change the world

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are you trying to?
can we?

do you read historical fiction because you long to have been born in a century when the world was formless and fluid?

have you ever awoken to the realization that the culture u love is an impenetrable mass of bone that has ossified around you in your sleep?

my mother said, about my sister's militant leftism: "Why is it that if the goal is to improve the material life of the working classes----why is it that a middle class girl should go around feeling contempt for toilets that flush and clothes that fit?"

so this continuum--- of comfort/safety vs. freedom/contingency--- is it perpendicular to the continuum of pleasure vs. pain?

i feel trapped and powerless.

i am drunk, and i reeally hope that someone knows what the fuck i'm blathering about.

i feel like a Koopa Troopa in Marioland.

ILU

― gabriel rodriguez-doerr (gabe), Sunday, 6 October 2002 09:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I've heard this before too -- the best response (or rather alternate take) I've encountered is to think, "Why not toilets that flush etc. for everybody?" instead of "Why am I living well when others SUFFER?" An oversimplification, obviously, but seems like the idea should be to try and lift everyone up rather than drag everyone down.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 6 October 2002 12:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I've been middle class for about 43 years now, and I've yet to meet any of these people with contempt for flushing toilets and the like. Who are these people?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 6 October 2002 13:14 (twenty-three years ago)

My grandparents have an organic farm, and I spent a lot of time there learning from them as a little kid; my parents also made a big effort to raise us as active environmentalists. I think it probably doesn't make much of a difference in the big picture that I walk or bike everywhere I can, grow some of my own vegtables, only buy organic food/free range eggs/no foods with preservatives/etc, recycle everything I can and whatever. But it seems silly to bitch about problems unless you're trying to do something about it.

― lyra (lyra), Sunday, 6 October 2002 14:38 (twenty-three years ago)

The world is in it's infancy and it's a good idea to align ourselves with the means by which to continue improving it. First fire, then the wheel, the steam engine, the internet so, what next?

― Gordon (Gordon), Sunday, 6 October 2002 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

hoverboards

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 6 October 2002 16:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Personal jetpacks! We were supposed to have them by the year 2000 as per every third episode of Tomorrow's World when I was young (it were all fields etc.). Frankly, I am tempted to sue if I don't get one before the year is out.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 6 October 2002 17:46 (twenty-three years ago)

my parents didnt teach us a thing about caring for the environment or the rest of the world, though my dad did show me how to grow veges etc. then again, that was out of financial necessity more than any desire to save the planet.
i try to do things in a way that improve / dont damage my environment, and i think, lyra, that even if it is a seemingly small thing you do like biking instead of driving it is still SOMETHING hey.
i dont think the world can change on a big scale, but i certainly dont want to give up on a personal level just because it doesnt immediately feed starving people somewhere else.

― donna (donna), Monday, 7 October 2002 00:36 (twenty-three years ago)

anyway according to the guy who knocked at my door the other week WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE AND SOON.

he was nice enough, but hasnt come back since.......i have no idea why?????????
perhaps he died.
or perhaps i might have been a tad argumentative.
as is my wont when someone knocks uninvited and starts going blar blar blar

― donna (donna), Monday, 7 October 2002 00:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes. Or at least I'm trying to change New Zealand, or at least the small part of it that I have some slight responsibility for. I don't think that this necessarily involves great deprivations on my part, or on anyone's part, really.

But I have chosen an easy issue - 'nature' is so straightforward to save compared to people or the whole world.

― isadora, Monday, 7 October 2002 01:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Who cares? I don't.

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 7 October 2002 02:34 (twenty-three years ago)

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