the decay of american culture

[bleedinbrown58]

well we have different perspectives on what posts are of value and which arent.

frankly i wont be posting here much more (i got fired from UPS for complaining about being called to work not having work and not being paid), this was going to be one of my last threads, nor do i want to "pollute" teh forum with stuff that actually matters.

i think the fact that u and most other average guys think the things i say is wrong / cant be true is proof to the idea that america is a totalitarian society under the guise of democracy. because when most people believe in illusions and magic thats a sign of tyranny. i cant remember the exact quote

You posted in a different thread that you were a FT driver. How does a Ft driver get summarily fired for "complaining"?

 

[Harry Manback]

i mean most of the stuff on the forum is of low value. this is probably 1 of the most important things you can read and your reaction is to dismiss it.

Writes 1 of the most important thing an American read...

Posts it on Browncafe...

 

[rickyb]

You posted in a different thread that you were a FT driver. How does a Ft driver get summarily fired for "complaining"?

correct. what htey did was illegal in all likelihood. they cant have me show up for a scheduled shift and then not pay me. im waiting for the federal labor program to get back to me, and its been reported. even the supervisor backed off from saying there was no law and said "i dont know if there is a law or not" which was another lie of course he knew its illegal.

im a little mad about it, but its really not that big a deal. ill probably have some fun with it and raise a little hell, or ill just give up and do nothing. safe to say even if i do get hired back ill be fired soon after cuz theyll be out to get me which is fine. the 2.5 years until full wage was a long time to earn so little anyways.

and its off topic about the demise of american culture to corporate culture.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

i mean most of the stuff on the forum is of low value. this is probably 1 of the most important things you can read and your reaction is to dismiss it.

Wow....I see you weren't fired for an ability to copy and paste.

 

[oldngray]

Wow....I see you weren't fired for an ability to copy and paste.

He is also an expert on 9/11 which happened when he was probably still in diapers.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

correct. what htey did was illegal in all likelihood. they cant have me show up for a scheduled shift and then not pay me. im waiting for the federal labor program to get back to me, and its been reported. even the supervisor backed off from saying there was no law and said "i dont know if there is a law or not" which was another lie of course he knew its illegal.

im a little mad about it, but its really not that big a deal. ill probably have some fun with it and raise a little hell, or ill just give up and do nothing. safe to say even if i do get hired back ill be fired soon after cuz theyll be out to get me which is fine. the 2.5 years until full wage was a long time to earn so little anyways.

and its off topic about the demise of american culture to corporate culture.

You lost a 100k a year job....and it's not that big of a deal to you? Do you moonlight as a ghost writer
with your stellar punctuation and grammar skills?? lol

 

[moreluck]

Practice this........."Do you want fries with that?"

 

[rickyb]

You lost a 100k a year job....and it's not that big of a deal to you? Do you moonlight as a ghost writer
with your stellar punctuation and grammar skills?? lol

its $27/hr. thats 60,000 a year where im from or maybe 100k if u have no life and want to work 60 hours a week.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

its $27/hr. thats 60,000 a year where im from or maybe 100k if u have no life and want to work 60 hours a week.

Top rate for UPS drivers in Canada is 27/hr or were you still in progression?

 

[cosmo1]

its $27/hr. thats 60,000 a year where im from or maybe 100k if u have no life and want to work 60 hours a week.

Are you still here?

You mentioned earlier that you weren't going to post anymore.

 

[rickyb]

Practice this........."Do you want fries with that?"

ironically that was i was driving at in my death of teh middle class in america page: the america economy is turning into a low paying service sector economy. fortunately for me were not so bad.

 

[rickyb]

Top rate for UPS drivers in Canada is 27/hr or were you still in progression?

its was 27.50 after 2.5 years useless

 

[bleedinbrown58]

its was 27.50 after 2.5 years useless

How much is top pay by you?

 

[bottomups]

Why do you even care? America is not your country.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

His ancestors might have arrived here on the same boat as yours.

 

[Turdferguson]

I am the last person to nit pick, or complain about sentence structure, spelling , and grammar in general , but for the love of god man you spell the "t" "h" "e" not "teh" . or is that some sort of Canadian thing us rubes in the states aren't hip to?

