This list could grow to 1,000 ideas, but I’ve kept it down to ten. In the future, I might update it and add some more.
There are a lot of bad ideas that dominate the world we live in today, most of which are uncritically accepted as the norm and fully embraced by society.
As a millennial myself, I’ve noticed my peers seem to accept most of these as conventional wisdom. Hook, line, and sinker.
Here are some ideas I was propagandized with that I hope my children will never have to “unlearn.”
1. Violence is normal.
Presidential candidates today are fighting over who can kill better by using drones or boots on the ground. By constantly threatening the use of violence against other countries, statists have conditioned the population into thinking that killing tens of thousands of people is normal behavior, instead of the immoral, dangerous provocation it is. Rather than being charged with murder, politicians and others that help support this behavior are often paid $250,000 or more a speech after they leave office, and referred to as Mr. President or former Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Video games, movies, television shows, and even toys all have a common theme: death and destruction. For example, there’s nothing like teaching your child about policing in 2015 America via these Playmobil toys:
This isn’t normal; this is psychotic. And the sociopaths that rule over us are murdering and imprisoning people every day because “we the people” are not only allowing it, but often times, cheering it on.
Outside of self-defense, respecting other peoples’ property should become the new norm.
2. Political parties govern differently.
As a former Republican, I used to hate the Democrats. Now I see these two parties as just two wings on the same beast.
It’s true that they run with different themes and talking points, but in the end, they govern the same. They share the top donors, vote yes on the same wars, and never roll back a single thing the other does once in power.
Bush picked Bernanke to run the Fed, and Obama re-nominated him. Republicans like Nixon ran on an anti-war platform during the Vietnam era, until Reagan/Bush took over in the 80’s. Then the Democrats were anti-war in the 2000s, until Obama took over in 2008. Clinton, Bush, Obama… looking back at the last 25 years, I don’t see how anything has changed in the U.S. with regard to foreign policy, spending, or lying about U.S. economic data.
The oligarchs have us all fooled. Political parties are nothing more than spectator sport for a dumbed down public.
3. Patriotism is a virtue.
Why? It was an accident that I was born here. Am I grateful to be living in the U.S., surrounded by family and friends? Yes. All the same, I owe the U.S. government nothing. I am a sovereign man, and shouldn’t have to subscribe to any group or nation just because I happened to be born in a part of the world called North America.
I love everyone in this world, and I am not going to express loyalty for a specific region like a sports fan who loves his team only because it’s in the same city he resides in.
Governments are dangerous, and the U.S. is the most dangerous one at the moment. My love for the U.S. is no more than my love for the Bahamas or Europe.
4. Illegal aliens are evil criminals who desire to collect welfare from taxpayers.
For a long time, I couldn’t stand these people. Nevertheless, if I wasn’t randomly born in Los Angeles and was instead born just 144 miles south, in Tijuana, I would be doing the exact same thing the illegal aliens are doing. I would be attempting to better my life and my children’s lives by migrating north. Humans moving to different regions is a natural event; the only unnatural thing is the imaginary lines we call borders.
As far as the welfare, that’s a symptom of the disease we call government. It’s like me taking a tax deduction. While I don’t support the income tax, I’m not stupid, and I’m going to do everything I can to game the system and benefit myself.
5. Taxes are justified at gunpoint.
Taxes with the threat of jail or violence is wrong. I’m sorry, but I don’t owe you or anybody else a portion of the fruits of my labor – especially not under the threat of violence.
6. War is good for the economy.
I was told at a very young age, and even in high school, that war helped the economy boom. When you think about it, it makes no sense. Using production lines to create products that blow up into nothing is a tremendous waste of resources. Looking back, after WWII the U.S. cut spending by 50% and reduced the military from 12 million to 1.5 million. The evidence from the late 40’s and 50’s is that the economy boomed when we had less war.
7. Terrorists hate our freedom and culture.
Are there extremists? Absolutely. But the fact is the U.S. has troops in so many countries (see: The Golden Age of Black Ops – In Fiscal 2015 U.S. Special Forces Have Already Deployed to 105 Nations), and has a horrible track record of toppling democratically elected governments, supporting sociopaths, and arming rebels who later become “terrorists.” It’s no wonder than these policies occasionally come home to roost.
