4 ms·

The longer I live I'm more inclined to view countries very similar to prisons. I wonder if some day people will be free of the being born into one social/psycho

The longer I live I'm more inclined to view countries very similar to prisons. I wonder if some day people will be free of the being born into one social/psychological experiment compared to another and that's just the result of a different coordinate on what we named earth. I was lucky enough to have dual citizenship and leave the horror show of the US. I'm doubtful I would have been able to do the same if it wasn't for being born elsewhere. Facial recognition of citizens show a decline in the values that made the country great.

ataturk 7y ago
Other than too many big tech companies selling shit to the government that we don't need, why is the US a "horror" exactly? There is definitely a decline in values, no two ways about it. But it has come from an unexpected place this time--big tech, which used to run counter to top down control, has for some reason now totally embraced it. I think because they want to do business in China and then built a one-size-fits-all system for the whole world at the least common denominator level. Pretty sad, but your average MBA isn't a deep thinker. When I think of that word, I think of Mexico, and most of Central and South America where people live in tin shacks and shit in the street. The US is hardly a police state, but we do have police state tendencies for a variety of reasons. Most of the big cities are run by Marxist liberal whack jobs and that's our biggest problem right now. That, and DC itself being a den of corruption and malfeasance. But I guess the underlying reasons for all of it run deep--think "profit" and think "bankers."
oceanghost 7y ago
“ANDRÉ: . . . And when I was at Findhorn I met this extraordinary English tree expert who had devoted himself to saving trees, and he’d just got back from Washington lobbying to save the Redwoods. And he was eighty-four years old, and he always travels with a backpack because he never knows where he’s going to be tomorrow. And when I met him at Findhorn he said to me, “Where are you from?” And I said, “New York.” And he said, “Ah, New York, yes, that’s a very interesting place. Do you know a lot of New Yorkers who keep talking about the fact that they want to leave, but never do?” And I said, “Oh, yes.” And he said, “Why do you think they don’t leave?” And I gave him different banal theories. And he said, “Oh, I don’t think it’s that way at all.” He said, “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing that they’ve built—they’ve built their own prison—and so they exist in a state of schizophrenia where they are both guards and prisoners. And as a result they no longer have—having been lobotomized—the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made or even to see it as a prison.” And then he went into his pocket, and he took out a seed for a tree, and he said, “This is a pine tree.” And he put it in my hand. And he said, “Escape before it’s too late.” ― Wallace Shawn, My Dinner With André
- chrisco255 7y ago
  I suppose to some that NYC would seem like a prison but to others they find it invigorating. The important thing is not to project your own preferences onto others. People see the world in different ways and one man's prison is another man's paradise.
  - oceanghost 7y ago
    I can't imagine a more ignorant and ill-considered response to such a work of art.
hadsed 7y ago
This seems excessive. Prisons don't benefit you the same way your national or state governments do. It sounds like you're saying any kind of government or societal control is equivalent to control exerted by prisons on the prisoners. I don't disagree that the direction seems problematic but this exceptionally dramatic way of unbalanced discussion about it is just not useful (or fun).

ataturk 7y ago

Other than too many big tech companies selling shit to the government that we don't need, why is the US a "horror" exactly? There is definitely a decline in values, no two ways about it. But it has come from an unexpected place this time--big tech, which used to run counter to top down control, has for some reason now totally embraced it. I think because they want to do business in China and then built a one-size-fits-all system for the whole world at the least common denominator level. Pretty sad, but your average MBA isn't a deep thinker. When I think of that word, I think of Mexico, and most of Central and South America where people live in tin shacks and shit in the street. The US is hardly a police state, but we do have police state tendencies for a variety of reasons. Most of the big cities are run by Marxist liberal whack jobs and that's our biggest problem right now. That, and DC itself being a den of corruption and malfeasance. But I guess the underlying reasons for all of it run deep--think "profit" and think "bankers."

oceanghost 7y ago

“ANDRÉ: . . . And when I was at Findhorn I met this extraordinary English tree expert who had devoted himself to saving trees, and he’d just got back from Washington lobbying to save the Redwoods. And he was eighty-four years old, and he always travels with a backpack because he never knows where he’s going to be tomorrow. And when I met him at Findhorn he said to me, “Where are you from?” And I said, “New York.” And he said, “Ah, New York, yes, that’s a very interesting place. Do you know a lot of New Yorkers who keep talking about the fact that they want to leave, but never do?” And I said, “Oh, yes.” And he said, “Why do you think they don’t leave?” And I gave him different banal theories. And he said, “Oh, I don’t think it’s that way at all.” He said, “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing that they’ve built—they’ve built their own prison—and so they exist in a state of schizophrenia where they are both guards and prisoners. And as a result they no longer have—having been lobotomized—the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made or even to see it as a prison.” And then he went into his pocket, and he took out a seed for a tree, and he said, “This is a pine tree.” And he put it in my hand. And he said, “Escape before it’s too late.” ― Wallace Shawn, My Dinner With André

chrisco255 7y ago
I suppose to some that NYC would seem like a prison but to others they find it invigorating. The important thing is not to project your own preferences onto others. People see the world in different ways and one man's prison is another man's paradise.
- oceanghost 7y ago
  I can't imagine a more ignorant and ill-considered response to such a work of art.

hadsed 7y ago

This seems excessive. Prisons don't benefit you the same way your national or state governments do. It sounds like you're saying any kind of government or societal control is equivalent to control exerted by prisons on the prisoners. I don't disagree that the direction seems problematic but this exceptionally dramatic way of unbalanced discussion about it is just not useful (or fun).