Pro-sheeple rant

Lately these past years I have always been hearing many criticisms of what is going on in society and culture, and actually I'd like to criticise that criticism!


I'd like to talk about my war with a certain sentiment that has grown in society. One that is prevalent on boards like this one. How can I explain this sentiment? It doesnt have a name that I know of. Allow me to put it the best way I can. I have a problem right now giving it a blanket name or phrase, but it is generally criticism about modern "western" society, and the "common man" within that society . It uses the words "consumerism" and "sheeple" a lot. I guess I am one of what certain people call "the masses" "the sheeple" "the consumer". Now I am far from normal, I dislike the concept of conformity. I'm quite a non-conformist. Also, I never really saw myself as being very greedy or materialistic. But nonetheless, I am very much tethered to a system that as been under fire...

Here are a few of my favourite things

* I like modern times. I like cities. I like technology. I like the internet.

* I love video games


* I love the entertainment modern life has to offer, movies sitcoms, etc (some of it anyway)

* I guess you can say I practice escapism by reading fantasy and other fiction, and indulging in mmorpg. Not that I dont ever read things like philosophy, history, or politics.

* I love to eat. I love fast food and junk food. Of this I know I should cut down, but not cold turkey. Maybe hold off sweets for special occasions. Doing a poor job at this.


* I like sex...well....I like to pornsturbate....I love a loving relationship mind you..when I get one. But until then, I'm not gonna be celibate or war with my flesh, and porn (actually I dont use a lot of the mainstream hardcore stuff. I use the term "porn" loosely) is to masturbation as milk is to cereal.

* Yet even though I'm a pornsturbating agnostic... I still love CHRISTMAS. That wonderful pagan, decadent, maligned holiday. I dont care too much about getting good # anymore but I like how the advertisers and malls go all festive.



These are a A Few Of My Favourite Things, and you'll have to pry them from my cold dead hands.



Now I always saw these (mostly) as more or less INNOCENT pleasures. But I find myself increasingly annoyed with the direct and indirect scolding where these things as well as a bunch of other pleasures are concerned.

Such criticism comes from many groups, usually on some passionate fringe. the culprits are

Conspiracy theorists
Religious nuts of just about all types
"spiritual" types
Generally jaded cynical people (I.E george Carlin)
People on the radical right
People on the radical left
Radical environmentalists. Anarcho-primitivists rank as the highest offenders
People who write on Adbusters and others of the "culture-jamming", "anti-consumerist" movement.
(to a lesser extent) Radical feminists. MRA's are starting to piss me off too.


Anyway some named culprits are Harold Kunstler, Geroge Carlin, Chris Hedges, and the most extreme cases are the bile coming from sacks of # djhives/Nemesis, Drpagalia, and MrJelly. I hope those assholes are reading.
As for what the attitude these guys have that I am growing to hate hearing is.... I will try to boil it down:

"We eat too much! We buy too much! We indulge in mindless meaningless entertainment! We're obsessed with sex and sports and T.V. We exist in some magic happy land bubble not connected to reality. We're a dumbed down distracted nation of pigs or"....of course, that wonderful word..."SHEEPLE!" Again, this criticism changes with each group but in a sense it is the same. I wish there was a good word or phrase to summarize it....

Let me state the main purpose of this rant: I'm sick and tired of the above, sick of hearing about "sheeple" and "dumbed down Americans". Sick. And. Tired.

Like how these sorts of people (the critics, not the sheeple)love to take anything about people, any little thing and twist it to make it seem horrid. How they love to talk about certain aspects of "this culture"...things that usually either seem innocent or even make us seem virtuous, and deconstruct it to make it seem as that same thing makes us stupid or immoral (for example: "we drink a lot of latees, how us americans looove our latees! weve become such a Culture of Caffiene....obviously we dont manage our time and are self absorbed..blah blah blah")

How they find fault with everything modern, facebook twitter, dancing with the stars, etc. How they seem to have a war with everything thats fun and every belief or mindset that makes people happy or feel good! (Like how they nitpick Disney films to find something evil in it)

to all those of who I speak about allow me to humbly attempt to speak on behalf of the "sheeple" you so despise


So we bought some junk

So we ate some crap

So we watched some fluff


So What

So. F*cking. What.

So what if people want to work at jobs, earn money and use some of it on goods and services. So what if people go to malls or watch movies. So what if they want to watch television or play video games or go to sporting events. So what to Mcmansions. So what to Ipods. So what to Big Macs. So what to Hollywood Gossip. So what to Disney. Britney Spears: So what. Justin Beiber: So what. Dancing with the Stars: So What. Facebook: So what. So what to it all.




You're all so quick to shame people, allow me to borrow the pulpit for a while: So we're materialistic shallow and stupid. Well do you know what I see?

I see arrogance. I see mean spirited scowling at happiness itself. I hear the bleating of the very conformity and close-mindness you claim to denounce. I smell the stench of self superiority. And rising from the grave I see the ghouls of asceticism and puritanism!

