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The benefits of not belonging

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Re: The benefits of not belonging

#101

Post by throwaway803453 »

cko wrote: post #4
IAmWorried wrote: post #3

Honestly does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? The US is overly hostile, we imported the whole world and all its cultural hangups with it. I mean if you're white people are shitting on you, if you're black people are shitting on you, if you're male people are shitting on you, if you're female people are shitting on you... like what exactly is this country FOR? Does anybody REALLY feel like they belo…

I know that was a rhetorical question, but I think low-key rich escapes most of the getting shit on.

Exactly. The working poor want good health insurance, affordable college, paid time off, a pension/retirement, home equity, a safe neighborhood, passive income, a few yearly vacations, etc. Basically what me and all my friends and family have.

But whenever the income divide comes up in personal discussion otherwise smart people imply the working poor wants the private island, rockets, lambos, and yachts of billionaires and that could destabilize society.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#102

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

IAmWorried wrote: post #3

Honestly does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? The US is overly hostile, we imported the whole world and all its cultural hangups with it. I mean if you're white people are shitting on you, if you're black people are shitting on you, if you're male people are shitting on you, if you're female people are shitting on you... like what exactly is this country FOR? Does anybody REALLY feel like they belo…

> we imported the whole world and all its cultural hangups with it.

This is where I think you're wrong. America is creating and exporting cultural hangups.

I mean, immigrants believe in the American Dream, not weird French theory or whatever.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#103

Post by manpagereader »

This is why our nations are destined to be subsumed by a techno-fascist borderless oligarchy. We're filled with people who don't belong, don't care for or about the culture of more native folk, don't value things which may be core values to the natives, such as freedom of speech. A mishmash of cultures, none of which cares about, or often for, the substrate upon which they grow.

It's going to be an amazing time for the mercenary business these next few decades here.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#104

Post by esyir »

anon9001 wrote: post #81
pedalpete wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I TOTALLY missed that, and DEFINITELY am not a right-wing accelerationist. I don't even know what that is tbh, but it doesn't sound good.

It's a pretty insidious and effective tactic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerationism The idea is to destabilize society by accelerating disruptive societal change. At the far extremes, this looks like mass shootings or bombings with manifestos attached. On the right, the theory is that a white ethnostate will surely emerge to bring order if the country is thrown into chaos along racial lines. On the left, it l…

I'll grumble that the Rittenhouse trial is nothing to do with said accelerationism. Said volatility is solely because of the media trying to flay him to push their views, regardless of the evidence.

What else can you say of a clown parade where the prosecution witnesses all corroborate the defense's position and the prosecution decides to insinuate that silence implies guilt. Or, with the spirit of Jack Chick watching over him.

>“Isn’t it true when you would hang out with Dominic Black you’d play Call of Duty and other first-person shooter video games?” prosecutor Thomas Binger asked Rittenhouse on November 10. “And those are games in which you use weapons like AR-15s to pretty much shoot anybody who comes at you, right?”

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#105

Post by tayo42 »

This is interesting to read and very relatable for me. Not white enough to be white, not hispanic enough to be hispanic. Caught shit through out high school and college for looking different though. Left my home town and moved around. Never quite felt at home in SF but now I was to different for my home town too and it doesn't really feel like the place I belong anymore. I'm not where I should I be or what Im part of. I don't even really feel relatable to being American either.

I guess I do feel somewhat contrarian too at times and never really got into hype and pop culture either, maybe that's why. That was interesting to see the article say.

I'm not really sure what to make of it. Im not sure I really like this perspective though, where its some benefit that helps you optimize your life or make better business decisions.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#106

Post by esyir »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #78
ericd wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comparison is the thief of joy. It’s also not necessary.

Absolutely. You can never win with comparison, you can only lose. Am I rich? Arguably, yes. Am I richer than my neighbors? Not sure. But if I were, then we move to, Am I richer than anyone in my city? State? Country? World? When you climb, when you get to the point that you win the comparison game, you realize that you were only comparing yourself to a subset, and there's a bigger pond to play in... in which you're c…

A less cancerous comparison (but by no means good) might be to approach this from a statistical/distributions point of view.

What quantile of the population do I belong to? Still a comparison, but you set the bounds early. If you have to do the damn thing, whether by quirk of personality or impulse, at least make it explicit.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#107

Post by altantiprocrast »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #37
IAmWorried wrote: post #3

Honestly does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? The US is overly hostile, we imported the whole world and all its cultural hangups with it. I mean if you're white people are shitting on you, if you're black people are shitting on you, if you're male people are shitting on you, if you're female people are shitting on you... like what exactly is this country FOR? Does anybody REALLY feel like they belo…

America is an alienating place but I don't think it's for the reasons you mention (they play a factor more recently, but alienation has been an American attribute for quite some time - See Bowling Alone by Putnam written in 2000.). What has driven alienation in America? You could make the case for hyper-individualism and that plays a big part. The way our cities are designed also plays a role - mostly they're designe…

> The way our cities are designed also plays a role - mostly they're designed around the automobile

+ kids who can't drive suffer

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#108

Post by cko »

lapetitejort wrote: post #18
cko wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that was a rhetorical question, but I think low-key rich escapes most of the getting shit on.

Just wait until the richer guy builds a better rocket, then you'll feel shat upon.

Haha. Low-key means not trying to build a rocket. Just having excess money but living way below your means.

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#109

Post by WalterBright »

Aloha wrote: post #97
WalterBright wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? > does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? I do not feel alienated. > Does anybody REALLY feel like they belong in America? I do. > what exactly is this country FOR? It's for people who want their fundamental rights guaranteed so they can do whatever they choose to do, like be a rock star, build rockets to go to Mars, race motorcycles, write poe…

I think we still need to fulfill the promise of the New Deal and the Great Society, the Great Society specifically failed because of programs constructed in haste by men with too little knowledge of the real world in which those programs would need to function. We have a huge and growing poverty problem, one the Democrats and Republicans seem to be ignoring, we have to ratchet down misery level, a failure to do so im…

The entrenched poverty problem started with the Great Society. (The poverty rate stopped declining in 1968.)

The US has never had more opportunity for people than today.

Example 1: anyone can get an MIT education for free on the internet.

Example 2: anyone can reach a worldwide market, for free, via the internet, and using Amazon.

Example 3: anyone can make a movie, and distribute it to the world on youtube, for free.

Example 4: anyone can start a band, make their own music, and distribute it worldwide for free on several platforms.

Hundreds of thousands of destitute people are trying to get into the US to take advantage of American opportunity. What do they know that Americans don't?

Re: The benefits of not belonging

#110

Post by gremloni »

IAmWorried wrote: post #3

Honestly does anybody NOT feel alienated in our current society? The US is overly hostile, we imported the whole world and all its cultural hangups with it. I mean if you're white people are shitting on you, if you're black people are shitting on you, if you're male people are shitting on you, if you're female people are shitting on you... like what exactly is this country FOR? Does anybody REALLY feel like they belo…

To be fair that’s probably what equality looks like. We are nowhere near equitable levels of being shit on between blacks and whites or men and women though.
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