Does anyone else think similar to this?

ya everything is fucked hopefully 2012 will be a new beginning

 

all the time man, its really one of the ultimate realizations that proves that you are waking up and seeing the reall bullshit in life.

like you said, school makes you "successful" but thats really only because of how the system is set up. and everyone defines success as material wealth. however, I define success as living happily by doing what I love to do the most (like my hobbies) while supporting myself in a decent home and spreading knowledge and love through my music. i dont need a mansion or even graduate from a top college, i just want to live spending as much time doing the things I love.

the american dream is more like an american nightmare.

once you have that mansion and that expensive car, you have to work longer and harder to maintain those things and you literally become a slave to your possessions. this is why i would rather live simple, smoke herb, and make some bomb music

 

what kind of new beginning?

truth is, life is hard...

your job is to make the best of it and do what you can to be happy given the circumstances...

good luck

btw... i agree about everything being fucked...

 

well the american dream IMO is the dream you have it might not be the mainstream but hell you make it yours mine is when you can no longer distinguish the lines of reality vs.a dream then your living it but thats just mine hell MLK had a dream and it sure as hell wasn't more money for crap he didn't need

 

Well, it's not like we can do anything about it. Our country has standards set for everything. If we try to make our own ways, we won't be able to survive in this place. I guess for now, we just have to go with it.

 

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
-howard thurman

“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.”
- brittany renee

 

Sorry to shit on your parade and all, and while I agree with you 100%, you might not see that things wouldn't work without money. "Money" has always been around in some form or another. Rocks, shells, beer, paper, it can all be called money depending how you use it. It's the value that's attached to it that makes it important, and blind trust in the government that keeps it going (for better or worse, it's hard to say sometimes). And "sucess" is measured differently for everyone. Money is just a factor alot of people consider, and it isn't always for the shallower reasons you've noticed. Alot of people consider having money to put away for their kid's college, or their kids in general, as sucess. It's not the object itself, it's how you use it. There is no spoon, Neo.

I wore a uniform for all of prep school, and I only didn't wear a uniform for one year. Guess what? Didn't fucking matter to me. It doesn't have much to do with putting people in "sections," if anything, it's the opposite, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I ended up making alot of friends I probably wouldn't have otherwise because no one was stand-offish over how someone dressed. You all had to wear the shitty $300 uniforms. Now in alot of public schools, kids stay in cliques where they "fit in" with whoever they're with, alot of it having to do with clothing choice, instead of real bonds.

Now, of course uniforms had downsides, and it could be argued it's all a scheme to make everyone alike, but it depends how you look at it. Your world view is determined by your attitude, not what is done to you, or what people want you to do. It's attitude, the one thing in life you can always control.

 

we cant really do anything about it because people fail to see our point of view and most of the public just isnt that conscious about whats going on around them. they're happy with this lifestyle so they just live the life and not ask any questions. they've also been brainwashed since they were little and told that this is the life theyre "supposed" to live. its not hard to change your ways if you've had them since birth......plus the fact that they dont even know it is another thing.

 

I can dig that man!!! Yeah now that sounds like the hidden american dream to me! the true american dream and the secret to happiness.

 

... How does having money equate to being unhappy? They aren't mutually exclusive. Of course some people with money are going to be sad lonely fucks, or total douchebags because of their money, but so are alot of hobos with no more than 10 cents at any moment because of their lack of money. Money doesn't "corrupt". Corruption is a made up term as far as I'm concerned. Nothing can determine your actions, or your emotions if you don't want it to. Nothing forces you into anything (except of course, gravity, quantum mechanics, things of that nature not pertaining to what we're talking about). I've been a "trust fund baby" all my life, and now I make my own money. I'm 19, own a nice car, have a nice house, and I'm far from unhappy. I have too many friends to even count, I have a wonderful social life, a girlfriend I've been with for years that I love. Like I said, it's not what you have or what you don't have. It's how you deal with it. It's what you do with it that determines your happiness. Of course it's not the only determining factor for a person's happiness, but in this context, it's what we're talking about so it's all I'll touch upon.

Many people's sucess is based on just doing something they love, or something they're good at, and money is a by product. To quote Banksy, "You don't eat a gourmet meal to take a shit, do you?"

