{∅, {∅}, {∅, {∅}}} : Rage Against the Meat Grinder

On Syd Barrett


Barrett became increasingly depressed and socially withdrawn, and experienced intense mood swings. Many reports described him on stage, strumming one chord through the entire concert, or not playing at all.
I really like that-just keep strumming one chord all the freaking time.

 Interviewed on Pat Boone's show during this tour, Syd's reply to Boone's questions was a "blank and totally mute stare," "Syd wasn't into moving his lips that day."  I too am never into moving my lips.


 Barrett came into what was to be their last practice session with a new song he had dubbed "Have You Got It Yet?" The song seemed simple enough when he first presented it, but it soon became impossibly difficult to learn and they eventually realised that while they were practising it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?" Have you got it yet? Have you got it yet? Have you got it you it yet? Have you got it yet??

He found his own mind so absorbing that he didn't want to be distracted.


Roger was there, and he was sitting at the desk, and I came in and I saw this guy sitting behind him--huge, bald, fat guy. I thought, "He looks a bit...strange..." Anyway, so I sat down with Roger at the desk and we worked for about ten minutes, and this guy kept on getting up and brushing his teeth and then sitting--doing really weird things, but keeping quiet. And I said to Roger, "Who is he?" and Roger said "I don't know." and I said "Well, I assumed he was a friend of yours," and he said "No, I don't know who he is." Anyway, it took me a long time, and then suddenly I realised it was Syd, after maybe 45 minutes. He came in as we were doing the vocals for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, which was basically about Syd. He just, for some incredible reason picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him. And we hadn't seen him, I don't think, for two years before. That's what's so incredibly...weird about this guy. And a bit disturbing, as well, I mean, particularly when you see a guy, that you don't, you couldn't recognise him. And then, for him to pick the very day we want to start putting vocals on, which is a song about him. Very strange.

— Richard Wright

With each passing day I feel more & more like Winston Smith.And 2016 is far worse than 1984-the deception is far more subtle & deep rooted.
I see people around me-they just keep getting married & popping out babies,they just keeping chasing the next promotion-no one-absolutely no one questions this bizarre condition.For them getting married is the most obvious of all things.For me only non- existence is  natural.

In the public I adhere to the most conventional of statements.And still they are suspicious of me..
I only wear a plain blue or white shirt & still when I let out ,by mistake ,any multi-syllable word,they stare at me.
The reason why you are my only friend is that you are a fellow thought criminal-Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.

They have ways of keeping the thought criminals in line-far more nuanced & effective  than physical beatings.One of the tactics which they use-& there is hardly a word for it- is Singlism.



From the book-Singlism:

The simple statement, "I am happy," when uttered by a person who is single, can elicit paroxysms of hostility, denial, and scorn.
 Families receive more than 1235 federal tax breaks is crazy. If you can't afford them don't have them. And it goes on with the vacation & leisure industry. Singles pay as much as double. Kids eat free though. And I'm not talking about cheap places either. How about Hilton line. There are all sorts of freebies if you bring your brood. Or the restaurant industry where they would rather put you at the bar than at a table, even if you have called ahead and reserved a table for one. Again I am talking about 4 & 5 star facilities. I suppose the final insult came when my sister came to visit last summer & spent a week in my new retirement home. The first day she asked "well what is going to happen to all your money when you die?" Then proceeded to roll off a list of suggestions: (1) Pay for the grand children college education (all 5 of them) (2) and or pay for there first house (all 5 of them).Singles are taken advantage all the time.


The ways in which singles are targets of stereotyping, stigmatizing, or discrimination in domains such as politics, religion, the workplace, the marketplace, college teaching and research, the media, advertising, and everyday life. Evidence comes from experimental studies (for example, of housing discrimination) and analyses of laws and policies (for example, the tax structure) as well as personal experiences.
Because singlism is built right into  laws, it is not possible to be single and not be a target of discrimination. If you have followed the marriage equality debate, then you probably know that there are more than 1,000 federal laws that benefit or protect only those people who are legally married. Even if same-sex marriage becomes legal throughout the land, all those people who are single -- whether gay or straight or any other status -- will still remain second class citizens.

In study after study, we found that perceptions of single people are overwhelmingly more negative than perceptions of married or coupled people. That's true even when we create brief biographical sketches of people who are sometimes said to be single and sometimes married but are described identically in every other way. The single people are viewed more harshly and more stereotypically than the married people.

Studies of perceptions of single people have been conducted in other countries as well. Again and again, single people are stereotyped. A particularly compelling set of studies assessed actual differences between single and coupled people, as well as perceptions of differences. The perceptions were pervasive, with singles getting derogated (relative to couples), but the actual differences were few and far between.



http://www.amazon.in/Singlism-What-Why-Matters-Stop/dp/0615486789