Author Topic: The Dark Side (a profound concentration of negativity)  (Read 3611 times)

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Re: The Dark Side (a profound concentration of negativity)
« Reply #15 on: September 12, 2017, 11:07:39 am »
Quote from: Holden
I would prefer to die like him,you see. I would prefer to die in utter poverty among my books rather than to slave away for these gorts.

I very much understand what you are saying and sympathize with how you feel.  I am sure there are those who question why, after all these years, have I not become bored and dissatisfied enough to just surrender and take some humble employment. 

It is a touchy subject.  One of the things that made the film Henry Fool so memorable for me was how Henry would preach to Simon about his need to quit his job.  What Henry was saying was so true, and yet sounds so funny to us because we are under the impression that there is no way out of the daily grind, that one has to be very fortunate to be employed at all (denying the very real feelings within the breast which say otherwise).

I have to admit, the same kind of attitude is what makes Toole's Igantius Reilly so appealing to me, even with all his defects of character.

I want to be a character such as Henry Fool or Ignatius Reilly.

You mention Van Gogh, yes - he is the real man who is not able to live as a "good employee". 

In our world, such "free spirits" must be willing to play the role of the fool, the idiot, or the mental patient.

There was a very funny post made by someone back in the days when we were posting in the WhyWork? forums.  (I knew those forums were targeted for destruction as the ideas go against the corporate work ethic in the global farm of the Industrial World).

I did a search here and found it in our Why Work? section.

Keep a record of your thoughts on how you feel reporting to the workplace, as well as how you feel the night before having to report to work. 

This attitude we have is extremely subversive and goes against the whole "be all you can be" slave mentality.   Not desiring the carrot, will they not be forced to use the whip?  And yet, I felt so blessed to be employed by the State Park Service, and housed!  It was a Fool's Paradise.

As you say though, there are millions upon millions of youth (even college graduates) entering the workforce, all wanting to live as Lords.  They will be angry to find out they will just be well-dressed perfumed serfs.

At least the true scholars might embrace a minimalist lifestyle.  There are the few who will just take the attitude of Henry or Ignatius or Van Gogh.

But we are not dealing with the masses and statistics.  I know what you are facing.

I suppose my personal rebellion was a spontaneous response.  I sought higher education as a means to escape serfdom, and then found that I would be lower than a serf were i to drop out of the rat race altogether.

Now I just want to study for the sake of learning, and like Ignatius Reilly, I would strongly resist if anyone were to try to push me into "the middle class".   

Down with the Middle Class!   :D

There is more than a little irony in the situation when you have the gorts pushing mathematics on their offspring with the hopes of them someday finding gainful employment with a High Tech Company, and then to have someone like me, who wants nothing to do with the structure and discipline required with such a position so as to have the leisure to do nothing other than studying that same math!
« Last Edit: September 12, 2017, 11:36:35 am by { { } } »
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