the we

Delusion: Automaton.  They hate you. Hell, they might even want to kill you. Still, they need you.  Dare you go against the grain and throw tradition to the wind, you’ll only be labeled an asshole.  Take an example.

Delusion: Unconditional Traditional.  For every holiday, and every conceivable anniversary, there are greeting cards.  Where this originally came about, I am not sure.  Logically, it started with a simple idea, which took, and sooner or later, people were purchasing these “thoughts on cardboard” by the droves.  Its very ubiquity is sickening.  Today, to announce that you have absolutely no interest in the consumerist-side of holidays, which, you have the suspicion, caused the spiritual downfall of holidays to begin with, only results in a rather popular view of you being the proverbial “wet blanket.”

Humans are slaves to tradition, it seems.  Evidently, it matters not that certain traditions are started by business just trying to make another buck.

Christmas is about buying shit.  Thanksgiving was probably a crock to begin with, given what we’ve done with the natives of this part of the world.  And Easter dropped three hits of acid before spending an entire weekend watching reruns of “Who’s the Boss,” so, no wonder that it’s so screwed up.  Today, on the Fourth of July, we watch fireworks and remember the “bombs bursting in air,” but we don’t seem to truly remember the reason why there were any bombs in the first place.

Do as expected, but keep your head down.  Don’t think, just obey.  There isn’t time for thinking.  Follow those lemmings, dammit, we’re almost to the cliff…

Seclusion: Benign.  It is uncharacteristic of you to say any of the following and you should be ashamed of yourself:

“Your idea of wealth is stupid.”

“I don’t play your silly little social games.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Who’s idea was this shit, anyway?”

 Conclusion: Individual.  Collective thought can only lead one into trouble.  Have we not learned enough from our obscenely violent history to have figured this out by now?  On any given year throughout human existence, there’s always a large enough collection of like-minded individuals who are causing no end of bullshit for everyone around them, violently or otherwise.  But it goes beyond even that.

Collective behavioral patterns, and their acceptabilities, are based on, from what I can tell, what region of this planet your in.  Manners are a real good example of this.  Belching in public, for instance, can be considered rude in place, but perfectly acceptable or even complimentary somewhere else.  The question I constantly asked as a kid, and was therefore constantly admonished for, was “what if I don’t agree with most of this crap?”  Typically, nobody is equipped to give a better reason than “it doesn’t matter.”  However, I have come to discover that it may, in fact, matter.  Just because a group of people all agreed on statement A at some point in time doesn’t mean it’s either correct, logical, or even sane.  Remember, large group-collectives of people are incredibly stupid.  One might say that the larger the collective, the more sick, stupid and violent are the people who comprise it, even when the group is dealing in things as simple as greeting cards.

Enjoy the fireworks.