatever you take from it, otherwise just enjoy the ride.
[Mar 31,2005 12:27am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
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"Mieszko's father told me that they wanted to place one guitar inside the casket since music was such a big part of his life. I told him to choose the thin Ibanez guitar since that was Mieszko's oldest guitar which he has used in all of his bands. They also wanted to have one guitar next to the casket during the funeral and I told them to use the BC Rich which was Mieszko's main guitar.
"If there is an afterlife, I'm sure Mieszko is really pissed at me right now for picking that Ibanez guitar since he hated tuning it…
"
"Goodbye, Mieszko, we'll see you on the other side." said Anders Jakobson
[Apr 1,2005 2:25am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"Hell ain’t a bad place to be "– AC/DC
[Apr 7,2005 10:21pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
There's the television. It's all right there - all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive anymore. We don't make things anymore. It's all automated. What are we *for* then? We're consumers, Jim. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then, I ask you? What? Mentally *ill*. Fact, Jim, fact - if you don't buy things - toilet paper, new cars, computerized yo-yos, electrically-operated sexual devices, servo systems with brain-implanted headphones, screwdrivers with miniature built-in radar devices, voice-activated computers...We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.Fuck damnation, man! fuck redemption! We are God's unwanted children? So be it! Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.
[Apr 8,2005 5:19pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
She was fifteen years old, going on thirty-five, Doc, and she told me she was eighteen, she was very willing, I practically had to take to sewing my pants shut. Between you and me, uh, she might have been fifteen, but when you get that little red beaver right up there in front of you, I don't think it's crazy at all and I don't think you do either. No man alive could resist that, and that's why I got into jail to begin with. And now they're telling me I'm crazy over here because I don't sit there like a goddamn vegetable. Don't make a bit of sense to me. If that's what's being crazy is, then I'm senseless, out of it, gone-down-the-road, wacko. But no more, no less, that's it.
[Apr 24,2005 5:53pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
it's funny i was watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and never realized how much Shakesphere is in it. i mean these quotes are pure poetry to modern day scripture.
"Remember where you are - this is Thunderdome, and death is listening, and will take the first man that screams."
"Right now, I've got two men, two men with a gut full of fear. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... dyin' times here!"
"I ain't Captain Walker. I'm the guy who carries Mr. Dead in his pocket."
"Remember: no matter where you go, there you are."
i guess today wasn't such a goodday to die, now go back to your daily lives people and remember what you've seen here. cause we are the ones who gotta keep remembering. time counts and keeps counting so when they see the lights and find their way home, we gotta lett'em have the knowing of the man who finds us and helps get here. so ever night we light the lights to tell the stories so they know that when they finds us, they've made it home.
[May 4,2005 11:00pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
sinking into sociopathic delusion helps you see how the world really works
-randall t. pitsworth
[May 4,2005 11:50pm - DestroyYouAlot ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:a Tibetan monk sets himself on fire.
"what what are you doing ? "
"making you deal with your shit. "
Motherfucking Robin Williams. That special is amazing, right after he got out of his Disney contract, straight back to the filth. As it should be.
[May 4,2005 11:52pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
filth is just another word for telling the truth !
[May 5,2005 8:20am - brian_dc ""]
looking at your original post here...Bill Hicks had so many amazing things to say and because of that was so overlooked...glad to see that his impact is out there.
[May 10,2005 1:45pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate -- that's my philosophy. ~Thorton Wilder
[May 25,2005 3:20pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward. - George Washington
[May 25,2005 3:43pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
we are facing a dangerous spirit ahead, if we do not stop, correct and change some of these wrong doings now. we are all gonna suffer.
either things that we made will over take us or nature will take over.
earthquake, flood, rain, sever drought, sever winter, lightning destruction, great wind destruction.
these things will warn us we are not following the laws of the great spirit.
are you lost !
[May 26,2005 10:01pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I must admit, they planted a lot of things
in the brains and the veins of my strain
Makes it hard to refrain, from the host of cocaine
From them whores, from the flame
From a post in the game
Makes it hard to maintain focus
They're from the glock rounds, and lockdowns, and berries
The seeds that sow, get devoured by the same locusts
Cause it's a hard row to hoe
if your ass don't move, and the rain don't fall
And the ground just dry
But the roots are strong, so some survive
So you're surprised, now I'm bustin cries
You got more juice than Zeus
Slangin lightnin tryin to frighten
Plains dwellers, of the Serengeti
But get beheaded when you falsely dreaded
Melanin silicon and collagen injected
Dissectin my pride, fool I don't wanna get it started
We be the lionhearted, without a fantasy
It's like that red sprite, you can't imagine it
unless you lookin at the canvas of life
and not through the peephole of mortality
Single minded mentality
Gettin over on loopholes
Gettin paid two-fold on technicalities
Clickin your heels, scared to bust how you feel
Pack the steel
Pickin cotton from the killing fields with no toe
I don't we in Kansas no mo' though
Midwest or Dirty South
Clean dressed or dirty mouth
Whether robbin preachers or killin Poor Righteous Teachers
You a scared demon
Shouldn't be allowed to spread semen
And your cowardly lies never defyin the jackals who babble
Runnin with they pack, tail between your legs
Though the man on your head say the story
As you downplay your glory
Cacklin, helpin the shacklin of your brethern happen
Just by rappin..
LIBERTAD..
[May 28,2005 3:57pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"Go on, for the love of God, go back to your philipkins. I"m sick and tired of hearing about Messiahs. One comes along he's crucified; along comes the next, he's crucified too. And haven't you learnt what message Andrew brought his father Jonah: it seems wherever you go and wherever you stop, you find a cross. The dungeons are overflowing with Messiahs...Ooo, enough's enough! We've been getting along just fine without Messiahs---they're nothing but a pain in the neck. Go on, bring me some cheese and I"ll give you a pan-full of fish. You give me and I give you: that's the Messiah."
---------The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis
[Jun 7,2005 7:11pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Whiskey, Weed and Women
As I watch the sun
set slowly I hold back the tears
And I can't help but wonder
why the lord had to put me here
Caused I've raised hell
All night long
And I've seen a good
man go wrong
And I can't help
The way that I am
Cause the whiskey weed and women
had the upper hand
Livin' lonely
is the life that I been livin'
I got drunk
the day my paw went to prison
And when my mama died
I just didn't care about livin'
And I drank myself blind
just tryin' to find a good reason
And I've raised hell
All night long
And I've seen a good
man go wrong
And I can't help
The way that I am
Cause the whiskey weed and women
have the upper hand
Yeah the whiskey weed and women
have the upper hand,
hand,
hand
[Jun 28,2005 8:40pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
All man's miseries derive from not being
able to sit quietly in a room alone.
BLAISE PASCAL
(1623-1662)
I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows
Lying down in the dark to dream
I don't want to see their faces
I don't want to hear them scream
- W. Zevon
Menopause is when the stork that brings babies is shot by drunken hunters – Homer Simpson
[img]
There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides
by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."
I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker 'fore you popped a
cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. .45 here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or is could by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.
Jules
[Jul 25,2005 9:12pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Swing down, sweet chariot stop and, let me ride
hell yeah
Swing down, sweet chariot stop and, let me ride
with all the niggaz sayin
Swing down, sweet chariot stop and, let me ride
Hell yeah
Swing down, sweet chariot stop and, let me ride
[Aug 24,2005 2:25am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
With so much drama in the l-b-c
It’s kinda hard bein snoop d-o-double-g
But i, somehow, some way
Keep comin up with funky ass shit like every single day
May i, kick a little something for the g’s
And, make a few ends as I breeze, through
Two in the mornin and the party’s still jumpin
Cause my momma ain’t home
I got bitches in the living room gettin it on
And, they ain’t leavin til six in the mornin
So what you wanna do, sheeeit
I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too
So turn off the lights and close the doors
But (but what) we don’t love them hoes!
So we gonna smoke a ounce to this
G’s up, hoes down, while you motherfuckers bounce to this
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
Now, that, I got me some seagram’s gin
Everybody got they cups, but they ain’t chipped in
Now this types of shit, happens all the time
You got to get yours but fool I gotta get mine
Everything is fine when you listenin to the d-o-g
I got the cultivating music that be captivating me
Who listens, to the words that I speak
As I take me a drink to the middle of the street
And get to mackin to this bitch named sadie
She used to be the homeboy’s lady
Eighty degrees, when I tell that bitch please
Raise up off these n-u-t’s, cause you gets none of these
At ease, as I mob with the dogg pound, feel the breeze
Beeeitch, I’m just
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
Later on that day
My homey dr. dre came through with a gang of tanqueray
And a fat ass j, of some bubonic chronic that made me choke
Shit, this ain’t no joke
I had to back up off of it and sit my cup down
Tanqueray and chronic, yeah I’m fucked up now
But it ain’t no stoppin, I’m still poppin
Dre got some bitches from the city of compton
To serve me, not with a cherry on top
Cause when I bust my nut, I’m raisin up off the cop
Don’t get upset girl, that’s just how it goes
I don’t love you hoes, I’m out the do’
And I’ll be
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice
Laid back, with my mind on my money and my money on my mind
[Aug 25,2005 11:51pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
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[Nov 8,2005 3:07am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing, fact that we do not know, who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us bygiving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness; chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself."
"Acid is not for every brain - only the healthy, happy, wholesome, handsome, hopeful, humorous, high-velocity should seek these experiences. This elitism is totally self-determined.
Unless you are self-confident, self-directed, self-selected, please abstain."
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[Nov 8,2005 3:29am - jesus ""]
'can i buy some pot from you?'
[Nov 8,2005 5:36am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
jesus said:'can i buy some pot from you?'
Satan is in the house. He killed my mom... and turned her into a bull.
[Nov 8,2005 5:38am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Only fucking posers, die, man.
[Nov 8,2005 7:10am - jesus ""]
word
[Nov 8,2005 7:16am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
we wrote a new song about you. it's called "my personal relationship with Jesus Christ fell right thru his hands."
i thought i'd let you know, thanks for dying for my sins and stuff. does that still count for the ones i havent commited yet or is their like a counter or timer going on this, cause if it wasa limited time only deal i gotta get on the ball !
[Nov 8,2005 7:28am - jesus ""]
beats the shit out of me, i've been rolling on methbombs all night. i'll ask the old man later though. when my pupils arent quarters
[Nov 8,2005 7:37am - jesus ""]
even after witnessing the pats get raped by indy,
they cant even with with jesus sitting behind the endzone :(
, i'm in a good enough mood to keep your slate clean
[Nov 11,2005 4:22pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
When I Die - a new 60 min.
film by Wayne Ewing about the making
of the Gonzo monument and the blast off
of Dr. Thompson's ashes into the air.
Now available on DVD. $19.95 + Shipping & Handling
ORDER NOW
SHIPS DECEMBER 1ST
...just in time for holidays
DVD First Edition Features
The movie - "When I Die" - (60)
http://www.breakfastwithhunter.com/
[img]
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
July 18, 1937 - February 20, 2005
Hunter always said that he was a road man for the Lords of Karma, that he had been here before and that he would return. Most of all, according to Hunter, the trick was "to get enough rest between gigs." I truly hope he's resting well, because there is a lot of work left to do for a great American who made us recognize how far we have failed to reach the American dream.
-Wayne Ewing
In lieu of flowers, the Thompson family requests that those who wish to express their condolences in some material way please send contributions to:
Hunter S. Thompson Foundation
PO Box 220
Woody Creek, CO 81656
[Nov 11,2005 4:44pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
That’s the thing with the young these days, isn’t it? They watch too many happy endings. Everything has to be wrapped up, with a smile and a tear and a wave. Everyone has learned, found love, seen the error of their ways, discovered the joys of monogamy, or fatherhood, or filial duty, or life itself. In my day, people got shot at the end of films, after learning only that life is hollow, dismal, brutish and short. – Nick Hornby
[Nov 24,2005 7:45pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
[Nov 24,2005 9:18pm - Bradness nli ""]
I coulda swore her hair was made of rayon
She wore a Milton Bradley Crayon
But she was something I could lay on
Can't remember what became of me . . .
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
She put a Doobie Brothers tape on
I had a Roger Daltry cape on
There was a bed I dumped her shape on
Can't remember what became of me . . .
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Somewhat later on
I woke up and she was gone
There was dew out on the lawn
In the sunrise
Later she came back
With a rumpled paper sack
Which she told me would contain
A surprise
She stuck her hand right in it to the bottom
Said she knew I'd be surprised she got'em
Take a Charleston pimp to spot 'em
Then she gave a pair of shoes to me ...
Plastic leather, 14 Triple D
I said: I wonder what's the shoes for
She told me: Don't you worry no more
And got right down there on the tile floor:
Now Darling STOMP ALL OVER ME! ...
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
Is this something new
Having people stomp on you?
Is it what I need to do
For your pleasure?
What is this, a quiz?
Don't you worry what it is
It is merely just a moment
I can treasure
By ten o'clock her arms and legs were rendered
She couldn't talk 'cause her mouth had been extendered
Looked to me as though she had been blendered
But was this abject misery?
No! No!
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy!
It might seem strange to Herb and Dee -
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy!
[Nov 24,2005 9:37pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I played the cards I was dealt, Wyatt. Your problem is you're always trying to play someone else's. Allow me to tell you the truth and thus set you free: there is no happiness, Wyatt, there is no normal life. There's only life, that's all. Just life. The rest is relative. - Doc
[Nov 24,2005 9:37pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"Football Season Is Over." - HST
[Nov 30,2005 1:51pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
It was a horrifically sad moment. Bukowski once described walking into a lonely dark strip club with his last $0.38, an old worn out dancer gracing the stage, and a four-man band playing an old tired dusty song in a sad desperate attempt to make everyone forget. Then the band gave it one more push, one last desperate thrust, and “really spanked her ass” trying to remind the dancer, trying to remind the audience, of what they once were. It was desperately sad and lonely. And he couldn’t get it up.
That was the feeling when Carl proposed and when he and Eva married. The band didn’t spank anybody’s ass, but you could have choked on the stench of desperation. They were two lonely souls scarred by life, cruelly disfigured by it. You couldn’t help but think, “my god, they found each other”, and everyone knew that if life had been just a little less cruel to either Carl or Eva, this proposal, this engagement, this marriage would never have happened. By they resigned themselves to each other.
Woody Allen said, "Marriage is the loss of hope." And it is. Like Carl and Eva, many people give up. Lose hope that life has anything better to offer and come to terms with the sad reality that they have it as good as it will ever be for them.
So what’s the extension of all this? It does not really matter who you end up with, so long as you resign yourself to making it work, and doing that means losing hope.
Losing hope that you deserve better, losing hope that a prince or princess is waiting for you, and that’s why the key to a successful marriage is precisely that loss of hope –resignation to the fact that you will not find anyone better, that this is as good as you are going to get, and when you have finally, at last given up all hope, when you have both truly finally fully surrender, then, you have the makings of a successful relationship.
So come on in, the tiki bar is open. And leave your hopes and dreams at the door; we are dancing the desperation samba and serving till late.
True - Bukowski
one of lorca's best lines
is,
"agony, always
agony ..."
think of this when you
kill a
cockroach or
pick up a razor to
shave
or awaken in the morning
to
face the
sun.
[Dec 24,2005 12:57am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
we still love you, for you know not what you do
[Dec 26,2005 4:38am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
From the coast of gold, across the seven seas
I'm travellin' on, far and wide
But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself
And all the things I sometimes do, it isn't me but
someone else
I close my eyes, and think of home
Another city goes by in the night
Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it 'til it's
gone away
And my heart is lying there and will be 'til my
dying day
So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for
those wasted years
Face up... make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years
Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind
Can't ease this pain, so easily
When you can't find the words to say it's hard to
make it through another day
And it makes me wanna cry and throw my
hands up to the sky
So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for
those wasted years
Face up... make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years
[Dec 26,2005 1:13pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be Heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that
Though nothing, will keep us together
We could steal time,
just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing,
nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes,
just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing, by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads
(over our heads)
And we kissed,
as though nothing could fall
(nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes,
just for one day
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying,
then you better not stay
But we could be safer,
just for one day
Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh,
just for one day
Do you remember a guy that's been
In such an early song
I've heard a rumour from Ground Control
Oh no, don't say it's true
They got a message
from the Action Man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too
I've loved
all I've needed to love
Sordid details following"
The shrieking of nothing is killing
Just pictures of Jap girls
in synthesis and I
Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's 4
a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
Time and again I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light
but no smoking pistol
I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue,
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now
We know Major Tom's 4
a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low
My mother said
to get things done
You'd better not mess
with Major Tom
[Dec 26,2005 3:27pm - wade ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:From the coast of gold, across the seven seas
I'm travellin' on, far and wide
But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself
And all the things I sometimes do, it isn't me but
someone else
I close my eyes, and think of home
Another city goes by in the night
Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it 'til it's
gone away
And my heart is lying there and will be 'til my
dying day
So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for
those wasted years
Face up... make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years
Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind
Can't ease this pain, so easily
When you can't find the words to say it's hard to
make it through another day
And it makes me wanna cry and throw my
hands up to the sky
So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for
those wasted years
Face up... make your stand
And realise you're living in the golden years
i wrote this out on graph paper in 7th grade. must listen now (to the whole record).
[Dec 27,2005 12:28am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
have you ever seen the movie Spun it has the best version of number of the beast done acousticly, one gtr and vocals....its so heavy
[Dec 27,2005 12:31am - wade ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:have you ever seen the movie Spun it has the best version of number of the beast done acousticly, one gtr and vocals....its so heavy
fuck, no but that sounds awesome..
[Dec 27,2005 12:34am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
yeah dood spun is the funniest meth movie ive ever seen. go check it out if you get the catch. i loved cause it remembered me a lot of my roomates and friends when i lived in virginia for the first time. but we did acid not meth.
also doing acid for a whole summer really brings out the moral.
[Dec 27,2005 12:59am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
I tell ya, I remember a time when I was about... I was little, I don't know... 4, 5 something like that. We had this old dog that had a litter of puppies. And I walked in the bathroom one day and my Mother was standing there, kneeling down... Dog had a litter of about 8, and my Mother was bending over killing each one of these little puppies in the bathtub. I remember I said 'why?'... She said 'Im just killing what I can't take care of' - Then my momma said to me, she looked at me and she said 'I wish I could do that to you'. - Maybe she, maybe she shoulda.
[Dec 27,2005 1:06am - RichHorror ""]
Yeah, this movie is fucking fantastic.
[Dec 27,2005 2:41am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
a year later
[img]
December 26, 2005 - one year after the Tsunami
Posted: December 26, 2005 15:57:51
Today I went to Mieszko's grave to light a candle and give him the first 200 messages from the fans and friends and his copy of "Grind Finale".
I am not sure how things are in the rest of the world but the Tsunami disaster struck very hard on Sweden and there are memorial services all over. One of the national TV-channels has devoted the whole day to the one year aniversary, so there is really no escape from everything.
I read all the messages before I printed them out and my tears flooded. Thank you very much for the kind words. At the grave I spoke to Mieszko for the first time. I haven't felt that it's been the sane thing to do the other times I've been there, but today I showed him "Grind Finale" and said "Here it is, our last record" and ended up crying a little bit. The first time since the funeral that I've been crying at the grave.
As you can see on the pictures the grave is still missing a proper tombstone and I know that it's been ordered but currently the ground is frozen so they have to wait until spring to get it there.
[Dec 27,2005 10:16am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
What shall we use
To fill the empty spaces
Where we used to talk?
How shall I fill
The final places?
How should I complete the wall
[Dec 28,2005 9:43pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Call it a premonition, call it a crazy vision,
Call it intuition, or something learned from mother,
When she looked at up at me, I could clearly see
The sword of Damocles hanging directly above her
- Nick Cave
**
At long last, a bit of a relaxing (long) weekend, though it seems to have flown by and not been nearly long enough for the required recharge, but was a good break nevertheless. Some good football (last ABC Monday night game – was nice to see Vinnie connect for one last time). Speaking of football… Watched ‘When I Die’ Sunday night (www.breakfastwithhunter.com) – a documentary about the design, engineering and construction of the HST Gonzo Fist memorial and the associated coordination of the disposal of the ashes. Quite nifty… Broke out a glass of Chivas…. The whole thing is only an hour long, but is very neat to watch – though I would say not for the fleeting fan.
**
When I die I don’t want no part of heaven
I would not do heaven’s work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell
- Bruce Springsteen
**
Monday night after the game, watched ‘Grizzly Man’ – this has to rank with one of the most thought provoking, desperate movies I have ever seen (on par with Leaving Las Vegas and Barfly for cheeriness) – basically a case study in insanity, and in trying to escape any sense of reality.
**
We worship the flaw, the belly, the belly, the mole on the belly of an exquisite whore.
He spared the child and spoiled the rod. I have not sold myself to God.
- Patti Smith
**
Much of that movie was about understanding the workings of the natural world, the working of our world, and our impact on both of those – where they intersect, and where they bisect. Richard Thompson also wrote and played on the soundtrack – a very nice touch – he is one of those really neat well kept secrets.
**
‘The common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder. – Werner Herzog
**
Herzog is talking about the whole of the universe, and referring very specifically to the animal kingdom, and extrapolating to us. And he is right. Neither we, nor our ancestors, nor any other beings in the wild wilds are harmonious – at least not in the way in which we typically think. Nature has it’s own hostile, chaotic and murderous harmony.
**
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” - Samuel Johnson
**
Having spent a lifetime cutting myself off from human emotion, humanity and love, I have, at long last succeed in mutating into a wild animal.
[Dec 29,2005 12:08am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
i love this photo, its so good to see strong family values.
[Jan 2,2006 12:12am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The warrior spirit, as Americans call their propensity for macho soldiering, or killing people, is deep in their military culture. In Afghanistan's violent Helmand province, an American special-forces captain—with broad experience of counter-insurgency—analysed his furtive Taliban enemies thus: “They're cowards. Why don't they step up and fight like men?” Apparently, he had not considered how he might fight if he had no armour, no radio, an ancient rifle and the sure knowledge that if he fought like a man, he would be obliterated in minutes.
-the economist
[Jan 2,2006 9:44pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
You get a shiver in the dark
It’s been raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing dixie double four time
You feel all right when you hear that music ring
You step inside but you don’t see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Too much competition too many other places
But not too many horns can make that sound
Way on downsouth way on downsouth london town
You check out guitar george he knows all the chords
Mind he’s strictly rhythm he doesn’t want to make it cry or sing
And an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
And harry doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene
He’s got a daytime job he’s doing alright
He can play honky tonk just like anything
Saving it up for friday night
With the sultans with the sultans of swing
And a crowd of young boys they’re fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain’t what they call rock and roll
And the sultans played creole
And then the man he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
’thank you goodnight now it’s time to go home’
And he makes it fast with one more thing
’we are the sultans of swing’
[Jan 3,2006 3:01am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Think for yourself
Question authority
Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening,
terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the
religious, the educational authorities who attempted to comfort us by
giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their
view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and
learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness;
chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself.
Think for yourself.
Question authority.
Dreaming of that face again.
It's bright and blue and shimmering.
Grinning wide and comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes.
On my back and tumbling down that hole and back again rising up and wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye.
In Out In Out In Out A child's rhyme stuck in my head.
It said that life is but a dream.
I've spent so many years in question to find I've known this all along.
"So good to see you. I've missed you so much. So glad it's over. I've missed you so much. Came out to watch you play. Why are you running?"
Shrouding all the ground around me.
Is this holy crow above me.
Black as holes within a memory and blue as our new second sun.
I stick my hand into his shadow to pull the pieces from the sand.
Which I attempt to reassemble to see just who I might have been.
I do not recognize the vessel, but the eyes seem so familiar.
Like phosphorescent desert buttons singing one familiar song...
"So good to see you. I've missed you so much. So glad it's over. I've missed you so much. Came out to watch you play. Why are you running away?"
Prying open my third eye.
So good to see you once again.
I thought that you were hiding.
And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing the tail of dogma.
I opened my eye and there we were.
So good to see you once again I thought that you were hiding from me. And you thought that I had run away.
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason.
Prying open my third eye.
[Jan 4,2006 1:14am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I’m an outsider by choice, but not truly. It’s the unpleasantness of the system that keeps me out. I’d rather be in, in a good system. That’s where my discontent comes from: Being forced to choose to stay outside. – George Carlin
[Jan 4,2006 6:32am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
P.S. The U.S. started the Second World War. - Charles Manson
[Jan 11,2006 2:31am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Detective Mills: Do you like what you do for a living? These things you see?
Man in Massage Parlour Booth: No, I don't. But that's life.
[Jan 11,2006 2:59am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.
damn i forgot how good the movie se7en was and is.
[Jan 11,2006 3:44am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
All alone, or in two's,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
[Jan 11,2006 5:09am - anonymous ""]
Jesus was a black man, Jesus was Batman! No, no, no. That was Bruce Wayne
[Jan 12,2006 2:00pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
here we go again
it’s stupid, I know, but I have an
ability to feel happy for little or no reason,
it’s not great elation, it’s
more like a steady
warmth –
something like a warm heater on a cold
night.
I have no religion, and not even a
decent philosophy
and I’m not
stupid: I know that death will finally
arrive
but don’t consider even this to be
a negative
factor.
which is to say that in spite of
everything, I feel good
most of the
time.
I appear to handle setbacks, bad
luck, minor tragedies, without
difficulty, my mood remains
unchanged.
much experience, perhaps has taught
me
how to remain unmoved.
yet there is one situation
I can’t endure:
a bitter, depressed, angry
woman
can still murder any
good feelings
that I might have – and
just like that I despair and
fall into a black
pit.
this occurs with some
regularity and unfortunately
in the wink of an
eye I am sullen and
depressed.
and that’s stupid,
I should be able to ignore
female
disorders
even as the dark shit
(that despite the dark shit)
floods my
brain.
- Charles Bukowski
[Jan 18,2006 1:24am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
i love quotes.....
HIS NAME IS EARL
As I go through life, fixing my mistakes one at a time, I've learned a thing or two about Karma, and part of keeping good Karma is sharing it with others. I hope these notions help you as much as they've helped me.
Do good things and good things will happen to you. Do bad things and it will come back and bite you in the ass.
If you want a better life, you need to be a better person.
Bad luck might be contagious. It wouldn't be fair to bring someone into your life until you clean yours up.
Never underestimate the power of confidence. And never underestimate fifteen beers, a little enlightenment, and the power of Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock.
A person needs a little rest after having his moustache tickled at a gay bar.
You have to do the hard things in life sooner or later.
If you want the reward, you have to do the work.
The secret to life is fixing all the bad things that you've done.
Whether picking up trash, returning stolen merchandise, or helping a homosexual find love, it always has the same reward... feeling good about yourself.
Karma. You got to love it.
- Earl
[Jan 21,2006 5:43am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Sleep, sleep, sleep, oh sleep for me
And rest your soul, just like the roses at your feet
Dream, dream, dream, dream awhile for me
And travel far away 'till the distance is complete
There's 13 Angels standing on display
I think they're gonna take you away
One life time gone and now your soul is dead
The angels just shake their heads
Oh faith, faith, faith, have faith for me
I lost it long ago somewhere I shouldn't be
Heart heart heart, save your heart for me
It's the only place I've been with everything I need
There's 13 Angels standing on display
I think they're gonna throw me away
One life time gone and now my soul is dead
The angels just shake their heads
Oh, Maybe I'm a life time soldier never dying, never gettin' older
Maybe I'm a life time soldier lost along the way....
High, high, high, stay high for me
And let me see the things I never thought I'd be
Wait, wait, wait, please wait for me
I've travelled far and wide without a destiny
There's 13 Angels standing on display
I think they're gonna take you away
One life time gone and now my soul is dead
The angels just shake their heads
Oh, Maybe I'm a life time soldier never dying, never gettin' older
Maybe I'm a life time soldier lost along the way....
[Feb 2,2006 1:44am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Like Murder
Stoned I awoke in your temple
To blackness above you
And death beside me
Where kitchen knives conspire
Razor blades make bloodless love
Like Murder
The ghost of a pale girl is solemnly following me
Pale will she follow me
Into the sea
I feel the flowers screaming
To consume you
Like Murder
Earth and sky your cradle
Earth and sky entomb you
And death beside me
I burrow through the dust
In your skull
But I cannot seem to find your soul
Bloodless and numb
We orbit the sun
Hungry will this pale thing
Follow me into the sea
On the cold side of her face
The reptiles awake
Locust swarm from open mouths
That sing thy kingdom come
While blackness hums
Nothing is true
and I'm tired of your sad today
You're screaming because
There's nothing left for you to say
Bloodless and numb
We orbit the sun
Hungry will this pale thing
Follow me into the sea
Stoned I awoke in your temple
To blackness above you
And death beside me
Where kitchen knives conspire
Razor blades make bloodless love
Like Murder
[Feb 2,2006 1:49am - davefromthegrave ""]
acid bath makes living bearable
[Feb 2,2006 1:55am - davefromthegrave ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:[img]
where is that?
[Feb 2,2006 2:03am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
that would be from when SuperJoint Ritual jammed at CBGB's....Hank was well trippin', flipped over a couch and decided to scroll that down.
[Feb 2,2006 12:38pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The Dude: Look, nothing is fucked, here, man.
The Big Lebowski: Nothing is fucked? The god damn plane has crashed into the mountain!
[Feb 7,2006 1:59am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"Listen, the next revolution is gonna be a revolution of ideas. A bloodless revolution. And if I can take part in it by transforming my own consciousness, then someone else's, I'm happy to do it."
"As long as I'm going to live in this world, I might as well make it the most enjoyable and fun and fair place I can make it."
the Sane Man !!!!!
[Feb 7,2006 2:04am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Anybody practicing the fine art of composing music, no matter how cynical or greedy or scared, still can't help serving all humanity.
Music makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or she would be without it.
Kurt Vonnegut
[Feb 11,2006 4:06am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
For nearly 6 years i've been lifeguarding at the local YMCA, they pay well, most of the girls are loose and the hours aren't that bad. Aside from the random christian witnessing to you, its not too bad, but today something happened that I thought would be perfect for blogwars.
On mondays i work the closing shift, monday is also the major private lesson day. Most of the lessons are small children, but the first week of every month is the "special classes" the tards come rolling in and splash around. Nothing too special, about an hour in one of the tards walks up to me and says "i'm bleeding" first thought is to do the lifeguard thing gloves bandaid and all that, i ask her "where are you bleeding" and then she slaps me in the face with a femine hygene product, a pad, to be more exact... There are five other lifeguards in the water and the second the pad hits my face they all look, there was a momentary pause, and the i relized what was on my face. years of stileproject and blogwars have jaded me to seeing most things, but the second i felt that warm tard blood i began to puke. The YMCA pool building has a wonderful echo, and the sound of vomit reverberated throughout the building. The tard began to laugh that vile tard laugh. They've given me a 2 week vacation and i don't really think thats enough.
[Feb 11,2006 8:09am - badsneakers ""]
huh..
I thought this was going to be about the Iann Robinson DJ night at the Reel Bar in Allston that goes by the title "Its Just a Ride"
[Feb 11,2006 11:12am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
badsneakers said:huh..
I thought this was going to be about the Iann Robinson DJ night at the Reel Bar in Allston that goes by the title "Its Just a Ride"
yeah def negatory !!!!
[Feb 12,2006 7:23am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
it's after the end of the world, don't you know that yet !
[Feb 12,2006 7:28am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it.
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing over time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave; therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, lets look at the different religions of the world. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay constant, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This allows for two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So is it #1 or #2? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Teresa Banyan during my freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I go out with you." -- and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in winning Ms. Banyan's affections, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am certain Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."
The student received the only "A" on the exam. (author unknown)
[Feb 12,2006 7:32am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
with apologies to raoul duke and hunter thompson
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the chickens began to cross the road. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe we should get something to eat . . . ." And suddenly there was a terrible clucking all around us and the road was filled with what looked like hideous walking poultry, beaks and huge feathery wings, all screeching and hopping and flapping right in front of the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"
I slammed on the brakes. My fat Samoan attorney had pulled his shirt up and was chomping down the last of a Crispy McChicken sandwich, pouring tartar sauce all over his exposed gut to keep it moist. He half-looked at me and muttered "What the hell are you yelling about, man?" "Never mind," I said, staring out into the feathery horizon. "It's your turn to drive." I got up and we switched seats. No point mentioning those chickens, I thought. The poor bastard will have to deal with them soon enough.
"Dammit man," he said as the driver's seat eased into his weight, "I can't concentrate with all this clucking." I glared at him. Measuring the shape of his skull. "Are you fit to drive?" I asked. "You need some medicine?" He shook his head. Sweat and gravy dribbled off of it. "I think I just gotta . . . . get away from all these chickens." There were hundreds of them now, squawking and strutting like military officers in single file stretched out as far as the twisted eye could see. They were stopping traffic. What would Horatio Alger do?
KILL THE HEAD AND THE BODY WILL NOT IMMEDIATELY DIE
This line appears in my notebook for some reason. Perhaps some connection with Colonel Sanders. Is he still alive? Still able to talk? If he's dead, did they preserve him in 11 herbs and spices? "Let them cross," I heard myself saying. "They could prove useful."
"What, you wanna smash their brains in with the tire jack and stuff 'em in the trunk for supper?" His thumb was fiddling with the sharpest knife I've ever seen.
"Maybe." I said. "First I want to study their habits."
I would see my attorney didn't fully approve of my plans but the chickens outnumbered him, and they were on MY SIDE. You could see them crossing, one by one, a great pulsating wall of out-of-season game stretching out to the horizon, discounted poultry inching ever forward to cross the road as if it were what they were born to do. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix or words or memories or sourdough rolls can touch that central sense of purpose those chickens gave off. They believed, somehow, that they could be better than life and history, madness, fear and loathing. They had something to accomplish. They had a road to cross.
"How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?"
How many roads must a chicken cross? History is hard to know, because of all the hired chickens--t, but every now and then the energy of a whole species comes out in a long fine squawk for reasons nobody really understands at the time. They were that squawk, they were the great Las Vegas Chicken Wave of that fowl Year of our Lord, 1971, shuffling ever sideways on a lengthwise track, going on a real trip that needed no explanation or apology, searching for that perfect high that only comes from finding an instant's home on that yellow line, knowing that just one of those specks of sunshine asphalt is your very own.
It was a futile gesture, of course. Most gestures are. Madness can be crossed in any direction, any hour. But they had the journey, a wild, awful chicken version of the American Dream. You could stare out into the desert skyline, just below where the center core of the sun hits hard enough to bleach a man's bones white, and with the right kind of eyes you could almost see the par-boil mark - that place on the horizon where road and chicken finally met in poultry perfection.
I looked down. My fat attorney had stopped one of the chickens, and was offering him some cheap-grade blotter acid.
"Let him go, you idiot!" I said. "Can't you see he prefers the harder stuff?" He dropped the acid to bake on the road and some of the artier chickens sniffed about it a bit. He slid back into the driver's seat but I pushed him out again. I'd taken a big hit off his McChicken sandwich and felt more than fit to drive. We returned to our designated seats, and something in the natural order of the world flipped about 180?. The chickens were dispersing. The road was clearing up. Something in the backseat clucked.
"What're you taking this chicken for?" I asked.
"He could prove useful." A half-dozen white feathers were hanging off my attorney's cheek.
"So, what do we do now?"
"As your attorney I advise you to drive extremely fast and we'll sort out the details later."
I took a swig of rum and slammed the accelerator to the floor. We sped forward, jarred only occasionally by the "whump" of a chicken meeting a fate unmentioned in any Horatio Alger book.
By this time I was laughing like a crazy man. But it made no difference. We were off to Vegas, three modern monsters in search of the American Dream; on the move, and just sick enough to be totally confident.
[Feb 12,2006 7:34am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
[Feb 15,2006 2:23pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
dood 1: It would be on vinyl, silly.
dood 2: The hipster handbook WOULD be on vinyl!
dood 2: On a super rare hard to find 7 inch.
dood 2: Marbled green.
dood 2: Or CLEAR.
dood 1: And the older stuff would be better.
[Feb 16,2006 3:17am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
What's that smell?
[Feb 16,2006 8:48am - the_taste_of_cigarettes ""]
www.livejournal.com
[Feb 16,2006 11:19am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
A hierarchy
Spread out on the nightstand
The spirit of team
Salvation is another chance
A sore loser
Yelling with my mouth shut
A cracking portrait
The fondling of the trophies
The null of losing
Can you afford that luxury?
A sore winner
But I'll just keep my mouth shut
It shouldn't bother me
But it does
The small victories
The cankers and medallions
They keep me thinking that someday
I might beat you
But I'll just keep my mouth shut
The little nothings
It shouldn't bother me
But it does
IF I SPEAK AT ONE CONSTANT VOLUME AT ONE CONSTANT PITCH
AT ONE CONSTANT RHYTHM RIGHT INTO YOUR EAR, YOU STILL WON'T HEAR
You still won't hear
[Feb 16,2006 12:10pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
To make a long story short, Mark Rogowski—a.k.a. Gator, a.k.a. Gator Marc Anthony—is a man who became rich and famous as a pro skater starting in the '80s and is now 10 years into a life sentence for the brutal rape and murder of a woman he barely knew.
