By Manifesto Joe
I don't like people. I'm a misanthrope. I'm totally honest about that. I've told that to a room full of people. To support myself, I quoted one Samuel Clemens: "The more I know about people, the more I like my dog."
So why fight for the interests of these sorry, cock-sucking losers? Good question.
I recall something that former Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris more or less said: That populism, as we know it in current times, is simply a more enlightened form of self-interest.
I subscribe to a 70% theory. To wit:
About 70% of humans are too fucking stupid to bother with, at all. You can write these people off. Entirely. Don't even bother to talk to them. If you're reading this, perhaps you even know who you are. Well, if you can read.
Then there's the remaining 30%. Of them, about 70% are of low moral character. They aren't stupid, but they are fools on another level, the moral one. They are governed entirely by their appetites, and know nothing more than that, ever. What is inexcusable about such people is that their brains are big enough and operative enough for them to know better. Yet, they still somehow don't. All they know is how to make their bank accounts bigger, how to get better sex, etc. So that's an additional 21% who make up the world's contemptible fuck-ups.
We're up to 91%, and that leaves 9%. And that's who has advanced the human race to the extent that it has been advanced, for millenia (ums?). Treasure them -- they are a single-digit minority, and they always have been.
One of my favorite humorists was the late Bill Hicks (1961-1994), and I'll link to a site that has many of his wonderful quotes.
I used to think of "Christians" as being incredibly judgmental people. Now I don't think that's their biggest problem. The biggest one they have is hypocrisy -- that they are ultimately no better, and perhaps even worse, than the pond scum they attempt to sit in judgment upon. Judgment is the prerogative of those who are actually qualified to judge. In the vast majority of cases, "Christians" are definitely NOT qualified. (I recall there being something that even Jesus his own self said about that -- or so they say.) Well, if there is a God who will be there to judge when the time comes, oh man -- there are an awful lot of "Christian" shoes I wouldn't want to be standing in.
In any case, it's true that I honestly don't care very much what kinds of horrors befall most people, and I think that most entirely deserve them.
But, I DON'T deserve them. I have worked hard for my Social Security, and I deserve it. I have worked hard for my Medicare, and I deserve that, and then some more. I don't want just what I'm likely to get -- I want a hell of a lot MORE.
If I had been a member of a labor union, I would have been treated a lot better where I worked. My seniority would have been respected more. I'm not thinking about the others. This is purely self-interest, just a higher and smarter form of it.
And that's where the quote from Fred Harris comes in. It has little to do with other people, most of whom I regard as moronic, nauseating trash. But I have the misfortune of being human, and having similar DNA to others. I have to slop at the same trough with the other smelly hogs. What I'm into is simply a more enlightened form of self-interest. And that's why I keep doing this.
Merry Christmas.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
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17 comments:
Dood, I wish I had some religion in me so I could shout AMEN! The only thing wrong with the public? Fuckin' .... PEOPLE! That's what! I reckon, like you, I'm just another misanthrope ... and I've got it alMOST as bad as you, but not quite 'cause I live in Tennessee instead of Tejas. In closing I'd like to say that this is one of your best posts yet, and ...... FREEBIRD!
I've wondered in the hours since I posted this whether I was being too harsh. But one of the big reasons I prefer to be called a "progressive" rather than a "liberal" is that liberals generally believe that humans are essentially good, but are corrupted by institutions. I believe in no such thing. Conservatives, in my view, err in an opposite way. They take a dimmer view of human nature, but believe that humans can be and are redeemed by their venerable institutions. All I need to do to dispel myself of that notion is to look at the Roman Catholic Church.
Conservatives also err, I think, in that they believe that because most humans have remarkably weak minds, they need elites to guide them. The problem is, I've never seen an example of any elite, at least among the living, that was ever based on accumulated wisdom. In the U.S. of A., the good old dough-ray-me has always been the source of our plutocratic elites. One need look no further than the Romney family to see that money confers no wisdom upon its possessors -- quite the opposite, at times.
What one is left with is to just do the best you can to fight for your own more enlightened type of self-interest. Since I am from the working class, self-interest means something far different than what it means to "conservatives."
If you hate people, you might want to spend some time in northern Europe, if you haven't already. It may not be a utopia. But it definitely gave me hope for the human race.