For one second, imagine that a nation bombed your neighbor and killed your son. What would your reaction be? These are the situations thousands across the world face on a consistent basis.
What if Iran had troops in Mexico and Canada, ships off our coasts, and drones over our air space? Would we want a nuclear bomb for defense?
George Washington was a terrorist in the eyes of Great Britain. If you want to know who’s dishing out much of the tyranny and chaos in the Middle East, as an American, you don’t have to look far from home.
8. The U.S. has a free market economy.
This is seriously stupid, but college professors and politicians repeat this mantra every day. In reality, the economy is so centrally planned that if the Fed alters one sentence in their statement, the Dow Jones could rally or fall by 200 points in an hour.
Here’s another fact. Nearly 50% of America’s EBT program in Oklahoma went straight to the coffers of one company: Walmart.
Meanwhile, regulations in some industries have forced business to have an entire division dedicated just to compliance. Even worse, many of these regulations are pushed by the larger corporations in order to drown out the competition with bureaucracy they can’t possibly afford.
There is no free market in the U.S. – only crony capitalism, manipulation, and a centrally planned system manned by busybodies.
9. U.S. troops are dying for my freedom.
This is a tough one, because you want to naturally love and respect anyone who does something for you, especially if it’s to protect you from harm. The only reason I even bring this up is because many of the troops are honest, decent young men looking to serve their country or be a part of something greater than themselves. Nevertheless, these men and women are merely being used and abused in a Game of Thrones-esque battle for global wealth and power. They are often just collateral damage for large corporations looking to expand their businesses into territories and countries that, without U.S. military intervention, would likely be thrown out by the locals.
I genuinely think the troops are willing to die for my freedom, but the corrupt American Empire poses a much greater threat to my freedom than any outside enemy we are constantly taught to fear.
10. My vote matters.
Remember in 2006 when the Democrats were going to get our fiscal house in order? Or was that in 2010, when the Republicans were going to do the same? I don’t know, but your vote doesn’t matter. The populace is easily manipulated and/or asleep when it comes to matters of importance, so why bother.
The vote counters and the media have already decided who’s acceptable and, of course, at the end of those strings are the oligarchs who run the world. See my post from last year: Election 2014 – Why I Opt Out of Voting.
Edward Snowden sacrificed his freedom to alert voters of high crimes in the U.S government, and many Americans have no idea who he is. Meanwhile, most politicians want to try him for treason.
One last caveat, Llpoh…
You seem to think that intellect is the sole metric by which a person has the ability to rise above the socioeconomic level they were born to. Probably because you were born with a stout intellect.
There are other means, not necessarily moral or ethical, by which a person can rise.
The most benign of these, I would have to say, is willpower. Those possessing the will to do so can literally work their way to the top. Hard to do, but not uncommon. Look at Pete Rose. Possessing a mediocre talent, at best, but also a formidable will, he literally worked his way to the top and – if not for that gambling charge – would be a longtime member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ruthlessness also. Those who are ruthless enough – in conjunction with well-timed violence – can and will eliminate their competitors and rise to the top by virtue of being the last man standing.
There are other qualities, somewhat rare, which allow a person to rise above their original socioeconomic level. Being born with stellar good looks is one. Someone born to abject poverty and largely talentless, but possessing one-in-a-million good looks will often result in them being fast-tracked by others. Perfect example would be Anna Selezneva.
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=16829927
By virtue of genetic lottery, this largely talentless part-time waitress born and raised in some Russian industrial town so bland and remote the name escapes me, became a supermodel by virtue of the fact she was born beautiful and thin. She now has more money than you or I hope to earn in several lifetimes and enjoys a socioeconomic status far, far above her part-time waitress starting point…
Charisma is also a factor. Look at politicians. Largely talentless, most – if not all – are elected based on their charisma via a popularity contest, and not on their intellect, leadership abilities or even a simple promise to adhere to the Constitution. The fact that most people are duped into voting for them based on something as shallow as charisma does not exactly fill me with hope.