In the time between the start of his career, at the height of which he was the most balls-out, hardest skater then competing, and his crime, which he committed in 1991, Gator passed through a veritable template of '80s decadence and celebrity. He was the quintessential rockstar skater, taking the example set by his forebears Tony Alva and Jay Adams to an unprecedented egotistical stratosphere by partying, bragging, and fighting a swath through a booming skateboarding industry. Gator took selling out as far as it could possibly go. He became eagerly involved in the most cynically corny and uncool marketing tactics, like the arena-rock-meets-skating "Swatch Impact Tour" and the most excessively gay Vision Street Wear ads ever.
Gator was, in fact, the first skater to be sponsored by Vision, and there was a real golden age of skating optimism and progress that starred him, Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero, and Tony Hawk. Gator was the rebel of the group, the one who burned fastest and to whom image was most important. His concern with appearances had its negative effects on the sport for sure (crass commercialism, style over substance), but it also benefited skating hugely by upping its public image. This era, more than any other, birthed the mythos of skating as a countercultural, punk rock, cool thing that you should start doing during the years when you hate your parents. There are those who will argue that the older Zephyr skaters, like Stacy Peralta and Alva, made skating punk and for the people. That is bullshit.
Those skaters influenced other skaters, but not culture at large to the extent that Gator and his ilk did. Oh, and another thing about those forefathers: Thanks for bringing skating out as a full-on sport and lifestyle, guys, but your movie, Dogtown and Z-Boys, sucked my ass. How many times do we need to hear Stacy Peralta, the film's director (and a man known smirkingly to some as "Grandpa Thrasher"), wax philosophic about skating? The juxtaposition of surfer, then skater, then surfer, then skater was more than just pedantic, it was insufferably boring; almost as boring as hearing old men brag about how they once punched a guy in the nose for moving in on their skate turf (ooooh!). As with Shepard Fairey's "Obey" crap, Dogtown and Z-Boys has become an excellent way to separate people who are really into the culture from those who secretly read "cool hunter" reports.
If you want to see a film that truly sums up skate culture and all it has wrought, the only one worth watching is Stoked. Directed by New York filmmaker Helen Stickler, Stoked tells the specific story of Gator, his ascendancy, and his fall from glory. Along the way, it exposes some harsh truths about stardom and that woozy moment at the end of the '80s when the money, fame, and acclaim of success dropped out of many people's lives—Gator included.
Stoked is an elegy to skaters and skate culture. All the major players are interviewed, including the aforementioned Peralta, Hawk, Caballero, etc. Gator, over the telephone from the Southern California prison where he resides, is a constant presence. This movie extends beyond the limited scope of the skate world (although it contains classic skate footage and funny, poignant conversations with familiar faces that are required viewing for any skate rat). At its core, Stoked is a cautionary tale of crashing and burning, of letting anger take over your life, and of the consequences of being a pampered celebrity.
According to Stickler, "The biggest motivating factor in making this movie was wanting to know how this talented, motivated, successful dude could get to such a point of desperation that he'd take someone's life. To me, a crime like that equals soul emptiness—total deprivation. So I saw Gator as a symbol for a lot of things from the '80s that were pretty shallow and meaningless. At the same time, I could relate to the fear that he must have felt as a young person, in his early twenties, who was supposed to be an adult but just couldn't get it together."
There's a sense of inevitable dread that pervades Stoked. Even as we see joyful and alive footage of skating in the '80s and hear often hilarious anecdotes from participants (Jason Jesse being particularly sidesplitting, with his valley boy-savant mannerisms), we know what's coming. The bad stuff begins to escalate in Gator's life, starting with a mini-riot after he punches a cop at the infamous Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach in 1986. "I love getting arrested," he says in an interview from that time.
Things get really grim, though, when a seismic shift occurs in the actual sport of skating. As the '80s draw to a close, vert gives way to street. Gator was a brilliant, balletic ramp-and-bowl skater, but he just couldn't get the hang of the more open and flat possibilities of street freestyling. There's a moment in the film where we see video footage of Gator trying to ollie over a curb and he can't do it. A group of younger skaters stand around laughing as Gator, in a rage, smashes his board on the ground, screaming, "Fuck! I suck! FUUUUCK!!!"
It's around this point that Gator basically snaps and becomes a born-again. His girlfriend, Brandi McClain (actual quote: "Being a skate betty was cool!"), leaves him, and he holes up in his isolated house to strum an acoustic guitar and brood on his anger and bitterness. His peers, meanwhile, make the effort to adapt to the changing culture of their industry. Reflecting back on this time over the phone, Gator says, "I couldn't part with needing to feel affirmed."
Gator's eventual vicious murder of acquaintance Jessica Merchant is treated with honesty in Stoked, and the details of the attack—from beating her in the head with a steering-wheel club to zipping her into a surfboard bag and strangling her—are unflinchingly laid bare. Particularly disturbing are the police-evidence images of his victim's remains in the desert where he dumped her body. But please note that Helen Stickler never exploits her subjects.
The horror of Gator's crime needs to be fully exposed so we can understand not only the entirety of his personality, but also the culmination of the fame machine that skate culture created—especially in light of a film like Dogtown, which includes breezy, uninteresting interviews with other violent skaters (anyone heard any good Jay Adams stories lately?).
"It doesn't so much bother me that Dogtown left out a lot of the darker side of what happened to some people in that scene," says Stickler. "As a filmmaker you choose what parts of the story you have to tell. But it also does seem pretty convenient to keep it lightweight and inoffensive when your major sponsor is trying to sell some shoes." Stoked is a film with no shoes to sell and no reason to skimp on the dark side. That's why it's so entertaining and edifying—which is what a documentary is supposed to be, right?
JESSE PEARSON
Stoked will be released at cinemas around Australia in February. Visit stokedmovie.com
[Feb 18,2006 1:32am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Flower girls play lover
Grave games in the courtyard
I heard her screaming like a radio
Flower girls play lover
Grave games in the courtyard
I heard her screaming like a radio
Mary lou left marks on you
She just screams at the walls
The kite string pops
I'm swallowed whole by the sky
We smoke the bones of baby dolls
Techno-liquid screaming meat
Heaven's cold beneath my feet
Cyber love the anti-man we make love... because we can
Virgins play where the bayou's blue
Barefoot (and bloody) eatin' mushroom stew
Work for pay and pay for freedom
Fuck 'em all, we don't need 'em
We smoke the bones of baby dolls
Everything's gone dry
Like bottle glass scraping cross the pavement
Everything's gone dry
Like bottle glass scraping cross the pavement
Everything's gone dry
Like bottle glass scraping cross the pavement
Everything's gone dry
Like bottle glass scraping cross the pavement
[Feb 18,2006 1:36am - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""]
Stoked was fucking awesome, especially the interviews with Jason Jessee
[Feb 18,2006 1:36am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Cheatin woman make you crazy
Cheatin' woman make you a fool
She'll leave your heart so lonely
Brother there's nothin' you can do
Well I can't stand the pain no more
She don't want my love for sure
She don't even want poor me
Knockin' on her front door
Why did you make me love you sister
When you knew you was untrue
You loved every man with pants on
Yes a dozen to you is too few
I'm gonna shoot you and end your world
Then you won't bother poor me
You won't bother poor me no longer
Cheatin' woman -- gonna shoot ya
Oh woman why you do me
Oh Lord the way you do
I done everything I can baby
Seems like nothin' reaches you
I'm gonna get that pistol gal
I'm gonna shoot you and all your pals
You ain't gonna bother poor me
You won't bother poor me no longer
[Feb 18,2006 1:40am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
HEY JOE, WHERE YOU GOIN' WITH THAT GUN IN YOUR HAND
HEY JOE, I SAID WHERE YOU GOIN' WITH THAT GUN IN YOUR HAND
I'M GOIN' DOWN TO SHOOT OL'MY LADY
YOU KNOW I CAUGHT HER MESSIN' 'ROUND WITH ANOTHER MAN
YEAH, I'M GOIN' DOWN TO SHOOT OL'MY LADY
YOU KNOW I CAUGHT HER MESSIN' 'ROUND WITH ANOTHER MAN
HUH! AND THAT AIN'T TOO COOL
A HEY HOE, I HEARD YOU SHOT YOUR WOMAN DOWN
YOU SHOT HER DOWN NOW
A HEY JOE, I HEARD YOU SHOT YOUR OLD LADY DOWN
YOU SHOT HER DOWN IN THE GROUD YEAH!
YEAH!
YES, I DID, I SHOT HER
YOU KNOW I CAUGHT HER MESSIN' ROUND MESSIN' ROUND TOWN
UH, YES I DID I SHOT HER
YOU KNOW I CAUGHT MY OLD LADY MESSIN' 'ROUND TOWN
AND GAVE HER THE GUN
AND I SHOT HER
ALRIGHT
SHOOT HER ONE MORE TIME AGAIN BABY!
YEAH!
DIG IT
OH ALRIGHT
HEY JOE,
WHERE YOU GONNA RUN TO NOW WHERE YOU GONNA RUN TO NOW
HEY JOE, I SAID
WHERE YOU GONNA RUN TO NOW WHERE YOU GONNA RUNTO NOW
I'M GOIN' WAY DOWN SOUTH
WAY DOWN TO MEXICO WAY
I'M GOIN' WAY DOWN SOUTH
WAY DOWN WHERE I CAN BE FREE
AIN'T NO ONE GONNA FIND ME
AIN'T NO HANG-MAN GONNA
HE AIN'T GONNA PUT A ROPE AROUND ME
YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT RIGHT NOW
I GOTTA GO NOW
HEY, JOE
YOU BETTER RUN ON DOWN
GOODBYE EVERYBODY
HEY HEY JOE
[Feb 18,2006 1:42am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Wake from your sleep,
the drying of your tears,
Today we escape, we escape.
Pack and get dressed
before your father hears us,
before all hell breaks loose.
Breathe, keep breathing,
don't lose your nerve.
Breathe, keep breathing,
I can't do this alone.
Sing us a song,
a song to keep us warm,
there's such a chill, such a chill.
And you can laugh a spineless laugh,
we hope your rules and wisdom choke you.
And now we are one
in everlasting peace,
we hope that you choke, that you choke,
we hope that you choke, that you choke,
we hope that you choke, that you choke.
[Feb 18,2006 1:43am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
BobNOMAAMRooney nli said:
Stoked was fucking awesome, especially the interviews with Jason Jessee
yeah Vice puts out some pretty good shit.
[Feb 18,2006 1:46am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
also the place they talk about in VaBeach is so funny, they actually built a skatepark on Mt. Trashmore now...but thats not whats funny, its the fact that most of Vabeach it's illegal to skateboard even just down the st. you'll get a fine.
[Feb 18,2006 1:50am - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""]
But skateboarding is not a crime!
[Feb 18,2006 2:00am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
BobNOMAAMRooney nli said:But skateboarding is not a crime!
clearly virginia beach would disagree. its so stupid too, cause the skate park has hours of operation meaning only when a cop feels like being there making sure no one is doing anything they feel to be stupid and if the cop is gone the park is closed. so of course everywhere but the two parks its illegal and the fuckers will stop you too. my friend got busted with a joint on him and had to do 30days and is on probation for two years plus fines out the ass.
im sure someone will say if he knew it was illegal then he shouldnt have done it but you try living in a place thats one giant beach front suburb and not wanna actually you know do something.
its really weird too cause if you go on the boardwalk or strip down there skateboard and surf shops are huge there. but its illegal go figure right.
Terry Smith is the man !
[Feb 18,2006 2:08am - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""]
There's a tiny skatepark in Malden or Medford right next to a police station. For some reason they built a huge fence around it and lock up at 5pm when they could easily stick a camera on that side of the station.
[Feb 18,2006 2:12am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
yup sounds like the one in natick too, i wanna see who comes up with the plans for these parks too. they're always so tiny and its almost impossible to do any type of tricks.
there was, im not sure if its still there or not but there was a great place in shrewsbury that even put on shows letting the bands set up right next to the ramps. i should go down there and see if i can set something up.
i cant wait for spring time to get a new bike, ive been fiending for a while now. fucking cold ruins me, i swear !
[Feb 18,2006 3:04am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
(Source: well.sf.ca.us )
Unabomber's Manifesto
The following is full text of the Unabomber's Manifesto.
_________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
1. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster
for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of
those of us who live in "advanced" countries, but they have
destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected
human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological
suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have
inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued
development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly
subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage
on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social
disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased
physical suffering even in "advanced" countries.
2. The industrial-technological system may survive or it may break
down. If it survives, it MAY eventually achieve a low level of
physical and psychological suffering, but only after passing through a
long and very painful period of adjustment and only at the cost of
permanently reducing human beings and many other living organisms to
engineered products and mere cogs in the social machine. Furthermore,
if the system survives, the consequences will be inevitable: There is
no way of reforming or modifying the system so as to prevent it from
depriving people of dignity and autonomy.
3. If the system breaks down the consequences will still be very
painful. But the bigger the system grows the more disastrous the
results of its breakdown will be, so if it is to break down it had
best break down sooner rather than later.
4. We therefore advocate a revolution against the industrial system.
This revolution may or may not make use of violence: it may be sudden
or it may be a relatively gradual process spanning a few decades. We
can't predict any of that. But we do outline in a very general way the
measures that those who hate the industrial system should take in
order to prepare the way for a revolution against that form of
society. This is not to be a POLITICAL revolution. Its object will be
to overthrow not governments but the economic and technological basis
of the present society.
5. In this article we give attention to only some of the negative
developments that have grown out of the industrial-technological
system. Other such developments we mention only briefly or ignore
altogether. This does not mean that we regard these other developments
as unimportant. For practical reasons we have to confine our
discussion to areas that have received insufficient public attention
or in which we have something new to say. For example, since there are
well-developed environmental and wilderness movements, we have written
very little about environmental degradation or the destruction of wild
nature, even though we consider these to be highly important.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MODERN LEFTISM
6. Almost everyone will agree that we live in a deeply troubled
society. One of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of
our world is leftism, so a discussion of the psychology of leftism can
serve as an introduction to the discussion of the problems of modern
society in general.
7. But what is leftism? During the first half of the 20th century
leftism could have been practically identified with socialism. Today
the movement is fragmented and it is not clear who can properly be
called a leftist. When we speak of leftists in this article we have in
mind mainly socialists, collectivists, "politically correct" types,
feminists, gay and disability activists, animal rights activists and
the like. But not everyone who is associated with one of these
movements is a leftist. What we are trying to get at in discussing
leftism is not so much a movement or an ideology as a psychological
type, or rather a collection of related types. Thus, what we mean by
"leftism" will emerge more clearly in the course of our discussion of
leftist psychology (Also, see paragraphs 227-230.)
8. Even so, our conception of leftism will remain a good deal less
clear than we would wish, but there doesn't seem to be any remedy for
this. All we are trying to do is indicate in a rough and approximate
way the two psychological tendencies that we believe are the main
driving force of modern leftism. We by no means claim to be telling
the WHOLE truth about leftist psychology. Also, our discussion is
meant to apply to modern leftism only. We leave open the question of
the extent to which our discussion could be applied to the leftists of
the 19th and early 20th century.
9. The two psychological tendencies that underlie modern leftism we
call "feelings of inferiority" and "oversocialization." Feelings of
inferiority are characteristic of modern leftism as a whole, while
oversocialization is characteristic only of a certain segment of
modern leftism; but this segment is highly influential.
FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY
10. By "feelings of inferiority" we mean not only inferiority feelings
in the strictest sense but a whole spectrum of related traits: low
self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness, depressive tendencies,
defeatism, guilt, self-hatred, etc. We argue that modern leftists tend
to have such feelings (possibly more or less repressed) and that these
feelings are decisive in determining the direction of modern leftism.
11. When someone interprets as derogatory almost anything that is said
about him (or about groups with whom he identifies) we conclude that
he has inferiority feelings or low self-esteem. This tendency is
pronounced among minority rights advocates, whether or not they belong
to the minority groups whose rights they defend. They are
hypersensitive about the words used to designate minorities. The terms
"negro," "oriental," "handicapped" or "chick" for an African, an
Asian, a disabled person or a woman originally had no derogatory
connotation. "Broad" and "chick" were merely the feminine equivalents
of "guy," "dude" or "fellow." The negative connotations have been
attached to these terms by the activists themselves. Some animal
rights advocates have gone so far as to reject the word "pet" and
insist on its replacement by "animal companion." Leftist
anthropologists go to great lengths to avoid saying anything about
primitive peoples that could conceivably be interpreted as negative.
They want to replace the word "primitive" by "nonliterate." They seem
almost paranoid about anything that might suggest that any primitive
culture is inferior to our own. (We do not mean to imply that
primitive cultures ARE inferior to ours. We merely point out the
hypersensitivity of leftish anthropologists.)
12. Those who are most sensitive about "politically incorrect"
terminology are not the average black ghetto-dweller, Asian immigrant,
abused woman or disabled person, but a minority of activists, many of
whom do not even belong to any "oppressed" group but come from
privileged strata of society. Political correctness has its stronghold
among university professors, who have secure employment with
comfortable salaries, and the majority of whom are heterosexual, white
males from middle-class families.
13. Many leftists have an intense identification with the problems of
groups that have an image of being weak (women), defeated (American
Indians), repellent (homosexuals), or otherwise inferior. The leftists
themselves feel that these groups are inferior. They would never admit
it to themselves that they have such feelings, but it is precisely
because they do see these groups as inferior that they identify with
their problems. (We do not suggest that women, Indians, etc., ARE
inferior; we are only making a point about leftist psychology).
14. Feminists are desperately anxious to prove that women are as
strong as capable as men. Clearly they are nagged by a fear that women
may NOT be as strong and as capable as men.
15. Leftists tend to hate anything that has an image of being strong,
good and successful. They hate America, they hate Western
civilization, they hate white males, they hate rationality. The
reasons that leftists give for hating the West, etc. clearly do not
correspond with their real motives. They SAY they hate the West
because it is warlike, imperialistic, sexist, ethnocentric and so
forth, but where these same faults appear in socialist countries or in
primitive cultures, the leftist finds excuses for them, or at best he
GRUDGINGLY admits that they exist; whereas he ENTHUSIASTICALLY points
out (and often greatly exaggerates) these faults where they appear in
Western civilization. Thus it is clear that these faults are not the
leftist's real motive for hating America and the West. He hates
America and the West because they are strong and successful.
16. Words like "self-confidence," "self-reliance," "initiative",
"enterprise," "optimism," etc. play little role in the liberal and
leftist vocabulary. The leftist is anti-individualistic,
pro-collectivist. He wants society to solve everyone's needs for them,
take care of them. He is not the sort of person who has an inner sense
of confidence in his own ability to solve his own problems and satisfy
his own needs. The leftist is antagonistic to the concept of
competition because, deep inside, he feels like a loser.
17. Art forms that appeal to modern leftist intellectuals tend to
focus on sordidness, defeat and despair, or else they take an
orgiastic tone, throwing off rational control as if there were no hope
of accomplishing anything through rational calculation and all that
was left was to immerse oneself in the sensations of the moment.
18. Modern leftist philosophers tend to dismiss reason, science,
objective reality and to insist that everything is culturally
relative. It is true that one can ask serious questions about the
foundations of scientific knowledge and about how, if at all, the
concept of objective reality can be defined. But it is obvious that
modern leftist philosophers are not simply cool-headed logicians
systematically analyzing the foundations of knowledge. They are deeply
involved emotionally in their attack on truth and reality. They attack
these concepts because of their own psychological needs. For one
thing, their attack is an outlet for hostility, and, to the extent
that it is successful, it satisfies the drive for power. More
importantly, the leftist hates science and rationality because they
classify certain beliefs as true (i.e., successful, superior) and
other beliefs as false (i.e. failed, inferior). The leftist's feelings
of inferiority run so deep that he cannot tolerate any classification
of some things as successful or superior and other things as failed or
inferior. This also underlies the rejection by many leftists of the
concept of mental illness and of the utility of IQ tests. Leftists are
antagonistic to genetic explanations of human abilities or behavior
because such explanations tend to make some persons appear superior or
inferior to others. Leftists prefer to give society the credit or
blame for an individual's ability or lack of it. Thus if a person is
"inferior" it is not his fault, but society's, because he has not been
brought up properly.
19. The leftist is not typically the kind of person whose feelings of
inferiority make him a braggart, an egotist, a bully, a self-promoter,
a ruthless competitor. This kind of person has not wholly lost faith
in himself. He has a deficit in his sense of power and self-worth, but
he can still conceive of himself as having the capacity to be strong,
and his efforts to make himself strong produce his unpleasant
behavior. [1] But the leftist is too far gone for that. His feelings
of inferiority are so ingrained that he cannot conceive of himself as
individually strong and valuable. Hence the collectivism of the
leftist. He can feel strong only as a member of a large organization
or a mass movement with which he identifies himself.
20. Notice the masochistic tendency of leftist tactics. Leftists
protest by lying down in front of vehicles, they intentionally provoke
police or racists to abuse them, etc. These tactics may often be
effective, but many leftists use them not as a means to an end but
because they PREFER masochistic tactics. Self-hatred is a leftist
trait.
21. Leftists may claim that their activism is motivated by compassion
or by moral principle, and moral principle does play a role for the
leftist of the oversocialized type. But compassion and moral principle
cannot be the main motives for leftist activism. Hostility is too
prominent a component of leftist behavior; so is the drive for power.
Moreover, much leftist behavior is not rationally calculated to be of
benefit to the people whom the leftists claim to be trying to help.
For example, if one believes that affirmative action is good for black
people, does it make sense to demand affirmative action in hostile or
dogmatic terms? Obviously it would be more productive to take a
diplomatic and conciliatory approach that would make at least verbal
and symbolic concessions to white people who think that affirmative
action discriminates against them. But leftist activists do not take
such an approach because it would not satisfy their emotional needs.
Helping black people is not their real goal. Instead, race problems
serve as an excuse for them to express their own hostility and
frustrated need for power. In doing so they actually harm black
people, because the activists' hostile attitude toward the white
majority tends to intensify race hatred.
22. If our society had no social problems at all, the leftists would
have to INVENT problems in order to provide themselves with an excuse
for making a fuss.
23. We emphasize that the foregoing does not pretend to be an accurate
description of everyone who might be considered a leftist. It is only
a rough indication of a general tendency of leftism.
OVERSOCIALIZATION
24. Psychologists use the term "socialization" to designate the
process by which children are trained to think and act as society
demands. A person is said to be well socialized if he believes in and
obeys the moral code of his society and fits in well as a functioning
part of that society. It may seem senseless to say that many leftists
are over-socialized, since the leftist is perceived as a rebel.
Nevertheless, the position can be defended. Many leftists are not such
rebels as they seem.
25. The moral code of our society is so demanding that no one can
think, feel and act in a completely moral way. For example, we are not
supposed to hate anyone, yet almost everyone hates somebody at some
time or other, whether he admits it to himself or not. Some people are
so highly socialized that the attempt to think, feel and act morally
imposes a severe burden on them. In order to avoid feelings of guilt,
they continually have to deceive themselves about their own motives
and find moral explanations for feelings and actions that in reality
have a non-moral origin. We use the term "oversocialized" to describe
such people. [2]
26. Oversocialization can lead to low self-esteem, a sense of
powerlessness, defeatism, guilt, etc. One of the most important means
by which our society socializes children is by making them feel
ashamed of behavior or speech that is contrary to society's
expectations. If this is overdone, or if a particular child is
especially susceptible to such feelings, he ends by feeling ashamed of
HIMSELF. Moreover the thought and the behavior of the oversocialized
person are more restricted by society's expectations than are those of
the lightly socialized person. The majority of people engage in a
significant amount of naughty behavior. They lie, they commit petty
thefts, they break traffic laws, they goof off at work, they hate
someone, they say spiteful things or they use some underhanded trick
to get ahead of the other guy. The oversocialized person cannot do
these things, or if he does do them he generates in himself a sense of
shame and self-hatred. The oversocialized person cannot even
experience, without guilt, thoughts or feelings that are contrary to
the accepted morality; he cannot think "unclean" thoughts. And
socialization is not just a matter of morality; we are socialized to
confirm to many norms of behavior that do not fall under the heading
of morality. Thus the oversocialized person is kept on a psychological
leash and spends his life running on rails that society has laid down
for him. In many oversocialized people this results in a sense of
constraint and powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest
that oversocialization is among the more serious cruelties that human
beings inflict on one another.
27. We argue that a very important and influential segment of the
modern left is oversocialized and that their oversocialization is of
great importance in determining the direction of modern leftism.
Leftists of the oversocialized type tend to be intellectuals or
members of the upper-middle class. Notice that university
intellectuals (3) constitute the most highly socialized segment of our
society and also the most left-wing segment.
28. The leftist of the oversocialized type tries to get off his
psychological leash and assert his autonomy by rebelling. But usually
he is not strong enough to rebel against the most basic values of
society. Generally speaking, the goals of today's leftists are NOT in
conflict with the accepted morality. On the contrary, the left takes
an accepted moral principle, adopts it as its own, and then accuses
mainstream society of violating that principle. Examples: racial
equality, equality of the sexes, helping poor people, peace as opposed
to war, nonviolence generally, freedom of expression, kindness to
animals. More fundamentally, the duty of the individual to serve
society and the duty of society to take care of the individual. All
these have been deeply rooted values of our society (or at least of
its middle and upper classes (4) for a long time. These values are
explicitly or implicitly expressed or presupposed in most of the
material presented to us by the mainstream communications media and
the educational system. Leftists, especially those of the
oversocialized type, usually do not rebel against these principles but
justify their hostility to society by claiming (with some degree of
truth) that society is not living up to these principles.
29. Here is an illustration of the way in which the oversocialized
leftist shows his real attachment to the conventional attitudes of our
society while pretending to be in rebellion against it. Many leftists
push for affirmative action, for moving black people into
high-prestige jobs, for improved education in black schools and more
money for such schools; the way of life of the black "underclass" they
regard as a social disgrace. They want to integrate the black man into
the system, make him a business executive, a lawyer, a scientist just
like upper-middle-class white people. The leftists will reply that the
last thing they want is to make the black man into a copy of the white
man; instead, they want to preserve African American culture. But in
what does this preservation of African American culture consist? It
can hardly consist in anything more than eating black-style food,
listening to black-style music, wearing black-style clothing and going
to a black-style church or mosque. In other words, it can express
itself only in superficial matters. In all ESSENTIAL respects more
leftists of the oversocialized type want to make the black man conform
to white, middle-class ideals. They want to make him study technical
subjects, become an executive or a scientist, spend his life climbing
the status ladder to prove that black people are as good as white.
They want to make black fathers "responsible." they want black gangs
to become nonviolent, etc. But these are exactly the values of the
industrial-technological system. The system couldn't care less what
kind of music a man listens to, what kind of clothes he wears or what
religion he believes in as long as he studies in school, holds a
respectable job, climbs the status ladder, is a "responsible" parent,
is nonviolent and so forth. In effect, however much he may deny it,
the oversocialized leftist wants to integrate the black man into the
system and make him adopt its values.
30. We certainly do not claim that leftists, even of the
oversocialized type, NEVER rebel against the fundamental values of our
society. Clearly they sometimes do. Some oversocialized leftists have
gone so far as to rebel against one of modern society's most important
principles by engaging in physical violence. By their own account,
violence is for them a form of "liberation." In other words, by
committing violence they break through the psychological restraints
that have been trained into them. Because they are oversocialized
these restraints have been more confining for them than for others;
hence their need to break free of them. But they usually justify their
rebellion in terms of mainstream values. If they engage in violence
they claim to be fighting against racism or the like.
31. We realize that many objections could be raised to the foregoing
thumb-nail sketch of leftist psychology. The real situation is
complex, and anything like a complete description of it would take
several volumes even if the necessary data were available. We claim
only to have indicated very roughly the two most important tendencies
in the psychology of modern leftism.
32. The problems of the leftist are indicative of the problems of our
society as a whole. Low self-esteem, depressive tendencies and
defeatism are not restricted to the left. Though they are especially
noticeable in the left, they are widespread in our society. And
today's society tries to socialize us to a greater extent than any
previous society. We are even told by experts how to eat, how to
exercise, how to make love, how to raise our kids and so forth.
THE POWER PROCESS
33. Human beings have a need (probably based in biology) for something
that we will call the "power process." This is closely related to the
need for power (which is widely recognized) but is not quite the same
thing. The power process has four elements. The three most clear-cut
of these we call goal, effort and attainment of goal. (Everyone needs
to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to succeed
in attaining at least some of his goals.) The fourth element is more
difficult to define and may not be necessary for everyone. We call it
autonomy and will discuss it later (paragraphs 42-44).
34. Consider the hypothetical case of a man who can have anything he
wants just by wishing for it. Such a man has power, but he will
develop serious psychological problems. At first he will have a lot of
fun, but by and by he will become acutely bored and demoralized.
Eventually he may become clinically depressed. History shows that
leisured aristocracies tend to become decadent. This is not true of
fighting aristocracies that have to struggle to maintain their power.
But leisured, secure aristocracies that have no need to exert
themselves usually become bored, hedonistic and demoralized, even
though they have power. This shows that power is not enough. One must
have goals toward which to exercise one's power.
35. Everyone has goals; if nothing else, to obtain the physical
necessities of life: food, water and whatever clothing and shelter are
made necessary by the climate. But the leisured aristocrat obtains
these things without effort. Hence his boredom and demoralization.
36. Nonattainment of important goals results in death if the goals are
physical necessities, and in frustration if nonattainment of the goals
is compatible with survival. Consistent failure to attain goals
throughout life results in defeatism, low self-esteem or depression.
37. Thus, in order to avoid serious psychological problems, a human
being needs goals whose attainment requires effort, and he must have a
reasonable rate of success in attaining his goals.
SURROGATE ACTIVITIES
38. But not every leisured aristocrat becomes bored and demoralized.
For example, the emperor Hirohito, instead of sinking into decadent
hedonism, devoted himself to marine biology, a field in which he
became distinguished. When people do not have to exert themselves to
satisfy their physical needs they often set up artificial goals for
themselves. In many cases they then pursue these goals with the same
energy and emotional involvement that they otherwise would have put
into the search for physical necessities. Thus the aristocrats of the
Roman Empire had their literary pretentions; many European aristocrats
a few centuries ago invested tremendous time and energy in hunting,
though they certainly didn't need the meat; other aristocracies have
competed for status through elaborate displays of wealth; and a few
aristocrats, like Hirohito, have turned to science.
39. We use the term "surrogate activity" to designate an activity that
is directed toward an artificial goal that people set up for
themselves merely in order to have some goal to work toward, or let us
say, merely for the sake of the "fulfillment" that they get from
pursuing the goal. Here is a rule of thumb for the identification of
surrogate activities. Given a person who devotes much time and energy
to the pursuit of goal X, ask yourself this: If he had to devote most
of his time and energy to satisfying his biological needs, and if that
effort required him to use his physical and mental facilities in a
varied and interesting way, would he feel seriously deprived because
he did not attain goal X? If the answer is no, then the person's
pursuit of a goal X is a surrogate activity. Hirohito's studies in
marine biology clearly constituted a surrogate activity, since it is
pretty certain that if Hirohito had had to spend his time working at
interesting non-scientific tasks in order to obtain the necessities of
life, he would not have felt deprived because he didn't know all about
the anatomy and life-cycles of marine animals. On the other hand the
pursuit of sex and love (for example) is not a surrogate activity,
because most people, even if their existence were otherwise
satisfactory, would feel deprived if they passed their lives without
ever having a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. (But
pursuit of an excessive amount of sex, more than one really needs, can
be a surrogate activity.)
40. In modern industrial society only minimal effort is necessary to
satisfy one's physical needs. It is enough to go through a training
program to acquire some petty technical skill, then come to work on
time and exert very modest effort needed to hold a job. The only
requirements are a moderate amount of intelligence, and most of all,
simple OBEDIENCE. If one has those, society takes care of one from
cradle to grave. (Yes, there is an underclass that cannot take
physical necessities for granted, but we are speaking here of
mainstream society.) Thus it is not surprising that modern society is
full of surrogate activities. These include scientific work, athletic
achievement, humanitarian work, artistic and literary creation,
climbing the corporate ladder, acquisition of money and material goods
far beyond the point at which they cease to give any additional
physical satisfaction, and social activism when it addresses issues
that are not important for the activist personally, as in the case of
white activists who work for the rights of nonwhite minorities. These
are not always pure surrogate activities, since for many people they
may be motivated in part by needs other than the need to have some
goal to pursue. Scientific work may be motivated in part by a drive
for prestige, artistic creation by a need to express feelings,
militant social activism by hostility. But for most people who pursue
them, these activities are in large part surrogate activities. For
example, the majority of scientists will probably agree that the
"fulfillment" they get from their work is more important than the
money and prestige they earn.
41. For many if not most people, surrogate activities are less
satisfying than the pursuit of real goals ( that is, goals that people
would want to attain even if their need for the power process were
already fulfilled). One indication of this is the fact that, in many
or most cases, people who are deeply involved in surrogate activities
are never satisfied, never at rest. Thus the money-maker constantly
strives for more and more wealth. The scientist no sooner solves one
problem than he moves on to the next. The long-distance runner drives
himself to run always farther and faster. Many people who pursue
surrogate activities will say that they get far more fulfillment from
these activities than they do from the "mundane" business of
satisfying their biological needs, but that it is because in our
society the effort needed to satisfy the biological needs has been
reduced to triviality. More importantly, in our society people do not
satisfy their biological needs AUTONOMOUSLY but by functioning as
parts of an immense social machine. In contrast, people generally have
a great deal of autonomy in pursuing their surrogate activities. have
a great deal of autonomy in pursuing their surrogate activities.
AUTONOMY
42. Autonomy as a part of the power process may not be necessary for
every individual. But most people need a greater or lesser degree of
autonomy in working toward their goals. Their efforts must be
undertaken on their own initiative and must be under their own
direction and control. Yet most people do not have to exert this
initiative, direction and control as single individuals. It is usually
enough to act as a member of a SMALL group. Thus if half a dozen
people discuss a goal among themselves and make a successful joint
effort to attain that goal, their need for the power process will be
served. But if they work under rigid orders handed down from above
that leave them no room for autonomous decision and initiative, then
their need for the power process will not be served. The same is true
when decisions are made on a collective bases if the group making the
collective decision is so large that the role of each individual is
insignificant [5]
43. It is true that some individuals seem to have little need for
autonomy. Either their drive for power is weak or they satisfy it by
identifying themselves with some powerful organization to which they
belong. And then there are unthinking, animal types who seem to be
satisfied with a purely physical sense of power(the good combat
soldier, who gets his sense of power by developing fighting skills
that he is quite content to use in blind obedience to his superiors).
44. But for most people it is through the power process-having a goal,
making an AUTONOMOUS effort and attaining t the goal-that self-esteem,
self-confidence and a sense of power are acquired. When one does not
have adequate opportunity to go throughout the power process the
consequences are (depending on the individual and on the way the power
process is disrupted) boredom, demoralization, low self-esteem,
inferiority feelings, defeatism, depression, anxiety, guilt,
frustration, hostility, spouse or child abuse, insatiable hedonism,
abnormal sexual behavior, sleep disorders, eating disorders, etc. [6]
SOURCES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
45. Any of the foregoing symptoms can occur in any society, but in
modern industrial society they are present on a massive scale. We
aren't the first to mention that the world today seems to be going
crazy. This sort of thing is not normal for human societies. There is
good reason to believe that primitive man suffered from less stress
and frustration and was better satisfied with his way of life than
modern man is. It is true that not all was sweetness and light in
primitive societies. Abuse of women and common among the Australian
aborigines, transexuality was fairly common among some of the American
Indian tribes. But is does appear that GENERALLY SPEAKING the kinds of
problems that we have listed in the preceding paragraph were far less
common among primitive peoples than they are in modern society.
46. We attribute the social and psychological problems of modern
society to the fact that that society requires people to live under
conditions radically different from those under which the human race
evolved and to behave in ways that conflict with the patterns of
behavior that the human race developed while living under the earlier
conditions. It is clear from what we have already written that we
consider lack of opportunity to properly experience the power process
as the most important of the abnormal conditions to which modern
society subjects people. But it is not the only one. Before dealing
with disruption of the power process as a source of social problems we
will discuss some of the other sources.
47. Among the abnormal conditions present in modern industrial society
are excessive density of population, isolation of man from nature,
excessive rapidity of social change and the break-down of natural
small-scale communities such as the extended family, the village or
the tribe.
48. It is well known that crowding increases stress and aggression.
The degree of crowding that exists today and the isolation of man from
nature are consequences of technological progress. All pre-industrial
societies were predominantly rural. The industrial Revolution vastly
increased the size of cities and the proportion of the population that
lives in them, and modern agricultural technology has made it possible
for the Earth to support a far denser population than it ever did
before. (Also, technology exacerbates the effects of crowding because
it puts increased disruptive powers in people's hands. For example, a
variety of noise-making devices: power mowers, radios, motorcycles,
etc. If the use of these devices is unrestricted, people who want
peace and quiet are frustrated by the noise. If their use is
restricted, people who use the devices are frustrated by the
regulations... But if these machines had never been invented there
would have been no conflict and no frustration generated by them.)
49. For primitive societies the natural world (which usually changes
only slowly) provided a stable framework and therefore a sense of
security. In the modern world it is human society that dominates
nature rather than the other way around, and modern society changes
very rapidly owing to technological change. Thus there is no stable
framework.