In northern Europe, I found people who actually think like I do, for a change. I never met anyone there, for example, who disputed global warming.
People there just seem to be smarter. You see this in the cafes, where lots of people are still reading newspapers. In fact, the newspaper industry there is still alive and well and has managed to co-exist happily with the Internet.
Europeans also share my values on other things like funding for excellent public transport, good public education, free universities, public funding for the arts, animal rights, etc.
Even blue collar people there can seem cultured. I saw this with taxi drivers who were knowledgeable about things like opera and philosophy.
OK, not everyone in Europe is cultured and/or smart. But let's just say I saw a lot more people there who seemed intelligent and better-informed on the world than in the U.S.
If there is a "drawback" to Europe, I'd say that it's this: more Europeans are world-weary and pessimistic than in the U.S. I rarely saw U.S.-style optimism there. However, since I'm basically a pessimistic person myself, I fit right in. Yes, optimism is nice, but even it can be overdone.
BTW, I'm not rich, but I still travel. I just eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and canned beans to save money. You only live once.
Yeah, I have heard that the part of the world to which you refer is at least marginally better than what we're used to in the U.S. But the pessimist in me says -- give them time.
I have noticed that I have less tolerance for ignorance than I used to. In Ohio, about 1/2 of the people are bat crap crazy, 1/4 have no idea what is happening in the world, and 1/4 are progressive.
The removal was because of repetition. "Motivated" had the comment come over twice.
When did we decide as a country that the opinion of the uninformed and stupid should count just as much as everyone else's? Not sure when, but it was a very sad day indeed.It does become increasing hard to just grin and bear it. I'm impressed by your ability to press on in the face of such opposition. As you know, I gave up a while ago. I
I suppose, though it may sound trite, that I go along with Winston Churchill's saying: That Democracy is the worst political system in the world, except for all the others. It's discouraging to see uninformed people do things like put George W. Bush in office for 8 years, and put Tea Party people in charge of the U.S. House. But sometimes the fighters for progress do win. The pessimist in me expected Romney to be president-elect now. Obama isn't all that some of us wanted, but at least now we're going to have someone in the White House who will stand in the way of Tea Party types. Now and then, it feels worth going to the trouble.
Joe,
You are a man after my own heart. As a fellow misanthrope who loves to point out the bullsh@t flowing from humanity in general, I say thanks for this commentary. I have a theory as well, it goes something like this:
-The vast majority of human beings are
1. Pure garbage to begin with.
2. Corrupted by power and/or wealth.
3. Are jealous of those in example (2), so they try to be like them by being (1).
4. Too ignorant to live, but somehow blunder through life making a nice living through dumb luck or nepotism, etc.
5. Given one of the most advanced brains in evolutionary history, but are content to vote against the interests of others by voting for those who represent people who couldn't give two sh@ts for them.
I completely feel that a SMALL minority of people are generally good at heart or are brilliant enough to try and move the rest of us forward through technology, politics, or social goods. If social goods made profits like social media or derivatives, we would've been halfway across the galaxy by now. Instead I feel humanity is now like the proverbial over-populated yeast cells in their container slowly killing themselves with their own carbon dioxide and alcohol production...
-WageslaveZ-
-WageslaveZ-
This blog post wasn't entirely popular, but one thing I've learned about being a small-time blogger is that you'll never win popularity contests. You try for a core readership and hope they keep coming back, as you have -- many thanks.
Most impressive work you've done since I started reading your 'stough' ...
Keep it up!
re: "I deserve that, and then some more."
I'm reminded of this quote by Gore Vidal:
"The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return."
Joe,
Though there are indeed literal boatloads of ignorant, stupid people out there, I tend to be more optimistic about humanity in general than you. People who consistant use reason and desire to do good for others, such as you, Burr Deming, mudrake, Mycue23, SJ, Tomcat, Gwendolyn Barry, David (Krell) Williams, Al Osori, and countless others here in the blogosphere fuel my optimism daily.
Joe -
Enjoy the holidays, in your case I believe it's Christmas. Thanks so much for your insight, sharp tongue and wit
SMU Mustang escapee -
Ole Scout
Bill Hicks once talked about his desire to form a new political party, "The People Who Hate People" party:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvM-WQP7SOw
It would be like the Libertarians or the Lyndon LaRouche disciples. It could never win many elections.
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