Wednesday, May 14, 2008

stupid government bullshit lies

Someone told me today not to call people stupid. Here is my response:

When people CHOOSE not to think, i feel justified in calling them stupid. They got these huge motherfucking brains they don't want to use. STUPID. I believe it's a choice, to be stupid, or to think, and there's no excuse for letting other people do their thinking for them. NO EXCUSE!! Even someone with a really limited brain capacity can think, if they want to. I know plenty of unintelligent people who are not stupid, because they choose to use what brains they got. And I know many more highly intelligent people who are just plain stupid and that's all there is to it.

the system we have is built on lies. the lies keep getting bigger and bigger, and it's just going to collapse on itself. it was never stable to begin with. the only system that can sustain itself would be built upon a natural order, rather than this human attempt to control things we currently have. you know, all that anarchy stuff i like to go on about. freedom, autonomy, the right to make our own decisions rather than constantly being told what we should do, what we should believe, how we should act... and all those rules and laws, they only serve to make us believe we are bad and make us afraid to look within to find our own truth. that's what it's all about, you know. Making our own decisions, based upon the truth we find inside rather than on what other people might think or say. And the one thing standing in the way of acheiving that kind of freedom is the fact that people would rather be told what to do than look within and find their own answers, it's easier, gives them someone else to blame when things go wrong. And i think it's just plain STUPID.

2 comments:

Jeremy said...

Excellent post! I made a related point in my recent critique of a marketing approach to libertarianism. Part of the problem is that intelligent and unintelligent people alike share the misconception that a political identity is the same as arriving at a political position through self-examination and reasoned thinking based on a wealth of information and history. No, simply adopt some pre-packaged conclusions and wham! you're "involved". And the more they identify with an ideology, the less they're inclined to think about it. Systems of thought *can* be analyzed, but most people accept them without bothering. Electoral politics plays into this.

A lot of this is also because our authoritarian culture artificially limits the physical and intellectual freedom of people. There are certainly people who find ways to live free, but the state and authoritarian institutions do an excellent job of providing ready made templates into which people can slip (essentially identities and rules) while browbeating any lack of conformity. It's very subtle but effective.

The best you can do here is be honest with yourself and others while controlling your need to pass judgment. Yes, it takes discipline to juggle the lack of consonance between what you believe and what others say and do, but part of being free is starting to take responsibility for our reactions, emotional and physical, and become inwardly-directed, self-realized people. Anger is not a necessary response.

Besides, too often we voluntarily participate in the legitimation of these stupid modes of thinking by not calling them out. Most of us try to ignore them. I think the best counterargument is a life lived as an example of your values, so that at least you can speak with basic authority. Also, by politely but firmly rejecting people's lies that they've told themselves or learned elsewhere, you help provide reinforcement for self-direction and critical thinking without using force. Doing it without anger, though, is crucial. This requires self-knowledge to be able to know oneself well enough to not be threatened by people's opinions.

Again, great post!

Friendstacy said...

oh, thank you so much for the comment, Jeremy. your blog is now bookmarked, and i'll be checking it out over the next few days, i'm sure of it.

YOU perceive me as being angry. that's not *my* problem, really. and even if i am angry (nobody can know if that's the case but myself), there's not a damn thing wrong with that, either, so long as i use that energy constructively rather than to hurt people, no? ;-) fuck a bunch of people tell me i'm bad because i'm not in control of my emotions. i'm not a bad person. doesn't matter what anyone thinks, so long as i know that my actions are in accordance with my conscience, my own inner sense of right and wrong.