There are many ways one can rise above their socioeconomic start line. You simply chose one path. I might be reaching, but it’s a fair bet that you were driven to achieve because the vast majority of Indians are indeed glue-huffing alcoholic drains on society, and you meant to be the one that disproves the rule. Or at least tried to be.
Curious though. Why is it you didn’t use your intellect and resources to try and help as many of your brethren as possible? Instead, what I see is you saying “Screw you guys. I got mine, and I’m leaving”. Not sure which pathology that betrays, but it seems… distasteful.
@ Stucky,
Llpoh is a smart guy and what he has achieved is impressive, especially when one takes into account the circumstances of his birth and early life. I’m not trying to take that away from him.
Compared to other Indians, especially the glue-huffing kind, he must be on par with Steve Jobs.
But it’s all relative. He got used to being the big fish in a small pond, and has fallen into the trap of thinking that he will always be the big fish. That has led to nauseating hubris, arrogance, smugness, etc.
But, put him in a room with a bunch of Mensa members and he’d be the guy parking cars for everyone else. Complete with a nice jacket with a little name-tag on it.
And I wonder how far he would have gotten if not for being an Indian? How many freebies were given to him that a middle-class Catholic kid from a river town in Kentucky would never have, simply because the Government has tried to assuage their guilt for almost wiping them out by throwing money and Special Snowflake status at them? Llpoh has been curiously silent on the matter, so we don’t know.
But I’m quite sure that if two people were up for admittance to Harvard Law School – one a white Catholic kid from Dirtville Kentucky and the other a card-carrying “Native American”, both with equal qualifications – there’s no doubt who would get the slot.
I view Llpoh as a moderately talented and intelligent post turtle. He’s on top of the post, and he partially climbed up there, but someone else leaned a ladder against it.
Billy, let me extend an olive branch here, what you just posted earned my respect. I understand rage, and I rage against some of the things you write because I think some ideas are dangerous, statism being chief among them. More than that, you’ve accomplished more in life than I have; I was born lower middle class with a high IQ and promptly sank to lower class, intellect was my one gift and it wasn’t enough. The military culture you lived, courage, honor, duty, sacrifice, that’s a fine and noble thing, the problem I see with it is that those very ideals are often used by evil bastards to manipulate well-intentioned young men with more courage than sense. The military man, to be truly worthy of admiration, must be ruled by reason, and he must refuse orders that violate morality, knowing that the moral responsibility for his actions rests with him, it is inalienable.
@ AP,
Olive branch accepted. +1 to you for offering it.
…the problem I see with it is that those very ideals are often used by evil bastards to manipulate well-intentioned young men with more courage than sense.
Bingo. Came to the same realization 15 years ago. They do indeed play on our senses of honor, loyalty, patriotism… and our naivete. They are counting on us being naive. And, smart as I am, I wasn’t experienced enough to see it. That’s the conundrum – to have the experience and wisdom to see the trap for what it is requires two things – time, and mileage. Of which, a young man has neither. Catch 22.
However, I will say that the longer you are in, the more the brainwashing and conditioning wears off. You begin to see things as they genuinely are, not how you are told they are. If you have enough on the ball, and the conditioning has worn off enough, you make the jump and realize you’re being played for a chump. I came to that same realization, but because I had given my word – my oath – I was bound by it surely as if it were iron chains. You can take away everything a man has – wealth, family, possessions, his health – and all that’s left is his word. It is inviolate. Without it, you are nothing.
I made the decision that once my enlistment ran out, I would not re-enlist, my retirement be damned. If I hadn’t been literally blown out of the military, I would have just walked away from it.
You know of the purges conducted by the current regime. Hundreds, if not thousands, of flag-rank officers purged from the system over the last 8 years. Those are the guys whose allegiance laid with the Republic.
The older officers and NCO’s, if they have time to think, come to the same conclusion that I did. But the younger troops only have one desire – to please their higher ups and be recognized either through promotion or some shiny bit of potmetal awarded to them. I know. I was one of them. Those youngsters in the lower EM ranks are no different than I was.
I could explain it to you in excrutiating detail, but I have to gimp my ass out to the truck and make a run for some topsoil… hopefully, I can get some help on the other end loading it, because there ain’t no way in hell I’m gonna schlep that much dirt in the condition I’m in… maybe some other time.
