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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
Deinonychus
Joined: Apr 27, 2009
Age: 47
Posts: 335
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 Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| enamdar wrote: | | . . . I would study natural science and philosophy and explore the depths of metaphysics. I would write poetry, paint artwork, sing hymns. . . . |
It's both. Depression can become biochemical. However, enamdar does raise very real issues.
From films on pollution in elementary schools and stories of people starving to death in India that no one seemed to care about except for me, to the alarmingly widespread sexual assault and sexual abuse on college campuses that people only seem to make jokes about, as if they lack the skills to constructively deal with the issue, and that's a big part of it, people do lack the skills. In particular, if guys are matter-of-fact and say "that sh** ain't cool," that will go a long way. That will go a long way to creating a climate where people predisposed to this beahvior will not be able to fool themselves that most people accept it. If you wanted to do more, you could write healthy pornography that models positive stuff and that is genuinely erotic (and people into sadomasochism or fetishes or their own personal kicks are sexual minorities and do need to be treated with respect, are people, do have the right to be different, do have the right to pursue their own lives, and even though many of the fantasies may be way out and nonconsenual, the actual actions are consensual--so it gets complicated, it quickly gets complicated. And the whole issue can use someone like yourself able to handle the interplay of complex ideas.) Straight up, we give adolescents bad information about sex, it's Penthouse magazine on one side and all the goody-two-shoes advice on the other and no one, seemingly, works the middle. For example, the distinction between good wildness and bad wildness, I think that could be very helpful.
So, yes, yes, a lot of things bother me. Like when I was working at H&R Block, why do only me and one other fellow employee---over three years!---think that the practice of "cross-collection" was highly questionable and inform our customers in a meaningful way, and not just let this blur as one of ten pieces of paper we ask our client to sign? I don't know! People conform to whatever, more than they need to.
Like I have written before, groups, whether they are the Green Party or peace groups, generally are disappointing. There's grandstanding, people pull radical credentials, people seemingly need opposition (even within the group itself), so I recommend having pretty modest expectations and going a little on the slow side as far as getting involved in a particular group. Hold yourself back a little and see how things go.
Another method is that of animal rights activist Henry Spira (as described in Peter Singer's book ETHICS INTO ACTION). Henry kind of went it alone. As a seasoned activist, he was very skillful in picking targets. His first major target was the American Museum of Natural History who used tax dollars to do research on cats (a name institution, tax dollars, sympathetic animal, plus the research wasn't much referenced by later research, weakening the traditional science argument). It still took more than a year. One very smart thing, the families that came to the museum, they've traveled all the way into the city, they've made plans, instead of asking them to boycott it, Henry asked them to put a single penny into the donation canister as a protest. (About Peter Singer, I am aware that he has at the very least communicated clunkily on the topic of euthanasia.)
Henry made decisions and asked other people to participate, and he wasn't real particular that people did it exactly right. He did not have endless, grueling, tedious meetings in order to have a "democratic" group (which usually just ends up being a clique of a few like-minded people with powerful personalities).
A couple of times, I've tried activism by myself. I don't necessarily recommend that either. What you really need is two or three fellow activists, short meetings, short meetings, really just discussions, and then invite other people to participate in the activities you've already decided on.
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enamdar, I'm in there pitching because a little bit, I've been there, too. Maybe not to the same extent, but at least a little bit I can see where you're coming from.
Now, sg33 talking about the right meds. And if it's like he says where you're having trouble making a sandwich and dragging yourself to the shower---and if you have a doctor you can halfway talk to or can get a doctor you can halfway talk to---certainly something to consider.
And at the same time, engage, don't conform, engage to work on some of these issues, preferably with others if possible. You only need one or two co-activists. Probably take a while, might take a long while (long streaks do not just happen at the poker table), but you might get lucky!
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Please allow me to pitch a little more on philosophy. Okay, we have Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, those cats, but we also have Jonathan Glover's CAUSING DEATH AND SAVING LIVES (1977), I think the best book from a largely utilitarian perspective. Now, now, now, I know what you might be thinking, that utilitarianism gleefully and self-righteously . . . not my versions it doesn't! The best academic version is motive utilitarianism.
The version I'd really like is a framework of Kantian ethics and within that, we practice utilitarianism, and I can't believe no one has really developed that but apparently, no one really has, and we could easily, easily use about ten people. Oh, it's a hybrid theory and the philosophical basis . . . well, I'm no longer that interested in foundationalism, I'm more interested in practical applications. Okay, something else, another version, something slightly different than motive utilitarianism that acknowledges we have grown up in violent, authoritarian, hierarchical cultures, and these "options" are likely to be at the forefront of our minds, and we need to develop and get conversant with other options.
You might also want to revisit G.E. Moore and his ideal utilitarianism (where beauty, knowledge, a few other things, in addition to happiness have intrinsic value).
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I've probably written enough. I'll try and add some stuff on jobs later. And it has to be engagement, not conformity. |
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Io
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Jan 22, 2008
Posts: 68
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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Jaythefordman
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Aug 27, 2009
Age: 39
Posts: 69
Location: Perth, Australia
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:46 am Post subject: |
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I knew a good guy who fell off the perch of life to this kind of thinking. Decided the 'system' was all bullshit, stepped off lifes escalator, took copious amounts of drugs, and I would not be surprised if he was dead.
Its easy to overthink our roles in life, and especially in a negative light as our OP is. I have struggled occasionally with the same line of thinking, but the fundamental difference is that I just cannot accept that it is the 'truth'.
Instead of considering ourselves as 'slaves' to the 'system' we have to accept that there is a 'system' and work it to our own purposes. Work for the money doing the things we enjoy, derive purpose from our employment. From there we require the knowledge that employement generates the income to not only survive, gain comfort, but also enable us to create out of our own desires. You see the system can work as much for us, as we for it. thats the fundamental difference in thinking from the idiocy of the EMO mindset.
Hell, even start your own business so that you can feel more in control.
Whats the alternative? Scrounge from the garbage bins, existing no more than at survival level? living off the handouts of others? F*ck that! Our purpose is to be more than that, so harden up, educate yourself, and move on and up 'system' or no system. Thats irrelevent in this world, thats the prison our mind puts us in if we chose to navel gaze in that direction, and it helps noone bar the philosophers who get paid to think that way. |
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