 

[Operational needs]

I'm just wondering if they start sentences with capital letters in Canada....

 

[oldngray]

Canada is filled with a bunch of aliens.

 

[bleedinbrown58]

Canada is filled with a bunch of aliens.

 

[bbsam]

the decay of american culture


http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/page5/20090730_book_excerpt_empire_of_illusion

chris hedges:

The working classes, comprising tens of millions of struggling Americans, are shut out of television’s gated community. They have become largely invisible. They are mocked, even as they are tantalized, by the lives of excess they watch on the screen in their living rooms. Almost none of us will ever attain these lives of wealth and power. Yet we are told that if we want it badly enough, if we believe sufficiently in ourselves, we too can have everything. We are left, when we cannot adopt these impossible lifestyles as our own, with feelings of inferiority and worthlessness. We have failed where others have succeeded.

We consume countless lies daily, false promises that if we spend more money, if we buy this brand or that product, if we vote for this candidate, we will be respected, envied, powerful, loved, and protected. The flamboyant lives of celebrities and the outrageous characters on television, movies, professional wrestling, and sensational talk shows are peddled to us, promising to fill up the emptiness in our own lives. Celebrity culture encourages everyone to think of themselves as potential celebrities, as possessing unique if unacknowledged gifts. It is, as Christopher Lasch diagnosed, a culture of narcissism. Faith in ourselves, in a world of make-believe, is more important than reality. Reality, in fact, is dismissed and shunned as an impediment to success, a form of negativity. The New Age mysticism and pop psychology of television personalities, evangelical pastors, along with the array of self-help bestsellers penned by motivational speakers, psychiatrists, and business tycoons, all peddle a fantasy. Reality is condemned in these popular belief systems as the work of Satan, as defeatist, as negativity or as inhibiting our inner essence and power. Those who question, those who doubt, those who are critical, those who are able to confront reality and who grasp the hollowness of celebrity culture, are shunned and condemned for their pessimism. The illusionists who shape our culture, and who profit from our incredulity, hold up the gilded cult of us. Popular expressions of religious belief, personal empowerment, corporatism, political participation, and self-definition argue that all of us are special, entitled, and unique. All of us, by tapping into our inner reserves of personal will and undiscovered talent, by visualizing what we want, can achieve, and deserve to achieve, happiness, fame, and success. This relentless message cuts across ideological lines. This mantra has seeped into every aspect of our lives. We are all entitled to everything.

Celebrities, who often come from humble backgrounds, are held up as proof that anyone, even we, can be adored by the world. These celebrities, like saints, are living proof that the impossible is always possible. Our fantasies of belonging, of fame, of success and of fulfillment, are projected onto celebrities. These fantasies are stoked by the legions of those who amplify the culture of illusion, who persuade us that the shadows are real. The juxtaposition of the impossible illusions inspired by celebrity culture and our “insignificant” individual achievements, however, eventually leads to frustration, anger, insecurity, and invalidation. It results, ironically, in a self-perpetuating cycle that drives the frustrated, alienated individual with even greater desperation and hunger away from reality, back toward the empty promises of those who seduce us, who tell us what we want to hear. We beg for more. We ingest these lies until our money runs out. And when we fall into despair we medicate ourselves, as if the happiness we have failed to find in the hollow game is our deficiency. And, of course, we are told it is.

Human beings become a commodity in a celebrity culture. They are objects, like consumer products. They have no intrinsic value. They must look fabulous and live on fabulous sets. Those who fail to meet the ideal are belittled and mocked. Friends and allies are to be used and betrayed during the climb to fame, power and wealth. And when they are no longer useful they are to be discarded. In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s novel about a future dystopia, people spend most of the day watching giant television screens that show endless scenes of police chases and criminal apprehensions. Life, Bradbury understood, once it was packaged and filmed, became the most compelling form of entertainment.

Do people really want this? Celebrity, accolades, blah, blah, blah? I think I like my boring life just fine, thanks.

 

[bottomups]

For all this "dislike" of Canadians, why do we want to build a pipeline to transport their oil?