Realism Reloaded

What would it be like to really be free? A lot of us claim that we treasure freedom above all else, that what we ask others for above all else, is to retain our freedom..... and things like that. But how many of us really are free? Ultimately none of us. We love to claim we are. We love to claim that we are all heading in the direction we want to, because we made a choice to and because we are free to exercise our will.....

All a load if bullcrap, if you ask me. We've never had our choice. We never had our freedom and those of us that chose to try and break free, were shot down before the flight began. As a child, noone really gave a damn what you wanted. Your choices were made for you. You did what the norms said. If you were a farmer's son, you learnt how to plough the fields and feed the animals. Or, of course, as is more likely among people like us, you were packed off to school.....

Who decided what you "learnt" at school? Not you, oh no! Not you by a long way....not even anyone who knew you......and so it continued....you slogged up through school. You were then told by your parents what stream to choose, when that "choice" finally faced you. Once again, it wasn't you really. You thought it was, perhaps (though a lot of people admit that they weren't even given a chance to think about what they wanted to do) but it wasn't that way at all, in truth. If you were scoring well, you opted for Science.....else you went for Commerce.....and finally Arts.....even those that were "given the choice", mostly went with the herd......who wants to be conspicuous?

I am not saying that this is the universal norm.....although it is true for most. Yet, this is just a simple and very obvious example. You see it much more in life as it unfolds around you. Terms like "maverick", iconoclast", "weird", "eccentric" etc didn't come to exist for any reason other than to make you kowtow to the rules...."Discipline!" What is discipline? Obeying the rules, that's what discipline is....they call it by many names....."social responsibility", "moral responsibility", "societal norms", familial norms", "religious norms", "civic responsibility". All fu*king bullshit!

These are the rules that have ruined our world. These are the rules that led to the creation and the prosperity of "religions". Religion.....the ultimate manifestation of the chains that society binds us in.....Scare the masses. Create this fake concept....call it "God"...then scare the crap out of people. Command them to do your work....tell them "God" wants them to...and then tell them that if they don't, they'll be consigned to the flames of "Hell", of "Jahannum" fot the rest of Eternity. "Let's see how many break free of that! Oh! And we get them to entertain us too....with wars and crusades and jehads and the odd terrorist attacks....not to mention the separatist movements and occassional riots.....let's also throw bombing and arson in with that.......proselytization? Ummm...yeah! sounds good to me....gives us more of an opportunity to have some fun, what?" Dirty, decieving bastards...... I'll devote another one to them someday....

"Free your mind" they say.....and then they tell you where the boundaries of that freedom are. "Who's stopping you? Do what you want to; you're free to do it", people say.....and then they tell you what's acceptable and what's not......

I really do wonder....where the Hell has "development" been taking us all these years? What the fu*k is development anyway? Most can't even freaking define what they mean by it. "Improvement in the quality of life", most of the rest tell me. Yes.....right....this is improvement. When I don't have time for anything that really matters to me. When I can't enjoy the small and simple joys of life. When I can hardly find time to breathe because there's so much "to be done". When I can't be me.....because society wouldn't like me.....if I were me.....yes, that's an improvement in quality of life I guess......because we do claim to be "developing".....

Reminds me of a guy I once knew.....I was in school then. He did nothing. "Nothing", in the sense that "nothing" is used these days. He spent his time with his band....made rock music....never sold a damn copy....never got a contract to cut an album even......I remember the looks he was subjected to......even by us kids. We could never call him anything but "a total waste of life"......I was 9 at the time and he was close to 30....how things change.....