American Sociopaths

[BO]

They keep coming out of the woodwork like cockroaches. They eat away at the foundation of civilization. They lie, cheat and steal. They think the world owes them something they don't deserve. They get away with murder.

Who are they?

[waldopaper]

I learned what it meant to be "middle class" when I got busted on my last motorcycle ride about five years ago. 

Yeah, I fucked up.  Speeding and drunk.  All my fault and all that... but that's not the point.  Other than never fuck up, here is what else I learned from that experience:  

I had to go to drunk school and attend about three "classes" a week that cost about $40 a pop.  12 of those.  Plus a monthly piss-test for 3 months... I think those were about $30...and other stuff.  None of my fellow "students" nor the "teacher" could deny it was all about the money.  No doubt about who the upper class were... they were not there. 

They simply wrote a check for about $10k to their lawyer up front to make it go away.  Depending on how badly they fucked up. they would have to rinse and repeat frequently.  And you could see who the lower class was in the courtroom.  They would file in with orange suits and shackles on.  Mostly black by about 60%.  They judge asks for money.  They aint got it coz deyz in de jail-howse.  "See ya in 30...90 days... whatever," say de judge... an back dey goes to de jail. 

The rest of us sat in a room and looked at each other and listened to shit about alcohol and dope and fucking without a rubber.  I'm sorry- but that's what it was.  Nobody bothered to pretend very hard that it had much to do with justice or rehabilitation or anything like that.  You could DO that, if you wanted to show a "positive attitude" and get the hell out of "the system" (and yes, the operators called it "the system.").  Those without a "positive attitude" got the full treatment.  

They end up on Antabuse, puking their guts up, wearing special ankle-bracelets and looking forward to spot-surprise inspections/ visits from their probation officer...and paying for it.  So you best keep a "positive attitude" because that's what the "middle class" does.  We could get up the bread to stay the fuck out of jail, but we did not have the cake to feed the lawyers (who- by the way- make the best "representatives").  Marx called us "the bourgeoisie." 

We do not control the system, nor are we overly-victimized by it.  All we do is pay for it, and now we are running out of ways to pay.  The "middle class" never really existed anyway.  Most of us are "working class" because we have to fuck with "money," and if you have enough of that you don't have to fuck with it.  Now, you could say the lawyers are the bourgeoisie, but most of them are working-shlumps just like everybody else who is not locked up or poor. 

And everybody but the terminally clueless knows that most of the locked-up are poor.  I saw some soccer-mom hustled through the clink when I was there, busted for shoplifting.  We recognized each other, "middle class."  She was equally as humiliated caught for pinching baubles as I was for being drunk and stupid.  And of course I have never been drunk or stupid since.  Anyway, the deal is: now we have some kind of paradigm-shift brewing. 

They say the "conservatives" who are making out with "the system" want to keep it just the way it is, and the "progressives" (remember "liberals?") want to change it.  It's a stroke of somebody's genius to call #OWS "obamavilles" and "obamavillans," but it's all bullshit.  Winter is coming.  Food is going to get scarce in the dark and cold.  Now we could light some fires and cook some food or we can die in the dark like a bunch of stupid-heads. 

It really IS that fucking simple.  I find young #occupation people, look deep into their eyes, and say as calmly and convincingly as I can, "...what we need to do now... is avoid famine... and war."  I get the crazy-old-man look.  I don't care.  I am serious as a fucking heart attack and I KNOW what a fucking heart attack IS.  Listen the fuck up kids.  Famine.  and War.  Avoiding them: the essence of Slipcraft. 

Hope someday you laugh at the fading memory of a crazy old man.  Hope you grin with healthy long old teeth, pat your full belly look around you and say, "...and there never was a famine... there never was a war.  Crazy old man."  But I hear them... war and famine.  I smell them.  I have never seen them, but I have walked through the debris.  Their tracks are unmistakable, and testify to their size and power.  Once you recognize the signs, you change. 

That is what makes us crazy. We are not crazy. 

Paradox.

 

 

[BO]

Famine and war are pretty inevitable at this point. The big blob that we call the global economy is riddled with cancer and ain't got long to live. And it's beyond anyone's ability to fix--including the rich. I'm thinking that this time around, everyone goes down with the ship. Even those that cast off in their dinghies are going to find out that no-one is coming to save them. Nor will they find safe harbor. Human Karma is coming to fruition and we're going to enter a period where money has no value at all.

 

So what sez I. Why do humans think they can't become extinct? Read some Camus. The cosmos owes us nothing.