50. The conservatives are fools: They whine about the decay of
traditional values, yet they enthusiastically support technological
progress and economic growth. Apparently it never occurs to them that
you can't make rapid, drastic changes in the technology and the
economy of a society with out causing rapid changes in all other
aspects of the society as well, and that such rapid changes inevitably
break down traditional values.
51.The breakdown of traditional values to some extent implies the
breakdown of the bonds that hold together traditional small-scale
social groups. The disintegration of small-scale social groups is also
promoted by the fact that modern conditions often require or tempt
individuals to move to new locations, separating themselves from their
communities. Beyond that, a technological society HAS TO weaken family
ties and local communities if it is to function efficiently. In modern
society an individual's loyalty must be first to the system and only
secondarily to a small-scale community, because if the internal
loyalties of small-scale small-scale communities were stronger than
loyalty to the system, such communities would pursue their own
advantage at the expense of the system.
52. Suppose that a public official or a corporation executive appoints
his cousin, his friend or his co-religionist to a position rather than
appointing the person best qualified for the job. He has permitted
personal loyalty to supersede his loyalty to the system, and that is
"nepotism" or "discrimination," both of which are terrible sins in
modern society. Would-be industrial societies that have done a poor
job of subordinating personal or local loyalties to loyalty to the
system are usually very inefficient. (Look at Latin America.) Thus an
advanced industrial society can tolerate only those small-scale
communities that are emasculated, tamed and made into tools of the
system. [7]
53. Crowding, rapid change and the breakdown of communities have been
widely recognized as sources of social problems. but we do not believe
they are enough to account for the extent of the problems that are
seen today.
54. A few pre-industrial cities were very large and crowded, yet their
inhabitants do not seem to have suffered from psychological problems
to the same extent as modern man. In America today there still are
uncrowded rural areas, and we find there the same problems as in urban
areas, though the problems tend to be less acute in the rural areas.
Thus crowding does not seem to be the decisive factor.
55. On the growing edge of the American frontier during the 19th
century, the mobility of the population probably broke down extended
families and small-scale social groups to at least the same extent as
these are broken down today. In fact, many nuclear families lived by
choice in such isolation, having no neighbors within several miles,
that they belonged to no community at all, yet they do not seem to
have developed problems as a result.
56.Furthermore, change in American frontier society was very rapid and
deep. A man might be born and raised in a log cabin, outside the reach
of law and order and fed largely on wild meat; and by the time he
arrived at old age he might be working at a regular job and living in
an ordered community with effective law enforcement. This was a deeper
change that that which typically occurs in the life of a modern
individual, yet it does not seem to have led to psychological
problems. In fact, 19th century American society had an optimistic and
self-confident tone, quite unlike that of today's society. [8]
57. The difference, we argue, is that modern man has the sense
(largely justified) that change is IMPOSED on him, whereas the 19th
century frontiersman had the sense (also largely justified) that he
created change himself, by his own choice. Thus a pioneer settled on a
piece of land of his own choosing and made it into a farm through his
own effort. In those days an entire county might have only a couple of
hundred inhabitants and was a far more isolated and autonomous entity
than a modern county is. Hence the pioneer farmer participated as a
member of a relatively small group in the creation of a new, ordered
community. One may well question whether the creation of this
community was an improvement, but at any rate it satisfied the
pioneer's need for the power process.
58. It would be possible to give other examples of societies in which
there has been rapid change and/or lack of close community ties
without he kind of massive behavioral aberration that is seen in
today's industrial society. We contend that the most important cause
of social and psychological problems in modern society is the fact
that people have insufficient opportunity to go through the power
process in a normal way. We don't mean to say that modern society is
the only one in which the power process has been disrupted. Probably
most if not all civilized societies have interfered with the power '
process to a greater or lesser extent. But in modern industrial
society the problem has become particularly acute. Leftism, at least
in its recent (mid-to-late -20th century) form, is in part a symptom
of deprivation with respect to the power process.
DISRUPTION OF THE POWER PROCESS IN MODERN SOCIETY
59. We divide human drives into three groups: (1) those drives that
can be satisfied with minimal effort; (2) those that can be satisfied
but only at the cost of serious effort; (3) those that cannot be
adequately satisfied no matter how much effort one makes. The power
process is the process of satisfying the drives of the second group.
The more drives there are in the third group, the more there is
frustration, anger, eventually defeatism, depression, etc.
60. In modern industrial society natural human drives tend to be
pushed into the first and third groups, and the second group tends to
consist increasingly of artificially created drives.
61. In primitive societies, physical necessities generally fall into
group 2: They can be obtained, but only at the cost of serious effort.
But modern society tends to guaranty the physical necessities to
everyone [9] in exchange for only minimal effort, hence physical needs
are pushed into group 1. (There may be disagreement about whether the
effort needed to hold a job is "minimal"; but usually, in lower- to
middle-level jobs, whatever effort is required is merely that of
obedience. You sit or stand where you are told to sit or stand and do
what you are told to do in the way you are told to do it. Seldom do
you have to exert yourself seriously, and in any case you have hardly
any autonomy in work, so that the need for the power process is not
well served.)
62. Social needs, such as sex, love and status, often remain in group
2 in modern society, depending on the situation of the individual.
[10] But, except for people who have a particularly strong drive for
status, the effort required to fulfill the social drives is
insufficient to satisfy adequately the need for the power process.
63. So certain artificial needs have been created that fall into group
2, hence serve the need for the power process. Advertising and
marketing techniques have been developed that make many people feel
they need things that their grandparents never desired or even dreamed
of. It requires serious effort to earn enough money to satisfy these
artificial needs, hence they fall into group 2. (But see paragraphs
80-82.) Modern man must satisfy his need for the power process largely
through pursuit of the artificial needs created by the advertising and
marketing industry [11], and through surrogate activities.
64. It seems that for many people, maybe the majority, these
artificial forms of the power process are insufficient. A theme that
appears repeatedly in the writings of the social critics of the second
half of the 20th century is the sense of purposelessness that afflicts
many people in modern society. (This purposelessness is often called
by other names such as "anomic" or "middle-class vacuity.") We suggest
that the so-called "identity crisis" is actually a search for a sense
of purpose, often for commitment to a suitable surrogate activity. It
may be that existentialism is in large part a response to the
purposelessness of modern life. [12] Very widespread in modern society
is the search for "fulfillment." But we think that for the majority of
people an activity whose main goal is fulfillment (that is, a
surrogate activity) does not bring completely satisfactory
fulfillment. In other words, it does not fully satisfy the need for
the power process. (See paragraph 41.) That need can be fully
satisfied only through activities that have some external goal, such
as physical necessities, sex, love, status, revenge, etc.
65. Moreover, where goals are pursued through earning money, climbing
the status ladder or functioning as part of the system in some other
way, most people are not in a position to pursue their goals
AUTONOMOUSLY. Most workers are someone else's employee as, as we
pointed out in paragraph 61, must spend their days doing what they are
told to do in the way they are told to do it. Even most people who are
in business for themselves have only limited autonomy. It is a chronic
complaint of small-business persons and entrepreneurs that their hands
are tied by excessive government regulation. Some of these regulations
are doubtless unnecessary, but for the most part government
regulations are essential and inevitable parts of our extremely
complex society. A large portion of small business today operates on
the franchise system. It was reported in the Wall Street Journal a few
years ago that many of the franchise-granting companies require
applicants for franchises to take a personality test that is designed
to EXCLUDE those who have creativity and initiative, because such
persons are not sufficiently docile to go along obediently with the
franchise system. This excludes from small business many of the people
who most need autonomy.
66. Today people live more by virtue of what the system does FOR them
or TO them than by virtue of what they do for themselves. And what
they do for themselves is done more and more along channels laid down
by the system. Opportunities tend to be those that the system
provides, the opportunities must be exploited in accord with the rules
and regulations [13], and techniques prescribed by experts must be
followed if there is to be a chance of success.
67. Thus the power process is disrupted in our society through a
deficiency of real goals and a deficiency of autonomy in pursuit of
goals. But it is also disrupted because of those human drives that
fall into group 3: the drives that one cannot adequately satisfy no
matter how much effort one makes. One of these drives is the need for
security. Our lives depend on decisions made by other people; we have
no control over these decisions and usually we do not even know the
people who make them. ("We live in a world in which relatively few
people - maybe 500 or 1,00 - make the important decisions" - Philip B.
Heymann of Harvard Law School, quoted by Anthony Lewis, New York
Times, April 21, 1995.) Our lives depend on whether safety standards
at a nuclear power plant are properly maintained; on how much
pesticide is allowed to get into our food or how much pollution into
our air; on how skillful (or incompetent) our doctor is; whether we
lose or get a job may depend on decisions made by government
economists or corporation executives; and so forth. Most individuals
are not in a position to secure themselves against these threats to
more [than] a very limited extent. The individual's search for
security is therefore frustrated, which leads to a sense of
powerlessness.
68. It may be objected that primitive man is physically less secure
than modern man, as is shown by his shorter life expectancy; hence
modern man suffers from less, not more than the amount of insecurity
that is normal for human beings. but psychological security does not
closely correspond with physical security. What makes us FEEL secure
is not so much objective security as a sense of confidence in our
ability to take care of ourselves. Primitive man, threatened by a
fierce animal or by hunger, can fight in self-defense or travel in
search of food. He has no certainty of success in these efforts, but
he is by no means helpless against the things that threaten him. The
modern individual on the other hand is threatened by many things
against which he is helpless; nuclear accidents, carcinogens in food,
environmental pollution, war, increasing taxes, invasion of his
privacy by large organizations, nation-wide social or economic
phenomena that may disrupt his way of life.
69. It is true that primitive man is powerless against some of the
things that threaten him; disease for example. But he can accept the
risk of disease stoically. It is part of the nature of things, it is
no one's fault, unless is the fault of some imaginary, impersonal
demon. But threats to the modern individual tend to be MAN-MADE. They
are not the results of chance but are IMPOSED on him by other persons
whose decisions he, as an individual, is unable to influence.
Consequently he feels frustrated, humiliated and angry.
70. Thus primitive man for the most part has his security in his own
hands (either as an individual or as a member of a SMALL group)
whereas the security of modern man is in the hands of persons or
organizations that are too remote or too large for him to be able
personally to influence them. So modern man's drive for security tends
to fall into groups 1 and 3; in some areas (food, shelter, etc.) his
security is assured at the cost of only trivial effort, whereas in
other areas he CANNOT attain security. (The foregoing greatly
simplifies the real situation, but it does indicate in a rough,
general way how the condition of modern man differs from that of
primitive man.)
71. People have many transitory drives or impulses that are necessary
frustrated in modern life, hence fall into group 3. One may become
angry, but modern society cannot permit fighting. In many situations
it does not even permit verbal aggression. When going somewhere one
may be in a hurry, or one may be in a mood to travel slowly, but one
generally has no choice but to move with the flow of traffic and obey
the traffic signals. One may want to do one's work in a different way,
but usually one can work only according to the rules laid down by
one's employer. In many other ways as well, modern man is strapped
down by a network of rules and regulations (explicit or implicit) that
frustrate many of his impulses and thus interfere with the power
process. Most of these regulations cannot be disposed with, because
the are necessary for the functioning of industrial society.
72. Modern society is in certain respects extremely permissive. In
matters that are irrelevant to the functioning of the system we can
generally do what we please. We can believe in any religion we like
(as long as it does not encourage behavior that is dangerous to the
system). We can go to bed with anyone we like (as long as we practice
"safe sex"). We can do anything we like as long as it is UNIMPORTANT.
But in all IMPORTANT matters the system tends increasingly to regulate
our behavior.
73. Behavior is regulated not only through explicit rules and not only
by the government. Control is often exercised through indirect
coercion or through psychological pressure or manipulation, and by
organizations other than the government, or by the system as a whole.
Most large organizations use some form of propaganda [14] to
manipulate public attitudes or behavior. Propaganda is not limited to
"commercials" and advertisements, and sometimes it is not even
consciously intended as propaganda by the people who make it. For
instance, the content of entertainment programming is a powerful form
of propaganda. An example of indirect coercion: There is no law that
says we have to go to work every day and follow our employer's orders.
Legally there is nothing to prevent us from going to live in the wild
like primitive people or from going into business for ourselves. But
in practice there is very little wild country left, and there is room
in the economy for only a limited number of small business owners.
Hence most of us can survive only as someone else's employee.
74. We suggest that modern man's obsession with longevity, and with
maintaining physical vigor and sexual attractiveness to an advanced
age, is a symptom of unfulfillment resulting from deprivation with
respect to the power process. The "mid-life crisis" also is such a
symptom. So is the lack of interest in having children that is fairly
common in modern society but almost unheard-of in primitive societies.
75. In primitive societies life is a succession of stages. The needs
and purposes of one stage having been fulfilled, there is no
particular reluctance about passing on to the next stage. A young man
goes through the power process by becoming a hunter, hunting not for
sport or for fulfillment but to get meat that is necessary for food.
(In young women the process is more complex, with greater emphasis on
social power; we won't discuss that here.) This phase having been
successfully passed through, the young man has no reluctance about
settling down to the responsibilities of raising a family. (In
contrast, some modern people indefinitely postpone having children
because they are too busy seeking some kind of "fulfillment." We
suggest that the fulfillment they need is adequate experience of the
power process -- with real goals instead of the artificial goals of
surrogate activities.) Again, having successfully raised his children,
going through the power process by providing them with the physical
necessities, the primitive man feels that his work is done and he is
prepared to accept old age (if he survives that long) and death. Many
modern people, on the other hand, are disturbed by the prospect of
death, as is shown by the amount of effort they expend trying to
maintain their physical condition, appearance and health. We argue
that this is due to unfulfillment resulting from the fact that they
have never put their physical powers to any use, have never gone
through the power process using their bodies in a serious way. It is
not the primitive man, who has used his body daily for practical
purposes, who fears the deterioration of age, but the modern man, who
has never had a practical use for his body beyond walking from his car
to his house. It is the man whose need for the power process has been
satisfied during his life who is best prepared to accept the end of
that life.
76. In response to the arguments of this section someone will say,
"Society must find a way to give people the opportunity to go through
the power process." For such people the value of the opportunity is
destroyed by the very fact that society gives it to them. What they
need is to find or make their own opportunities. As long as the system
GIVES them their opportunities it still has them on a leash. To attain
autonomy they must get off that leash.
HOW SOME PEOPLE ADJUST
77. Not everyone in industrial-technological society suffers from
psychological problems. Some people even profess to be quite satisfied
with society as it is. We now discuss some of the reasons why people
differ so greatly in their response to modern society.
78. First, there doubtless are differences in the strength of the
drive for power. Individuals with a weak drive for power may have
relatively little need to go through the power process, or at least
relatively little need for autonomy in the power process. These are
docile types who would have been happy as plantation darkies in the
Old South. (We don't mean to sneer at "plantation darkies" of the Old
South. To their credit, most of the slaves were NOT content with their
servitude. We do sneer at people who ARE content with servitude.)
79. Some people may have some exceptional drive, in pursuing which
they satisfy their need for the power process. For example, those who
have an unusually strong drive for social status may spend their whole
lives climbing the status ladder without ever getting bored with that
game.
80. People vary in their susceptibility to advertising and marketing
techniques. Some people are so susceptible that, even if they make a
great deal of money, they cannot satisfy their constant craving for
the shiny new toys that the marketing industry dangles before their
eyes. So they always feel hard-pressed financially even if their
income is large, and their cravings are frustrated.
81. Some people have low susceptibility to advertising and marketing
techniques. These are the people who aren't interested in money.
Material acquisition does not serve their need for the power process.
82. People who have medium susceptibility to advertising and marketing
techniques are able to earn enough money to satisfy their craving for
goods and services, but only at the cost of serious effort (putting in
overtime, taking a second job, earning promotions, etc.) Thus material
acquisition serves their need for the power process. But it does not
necessarily follow that their need is fully satisfied. They may have
insufficient autonomy in the power process (their work may consist of
following orders) and some of their drives may be frustrated (e.g.,
security, aggression). (We are guilty of oversimplification in
paragraphs 80-82 because we have assumed that the desire for material
acquisition is entirely a creation of the advertising and marketing
industry. Of course it's not that simple.
83. Some people partly satisfy their need for power by identifying
themselves with a powerful organization or mass movement. An
individual lacking goals or power joins a movement or an organization,
adopts its goals as his own, then works toward these goals. When some
of the goals are attained, the individual, even though his personal
efforts have played only an insignificant part in the attainment of
the goals, feels (through his identification with the movement or
organization) as if he had gone through the power process. This
phenomenon was exploited by the fascists, nazis and communists. Our
society uses it, too, though less crudely. Example: Manuel Noriega was
an irritant to the U.S. (goal: punish Noriega). The U.S. invaded
Panama (effort) and punished Noriega (attainment of goal). The U.S.
went through the power process and many Americans, because of their
identification with the U.S., experienced the power process
vicariously. Hence the widespread public approval of the Panama
invasion; it gave people a sense of power. [15] We see the same
phenomenon in armies, corporations, political parties, humanitarian
organizations, religious or ideological movements. In particular,
leftist movements tend to attract people who are seeking to satisfy
their need for power. But for most people identification with a large
organization or a mass movement does not fully satisfy the need for
power.
84. Another way in which people satisfy their need for the power
process is through surrogate activities. As we explained in paragraphs
38-40, a surrogate activity that is directed toward an artificial goal
that the individual pursues for the sake of the "fulfillment" that he
gets from pursuing the goal, not because he needs to attain the goal
itself. For instance, there is no practical motive for building
enormous muscles, hitting a little ball into a hole or acquiring a
complete series of postage stamps. Yet many people in our society
devote themselves with passion to bodybuilding, golf or stamp
collecting. Some people are more "other-directed" than others, and
therefore will more readily attack importance to a surrogate activity
simply because the people around them treat it as important or because
society tells them it is important. That is why some people get very
serious about essentially trivial activities such as sports, or
bridge, or chess, or arcane scholarly pursuits, whereas others who are
more clear-sighted never see these things as anything but the
surrogate activities that they are, and consequently never attach
enough importance to them to satisfy their need for the power process
in that way. It only remains to point out that in many cases a
person's way of earning a living is also a surrogate activity. Not a
PURE surrogate activity, since part of the motive for the activity is
to gain the physical necessities and (for some people) social status
and the luxuries that advertising makes them want. But many people put
into their work far more effort than is necessary to earn whatever
money and status they require, and this extra effort constitutes a
surrogate activity. This extra effort, together with the emotional
investment that accompanies it, is one of the most potent forces
acting toward the continual development and perfecting of the system,
with negative consequences for individual freedom (see paragraph 131).
Especially, for the most creative scientists and engineers, work tends
to be largely a surrogate activity. This point is so important that is
deserves a separate discussion, which we shall give in a moment
(paragraphs 87-92).
85. In this section we have explained how many people in modern
society do satisfy their need for the power process to a greater or
lesser extent. But we think that for the majority of people the need
for the power process is not fully satisfied. In the first place,
those who have an insatiable drive for status, or who get firmly
"hooked" or a surrogate activity, or who identify strongly enough with
a movement or organization to satisfy their need for power in that
way, are exceptional personalities. Others are not fully satisfied
with surrogate activities or by identification with an organization
(see paragraphs 41, 64). In the second place, too much control is
imposed by the system through explicit regulation or through
socialization, which results in a deficiency of autonomy, and in
frustration due to the impossibility of attaining certain goals and
the necessity of restraining too many impulses.
86. But even if most people in industrial-technological society were
well satisfied, we (FC) would still be opposed to that form of
society, because (among other reasons) we consider it demeaning to
fulfill one's need for the power process through surrogate activities
or through identification with an organization, rather then through
pursuit of real goals.
THE MOTIVES OF SCIENTISTS
87. Science and technology provide the most important examples of
surrogate activities. Some scientists claim that they are motivated by
"curiosity," that notion is simply absurd. Most scientists work on
highly specialized problem that are not the object of any normal
curiosity. For example, is an astronomer, a mathematician or an
entomologist curious about the properties of
isopropyltrimethylmethane? Of course not. Only a chemist is curious
about such a thing, and he is curious about it only because chemistry
is his surrogate activity. Is the chemist curious about the
appropriate classification of a new species of beetle? No. That
question is of interest only to the entomologist, and he is interested
in it only because entomology is his surrogate activity. If the
chemist and the entomologist had to exert themselves seriously to
obtain the physical necessities, and if that effort exercised their
abilities in an interesting way but in some nonscientific pursuit,
then they couldn't giver a damn about isopropyltrimethylmethane or the
classification of beetles. Suppose that lack of funds for postgraduate
education had led the chemist to become an insurance broker instead of
a chemist. In that case he would have been very interested in
insurance matters but would have cared nothing about
isopropyltrimethylmethane. In any case it is not normal to put into
the satisfaction of mere curiosity the amount of time and effort that
scientists put into their work. The "curiosity" explanation for the
scientists' motive just doesn't stand up.
88. The "benefit of humanity" explanation doesn't work any better.
Some scientific work has no conceivable relation to the welfare of the
human race - most of archaeology or comparative linguistics for
example. Some other areas of science present obviously dangerous
possibilities. Yet scientists in these areas are just as enthusiastic
about their work as those who develop vaccines or study air pollution.
Consider the case of Dr. Edward Teller, who had an obvious emotional
involvement in promoting nuclear power plants. Did this involvement
stem from a desire to benefit humanity? If so, then why didn't Dr.
Teller get emotional about other "humanitarian" causes? If he was such
a humanitarian then why did he help to develop the H-bomb? As with
many other scientific achievements, it is very much open to question
whether nuclear power plants actually do benefit humanity. Does the
cheap electricity outweigh the accumulating waste and risk of
accidents? Dr. Teller saw only one side of the question. Clearly his
emotional involvement with nuclear power arose not from a desire to
"benefit humanity" but from a personal fulfillment he got from his
work and from seeing it put to practical use.
89. The same is true of scientists generally. With possible rare
exceptions, their motive is neither curiosity nor a desire to benefit
humanity but the need to go through the power process: to have a goal
(a scientific problem to solve), to make an effort (research) and to
attain the goal (solution of the problem.) Science is a surrogate
activity because scientists work mainly for the fulfillment they get
out of the work itself.
90. Of course, it's not that simple. Other motives do play a role for
many scientists. Money and status for example. Some scientists may be
persons of the type who have an insatiable drive for status (see
paragraph 79) and this may provide much of the motivation for their
work. No doubt the majority of scientists, like the majority of the
general population, are more or less susceptible to advertising and
marketing techniques and need money to satisfy their craving for goods
and services. Thus science is not a PURE surrogate activity. But it is
in large part a surrogate activity.
91. Also, science and technology constitute a mass power movement, and
many scientists gratify their need for power through identification
with this mass movement (see paragraph 83).
92. Thus science marches on blindly, without regard to the real
welfare of the human race or to any other standard, obedient only to
the psychological needs of the scientists and of the government
officials and corporation executives who provide the funds for
research.
THE NATURE OF FREEDOM
93. We are going to argue that industrial-technological society cannot
be reformed in such a way as to prevent it from progressively
narrowing the sphere of human freedom. But because "freedom" is a word
that can be interpreted in many ways, we must first make clear what
kind of freedom we are concerned with.
94. By "freedom" we mean the opportunity to go through the power
process, with real goals not the artificial goals of surrogate
activities, and without interference, manipulation or supervision from
anyone, especially from any large organization. Freedom means being in
control (either as an individual or as a member of a SMALL group) of
the life-and-death issues of one's existence; food, clothing, shelter
and defense against whatever threats there may be in one's
environment. Freedom means having power; not the power to control
other people but the power to control the circumstances of one's own
life. One does not have freedom if anyone else (especially a large
organization) has power over one, no matter how benevolently,
tolerantly and permissively that power may be exercised. It is
important not to confuse freedom with mere permissiveness (see
paragraph 72).
95. It is said that we live in a free society because we have a
certain number of constitutionally guaranteed rights. But these are
not as important as they seem. The degree of personal freedom that
exists in a society is determined more by the economic and
technological structure of the society than by its laws or its form of
government. [16] Most of the Indian nations of New England were
monarchies, and many of the cities of the Italian Renaissance were
controlled by dictators. But in reading about these societies one gets
the impression that they allowed far more personal freedom than out
society does. In part this was because they lacked efficient
mechanisms for enforcing the ruler's will: There were no modern,
well-organized police forces, no rapid long-distance communications,
no surveillance cameras, no dossiers of information about the lives of
average citizens. Hence it was relatively easy to evade control.
96. As for our constitutional rights, consider for example that of
freedom of the press. We certainly don't mean to knock that right: it
is very important tool for limiting concentration of political power
and for keeping those who do have political power in line by publicly
exposing any misbehavior on their part. But freedom of the press is of
very little use to the average citizen as an individual. The mass
media are mostly under the control of large organizations that are
integrated into the system. Anyone who has a little money can have
something printed, or can distribute it on the Internet or in some
such way, but what he has to say will be swamped by the vast volume of
material put out by the media, hence it will have no practical effect.
To make an impression on society with words is therefore almost
impossible for most individuals and small groups. Take us (FC) for
example. If we had never done anything violent and had submitted the
present writings to a publisher, they probably would not have been
accepted. If they had been accepted and published, they probably would
not have attracted many readers, because it's more fun to watch the
entertainment put out by the media than to read a sober essay. Even if
these writings had had many readers, most of these readers would soon
have forgotten what they had read as their minds were flooded by the
mass of material to which the media expose them. In order to get our
message before the public with some chance of making a lasting
impression, we've had to kill people.
97. Constitutional rights are useful up to a point, but they do not
serve to guarantee much more than what could be called the bourgeois
conception of freedom. According to the bourgeois conception, a "free"
man is essentially an element of a social machine and has only a
certain set of prescribed and delimited freedoms; freedoms that are
designed to serve the needs of the social machine more than those of
the individual. Thus the bourgeois's "free" man has economic freedom
because that promotes growth and progress; he has freedom of the press
because public criticism restrains misbehavior by political leaders;
he has a rights to a fair trial because imprisonment at the whim of
the powerful would be bad for the system. This was clearly the
attitude of Simon Bolivar. To him, people deserved liberty only if
they used it to promote progress (progress as conceived by the
bourgeois). Other bourgeois thinkers have taken a similar view of
freedom as a mere means to collective ends. Chester C. Tan, "Chinese
Political Thought in the Twentieth Century," page 202, explains the
philosophy of the Kuomintang leader Hu Han-min: "An individual is
granted rights because he is a member of society and his community
life requires such rights. By community Hu meant the whole society of
the nation." And on page 259 Tan states that according to Carsum Chang
(Chang Chun-mai, head of the State Socialist Party in China) freedom
had to be used in the interest of the state and of the people as a
whole. But what kind of freedom does one have if one can use it only
as someone else prescribes? FC's conception of freedom is not that of
Bolivar, Hu, Chang or other bourgeois theorists. The trouble with such
theorists is that they have made the development and application of
social theories their surrogate activity. Consequently the theories
are designed to serve the needs of the theorists more than the needs
of any people who may be unlucky enough to live in a society on which
the theories are imposed.
98. One more point to be made in this section: It should not be
assumed that a person has enough freedom just because he SAYS he has
enough. Freedom is restricted in part by psychological control of
which people are unconscious, and moreover many people's ideas of what
constitutes freedom are governed more by social convention than by
their real needs. For example, it's likely that many leftists of the
oversocialized type would say that most people, including themselves
are socialized too little rather than too much, yet the oversocialized
leftist pays a heavy psychological price for his high level of
socialization.
SOME PRINCIPLES OF HISTORY
99. Think of history as being the sum of two components: an erratic
component that consists of unpredictable events that follow no
discernible pattern, and a regular component that consists of
long-term historical trends. Here we are concerned with the long-term
trends.
100. FIRST PRINCIPLE. If a SMALL change is made that affects a
long-term historical trend, then the effect of that change will almost
always be transitory - the trend will soon revert to its original
state. (Example: A reform movement designed to clean up political
corruption in a society rarely has more than a short-term effect;
sooner or later the reformers relax and corruption creeps back in. The
level of political corruption in a given society tends to remain
constant, or to change only slowly with the evolution of the society.
Normally, a political cleanup will be permanent only if accompanied by
widespread social changes; a SMALL change in the society won't be
enough.) If a small change in a long-term historical trend appears to
be permanent, it is only because the change acts in the direction in
which the trend is already moving, so that the trend is not altered
but only pushed a step ahead.
101. The first principle is almost a tautology. If a trend were not
stable with respect to small changes, it would wander at random rather
than following a definite direction; in other words it would not be a
long-term trend at all.
102. SECOND PRINCIPLE. If a change is made that is sufficiently large
to alter permanently a long-term historical trend, than it will alter
the society as a whole. In other words, a society is a system in which
all parts are interrelated, and you can't permanently change any
important part without change all the other parts as well.
103. THIRD PRINCIPLE. If a change is made that is large enough to
alter permanently a long-term trend, then the consequences for the
society as a whole cannot be predicted in advance. (Unless various
other societies have passed through the same change and have all
experienced the same consequences, in which case one can predict on
empirical grounds that another society that passes through the same
change will be like to experience similar consequences.)
104. FOURTH PRINCIPLE. A new kind of society cannot be designed on
paper. That is, you cannot plan out a new form of society in advance,
then set it up and expect it to function as it was designed to.
105. The third and fourth principles result from the complexity of
human societies. A change in human behavior will affect the economy of
a society and its physical environment; the economy will affect the
environment and vice versa, and the changes in the economy and the
environment will affect human behavior in complex, unpredictable ways;
and so forth. The network of causes and effects is far too complex to
be untangled and understood.
106. FIFTH PRINCIPLE. People do not consciously and rationally choose
the form of their society. Societies develop through processes of
social evolution that are not under rational human control.
107. The fifth principle is a consequence of the other four.
108. To illustrate: By the first principle, generally speaking an
attempt at social reform either acts in the direction in which the
society is developing anyway (so that it merely accelerates a change
that would have occurred in any case) or else it only has a transitory
effect, so that the society soon slips back into its old groove. To
make a lasting change in the direction of development of any important
aspect of a society, reform is insufficient and revolution is
required. (A revolution does not necessarily involve an armed uprising
or the overthrow of a government.) By the second principle, a
revolution never changes only one aspect of a society; and by the
third principle changes occur that were never expected or desired by
the revolutionaries. By the fourth principle, when revolutionaries or
utopians set up a new kind of society, it never works out as planned.
109. The American Revolution does not provide a counterexample. The
American "Revolution" was not a revolution in our sense of the word,
but a war of independence followed by a rather far-reaching political
reform. The Founding Fathers did not change the direction of
development of American society, nor did they aspire to do so. They
only freed the development of American society from the retarding
effect of British rule. Their political reform did not change any
basic trend, but only pushed American political culture along its
natural direction of development. British society, of which American
society was an off-shoot, had been moving for a long time in the
direction of representative democracy. And prior to the War of
Independence the Americans were already practicing a significant
degree of representative democracy in the colonial assemblies. The
political system established by the Constitution was modeled on the
British system and on the colonial assemblies. With major alteration,
to be sure - there is no doubt that the Founding Fathers took a very
important step. But it was a step along the road the English-speaking
world was already traveling. The proof is that Britain and all of its
colonies that were populated predominantly by people of British
descent ended up with systems of representative democracy essentially
similar to that of the United States. If the Founding Fathers had lost
their nerve and declined to sign the Declaration of Independence, our
way of life today would not have been significantly different. Maybe
we would have had somewhat closer ties to Britain, and would have had
a Parliament and Prime Minister instead of a Congress and President.
No big deal. Thus the American Revolution provides not a
counterexample to our principles but a good illustration of them.
110. Still, one has to use common sense in applying the principles.
They are expressed in imprecise language that allows latitude for
interpretation, and exceptions to them can be found. So we present
these principles not as inviolable laws but as rules of thumb, or
guides to thinking, that may provide a partial antidote to naive ideas
about the future of society. The principles should be borne constantly
in mind, and whenever one reaches a conclusion that conflicts with
them one should carefully reexamine one's thinking and retain the
conclusion only if one has good, solid reasons for doing so.
INDUSTRIAL-TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY CANNOT BE REFORMED
111. The foregoing principles help to show how hopelessly difficult it
would be to reform the industrial system in such a way as to prevent
it from progressively narrowing our sphere of freedom. There has been
a consistent tendency, going back at least to the Industrial
Revolution for technology to strengthen the system at a high cost in
individual freedom and local autonomy. Hence any change designed to
protect freedom from technology would be contrary to a fundamental
trend in the development of our society.
Consequently, such a change either would be a transitory one -- soon
swamped by the tide of history -- or, if large enough to be permanent
would alter the nature of our whole society. This by the first and
second principles. Moreover, since society would be altered in a way
that could not be predicted in advance (third principle) there would
be great risk. Changes large enough to make a lasting difference in
favor of freedom would not be initiated because it would realized that
they would gravely disrupt the system. So any attempts at reform would
be too timid to be effective. Even if changes large enough to make a
lasting difference were initiated, they would be retracted when their
disruptive effects became apparent. Thus, permanent changes in favor
of freedom could be brought about only by persons prepared to accept
radical, dangerous and unpredictable alteration of the entire system.
In other words, by revolutionaries, not reformers.
112. People anxious to rescue freedom without sacrificing the supposed
benefits of technology will suggest naive schemes for some new form of
society that would reconcile freedom with technology. Apart from the
fact that people who make suggestions seldom propose any practical
means by which the new form of society could be set up in the first
place, it follows from the fourth principle that even if the new form
of society could be once established, it either would collapse or
would give results very different from those expected.
113. So even on very general grounds it seems highly improbably that
any way of changing society could be found that would reconcile
freedom with modern technology. In the next few sections we will give
more specific reasons for concluding that freedom and technological
progress are incompatible.
RESTRICTION OF FREEDOM IS UNAVOIDABLE IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY
114. As explained in paragraph 65-67, 70-73, modern man is strapped
down by a network of rules and regulations, and his fate depends on
the actions of persons remote from him whose decisions he cannot
influence. This is not accidental or a result of the arbitrariness of
arrogant bureaucrats. It is necessary and inevitable in any
technologically advanced society. The system HAS TO regulate human
behavior closely in order to function. At work, people have to do what
they are told to do, otherwise production would be thrown into chaos.
Bureaucracies HAVE TO be run according to rigid rules. To allow any
substantial personal discretion to lower-level bureaucrats would
disrupt the system and lead to charges of unfairness due to
differences in the way individual bureaucrats exercised their
discretion. It is true that some restrictions on our freedom could be
eliminated, but GENERALLY SPEAKING the regulation of our lives by
large organizations is necessary for the functioning of
industrial-technological society. The result is a sense of
powerlessness on the part of the average person. It may be, however,
that formal regulations will tend increasingly to be replaced by
psychological tools that make us want to do what the system requires
of us. (Propaganda [14], educational techniques, "mental health"
programs, etc.)
115. The system HAS TO force people to behave in ways that are
increasingly remote from the natural pattern of human behavior. For
example, the system needs scientists, mathematicians and engineers. It
can't function without them. So heavy pressure is put on children to
excel in these fields. It isn't natural for an adolescent human being
to spend the bulk of his time sitting at a desk absorbed in study. A
normal adolescent wants to spend his time in active contact with the
real world. Among primitive peoples the things that children are
trained to do are in natural harmony with natural human impulses.
Among the American Indians, for example, boys were trained in active
outdoor pursuits -- just the sort of things that boys like. But in our
society children are pushed into studying technical subjects, which
most do grudgingly.
116. Because of the constant pressure that the system exerts to modify
human behavior, there is a gradual increase in the number of people
who cannot or will not adjust to society's requirements: welfare
leeches, youth-gang members, cultists, anti-government rebels, radical
environmentalist saboteurs, dropouts and resisters of various kinds.
117. In any technologically advanced society the individual's fate
MUST depend on decisions that he personally cannot influence to any
great extent. A technological society cannot be broken down into
small, autonomous communities, because production depends on the
cooperation of very large numbers of people and machines. Such a
society MUST be highly organized and decisions HAVE TO be made that
affect very large numbers of people. When a decision affects, say, a
million people, then each of the affected individuals has, on the
average, only a one-millionth share in making the decision. What
usually happens in practice is that decisions are made by public
officials or corporation executives, or by technical specialists, but
even when the public votes on a decision the number of voters
ordinarily is too large for the vote of any one individual to be
significant. [17] Thus most individuals are unable to influence
measurably the major decisions that affect their lives. Their is no
conceivable way to remedy this in a technologically advanced society.
The system tries to "solve" this problem by using propaganda to make
people WANT the decisions that have been made for them, but even if
this "solution" were completely successful in making people feel
better, it would be demeaning.
118 Conservatives and some others advocate more "local autonomy."
Local communities once did have autonomy, but such autonomy becomes
less and less possible as local communities become more enmeshed with
and dependent on large-scale systems like public utilities, computer
networks, highway systems, the mass communications media, the modern
health care system. Also operating against autonomy is the fact that
technology applied in one location often affects people at other
locations far away. Thus pesticide or chemical use near a creek may
contaminate the water supply hundreds of miles downstream, and the
greenhouse effect affects the whole world.
