I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours

[coberst]

I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours

I would say that a culture consists of the complex of ideas that a group of people hold dear. One can speak of the culture of a small group or of a very large group.

In the United States our culture is determined to a large extent by how we hold "these truths to be self-evident"; we are held together by ideas perhaps more than other societies. Next religion plays a great role, and in our case it is the mixture of Protestantism, Judaism, and Catholicism. Following this is our infatuation with capitalism; following that is our narcissistic view of our uniqueness and greatness.

Our culture is a general attitude toward our self and toward the world based upon these four ideologies.

To what powers have wo/men given allegiance in order to solve the paradoxes of life? To what or to whom have each of us given our uncritical allegiance? “Into what hero-system do I fit the expression of my talent”? What or whom has become my fetish-god?

It is possible for the adult to choose which power s/he will serve; however, to do so, when the choice is contrary to one that has resulted from the family and community clan, is an extremely unusual and heroic act. “The great tragedy of our lives is that the major question of our existence is never put by us--it is put by personal and social impulses for us.”

Very few of us discover our authentic talent—if it is ever found it is generally found accidentally through plain fate by us in our social milieu as we tap...tap...tap our blind way through life.

From a personal point of view our principal task is to somehow find our way out of the fate that we stumbled into and to grow out of our idol worship and fetishism and to expand our horizons, allegiances, and to drop our mere preoccupations. We need to free our self from the opinions of others.

“Since aggression is a reaction to frustration, by remaining tightly bound to the success of our social world we increase our aggressiveness, life invariable frustrates us.”

[b]Disinterested knowledge is the energy bunny. It generates the energy for exploration and for overcoming some of the inhibitions conscious reason places on the unconscious.

Studying disinterested knowledge is like taking off a month every year to visit a strange new land. Curiosity is reinvigorated and new meaning is created.[/b

Knowledge is like a jigsaw puzzle. We have created many puzzles in coping with reality and when we received a new piece (knowledge) that does not fit our present puzzles we forgetaboutit. However, if through disinterested knowledge we have created new puzzles we might find a place for this new fragment of knowledge to fit; thereby this fragment becomes our new knowledge.

Our mind is constantly working for us and when we do not give it a worthwhile project, i.e. a new puzzle, it will just waste away in boredom or worry.

In America one might best see this attitude manifested by this frame of mind “I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours”; a manifestation of this attitude may be seen in concrete form by the fact that 45 million citizens are without proper health care.

Do you think that the attitude “I’ve Upped My Income, Now Up Yours” is an American frame of mind?

Quotes from “The Birth and Death of Meaning: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Problem of Man” by Ernest Becker

[lookout123]

You've become a boring rehashing of thoughts borrowed from one author. If I wasn't so busy self learning and self actualizing I'd put you on my ignore list.

[glatt]

So will this post also land in your e-mail box? Or is that just in the other thread?

[monster]

Anyome adopted any nice puppies lately? I saw Tree Fae had some nice ones

[lumberjim]

June 25, 2008
The Cowboys filled their roster to capacity this week, signing offensive tackle Ryan Gibbons, who had been with Jacksonville for the last two seasons. Gibbons (6-7, 330) was recently cut by the Jags. He has spent the majority of his time on the practice squad and did play a season in NFL Europa, winning a World Bowl with Hamburg. Gibbons will likely compete for a backup spot, along with Doug Free and Pat McQuistan, and newly-signed veteran Cory Lekkerkerker. June 19, 2008
After being inactive for all 16 games last year as a rookie, James Marten has received some practice at guard. Drafted in the third-round last year as a tackle from Boston College, Marten fell behind Pat McQuistan and Doug Free as the backups to Flozell Adams and Marc Colombo. There might be more opportunities for Marten to play at guard, where Cory Procter and Joe Berger are the primary backups. May 14, 2008
The Cowboys added some depth to the offensive line on Wednesday, signing offensive tackle Cory Lekkerkerker and guard Adam Stenavich. Lekkerkerker has played in 26 games the past two years, with the Chargers and Dolphins. Stenavich was on the Packers practice squad in 2006 but out of football last year. He originally joined the Panthers after the draft in 2006, but eventually went to Green Bay after being cut by Carolina. Stenavich played in the final season of NFL Europa, spending the 2007 summer with the Amsterdam Admirals. April 23, 2008
Cowboys center Cory Procter signed his one-year exclusive rights tender on Wednesday, worth $520,000 for the 2008 season. Proctor, a three-year veteran, came to the Cowboys as a guard, both received considerable action at center this past season when he started the final two games for an injured Andre Gurode. Procter played in all 16 games, mostly on special teams. Procter is expected to enter this season as Gurode's backup but he can also provide some backup help at the guard position as well.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by coberst

In America one might best see this attitude manifested by this frame of mind “I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours”; a manifestation of this attitude may be seen in concrete form by the fact that 45 million citizens are without proper health care.

If a person (a) is poorly, (b) receives treatment intended to make him better, and (c) gets better, then no power of reasoning known to medical science can convince him that it may not have been the treatment that restored his health.
--Sir Peter Medawar, The Art of the Soluble

a cookie jar tidbit

[SamIam]

You'd have been better off to skip the rhetoric and just posed your question. I could barely get through your post, and I used to be a material girl myself.

[Flint]

No, UP YOURS! (specifically: your crack, with a Cadillac)

[glatt]

What Flint said.

UP YOURS! (your nose with a rubber hose.)

[lookout123]

I know I'm about to sound like a 15 year old girl who is mad for the minute at her last best friend, but i think it may be time for this coberst cat to skedaddle. he doesn't give us anything that we can't get elsewhere. he obviously places no more value in the cellar than he does in the eleventy-eight other forums he's spamming with this tired shit. everyone has a life outside teh cellar (except me) and most of us check other forums as well... that's cool. what i don't find cool is the fact that he doesn't participate at all. when he dropped these here and a couple other places i didn't mind it. he had some ideas and wanted to get them out there. but now? he could effectively just email his drivel to everyone with a hotmail address and achieve the same thing he gets with this style of posting. if you aren't providing the cellar with something unique then what is the point in being here? the verdict in my mind is: SPAM.

[monster]

Someone point him in the direction of troll kingdom. Drax could use the company.

[Flint]

There's a balance between how much text you can expect people to read vs. how much of what they have posted you have replied to in a way that demonstrates comprehension of what they were saying. And this guy doesn't know what it is.

[Undertoad]

One month ban.

[Flint]

It's too bad, because I think I'd like having an actual conversation with him. Of course, I'd have to overlook the fact that vast tracts of what he is saying are just things he heard somebody else say.

I'm not willing to read umpteem paragraphs just to see if he actually manages to tie different things together into a new or interesting idea; and I'm not interested in discussing "here is some stuff that some author wrote."

[lumberjim]

there are plenty of places you could try that, it would seem