The military man, to be truly worthy of admiration, must be ruled by reason, and he must refuse orders that violate morality, knowing that the moral responsibility for his actions rests with him, it is inalienable.
Another Catch 22. Troops are told they are bound to not obey orders that are immoral, illegal or unethical. But they are not told which orders might be considered immoral, illegal or unethical. Additionally, they pledge themselves to support and defend the Constitution, unto death, if needs be.
But perhaps 1 out of 25 can tell you what the original Bill of Rights is. Perhaps 1 out of 100 can quote an Amendment – any Amendment – verbatim. And I’m being generous. If one pledges themselves to support and defend something, unto death, if needs be, then it seems to me that one should know exactly what you’re swearing allegiance to in the first place. But, that’s just me.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the military has exactly one method of investigating anything. The Courts Martial. If you are given an order that you think is illegal, immoral or unethical, and you disobey it on those grounds, you will be Courts Martialed. Period.
That means that, even if you are exonerated and found innocent – or at least refusing the order to be justified – your career is effectively over.
Hence, very few want to risk that, and find the moral courage to stand up and refuse a direct order that is immoral, illegal or unethical. Courage on the battlefield is common compared to moral courage. It is most precious and rare. A unicorn.
And I can say that with a bit of experience. One of my own troops was set up and betrayed by a fellow NCO. I was called to testify at his Court Martial, being as I was the sole witness (other than the betrayed, who was a low ranking enlisted). I was called into my Commander’s office and told that if I testified, that nothing good would come my way ever again. No schools, no awards, no promotions. I would become persona non grata. Conversely, if my memory were “fuzzy” about the whole thing, there were several choice schools coming up, and my name was on a very short list for them.
Bottom line is I told them to fuck off and that I’m not for sale. I testified anyways. My career was effectively over, and I knew it. But fuck them. I won’t be leveraged or bought and sold.
So yeah, I took the hit and fell on my sword. Shortly afterwards, I came to the conclusion that the way things were done more resembled the Mafia than anything else, and I didn’t want to be a part of that.
Meh… this shit is just ancient history. Nobody wants to hear this stuff…
I’ll be back later on this afternoon… Big Fugly doesn’t move very fast, and it’s an hour round trip, even with a fast vehicle…
Be back later.
4. “Illegal aliens are evil criminals who desire to collect welfare from taxpayers.”
The Dissident Dad is a “self-made millionaire” (I think he shorted financial stocks before the last crash) who has a website (“28,000 Days”) where he espouses his life philosophy and posts photos of himself on international vacations with his family. I’m assuming he doesn’t have to work a 9 to 5 job anymore, and that he doesn’t live in a Mexican/Central American ghetto in L.A. Hell, more power to him. My point is that his opinions on illegal aliens are those of an outsider who doesn’t see the day-to-day societal problems created by illegal immigration.
Here are a few of my personal anecdotes illustrating the lawlessness that exists in the illegal enclaves:
I teach in an elementary school in one of these ‘hoods. A few years ago (the last time gas went to $5 a gallon), I got a scooter for my 8 mile commute into work (88mpg!). I got clipped right in front of my school by an unlicensed, uninsured, undocumented driver. The police towed the car (but she walked home(!?!), and I spent $525 fixing the scooter (imagine trying to bring her to small claims court).
There is a house right next to the school that has what I call a “perpetual yard sale.” The people who live in the house park in the school parking lot so that their driveway can be strewn with donated clothes. Many women in the community work as nannies or housekeepers in the well-to-do suburban areas (Palos Verdes) nearby. These clothes are given to the women by their employers once their kids outgrow them. Wouldn’t it suck to live next to a used clothing store? Most of the money in this community is made “under the table” (gardeners, construction grunts, nannies, housekeepers, “caterers” (authentic tamales for gabachos) so everyone qualifies for all the govt. freebies. The Dissident Dad says he shouldn’t be taxed on the “fruits of his labor’,” and he’s probably not, if his accountant is worth his salt. He’s probably a 1 percenter who no longer earns a paycheck, so he’s got loopholes available for exploitation.