119. The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs.
Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs
of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social
ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the
fault of technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but
by technical necessity. [18] Of course the system does satisfy many
human needs, but generally speaking it does this only to the extent
that it is to the advantage of the system to do it. It is the needs of
the system that are paramount, not those of the human being. For
example, the system provides people with food because the system
couldn't function if everyone starved; it attends to people's
psychological needs whenever it can CONVENIENTLY do so, because it
couldn't function if too many people became depressed or rebellious.
But the system, for good, solid, practical reasons, must exert
constant pressure on people to mold their behavior to the needs of the
system. Too much waste accumulating? The government, the media, the
educational system, environmentalists, everyone inundates us with a
mass of propaganda about recycling. Need more technical personnel? A
chorus of voices exhorts kids to study science. No one stops to ask
whether it is inhumane to force adolescents to spend the bulk of their
time studying subjects most of them hate. When skilled workers are put
out of a job by technical advances and have to undergo "retraining,"
no one asks whether it is humiliating for them to be pushed around in
this way. It is simply taken for granted that everyone must bow to
technical necessity and for good reason: If human needs were put
before technical necessity there would be economic problems,
unemployment, shortages or worse. The concept of "mental health" in
our society is defined largely by the extent to which an individual
behaves in accord with the needs of the system and does so without
showing signs of stress.
120. Efforts to make room for a sense of purpose and for autonomy
within the system are no better than a joke. For example, one company,
instead of having each of its employees assemble only one section of a
catalogue, had each assemble a whole catalogue, and this was supposed
to give them a sense of purpose and achievement. Some companies have
tried to give their employees more autonomy in their work, but for
practical reasons this usually can be done only to a very limited
extent, and in any case employees are never given autonomy as to
ultimate goals -- their "autonomous" efforts can never be directed
toward goals that they select personally, but only toward their
employer's goals, such as the survival and growth of the company. Any
company would soon go out of business if it permitted its employees to
act otherwise. Similarly, in any enterprise within a socialist system,
workers must direct their efforts toward the goals of the enterprise,
otherwise the enterprise will not serve its purpose as part of the
system. Once again, for purely technical reasons it is not possible
for most individuals or small groups to have much autonomy in
industrial society. Even the small-business owner commonly has only
limited autonomy. Apart from the necessity of government regulation,
he is restricted by the fact that he must fit into the economic system
and conform to its requirements. For instance, when someone develops a
new technology, the small-business person often has to use that
technology whether he wants to or not, in order to remain competitive.
THE 'BAD' PARTS OF TECHNOLOGY CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM THE 'GOOD' PARTS
121. A further reason why industrial society cannot be reformed in
favor of freedom is that modern technology is a unified system in
which all parts are dependent on one another. You can't get rid of the
"bad" parts of technology and retain only the "good" parts. Take
modern medicine, for example. Progress in medical science depends on
progress in chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and other
fields. Advanced medical treatments require expensive, high-tech
equipment that can be made available only by a technologically
progressive, economically rich society. Clearly you can't have much
progress in medicine without the whole technological system and
everything that goes with it.
122. Even if medical progress could be maintained without the rest of
the technological system, it would by itself bring certain evils.
Suppose for example that a cure for diabetes is discovered. People
with a genetic tendency to diabetes will then be able to survive and
reproduce as well as anyone else. Natural selection against genes for
diabetes will cease and such genes will spread throughout the
population. (This may be occurring to some extent already, since
diabetes, while not curable, can be controlled through the use of
insulin.) The same thing will happen with many other diseases
susceptibility to which is affected by genetic degradation of the
population. The only solution will be some sort of eugenics program or
extensive genetic engineering of human beings, so that man in the
future will no longer be a creation of nature, or of chance, or of God
(depending on your religious or philosophical opinions), but a
manufactured product.
123. If you think that big government interferes in your life too much
NOW, just wait till the government starts regulating the genetic
constitution of your children. Such regulation will inevitably follow
the introduction of genetic engineering of human beings, because the
consequences of unregulated genetic engineering would be disastrous.
[19]
124. The usual response to such concerns is to talk about "medical
ethics." But a code of ethics would not serve to protect freedom in
the face of medical progress; it would only make matters worse. A code
of ethics applicable to genetic engineering would be in effect a means
of regulating the genetic constitution of human beings. Somebody
(probably the upper-middle class, mostly) would decide that such and
such applications of genetic engineering were "ethical" and others
were not, so that in effect they would be imposing their own values on
the genetic constitution of the population at large. Even if a code of
ethics were chosen on a completely democratic basis, the majority
would be imposing their own values on any minorities who might have a
different idea of what constituted an "ethical" use of genetic
engineering. The only code of ethics that would truly protect freedom
would be one that prohibited ANY genetic engineering of human beings,
and you can be sure that no such code will ever be applied in a
technological society. No code that reduced genetic engineering to a
minor role could stand up for long, because the temptation presented
by the immense power of biotechnology would be irresistible,
especially since to the majority of people many of its applications
will seem obviously and unequivocally good (eliminating physical and
mental diseases, giving people the abilities they need to get along in
today's world). Inevitably, genetic engineering will be used
extensively, but only in ways consistent with the needs of the
industrial-technological system. [20]
TECHNOLOGY IS A MORE POWERFUL SOCIAL FORCE THAN THE ASPIRATION FOR FREEDOM
125. It is not possible to make a LASTING compromise between
technology and freedom, because technology is by far the more powerful
social force and continually encroaches on freedom through REPEATED
compromises. Imagine the case of two neighbors, each of whom at the
outset owns the same amount of land, but one of whom is more powerful
than the other. The powerful one demands a piece of the other's land.
The weak one refuses. The powerful one says, "OK, let's compromise.
Give me half of what I asked." The weak one has little choice but to
give in. Some time later the powerful neighbor demands another piece
of land, again there is a compromise, and so forth. By forcing a long
series of compromises on the weaker man, the powerful one eventually
gets all of his land. So it goes in the conflict between technology
and freedom.
126. Let us explain why technology is a more powerful social force
than the aspiration for freedom.
127. A technological advance that appears not to threaten freedom
often turns out to threaten freedom often turns out to threaten it
very seriously later on. For example, consider motorized transport. A
walking man formerly could go where he pleased, go at his own pace
without observing any traffic regulations, and was independent of
technological support-systems. When motor vehicles were introduced
they appeared to increase man's freedom. They took no freedom away
from the walking man, no one had to have an automobile if he didn't
want one, and anyone who did choose to buy an automobile could travel
much faster than the walking man. But the introduction of motorized
transport soon changed society in such a way as to restrict greatly
man's freedom of locomotion. When automobiles became numerous, it
became necessary to regulate their use extensively. In a car,
especially in densely populated areas, one cannot just go where one
likes at one's own pace one's movement is governed by the flow of
traffic and by various traffic laws. One is tied down by various
obligations: license requirements, driver test, renewing registration,
insurance, maintenance required for safety, monthly payments on
purchase price. Moreover, the use of motorized transport is no longer
optional. Since the introduction of motorized transport the
arrangement of our cities has changed in such a way that the majority
of people no longer live within walking distance of their place of
employment, shopping areas and recreational opportunities, so that
they HAVE TO depend on the automobile for transportation. Or else they
must use public transportation, in which case they have even less
control over their own movement than when driving a car. Even the
walker's freedom is now greatly restricted. In the city he continually
has to stop and wait for traffic lights that are designed mainly to
serve auto traffic. In the country, motor traffic makes it dangerous
and unpleasant to walk along the highway. (Note the important point we
have illustrated with the case of motorized transport: When a new item
of technology is introduced as an option that an individual can accept
or not as he chooses, it does not necessarily REMAIN optional. In many
cases the new technology changes society in such a way that people
eventually find themselves FORCED to use it.)
128. While technological progress AS A WHOLE continually narrows our
sphere of freedom, each new technical advance CONSIDERED BY ITSELF
appears to be desirable. Electricity, indoor plumbing, rapid
long-distance communications . . . how could one argue against any of
these things, or against any other of the innumerable technical
advances that have made modern society? It would have been absurd to
resist the introduction of the telephone, for example. It offered many
advantages and no disadvantages. Yet as we explained in paragraphs
59-76, all these technical advances taken together have created world
in which the average man's fate is no longer in his own hands or in
the hands of his neighbors and friends, but in those of politicians,
corporation executives and remote, anonymous technicians and
bureaucrats whom he as an individual has no power to influence. [21]
The same process will continue in the future. Take genetic
engineering, for example. Few people will resist the introduction of a
genetic technique that eliminates a hereditary disease It does no
apparent harm and prevents much suffering. Yet a large number of
genetic improvements taken together will make the human being into an
engineered product rather than a free creation of chance (or of God,
or whatever, depending on your religious beliefs).
129 Another reason why technology is such a powerful social force is
that, within the context of a given society, technological progress
marches in only one direction; it can never be reversed. Once a
technical innovation has been introduced, people usually become
dependent on it, unless it is replaced by some still more advanced
innovation. Not only do people become dependent as individuals on a
new item of technology, but, even more, the system as a whole becomes
dependent on it. (Imagine what would happen to the system today if
computers, for example, were eliminated.) Thus the system can move in
only one direction, toward greater technologization. Technology
repeatedly forces freedom to take a step back -- short of the
overthrow of the whole technological system.
130. Technology advances with great rapidity and threatens freedom at
many different points at the same time (crowding, rules and
regulations, increasing dependence of individuals on large
organizations, propaganda and other psychological techniques, genetic
engineering, invasion of privacy through surveillance devices and
computers, etc.) To hold back any ONE of the threats to freedom would
require a long different social struggle. Those who want to protect
freedom are overwhelmed by the sheer number of new attacks and the
rapidity with which they develop, hence they become pathetic and no
longer resist. To fight each of the threats separately would be
futile. Success can be hoped for only by fighting the technological
system as a whole; but that is revolution not reform.
131. Technicians (we use this term in its broad sense to describe all
those who perform a specialized task that requires training) tend to
be so involved in their work (their surrogate activity) that when a
conflict arises between their technical work and freedom, they almost
always decide in favor of their technical work. This is obvious in the
case of scientists, but it also appears elsewhere: Educators,
humanitarian groups, conservation organizations do not hesitate to use
propaganda or other psychological techniques to help them achieve
their laudable ends. Corporations and government agencies, when they
find it useful, do not hesitate to collect information about
individuals without regard to their privacy. Law enforcement agencies
are frequently inconvenienced by the constitutional rights of suspects
and often of completely innocent persons, and they do whatever they
can do legally (or sometimes illegally) to restrict or circumvent
those rights. Most of these educators, government officials and law
officers believe in freedom, privacy and constitutional rights, but
when these conflict with their work, they usually feel that their work
is more important.
132. It is well known that people generally work better and more
persistently when striving for a reward than when attempting to avoid
a punishment or negative outcome. Scientists and other technicians are
motivated mainly by the rewards they get through their work. But those
who oppose technilogiccal invasions of freedom are working to avoid a
negative outcome, consequently there are a few who work persistently
and well at this discouraging task. If reformers ever achieved a
signal victory that seemed to set up a solid barrier against further
erosion of freedom through technological progress, most would tend to
relax and turn their attention to more agreeable pursuits. But the
scientists would remain busy in their laboratories, and technology as
it progresses would find ways, in spite of any barriers, to exert more
and more control over individuals and make them always more dependent
on the system.
133. No social arrangements, whether laws, institutions, customs or
ethical codes, can provide permanent protection against technology.
History shows that all social arrangements are transitory; they all
change or break down eventually. But technological advances are
permanent within the context of a given civilization. Suppose for
example that it were possible to arrive at some social arrangements
that would prevent genetic engineering from being applied to human
beings, or prevent it from being applied in such a ways as to threaten
freedom and dignity. Still, the technology would remain waiting.
Sooner or later the social arrangement would break down. Probably
sooner, given that pace of change in our society. Then genetic
engineering would begin to invade our sphere of freedom, and this
invasion would be irreversible (short of a breakdown of technological
civilization itself). Any illusions about achieving anything permanent
through social arrangements should be dispelled by what is currently
happening with environmental legislation. A few years ago it seemed
that there were secure legal barriers preventing at least SOME of the
worst forms of environmental degradation. A change in the political
wind, and those barriers begin to crumble.
134. For all of the foregoing reasons, technology is a more powerful
social force than the aspiration for freedom. But this statement
requires an important qualification. It appears that during the next
several decades the industrial-technological system will be undergoing
severe stresses due to economic and environmental problems, and
especially due to problems of human behavior (alienation, rebellion,
hostility, a variety of social and psychological difficulties). We
hope that the stresses through which the system is likely to pass will
cause it to break down, or at least weaken it sufficiently so that a
revolution occurs and is successful, then at that particular moment
the aspiration for freedom will have proved more powerful than
technology.
135. In paragraph 125 we used an analogy of a weak neighbor who is
left destitute by a strong neighbor who takes all his land by forcing
on him a series of compromises. But suppose now that the strong
neighbor gets sick, so that he is unable to defend himself. The weak
neighbor can force the strong one to give him his land back, or he can
kill him. If he lets the strong man survive and only forces him to
give his land back, he is a fool, because when the strong man gets
well he will again take all the land for himself. The only sensible
alternative for the weaker man is to kill the strong one while he has
the chance. In the same way, while the industrial system is sick we
must destroy it. If we compromise with it and let it recover from its
sickness, it will eventually wipe out all of our freedom.
SIMPLER SOCIAL PROBLEMS HAVE PROVED INTRACTABLE
136. If anyone still imagines that it would be possible to reform the
system in such a way as to protect freedom from technology, let him
consider how clumsily and for the most part unsuccessfully our society
has dealt with other social problems that are far more simple and
straightforward. Among other things, the system has failed to stop
environmental degradation, political corruption, drug trafficking or
domestic abuse.
137. Take our environmental problems, for example. Here the conflict
of values is straightforward: economic expedience now versus saving
some of our natural resources for our grandchildren [22] But on this
subject we get only a lot of blather and obfuscation from the people
who have power, and nothing like a clear, consistent line of action,
and we keep on piling up environmental problems that our grandchildren
will have to live with. Attempts to resolve the environmental issue
consist of struggles and compromises between different factions, some
of which are ascendant at one moment, others at another moment. The
line of struggle changes with the shifting currents of public opinion.
This is not a rational process, or is it one that is likely to lead to
a timely and successful solution to the problem. Major social
problems, if they get "solved" at all, are rarely or never solved
through any rational, comprehensive plan. They just work themselves
out through a process in which various competing groups pursing their
own usually short-term) self-interest [23] arrive (mainly by luck) at
some more or less stable modus vivendi. In fact, the principles we
formulated in paragraphs 100-106 make it seem doubtful that rational,
long-term social planning can EVER be successful. 138. Thus it is
clear that the human race has at best a very limited capacity for
solving even relatively straightforward social problems. How then is
it going to solve the far more difficult and subtle problem of
reconciling freedom with technology? Technology presents clear-cut
material advantages, whereas freedom is an abstraction that means
different things to different people, and its loss is easily obscured
by propaganda and fancy talk.
139. And note this important difference: It is conceivable that our
environmental problems (for example) may some day be settled through a
rational, comprehensive plan, but if this happens it will be only
because it is in the long-term interest of the system to solve these
problems. But it is NOT in the interest of the system to preserve
freedom or small-group autonomy. On the contrary, it is in the
interest of the system to bring human behavior under control to the
greatest possible extent. Thus, while practical considerations may
eventually force the system to take a rational, prudent approach to
environmental problems, equally practical considerations will force
the system to regulate human behavior ever more closely (preferably by
indirect means that will disguise the encroachment on freedom.) This
isn't just our opinion. Eminent social scientists (e.g. James Q.
Wilson) have stressed the importance of "socializing" people more
effectively.
REVOLUTION IS EASIER THAN REFORM
140. We hope we have convinced the reader that the system cannot be
reformed in a such a way as to reconcile freedom with technology. The
only way out is to dispense with the industrial-technological system
altogether. This implies revolution, not necessarily an armed
uprising, but certainly a radical and fundamental change in the nature
of society.
141. People tend to assume that because a revolution involves a much
greater change than reform does, it is more difficult to bring about
than reform is. Actually, under certain circumstances revolution is
much easier than reform. The reason is that a revolutionary movement
can inspire an intensity of commitment that a reform movement cannot
inspire. A reform movement merely offers to solve a particular social
problem A revolutionary movement offers to solve all problems at one
stroke and create a whole new world; it provides the kind of ideal for
which people will take great risks and make great sacrifices. For this
reasons it would be much easier to overthrow the whole technological
system than to put effective, permanent restraints on the development
of application of any one segment of technology, such as genetic
engineering, but under suitable conditions large numbers of people may
devote themselves passionately to a revolution against the
industrial-technological system. As we noted in paragraph 132,
reformers seeking to limite certain aspects of technology would be
working to avoid a negative outcome. But revolutionaries work to gain
a powerful reward -- fulfillment of their revolutionary vision -- and
therefore work harder and more persistently than reformers do.
142. Reform is always restrainde by the fear of painful consequences
if changes go too far. But once a revolutionary fever has taken hold
of a society, people are willing to undergo unlimited hardships for
the sake of their revolution. This was clearly shown in the French and
Russian Revolutions. It may be that in such cases only a minority of
the population is really committed to the revolution, but this
minority is sufficiently large and active so that it becomes the
dominant force in society. We will have more to say about revolution
in paragraphs 180-205.
CONTROL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR
143. Since the beginning of civilization, organized societies have had
to put pressures on human beings of the sake of the functioning of the
social organism. The kinds of pressures vary greatly from one society
to another. Some of the pressures are physical (poor diet, excessive
labor, environmental pollution), some are psychological (noise,
crowding, forcing humans behavior into the mold that society
requires). In the past, human nature has been approximately constant,
or at any rate has varied only within certain bounds. Consequently,
societies have been able to push people only up to certain limits.
When the limit of human endurance has been passed, things start going
rong: rebellion, or crime, or corruption, or evasion of work, or
depression and other mental problems, or an elevated death rate, or a
declining birth rate or something else, so that either the society
breaks down, or its functioning becomes too inefficient and it is
(quickly or gradually, through conquest, attrition or evolution)
replaces by some more efficient form of society.
[25]
144. Thus human nature has in the past put certain limits on the
development of societies. People coud be pushed only so far and no
farther. But today this may be changing, because modern technology is
developing way of modifying human beings.
145. Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that amke
them terribley unhappy, then gives them the drugs to take away their
unhappiness. Science fiction? It is already happening to some extent
in our own society. It is well known that the rate of clinical
depression had been greatly increasing in recent decades. We believe
that this is due to disruption fo the power process, as explained in
paragraphs 59-76. But even if we are wrong, the increasing rate of
depression is certainly the result of SOME conditions that exist in
today's society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people
depressed, modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect,
antidepressants area a means of modifying an individual's internal
state in such a way as to enable him to toelrate social conditions
that he would otherwise find intolerable. (Yes, we know that
depression is often of purely genetic origin. We are referring here to
those cases in which environment plays the predominant role.)
146. Drugs that affect the mind are only one example of the methods of
controlling human behavior that modern society is developing. Let us
look at some of the other methods.
147. To start with, there are the techniques of surveillance. Hidden
video cameras are now used in most stores and in many other places,
computers are used to collect and process vast amounts of information
about individuals. Information so obtained greatly increases the
effectiveness of physical coercion (i.e., law enforcement).[26] Then
there are the methods of propaganda, for which the mass communication
media provide effective vehicles. Efficient techniques have been
developed for winning elections, selling products, influencing public
opinion. The entertainment industry serves as an important
psychological tool of the system, possibly even when it is dishing out
large amounts of sex and violence. Entertainment provides modern man
with an essential means of escape. While absorbed in television,
videos, etc., he can forget stress, anxiety, frustration,
dissatisfaction. Many primitive peoples, when they don't have work to
do, are quite content to sit for hours at a time doing nothing at all,
because they are at peace with themselves and their world. But most
modern people must be contantly occupied or entertained, otherwise the
get "bored," i.e., they get fidgety, uneasy, irritable.
148. Other techniques strike deeper that the foregoing. Education is
no longer a simple affair of paddling a kid's behind when he doesn't
know his lessons and patting him on the head when he does know them.
It is becoming a scientific technique for controlling the child's
development. Sylvan Learning Centers, for example, have had great
success in motivating children to study, and psychological techniques
are also used with more or less success in many conventional schools.
"Parenting" techniques that are taught to parents are designed to make
children accept fundamental values of the system and behave in ways
that the system finds desirable. "Mental health" programs,
"intervention" techniques, psychotherapy and so forth are ostensibly
designed to benefit individuals, but in practice they usually serve as
methods for inducing individuals to think and behave as the system
requires. (There is no contradiction here; an individual whose
attitudes or behavior bring him into conflict with the system is up
against a force that is too powerful for him to conquer or escape
from, hence he is likely to suffer from stress, frustration, defeat.
His path will be much easier if he thinks and behaves as the system
requires. In that sense the system is acting for the benefit of the
individual when it brainwashes him into conformity.) Child abuse in
its gross and obvious forms is disapproved in most if not all
cultures. Tormenting a child for a trivial reason or no reason at all
is something that appalls almost everyone. But many psychologists
interpret the concept of abuse much more broadly. Is spanking, when
used as part of a rational and consistent system of discipline, a form
of abuse? The question will ultimately be decided by whether or not
spanking tends to produce behavior that makes a person fit in well
with the existing system of society. In practice, the word "abuse"
tends to be interpreted to include any method of child-rearing that
produces behavior inconvenient for the system. Thus, when they go
beyond the prevention of obvious, senseless cruelty, programs for
preventing "child abuse" are directed toward the control of human
behavior of the system.
149. Presumably, research will continue to increas the effectiveness
of psychological techniques for controlling human behavior. But we
think it is unlikely that psychological techniques alone will be
sufficient to adjust human beings to the kind of society that
technology is creating. Biological methods probably will have to be
used. We have already mentiond the use of drugs in this connection.
Neurology may provide other avenues of modifying the human mind.
Genetic engineering of human beings is already beginning to occur in
the form of "gene therapy," and there is no reason to assume the such
methods will not eventually be used to modify those aspects of the
body that affect mental funtioning.
150. As we mentioned in paragraph 134, industrial society seems likely
to be entering a period of severe stress, due in part to problems of
human behavior and in part to economic and environmental problems. And
a considerable proportion of the system's economic and environmental
problems result from the way human beings behave. Alienation, low
self-esteem, depression, hostility, rebellion; children who won't
study, youth gangs, illegal drug use, rape, child abuse , other
crimes, unsafe sex, teen pregnancy, population growth, political
corruption, race hatred, ethnic rivalry, bitter ideological conflict
(i.e., pro-choice vs. pro-life), political extremism, terrorism,
sabotage, anti-government groups, hate groups. All these threaten the
very survival of the system. The system will be FORCED to use every
practical means of controlling human behavior.
151. The social disruption that we see today is certainly not the
result of mere chance. It can only be a result fo the conditions of
life that the system imposes on people. (We have argued that the most
important of these conditions is disruption of the power process.) If
the systems succeeds in imposing sufficient control over human
behavior to assure itw own survival, a new watershed in human history
will have passed. Whereas formerly the limits of human endurance have
imposed limits on the development of societies (as we explained in
paragraphs 143, 144), industrial-technological society will be able to
pass those limits by modifying human beings, whether by psychological
methods or biological methods or both. In the future, social systems
will not be adjusted to suit the needs of human beings. Instead, human
being will be adjusted to suit the needs of the system.
[27] 152. Generally speaking, technological control over human
behavior will probably not be introduced with a totalitarian intention
or even through a conscious desire to restrict human freedom. [28]
Each new step in the assertion of control over the human mind will be
taken as a rational response to a problem that faces society, such as
curing alcoholism, reducing the crime rate or inducing young people to
study science and engineering. In many cases, there will be
humanitarian justification. For example, when a psychiatrist
prescribes an anti-depressant for a depressed patient, he is clearly
doing that individual a favor. It would be inhumane to withhold the
drug from someone who needs it. When parents send their children to
Sylvan Learning Centers to have them manipulated into becoming
enthusiastic about their studies, they do so from concern for their
children's welfare. It may be that some of these parents wish that one
didn't have to have specialized training to get a job and that their
kid didn't have to be brainwashed into becoming a computer nerd. But
what can they do? They can't change society, and their child may be
unemployable if he doesn't have certain skills. So they send him to
Sylvan.
153. Thus control over human behavior will be introduced not by a
calculated decision of the authorities but through a process of social
evolution (RAPID evolution, however). The process will be impossible
to resist, because each advance, considered by itself, will appear to
be beneficial, or at least the evil involved in making the advance
will appear to be beneficial, or at least the evil involved in making
the advance will seem to be less than that which would result from not
making it (see paragraph 127). Propaganda for example is used for many
good purposes, such as discouraging child abuse or race hatred. [14]
Sex education is obviously useful, yet the effect of sex education (to
the extent that it is successful) is to take the shaping of sexual
attitudes away from the family and put it into the hands of the state
as represented by the public school system.
154. Suppose a biological trait is discovered that increases the
likelihood that a child will grow up to be a criminal and suppose some
sort of gene therapy can remove this trait. [29] Of course most
parents whose children possess the trait will have them undergo the
therapy. It would be inhumane to do otherwise, since the child would
probably have a miserable life if he grew up to be a criminal. But
many or most primitive societies have a low crime rate in comparison
with that of our society, even though they have neither high-tech
methods of child-rearing nor harsh systems of punishment. Since there
is no reason to suppose that more modern men than primitive men have
innate predatory tendencies, the high crime rate of our society must
be due to the pressures that modern conditions put on people, to which
many cannot or will not adjust. Thus a treatment designed to remove
potential criminal tendencies is at least in part a way of
re-engineering people so that they suit the requirements of the
system.
155. Our society tends to regard as a "sickness" any mode of thought
or behavior that is inconvenient for the system, and this is plausible
because when an individual doesn't fit into the system it causes pain
to the individual as well as problems for the system. Thus the
manipulation of an individual to adjust him to the system is seen as a
"cure" for a "sickness" and therefore as good.
156. In paragraph 127 we pointed out that if the use of a new item of
technology is INITIALLY optional, it does not necessarily REMAIN
optional, because the new technology tends to change society in such a
way that it becomes difficult or impossible for an individual to
function without using that technology. This applies also to the
technology of human behavior. In a world in which most children are
put through a program to make them enthusiastic about studying, a
parent will almost be forced to put his kid through such a program,
because if he does not, then the kid will grow up to be, comparatively
speaking, an ignoramus and therefore unemployable. Or suppose a
biological treatment is discovered that, without undesirable
side-effects, will greatly reduce the psychological stress from which
so many people suffer in our society. If large numbers of people
choose to undergo the treatment, then the general level of stress in
society will be reduced, so that it will be possible for the system to
increase the stress-producing pressures. In fact, something like this
seems to have happened already with one of our society's most
important psychological tools for enabling people to reduce (or at
least temporarily escape from) stress, namely, mass entertainment (see
paragraph 147). Our use of mass entertainment is "optional": No law
requires us to watch television, listen to the radio, read magazines.
Yet mass entertainment is a means of escape and stress-reduction on
which most of us have become dependent. Everyone complains about the
trashiness of television, but almost everyone watches it. A few have
kicked the TV habit, but it would be a rare person who could get along
today without using ANY form of mass entertainment. (Yet until quite
recently in human history most people got along very nicely with no
other entertainment than that which each local community created for
itself.) Without the entertainment industry the system probably would
not have been able to get away with putting as much stress-producing
pressure on us as it does.
157. Assuming that industrial society survives, it is likely that
technology will eventually acquire something approaching complete
control over human behavior. It has been established beyond any
rational doubt that human thought and behavior have a largely
biological basis. As experimenters have demonstrated, feelings such as
hunger, pleasure, anger and fear can be turned on and off by
electrical stimulation of appropriate parts of the brain. Memories can
be destroyed by damaging parts of the brain or they can be brought to
the surface by electrical stimulation. Hallucinations can be induced
or moods changed by drugs. There may or may not be an immaterial human
soul, but if there is one it clearly is less powerful that the
biological mechanisms of human behavior. For if that were not the case
then researchers would not be able so easily to manipulate human
feelings and behavior with drugs and electrical currents.
158. It presumably would be impractical for all people to have
electrodes inserted in their heads so that they could be controlled by
the authorities. But the fact that human thoughts and feelings are so
open to biological intervention shows that the problem of controlling
human behavior is mainly a technical problem; a problem of neurons,
hormones and complex molecules; the kind of problem that is accessible
to scientific attack. Given the outstanding record of our society in
solving technical problems, it is overwhelmingly probable that great
advances will be made in the control of human behavior.
159. Will public resistance prevent the introduction of technological
control of human behavior? It certainly would if an attempt were made
to introduce such control all at once. But since technological control
will be introduced through a long sequence of small advances, there
will be no rational and effective public resistance. (See paragraphs
127,132, 153.)
160. To those who think that all this sounds like science fiction, we
point out that yesterday's science fiction is today's fact. The
Industrial Revolution has radically altered man's environment and way
of life, and it is only to be expected that as technology is
increasingly applied to the human body and mind, man himself will be
altered as radically as his environment and way of life have been.
HUMAN RACE AT A CROSSROADS
161. But we have gotten ahead of our story. It is one thing to develop
in the laboratory a series of psychological or biological techniques
for manipulating human behavior and quite another to integrate these
techniques into a functioning social system. The latter problem is the
more difficult of the two. For example, while the techniques of
educational psychology doubtless work quite well in the "lab schools"
where they are developed, it is not necessarily easy to apply them
effectively throughout our educational system. We all know what many
of our schools are like. The teachers are too busy taking knives and
guns away from the kids to subject them to the latest techniques for
making them into computer nerds. Thus, in spite of all its technical
advances relating to human behavior the system to date has not been
impressively successful in controlling human beings. The people whose
behavior is fairly well under the control of the system are those of
the type that might be called "bourgeois." But there are growing
numbers of people who in one way or another are rebels against the
system: welfare leaches, youth gangs cultists, satanists, nazis,
radical environmentalists, militiamen, etc..
162. The system is currently engaged in a desperate struggle to
overcome certain problems that threaten its survival, among which the
problems of human behavior are the most important. If the system
succeeds in acquiring sufficient control over human behavior quickly
enough, it will probably survive. Otherwise it will break down. We
think the issue will most likely be resolved within the next several
decades, say 40 to 100 years.
163. Suppose the system survives the crisis of the next several
decades. By that time it will have to have solved, or at least brought
under control, the principal problems that confront it, in particular
that of "socializing" human beings; that is, making people
sufficiently docile so that their behavior no longer threatens the
system. That being accomplished, it does not appear that there would
be any further obstacle to the development of technology, and it would
presumably advance toward its logical conclusion, which is complete
control over everything on Earth, including human beings and all other
important organisms. The system may become a unitary, monolithic
organization, or it may be more or less fragmented and consist of a
number of organizations coexisting in a relationship that includes
elements of both cooperation and competition, just as today the
government, the corporations and other large organizations both
cooperate and compete with one another. Human freedom mostly will have
vanished, because individuals and small groups will be impotent
vis-a-vis large organizations armed with supertechnology and an
arsenal of advanced psychological and biological tools for
manipulating human beings, besides instruments of surveillance and
physical coercion. Only a small number of people will have any real
power, and even these probably will have only very limited freedom,
because their behavior too will be regulated; just as today our
politicians and corporation executives can retain their positions of
power only as long as their behavior remains within certain fairly
narrow limits.
164. Don't imagine that the systems will stop developing further
techniques for controlling human beings and nature once the crisis of
the next few decades is over and increasing control is no longer
necessary for the system's survival. On the contrary, once the hard
times are over the system will increase its control over people and
nature more rapidly, because it will no longer be hampered by
difficulties of the kind that it is currently experiencing. Survival
is not the principal motive for extending control. As we explained in
paragraphs 87-90, technicians and scientists carry on their work
largely as a surrogate activity; that is, they satisfy their need for
power by solving technical problems. They will continue to do this
with unabated enthusiasm, and among the most interesting and
challenging problems for them to solve will be those of understanding
the human body and mind and intervening in their development. For the
"good of humanity," of course.
165. But suppose on the other hand that the stresses of the coming
decades prove to be too much for the system. If the system breaks down
there may be a period of chaos, a "time of troubles" such as those
that history has recorded: at various epochs in the past. It is
impossible to predict what would emerge from such a time of troubles,
but at any rate the human race would be given a new chance. The
greatest danger is that industrial society may begin to reconstitute
itself within the first few years after the breakdown. Certainly there
will be many people (power-hungry types especially) who will be
anxious to get the factories running again.
166. Therefore two tasks confront those who hate the servitude to
which the industrial system is reducing the human race. First, we must
work to heighten the social stresses within the system so as to
increase the likelihood that it will break down or be weakened
sufficiently so that a revolution against it becomes possible. Second,
it is necessary to develop and propagate an ideology that opposes
technology and the industrial society if and when the system becomes
sufficiently weakened. And such an ideology will help to assure that,
if and when industrial society breaks down, its remnants will be
smashed beyond repair, so that the system cannot be reconstituted. The
factories should be destroyed, technical books burned, etc.
HUMAN SUFFERING
167. The industrial system will not break down purely as a result of
revolutionary action. It will not be vulnerable to revolutionary
attack unless its own internal problems of development lead it into
very serious difficulties. So if the system breaks down it will do so
either spontaneously, or through a process that is in part spontaneous
but helped along by revolutionaries. If the breakdown is sudden, many
people will die, since the world's population has become so overblown
that it cannot even feed itself any longer without advanced
technology. Even if the breakdown is gradual enough so that reduction
of the population can occur more through lowering of the birth rate
than through elevation of the death rate, the process of
de-industrialization probably will be very chaotic and involve much
suffering. It is naive to think it likely that technology can be
phased out in a smoothly managed orderly way, especially since the
technophiles will fight stubbornly at every step. Is it therefore
cruel to work for the breakdown of the system? Maybe, but maybe not.
In the first place, revolutionaries will not be able to break the
system down unless it is already in deep trouble so that there would
be a good chance of its eventually breaking down by itself anyway; and
the bigger the system grows, the more disastrous the consequences of
its breakdown will be; so it may be that revolutionaries, by hastening
the onset of the breakdown will be reducing the extent of the
disaster.
168. In the second place, one has to balance the struggle and death
against the loss of freedom and dignity. To many of us, freedom and
dignity are more important than a long life or avoidance of physical
pain. Besides, we all have to die some time, and it may be better to
die fighting for survival, or for a cause, than to live a long but
empty and purposeless life.
169. In the third place, it is not all certain that the survival of
the system will lead to less suffering than the breakdown of the
system would. The system has already caused, and is continuing to
cause , immense suffering all over the world. Ancient cultures, that
for hundreds of years gave people a satisfactory relationship with
each other and their environment, have been shattered by contact with
industrial society, and the result has been a whole catalogue of
economic, environmental, social and psychological problems. One of the
effects of the intrusion of industrial society has been that over much
of the world traditional controls on population have been thrown out
of balance. Hence the population explosion, with all that it implies.
Then there is the psychological suffering that is widespread
throughout the supposedly fortunate countries of the West (see
paragraphs 44, 45). No one knows what will happen as a result of ozone
depletion, the greenhouse effect and other environmental problems that
cannot yet be foreseen. And, as nuclear proliferation has shown, new
technology cannot be kept out of the hands of dictators and
irresponsible Third World nations. Would you like to speculate abut
what Iraq or North Korea will do with genetic engineering?
170. "Oh!" say the technophiles, "Science is going to fix all that! We
will conquer famine, eliminate psychological suffering, make everybody
healthy and happy!" Yeah, sure. That's what they said 200 years ago.
The Industrial Revolution was supposed to eliminate poverty, make
everybody happy, etc. The actual result has been quite different. The
technophiles are hopelessly naive (or self-deceiving) in their
understanding of social problems. They are unaware of (or choose to
ignore) the fact that when large changes, even seemingly beneficial
ones, are introduced into a society, they lead to a long sequence of
other changes, most of which are impossible to predict (paragraph
103). The result is disruption of the society. So it is very probable
that in their attempt to end poverty and disease, engineer docile,
happy personalities and so forth, the technophiles will create social
systems that are terribly troubled, even more so that the present one.
For example, the scientists boast that they will end famine by
creating new, genetically engineered food plants. But this will allow
the human population to keep expanding indefinitely, and it is well
known that crowding leads to increased stress and aggression. This is
merely one example of the PREDICTABLE problems that will arise. We
emphasize that, as past experience has shown, technical progress will
lead to other new problems for society far more rapidly that it has
been solving old ones. Thus it will take a long difficult period of
trial and error for the technophiles to work the bugs out of their
Brave New World (if they ever do). In the meantime there will be great
suffering. So it is not all clear that the survival of industrial
society would involve less suffering than the breakdown of that
society would. Technology has gotten the human race into a fix from
which there is not likely to be any easy escape.
THE FUTURE
171. But suppose now that industrial society does survive the next
several decade and that the bugs do eventually get worked out of the
system, so that it functions smoothly. What kind of system will it be?
We will consider several possibilities.
172. First let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in
developing intelligent machines that can do all things better that
human beings can do them. In that case presumably all work will be
done by vast, highly organized systems of machines and no human effort
will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might
be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human
oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained.
