: DADDIO: I think we all have the "capicity" to do anything we wish insofar as "capacity" is meant as a measure of potential - that?s the only reason for getting UP in the morning. But what is the likelihood that this potential will be realized and why? Perhaps, in this lifetime, my full potential will not be realized. If such were the case, would it be 100% my fault? Only in the most metaphysical sense could such be the case. Otherwise there are a myriad of environmental influences that have volumes to say about the probability that any given desire will be fulfilled, influences that are fundamentally at odds with my convictions.
: Sure, I can light my campfire in Montana. But why the f___ should I have to? Don?t I have a right to live free from the oppression of the Power and Energy Monopoly and big Multinationals right here in my own hometown? When do we stop running into the hills and turn to fight? The U.S. government (AKA Multinationals) has shown us very plainly how it feels about people that successfully break off from mainstream society (Waco, Ruby ridge, etc). The media?s (AKA Multinationals) labeling of do-it-yourselfers as subversive criminals makes a move to the mountains more like a trade off than a fulfillment of ones convictions.
There has to be a way, not that I'm telling you I think you should, that is your business. But maybe if a person could gradually find ways, like not having electricity, phone & gas in their place. I had a friend in her 80's who lived in this little tiny a-frame shed thingy and had a little wood stove. She built a little greenhouse type thing off the side of it and grew alot of her own food in it, then reached out her window to pick it! She had a little port-a potty and lived a very simple happy life-nicest person I ever knew. Her son bought her solar powered lights! I always admired her. I wish I had her strength and reserve. She did go to the grocery store now & then, but hey for an 80 year old lady she sure showed a punk like me! Especially considering she was in northern MN, which gets 50 below zero temps at times. The greatest thing was how serene she was.
: I already live in the middle of nowhere, and the Establishment is alive and well here. So, last summer I went to a "Rainbow Gathering" where the kindest, most peace loving citizens in the U.S. were temporarily attempting self-sufficiency on a remote mountain in eastern Arizona. The cops harassed them, the locals in the nearest town were rude to them, the newspapers trashed them, and state and local governments tried to stop them from going there at all. Naturally, Rainbow numbers are dwindling and eventually these wonderful people will go the way of native Americans. And that will be THEIR "excuse" for not "living out THEIR convictions".
That really sucks that people harrassed them, but people are usually scared of great "new" concepts(as if humans didn't live off the land for millions of years)
: At least they?ll HAVE an excuse. What?s the GOVERNMENT?S excuse for not representing the people it has sworn to serve, and instead, allowing itself to be controlled by greedy, destructive private interests? What are multinationals? excuses for destroying our planet and making life miserable for most of its 6 billion inhabitants when they could use their resources to befriend humanity with sustainable agriculture and renewable energy?
I think everyones excuse is the same. It's much easier in the short term to be lazy and greedy and ignorant. The more I come out of my ignorance the more disgusted I am with what my lifestyle has really cost on a grander scale. Hey people were sick of busting ass all day in a field to feed their kids so they invented machines, etc. etc. And now it's way out of hand.
: What?s your excuse Stuart? Maybe you need to GET one. Try mass marketing an automobile that runs on something other than fossil fuels and let?s seewhat happens to your convictions. Then maybe I?ll let you join my little weakling excuse club.
Hey Chrysler has that fuelcell car run on hydrogen finished now, but it will take a good 5 years or more to get it in the market.My excuse is the same as every one elses living western:I don't have one! I'm lazy greedy and ignorant like the rest, multinational or no- and sure, I do my share of "whining" too. It's the american way, blame it all on some one else!
: What ARE your convictions anyway? Supporting a family, raising your kids, not killing anyone, not lusting after your neighbor?s wife? Hey, these are beautiful, righteous things, but, with millions of people fulfilling these convictions everyday, how difficult can they be? It?s easy to say you?re fulfilling your convictions when you set the bar low. Wanting to abolish Elite world power and help save humanity from the forces of evil is another matter. If you to want chide someone for not pulling it off with your impotent idea of running for the hills, you better raise your OWN bar first.
I'm raising my bar an inch at a time, because i'm a chicken shit and a follower just like the rest without active convictions. But if I get thrown in the sea, i'll learn to swim rather than get eaten by the sharks.
None.