Yes thats what I think its all about. I believe the same sentiment I see is a rehashed version of whatever drove the medieval catholics, the Buddist and Christian monks, and the "Puritans"of old. Damned if I understand it....but its sackcloth and ashes mentality, a feeling that we're somehow too comfortable, too happy, and are having too much fun for our own damn good!

I've gone through an emotional upheaval reading things about a apocalyptic collapse. But what what really enrages me is how so many doomer and conspiracy writings and commentary manage to reveal the author/speakers dislike of the lifestyle of the modern man.

Its so obvious people want a collapse and want to see the sheeple punished

Yeah, so we deserve to have all our present sources of meager happiness and all our future hopes and dreams wrenched away. we deserve to be thrown into a pure hell... we deserve a horrible life...because....why?

...because, we wouldn't.....do what exactly?

Freeze to death in a godforsaken teepeee and eat brown rice and beans twice a day? Spend our whole lives wallowing in frightening, depressing #? Toil in our yards to plant those f*cking vegetable gardens your type is always so anamoured with? Give up meat give up milk give up sugar give up television give up games give up porn give up partying give up Christmas give up cartoons give up facebook give up "feel good" movies give up ambitions and while we're at it give up everything?

F*ck that sh*t.


On behalf of all of us....Excuse the F*CK out of us for wanting to live life and be happy! For trying to go about our business day by day and trying to enjoy some kind of pleasure out of our lives! For turning away from the black hole abyss you try to bestow on us!

Many of these "sheeple" are not hedonists, they may want to spend extra cash or use credit here and there so what. Many of these "sheeple" are smarter, more politically aware, and care more about the things that matter than you give them credit for

Yet as I type this i admit that this is a emotional response. It's true that anti-"sheeple" types do make arguments I cant fully argue against. But even if you are right about sustainability or the Illuminati/NWO or whatever, I really dont care. I'm just sick of the condescension, sick of the misatrophy, sick of the cynicism, sick of the finger wagging and self superiority.

Anyway, I found a quote from a Daria fanfic "It's All About Respect" that can relate to what I think of this matter

"You don't care about anything or anyone here — you wouldn't lose a moment's sleep if anyone or everyone else were wiped out, would you? .....You make fun of all of us. You think we're idiots, running around doing nothing of any real worth, just acting stupid and wasting time until we're dead while YOU cage yourself up in the dark in libraries and such....You treat us like idiots! Yes, we're not all as smart as you — and by the way, even though we ARE the idiots, we still outnumber you - and if we wanted, we could stampede over you. But do you know why we don't? Because we don't NOTICE you. You see — we're having fun. We're out doing things. We fight among ourselves, we do stupid things, we make others notice us, but above everything else, we're living. We're alive - and whether we're in pain, or happy or getting screwed by the system, we're gonna keep going — but YOU! You're a black hole for happiness — you're world-class buzzkill!"

Sorry if I sound overly nasty. My ranting may have went over the top, but this is just my frustations I have with these kinds of criticisms

P.S F*ck Nature. F*ck Reality too. Those twin pillars of virtue your type loves so much. I will explain in later posts when I can get around to it.

Killer rant!

2nd line

reply to post by cypherite

So we bought some junk

So we ate some crap

So we watched some fluff


So What

So. F*cking. What.

Haha... that's so true.

I think it's not really consumerism that's the problem, it's mindless consumerism.

What I mean by that, is that consumers don't pay enough attention to the actual quality of a product or the ethical stances of the business manufacturing those products. It essentially comes down to brand names, and we all end up following this herd mentality... and that directly undermines the way a capitalistic free market is supposed to work. Consumers are supposed to be smart and resourceful, to find the best deal and best quality. They are supposed to force immense competition between businesses, which forces them to produce better quality products for lower prices.

But that's not what we get because our mindless consumer activity has led to the formation of mega-corporations that have a total monopoly on entire markets. Over the last several decades we've had a slow but sure monopolization of certain industries though takeovers and mergers. This is especially true for the oil and media industries, which are now dominated by 3 or 4 major players. This is really so far from what the free market was designed to do. We are now living in a corporately controlled world because we have companies so powerful they can influence people in the Government.

All the junk food, fluff movies, and other crap is fine... as long as you still actually pay attention to the world around you. I really do think it's a problem when people use those cheap material pleasures as a way to ignore and forget about what's happening around them. I simply don't think it's healthy or moral to live in your own little world like that... because lets face it, that is how the Government gets away with a whole lot of crap. Because the so called mindless consumers simply don't give a damn about anything except the big mac sitting in front of them. And I think that whole side of the "clueless western consumer" is true.

reply to post by cypherite


Wow..........where did that come from?

reply to post by cypherite

That was the best damn rant I've ever read! It made me feel proud to be a "sheeple".

See ya buddy,
Milt

WOOT!!

Give'em hell.

It did my old heart good to see someone tell the smug and self righteous off.

