Hi ahhaha; Re "is it possible to have fun in our great society?"
Fun isn't a material concern, so it doesn't count. That is undoubtedly why the incredibly well taken care of Canadians and Swedes imbibe and kill themselves at world record rates. Did you read what the Unabomber said about this? I agreed with him 100% in the part of his Manifesto where he wrote that man needs to struggle to enjoy life.
One of the oddities of the United States is the amazing degree of belief among the inhabitants that they live in a society that has a very high level of freedom. The actual fact is that there are an incredibly huge number of laws, and they make unlawful almost the entire gamut of possible human behavior except that which is actually relatively common in the population.
For those who don't agree with this assessment, here are some experiments:
(1) Try drinking milk mixed with blood from your horse's neck. Make sure that the local animal humane people catch wind of this.
(2) Find out how your grandparents raised a family, and see what the Child Protection people do when you discipline your kids, or even provide them with less than the legal minimum number of bed rooms.
(3) Open up a small store, but try to do it with no more knowledge of accounting and tax laws than was prevalent in the late 19th century. Let the IRS know.
(4) Open up an inn for travelers, but do it like they did in the good old days. Don't change the sheets, and let all the travellers sleep in the same bed (wearing their dirty street clothes, of course).
-- Carl
P.S. Dang, I have to admit that I agree precisely with pretty much everything you write. (Anybody who agrees with me must be pretty smart, LOL.)
References:
In six nations the findings overwhelmingly supported the thesis of a positive relationship, the greater the alcohol
consumption, the greater the suicide rate (Canada 28/36, Czechoslovakia 1/1, France 1/1, Hungary 1/1, Sweden 16/16, and the US 8/15 findings).
langlab.wayne.edu
Quote from Unabomber Manifesto:
THE POWER PROCESS
33. Human beings have a need (probably based in biology) for something that we will call the "power process." This is closely related to the need for power (which is widely recognized) but is not quite the same thing. The power process has four elements. The three most clear-cut of these we call goal, effort and attainment of goal. (Everyone needs to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to succeed in attaining at least some of his goals.) The fourth element is more difficult to define and may not be necessary for everyone. We call it autonomy and will discuss it later (paragraphs 42-44).
panix.com
panix.com
Also, comparison between Al Gore and the Unabomber. It gives you a set of about a dozen quotes, and you try to guess which nut case wrote it. I copped a score of 58%, and I thought I was a lot better than that (but it's late):
ourworld.compuserve.com |
