The Western World

[audiophyle77]

What a furious rush of work. It's a good thing I don't take it too seriously. At most schools, the reason you work is to get into college. It's supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel, the great and terrible *real world

Comments

croikey

[ledcoe]

well written, rich, but as right as you are, don't you feel the undertones of mr. chartier garbbing hold of you? i dunno-- the whole elitist attitude-- remember at prayers monday morning: "they're simple folk, praise them. like a farm animal, they thrive on recognition, cause they're as dumb as mud and all they can do it paint and smoke." well, fine, he didn't say the last sentence, but that's what he gets at-- we're better, he says. we're tha man

p.s.

[ledcoe]

i'm diggin the profile.
put me in your friends list-- it looks lame if i've got you unreciprocated in mine.

[fighterace266]

so cynical- and yet so true.

I agree with everything you said. But, i would maintain, there is more to the story than you proclaim. I think there is a signifigant portion of the United States that is exempt from this state of materialistic obsession that you describe. I don't have statistics to back it up, mainly because i'm too lazy to look it up, but the grand majority of the people of the US claim to believe in God. true enough, whether or not they act on that is probably a much different statistic, but i'm too lazy to look that one up either. Nonetheless, I think the mere acknowledgement of God shows that there is more to the story than just $s.

But perhaps that's just my optimistic personality attempting to make sense out of the sadness of society. but, being to optimist, i'd rather think its your pessimism. :-P

[acorncoffee]

Why God Won't Ever Go Away.

Not that I'm religious, or believe in the typical conception of God, for that matter. But I think fighterrace266 (by the way - hi! I'm Kelsey, nice to meet you. What's your name?) has a point. Most of the United States (96 percent, in fact) profess belief in a personal god. That's not counting the remaining number of people who believe that there's some spiritual element in the Universe. Something immaterial. I suppose that's what keeps us going - the awareness that there's something outside the material.

(And yes, Rich, I know this isn't exactly in agreement with what I was talking to you about on Saturday...kindly ignore that fact.)

Like the As-Yet-Unnamed-"Fighterrace", I agree with most of what you said - in a rather disturbed, unhappy way. These are the thoughts I try to avoid when philosophizing...you're right, though. Excessive individualism, ironically, almost seems to destroy the notion of The Individual the humanists idealized.

There should be no front stage and backstage; to have a private

[fighterace266]

i could reply with an essay-long post about life and the world and important things... but its my vacation right now and as I said before, i'm am way too lazy to do anything that requires an effort.

But, regardless of that, I'm Ken, nice to meet you Kelsey.

[acorncoffee]

Ah, vacation. Time to sit back, tune out, and watch Monty Python...or, in my case, visit colleges. Damn Junior Spring.

Waaait. You're a senior at Sebs, right? Do you know Olivia Tandon? I recall her mentioning a guy named Ken at Sebs.

[fighterace266]

i am, and I do. She's lives down the street from me. Granted, about 2-3 miles down the street, and off to a side road, but you get the idea. I only met her 2-3 times, but yeah, i know her.

[acorncoffee]

Seriously? I live "down the street" from her, too; we carpooled together during the musical last year. So yet another prepschooler in the immediate vicinity (not that that's at all surprising, really).

I feel rather awkward having such long conversations through comments on livejournal. I think I'll just have to talk to you in person, when I finally meet The Rest of Rich's Friends.

96%

[audiophyle77]

Of course exaggerate. I'm like a finger painter. I don't have the time to present an in-depth essay of the current status of our society, so i trade subtlety for loud lines of color

Re: 96%

[acorncoffee]

What I'm saying is that it already modifies people's behavior and life choices. What it comes down to is this: how powerful is the voice of consumer society compared to that of meaningless religion? The meaningless religion you refer to isn't entirely meaningless - because these people are making a choice to believe in God (and to me, as an agnostic, that seems a huge decision to make). They may not all be as dedicated to the idea of religion as you are, but the fact that 96% of people in this country believe in a higher power than themselves means that that 96% believes in something more than the material. And while you can't say that the world is in *great* shape right now - clearly consumer society has some influence; religion isn't infallible - I'd like to think that that one belief will prevent people from reducing their lives to being entirely about the material.

If you create your own religion, then you create God in your own image and likeness. Elaborate, please? I mean, this is a typically atheist perspective on human's

Re: 96%

[acorncoffee]

Also, I like the fingerpainting metaphor. Cute. :)

Re: 96%

[fighterace266]

bah, richard, you were never a finger painter. You always used to need to be exact: I remember that time back when we were freshmen or something and we had that drawing contest, and by the time i was done with my entire picture you were only a quarter of the way through yours. And also, when making the terrain houses for warhammer, i got fed up and made my roof sloppy, and you argued that one should never sacrifice art for the sake of time.

whatever. see how i dodge the entire essense of the debate in order to make an ad hominem attack? I love it.