173. If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we
can't make any conjectures as to the results, because it is impossible
to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the
fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might
be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand
over all the power to the machines. But we are suggesting neither that
the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor
that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is
that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a
position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no
practical choice but to accept all of the machines decisions. As
society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and
machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines
make more of their decision for them, simply because machine-made
decisions will bring better result than man-made ones. Eventually a
stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the
system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable
of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in
effective control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off,
because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would
amount to suicide.
174. On the other hand it is possible that human control over the
machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have
control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car of
his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will
be in the hands of a tiny elite -- just as it is today, but with two
difference. Due to improved techniques the elite will have greater
control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be
necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the
system. If the elite is ruthless the may simply decide to exterminate
the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or
other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate
until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the
elite. Or, if the elite consist of soft-hearted liberals, they may
decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human
race. They will see to it that everyone's physical needs are
satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic
conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and
that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes "treatment" to cure
his "problem." Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will
have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove
their need for the power process or to make them "sublimate" their
drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human
beings may be happy in such a society, but they most certainly will
not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic
animals.
175. But suppose now that the computer scientists do not succeed in
developing artificial intelligence, so that human work remains
necessary. Even so, machines will take care of more and more of the
simpler tasks so that there will be an increasing surplus of human
workers at the lower levels of ability. (We see this happening
already. There are many people who find it difficult or impossible to
get work, because for intellectual or psychological reasons they
cannot acquire the level of training necessary to make themselves
useful in the present system.) On those who are employed,
ever-increasing demands will be placed; They will need more and m ore
training, more and more ability, and will have to be ever more
reliable, conforming and docile, because they will be more and more
like cells of a giant organism. Their tasks will be increasingly
specialized so that their work will be, in a sense, out of touch with
the real world, being concentrated on one tiny slice of reality. The
system will have to use any means that I can, whether psychological or
biological, to engineer people to be docile, to have the abilities
that the system requires and to "sublimate" their drive for power into
some specialized task. But the statement that the people of such a
society will have to be docile may require qualification. The society
may find competitiveness useful, provided that ways are found of
directing competitiveness into channels that serve that needs of the
system. We can imagine into channels that serve the needs of the
system. We can imagine a future society in which there is endless
competition for positions of prestige an power. But no more than a
very few people will ever reach the top, where the only real power is
(see end of paragraph 163). Very repellent is a society in which a
person can satisfy his needs for power only by pushing large numbers
of other people out of the way and depriving them of THEIR opportunity
for power.
176. Once can envision scenarios that incorporate aspects of more than
one of the possibilities that we have just discussed. For instance, it
may be that machines will take over most of the work that is of real,
practical importance, but that human beings will be kept busy by being
given relatively unimportant work. It has been suggested, for example,
that a great development of the service of industries might provide
work for human beings. Thus people will would spend their time
shinning each others shoes, driving each other around inn taxicab,
making handicrafts for one another, waiting on each other's tables,
etc. This seems to us a thoroughly contemptible way for the human race
to end up, and we doubt that many people would find fulfilling lives
in such pointless busy-work. They would seek other, dangerous outlets
(drugs, , crime, "cults," hate groups) unless they were biological or
psychologically engineered to adapt them to such a way of life.
177. Needless to day, the scenarios outlined above do not exhaust all
the possibilities. They only indicate the kinds of outcomes that seem
to us mots likely. But wee can envision no plausible scenarios that
are any more palatable that the ones we've just described. It is
overwhelmingly probable that if the industrial-technological system
survives the next 40 to 100 years, it will by that time have developed
certain general characteristics: Individuals (at least those of the
"bourgeois" type, who are integrated into the system and make it run,
and who therefore have all the power) will be more dependent than ever
on large organizations; they will be more "socialized" that ever and
their physical and mental qualities to a significant extent (possibly
to a very great extent ) will be those that are engineered into them
rather than being the results of chance (or of God's will, or
whatever); and whatever may be left of wild nature will be reduced to
remnants preserved for scientific study and kept under the supervision
and management of scientists (hence it will no longer be truly wild).
In the long run (say a few centuries from now) it is it is likely that
neither the human race nor any other important organisms will exist as
we know them today, because once you start modifying organisms through
genetic engineering there is no reason to stop at any particular
point, so that the modifications will probably continue until man and
other organisms have been utterly transformed.
178. Whatever else may be the case, it is certain that technology is
creating for human begins a new physical and social environment
radically different from the spectrum of environments to which natural
selection has adapted the human race physically and psychological. If
man is not adjust to this new environment by being artificially
re-engineered, then he will be adapted to it through a long an painful
process of natural selection. The former is far more likely that the
latter.
179. It would be better to dump the whole stinking system and take the
consequences.
STRATEGY
180. The technophiles are taking us all on an utterly reckless ride
into the unknown. Many people understand something of what
technological progress is doing to us yet take a passive attitude
toward it because they think it is inevitable. But we (FC) don't think
it is inevitable. We think it can be stopped, and we will give here
some indications of how to go about stopping it.
181. As we stated in paragraph 166, the two main tasks for the present
are to promote social stress and instability in industrial society and
to develop and propagate an ideology that opposes technology and the
industrial system. When the system becomes sufficiently stressed and
unstable, a revolution against technology may be possible. The pattern
would be similar to that of the French and Russian Revolutions. French
society and Russian society, for several decades prior to their
respective revolutions, showed increasing signs of stress and
weakness. Meanwhile, ideologies were being developed that offered a
new world view that was quite different from the old one. In the
Russian case, revolutionaries were actively working to undermine the
old order. Then, when the old system was put under sufficient
additional stress (by financial crisis in France, by military defeat
in Russia) it was swept away by revolution. What we propose in
something along the same lines.
182. It will be objected that the French and Russian Revolutions were
failures. But most revolutions have two goals. One is to destroy an
old form of society and the other is to set up the new form of society
envisioned by the revolutionaries. The French and Russian
revolutionaries failed (fortunately!) to create the new kind of
society of which they dreamed, but they were quite successful in
destroying the existing form of society.
183. But an ideology, in order to gain enthusiastic support, must have
a positive ideals well as a negative one; it must be FOR something as
well as AGAINST something. The positive ideal that we propose is
Nature. That is , WILD nature; those aspects of the functioning of the
Earth and its living things that are independent of human management
and free of human interference and control. And with wild nature we
include human nature, by which we mean those aspects of the
functioning of the human individual that are not subject to regulation
by organized society but are products of chance, or free will, or God
(depending on your religious or philosophical opinions).
184. Nature makes a perfect counter-ideal to technology for several
reasons. Nature (that which is outside the power of the system) is the
opposite of technology (which seeks to expand indefinitely the power
of the system). Most people will agree that nature is beautiful;
certainly it has tremendous popular appeal. The radical
environmentalists ALREADY hold an ideology that exalts nature and
opposes technology. [30] It is not necessary for the sake of nature to
set up some chimerical utopia or any new kind of social order. Nature
takes care of itself: It was a spontaneous creation that existed long
before any human society, and for countless centuries many different
kinds of human societies coexisted with nature without doing it an
excessive amount of damage. Only with the Industrial Revolution did
the effect of human society on nature become really devastating. To
relieve the pressure on nature it is not necessary to create a special
kind of social system, it is only necessary to get rid of industrial
society. Granted, this will not solve all problems. Industrial society
has already done tremendous damage to nature and it will take a very
long time for the scars to heal. Besides, even pre-industrial
societies can do significant damage to nature. Nevertheless, getting
rid of industrial society will accomplish a great deal. It will
relieve the worst of the pressure on nature so that the scars can
begin to heal. It will remove the capacity of organized society to
keep increasing its control over nature (including human nature).
Whatever kind of society may exist after the demise of the industrial
system, it is certain that most people will live close to nature,
because in the absence of advanced technology there is not other way
that people CAN live. To feed themselves they must be peasants or
herdsmen or fishermen or hunter, etc., And, generally speaking, local
autonomy should tend to increase, because lack of advanced technology
and rapid communications will limit the capacity of governments or
other large organizations to control local communities.
185. As for the negative consequences of eliminating industrial
society -- well, you can't eat your cake and have it too. To gain one
thing you have to sacrifice another.
186. Most people hate psychological conflict. For this reason they
avoid doing any serious thinking about difficult social issues, and
they like to have such issues presented to them in simple,
black-and-white terms: THIS is all good and THAT is all bad. The
revolutionary ideology should therefore be developed on two levels.
187. On the more sophisticated level the ideology should address
itself to people who are intelligent, thoughtful and rational. The
object should be to create a core of people who will be opposed to the
industrial system on a rational, thought-out basis, with full
appreciation of the problems and ambiguities involved, and of the
price that has to be paid for getting rid of the system. It is
particularly important to attract people of this type, as they are
capable people and will be instrumental in influencing others. These
people should be addressed on as rational a level as possible. Facts
should never intentionally be distorted and intemperate language
should be avoided. This does not mean that no appeal can be made to
the emotions, but in making such appeal care should be taken to avoid
misrepresenting the truth or doing anything else that would destroy
the intellectual respectability of the ideology.
188. On a second level, the ideology should be propagated in a
simplified form that will enable the unthinking majority to see the
conflict of technology vs. nature in unambiguous terms. But even on
this second level the ideology should not be expressed in language
that is so cheap, intemperate or irrational that it alienates people
of the thoughtful and rational type. Cheap, intemperate propaganda
sometimes achieves impressive short-term gains, but it will be more
advantageous in the long run to keep the loyalty of a small number of
intelligently committed people than to arouse the passions of an
unthinking, fickle mob who will change their attitude as soon as
someone comes along with a better propaganda gimmick. However,
propaganda of the rabble-rousing type may be necessary when the system
is nearing the point of collapse and there is a final struggle between
rival ideologies to determine which will become dominant when the old
world-view goes under.
189. Prior to that final struggle, the revolutionaries should not
expect to have a majority of people on their side. History is made by
active, determined minorities, not by the majority, which seldom has a
clear and consistent idea of what it really wants. Until the time
comes for the final push toward revolution [31], the task of
revolutionaries will be less to win the shallow support of the
majority than to build a small core of deeply committed people. As for
the majority, it will be enough to make them aware of the existence of
the new ideology and remind them of it frequently; though of course it
will be desirable to get majority support to the extent that this can
be done without weakening the core of seriously committed people.
190. Any kind of social conflict helps to destabilize the system, but
one should be careful about what kind of conflict one encourages. The
line of conflict should be drawn between the mass of the people and
the power-holding elite of industrial society (politicians,
scientists, upper-level business executives, government officials,
etc..). It should NOT be drawn between the revolutionaries and the
mass of the people. For example, it would be bad strategy for the
revolutionaries to condemn Americans for their habits of consumption.
Instead, the average American should be portrayed as a victim of the
advertising and marketing industry, which has suckered him into buying
a lot of junk that he doesn't need and that is very poor compensation
for his lost freedom. Either approach is consistent with the facts. It
is merely a matter of attitude whether you blame the advertising
industry for manipulating the public or blame the public for allowing
itself to be manipulated. As a matter of strategy one should generally
avoid blaming the public.
191. One should think twice before encouraging any other social
conflict than that between the power-holding elite (which wields
technology) and the general public (over which technology exerts its
power). For one thing, other conflicts tend to distract attention from
the important conflicts (between power-elite and ordinary people,
between technology and nature); for another thing, other conflicts may
actually tend to encourage technologization, because each side in such
a conflict wants to use technological power to gain advantages over
its adversary. This is clearly seen in rivalries between nations. It
also appears in ethnic conflicts within nations. For example, in
America many black leaders are anxious to gain power for African
Americans by placing back individuals in the technological
power-elite. They want there to be many black government officials,
scientists, corporation executives and so forth. In this way they are
helping to absorb the African American subculture into the
technological system. Generally speaking, one should encourage only
those social conflicts that can be fitted into the framework of the
conflicts of power--elite vs. ordinary people, technology vs nature.
192. But the way to discourage ethnic conflict is NOT through militant
advocacy of minority rights (see paragraphs 21, 29). Instead, the
revolutionaries should emphasize that although minorities do suffer
more or less disadvantage, this disadvantage is of peripheral
significance. Our real enemy is the industrial-technological system,
and in the struggle against the system, ethnic distinctions are of no
importance.
193. The kind of revolution we have in mind will not necessarily
involve an armed uprising against any government. It may or may not
involve physical violence, but it will not be a POLITICAL revolution.
Its focus will be on technology and economics, not politics. [32]
194. Probably the revolutionaries should even AVOID assuming political
power, whether by legal or illegal means, until the industrial system
is stressed to the danger point and has proved itself to be a failure
in the eyes of most people. Suppose for example that some "green"
party should win control of the United States Congress in an election.
In order to avoid betraying or watering down their own ideology they
would have to take vigorous measures to turn economic growth into
economic shrinkage. To the average man the results would appear
disastrous: There would be massive unemployment, shortages of
commodities, etc. Even if the grosser ill effects could be avoided
through superhumanly skillful management, still people would have to
begin giving up the luxuries to which they have become addicted.
Dissatisfaction would grow, the "green" party would be voted out of of
fice and the revolutionaries would have suffered a severe setback. For
this reason the revolutionaries should not try to acquire political
power until the system has gotten itself into such a mess that any
hardships will be seen as resulting from the failures of the
industrial system itself and not from the policies of the
revolutionaries. The revolution against technology will probably have
to be a revolution by outsiders, a revolution from below and not from
above.
195. The revolution must be international and worldwide. It cannot be
carried out on a nation-by-nation basis. Whenever it is suggested that
the United States, for example, should cut back on technological
progress or economic growth, people get hysterical and start screaming
that if we fall behind in technology the Japanese will get ahead of
us. Holy robots The world will fly off its orbit if the Japanese ever
sell more cars than we do! (Nationalism is a great promoter of
technology.) More reasonably, it is argued that if the relatively
democratic nations of the world fall behind in technology while nasty,
dictatorial nations like China, Vietnam and North Korea continue to
progress, eventually the dictators may come to dominate the world.
That is why the industrial system should be attacked in all nations
simultaneously, to the extent that this may be possible. True, there
is no assurance that the industrial system can be destroyed at
approximately the same time all over the world, and it is even
conceivable that the attempt to overthrow the system could lead
instead to the domination of the system by dictators. That is a risk
that has to be taken. And it is worth taking, since the difference
between a "democratic" industrial system and one controlled by
dictators is small compared with the difference between an industrial
system and a non-industrial one. [33] It might even be argued that an
industrial system controlled by dictators would be preferable, because
dictator-controlled systems usually have proved inefficient, hence
they are presumably more likely to break down. Look at Cuba.
196. Revolutionaries might consider favoring measures that tend to
bind the world economy into a unified whole. Free trade agreements
like NAFTA and GATT are probably harmful to the environment in the
short run, but in the long run they may perhaps be advantageous
because they foster economic interdependence between nations. I will
be eaier to destroy the industrial system on a worldwide basis if he
world economy is so unified that its breakdown in any on major nation
will lead to its breakdwon in al industrialized nations.
the long run they may perhaps be advantageous because they foster
economic interdependence between nations. It will be easier to destroy
the industrial system on a worldwide basis if the world economy is so
unified that its breakdown in any one major nation will lead to its
breakdown in all industrialized nations.
197. Some people take the line that modern man has too much power, too
much control over nature; they argue for a more passive attitude on
the part of the human race. At best these people are expressing
themselves unclearly, because they fail to distinguish between power
for LARGE ORGANIZATIONS and power for INDIVIDUALS and SMALL GROUPS. It
is a mistake to argue for powerlessness and passivity, because people
NEED power. Modern man as a collective entity--that is, the industrial
system--has immense power over nature, and we (FC) regard this as
evil. But modern INDIVIDUALS and SMALL GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS have far
less power than primitive man ever did. Generally speaking, the vast
power of "modern man" over nature is exercised not by individuals or
small groups but by large organizations. To the extent that the
average modern INDIVIDUAL can wield the power of technology, he is
permitted to do so only within narrow limits and only under the
supervision and control of the system. (You need a license for
everything and with the license come rules and regulations). The
individual has only those technological powers with which the system
chooses to provide him. His PERSONAL power over nature is slight.
198. Primitive INDIVIDUALS and SMALL GROUPS actually had considerable
power over nature; or maybe it would be better to say power WITHIN
nature. When primitive man needed food he knew how to find and prepare
edible roots, how to track game and take it with homemade weapons. He
knew how to protect himself from heat, cold, rain, dangerous animals,
etc. But primitive man did relatively little damage to nature because
the COLLECTIVE power of primitive society was negligible compared to
the COLLECTIVE power of industrial society.
199. Instead of arguing for powerlessness and passivity, one should
argue that the power of the INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM should be broken, and
that this will greatly INCREASE the power and freedom of INDIVIDUALS
and SMALL GROUPS.
200. Until the industrial system has been thoroughly wrecked, the
destruction of that system must be the revolutionaries' ONLY goal.
Other goals would distract attention and energy from the main goal.
More importantly, if the revolutionaries permit themselves to have any
other goal than the destruction of technology, they will be tempted to
use technology as a tool for reaching that other goal. If they give in
to that temptation, they will fall right back into the technological
trap, because modern technology is a unified, tightly organized
system, so that, in order to retain SOME technology, one finds oneself
obliged to retain MOST technology, hence one ends up sacrificing only
token amounts of technology.
201. Suppose for example that the revolutionaries took "social
justice" as a goal. Human nature being what it is, social justice
would not come about spontaneously; it would have to be enforced. In
order to enforce it the revolutionaries would have to retain central
organization and control. For that they would need rapid long-distance
transportation and communication, and therefore all the technology
needed to support the transportation and communication systems. To
feed and clothe poor people they would have to use agricultural and
manufacturing technology. And so forth. So that the attempt to insure
social justice would force them to retain most parts of the
technological system. Not that we have anything against social
justice, but it must not be allowed to interfere with the effort to
get rid of the technological system.
202. It would be hopeless for revolutionaries to try to attack the
system without using SOME modern technology. If nothing else they must
use the communications media to spread their message. But they should
use modern technology for only ONE purpose: to attack the
technological system.
203. Imagine an alcoholic sitting with a barrel of wine in front of
him. Suppose he starts saying to himself, "Wine isn't bad for you if
used in moderation. Why, they say small amounts of wine are even good
for you! It won't do me any harm if I take just one little drink..."
Well you know what is going to happen. Never forget that the human
race with technology is just like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine.
204. Revolutionaries should have as many children as they can. There
is strong scientific evidence that social attitudes are to a
significant extent inherited. No one suggests that a social attitude
is a direct outcome of a person's genetic constitution, but it appears
that personality traits tend, within the context of our society, to
make a person more likely to hold this or that social attitude.
Objections to these findings have been raised, but objections are
feeble and seem to be ideologically motivated. In any event, no one
denies that children tend on the average to hold social attitudes
similar to those of their parents. From our point of view it doesn't
matter all that much whether the attitudes are passed on genetically
or through childhood training. In either case the ARE passed on.
205. The trouble is that many of the people who are inclined to rebel
against the industrial system are also concerned about the population
problems, hence they are apt to have few or no children. In this way
they may be handing the world over to the sort of people who support
or at least accept the industrial system. To insure the strength of
the next generation of revolutionaries the present generation must
reproduce itself abundantly. In doing so they will be worsening the
population problem only slightly. And the most important problem is to
get rid of the industrial system, because once the industrial system
is gone the world's population necessarily will decrease (see
paragraph 167); whereas, if the industrial system survives, it will
continue developing new techniques of food production that may enable
the world's population to keep increasing almost indefinitely.
206. With regard to revolutionary strategy, the only points on which
we absolutely insist are that the single overriding goal must be the
elimination of modern technology, and that no other goal can be
allowed to compete with this one. For the rest, revolutionaries should
take an empirical approach. If experience indicates that some of the
recommendations made in the foregoing paragraphs are not going to give
good results, then those recommendations should be discarded.
TWO KINDS OF TECHNOLOGY
207. An argument likely to be raised against our proposed revolution
is that it is bound to fail, because (it is claimed) throughout
history technology has always progressed, never regressed, hence
technological regression is impossible. But this claim is false.
208. We distinguish between two kinds of technology, which we will
call small-scale technology and organization-dependent technology.
Small-scale technology is technology that can be used by small-scale
communities without outside assistance. Organization-dependent
technology is technology that depends on large-scale social
organization. We are aware of no significant cases of regression in
small-scale technology. But organization-dependent technology DOES
regress when the social organization on which it depends breaks down.
Example: When the Roman Empire fell apart the Romans' small-scale
technology survived because any clever village craftsman could build,
for instance, a water wheel, any skilled smith could make steel by
Roman methods, and so forth. But the Romans' organization-dependent
technology DID regress. Their aqueducts fell into disrepair and were
never rebuilt. Their techniques of road construction were lost. The
Roman system of urban sanitation was forgotten, so that until rather
recent times did the sanitation of European cities that of Ancient
Rome.
209. The reason why technology has seemed always to progress is that,
until perhaps a century or two before the Industrial Revolution, most
technology was small-scale technology. But most of the technology
developed since the Industrial Revolution is organization-dependent
technology. Take the refrigerator for example. Without factory-made
parts or the facilities of a post-industrial machine shop it would be
virtually impossible for a handful of local craftsmen to build a
refrigerator. If by some miracle they did succeed in building one it
would be useless to them without a reliable source of electric power.
So they would have to dam a stream and build a generator. Generators
require large amounts of copper wire. Imagine trying to make that wire
without modern machinery. And where would they get a gas suitable for
refrigeration? It would be much easier to build an icehouse or
preserve food by drying or picking, as was done before the invention
of the refrigerator.
210. So it is clear that if the industrial system were once thoroughly
broken down, refrigeration technology would quickly be lost. The same
is true of other organization-dependent technology. And once this
technology had been lost for a generation or so it would take
centuries to rebuild it, just as it took centuries to build it the
first time around. Surviving technical books would be few and
scattered. An industrial society, if built from scratch without
outside help, can only be built in a series of stages: You need tools
to make tools to make tools to make tools ... . A long process of
economic development and progress in social organization is required.
And, even in the absence of an ideology opposed to technology, there
is no reason to believe that anyone would be interested in rebuilding
industrial society. The enthusiasm for "progress" is a phenomenon
particular to the modern form of society, and it seems not to have
existed prior to the 17th century or thereabouts.
211. In the late Middle Ages there were four main civilizations that
were about equally "advanced": Europe, the Islamic world, India, and
the Far East (China, Japan, Korea). Three of those civilizations
remained more or less stable, and only Europe became dynamic. No one
knows why Europe became dynamic at that time; historians have their
theories but these are only speculation. At any rate, it is clear that
rapid development toward a technological form of society occurs only
under special conditions. So there is no reason to assume that
long-lasting technological regression cannot be brought about.
212. Would society EVENTUALLY develop again toward an
industrial-technological form? Maybe, but there is no use in worrying
about it, since we can't predict or control events 500 or 1,000 years
in the future. Those problems must be dealt with by the people who
will live at that time.
THE DANGER OF LEFTISM
213. Because of their need for rebellion and for membership in a
movement, leftists or persons of similar psychological type are often
unattracted to a rebellious or activist movement whose goals and
membership are not initially leftist. The resulting influx of leftish
types can easily turn a non-leftist movement into a leftist one, so
that leftist goals replace or distort the original goals of the
movement.
214. To avoid this, a movement that exalts nature and opposes
technology must take a resolutely anti-leftist stance and must avoid
all collaboration with leftists. Leftism is in the long run
inconsistent with wild nature, with human freedom and with the
elimination of modern technology. Leftism is collectivist; it seeks to
bind together the entire world (both nature and the human race) into a
unified whole. But this implies management of nature and of human life
by organized society, and it requires advanced technology. You can't
have a united world without rapid transportation and communication,
you can't make all people love one another without sophisticated
psychological techniques, you can't have a "planned society" without
the necessary technological base. Above all, leftism is driven by the
need for power, and the leftist seeks power on a collective basis,
through identification with a mass movement or an organization.
Leftism is unlikely ever to give up technology, because technology is
too valuable a source of collective power.
215. The anarchist [34] too seeks power, but he seeks it on an
individual or small-group basis; he wants individuals and small groups
to be able to control the circumstances of their own lives. He opposes
technology because it makes small groups dependent on large
organizations.
216. Some leftists may seem to oppose technology, but they will oppose
it only so long as they are outsiders and the technological system is
controlled by non-leftists. If leftism ever becomes dominant in
society, so that the technological system becomes a tool in the hands
of leftists, they will enthusiastically use it and promote its growth.
In doing this they will be repeating a pattern that leftism has shown
again and again in the past. When the Bolsheviks in Russia were
outsiders, they vigorously opposed censorship and the secret police,
they advocated self-determination for ethnic minorities, and so forth;
but as soon as they came into power themselves, they imposed a tighter
censorship and created a more ruthless secret police than any that had
existed under the tsars, and they oppressed ethnic minorities at least
as much as the tsars had done. In the United States, a couple of
decades ago when leftists were a minority in our universities, leftist
professors were vigorous proponents of academic freedom, but today, in
those universities where leftists have become dominant, they have
shown themselves ready to take away from everyone else's academic
freedom. (This is "political correctness.") The same will happen with
leftists and technology: They will use it to oppress everyone else if
they ever get it under their own control.
217. In earlier revolutions, leftists of the most power-hungry type,
repeatedly, have first cooperated with non-leftist revolutionaries, as
well as with leftists of a more libertarian inclination, and later
have double-crossed them to seize power for themselves. Robespierre
did this in the French Revolution, the Bolsheviks did it in the
Russian Revolution, the communists did it in Spain in 1938 and Castro
and his followers did it in Cuba. Given the past history of leftism,
it would be utterly foolish for non-leftist revolutionaries today to
collaborate with leftists.
218. Various thinkers have pointed out that leftism is a kind of
religion. Leftism is not a religion in the strict sense because
leftist doctrine does not postulate the existence of any supernatural
being. But for the leftist, leftism plays a psychological role much
like that which religion plays for some people. The leftist NEEDS to
believe in leftism; it plays a vital role in his psychological
economy. His beliefs are not easily modified by logic or facts. He has
a deep conviction that leftism is morally Right with a capital R, and
that he has not only a right but a duty to impose leftist morality on
everyone. (However, many of the people we are referring to as
"leftists" do not think of themselves as leftists and would not
describe their system of beliefs as leftism. We use the term "leftism"
because we don't know of any better words to designate the spectrum of
related creeds that includes the feminist, gay rights, political
correctness, etc., movements, and because these movements have a
strong affinity with the old left. See paragraphs 227-230.)
219. Leftism is totalitarian force. Wherever leftism is in a position
of power it tends to invade every private corner and force every
thought into a leftist mold. In part this is because of the
quasi-religious character of leftism; everything contrary to leftists
beliefs represents Sin. More importantly, leftism is a totalitarian
force because of the leftists' drive for power. The leftist seeks to
satisfy his need for power through identification with a social
movement and he tries to go through the power process by helping to
pursue and attain the goals of the movement (see paragraph 83). But no
matter how far the movement has gone in attaining its goals the
leftist is never satisfied, because his activism is a surrogate
activity (see paragraph 41). That is, the leftist's real motive is not
to attain the ostensible goals of leftism; in reality he is motivated
by the sense of power he gets from struggling for and then reaching a
social goal.[35]
Consequently the leftist is never satisfied with the goals he has
already attained; his need for the power process leads him always to
pursue some new goal. The leftist wants equal opportunities for
minorities. When that is attained he insists on statistical equality
of achievement by minorities. And as long as anyone harbors in some
corner of his mind a negative attitude toward some minority, the
leftist has to re-educated him. And ethnic minorities are not enough;
no one can be allowed to have a negative attitude toward homosexuals,
disabled people, fat people, old people, ugly people, and on and on
and on. It's not enough that the public should be informed about the
hazards of smoking; a warning has to be stamped on every package of
cigarettes. Then cigarette advertising has to be restricted if not
banned. The activists will never be satisfied until tobacco is
outlawed, and after that it will be alco hot then junk food, etc.
Activists have fought gross child abuse, which is reasonable. But now
they want to stop all spanking. When they have done that they will
want to ban something else they consider unwholesome, then another
thing and then another. They will never be satisfied until they have
complete control over all child rearing practices. And then they will
move on to another cause.
220. Suppose you asked leftists to make a list of ALL the things that
were wrong with society, and then suppose you instituted EVERY social
change that they demanded. It is safe to say that within a couple of
years the majority of leftists would find something new to complain
about, some new social "evil" to correct because, once again, the
leftist is motivated less by distress at society's ills than by the
need to satisfy his drive for power by imposing his solutions on
society.
221. Because of the restrictions placed on their thoughts and behavior
by their high level of socialization, many leftists of the
over-socialized type cannot pursue power in the ways that other people
do. For them the drive for power has only one morally acceptable
outlet, and that is in the struggle to impose their morality on
everyone.
222. Leftists, especially those of the oversocialized type, are True
Believers in the sense of Eric Hoffer's book, "The True Believer." But
not all True Believers are of the same psychological type as leftists.
Presumably a truebelieving nazi, for instance is very different
psychologically from a truebelieving leftist. Because of their
capacity for single-minded devotion to a cause, True Believers are a
useful, perhaps a necessary, ingredient of any revolutionary movement.
This presents a problem with which we must admit we don't know how to
deal. We aren't sure how to harness the energies of the True Believer
to a revolution against technology. At present all we can say is that
no True Believer will make a safe recruit to the revolution unless his
commitment is exclusively to the destruction of technology. If he is
committed also to another ideal, he may want to use technology as a
tool for pursuing that other ideal (see paragraphs 220, 221).
223. Some readers may say, "This stuff about leftism is a lot of crap.
I know John and Jane who are leftish types and they don't have all
these totalitarian tendencies." It's quite true that many leftists,
possibly even a numerical majority, are decent people who sincerely
believe in tolerating others' values (up to a point) and wouldn't want
to use high-handed methods to reach their social goals. Our remarks
about leftism are not meant to apply to every individual leftist but
to describe the general character of leftism as a movement. And the
general character of a movement is not necessarily determined by the
numerical proportions of the various kinds of people involved in the
movement.
224. The people who rise to positions of power in leftist movements
tend to be leftists of the most power-hungry type because power-hungry
people are those who strive hardest to get into positions of power.
Once the power-hungry types have captured control of the movement,
there are many leftists of a gentler breed who inwardly disapprove of
many of the actions of the leaders, but cannot bring themselves to
oppose them. They NEED their faith in the movement, and because they
cannot give up this faith they go along with the leaders. True, SOME
leftists do have the guts to oppose the totalitarian tendencies that
emerge, but they generally lose, because the power-hungry types are
better organized, are more ruthless and Machiavellian and have taken
care to build themselves a strong power base.
225. These phenomena appeared clearly in Russia and other countries
that were taken over by leftists. Similarly, before the breakdown of
communism in the USSR, leftish types in the West would seldom
criticize that country. If prodded they would admit that the USSR did
many wrong things, but then they would try to find excuses for the
communists and begin talking about the faults of the West. They always
opposed Western military resistance to communist aggression. Leftish
types all over the world vigorously protested the U.S. military action
in Vietnam, but when the USSR invaded Afghanistan they did nothing.
Not that they approved of the Soviet actions; but because of their
leftist faith, they just couldn't bear to put themselves in opposition
to communism. Today, in those of our universities where "political
correctness" has become dominant, there are probably many leftish
types who privately disapprove of the suppression of academic freedom,
but they go along with it anyway.
226. Thus the fact that many individual leftists are personally mild
and fairly tolerant people by no means prevents leftism as a whole
form having a totalitarian tendency.
227. Our discussion of leftism has a serious weakness. It is still far
from clear what we mean by the word "leftist." There doesn't seem to
be much we can do about this. Today leftism is fragmented into a whole
spectrum of activist movements. Yet not all activist movements are
leftist, and some activist movements (e.g.., radical environmentalism)
seem to include both personalities of the leftist type and
personalities of thoroughly un-leftist types who ought to know better
than to collaborate with leftists. Varieties of leftists fade out
gradually into varieties of non-leftists and we ourselves would often
be hard-pressed to decide whether a given individual is or is not a
leftist. To the extent that it is defined at all, our conception of
leftism is defined by the discussion of it that we have given in this
article, and we can only advise the reader to use his own judgment in
deciding who is a leftist.
228. But it will be helpful to list some criteria for diagnosing
leftism. These criteria cannot be applied in a cut and dried manner.
Some individuals may meet some of the criteria without being leftists,
some leftists may not meet any of the criteria. Again, you just have
to use your judgment.
229. The leftist is oriented toward largescale collectivism. He
emphasizes the duty of the individual to serve society and the duty of
society to take care of the individual. He has a negative attitude
toward individualism. He often takes a moralistic tone. He tends to be
for gun control, for sex education and other psychologically
"enlightened" educational methods, for planning, for affirmative
action, for multiculturalism. He tends to identify with victims. He
tends to be against competition and against violence, but he often
finds excuses for those leftists who do commit violence. He is fond of
using the common catch-phrases of the left like "racism, " "sexism, "
"homophobia, " "capitalism," "imperialism," "neocolonialism "
"genocide," "social change," "social justice," "social
responsibility." Maybe the best diagnostic trait of the leftist is his
tendency to sympathize with the following movements: feminism, gay
rights, ethnic rights, disability rights, animal rights political
correctness. Anyone who strongly sympathizes with ALL of these
movements is almost certainly a leftist. [36]
230. The more dangerous leftists, that is, those who are most
power-hungry, are often characterized by arrogance or by a dogmatic
approach to ideology. However, the most dangerous leftists of all may
be certain oversocialized types who avoid irritating displays of
aggressiveness and refrain from advertising their leftism, but work
quietly and unobtrusively to promote collectivist values,
"enlightened" psychological techniques for socializing children,
dependence of the individual on the system, and so forth. These
crypto-leftists (as we may call them) approximate certain bourgeois
types as far as practical action is concerned, but differ from them in
psychology, ideology and motivation. The ordinary bourgeois tries to
bring people under control of the system in order to protect his way
of life, or he does so simply because his attitudes are conventional.
The crypto-leftist tries to bring people under control of the system
because he is a True Believer in a collectivistic ideology. The
crypto-leftist is differentiated from the average leftist of the
oversocialized type by the fact that his rebellious impulse is weaker
and he is more securely socialized. He is differentiated from the
ordinary well-socialized bourgeois by the fact that there is some deep
lack within him that makes it necessary for him to devote himself to a
cause and immerse himself in a collectivity. And maybe his
(well-sublimated) drive for power is stronger than that of the average
bourgeois.
FINAL NOTE
231. Throughout this article we've made imprecise statements and
statements that ought to have had all sorts of qualifications and
reservations attached to them; and some of our statements may be
flatly false. Lack of sufficient information and the need for brevity
made it impossible for us to fomulate our assertions more precisely or
add all the necessary qualifications. And of course in a discussion of
this
kind one must rely heavily on intuitive judgment, and that can
sometimes be wrong. So we don't claim that this article expresses more
than a crude approximation to the truth.
232. All the same we are reasonably confident that the general
outlines of the picture we have painted here are roughly correct. We
have portrayed leftism in its modern form as a phenomenon peculiar to
our time and as a symptom of the disruption of the power process. But
we might possibly be wrong about this. Oversocialized types who try to
satisfy their drive for power by imposing their morality on everyone
have certainly been around for a long time. But we THINK that the
decisive role played by feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem,
powerlessness, identification with victims by people who are not
themselves victims, is a peculiarity of modern leftism. Identification
with victims by people not themselves victims can be seen to some
extent in 19th century leftism and early Christianity but as far as we
can make out, symptoms of low self-esteem, etc., were not nearly so
evident in these movements, or in any other movements, as they are in
modern leftism. But we are not in a position to assert confidently
that no such movements have existed prior to modern leftism. This is a
significant question to which historians ought to give their
attention.
NOTES
1. (Paragraph 19) We are asserting that ALL, or even most, bullies and
ruthless competitors suffer from feelings of inferiority.
2. (Paragraph 25) During the Victorian period many oversocialized
people suffered from serious psychological problems as a result of
repressing or trying to repress their sexual feelings. Freud
apparently based his theories on people of this type. Today the focus
of socialization has shifted from sex to aggression.
3. (Paragraph 27) Not necessarily including specialists in engineering
"hard" sciences.
4. (Paragraph 28) There are many individuals of the middle and upper
classes who resist some of these values, but usually their resistance
is more or less covert. Such resistance appears in the mass media only
to a very limited extent. The main thrust of propaganda in our society
is in favor of the stated values.
The main reasons why these values have become, so to speak, the
official values of our society is that they are useful to the
industrial system. Violence is discouraged because it disrupts the
functioning of the system. Racism is discouraged because ethnic
conflicts also disrupt the system, and discrimination wastes the
talent of minority-group members who could be useful to the system.
Poverty must be "cured" because the underclass causes problems for the
system and contact with the underclass lowers the moral of the other
classes. Women are encouraged to have careers because their talents
are useful to the system and, more importantly because by having
regular jobs women become better integrated into the system and tied
directly to it rather than to their families. This helps to weaken
family solidarity. (The leaders of the system say they want to
strengthen the family, but they really mean is that they want the
family to serve as an effective tool for socializing children in
accord with the needs of the system. We argue in paragraphs 51,52 that
the system cannot afford to let the family or other small-scale social
groups be strong or autonomous.)
