LIKE A DULL KNIFE, JUST AIN'T CUTTIN'

"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."   ~George Bernard Shaw


Philistine, my art director, has to deal with artsy, techno, managerial, business type people. Y'know, those that are up on the rungs of some ladder or other. Sometimes he has a hard time of it. Recently he wrote:

I'm getting pretty sick of dealing with people. Everyone brings their problems to the table. You cannot have a normal discussion without people putting their motivations on you.

"I don't eat animals"

gets you: "So why do you think you can tell me I can't eat animals?"

 "I have guns to protect my family"

gets you: "So you refuse to kill animals, but you want to kill humans?"

"I don't worship what you call G_d"

gets you: "Oh that's so cool, I was raised blah blah blah and I hate religion too."

"I think the government wastes our taxes"

gets you: "I don't mind paying higher taxes, why do you hate teachers?"

"I think this Occupy thing is a media-mind-fuck-snow-job"

gets you: "Did you see those ingrates pissing all over and doing drugs, someone should round them up! And then the government should reduce regulations and enforce laws from a Constitutional perspective! Liberty for (almost) all!"

"The Constitution protects us from government and allows us to express ourselves in Liberty"

gets you: "No, government protects us from ourselves, including dangerous racists and homophobes like those Teabaggers*, someone should round them up! And then free people should only work for the community, not for a corporation. A livable minimum wage for (almost) all! *but some people should die in camps."

"What's for dinner?" gets you "You can fucking fuck off. Now you get nothing for dinner."

I'm convinced it is beyond the average person to use logic, rely on their own thoughts and feelings, and avoid the constant indoctrination of our electronic media age. People cannot think anymore, just go through the motions and feel emotionally supported by the system. It really comes down to the disintegration of the family and community and culture. Without those backstops, people are emotionally weak and exposed. So along comes the pied piper of consumer ready ideas, in what ever form, and people glom onto what ever makes them feel best. Religion, government, TV, sports, fear, hope. What ever message reinforces their inner needs and makes them feel validated and less vulnerable to the chaos of ideas that the very same system is providing for their neighbors. It's a snake eating its tail. File this under "rise and fall" of empires and cultures.

Doesn't matter much overall, just makes it harder to discuss anything that really matters to me, and it makes it hard to listen to people's empty lives spool out of their mouths.

I know exactly what he is talking about. I'm beginning to hear more and more people the way Ginger does:

So I sez to him, I sez:

Most people I interact with, they are not really listening to me. They are merely waiting for me to stop so they can go on with their rap.