My school is 100% “free lunch.” We have extended those benefits to include a free breakfast (served the first 20 minutes of the school day because we couldn’t get the parents to bring the kids early enough to eat the breakfast BEFORE the start of the school day). The students who stay in the after school care program get a dinner, too. The problem is, the children don’t like the food, so they throw it away. They bring “Lunchables” and Hot Cheetos. The food we offer is way healthier than that shit!
Rules are really important in a civilized society. A civilized society can’t be made with a population of dissidents/libertarians.
Surf’s up-time to go!
Billy says: Llpoh is a smart guy…But, put him in a room with a bunch of Mensa members and he’d be the guy parking cars for everyone else. Complete with a nice jacket with a little name-tag on it.
Speculation and conjecture is fine for a laugh but I hardly imagine little if anything was handed to our fair Native Murikan. AP illustrated above that brains alone is no guarantee of a bright future, otherwise, everybody on TBP would be rich.
I laughed at LLPOH’s comments, they are not the most vicious ever. Have you not read the line that says, when you react in the wildest, most unexpected manner, people leave you alone? You fuck with LLPOH, he will burn your ass, it is much safer to approach him with humility and presents, whiskey if possible.
Have you not read the line that says, when you react in the wildest, most unexpected manner, people leave you alone? You fuck with LLPOH, he will burn your ass, it is much safer to approach him with humility and presents, whiskey if possible. El
Yeah, well that’s great and all…
‘Cept I didn’t say shit to him in this thread. Me, AP, Stuck, Dutch, ASIG… he’s nowhere to be found. Then he comes out of nowhere, does a drive-by and launches a full spread at me, unprovoked.
I don’t have a problem with someone launching on me if I fuck with them, but dude wasn’t even a part of the conversation. Didn’t even enter into my consciousness. It was completely uncalled for. Made worse because he only sees a fragment of the whole, yet feels qualified to opine about something…
Billy ,if it makes you feel better , Lloph probably thinks I’m dumber than you are. Just saying.
Billy, that was a great series of posts. For what it’s worth, I think you are extremely well versed in argument. Indeed, I doubt there is anyone here who is as good at the art of argument as you are. You also know your fallacies well. It does not surprise me that you are of German ancestry, the most logical people known to mankind, right below which are the English. Though I suspect the French may differ with my assessment. And the Greeks, what with their heritage, would probably want to hang me for saying so. I am reminded of Heidegger who once remarked that true philosophy can only be written in Greek or German. Well, I think that’s what he said.
Not that my opinion changes or means anything, but I did teach that stuff for over a decade, and thought you deserve a compliment.
Trust me archie. He preciates it big time. I swear some times he comes home from the library ready to tear some TBP sumbitches head clear off. He luvs this place like Odin luvs a piece uh sweet ANUS. So thanks to.yew and all the rest uh yew white aryan creative engineerin types that won the west. Hoorah (cuz Billah served our over lords and won’t shut the fuck up about it)
Billy ,Archie is probably a faggot. I wouldn’t trust anyone who gives you a compliment.
Archie,
Well, thanks… in all seriousness. Much obliged. I guess we have it hard-coded in our DNA or something.
I never studied the art of argument or debate. Not really. Had to learn it as I went along, I suppose… that, and growing up in a big family… lots of sibling rivalry. Probably why I’m so raw at it.
Didn’t bother to find out the formal names for what I had been doing all this time until a couple years ago. I was like “OHhhhhh! So that’s what’s that’s called!”
I didn’t even hear of Godwin’s Law until about three months ago…
bb,
Dude, that was pretty fucked up.
I don’t know Archie from Adam, but I’ll take a compliment with as much grace as I can… God knows they’re rare enough around here..
Billy – I have never received a cent owing to being Indian. Or a break. Why? Because my folks were illiterate. And being illiterate, they could not access that itsy bitsy piece of paper called a CIB – certificate of Indian blood.
Without that, you just ain’t an Indian. To research your ancestry back to he Dawes rolls, and prove it via birth records, was impossible for an illiterate Indian. Sure, we knew we were, but hey – gotta have that paper.