5. (Paragraph 42) It may be argued that the majority of people don't
want to make their own decisions but want leaders to do their thinking
for them. There is an element of truth in this. People like to make
their own decisions in small matters, but making decisions on
difficult, fundamental questions require facing up to psychological
conflict, and most people hate psychological conflict. Hence they tend
to lean on others in making difficult decisions. The majority of
people are natural followers, not leaders, but they like to have
direct personal access to their leaders and participate to some extent
in making difficult decisions. At least to that degree they need
autonomy.
6. (Paragraph 44) Some of the symptoms listed are similar to those
shown by caged animals.
To explain how these symptoms arise from deprivation with respect to
the power process:
Common-sense understanding of human nature tells one that lack of
goals whose attainment requires effort leads to boredom and that
boredom, long continued, often leads eventually to depression. Failure
to obtain goals leads to frustration and lowering of self-esteem.
Frustration leads to anger, anger to aggression, often in the form of
spouse or child abuse. It has been shown that long-continued
frustration commonly leads to depression and that depression tends to
cause guilt, sleep disorders, eating disorders and bad feelings about
oneself. Those who are tending toward depression seek pleasure as an
antidote; hence insatiable hedonism and excessive sex, with
perversions as a means of getting new kicks. Boredom too tends to
cause excessive pleasure-seeking since, lacking other goals, people
often use pleasure as a goal. See accompanying diagram. The foregoing
is a simplification. Reality is more complex, and of course
deprivation with respect to the power process is not the ONLY cause of
the symptoms described. By the way, when we mention depression we do
not necessarily mean depression that is severe enough to be treated by
a psychiatrist. Often only mild forms of depression are involved. And
when we speak of goals we do not necessarily mean long-term, thought
out goals. For many or most people through much of human history, the
goals of a hand-to-mouth existence (merely providing oneself and one's
family with food from day to day) have been quite sufficient.
7. (Paragraph 52) A partial exception may be made for a few passive,
inward looking groups, such as the Amish, which have little effect on
the wider society. Apart from these, some genuine small-scale
communities do exist in America today. For instance, youth gangs and
"cults". Everyone regards them as dangerous, and so they are, because
the members of these groups are loyal primarily to one another rather
than to the system, hence the system cannot control them. Or take the
gypsies. The gypsies commonly get away with theft and fraud because
their loyalties are such that they can always get other gypsies to
give testimony that "proves" their innocence. Obviously the system
would be in serious trouble if too many people belonged to such
groups. Some of the early-20th century Chinese thinkers who were
concerned with modernizing China recognized the necessity of breaking
down small-scale social groups such as the family: "(According to Sun
Yat-sen) The Chinese people needed a new surge of patriotism, which
would lead to a transfer of loyalty from the family to the state. .
.(According to Li Huang) traditional attachments, particularly to the
family had to be abandoned if nationalism were to develop to China."
(Chester C. Tan, Chinese Political Thought in the Twentieth Century,"
page 125, page 297.)
8. (Paragraph 56) Yes, we know that 19th century America had its
problems, and serious ones, but for the sake of breviety we have to
express ourselves in simplified terms.
9. (Paragraph 61) We leave aside the underclass. We are speaking of
the mainstream.
10. (Paragraph 62) Some social scientists, educators, "mental health"
professionals and the like are doing their best to push the social
drives into group 1 by trying to see to it that everyone has a
satisfactory social life.
11. (Paragraphs 63, 82) Is the drive for endless material acquisition
really an artificial creation of the advertising and marketing
industry? Certainly there is no innate human drive for material
acquisition. There have been many cultures in which people have
desired little material wealth beyond what was necessary to satisfy
their basic physical needs (Australian aborigines, traditional Mexican
peasant culture, some African cultures). On the other hand there have
also been many pre-industrial cultures in which material acquisition
has played an important role. So we can't claim that today's
acquisition-oriented culture is exclusively a creation of the
advertising and marketing industry. But it is clear that the
advertising and marketing industry has had an important part in
creating that culture. The big corporations that spend millions on
advertising wouldn't be spending that kind of money without solid
proof that they were getting it back in increased sales. One member of
FC met a sales manager a couple of years ago who was frank enough to
tell him, "Our job is to make people buy things they don't want and
don't need." He then described how an untrained novice could present
people with the facts about a product, and make no sales at all, while
a trained and experienced professional salesman would make lots of
sales to the same people. This shows that people are manipulated into
buying things they don't really want.
12. (Paragraph 64) The problem of purposelessness seems to have become
less serious during the last 15 years or so, because people now feel
less secure physically and economically than they did earlier, and the
need for security provides them with a goal. But purposelessness has
been replaced by frustration over the difficulty of attaining
security. We emphasize the problem of purposelessness because the
liberals and leftists would wish to solve our social problems by
having society guarantee everyone's security; but if that could be
done it would only bring back the problem of purposelessness. The real
issue is not whether society provides well or poorly for people's
security; the trouble is that people are dependent on the system for
their security rather than having it in their own hands. This, by the
way, is part of the reason why some people get worked up about the
right to bear arms; possession of a gun puts that aspect of their
security in their own hands.
13. (Paragraph 66) Conservatives' efforts to decrease the amount of
government regulation are of little benefit to the average man. For
one thing, only a fraction of the regulations can be eliminated
because most regulations are necessary. For another thing, most of the
deregulation affects business rather than the average individual, so
that its main effect is to take power from the government and give it
to private corporations. What this means for the average man is that
government interference in his life is replaced by interference from
big corporations, which may be permitted, for example, to dump more
chemicals that get into his water supply and give him cancer. The
conservatives are just taking the average man for a sucker, exploiting
his resentment of Big Government to promote the power of Big Business.
14. (Paragraph 73) When someone approves of the purpose for which
propaganda is being used in a given case, he generally calls it
"education" or applies to it some similar euphemism. But propaganda is
propaganda regardless of the purpose for which it is used.
15. (Paragraph 83) We are not expressing approval or disapproval of
the Panama invasion. We only use it to illustrate a point.
16. (Paragraph 95) When the American colonies were under British rule
there were fewer and less effective legal guarantees of freedom than
there were after the American Constitution went into effect, yet there
was more personal freedom in pre-industrial America, both before and
after the War of Independence, than there was after the Industrial
Revolution took hold in this country. We quote from "Violence in
America: Historical and Comparative perspectives," edited by Hugh
Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr, Chapter 12 by Roger Lane, pages
476-478: "The progressive heightening of standards of property, and
with it the increasing reliance on official law enforcement (in 19th
century America). . .were common to the whole society. . .[T]he change
in social behavior is so long term and so widespread as to suggest a
connection with the most fundamental of contemporary social processes;
that of industrial urbanization itself. . ."Massachusetts in 1835 had
a population of some 660,940, 81 percent rural, overwhelmingly
preindustrial and native born. It's citizens were used to considerable
personal freedom. Whether teamsters, farmers or artisans, they were
all accustomed to setting their own schedules, and the nature of their
work made them physically dependent on each other. . .Individual
problems, sins or even crimes, were not generally cause for wider
social concern. . ."But the impact of the twin movements to the city
and to the factory, both just gathering force in 1835, had a
progressive effect on personal behavior throughout the 19th century
and into the 20th. The factory demanded regularity of behavior, a life
governed by obedience to the rhythms of clock and calendar, the
demands of foreman and supervisor. In the city or town, the needs of
living in closely packed neighborhoods inhibited many actions
previously unobjectionable.
Both blue- and white-collar employees in larger establishments were
mutually dependent on their fellows. as one man's work fit into
another's, so one man's business was no longer his own. "The results
of the new organization of life and work were apparent by 1900, when
some 76 percent of the 2,805,346 inhabitants of Massachusetts were
classified as urbanites. Much violent or irregular behavior which had
been tolerable in a casual, independent society was no longer
acceptable in the more formalized, cooperative atmosphere of the later
period. . .The move to the cities had, in short, produced a more
tractable, more socialized, more 'civilized' generation than its
predecessors."
17. (Paragraph 117) Apologists for the system are fond of citing cases
in which elections have been decided by one or two votes, but such
cases are rare.
18. (Paragraph 119) "Today, in technologically advanced lands, men
live very similar lives in spite of geographical, religious and
political differences. The daily lives of a Christian bank clerk in
Chicago, a Buddhist bank clerk in Tokyo, a Communist bank clerk in
Moscow are far more alike than the life any one of them is like that
of any single man who lived a thousand years ago. These similarities
are the result of a common technology. . ." L. Sprague de Camp, "The
Ancient Engineers," Ballentine edition, page 17.
The lives of the three bank clerks are not IDENTICAL. Ideology does
have SOME effect. But all technological societies, in order to
survive, must evolve along APPROXIMATELY the same trajectory.
19. (Paragraph 123) Just think an irresponsible genetic engineer might
create a lot of terrorists.
20. (Paragraph 124) For a further example of undesirable consequences
of medical progress, suppose a reliable cure for cancer is discovered.
Even if the treatment is too expensive to be available to any but the
elite, it will greatly reduce their incentive to stop the escape of
carcinogens into the environment.
21. (Paragraph 128) Since many people may find paradoxical the notion
that a large number of good things can add up to a bad thing, we will
illustrate with an analogy. Suppose Mr. A is playing chess with Mr. B.
Mr. C, a Grand Master, is looking over Mr. A's shoulder. Mr. A of
course wants to win his game, so if Mr. C points out a good move for
him to make, he is doing Mr. A a favor. But suppose now that Mr. C
tells Mr. A how to make ALL of his moves. In each particular instance
he does Mr. A a favor by showing him his best move, but by making ALL
of his moves for him he spoils the game, since there is not point in
Mr. A's playing the game at all if someone else makes all his moves.
The situation of modern man is analogous to that of Mr. A. The system
makes an individual's life easier for him in innumerable ways, but in
doing so it deprives him of control over his own fate.
22. (Paragraph 137) Here we are considering only the conflict of
values within the mainstream. For the sake of simplicity we leave out
of the picture "outsider" values like the idea that wild nature is
more important than human economic welfare.
23. (Paragraph 137) Self-interest is not necessarily MATERIAL
self-interest. It can consist in fulfillment of some psychological
need, for example, by promoting one's own ideology or religion.
24. (Paragraph 139) A qualification: It is in the interest of the
system to permit a certain prescribed degree of freedom in some areas.
For example, economic freedom (with suitable limitations and
restraints) has proved effective in promoting economic growth. But
only planned, circumscribed, limited freedom is in the interest of the
system. The individual must always be kept on a leash, even if the
leash is sometimes long( see paragraphs 94, 97).
25. (Paragraph 143) We don't mean to suggest that the efficiency or
the potential for survival of a society has always been inversely
proportional to the amount of pressure or discomfort to which the
society subjects people. That is certainly not the case. There is good
reason to believe that many primitive societies subjected people to
less pressure than the European society did, but European society
proved far more efficient than any primitive society and always won
out in conflicts with such societies because of the advantages
conferred by technology.
26. (Paragraph 147) If you think that more effective law enforcement
is unequivocally good because it suppresses crime, then remember that
crime as defined by the system is not necessarily what YOU would call
crime. Today, smoking marijuana is a "crime," and, in some places in
the U.S.., so is possession of ANY firearm, registered or not, may be
made a crime, and the same thing may happen with disapproved methods
of child-rearing, such as spanking. In some countries, expression of
dissident political opinions is a crime, and there is no certainty
that this will never happen in the U.S., since no constitution or
political system lasts forever.
If a society needs a large, powerful law enforcement establishment,
then there is something gravely wrong with that society; it must be
subjecting people to severe pressures if so many refuse to follow the
rules, or follow them only because forced. Many societies in the past
have gotten by with little or no formal law-enforcement.
27. (Paragraph 151) To be sure, past societies have had means of
influencing behavior, but these have been primitive and of low
effectiveness compared with the technological means that are now being
developed.
28. (Paragraph 152) However, some psychologists have publicly
expressed opinions indicating their contempt for human freedom. And
the mathematician Claude Shannon was quoted in Omni (August 1987) as
saying, "I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to
humans, and I'm rooting for the machines."
29. (Paragraph 154) This is no science fiction! After writing
paragraph 154 we came across an article in Scientific American
according to which scientists are actively developing techniques for
identifying possible future criminals and for treating them by a
combination of biological and psychological means. Some scientists
advocate compulsory application of the treatment, which may be
available in the near future. (See "Seeking the Criminal Element", by
W. Wayt Gibbs, Scientific American, March 1995.) Maybe you think this
is OK because the treatment would be applied to those who might become
drunk drivers (they endanger human life too), then perhaps to peel who
spank their children, then to environmentalists who sabotage logging
equipment, eventually to anyone whose behavior is inconvenient for the
system.
30. (Paragraph 184) A further advantage of nature as a counter-ideal
to technology is that, in many people, nature inspires the kind of
reverence that is associated with religion, so that nature could
perhaps be idealized on a religious basis. It is true that in many
societies religion has served as a support and justification for the
established order, but it is also true that religion has often
provided a basis for rebellion. Thus it may be useful to introduce a
religious element into the rebellion against technology, the more so
because Western society today has no strong religious foundation.
Religion, nowadays either is used as cheap and transparent support for
narrow, short-sighted selfishness (some conservatives use it this
way), or even is cynically exploited to make easy money (by many
evangelists), or has degenerated into crude irrationalism
(fundamentalist Protestant sects, "cults"), or is simply stagnant
(Catholicism, main-line Protestantism). The nearest thing to a strong,
widespread, dynamic religion that the West has seen in recent times
has been the quasi-religion of leftism, but leftism today is
fragmented and has no clear, unified inspiring goal.
Thus there is a religious vaccuum in our society that could perhaps be
filled by a religion focused on nature in opposition to technology.
But it would be a mistake to try to concoct artificially a religion to
fill this role. Such an invented religion would probably be a failure.
Take the "Gaia" religion for example. Do its adherents REALLY believe
in it or are they just play-acting? If they are just play-acting their
religion will be a flop in the end.
It is probably best not to try to introduce religion into the conflict
of nature vs. technology unless you REALLY believe in that religion
yourself and find that it arouses a deep, strong, genuine response in
many other people.
31. (Paragraph 189) Assuming that such a final push occurs.
Conceivably the industrial system might be eliminated in a somewhat
gradual or piecemeal fashion. (see paragraphs 4, 167 and Note 4).
32. (Paragraph 193) It is even conceivable (remotely) that the
revolution might consist only of a massive change of attitudes toward
technology resulting in a relatively gradual and painless
disintegration of the industrial system. But if this happens we'll be
very lucky. It's far more probably that the transition to a
nontechnological society will be very difficult and full of conflicts
and disasters.
33. (Paragraph 195) The economic and technological structure of a
society are far more important than its political structure in
determining the way the average man lives (see paragraphs 95, 119 and
Notes 16, 18).
34. (Paragraph 215) This statement refers to our particular brand of
anarchism. A wide variety of social attitudes have been called
"anarchist," and it may be that many who consider themselves
anarchists would not accept our statement of paragraph 215. It should
be noted, by the way, that there is a nonviolent anarchist movement
whose members probably would not accept FC as anarchist and certainly
would not approve of FC's violent methods.
35. (Paragraph 219) Many leftists are motivated also by hostility, but
the hostility probably results in part from a frustrated need for
power.
36. (Paragraph 229) It is important to understand that we mean someone
who sympathizes with these MOVEMENTS as they exist today in our
society. One who believes that women, homosexuals, etc., should have
equal rights is not necessarily a leftist. The feminist, gay rights,
etc., movements that exist in our society have the particular
ideological tone that characterizes leftism, and if one believes, for
example, that women should have equal rights it does not necessarily
follow that one must sympathize with the feminist movement as it
exists today.
If copyright problems make it impossible for this long quotation to be
printed, then please change Note 16 to read as follows:
16. (Paragraph 95) When the American colonies were under British rule
there were fewer and less effective legal guarantees of freedom than
there were after the American Constitution went into effect, yet there
was more personal freedom in pre-industrial America, both before and
after the War of Independence, than there was after the Industrial
Revolution took hold in this country. In "Violence in America:
Historical and Comparative Perspectives," edited by Hugh Davis Graham
and Ted Robert Gurr, Chapter 12 by Roger Lane, it is explained how in
pre-industrial America the average person had greater independence and
autonomy than he does today, and how the process of industrialization
necessarily led to the restriction of personal freedom.
[Feb 22,2006 3:36am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
JOHNNY CASH IS NOT DEAD !!!
[img]
[Feb 22,2006 3:43am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
[Feb 22,2006 4:07am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
NEW YORK (AP) -- Thanks to a wave of media appearances, including interviews with HBO's Bill Maher and Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, Kurt Vonnegut is again a best seller.
The author of "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle" and many other favorites has been promoting "A Man Without a Country," a collection of nonfiction that came out Thursday. The book has reached the top 10 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, and publisher Seven Stories Press has already more than doubled its first printing, from 50,000 copies to 110,000.
"It's a nice glass of champagne at the end of a life," the 82-year-old Vonnegut told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Vonnegut said he no longer writes fiction, but he does contribute articles -- some of them included in his new book -- to In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago.
"A Man Without a Country" is just under 150 pages, and includes criticism of the Bush administration ("George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography ...") and Vonnegut's characteristically dark, but humorous thoughts on the fate of the planet.
"I like to say that the 51st state is the state of denial," he told the AP. "It's as though a huge comet were heading for us and nobody wants to talk about it. We're just about to run out of petroleum and there's nothing to replace it."
He jokes, sort of, that he has "lived too long" and wishes he had been finished off by a fire at his home a few years ago, from which he escaped unharmed. "When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut said with a wheezy laugh worthy of a long-term chain smoker.
"My father, like Hemingway, was a gun nut and was very unhappy late in life. But he was proud of not committing suicide. And I'll do the same, so as not to set a bad example for my children."
[Feb 24,2006 2:55am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"My wife and I have been practicing chastity and orgasm denial. She
has not allowed me to have sex with her in months. The other night she
told me she wanted me to fuck her. She told me to take 100 mg of
Viagra which I did. She was all dolled up in her thigh high boots,
garter belt and stockings and called me into the bed room. I layed on
the bed and she stroked me till hard. Then she grabbed a tube of Ela-
Max (a benzocain based, desensitizing cream) and rubbed it all over my
dick. She then put a condom on me (to keep the cream off of her) and
had me fuck her hard for about an hour. She informed me NOT to cum -
which was impossible anyway as the cream made my dick so numb. She
stopped when she was totally satisified and had me eat her for another
15 minutes and then left to watch TV. When the cream started to wear
off I was left with a raging hard on and a bad case of blue balls.
Certainly, I am never allowed to relieve myself and was informed that
this is how we will always have sex in the future. Geeeeeez !"
[Feb 25,2006 4:40am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
ive been listening to a lot of allman brothers bootlegs lately and i wish there was more of that bluesy influence on today pop music. where have all the real bands gone, all these bands from the last 25years are a joke. none of them mean shit nor hold a candle to the greats that came outta the 50s, 60s or 70s
Mary Hicks: "I said to Bill, you know you are just that far from being a preacher, and he said, I am a preacher"
[Feb 25,2006 4:45am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
My voice was not heard, the questions were not asked that I wanted to see asked. - Bill Hicks
[Feb 25,2006 4:58am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber. And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possesed me then. And I begged, "Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust." And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared, "Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!" Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus. Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on........ This is necessary. It was daylight when you woke up in your ditch. You looked up at your sky then. That made blue be your color. You had your knife there with you too. When you stood up there was goo all over your clothes. Your hands were sticky. You wiped them on your grass, so now your color was green. Oh Lord, why did everything always have to keep changing like this. You were already getting nervous again. Your head hurt and it rang when you stood up. Your head was almost empty. It always hurt you when you woke up like this. You crawled up out of your ditch onto your gravel road and began to walk, waiting for the rest of your mind to come back to you. You can see the car parked far down the road and you walked toward it. "If God is our Father," you thought, "then Satan must be our cousin." Why didn't anyone else understand these important things? You got to your car and tried all the doors. They were locked. It was a red car and it was new. There was an expensive leather camera case laying on the seat. Out across your field, you could see two tiny people walking by your woods. You began to walk towards them. Now red was your color and, of course, those little people out there were yours too.
[Feb 25,2006 5:08am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I’ll tell you this...
No eternal reward will forgive us now
For wasting the dawn.
Back in those days everything was simpler and more confused
One summer night, going to the pier
I ran into two young girls
The blonde one was called freedom
The dark one, enterprise
We talked and they told me this story
Now listen to this...
I’ll tell you about texas radio and the big beat
Soft driven, slow and mad
Like some new language
Reaching your head with the cold, sudden fury of a divine messenger
Let me tell you about heartache and the loss of god
Wandering, wandering in hopeless night
Out here in the perimeter there are no stars
Out here we is stoned
Immaculate.
[Feb 25,2006 5:13am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
[Feb 26,2006 11:41am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
AUTOPSY_666 said:Bill Hicks is #2, I miss him.
[Mar 2,2006 12:50am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
this is Frank Zappa talking about censorship in music during the early 80s
[URL]http://movies.crooksandliars.com/zappa_crossfire_1986.wmv[/URL]
this is his testimony from the hearings
[IMG]http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2005/10/06/image924509g.jpg[/IMG]
Frank Zappa: My name is Frank Zappa. This is my attorney Larry Stein from Los Angeles. Can you hear me?
Chairman: If you could speak very directly and clearly into the microphone, I would appreciate it.
FZ: My name is Frank Zappa. This is my attorney Larry Stein.
The statement that I prepared, that I sent you 100 copies of, is five pages long, so I have shortened it down and am going to read a condensed version of it.
Certain things have happened. I have been listening to the event in the other room and have heard conflicting reports as to whether or not people in this committee want legislation. I understand that Mr. Hollings does from his comments. Is that correct?
Chairman: I think you had better concentrate on your testimony, rather than asking questions.
FZ: The reason I need to ask it, because I have to change something in my testimony if there is not a clear-cut version of whether or not legislation is what is being discussed here.
Chairman: Do the best you can, because I do not think anybody here can characterize Senator Hollings' position.
FZ: I will carry on with the issue, then.
Senator Exon: Mr. Chairman, I might help him out just a little bit. I might make a statement. This is one Senator that might be interested in legislation and/or regulation to some extent, recognizing the problems with the right of free expression.
I have previously expressed views that I do not believe I should be telling other people what they have to listen to. I really believe that the suggestion made by the original panel was some kind of an arrangement for voluntarily policing this in the music industry as the correct way to go.
If it will help you out in your testimony, I might join Senator Hollings or others in some kind of legislation and/or regulation, unless the free enterprise system, both the producers and you as the performers, see fit to clean up your act.
FZ: OK, thank you.
The First thing I would like to do, because I know there is some foreign press involved here and they might not understand what the issue is about, one of the things the issue is about is the First Amendment to the Constitution, and it is short and I would like to read it so they will understand. It says:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
That is for reference.
These are my personal observations and opinions. They are addressed to the [Parents' Music Resource Centre] as well as this committee. I speak on behalf of no group or professional organization.
The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years, dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design.
It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation.
No one has forced Mrs. Baker or Mrs. Gore to bring Prince or Sheena Easton into their homes. Thanks to the Constitution, they are free to buy other forms of music for their children. Apparently, they insist on purchasing the works of contemporary recording artists in order to support a personal illusion of aerobic sophistication. Ladies, please be advised: The $8.98 purchase price does not entitle you to a kiss on the foot from the composer or performer in exchange for a spin on the family Victrola. Taken as a whole, the complete list of PMRC demands reads like an instruction manual for some sinister kind of "toilet training program" to house-break all composers and performers because of the lyrics of a few. Ladies, how dare you?
The ladies' shame must be shared by the bosses at the major labels who, through the RIAA, chose to bargain away the rights of composers, performers, and retailers in order to pass H.R. 2911, the Blank Tape Tax -- a private tax levied by an industry on consumers for the benefit of a select group within that industry.
Is this a consumer issue? You bet it is. PMRC spokesperson, Kandy Stroud, announced to millions of fascinated viewers on last Friday's ABC Nightline debate that Senator Gore, a man she described as "a friend of the music industry," is co-sponsor of something she referred to as "anti-piracy legislation". Is this the same tax bill with a nicer name?
The major record labels need to have H.R. 2911 whiz through a few committees before anybody smells a rat. One of them is chaired by Senator Thurmond. Is it a coincidence that Mrs. Thurmond is affiliated with the PMRC?
I cannot say she's a member, because the PMRC has no members. Their secretary told me on the phone last Friday that the PMRC has no members, only founders. I asked how many other District of Columbia wives are nonmembers of an organization that raises money by mail, has a tax-exempt status, and seems intent on running the Constitution of the United States through the family paper-shredder. I asked her if it was a cult. Finally, she said she couldn't give me an answer and that she had to call their lawyer.
While the wife of the Secretary of the Treasury recites "Gonna drive my love inside you" and Senator Gore's wife talks about "Bondage!" and "oral sex at gunpoint" on the CBS Evening News, people in high places work on a tax bill that is so ridiculous, the only way to sneak it through is to keep the public's mind on something else: "porn rock."
Is the basic issue morality? Is it mental health? Is it an issue at all? The PMRC has created a lot of confusion with improper comparisons between song lyrics, videos, record packaging, radio broadcasting, and live performances. These are all different mediums, and the people who work in them have the right to conduct their business without trade-restraining legislation, whipped up like an instant pudding by the wives of Big Brother.
Is it proper that the husband of a PMRC nonmember/founder/person sits on any committee considering business pertaining to the Blank Tape Tax or his wife's lobbying organization? Can any committee thus constituted 'find facts' in a fair and unbiased manner? This committee has three that we know about: Senator Danforth, Senator Packwood, and Senator Gore. For some reason, they seem to feel there is no conflict of interest involved.
The PMRC promotes their program as a harmless type of consumer information service providing "guidelines" which will assist baffled parents in the determination of the "suitability" of records listened to by 'very young children'. The methods they propose have several unfortunately [sic] side effects, not the least of which is the reduction of all American Music, recorded and live, to the intellectual level of a Saturday morning cartoon show.
Children in the vulnerable age bracket have a natural love for music. If, as a parent, you believe they should be exposed to something more uplifting than "Sugar Walls," support music appreciation programs in schools. Why have you not considered your child's need for consumer information? Music appreciation costs very little compared to sports expenditures. Your children have a right to know that something besides pop music exists.
It is unfortunate that the PMRC would rather dispense governmentally sanitized heavy metal music than something more uplifting. Is this an indication of PMRC's personal taste, or just another manifestation of the low priority this administration has placed on education for the arts in America?
The answer, of course, is neither. You cannot distract people from thinking about an unfair tax by talking about music appreciation. For that you need sex, and lots of it.
The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of moral quality-control programs based on "Things Certain Christians Don't Like". What if the next bunch of Washington wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?
Record ratings are frequently compared to film ratings. Apart from the quantitative difference, there is another that is more important: People who act in films are hired to pretend. No matter how the film is rated, it won't hurt them personally.
Since many musicians write and perform their own material and stand by it as their art (whether you like it or not), an imposed rating will stigmatize them as individuals. How long before composers and performers are told to wear a festive little PMRC arm band with their scarlet letter on it?
Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are, in my opinion, more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality. Freedom of speech, freedom of religious thought, and the right to due process for composers, performers and retailers are imperiled if the PMRC and the major labels consummate this nasty bargain.
Are we expected to give up Article 1 so the big guys can collect an extra dollar on every blank tape and 10 to 25 percent on tape recorders? What is going on here? Do we get to vote on this tax? Do we get to vote on this tax? I think that this whole matter has gotten completely blown out of proportion, and I agree with Senator Exon that there is a very dubious reason for having this event. I also agree with Senator Exon that you should not be wasting time on stuff like this, because from the beginning I have sensed that it is somebody's hobby project.
Now, I have done a number of interviews on television. People keep saying, can you not take a few steps in their direction, can you not sympathize, can you not empathize? I do more than that at this point. I have got an idea for a way to stop all this stuff and a way to give parents what they really want, which is information, accurate information as to what is inside the album, without providing a stigma for the musicians who have played on the album or the people who sing it or the people who wrote it. And I think that if you 'listen carefully to this idea that it might just get by all of the constitutional problems and everything else.
As far as I am concerned, I have no objection to having all of the lyrics placed on the album routinely, all the time. But there is a little problem. Record companies do not own the right automatically to take these lyrics, because they are owned by a publishing company.
So, just as all the rest of the PMRC proposals would cost money, this would cost money too, because the record companies would need--they should not be forced to bear the cost, the extra expenditure to the publisher, to print those lyrics.
If you consider that the public needs to be warned about the contents of the records, what better way than to let them see exactly what the songs say? That way you do not have to put any kind of subjective rating on the record. You do not have to call it R, X, D/A, anything. You can read it for yourself.
But in order for it to work properly, the lyrics should be on a uniform kind of a sheet. Maybe even the government could print those sheets. Maybe it should even be paid for by the government, if the government is interested in making sure that people have consumer information in this regard.
And you also have to realize that if a person buys the record and takes it out of the store, once it is out of the store you can't return it if you read the lyrics at home and decide that little Johnny is not supposed to have it.
I think that that should at least be considered, and the idea of imposing these ratings on live concerts, on the albums, asking record companies to reevaluate or drop or violate contracts that they already have with artists should be thrown out.
That is all I have to say.
Chairman: Thank you very much, Mr. Zappa. You understand that the previous witnesses were not asking for legislation. And I do not know, I cannot speak for Senator Hollings, but I think the prevailing view here is that nobody is asking for legislation.
The question is just focusing on what a lot of people perceive to be a problem, and you have indicated that you at least understand that there is another point of view. But there are people that think that parents should have some knowledge of what goes into their home.
FZ: All along my objection has been with the tactics used by these people in order to achieve the goal. I just think the tactics have been really bad, and the whole premise of their proposal -- they were badly advised in terms of record business law; they were badly advised in terms of practicality. Or they would have known that certain things do not work mechanically with what they suggest.
Chairman: Senator Gore.
Senator Gore: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I found your statement very interesting and, although I disagree with some of the statements that you make and have made on other occasions, I have been a fan of your music, believe it or not. I respect you as a true original and a tremendously talented musician.
Your suggestion of printing the lyrics on the album is a very interesting one. The PMRC at one point said they would propose either a rating or warning, or printing all the lyrics on the album. The record companies came back and said they did not want to do that.
I think a lot of people agree with your suggestion that one easy way to solve this problem for parents would be to put the actual words there, so that parents could see them. In fact, the National Association of Broadcasters made exactly the same request of the record companies.
I think your suggestion is an intriguing one and might really be a solution for the problem.
FZ: You have to understand that it does cost money, because you cannot expect publishers to automatically give up that right, which is a right for them. Somebody is going to have to reimburse the publishers, the record industry.
Without trying to mess up the album jacket art, it should be a sheet of paper that is slipped inside the shrink-wrap, so that when you take it out you can still have a complete album package. So there is going to be some extra cost for printing it.
But as long as people realize that for this kind of consumer safety you are going to spend some money and as long as you can find a way to pay for it, I think that would be the best way to let people know.
Gore: I do not disagree with that at all. And the separate sheet would also solve the problem with cassettes as well, because you do not have the space for words on the cassette packs.
FZ: There would have to be a little accordion-fold.
Gore: I have listened to you a number of times on this issue, and I guess the statement that I want to get from you is whether or not you feel this concern is legitimate.
You feel very strongly about your position, and I understand that. You are very articulate and forceful.
But occasionally you give the impression that you think parents are just silly to be concerned at all.
FZ: No; that is not an accurate impression.
Gore: Well, please clarify it, then.
FZ: First of all, I think it is the parents' concern; it is not the government's concern.
Gore: The PMRC agrees with you on that.
FZ: Well, that does not come across in the way they have been speaking. The whole drift that I have gotten, based upon the media blitz that has attended the PMRC and its rise to infamy, is that they have a special plan, and it has smelled like legislation up until now.
There are too many things that look like hidden agendas involved with this. And I am a parent. I have got four children. Two of them are here. I want them to grow up in a country where they can think what they want to think, be what they want to be, and not what somebody's wife or somebody in Government makes them be.
I do not want to have that and I do not think you do either.
Gore: OK. But now you are back on the issue of government involvement. Let me say briefly on this point that the PMRC says repeatedly no legislation, no regulation, no government action. It certainly sounded clear to me.
And as far as a hidden agenda, I do not see one, hear one, or know of one.
FZ: OK, let me tell you why I have drawn these conclusions. First of all, they may say, we are not interested in legislation. But there are others who are, and because of their project bad things have happened in this country in the industry.
I believe there is actually some liability. Look at this. You have a situation where, even if you go for the lyric printed thing in the record, because of the tendency among Americans to be copycats -- one guy commits a murder, you get a copycat murder-now you've got copycat censors.
You get a very bad situation in San Antonio, TX, right now where they are trying to pass PMRC-type individual ratings and attach them to live concerts, with the mayor down there trying to make a national reputation by putting San Antonio on the map as the first city in the United States to have these regulations, against the suggestion of the city attorney, who says, I do not think this is constitutional.
But you know, there is this fervor to get in and do even more and even more.
And the other thing, the PMRC starts off talking about lyrics, but when they take it over into other realms they start talking about the videos. In fact, you misspoke yourself at the beginning in your introduction when you were talking about the music does this, the music does that. There is a distinct difference between those notes and chords and the baseline [sic - error in Congressional report] and the rhythm that support the words and the lyrics.
I do not know whether you really are talking about controlling the type of music.
Chairman: The lyrics.
FZ: So specifically we are talking about lyrics. It began with lyrics. But even looking at the PMRC fundraising letter, in the last paragraph at the bottom of the page it starts looking like it is branching into other areas, when it says: "We realize that this material has pervaded other aspects of society." And it is like what, you are going to fix it all for me?
Gore: No. I think the PMRC's acknowledging some of the statements by some of their critics who say: "Well, why single out the music industry?"
Do I understand that you do believe that there is a legitimate concern here?
FZ: But the legitimate concern is a matter of taste for the individual parent and how much sexual information that parent wants to give their child, at what age, at what time, in what quantity, OK. And I think that, because there is a tendency in the United States to hide sex, which I think is an unhealthy thing to do. And many parents do not give their children good sexual education, in spite of the fact that little books for kids are available, and other parents demand that sexual education be taken out of school, it makes the child vulnerable, because if you do not have something rational to compare it to when you see or hear about something that is aberrated you do not perceive it as an aberration.
Gore: OK, I have run out of time.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Senator Rockefeller.
Senator Rockefeller: No questions, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Senator Gor
post was too long read more at your own risk
[Mar 2,2006 7:46pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Jennifer wrestled her friend playfully to the ground
infront of the snowcone stand and began licking at the
girls eyeballs, as if they were sugar cubes. Their
bodies convulsed and flailed with an almost seizure
like intensity. At times their pale limbs seeming to
shift back and forth from one torso to the other. A
crowd gathered almost immediately to watch these two
girls tie and untie their bodies like a pair of
pit-vipers. They were confused, or concerned, or
shocked, or aroused, or all of the above. But no-one
dared interfere with the performance. Jennifer's long
ashen hair hung down concealing the girls face like a
curtain around a hospital bed. No one had any idea
that the girls eyes were revolving under her ruby
tongue. "This is disgusting, it's pornography"
exclaimed a pasty slut white woman in a fur coat,
vanilla ice-cream smeared across her double chin like
a money shot. Counting a balding professor type in his
mid-forties, his left hand stuffed crassly down the
front of his pants "No, no, no. This is beautiful,
this is art."
Everyone quickly hushed up and took a step back as
Jenifer rose and stood over the girl, examining her
handiwork. Her heart layed motionless beneath her,
seemingly dead. Her eyesockets dry and empty. Her
heels and elbows sprayed and bloodied. Some on-lookers
gasped in horror. Some swooned and fainted
melodramatically. Most just stared in disbelief.
Jennifer reached down between her thighs and pulled
the crotch of her bathing suit to the side - exposing
her vagina. The other girl slowly sat up and began
sliding her fingers into Jennifer. A few minutes
later, her wrists were in, then her elbows. Eventually
she would completely disappear into her womb. Jennifer
tilted her head to the side curiously. She heard the
sound of a rickety-wooden roller-coaster in the
distance. It's passengers screaming in mob terror. She
knew that sooner or later they would realize that the
ride wasn't stopping and they were all going to die.
I SEE you headless with me caressing your neck.My personal nightfall. An
eclipse of the sunflowers.I fell so invisible. So Unkown. Coffin of dust. AN
illegible Tombstone. They finally buried the gravedigger in the sky. I just need to
shower in your amber and bathe in your earth.
[Mar 9,2006 4:45am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
From this day on I own my father's gun
We dug his shallow grave beneath the sun
I laid his broken body down below the southern land
It wouldn't do to bury him where any Yankee stands
I'll take my horse and I'll ride the northern plain
To wear the colour of the greys and join the fight again
I'll not rest until I know the cause is fought and won
From this day on until I die I'll wear my father's gun
I'd like to know where the riverboat sails tonight
To New Orleans well that's just fine alright
\'Cause there's fighting there and the company needs men
So slip us a rope and sail on round the bend
As soon as this is over we'll go home
To plant the seeds of justice in our bones
To watch the children growing and see the women sewing
There'll be laughter when the bells of freedom ring
[Mar 9,2006 4:47am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
i didnt think anything was wrong till we got outside roanoke, west virgina. he had his top coat on and put a blanket covering him and he was laying with his arm cross his chest. the blanket had slipped off to the floor, so i just pulled over to the side of the road and covered him back up. when i moved his arm and i noticed a lil resistance i knew something wasnt right. there was an all night service station, with a big glass front window and i knew theyd have a big radiator heater in there. the attendant came out and i told him, could you look at the situation and see what you think about it. he said "i think you might have a problem, he's dead." i said there's nothing you can do for him. "no, hes just dead."
this is how hank williams died on jan 1st, 1953. he was only 29yo and died of a heart attack brought on by meds, and alcohol.
