WORD: The Link

hello world
well, i guess the "word" section is kind of my "pressure valve".
there's stuff to be said, important stuff, obvious stuff (to me) which sometimes i fail to understand how people don't "get it".

i tried writing songs about these things, but somehow, writing it in a song leaves it open to interpretation.
maybe that's how it should be, i don't know.

well, the "word" section is not open to interpretation.
you can argue, sure.
that's why i leave the option to leave comments, but i don't want the very ideas to get lost in the process of formalization it into music.

and there's something that has been troubling me for quite some time now.
something that became more prominent to my point-of-view once i stayed in america.
something which either has or will probably have a grand effect in the long run, from a bird's eye view,

and it's not good.

i call it "the link".
i give it a name and put it in quotes, because i want to transform it in your minds, from a perspective, from an idea, into an "issue".

something to "deal" with.

i'm finding it a bit hard to decide where to start.
you see, as the name hints "the link" is not what's happening here or there, but rather the way seemingly disconnected social phenomena, create a general direction in which things synchronize, once they become linked within the general social atmosphere.

and it's not good.

you see, there is something in the "free market" way of viewing the world which is somewhat "maliciously" naive.
there's a sort of hidden agreement that if you concentrate your efforts on a specific goal, usually economic, then the fact you have an unplanned and/or undesired effect, if you haven't crossed any laws, is legitimate.

you can sometime use the law to "block" such undesired effects, once you establish a focused link to a definite "source" of the thing you are trying to prevent.
but once the "source" is scattered over too many truly disconnected factors, and the thing you are trying to prevent is nothing but a sub-tone of what actually is happening which you can only notice once you link many elements together and observe them all under a suspecting point of view,
well
there's no way to stop that in a "free market".

but you can put it in writing, and that's what i will do here.
and i guess the only way to begin this is by pointing out several of the elements involved.
i am sure there are many more, but they will be enough to transform the term "the link" into an issue.
something for you to "deal" with.

1. the internet

1.a. file sharing

well, this is not another anti piracy thing.
even if people were somehow payed in full for each and every use of their intellectual property, there would still be things left to consider.

have you ever thought how your life changed from the fact you get all the data you need at home?
when was the last time you went to the store to buy a newspaper, a cd, a book, etc?
not doing it much lately, don't you?
when was the last time you left the boundaries of your home to acquire anything which can be converted to data?
last time you went to the cinema, do you remember when it was?
the library, what about that?
i know you still do it, sometimes.
but the socializing factor of acquiring data has been pretty much eroded, you must agree.
most of your data you get at home, for free, and anonymously.

1.b. wired communities

facebook. myspace. forums.
they keep changing according to fashion.

have you ever noticed how much of how people know you as, is nothing but data you left stored on some server?
is this "you"?
is that "them"?

have you ever had the experience of finding out the person behind their web persona is so different from the one you thought you knew, that you kind of realized, the person you had in your mind doesn't really exist?

have you ever thought further about this, and kind of realized, the social world you are living in, exists only online?
have you ever thought of the difference between that and the place where your body is?
and if you had the choice to give one up:
your fantasy or your body,
which would you choose?

we created a fantasy world the way we wanted things to be.
we became the subject of our own fantasies of grandeur.
why in hell would prefer to leave it?

2. illegal drugs

i personally don't use illegal drugs, but i can't say i mind if others use them.
but a lot of people do.
mostly people in charge of making sure people don't use them.
and of course there were a lot of people who's life got ruined as a result from drug use.
but a lot of them were not hurt by the drugs themselves.

they were hurt by the fact they were labeled as wrong/evil/criminal by the system.
they were hurt by lack of supervision over price of these rather simple and cheap to make substances.
they were hurt because they linked their own drug use with rebellion against "the system", which in fact was only an attempt to show some "independence" or "control" over their own lives.
they subconsciously linked drug use with "individualism", but as the results of drug use are pretty generic according to the substance at hand, in fact they lost quite a lot of their individualism as their behavior was somewhat chemically confined to the effect of the drug.
they may have had fun doing it, but they lost a lot of themselves in the process, as their personality was still in formation.

the thing i want to point out here is not that drugs are bad, but that the link between drug use and rebellious behaviors leads to uniformity.

it leads to conformity, and that is exactly the opposite of what we are told to believe.

but that's not all.
not only does drug use forces a somewhat loss of individuality, but when people are forced to fight the system to gain the freedom to do drugs, the rebellious energies which lead to drug use get focused on this issue.

but there are plenty of other issues out there to rebel against (like for example "the link").

and there's a link here with the previous points i made as well.
when drug use is illegal, then most of the drug use is done indoors, at home, where no one can see.
no one wants to get busted.

and when no one can see, then no one can hear, then you have no effect on the world you live in.

so in short, the way drug use is treated leads to:

(a) conformity of thought
(b) waste of rebellious energies on marginal social issues
(c) an undesired link between rebellion and conformity
(d) silencing the rebellion to avoid the law

what i would personally suggest is that not only would drugs be legalized, but to somehow create a publicized link between conformity and drug use.
it would be good for the kids to know that if they want to rebel, they can't do it by smoking pot, sniffing speed, or swallowing xtacy.
it would be good education to teach them that drugs are in fact not bad at all.

it would be good education to teach them that drugs are boring.

3. criminalization of outdoor social practices

in america, europe, and now even in israel, it is impossible not to spot the current trend of turning illegal what used to be legal outdoor social activities.

i am referring to laws against drinking outside, smoking in public places.
there may be more examples, but i don't need more.

the official reason why these practices are criminalized is to protect our health.
some might think that the reason behind it is to lower the cost of national health care or law enforcement.

but if you already kind of understood what "the link" is about, you'd notice the same pattern.

people won't stop smoking as much as they would stay indoors.
maybe they would eventually stop smoking and drinking, but in the process they would socialize less.
there would be less interaction between people on a face to face level.

4. dehumanizing political correctness at work

our working environments have became inhospitable for normal human behavior.
the way workers today are required to behave is to put masks over masks in order to please their employers.
it is as if no one is willing to admit it's fake.
on the contrary.
everyone are emphasizing these false facades to gain a sense of superiority over their colleges and competitors.

indeed, this phenomenon becomes more evident the higher you go on the social-economic scale.
however, since our entire social fabric is constantly hammering us to try and reach such social economic status, then the same is still valid for the lower middle classes.

now, the thing is that because these are all false facades, people just have to find an outlet where they can be true to their true nature.

and the system makes sure that they'll do that in hiding.
they'll do that at home, on the internet, using false personalities.

this is where "the link" becomes evident.

5. democracy

i will make this point short.
democracy seems like a great idea.
let the people decide their fate.

bullshit.
the people who really decide where democratic nations are going are the upper high class, the rich, sometimes not even residents or citizens of the democratic countries.

the system gives the people a false outlet to "be themselves", but neither does their vote matter, nor does the choices given to elect from represent what they really want.

when was the last time you saw the manifesto of a political party which covered everything you wanted changed in your country?

never.
you know i'm right.

if you will try to change your environment to the way you want your life to be, you will do this in hiding.
you will probably break some laws, or at the very least break the behavioral code which people think you support.

.

well, these are the examples i have in mind now, and i will update this post if i recall more.

but i want you to realize "the link" exists.
something in the system is forcing us to hiding, forces us indoors, to make belief personalities which amount to nothing but fictional data.

what "the link" means is that we have lost control of our reality.

and it's time to go over ground.
it's time to leave the "web of lies" and effect your reality.
to change the physical place you are in to become as close as possible to your secretive fantasies.

let's do some damage.

spread the WORD.

ptyl
16/6/2010