Starving Indians in the dust howl of OK kinda had better things to do.
So I made it through Dartmouth, a top 20 MBA school, University of London, studied in Spain, etc., all without the benefits you think accrue to Indians. Fact is, those benefits are far less than folks think, in any event.
When I had the cash, and when the internet made things marginally easier, i pulled the records and got everyone in my family their CIBs and tribal enrolment cards.
Know what made it hard? My ancestors did not know how to spell their own fucking names, because, well, they were illiterate. Birth certificate surname spellings changed a bit depending on who the fucking nurse was doing the spelling, as great granny could only say it, not spell it.
Mensa? Really? I beat their qualifying mark by around 30 IQ points.
So, all told, gee, just maybe I know a little bit about what is required to lift many rungs out of poverty. Yes, it takes a lot more than brains.
And you want to quibble over lower vs solidly middle class? Really? And would there have been any difference in Mexico, when you were born? You would have been poor, either way.
I increasingly notice how different perspectives are, and have being meaning to write an article re that.
Folks here have no idea what some folks go through to raise themselves up, and the odds against it. Intelligence is but one part. From my experience it is a necessary part, but must be combined with a seriously aggressive personality, plus luck, plus goal-oriented, plus a lot of other things too numerous to mention.
I stand by my comment that you are not intellectually gifted. Did not say you were stupid. But gifted? I do not see it.
Stuck – your article is quite long, and I have been pre-occupied.
In the last few days three young people have died that attended school with my kids. Two were known to us, and one was the son of very close friends. We have known the young man all of his life. Brain aneurism in his case out of nowhere. The other two died in crashes. Horrible, horrible time.
Stuck – I routinely thank you for what you do around here. I find your comment somewhat insulting.
Re your comment about being better than others – I think you mis-read me. I think I just know better than most what is involved in over-coming adversity, and have a low tolerance for stupidity, sloth, etc., owing to my own experiences. You read that as me feeling superior. One way to look at it. Another is I do not give credit for mediocrity.
llpoh
I’m so sorry for the grief you are experiencing. Kevin’s best friend died in a car crash two years ago. I think about Tyler every day. It changed Kevin permanently. Kevin has stayed very close to Tyler’s parents. I think they see part of Tyler living through Kevin. They gave Kevin Tyler’s guitar and it is his prized possession. They gave Kevin a rare poster from the 1st Phish concert Tyler and Kevin ever attended in Atlantic City.
Kevin and his friends visited Tyler’s parents every time they are home from school. Family and friends can ease the grief, but it will never go away.
Tyler’s dad owns a townhouse in Fort Collins, Colorado and is letting Kevin and his roommate live there until they get settled.
Kevin leaves Tuesday on his cross country venture. Avalon is heartbroken. I’m sure he will do well. He’s smart, skeptical like his Dad, and a good person.
I still worry every time they get in a car.
I am too pre-occupied right now with grief to respond to you two appropriately. You guys do not know me and have no equivalent frame of reference.
Llpoh is back on his heels you asshole bastards norwegian aryans. Can he catch a bray ya ya ache?
Billy, your right, you were doing great. I reacted to your premise that, if not for affirmative action, LLPOH would be digging ditches somewhere.
When a person such as he says you are not gifted, that is a hard thing to swallow but it does not detract from your education as evidenced by your comments. Still, as my old boss said, you can’t argue with success. For LLPOH to claw his way out of the Indian ghetto the hard way and accomplish as much as he has done is a tremendous achievement that deserves more praise than a ‘MEH’.
What do you call the rhetorical devices: “If your so smart, why ain’t you rich” or “You took a spot that by right should have gone to somebody I could approve of”
Intellectually gifted means IQ of 130 – 160.
Llpoh says:
Intellectually gifted means IQ of 130 – 160.
_______________________________
That puts me at the lower end of the scale. I don’t really consider IQ a measure of intelligence as there are many forms of it.
Z – I used a term that has a very specific meaning. Instead of saying “I think Billy meets the criteria” or whatever, Stuck tells me it is a cheap shot. Whatever.
At certain levels of IQ, people begin to be capable of very abstract thinking, and that ability tends to make itself evident to others.