Standin' by a lonesome graveside
Everything I love is gone
Weeping as they lay my darlin'
'Neath a cold gray tomb of stone
In this world I\'m left to wander
With no one to call my own
While my precious darlin\'s sleepin'
'Neath a cold gray tomb of stone
Out there in that lonesome graveyard
She is sleepin' all alone
And they buryied my heart with her
'Neath a cold gray tomb of stone
Skies above were dark and stormin'
For the sunshine, all is gone
And the one I love is sleepin'
'Neath a cold gray tomb of stone
My heart is dead and yet i\'m living
Wondering through this world alone
I wish that I was with my darlin'
'Neath a cold gray tomb of stone
[Mar 9,2006 4:51am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
**
well entrenched ideas are more to do with past failures than they are with the potential for future successes.
**
Mr. Burns, I don't go in for these backdoor shenanigans. Sure, I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious, but the answer is no! - Homer Simpson
Money can buy you an expensive dog, but only love can make it wag its tail. – Kinky Friedman
[Mar 15,2006 4:30am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend
What do you mean?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every one packs an M-16
I wanna wake up from this dream
I caught the bullet, I was stumblin like a mulet
Drink white Russian; game, Russian roulette
Flight Continental six o'clock in the mornin
Briefcase full o' cocaine on my way out, I tipped the doorman
Jumped into the cab said, ";Hail Mary, full of Grace";
Yesterday communion was the Mafia's reunion
Confessed to the priest, evade the apple, I ate the peach
Slept with Vanity, sold my soul to Robin Leach
Devil music in my ear, no fear, I'm pumpin Def Leppard
Slow down, here comes the narc' with the German shepherd
I got the plan, man, meet me in the van
I got this kid from the Sudan bringin tecs from Iran
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend (All around the world)
(uh-huh) What do you mean? What do you mean?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every one packs an M-16
Says the girl to the fiend
So in the streets, the product must be clean
Five-eleven, the young one went to heaven
Yo with the gun to his head; yo he was already dead
Sunday mornin in court, the judge got Wyclef confessin
";Yo, I murdered Steve Austin,"; now I'm wanted by Bionic Woman
Women bring you more miseries like that movie
Stress go to India, smoke hashish with Ghandi
My bills of rights is to make sure you're alright
Superman left the gang, cause his weakness was Crips-tonight
Godfather got the cottonballs to his cheeks
Pig couldn't fly straight so you die in your sleep
I stay awake only to see Nicodemus
The young one got murdered, the day was the Sabbath
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
What do you mean, says the boy to the fiend
Why we killin for the green?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the girl to the fiend (All around the world)
I wanna wake up from this dream
I know this drug dealer, who drive a black beamer
Dreadlock cut off once by this girl named Delilah
Pretty little dancer, voice like Tina Turner
Chickenheads are you a virgin? Yeah right, so was Madonna!
S-s-sinner, sinner, seek the master
If not, feel the explosion from the day after
Bit by the vampire, worked for the mobster
Two to the head - and now you swimmin with the lobsters
We got'cha got'cha, set up in Oklahoma
You caught a bad one like a kid catchin pneumonia
So storyteller, what's the moral of this story?
Live reality and don't get caught up in your fantasy
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend (All around the world)
Aren't we all human beings?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
But the dream.. is still for green..
so we die in the steam
What do you mean, John 3:16?
[Mar 15,2006 4:36am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
In 199-sess, KRS is in his peak-in
You are weak-in and collapse like Mike, collect the beacon
You talk more ish than a cellullar
You can't last, just call me Enema
cos I give that ass-troid, heaven and mergatroid
I'm that six, umm, microphone-holdin humanoid
Pyschological like Sigmund Freud
But I get annoyed cos these rappers have no brain
These hardcore rappers crack me up like cocaine
They got no skill or game
They sellin that commercial let me say it
"Ask for Minoxadil with Rogaine"
True skills I will explain
The teacher breaks this whole shit down plain
West Coast beef must dead
East Coast beef must dead
Time for us to move ahead
B-boy hip-hop is dead, no
We must move ahead
People always say when they see us, teach us
so we move by the inch, teachin only some of it, believe us
Hustlas and players and hos will never leave us
They been around since Mary Magdalene and Jesus
Run wit it, pimps and players run the government
We been raised on a tonne of it that's why we're lovin it
Bein a player is cool when you a kid
until you get sent up for a eight year bid
Now you use and abuse and serve like hell
til one day you are found face down upon the ground
two shots to the dome, we need to switch quick
Dyin over what you players, I think, call a bitch
I'm not a player hater cos I hate no one
but when you start destroyin hip-hop, you gots ta go, son
Government attack one who's brainwashed
Government attack two who is, yes, brain rinsed
Government attack three is for you and me
to constantly dream about the Lex with bulletproof tints
It's pointless to think I'm knockin ya
If you a pimp, be a pimp, I'll be a philosopher
So the....
West Coast beef must dead
East Coast beef must dead
Time for us to move ahead
B-boy hip-hop is dead, no
We must move ahead
Yes are the intelligent, we descend on every establishment
In the East or West, microphone grabbin it
Chess-to-chess, lyrical confrontation is dope
for the hip-hop nation, yet our hope, your scope
is broader than who can kill who and who got the biggest crew?
That's why black people cannot seem to break thru
It's like crabs in a pot when one crab reaches the top
other crabs wish to pull down and blood (BLOODS)
I'm not understandin what's all the fuss
Hip-hop belongs to all of us
The East created it, the West decorated it
Learn the lesson, the unified picture is black expression
When black expression heights itself
it becomes black digression leadin to depression in health
Now question these ideas today
If hip-hop was destroyed could we blame the CIA
or the FBI, you'd be a motherfuckin lie-
-er, li-ar, pants on fire-er
Conspiracy theories are contrise or we keep them on the shelf
We got no one to blame but ourselves
So....
West Coast beef must dead
East Coast beef must dead
Time for us to move ahead
B-boy hip-hop is dead, no
We must move ahead
We must move ahead
All beef is dead!
[Mar 30,2006 8:42pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
"skaters by their very nature are urban guerillas: they make everyday use of the useless artifacts of the technological burden, and employ the handiwork of the government/corporate structure in a thousand ways that the original architects could never dream of."
craig stecyk 1976
[Mar 30,2006 11:36pm - the_taste_of_cigarettes ""]
[img]
[Mar 31,2006 12:22am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
the_taste_of_cigarettes said:[img]
last time i checked the internet is a giant blog, get off your high horse.
[Mar 31,2006 12:34am - the_taste_of_cigarettes ""]
I wonder what that girl is thinking about
she seems deep in thought
[Mar 31,2006 1:04am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
that reo speedwagon needs to die
[Apr 9,2006 9:41pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I can settle dow-own and be doin' just fine
Til I hear an old train rollin' down the line
Then I hurry strai-aight home and pack
And if I didn't go, I believe I'd blow my stack
I love you ba-aby, but you gotta understand
When the Lord made me
He made a Ramblin' Man.
Some folks might sa-ay that I'm no good
That I wouldn't settle down if I could
But when that open ro-oad starts to callin' me
There's somethin' o'er the hill that I gotta see
Sometimes it's har-rd but you gotta understand
When the Lord made me, He made a Ra-amblin' Man.
I love to see the tow-owns a-passin' by
And to ride these rails 'neath God's blue sky
Let me travel this la-and from the mountains to the sea
'Cause that's the life I believe He meant for me
And when I'm go-one and at my grave you stand
Just say God called home your Ra-amblin' Man.
[Apr 9,2006 10:10pm - ratt_mowe ""]
(graham russell)
You’re in-between a page of life you never dreamed
The answer won’t come from that magazine
This time it’s real and you’re not sure just what to feel
Who can I trust to say
Should I give love now should I take love now
(chorus)
I’m taking the chance
And giving myself to you
If something’s not right then tell me I’m wrong
I just want our love to carry on
Sometimes the fear of losing you has been so near
I needed to make this choice on my own
To let love in when I’m so scared when things begin
Don’t ever run away I feel close to you now
You know I need you now
(chorus)
I’m taking the chance
And giving myself to you
If something’s not right then tell me I’m wrong
I just want our love to carry on
I’m taking the chance
I can’t let this feeling leave
I don’t want those nights of waiting so long
I’m taking the chance before it’s gone
Taking the chance
Taking the chance
Taking the chance
Taking the chance
On you
(repeat chorus)
[Apr 9,2006 10:27pm - davefromthegrave ""]
the_taste_of_cigarettes said:I wonder what that girl is thinking about
she seems deep in thought
my dick. yanno, what girls usually think about.
[Apr 9,2006 11:49pm - infoterror ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would do many times over - not one human being excluded - and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever.
INNER SPACE = ANAL
<3
<3
<3
[Apr 19,2006 7:54pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
The screen door slams
Mary' dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me
You can hide 'neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a saviour to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now ?
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow
Back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road sit tight take hold
Thunder Road
Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind so Mary climb in
It's town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win
[Apr 24,2006 12:38am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
A man who has blown all his options can’t afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can’t afford to admit – no matter how often he’s reminded of it – that every day of his life takes him farther down a blind alley… There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the kind of random revenge that comes outraging the public decency. - HST
[Apr 25,2006 4:26pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
And I do walk upon Wan’s Dyke
And I do survey the land
And I did become the Reaper with my own bare hands+
For I am Wodan,
Though, some call me Hermes,
Some call me Roman Mercury,
God of cargos,
God of weather,
Hanging God of boundaries,
Hanging God of Gibbet Hill
Killing God of hidden doorways.
Spinning the yarn from Wansdyke to Silbury
Spinning the taelbook, telling the tale
Telling the tellbook to all and sundry
Keltiberians and Irish Gael
Then I hear camp followers bellow afar
Their shrieking lament for Johnny Guitar:
"Look to the farthest far horizon
Look to the bloodlust deepest scar
Look to the scattering Brythonic uprising
For this be the wall of Johnny Guitar
There be the ditch that you shall die in
Here be the wall that I shall cry on
Ditch dug with antler and ox bone shovel
This rising wall that shades our ancient hovel."
Look to the north a quick mile yonder
Look to our Yggdrasilbury
Look to the Saxon chasing Viking
Look to the Norman chasing Saxon
Look to the German chasing German
German German German German
Here in the bloodlust deeper scar
For here be the wall of Johnny Guitar
"Play your gloom axe Stephen O’Malley
Sub bass clinging to the sides of the valley
Sub bass ringing in each last ditch and combe
Greg Anderson purvey a sonic doom."
To rage in sound this valiant despair
Doom and gloom as each a splendid pair
To rage in sound the valiant despair:
Not Abraham,
Not Moses
And not Christ
Neither Jove to whom we sacrificed,
Not Attis
Not Mohammed,
But to hilltop Thor
We rave and dance and weep and we implore:
Look to the farthest far horizon
Don’t blame the messenger,
Don’t blame the messenger,
Look to the farthest far horizon
Don’t blame the messenger.
Don’t blame the messenger,
For I am Death so Ragnarock with me
For I am Doom so Ragnarock with me.
And I stood upon Wan’s Dyke
And I did survey the land
And I did become the Reaper with my own bare hands...
And then I was King Vikar with his arms outstretched
And then I was King Vikar with his broken neck
And then I was the villain and the victim and the priest
Was grim misunderstanding and was grim as death itself
My Wall My Wall caught in the thrall of my Wall
My Wall My Wall caught beneath the thrall of my Wall.
Here in the bloodlust deeper scar
For here be the wall of Johnny Guitar
Here in the bloodlust deeper scar
For here be the wall of Johnny Guitar
Play your gloom axe Stephen O’Malley
Sub bass ringing the sides of the valley
Sub bass climbing up each last ditch and combe
Greg Anderson purvey a sonic doom.
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my tidal wall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my tidal wall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my tidal wall
Mothers to your bosoms,
Grab your child and sing,
As to your breasts cascade and sing:
Brothers and fathers,
Down to the thing in the middle of the town
To judge at the thing
These the effeminate priests of Frey
That don their drag
And shriek through the day
That drag their God through the muddiest fields
Spilling seed to raise the yields
These the odd castrated womb-men
On this onerous land of no men
There the infernal priestess of Freyja,
These her people layer on layer
Then the infernal priestess of Freyja
Visiting the farms
The seething seer
Visiting the farms
And rarely leaving
Mounting the tumulus
The people grieving
Dodens doddering dead and dying.
Hear the modest priests of Ing
Who’s harkening always let us sing
That let’s us free our tightest waistband
Let’s us fertilise our own land
Spunked entire nations from one phallus
Spunked the vegetation into being
Spilled the super seed into the one day superceded earth.
Old Mother Fucker
She was a cocksucker
To give her poor family a home
Went down on their ding song
And drank for a sing song
But ended her sad life alone.
Around the church in Yatesbury the dead
Lie scattered underneath the sacred yew
As Sheila the Witch attending Sunday prayer
Praises a God but never tells them who
And from my Wall observing Sheila the Witch
Praises her God but never explaining which.
And every Monday night by the light of Moon
Those Meddlesome meddlesome meddlesome bells
And the heavy metal of the heathen bells
Meddlesome meddlesome meddlesome bells
And the bad heavy metal of the heathen bells
Meddlesome meddlesome meddlesome bells
And the heavy metal of the heathen bells
Meddlesome meddlesome meddlesome bells
And the bad heavy metal of the heathen bells
And Doggen can testify to my claim
That the Christians of Yatesbury are Christian in name
But their stomping pounding actions attest
To their Christianity happiest at rest
And Doggen who played at the John Stewart Hall
Can attest that its keeper is the heathenest of all
Is a shapeshifter tending to her hogweed hidden
And her dear Paul wallows in the village pond nay midden
For all of us are boundaried by Wan’s Dyke at the west
And the great world hill which spies us and can never let us rest
Bringing on Iranian Mithra
From its home beneath the east
Caught always in the thrall of my Wall
Caught always in the thrall of my Wall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my wall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my wall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall
Stand in the thrall of my wall
Here in the bloodlust deeper scar
For here be the wall of Johnny Guitar
Here in the bloodlust deeper scar
For here be the wall of Johnny Guitar
Play your gloom axe Stephen O’Malley
Sub bass ringing the sides of the valley
Sub bass climbing up each last ditch and combe
Greg Anderson purvey a sonic doom...
Don’t blame the messenger of gloom,
Don’t blame the messenger of doom,
For this be the Ragmarockingest aeion
In stillness O’Malley and Anderson play on... play on... play on...
[Apr 27,2006 9:37pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Zappa Quotes
--
Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.
--
You have just destroyed one model XQJ-37 nuclear powered pansexual
roto-plooker....and you're gonna have to pay for it.
--
He was in a quandary...being devoured by the swirling cesspool of his own
steaming desires... uh.. the guy was a wreck
--
And now....you are going to dance...like you've never danced before!
--
Bring the band on down behind me, boys.
--
Not a speck of cereal.
--
Nothing but the best for my dog.
--
You drank beer, you played golf, you watched football - WE EVOLVED!
--
It looks just like a Telefunken U-47!
--
Don't mind your make-up, you'd better make your mind up.
--
They're serving burgers in the back!
--
Jazz is not dead...it just smells funny.
--
Beebop tango introduction:
I have a message to deliver to the cute people of the world...if you're
cute, or maybe you're beautiful...there's MORE OF US UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS
OUT THERE THAN YOU ARE!! So watch out.
--
Is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?
--
You're an asshole! You're an asshole!
That's right! You're an asshole! You're an asshole! Yes yes!
--
Number one ain't you...
You ain't even number two.
--
We could jam in Joe's garage,
we didn't have no dope or LSD,
but a coupl'o'quarts o'beer,
would fix it so the intonation,
would not offend your ear.
--
Who are the brain police?
--
This is the exciting part.
This is like the Supremes
see the way it builds up?
Feel it?
--
A prune isn't really a vegetable...
CABBAGE is a vegetable...
--
Here's one for mother
--
Only thirteen, and she knows how to NASTY
--
ARE YOU HUNG UP?
--
Diamonds on velvets on goldens on vixen
On comet & cupid on donner & blitzen
On up & away & afar & a go-go
Escape from the weight of your corporate logo!
--
Don't it ever get lonesome?
--
Eddie, are you kidding?
--
I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow...
--
Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe.
--
Never try to get your peter sucked in France.
--
Kill Ugly Radio
--
I'm not black, but there's a whole lot of
times I wish I could say I'm not white.
--
Help! I'm a rock!
--
Another day, another sausage...
--
I want a garden!
--
Don't mind your make-up
you'd better make your mind up.
--
from the liner notes of Freak Out.
On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an
individual casts off outmoded and restricting standars of
thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express
CREATIVELY his relationship to his immediate environment and
the social structure as a whole.
--
Great googly-moogly - you're gonna do it too!
--
Information is not knowledge,
Knowledge is not wisdom,
Wisdom is not truth,
Truth is not beauty,
Beauty is not love,
Love is not music
and Music is THE BEST
--
Gee, it's so hard to find a place to park around here.
--
Playing guitar is like fucking -- you never forget it.
...
Unless you're really, really stupid.
--
There are more love songs than anything else.
If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another.
--
If classical music is the state of the art,
then the arts are in a sad state.
--
Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short, cloth neck
ornament, currently in resurgence.
--
Don't cry...
Gotta go bye bye...
Suddenly die die...
Cop kill a creep!
Pow pow pow
--
Modern music is a sick puppy.
--
Some Scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is
so plentiful, is the basic building block of the
universe. I dispute that. I say there is more
stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic
building block of the universe.
--
Most people wouldn't know good music if it came up and bit them in the ass.
--
As quoted in Whole Grains, an early 1970's book of quotations
--
I figure the odds be fifty-fifty
I just might have some thing to say.
--
The person who stands up and says, ``This is
stupid,'' either is asked to `behave' or, worse,
is greeted with a cheerful ``Yes, we know!
Isn't it terrific!''
--
The more BORING a child is, the more the parents,
when showing off the child, receive adulation for
being GOOD PARENTS -- because they have a TAME
CHILD-CREATURE in their house.
--
The worst aspect of `typical familyism'
(as media-merchandised) is that it
glorifies _involuntary_homogenization_.
--
Gail has said in interviews that one of the
things that makes our relationship work is
the fact that we hardly ever get to talk to
each other.
--
The language and concepts contained herein are
guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the
place where the guy with the horns and pointed
stick conducts his business.
--
My best advice to anyone who wants to raise a
happy, mentally healthy child is: Keep him or
her as far away from a church as you can.
--
I like having the capitol of the United
States in Washington, D.C., in spite of
recent efforts to move it to Lynchburg,
Virginia.
--
He [Barney Frank] is one of the most
impressive guys in Congress. He is a
great model for young gay men.
--
Children are naive -- they trust everyone.
School is bad enough, but, if you put a child
anywhere in the vicinity of a church, you're
asking for trouble.
--
It would be easier to pay off the national debt
overnight than to neutralize the long-range
effects of OUR NATIONAL STUPIDITY.
--
Nuclear explosions under the Nevada desert?
What the fuck are we testing for?
We already know the shit blows up.
--
Politics is the
entertainment branch of
industry.
--
Star Wars won't work. Star Wars won't work.
The gas still gets through; it could get right on
you. And what about those germs, now?
Star Wars won't work.
--
Washington, D.C.: a city infested with
statues -- and Congressional Blow-Boys
who WISH they were statues.
--
Thanks to our schools and political leadership,
the U.S. has acquired an international reputation
as the home of 250 million people dumb enough to
buy 'The Wacky Wall-Walker.'
--
Stupidity has a certain charm --
ignorance does not.
--
The real question is:
Is it possible to laugh
while fucking?"
--
The single-child yuppo-family that uses the child
as a status object: `A perfect child? Of course!
We have one here -- he's under the coffee table.
Ralph, stand up! Play the violin!'
--
Americans like to talk about (or be told about) Democracy but, when put to
the test, usually find it to be an 'inconvenience.' We have opted instead
for an authoritarian system disguised as a Democracy. We pay through
the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and
then wonder how all those assholes got in there.
--
In every language, the first word after "Mama!" that every kid learns to say
is "Mine!" A system that doesn't allow ownership, that doesn't allow you to
say "Mine!" when you grow up, has -- to put it mildly -- a fatal design flaw.
From the time Mr. Developing Nation was forced to read _The Little Red Book_
in exchange for a blob of rice, till the time he figured out that waiting in
line for a loaf of pumpernickel was boring as fuck, took about three
generations. ...
Decades of indoctrination, manipulation, censorship and KGB excursions haven't
altered this fact: People want a piece of their own little Something-or-Other,
and, if they don't get it, have a tendency to initiate counterrevolution.
--
If it sounds GOOD to YOU, it's bitchen; and if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's
shitty.
--
The computer can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact
mathematical design, but what's missing is the eyebrows.
--
In the fight between you and the world, back the world.
--
Let's not be too tough on our own ignorance. It's the thing that makes
America great. If America weren't incomparably ignorant, how could we
have tolerated the last eight years?
--
Lord have mercy on the people in England for the terrible food
these people must eat. And Lord have mercy on the fate of this
movie and God bless the mind of the man in the street.
--
Interviewer: "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a
woman?"
FZ: "You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?"
--
If your children ever find out how lame you really are, they'll
gonna murder you in your sleep....
--
As quoted in Whole Grains, an early 1970's book of quotations
--
I'm not a man for all seasons but I'm doing something right.
--
There is no hell. There is only France.
--
``Conducting'' is when you draw ``designs'' in the nowhere -- with
your stick, or with your hands -- which are interpreted as
``instructional messages'' by guys wearing bow ties who wish they
were fishing.
--
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
--
The bassoon is one of my favorite instruments. It has the medieval aroma
-- like the days when everything used to sound like that.
Some people crave baseball -- I find this unfathomable --
but I can easily understand
why a person could get excited about playing a bassoon.
--
Whatever you have to do to have a good time, let's get
on with it, so long as it doesn't cause a murder.
--
Politics is the showbiz of industry.
--
Let's just admit that public education is mediocre at best.
--
Without deviation from the norm, 'progress' is not possible.
--
The last election just laid the foundation of the next 500
years of Dark Ages
From 1981
--
Look, just because you have got that fuckin' thing between
your legs it doesn't make any diference. If a girl does
something stupid I am going to call her just as I would a
guy.
--
A world of sexual incompetents, encountering
eachother, under disco circumstances... Now can't you
do songs about that?
--
A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on
unsuspecting air molecules,often with the assistence of
unsuspecting musicians.
--
There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful,
that it's going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it.
--
fuck that! when did mediocrity and banality become a good
image for your children?
--
Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people
think you are?
--
Life is like highschool with money.
--
Information doesn't kill you...
Senate Hearing on "Porn Rock", 1985 during an exchange with
a Born Again Christian.
--
Where ever you're going, don't walk the first.
If you do, people will think you know where you're going.
--
A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes
in when people who take drugs treat them like a licence to behave
like an asshole.
--
Flatulence can be cruel!
--
Speed: It will turn you into your parents.
--
1970 public service announcement regarding drug (namely, speed) use
--
Sopranos!? That's why God made the rocket launcher and grenade!
--
Zappa & I were talking about the difficulties of getting
good performances of music each of us write. I asked him
if had had as many problems with sopranos and I had had.
That was his response!
I got to drive him around Columbus
Ohio in April 1984 for the week he was at Ohio State
participating in the 1984 National Conference of the
American Society of University Composers. We spent lots of
hours together during that week and stayed in touch
thereafter. -- E. Michael Harrington
--
There were 45 men in the jail cell, the toilet and shower
had never been cleaned, the temperature was 110 degrees so
you couldn't sleep night or day, there were roaches in the
oatmeal, sadistic guards, and everything that was nice.
--
Zappa 1969 interview
This had happened during the days of Studio Z in Cucamonga (1963).
Frank was released on bail (his father took out a bank loan
to pay for it). Frank had been busted for "conspiracy to
commit pornography," after making a silly recording of
suggestive sexual sounds (giggling edited out) for someone
who had asked him to provide a "special" tape recording
for a stag night. That someone turned out to be Detective Willis
of the San Bernadino Vice Squad. Their conversation was
recorded by a hidden microphone and this was used as
evidence at Zappa's trial.
More info from "ZAPPA - A Visual Documentary by Miles",
Omnibus Press, 1993, ISBN 0.7119.3099.6
--
Winos don't march.
--
Reporter:
This is a personal thing, I think that if you wanted to make top ten hits
and sell millions of records, you could.
Frank Zappa:
Yeah, but who wants to go through life with a tiny nose and one glove on?
--
I was writing all kinds of positive and negative canons
and weird inverted this and retrograde that and getting as
spaced-out mathematically as I could and I was going
"Wait a minute (laughs), who cares about that stuff?" I
had always liked rhythm and blues so here I was stuck
between the slide rule and the gut bucket somewhere and I
decided that I would opt for a third road someplace in
between.
--
From an 1972 interview to Martin Perlich. On giving up writing serial music.
--
It is always advisable to be a loser if you cannot become a winner.
--
I knew Jimi (Hendrix) and I think that the best thing
you could say about Jimi was: there was a person who
shouldn't use drugs.
--
From the second of two FZ interviews which were transcribed from an
imported CD called "The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk".
Conducted sometime in early to mid 1984.
--
Sometimes you got to get sick before you can feel better.
--
The emotion of every player is the most important thing, what
stands behind this chord or tone. If you leave that out, the
music does not touch you.
--
Interview from Keyboard June 1980. He outlined his expectations
of keyboardists, and discussed plenty of other topics
pertinent to the keyboard chair in his band
--
It's better to have something to remember than nothing to reget...
--
Why do people continue to compose music, and even pretend to teach
others how to do it, when they already know the answer?
Nobody gives a fuck.
--
If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your
mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to
do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT.
--
From the Real Frank Zappa book.
A mind is like a parachute. It doesnt work if it not open.
--
You've got to be digging it while it's happening<BR>
'cause it just might be a one shot deal
From Waka/Jawaka
--
There will never be a nuclear war; there's too much real estate involved.
Zappa on the Tonight Show, C.A. 1988
--
Heaven would be a place where bullshit existed only on television.
(Hallelujah! We's halfway there!)
--
Television. Sometime probably in 1988. The Real Frank Zappa Book p. 234
--
Don't expect anything,don't expect fun, don't expect friends..
if you get something...it's a BONUS
--
Golly, do I ever have alot of soul!!
--
A reference from "We're only in it for the money"
regarding his ability to strum, sing dance, and make merry fun all over
the stage!
--
Shoot low, they're riding Shetlands
--
European Zappa distributors Music For Nations on the occasion of some
anniversary of theirs.
--
Everyone in thes room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself
--
Live at the Circle Star, from 20 Years on the Road, when notified there were
"cops in uniform" in the audience.
--
Children are naive-they trust everyone. School is bad enough, but, if you
put a child anywhere in the vicinity of a church, you're asking for trouble.
--
Zappa expressing his opinion pertaining to raising a child. He was saying
that institutions such as schools and churches, which have the power to
control and brainwash your child, are totally over rated, and shouldn't
always be recognized as a genuinely good thing.
--
The ONLY thing that seems to band all nations together, is that their
governments are universally bad....
F.Z. in German television interview
--
If we can't be free at least we can be cheap.
--
Whoever we are, whereever we're from, we should have noticed by now
our behaviour is dumb, and if our chances are expected to improve, it's
gonna take a lot more than trying to remove, the other race, or the other
whatever, from the face of the planet altogether
--
Dumb All Over, You Are What You Is
--
Nobody looks good bent over. Especially to pick up a cheque.
Guitar Magazine 1984
--
The essence of Christianity is told us in the Garden of Eden
history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of
knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is
because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could
be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking
mouth shut and hadn't asked any questions.
Playboy Interview, April 1993
--
When we talk about artistic freedom in this country
We sometime lose sight of the fact that freedom is
often dependent on adequate financing.
--
If you want to get laid, go to college, but if you want an education,
go to the library.
Quoted in the Pittsburgh Press in the summer of 67.
--
A lot of things wrong with society today are directly
attributable to the fact that the people who make the
laws are sexually maladjusted.
from "I Seem To Be a Verb" by R. Buckminster Fuller, 1970.
--
The gorilla is on an island,eats bananas and has a good time all day long.
He plays out there in the bushes. Some Americans find out about the gorilla
and they hear how BIG he is - you know.They're very impressed with the size
of the beast. So they catch the gorilla & they stick him in a boat & bring
him back to the US.
They show him off to everybody & make a bunch of money.
...Then they kill him !
The song King Kong.1968 tour Wisconsin.
--
Well, you know I've been here many times, and only certain
hours of the day when I'm here am I asleep; the rest of the
time I'm actually awake.
--
I have a filler on a dat with zappa being interrogated by
a couple of swedish fans/state officers(who knows)...in which
they are arguing over the pornographic contents of his
work. he tells them he has been spying on them, and claims
that their porno industry is bigger than that of the US.
it's pretty funny.
btw-this is from thew '88 tour.
--
I can gross out anybody in this room.
Said during a concert at Mount Holyoke College in the early 1970s.
--
Anything played wrong twice in a row is the beginning of an arrangement.
--
I saw this in an email .sig at someone who sent in a comment to
"Elephant Talk"- the King Crimson email newsletter.
--
Outdoors for me is walking from the car to the ticket desk at the airport
--
Regarding secondhand smoke in "The Real FZ Book"
--
My music is like a movie for your eear
--
Here I stand hoping against hope that it's a chick with a low voice
--
At a concert in Beloit, Wisconsin 1968 or 69 a guy in the
audience yelled out, "Eat me Zappa".
--
Don't clap for destroying America. This place is as good as you want to make it.
--
Zappa introduced "Billy the Mountain" by revealing that Billy and
Ethel took a vacation trip across the united States, destroying it in the
process. This was Zappa's response to the applause and cheers from the
audience. Cleveland Colliseum, 1971
--
If it can be conceived as music, it can be executed as music, and presented to
an audience in such a way that they will perceive it as music: "Look at this.
Ever seen one of these before? I built this for you. What do you mean, 'What
the fuck is it?' It's a goddam ETUDE, asshole."
--
This is a really nice place. Don't fuck it up.
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk, Virginia in the Spring of 1984.
A very genteel place to see fine compositions performed live.
Usually the opera folks hang out there.
--
The whole Universe is a large joke.
Everything in the Universe are just subdivisions of this jo
post was too long read more at your own risk
[May 2,2006 8:20pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
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[May 2,2006 8:54pm - intricateprocess ""]
[img]
[May 2,2006 9:05pm - retzam ""]
I really like this thread.
[May 21,2006 6:36pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
[img]
[May 21,2006 6:59pm - davefromthegrave ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend
What do you mean?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every one packs an M-16
I wanna wake up from this dream
I caught the bullet, I was stumblin like a mulet
Drink white Russian; game, Russian roulette
Flight Continental six o'clock in the mornin
Briefcase full o' cocaine on my way out, I tipped the doorman
Jumped into the cab said, ";Hail Mary, full of Grace";
Yesterday communion was the Mafia's reunion
Confessed to the priest, evade the apple, I ate the peach
Slept with Vanity, sold my soul to Robin Leach
Devil music in my ear, no fear, I'm pumpin Def Leppard
Slow down, here comes the narc' with the German shepherd
I got the plan, man, meet me in the van
I got this kid from the Sudan bringin tecs from Iran
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend (All around the world)
(uh-huh) What do you mean? What do you mean?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every one packs an M-16
Says the girl to the fiend
So in the streets, the product must be clean
Five-eleven, the young one went to heaven
Yo with the gun to his head; yo he was already dead
Sunday mornin in court, the judge got Wyclef confessin
";Yo, I murdered Steve Austin,"; now I'm wanted by Bionic Woman
Women bring you more miseries like that movie
Stress go to India, smoke hashish with Ghandi
My bills of rights is to make sure you're alright
Superman left the gang, cause his weakness was Crips-tonight
Godfather got the cottonballs to his cheeks
Pig couldn't fly straight so you die in your sleep
I stay awake only to see Nicodemus
The young one got murdered, the day was the Sabbath
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
What do you mean, says the boy to the fiend
Why we killin for the green?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the girl to the fiend (All around the world)
I wanna wake up from this dream
I know this drug dealer, who drive a black beamer
Dreadlock cut off once by this girl named Delilah
Pretty little dancer, voice like Tina Turner
Chickenheads are you a virgin? Yeah right, so was Madonna!
S-s-sinner, sinner, seek the master
If not, feel the explosion from the day after
Bit by the vampire, worked for the mobster
Two to the head - and now you swimmin with the lobsters
We got'cha got'cha, set up in Oklahoma
You caught a bad one like a kid catchin pneumonia
So storyteller, what's the moral of this story?
Live reality and don't get caught up in your fantasy
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
Says the boy to the fiend (All around the world)
Aren't we all human beings?
What do you mean, John 3:16?
For God so loved the world, every man packs an M-16
But the dream.. is still for green..
so we die in the steam
What do you mean, John 3:16?
what song is that?
[May 21,2006 7:16pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
JOHN 3:16
[May 21,2006 8:40pm - Mr Huxtable ""]
shit..i thought those were Screwdriver lyrics.
[May 21,2006 8:46pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Mr Huxtable said:shit..i thought those were Screwdriver lyrics.
back to NH with you, the future isnt ready for your kind. back back to where you belong.
[May 29,2006 4:54pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh, oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
The hottest songs from The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIwYpH5gDX0...Hile%20My%20Guitar%20Gently%20Weeps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZKBTpMllc...Hile%20My%20Guitar%20Gently%20Weeps
[May 29,2006 6:16pm - baptizedinresin ""]
where is that first post taken from?
[May 29,2006 7:05pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
baptizedinresin said:where is that first post taken from?
it's taken from the title of this thread. it's the speech bill hicks would give to end his show.
[Jun 1,2006 3:36pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Monopoly, twenty one, checkers, and chess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
See you in heaven if you make the list. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
Moses went walking with the staff of wood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Newton got beaned by the apple good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are you having fun?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
Here's a little agit for the never-believer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a little ghost for the offering. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling (wrestling bears). Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey Andy, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, are we losing touch?
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool
[Jun 5,2006 2:57am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
the wonder years ruled, i dont care what any of you say
What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone?)
How do I feel by the end of the day,
(Are you sad because you're on your own?)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
Do you need anybody
I need somebody to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.
Would you believe in a love at first sight
Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time
What do you see when you turn out the light
I can't tell you but I know it's mine,
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
Do you need anybody
I just need someone to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends.
[Jun 5,2006 11:48am - nyckz0r nli ""]
whiskey_weed_and_women said:The world is like a ride at an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it, you think it's real, because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round and it has thrills and chills and it's very brightly colored and it's very loud. And it's fun, for a while.
Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: 'Is this real? Or is this just a ride?' And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and they say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid - ever - because... this is just a ride.' And we kill those people.
'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride! Shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry; look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.'
It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that - ever notice that? - and we let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter, because... it's just a ride, and we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort. No worry. No job. No savings and money. Just a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy bigger guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.
Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, into a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defense each year and, instead, spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would do many times over - not one human being excluded - and we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever. In peace. - another fallen hero
Nice BILL HICKS quote.
your text here
[Jun 9,2006 1:35pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
When I was a young girl sitting on my momma's knee
she told me to love freedom and to keep my dignity
out in the country down in Georgia.
In the tallgrass and Queen Anne's lace I began to love America.
When I went to elementary school I learned to cuss,
learned to pray to a protestant God and in Him we trust.
I pledge allegiance to America...
in the concrete walls and wooden desks I learned the scriptures of America.
When I went to high school I learned how we hate
all the fears and shadows we use to segregate
the people of America.
We hold some lies to be self-evident in America.
When I was in Dallas I stood up all night long
thinking about ... murder
and what it takes to buy a soul in America...
...but it's still my America.
Down in Alabama where the crosses burn so bright,
way out in the desert where your eyes can't hold the light,
and from the mouths of fools who tell you money always makes right...
comes the darkness of America,
our America.
From the glitter of Miama to the wild Alaskan shore,
and the greed of the wealthy and the faith of the poor
this is all our America.
And if they tell you we can't use her freedom anymore,
well they don't stand for our America
If they tell you miles of freedom is a cost we can't afford,
they shore up the government, and keep us hard at war
til one by one give up our rights til our borders seem secure,
and disagreement will be treason, we'll have no voice anymore.