 

yea, but it seems like in today's society a lot of people dont search for their passion...they skip that step and just look for the money.

i dont know about you, but I have seen too many people choose a major with the primary interest of how much money they are getting.

these are just MY observations though.

 

What do you suggest? Shooting for a passion that you know is unprofitable to be happy? That's fine in theory. In fact, it's what I'd suggest... in theory. But have fun paying for the years of schooling, only to find out there's no job openings in that field, or even jobs that pay well in that field. Then you go back to another shitty job (if you can even find one for your degree. If not, hit the local fast food joint, huh?), and not make enough money to support your other passions.

I'd rather someone get a major they don't like so they can have money to freely spend on their passions than suggest someone should chase a dream they know isn't realistic and will ultimately end with causing more problems than it solved. Get a job you hate, and a tiny little apartment, and spend all your money on whatever you're truly interested in, be happy. Do it without money for all I care, live off the land like alot of people do. It just happens that money is a valid option for making dreams come to life, it's not the only objective. "Being rich" is a means to other things. For instance, I enjoy music. I work in the catering and fine dining business (which happens to be a passion, but lets suppose it isn't and I happened to hate it). The money I make there can be put into buying more vinyls for my collection, something that makes me happy and is fulfilling a life-long goal (to have a large vinyl collection). They don't pay you at a job because you enjoy doing it. They pay you because you don't enjoy it.

If everyone just did what they wanted to do, there'd be no garbage men. No one cleaning the urinals you piss all over. No one to stock the shelves at the local shitty liquor store. It sounds cruel I realize, and it probably is, but some people get shafted, and some people don't. And if everyone got their way, and did what they truly wanted to do, the world wouldn't work. Sure, I'll admit, the world is generally a giant puppet show. But that doesn't have to affect your happiness. You want to change it? By all means. But there's a right way to do it, and a wrong way to do it.

 

That may be what other people want but it is not what you have to strive for yourself. You only live life once so you should do what makes you the happiest.

 

You're right. We'll just abandon all forms of currency for a week. Watch everything collapse before your eyes. Money does evil things, no doubt... but it can do the opposite. It's how you use it. There is no "great illusion" that is deliberately tricking people. It's human psychology to obtain things. Since the dawn of time, obtaining "things," be it rocks or wood, or grain, or money, has been an integral part of any society. It's how things work. How you choose to make it work for you is entirely your decision. The sun doesn't disappear when you put your hand over your eyes, does it?

Money may be what some people strive for, and all they strive for. Let them. If you expect them to let you do whatever you want to do, you have to pay the same respect. What they do doesn't affect what you do. If you think living off the grid would be better suited for you, do it. But the grid is flexible. It isn't a concrete thing. There's a guy making a living off playing with Legos. For real. Look it up. He builds lego shit for Lego's headquarters and makes fat bank. You don't have to work for the system, it can work for you if you know how to utilize certain aspects of it.

 

Because all politicians know what's good for you, better than you do, duh!

I was always told uniforms were enforced so that school officials could tell if someone was on campus who didn't belong. I always thought, couldn't the pervs/rapists/whatever just wear a goddamned white polo shirt and blue pants? Since, of course, it's hard to tell adults from children and all....

The pledge is to try to instill allegiance to the country. Of course, the more you force children to do something, the less they are to do it, or care about what they're saying. And 99% of the kids saying it don't have the slightest clue what it is they're saying. Just more indoctrination into the system of "Because we told you to, that's why!"

While money can "make people cautious" (whatever the hell that means) can cause conflict, it can also do things like allow you to make a living. If it weren't for money, you wouldn't be able to come on here and bitch about it. Just keep that in mind. Yeah, it sucks having to earn it and all, but that's life in this country. You could always go live in squalor, if that's what you're down with.

And school isn't something that "makes people successful." It's something that is supposed to help create an educated populace. Unfortunately (obviously), it doesn't work as well as we would hope.

 

Sleepy, I don't know if you're interested in philospohy at all but you should check out Discourse on Inequality by Rousseau. +rep for the statement very well thought out

 

just think as money as what it literally is. A piece of paper. its a piece of paper that has been universally accepted as a middleman of sorts for objects. You cant carry a lawnmower around with you to trade at the grocery store, and if you could you probably wouldnt WANT to. Luckily, all we have to do is sell it (trade for the paper), then trade the paper for what YOU want.

it loses its sense of "evil" when you think of it this way/