As before, I did not mean to say Billy is stupid – far from it. But I have not and do not see he has exhibited an advanced capacity for abstract thought. But I may be wrong.
Billy ,Why would anyone give you a compliment unless it was for selfish reasons.Everyone ones know you are not intelligently gifted. Nickel Thrower says you got anger management problems and that you’re fat.
Personally I think you’re probably one of the good guys. At least YOU are still patriotic and believe in the founding principles of our nation and you seem to tolerate me very well.That’s all a plus.
Archie ,I was just kidding Billy.Sometimes I forget we really don’t know each other. My apology.
T4c brings us right back to classy.Thumbs up. When I was in my twenties, I worked on commercials a lot. I was always fascinated by the producer sitting there looking at a computer screen with columns of running numbers, sort of like jim’s cost of war on the right. They were the various costs the production was running, continually updated, and were the primary tool for keeping the production on budget
bb, Archie is one of the good guys, he actually liked one of my vids – Banda Blanca – who can argue with good taste? He would be the first to admit homosexuality is illogical. I suggest you submit to a bitch slap from little bb, heh.
Just making conversation, I asked one of the guys how screwed he would be without the computer. He told me, not at all, I do that in my head, all the time. It seemed almost impossible at the time, but now, 25+ years later, my brain does the exact same thing, on cruise control. Controlling and projecting costs by the day, the week, the month, the year is a huge part of what I do, and how I think. I was never gifted mathmatically
My math SAT scores kept me out of certain schools. But today, noone can run bullshit numbers by me on anything. I can calculate out instantly anything, and call anyones bluff. It wasn’t a gift. It just comes from having to do it every day for 25 years. You get good at what you practice
Great post brazil66
Starfuck, the brain works differently at different ages. My boss Phil always surprised me with his total recall, then I got old and since my mind no longer focuses on pink tacos, I can recall pertinent facts.
I also recall impertinent facts that make me wince, my only consolation is that I’m sure everyone else has forgotten.
Zarathustra says: That puts me at the lower end of the scale. I don’t really consider IQ a measure of intelligence as there are many forms of it.
I got an IQ of 76, I push it to the limits. Old Sarge said, you gotta fight with what you got.
EC, funny, stucky’s gal didn’t know where the pink castle was. We ate at a restaurant in Vegas called the pink taco. The manager told us the same thing, half the girls he hired wanted to know why weren’t there any pink tacos on the menu.
That song is actually about a hockey player mick jones saw get knocked silly. Loved foreigner. Just saw zz top a couple weeks ago. Hard to believe I saw them when I was 16
The pink fortress. I think the pink castle is where they have those little fur-burgers.
Back to Billy calling me a post turtle. Never heard that one before.
Billy thinks I assume too much. If I had my CIB when applying to grad school, I would have gotten in to Harvard, instead of just top 20.
Nope, this little turtle got no breaks. Just got through on hard work, aggression, and good looks.
Star – I am somewhat of a math savant. My high school math teacher, when retiring after 40 some years, got hold of me and told me I was the best math student he ever taught. To this day not sure why he did that, but I guess he felt it important somehow.
I am not adept at abstract math, as that is rarified air, but at any real world math, I have never met my equal. I could solve advanced algebra problems when I was in second and third grade.
I remember my IQ being tested at around 135. I also had a second grade teacher tell me that I was my own worst enemy, and looking back, she was prescient. She told me that if there were several ways to get to the same destination, I always took the hardest path.
Thanks T4c. It has been extremely sad times.
My kid and the young man took taekwondo together for years. We saw him virtually every day. He was 17, and in the running for valedictorian next year. His mother, my wife’s good and dear friend, lost her mother five weeks ago after a five year battle with cancer, and her father was just committed to hospice with dementia. We do not know how she will endure it. Catastrophic series of events, with the last the worst.
That’s badass, dude. I think what helped me most was the crowd I ran with. All super competitive. All my high school friends made it, all my college friends hit it out of the park. And we weren’t nothing special, in a fairly ordinary school. I liked being a big fish in college. That took a lot of effort, well worth it though. And great training for the real world. We didn’t get a trophy for showing up.