They just don't understand America,
my America,
our America,
my America
[Jul 8,2006 10:06pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Among life’s cruelest truths is this one: Wonderful things are especially wonderful the first time they happen, but their wonderfulness wanes with repetition. Just compare the first and last time your child said “Mama” or your partner said “I love you” and you’ll know exactly what I mean. When we have an experience – hearing a particular sonata, making love with a particular person, watching the sun set from a particular window of a particular room – on successive occasions, we quickly begin to adapt to it, and the experience yields less pleasure each time. Psychologists call this habituation, economists call it declining marginal utility, and the rest of us call it marriage. – Daniel Gilbert
[Jul 12,2006 3:58pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.” –Hunter S. Thompson
[Jul 22,2006 4:45am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
On the issue of strychnine in LSD:
The following text was written by Alexander T. Shulgin in response to the overwhelming misconception that strychnine is commonly found in street samples of LSD:
"The observation of strychnine as being present in any street drug, as a by-product, or a contaminant, or an impurity has never been documented. It is a natural plant product, as are the ergots which are used in the synthesis of LSD. But they come from totally unrelated plants; there has never been a report of strychnine and an ergot alkaloid co-existing in a single species. So if the two materials are together in a drug sample, it could only be by the hand of man. I have personally looked a large number of illicit street offerings and have never detected the presence of strychnine. The few times that I have indeed found it present, have been in legal exhibits where it usually occurred in admixture with brucine (also from the plant Strychnos nux-vomica) in criminal cases involving attempted or successful poisoning.
The same argument applies to the myth that occasionally surfaces, that strychnine occurs in the white tufts of peyote. This is equally fraudulent -- it has never been reported in that cactus or any other cactus."
Furthermore, it should probably be spelled out that strychnine is not needed to bond LSD to blotter paper, nor is strychnine a breakdown product of LSD. these are probably the two most commonly repeated gross misconceptions.
The source of the "strychnine is commonly found in LSD" myth may be somewhat grounded in truth. For example, in "LSD: My Problem Child" Albert Hofmann cites a case in the late sixties of Strychnine being found in an "LSD" sample that was a white powder. However, what is commonly claimed is that strychnine is found in a significant percentage of LSD, specifically blotter LSD, which is *not* true. Shulgin's note that he has analyzed many samples of LSD and never found strychnine is backed up by published analyses done by PharmChem and the LA County Street Drug Analysis program, which likewise never found any strychnine.
This is intuitively backed up by the fact that a 5mm x 5mm "standard" square of blotter LSD only weights about 2mg and if the paper itself was made completely out of pure strychnine it is still on the very low end of Strychnine's threshold of activity.
Strychnine is not the cause of tracers, cramps, nausea, or amphetamine-like LSD-effects. Its possible that poorly synthesized LSD might have other ergot derivatives in it, which might contribute to the harsh body load that some get on taking LSD. Also, the very close chemical relatives 1-Methyl-LSD and 1-Acetyl-LSD (which break down into LSD in aqueous solution) might be present in some street samples and might contribute to the harsh body load. (Petter Stafford has claimed in his _Psychedelics Encyclopedia_ that 1-Acetyl-LSD is supposedly "smoother" than d-LSD -- thus "strychnine laced acid" may acutally be pure d-LSD, while "pure lsd" may be 1-Acetyl-LSD or some substitute). And the chemicals iso-LSD and lumi-LSD which are breakdown products of LSD might contribute to the body loading on some trips, particularly via a hypothetical synergistic effect. Given this plethora of possible chemicals in street "LSD", its not needed to look to a chemical which has hardly ever been found in analyzed samples to explain variations in the strength and "cleanliness" of street acid.
Its also possible that LSD itself simply causes adverse physical effects, particularly muscle cramping, in persons suceptible to it. The reported side effects of LSD (the nausea and apparent CNS stimulant effects) are commonly reported side effects of seritonergic drugs such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and buspirone (Buspar), and also are commonly reported (and typically more severe) with other psychedelics like Mescaline.
Or its quite likely that the "strychnine" reactions to LSD are entirely psychosomatic. Both Leary ("The Psychedelic Experience") and Lilly ("Programming and Metaprogramming...", "Center of the Cyclone") have each observed this reaction in people who cannot handle the surge of emotion associated with a trip.
Further advice would be to avoid methylxanthines (caffiene, theophylline in tea, etc) prior to dosing. Some have noted a possible synergistic effect between them and LSD causing, or contributing, to a harsh body load during a trip. And prior use of dramamine may alleviate the nausea sometimes associated with LSD, and other psychedelic drugs (although it may also effect the quality of the trip -- Shulgin has noted in PiHKAL that he shuns the use of anti-nauseants in order to experience the effects of the psychedelic, both good and bad, with no possible interference).
In summary, it can't be said that we know specifically why sometimes acid feels "cleaner" than other times. However, based on the availability of plausible explanations, and the evidence of drug analysis, and general implausiblity of the whole strychnine concept, we can conclude that it isn't due to any concentration of strychnine. Also, while it can't completely be ruled out, the presence of strychnine in LSD is so minimal that the majority of LSD users will never once come across
[Jul 22,2006 4:49am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Introduction
LSD has always been a center of controversy in American
society, often times because people have been miseducated
about its effects or exposed to media bias. Its
physiological effects on the brain and body have become more
and more apparent in the last few decades when research in
neuroscience peaked. The psychological effects of LSD have
been often difficult to describe and document very well --
they were first discovered on April 16, 1943 by research
chemist Albert Hofmann when a small amount of the drug
soaked through his fingers during a routine synthesis. He
experienced an imaginative dream-like state for a duration
of about 2-3 hours (Hofmann, 1983). Since then, a great
deal of work has been done attempting to document the health
effects of LSD.
Acute Effects
LSD is very potent: the effective dose is measured in
micrograms (ug) -- however, the lethal dose is literally
thousands of times that, making the drug essentially non-
toxic. There have been only a few cases of possible
overdose where people ingested extremely large amounts of
the drug (Allen et al., 1978; Griggs et al., 1977).
LSD can be administered a number of ways, the most
common: orally through paper, sugar cubes, on a piece of
gelatin, or by pill; intravenously; or intramuscularly. A
standard dose with noticeable hallucinogenic effects is
about 100-200 ug. The intensity of the trip is proportional
to the size of the dose -- it is interesting to note,
though, that the duration of the trip seems to stay the same
at higher doses (Freedman, 1984). The initial effects begin
20-40 minutes with a sense of euphoria and dizziness.
Hallucinations then begin to occur, with the trip peaking
for 4-5 hours after about an hour since the drug is taken.
LSD is best described as a drug that strikes down barriers.
The person who uses LSD is likely to feel detached from
his/her ego, and can cross between states of consciousness.
The user's perceptions are altered, causing visual and
auditory hallucinations. One may notice that the walls of
room are "breathing" or that motionless curtains appear to
be moving. Senses appear to mix: a user might see music,
taste colors, or hear visual stimuli. The LSD experience is
often difficult to describe by users -- words lose meaning
and are often insufficient in describing the effects of the
drug; thoughts may seem unclear. Effects taper off after
about 6-8 hours and are usually completely gone after a
nights sleep.
The user's mood is likely to change depending on how
he/she feels at various stages of the trip. The outcome of
the trip is almost always dependent on two primary
variables: the set and the setting. The set refers to a
user's expectations of the drug's effects and the user's
state-of-mind. The setting is the environment in which the
drug is taken. If an inexperienced user takes LSD in
stressed condition or in a bad mood, a bad experience may
occur. By the same token, taking LSD in a chaotic
environment like a noisy rock concert could turn into
trouble for someone unsure of the drugs effects. When users
on LSD become frightened or enter a state of panic, they can
usually be relieved or "talked down" by a friend. With this
in mind, probably the best way to use LSD would be in one's
home with several trusting supportive friends.
The following is a fairly long, but very informative
account of one of the first documented LSD trips done by
Albert Hofmann in 1943:
"4/19/43 16:20: 0.5 cc of 1/2 promil aqueous
solution of diethylamide tartrate orally=0.25 mg
tartrate. Taken diluted with about 10 cc water.
Tasteless.
17:00: Beginning dizziness, feeling of anxiety,
visual distortions, symptoms of paralysis, desire
to laugh.
Supplement of 4/21: Home by bicycle. From 18:00-
ca.20:00 most severe crisis. (See special
report.)
* * * *
Here the notes in my laboratory journal
cease. I was able to write the last words only
with great effort. By now it was already clear to
me that LSD had been the cause of the remarkable
experience of the previous Friday, for the altered
perceptions were of the same type as before, only
much more intense. I had to struggle to speak
intelligibly. I asked my laboratory assistant,
who was informed of the self-experiment, to escort
me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile
available because of wartime restrictions on their
use. On the way home, my condition began to
assume threatening forms. Everything in my field
of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in
a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of
being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless,
my assistant later told me that we had traveled
very rapidly. Finally, we arrived at home safe
and sound, and I was just barely capable of asking
my companion to summon our family doctor and
request milk from the neighbors.
[...]
The dizziness and sensation of fainting
became so strong at times that I could no longer
hold myself erect, and had to lie down on a sofa.
My surroundings had now transformed themselves in
more terrifying ways. Everything in the room spun
around, and the familiar objects and pieces of
furniture assumed grotesque, threatening forms.
They were in continuous motion, animated, as if
driven by an inner restlessness. The lady next
door, whom I scarcely recognized, brought me milk
-- in the course of the evening I drank more than
two liters. She was no longer Mrs. R., but rather
a malevolent, insidious witch with a colored mask.
Even worse than these demonic transformations
of the outer world, were the alterations that I
perceived in myself, in my inner being. Every
exertion of my will, every attempt to put an end
to the disintegration of the outer world and the
dissolution of my ego, seemed to be a wasted
effort. A demon had invaded me, had taken
possession of my body, mind, and soul. I jumped
up and screamed, trying to free myself from him,
but then sank down again and lay helpless on the
sofa. The substance, with which I wanted to
experiment, had vanquished me. It was the demon
that scornfully triumphed over my will. I was
seized by the dreadful fear of going insane. I
was taken to another world, another place, another
time. My body seemed to be without sensation,
lifeless, strange. Was I dying? Was this the
transition? At times I believed myself to be
outside my body, and then perceived clearly, as an
outside observer, the complete tragedy of my
situation. I had not even taken leave of my
family (my wife, with our three children had
traveled that day to visit her parents, in
Lucerne). Would they ever understand that I had
not experimented thoughtlessly, irresponsibly, but
rather with the utmost caution, and that such a
result was in no way foreseeable? My fear and
despair intensified, not only because a young
family should lose its father, but also because I
dreaded leaving my chemical research work, which
meant so much to me, unfinished in the midst of
fruitful, promising development. Another
reflection took shape, an idea full of bitter
irony: if I was now forced to leave this world
prematurely, it was because of this lysergic acid
diethylamide that I myself had brought forth into
the world.
By the time the doctor arrived, the climax of
my despondent condition had already passed. My
laboratory assistant informed him about my self-
experiment, as I myself was not yet able to
formulate a coherent sentence. He shook his head
in perplexity, after my attempts to describe the
mortal danger that threatened my body. He could
detect no abnormal symptoms other than extremely
dilated pupils. Pulse, blood pressure, breathing
were all normal. He saw no reason to prescribe
any medication. Instead he conveyed me to my bed
and stood watch over me. Slowly I came back from
a weird, unfamiliar world to reassuring everyday
reality. The horror softened and gave way to a
feeling of good fortune and gratitude, the more
normal perceptions and thoughts returned, and I
became more confident that the danger of insanity
was conclusively past.
Now, little by little I could begin to enjoy
the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that
persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic,
fantastic images surged in on me, alternating,
variegated, opening and then closing themselves in
circles and spirals, exploding in colored
fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves
in constant flux. It was particularly remarkable
how every acoustic perception, such as the sound
of a door handle or a passing automobile, became
transformed into optical perceptions. Every sound
generated a vividly changing image, with its own
consistent form and color.
Late in the evening my wife returned from
Lucerne. Someone had informed her by telephone
that I was suffering a mysterious breakdown. She
had returned home at once, leaving the children
behind with her parents. By now, I had recovered
myself sufficiently to tell her what had happened.
Exhausted, I then slept, to awake next
morning refreshed, with a clear head, though still
somewhat tired physically. A sensation of well-
being and renewed life flowed through me.
Breakfast tasted delicious and gave me
extraordinary pleasure. When I later walked into
the garden, in which the sun shone now after a
spring rain, everything glistened and sparkled in
fresh light. The world was as if newly created.
All my senses vibrated in a condition of highest
sensitivity, which persisted for the entire day."
(Hofmann, 1983).
Chronic Effects
The long-term effects of LSD use can be both good and
bad. There are cases of people who claim to have had their
entire lives turned around, for the better, due to LSD use.
On the other hand, some people have been hospitalized by so-
called "LSD psychosis." In the late 1960s, several studies
indicated possible chromosome breakage due to LSD use. Some
people report experiencing "LSD flashbacks" -- brief vivid
repetitions of a previous LSD experience.
The effects of LSD are very strong and profound. Many
people have claimed to have discovered their inner selves
under the influence of LSD. One interesting analogy was
made by Professor Jeffrey M. Blum of the University of
Buffalo School of Law:
"The problems posed by LSD, for example, in some
ways resemble those presented by scuba diving.
Each is seen as a form of exploration that opens
new vistas. Hence participants often find the
activity enormously stimulating and inspiring.
Each activity poses a small but significant risk
of serious personal harm, these being death in one
and aggravation of pre-existing states of mental
instability for the other. Untrained,
unsupervised use of unchecked substances or
equipment are ill-advised in both cases." (Blum,
1990)
LSD also has shown to have therapeutic usefulness. It has
been successful in treating some forms of schizophrenia
(Hoffer, 1970). Another study found notable success in
treating terminally-ill cancer patients: two-thirds of the
subjects showed positive change in anxiety, emotional
tension, psychological isolation, fear of death, and the
amount of pain medication needed (Pahnke et al., 1970).
Studies that have shown LSD useful in treating alcoholism
and other addictions are contradictory and may be
inconclusive. Pahnke's group (1970) reported moderate
success in treating alcoholism, but Ludwig (1970) found
less-than-encouraging results. It's important to note,
though, that both of these studies used vastly different
treatment styles and dosages of the drug.
Some users of LSD experience what is clinically referred
to as LSD psychosis, schizophrenic-like disorders that seem
to be triggered by using the drug. However, in careful
analysis of LSD psychosis patients, it appears that those
who have strong family histories of major psychosis or
psychopathology are more vulnerable than those who do not
(Tsuang et al., 1982). Vardy et al. (1983) reported similar
findings, as well as that LSD psychotics have significantly
higher rates of parental alcoholism than control groups. In
a survey of five-thousand individuals who had used LSD a
total of twenty-five-thousand times, Cohen (1960) found 1.8
psychotic episodes per thousand ingestions, 1.2 attempted
suicides, and 0.4 completed suicides -- figures consistent
with the those of the general population. Regarding dangers
of psychosis in therapeutic uses of LSD, Pahnke et al.
(1970) notes:
"Since 1963 at the Spring Grove State Hospital,
and now at the Maryland Psychiatric Research
Center, over 300 patients have been treated with
LSD without a single case of long-term
psychological or physical harm directly
attributable to the treatment, although there have
been two post-LSD disturbances which have
subsequently responded to conventional treatment."
Bad reactions to LSD are almost certainly dependent on the
user. It is becoming increasingly easier to diagnose
schizophrenics clinically as patients suffering physical
disorders -- these people should be very cautious, if not
completely avoidant of truly powerful psychoactive drugs
like LSD. There are another class of people who use LSD
irresponsibly, ignoring important factors like set and
setting -- bad reactions, more acute then chronic, are
likely to occur here as well.
Really the only serious physiological concern about LSD
use has been that it may cause chromosome damage -- this was
first reported by Cohen et al. in 1967. These findings were
seldom replicated, and were contradicted by other studies
(Loughman et al., 1967; Bender et al., 1968; Pahnke, 1970).
In 1977, Maimon Cohen, one of the invesigators who first
reported this a decade earlier, stated that no conclusions
could be drawn based on existing evidence (Cohen et al.,
1977).
The phenomena of LSD flashbacks has been over-sensualized
by the media for many years. Flashbacks are associated with
highly emotional experiences and often happen to people who
have never used psychedelic drugs. A frightening war
memory, being raped, or even getting married, can all
trigger flashbacks quite some time later. Thus, an
emotional experience on LSD can also cause flashbacks.
Flashbacks also occur due to post-traumatic stress disorder,
associated with victims of disaster and extreme violence --
it is estimated that 1% of the general population suffers
from this ("Journey for Better Life," 1992).
Conclusion
LSD is a very potent drug, but is physically quite safe
and non-toxic. Its effe
post was too long read more at your own risk
[Jul 22,2006 4:56am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Blunts
What are "blunts?"
The name, "Blunts," is a street name used to describe a
marijuana and tobacco cigar. Other street names include "el-pees"
(LP's), According to one source, blunts originated among Jamaicans
in New York City in the early 1980's.(1) Blunts take their
name from "Phillies Blunt=FC" brand cigars, although other brands of
similar make (such as El Producto=FC, White Owl=FC, and Dutch Masters=
=FC)
are also used for this purpose.
(1) Tobacco is removed from the inside of the cigar, and
replaced with marijuana.
Blunts vs. Joints
Smoking marijuana inside the leaf or paper wrapper of a
cigar offers several advantages to the user:
-The tobacco wrapper slows down the burning rate of the
joint. This allows a greater number of users to share the same
joint.(1)
-A blunt holds more marijuana than a joint, and is
convenient to use and store. A single user can smoke it,
extinguish it, and easily relight it. "That's what's so cool about
a blunt. Just put it out. It fits nicely in the top pocket."(1)
-It looks like a legal drug. Even though it is illegal for
adolescents to use tobacco products, blunts appear to be commercial
tobacco cigars. Policemen, teachers, and parents who ignore
cigarette possession in minors are likely to ignore blunts as well.
-Nicotine from the tobacco content may add to the effects of
the marijuana in a blunt. Nicotine is a stimulant, and marijuana
is a minor hallucinogen with some depressant properties. Other
stimulant and depressant combinations include cocaine and heroin,
cocaine and alcohol, amphetamines and alcohol. At this writing,
there appears to be no medical literature evaluating the
psychoactive effects of using marijuana and tobacco together vs.
individually. However, some of the comments made in one magazine
interview are intriguing and may indicate synergistic effects:
"The blunt is more effective =FCthan smoking marijuana
alone=FC..." "When you smoke a blunt, you get twice as high.
=2E . ." "At first, I didn't like it, 'cause it made me dizzy. . .
(1)
Why are Phillies Blunt=FC cigars used?
Many other cigar brands are still being used to make blunts.
Users say that the Phillies Blunt=FC brand produces less harsh-
tasting or sweeter smoke.(1) The leaf wrapper of a
Phillies Blunt=FC is strong enough to hold together through the
manipulations of making a blunt. Other brands fall apart.
Washington DC Area Trends
The emergence of blunts in the Washington D.C. area has been
associated with an increase in marijuana abuse among both youth and
adults.(2) The peaks and dips in positive test results for
marijuana in juvenile arrestees closely resemble increased
Washington DC area sales of the Havatampa Co.'s large cigars,
including the Phillies Blunt=FC brand.(2)
National Trends
Articles in High Times, a magazine about substance use and
marijuana farming, give methods for making blunts.
(2,3) Rap music stars featured in the articles
suggested a cultural link between blunts use and rap or hip-hop
music.(2) The appearance of tee shirts and baseball caps
promoting blunts use in New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, and
California suggest that blunts use is becoming a national
phenomenon.
[Jul 22,2006 4:58am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
You gotta decide how fine you are gonna sift the shake. I know some
who remove everything until nothing is left but a fine red dust. I
don't like that, it takes too long, and casues too many volatiles to
be released as you card it, and makes really lousey joints that pack
too tightly and don't draw worth shit. We all roll joints to match our
personality, my joins tend to have stuff in them that shouldn't be
there, leave things on the tray that SHOULD be, double paper walled,
kinda fat in the middle, nice where it meats the mouth, and fulla
garbage that gets burnt.
Once you got the grass ready you them have to get you papers in order.
The way I learned to make a joint was to make a boat out of the paper.
Take the paper in you hand so that the gummed side is up and the
crease is away from you, the short sides are called edges and the long
sides are called sides. You fold the end towards the side, each in turn.
First you take the left edge and you fold it about the top corner of
that edge, bringing the lower corner up to where it meets the top side
and the edge is perfectly in line with the side. Then you do the same
thing about the bottom corner, and then you do it for each of the
other corners on the other side. You have to make sure all the creases
are away from you, then, from where the two bisectors meet on out to
the edge you fold agains the crease, you fold in the same place but in
the other direction of the original crease
You do that with each edge and you get a little paper boat into which
you can shift your sift. After having thoughly raked the herb you wind
up with a little mound of grass, how big depends on how strong the
grass is, how big the papers are, and how stoned you wanna get. I
usually use a bit more than would fill a large bowl. You pick the
gras up between you fingers and dust it into the paper boat. Try to
get it even but don't worry about it you can fix it. Towards the
bottom of the mound you run into stuff too fine pick up with your
fingers, I consider it a point of grace to card once, and once only,
it back into a smalled mound and then try to get at least one good
pinch or two from it and let the rest of the shit go back into the
baggie until one is scaping for anything green that burns. As you load
the paper you are gonna spill dust, just let it go. Make sure you load over
the tray and you will either get it with the cleanup card or smoke it
some other time.
Now you take your boat full of dope and begin leveling it. Stir it
about with your finger to balance as much as possible and then you
will begin rolling it. Make sure the gummed side is away from you if
there is one. You roll it to settle the grass and get it
even, and ya try to get it to spread out towards the edges. This is
where people who use doller bills use them, I always thought it was
too much hassle to fuck with. Once you have it spread to suit your
desires you then have to roll the paper up into a joint. This is the
tricky part. I always try to finish rolling it so that it is very near
the ungummed edge and then to just fold that over and roll it up. Try
to get it a bit tighter than you wanna some cause it will looesen as you
roll it up. Just before your finished you have to lick the gum. The
best I ever saw anyone do that was this little oriental girl I knew
who had the most pointed tounge that was always moist. She had absolute
control over her tounge, she could make it do things that would give
you an orgasm just watching the movements. I being who I am tend to
either slobber a bit too much or not get enough on there, it could be
better but it works. You finish rolling it up and and then you gotta
close the sides.
The best way I have found to close the sides is to just roll one end
and figure what gets caught gets caught and turn it so the other end
is upright and then use a small poker to pull out things which stick
out and push in the stuff that needs to go inside. Roll the ends
counter to each other and lick to close. I got friends that stick half
the damned joint in thier mouths, and others who just touch it to
thier tounge. I am undecided, the wetter it gets the better the joint
is but it just grates my aesthetics. Let it dry and you gotta joint. I
tend to double wrap mine, by rolling that joint in annother, it
strengths that fragine middle section and generally keeps a tight nice
looking joint. I also tend to tear off that messy end, the one that
caught what got caught, to suck on, and use the flashy paper tail to
light it.
[Jul 22,2006 5:00am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Hallucinogenic mushrooms have been part of human culture as far back as the earliest recorded history. Ancient paintings of mushroom-ed humanoids have been found in caves in the Saharan desert. Central and Southern America cultures built temples to mushroom gods and carved "mushroom stones". These stone carvings in the shape of mushrooms, or in which figures are depicted under the cap of a mushroom, have been dated to as early as 1000-500 B.C. The purpose of the sculptures is not certain, but these stones may have been religious objects.
The Mixtec culture of central Mexico worshipped many gods, one known as Piltzintecuhtli, or 7 Flower (his name presented in the pictoral language as seven circles and a flower) who was the god for hallucinatory plants, especially the divine mushroom. The Vienna Codex (or Codex Vindobonensis) (ca 13th-15th century) depicts the ritual use of mushrooms by the Mixtec gods, showing Piltzintecuhtli and 7 other gods holding mushrooms in their hands.1
The Aztec people had a closely related god of the entheogens. Xochipilli, Prince of Flowers, was the divine patron of "the flowery dream" as the Aztecs called the ritual hallucinatory trance. The Aztecs used a number of plant hallucinogens including psilocybian mushrooms (teonanácatl), morning glory seeds, Salvia divinorum, Datura (tlapatl or toloache) , Peyote (peyotl), and mixitl grain. Psilocybian mushrooms were used in ritual and ceremony, served with honey or chocolate at some of their holiest events.2
With Cortez's defeat of the Aztecs in 1521, the Europeans began to forbid the use of non-alcohol intoxicants, including sacred mushrooms, and the use of teonanácatl ('wondrous mushroom', or 'flesh of the gods'3) was driven underground.
In the mid 16th century, Spanish priest Bernardino de Sahagún wrote of the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms by the Aztecs in his Florentine Codex :
"The first thing to be eaten at the feast were small black mushrooms that they called nanacatl and bring on drunkenness, hallucinations and even lechery; they ate these before the dawn...with honey; and when they began to feel the effects, they began to dance, some sang and others wept... When the drunkenness of the mushrooms had passed, they spoke with one another of the visions they had seen."
According to Sahagún, the psychoactive mushrooms which were ingested by the Aztec priests and their followers were always referred to as teonanácatl though the term does not appear to be used by modern indians or shamans in mesoamerica. 4 The varieties most likely to have been used by the Aztecs are Psilocybe caerulescens and Psilocybe mexicana. Psilocybe cubensis, which is currently quite popular as it is easy to locate and cultivate, was not introduced to America until the arrival of the Europeans and their cattle.
During the early 20th century there was dispute amongst western academics as to whether psychoactive mushrooms existed. Though Sahagun had mentioned teonanácatl in his diaries, an American botanist William Safford argued he had mistaken dried peyote buttons for mushrooms. This theory was strongly disputed by Austrian amateur botanist Dr. Blas Pablo Reko, who had lived in Mexico. Reko was convinced that not only did teonanacatl refer to psychoactive mushrooms as Sahagun had written, but that people were still using these mushrooms in Mexico.
In the early 30's, Robert Weitlaner, an Australian amateur anthropologist witnessed a Mazatec mushroom ceremony (velada) just northeast of Oaxaca, Mexico. After hearing about the dispute between Safford and Reko, he contacted Reko, told him that the Otomi Indians of Puebla used mushrooms as inebriants, and sent him samples of the mushrooms. Reko forwarded the samples to Stockholm for chemical analysis, and to Harvard for botanical examination, but by the time the samples arrived they were too decayed to be properly identified.
The samples had been received at Harvard by ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes. Schultes quickly became a supporter of the idea that Teonanácatl did indeed refer to mushrooms and in the Harvard Botanical Museum Leaflets of April and November 1937 he argued against Safford's conclusions and urged that further work be done to identify the mushrooms. In 1938, Schultes and Reko went to Mexico and after hearing reports of Mazatec veladas near Huautla de Jimenéz northeast Oaxaca and collected specimens of Panaeolus sphinctrinus, which was reported to be the primary psychoactive mushroom used by the Mazatecs. They also collected Psilocybe cubensis, Psilocybe caerulescens, and possibly a few specimens of Psilocybe mexicana,5 all of which were deposited in the Harvard herbarium. While P. sphincrinus was identified as psychoactive, only two analysis have since detected indole alkaloids in the species, while hundreds of other analyses have not detected any activity whatsoever. The mushrooms which were examined were probably a mixed collection labeled as one species. 6
The investigations of Schultes and Reko came to an end during World War II, and little more was learned until the early 1950's when amateur mycologist R. Gordon Wasson, and his wife Valentina Povlovna, became interested in the traditional use of mushrooms in Mexico. In 1953 Wasson and a small group travelled to Huautla de Jimenéz where they observed an all night ceremony under the guidance of a shaman named Don Aurelio. Two subsequent trips to Mexico led to meeting the Mazatec curandera Maria Sabina who on June 29th 1955 provided Wasson and his companion photographer Allan Richardson with Psilocybe caerulescens during a Velada.
In 1956, Heim requested help from Sandoz in extracting the active ingredients of the mushrooms. Albert Hofmann, a research chemist at Sandoz, soon isolated psilocybin and psilocin and developed a synthesis technique. Wasson continued to travel to Oaxaca over the next few years, and with Roger Heim published a description of the Mazatec velada and seven varieties of psilocybian mushrooms in the May 13, 1957 issue of Life magazine. Popular information about the mushrooms soon spread. Experimentation with the mushrooms and the synthesized substances began and "magic mushrooms"7 were soon part of the 60's 'psychedelic' movement.
[Jul 22,2006 5:02am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Psilocybin is juuust fine. I've tried several psychoactive drugs, including hash, LSD-25 and psilocybin. Hash usually doesn't do much - sends me into a half sleep with silly thoughts and spacey soundscape added to music... LSD doesn't do it to me either. It's probably OK if you are after low dose recreation - partying and such... High doses - too blunt, like a mental power tool. It cracks up open your head; Starring You and Your Brain for 12 hours. Every perception magnified thousandfold - it's.. it's a bit too intense. INTENSE! is the keyword. It doesn't accept any apologies or mistakes.. too harsh. I often felt like I had been immersed in some chemical, into a substance so pure and efficient it has no place in nature. Too pure. 12 hours of LSD-25 acid-bath makes you really tired... physically and mentally. But psilocybin, mm-mm, it's juuuuust fiiiine.
Voyage to the spiritworld... visions and travels, awesome mental hallucinations. It's a direct ISDN-link to the mother earth, forgiving, gentle substance. You hear the chanting of the planet and the spirit of the mushroom. It's a product of the nature, untied to the actions of men and women roaming this planet. Your body disconnected from the circuit, you may often forget it exists. Six hours - not too short, not too long. Perfect.
It should be noted that like all 'major' hallucinogens, psilocybin can precipitate psychotic episodes and uncover or aggravate previous mental illness. If you're stressed out or depressed, don't take mushrooms; if you have schizophrenia or something, DO NOT take mushrooms.
ACID IS NOT FOR EVERY BRAIN .... ONLY THE HEALTHY, HAPPY, WHOLESOME, HANDSOME, HOPEFUL, HUMOROUS, HIGH-VELOCITY SHOULD SEEK THESE EXPERIENCES. THIS ELITISM IS TOTALLY SELF-DETERMINED. UNLESS YOU ARE SELF-CONFIDENT, SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-SELECTED, PLEASE ABSTAIN.
-- Timothy Leary, Ph.D.
I think this applies to mushrooms as well. Mushrooms and acid will open your doors of perception, and once open you can never truly close them again. They are more than a purely recreational drug.
[Jul 22,2006 5:03am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
Rumors persist about tiny mescaline containing tablets. Some dealers will actually sell microdots as "mescaline" and it's not difficult to find people who will argue that the effects of these tablets are "definitely different than LSD". While many people know that it's just about impossible that a microdot or tiny pill would contain mescaline, it can be difficult to convince someone who just spent money to purchase the rare substance that they most likely bought LSD instead. In cases like this, references can be useful, and a picture is worth a thousand words.
A threshold dose of mescaline (the dose at which the smallest amount of recognizable effects can be felt) is somewhere around 100 mg. A normal active dose for most people falls in the 200-400 mg range.1
An average size MDMA tablet weighs around 250 mg, including all binders and fillers. In general, less than half of this weight is actually MDMA. Likewise there are pressed 2C-B tablets which weigh 45 mg and contain 5 mg of 2C-B, about 1/9 of their weight. A standard microdot weighs only 7.5 mg. Assuming that only 1/3 of this material is binders, that means a maximum of 5 mg of active material in the micro-tablet.
While there are a few psychoactives which are active in the 5 mg range, mescaline is definitely not one of them. It would be difficult to get a threshold dose of mescaline into a tablet even as large as an ecstasy tablet (similar in size to a standard advil or aspirin tablet). A full dose of mescaline (400 mg) barely fits into a fully packed large capsule with no fillers. At 5 mg of mescaline per microdot, it would take between 50 and 75 tablets to equal a single dose.
[img]
[Jul 22,2006 5:04am - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
hey go listen to george jones and tom waits then join me for some 5am whiskey shots
[Oct 20,2006 11:59pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled that 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.
[Oct 26,2006 1:52pm - whiskey_weed_and_women ""]
I'm gonna take a freight train down at the station, Lord
I don't care where it goes
Gonna climb a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord
And jump off, ain’t nobody gonna know
Can't you see, can't you see,
What that woman, Lord
She been doin' to me
Can't you see, oh, can't you see
What that woman, been doin' to me
I'm gonna find me a hole in the wall,
I’m gonna crawl inside and die
’Cause my lady now, a mean old woman, Lord
Never told me goodbye
Can't you see, oh, can't you see,
What that woman, lord, she been doin' to me
Can't you see, can't you see,
What that woman,lord, she been doin' to me
gonna buy me a ticket now, as far as I can,
I ain't never comin' back
I’m gonna take me that south-bound,
All the way to Georgia now,
‘Till the train it run out of track
Can't you see, oh, can't you see,
What that woman, lord, she been doin' to me
Can't you see, can't you see,
What that woman, she been doin' to me, oh lord
[Nov 5,2006 3:44pm - W3 nli ""]
Tiny bubbles
In the wine
Make me happy
Make me feel fine
The song ‘tiny bubbles’ is filled with infinite sadness because it speaks to the kind of tender innocent happiness very few of us can imagine. The kind of happiness that was lost long ago, and that belonged to another generation.
Avoidance of disappointment is the underlying issue. It’s like having the opportunity to meet the artist that created the most favoured piece of artwork on your walls, and making a point of avoiding that situation, because there is no upside – and the downside is that the artwork in your home will be forever ruined because this person proves to be no where near as inspirational as you may have hoped, which is precisely why I did not say hello to Buddy Guy when I saw him at his club last month.
My prejudice is pretty general, far too broad and sweeping for any racial limitations. It’s clear to me – and has been since the age of 10 or so – that most people are bastards, thieves, and yes – even pigfuckers. – HST
Economics does not determine history, but it does provide the backbeat. – The Economist
"It's like Cinderella at the ball," Buffett said. "At the start of the party, the punch is flowing and everything's going well, but you know that at midnight everything's going to turn back to pumpkins and mice. But you look around and say, 'one more dance,' and so does everyone else. Everyone thinks they'll get out at midnight. ... And then suddenly the clock strikes 12, and everything turns back to pumpkins and mice."
[Nov 5,2006 4:17pm - DestroyYouAlot ""]
This thread is making me want to smoke SO FUCKING BAD right now.
[Nov 5,2006 4:35pm - W3 nli ""]
come on over, but bring papers
[Nov 11,2006 6:04pm - HailTheLeaf ""]
This is what I think CBS, the producers of the Letterman show, the networks and governments fear the most - that one man free, expressing his own thoughts and point of view, might somehow inspire others to think for themselves and listen to that voice of reason inside them, and then perhaps, one by one we will awaken from this dream of lies and illusions that the world, the governments and their propaganda arm, the mainstream media, feeds us continuously over fifty-two channels, twenty-four hours a day.
What I realised was that they don't want the people to be awake. The elite ruling class wants us asleep so we'll remain a docile, apathetic herd of passive consumers and non-participants in the true agendas of our governments, which is to keep us separate and present an image of a world filled with unresolvable problems, that they, and only they, might somewhere, in the never-arriving future, may be able to solve. Just stay asleep, America. Keep watching television. Keep paying attention to the infinite witnesses of illusion we provide you over "Luciferís Dream Box".
The herd has been pacified by our charade of concern as we pose the two most idiotic questions imaginable - "Is television becoming too violent?" and "Is television becoming too promiscuous?" The answer, my friends, is this: television is too stupid. It treats us like morons. Case closed. - Hicks
[Nov 11,2006 6:12pm - CaptainCleanoff ""]
"non-participants in the true agendas of our governments"
You believe in this shit, but are you involved, or just still smoking weed and making yourself more retarded? You HTL, Are the embodement of non participation. Did you vote, Or "just get drunk and watch the daily show" when the dems "won". Fucking hippy moron. If you did vote, good for you, but I doubt it. Watch the next two years and see how the dems fuck up just as bad, if not worse than the republicans. I will be here in two years to tell you I told you so. Good times.
[Nov 11,2006 6:18pm - HailTheLeaf ""]
wow, totally missing the point of this thread, good for you.
[Apr 24,2008 2:17am - W3 nli ""]
My Stars
i love this song....
When I was a young girl sitting on my momma's knee
she told me to love freedom and to keep my dignity
out in the country down in Georgia.
In the tall grass and Queen Anne's lace I began to love America.
When I went to elementary school I learned to cuss,
learned to pray to a protestant God and in Him we trust.
I pledge allegiance to America...
in the concrete walls and wooden desks I learned the scriptures of America.
When I went to high school I learned how we hate
all the fears and shadows we use to segregate
the people of America.
We hold some lies to be self-evident in America.
When I was in Dallas I stood up all night long
thinking about ... murder
and what it takes to buy a soul in America....but it's still my America.
Down in Alabama where the crosses burn so bright,
way out in the desert where your eyes can't hold the light,
and from the mouths of fools who tell you money always makes right...
comes the darkness of America, our America.
From the glitter of Miami to the wild Alaskan shore,
and the greed of the wealthy and the faith of the poor
this is all our America.
And if they tell you we can't use her freedom anymore,
well they don't stand for our America
If they tell you miles of freedom is a cost we can't afford,
they shore up the government, and keep us hard at war
till one by one give up our rights till our borders seem secure,
and disagreement will be treason, we'll have no voice anymore.
They just don't understand America,
my America,
our America,
my America
[May 1,2008 4:44pm - W3 nli ""]
Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102
infect said:another dead hero