Thank you.

reply to post by cypherite


Well the whole thing wouldn't be so bad if the iPods and what not just magically appeared out of nowhere However to mass produce almost everything has a toll. You must enslave some other part of the world to create this things is such vast quantities. And if that wasn't enough the resources (metals etc) to make this things also needs to be mined and refined by someone, usually that is also done by some enslaved local population somewhere which some big corporation don't care the slightest about. Like the continent of Africa which mostly ruined by western corporatism.
Also the great thing about government is that politicians who make all this possible usually don't have to answer for their crimes, because they have good pay and get positive responses from all around them that have also bought into this dream. As long as you don't have to see the consequences first hand they don't have a care in the world because it's not them.
The ones on the top of top are even better they know how this whole things works but they just don't care at all. This mindset then trickles down to through society and eventually reaches what you think is just innocent fun and games when in reality it is what keeps the whole thing going...so if you are happy with funding enslavement, wars and political games for materialistic wealth beyond reason go ahead. Either you just go back to what is referred to as the bubble world (the matrix) or you actually take responsibility for what your "innocent" acts are causing the rest.

reply to post by cypherite


Your problem OP is that you don't understand that ALL THAT FLUFF and stuff you do
is sidetracking you and not allowing you to reach enlightenment

and is certainly making you blind to suffering of your fellow countrymen and people
outside your country.

You fluff, while people die. And that my friend is WRONG and won't get you much in
afterlife

reply to post by cypherite

Let me state the main purpose of this rant: I'm sick and tired of the above, sick of hearing about "sheeple" and "dumbed down Americans". Sick. And. Tired.

Boo-hoo for you...
Please, find and eat all the trans-fat foods you can and die at 40. Then let's hear you rant...

reply to post by cypherite


Not a bad rant.

But then again, I don't care about how you feel with your smug, self-righteous, pompous, telling us how we should all live, views on life.

Just pointing out that it goes both ways.

As long as your happy, keep on, keeping on.

reply to post by cypherite


You sir deserve some congratulations right there. Very well placed opinion. I couldn't agree more.

Stellar rant! Well done! While I don't agree with everything you wrote, I firmly believe you are who you are and accept that. That my friend is all anyone should want or need out of life. Much respect to you!

I HATE the word sheeple. If I'm reading anything, an article, a post or whatever, as soon as they use the word sheeple, I'm out. That may be presumptuous of me, but the word sheeple has been way way way overused, usually by people who don't fully know what they're talking about.

Sure, a lot of that stuff is happening just as they say, but the problem is, people put on crap coloured glasses and interpret everything through the conspiracy lens. They do themselves a disservice by doing that because their world gets smaller and smaller until all it consists of is this view that the world is doomed. And yes, some of them seem to relish the idea of everything and everyone going down.

Originally posted by Konoyaro
reply to post by cypherite

 

Well the whole thing wouldn't be so bad if the iPods and what not just magically appeared out of nowhere

However to mass produce almost everything has a toll. You must enslave some other part of the world to create this things is such vast quantities. And if that wasn't enough the resources (metals etc) to make this things also needs to be mined and refined by someone, usually that is also done by some enslaved local population somewhere which some big corporation don't care the slightest about. Like the continent of Africa which mostly ruined by western corporatism.
Also the great thing about government is that politicians who make all this possible usually don't have to answer for their crimes, because they have good pay and get positive responses from all around them that have also bought into this dream. As long as you don't have to see the consequences first hand they don't have a care in the world because it's not them.
The ones on the top of top are even better they know how this whole things works but they just don't care at all. This mindset then trickles down to through society and eventually reaches what you think is just innocent fun and games when in reality it is what keeps the whole thing going...so if you are happy with funding enslavement, wars and political games for materialistic wealth beyond reason go ahead. Either you just go back to what is referred to as the bubble world (the matrix) or you actually take responsibility for what your "innocent" acts are causing the rest.

Verrryyy good point.

Lets not be so quick to ignore the facts of the matter.

The main problem that critics have with it, is that all of the "fluff" is used as a big distraction to keep you content, while a small group of people is hoarding all of the wealth and resources of the world while sticking in the metaphorical rear end of the masses, with no repercussions whatsoever. It's not a matter of not wanting you to enjoy those things, it's more so about how things are not how they should be at all. And if everybody woke up and did something about this corrupt scheme they're running, then you could enjoy all of those things and more all while being even more content with your life. Actually, just everybody waking up would be enough, we wouldn't even have to take any action.

You are looking at it as a personal attack, while it's really an attempt at spreading awareness to help you enjoy your life even more. It's a call to arms to join us and help create an even greater, more fulfilling level of happiness in all of our lives.

Like LostPassword said, it's all about reaching that level of enlightenment. Trust me, I used to be materialistic and get all the latest and greatest, etc. But once I finally woke up completely and reached that level, there is no greater feeling in the world and you see everything in an entirely different light. You will understand one day if you ever open your mind enough and allow yourself to reach that level.

You just have to know that it is not an attack. It may seem like that at times because, trust me, it's extremely frustrating to reach that level yet see the masses so completely oblivious to it. And at times it's just baffling as to how they can not see it as well. Because once you are at that point, everything is so much clearer. And I hope that you will one day get to experience that.

reply to post by cypherite

P.S F*ck Nature.

Yeah screw the thing that created you and allows you to carry on with your so called "FUN" life yeah screw it all to hell.