[waldopaper]

There has always been famine and war.  One causes the other.  They are just going to get bigger because the spinning money-plates are all now shards on the floor.  Most of the world does not know that yet, but the reality-based community heard the crash some years back. 

They are setting up a free store down at the local #occupation.  They are hip to the Diggers... both the 1649 and the dudes back in our day.  Mebbe they kin pull it off this time.  In any case, they teachin themselves how to slip it. 

[BO]

I've become such a nihilist these past few years that I should probably quit posting altogether. I'm happy for people who can find solace in their faith, or growing their own food, or whatever. Personally, I can't seem to think of a better solution than keeping enough gas in the car, so when the time is right, I can park it in the garage and exhaust meeself. Hopefully, I'll die of natural causes before then, but I'm thinking it's gonna be a close race.

If I weren't such a fraidy cat, I'd get on down to South or Central America where the possibility for survival is greater. Not only that, but for the most part, I despise Americans. Could be I just despise humanity, but I have yet to figure out if that's true or not. Maybe if I had the bread to travel more I could find out. 

[pan]

You have to keep posting BO - I need to see that there are other outliers out there who are struggling to deal with the idiocy.

[BO]

Don't know if I would encourage me if i were you.  ;-)

But thanks for the support. 

Hey, I forgot to mention. I turned 60 yesterday. I'm now an official curmudgeon. I should be able to say anything and folks should assume I'm just a harmless, angry old coot.

Wow. 60. How did that happen?

[waldopaper]

Congratulations and welcome to codgerdom. brother BO.  How did it happen?  You made it.  You got fukkin old... and hardly ever noticed it.  Like the old dude I met once with gold-wing and wife all in matching leathers.  You made it!  

It aint so bad.  Other than everything falling apart and facing imminent death, it's kinda cool.  You don't give a shit about much of anything, so you can spend more time thinking about important shit... like whether butterflies dream about being men,,, and we will one day wake up a butterfly. 

 

[BO]

Told myself that I was gonna start drinking again when I reach 70. So, I gotta make it that far at least. I want one more taste of Southern Comfort.

Still have most of my parts. (knock on wood) Some work better than others.

[Cal]

LOM - best wishes to you & hubby for repair & healing!

Happy birthday Bo.  And keep posting like the others said.  Outliers need to know they're not alone.  I've been studying statistics (the methodologies for anylyzing numbers that I nearly failed at university & have suddenly developed a passionate interest in) - have been reading about how to handle outliers in tree enumeration data.  Our stats specialist glibly told me that it was acceptable practice to simply delete them.  When I researched further I read that deleing outliers is a type of scientific fraud.  So ... as outliers ... we have some, if not a particularly clearly useful, validity.

Speaking of effing-up ... I can't believe I did this but after several years of abstinence I partook of the leaves of the gods.  Well there they were right in my front garden sprouted greenly after the start of the summer rain.  Not my seeds.  And it seemed a terrible shame to uproot & compost the little 'volunteers' so I smoked 'em.  Trouble is ... hooboy ... it was the weekend just before my company executive medical first thing Monday morning.  Yes ... I was that stupid.  No one has said anything yet.  But these things don't stay quiet & I have a dr's appointment wednesday to 'sign off' my medicial.  From the state of abject anxiety the whole situation has plunged me into I can tell at least two things - firstly I am terrified of losing my job & being unable to continue to support myself and secondly I am obviously a long way from peaceful reconciliation with being a fleeting mortal being.  Damn!  Just when it looked like life had turned the corner bringing me to this lovely wooden house on stilts at the edge of a coastal nature reserve and a change in job description which suited best enjoyed talents really well.

I've been reading ... a lot.  The 50th Law by Robert Greene & 50cents espousing fearlessness.  And discovered Nicos Kazantzakis (wrote Zorba the Greek) - The Oddyseey A Modern Sequel.  I am trying to apply the philosophies but finding it difficult in the face of stark terror.

 

[BO]

If they mention the test---which they won't--Just tell 'em you picked some greens for a salad you found in your yard and discovered you felt a little funny afterwards. <grin>

Nothing will happen. They love you. Besides, if they got a positive, they'll just retest you and by the time that happens, the stuff will be out of your system.

Sorry that you're suffering a lot of grief over this. Too bad that intelligent people have to suffer so much paranoia. It just comes with the job. Just know that...this too will pass.

[BO]

Speaking of greens...The leaves are finally dropping from the trees around here. Typically, they'd be gone already--by about a month. What's strange is to see 'em drop without a lick of wind. Always thought the wind blew them off. But it's completely still out and they're raining down like snowflakes. This is the first time I've witnessed this phenomena. Either that, or that part of my memory is gone already. 

[Mouse]