Thing about Billy is that he cannot read for comprehension. In re-reading my post to him, no where did I say he came from lower middle class. I assumed not poor, but also not rich. Few rich kids enlist, especial as non-officer types.
I said his relative position in Mexico would have been poverty. That is correct.
I said he, in my humble opinion, lacked gifted intelligence, which I defined above, which I explained was a prereq for advancing from poverty to top 1%. I indicated he was not stupid.
And Billy takes this and says I fired a full spread at him.
Billy is incapable of reading for comprehension – time and again it comes up.
And he is incapable of understanding that environment does in fact make a difference in viewpoint.
A smart person born into poverty in corrupt Mexico will have a distinctly different viewpoint than the same person born into middle class USA.
But nope, Bill thinks he would be able to create the same values he currently has under vastly different circumstances.
It has taken me a lifetime of self-searching to overcome the highly limited value system I was borne into. I work at it every day. It is a monumental task. The basic values of right and wrong simply do not exist for poor, illiterate families as they do for others. Billy does not understand it, as it is outside his realm of experience. He is not alone.
Archie says he argues well. I disagree. He argues, but often totally misunderstands what the other person has said.
And sorry to hear about your friends. My dad is hitting end of life stuff right now, and keeping my mom’s spirits up is tough. She’s losing her partner of nearly 60 years. Unthinkable. But part of life.
Billy made some excellent points. With good questions.
Why did I not help my brethren? Several reasons, good and bad. First, no value system. Second, I was dirt poor and wanted that to end. Third – they gotta help themselves. Fourth, it took me a very long time to figure stuff out – I had zero in the way of role model for going to college, much less an Ivy. Same thing re jobs, grad school, etc. Willpower, goals, intellect, hard work got me through. It was …. hard with no roadmap.
I owe no one anything. I left because it is best for me and mine. Simple as that. Paid my dues and taxes. Served my country at arms. Created jobs. Someone else can step up to the plate.
Thanks Star. Sorry to hear about your dad.
Billy mentioned ruthlessness above. I think aggressive is a more valuable to an honest man. I have never, I believe, been ruthless as such. Hard and cold at times, though. The good business comes before the good of employees, for instance.
Being aggressive has taken a huge toll on me over the decades. That is a very big part of why I have opted out. To do what I have done meant fighting every day of my life.
Much of the time I fought myself. I had to fight hard to overcome my lack of a value system. It was enormously difficult at times. I had no roadmap. I could see I had to do better, be better, but before I could do that, I had to understand what that was. I had to frame the question before I could answer it. It was hard for me to do.
And in my field of manufacturing, to be successful in an ever declining marketplace required daily battles.
It has been very taxing, in all senses of the word.
You will like being a gentleman farmer. A lot. Go look at hardscrabbles website. There is a pic up top of him and a big ass cow. Never see the face of a happier guy in your life. He made it, and got out in time. He won’t die from stress. It’s super relaxing to get outside every day and take note of everything, and you can have some great years as well
Thanks Anon.
Btw – thanks EC.
Don’t know how I went anon. I’m out at the big farm right now, filling water buckets, checking irrigation, with a headlight on. I don’t have to do it, a guy comes in in a couple of hours, I just like it. It’s my thinking time. I used to have an aussie friend, peter heibloom, he wrote books on clearing your mind so you can think straight. Smart guy.
” … gifted intelligence ….. was a prereq for advancing from poverty to top 1%” ——-Llpoh
That makes no sense at all. In other words, are all the folks in the Top 1% have gifted intelligence? One Big Mensa club? Hardly. Some of the dumbest motherfuckers I’ve know were in that club. We’ve had many posts and comments here about “intelligence”. You place so much emphasis on a “score” which, imho, puts you on the wrong side of the argument.
“I owe no one anything.” ———- Llpoh
I figure we ALL stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Did your factory use electricity? Did you invent it?
Anyway, I meant to insult no one. So solly.
And then SATAN said, “Sure! Let’s add the alphabet to math!”
#100
I win.
Blow me.
Stuck – odds are anyone moving from poverty to top 1% is a smart fuck.