I loved this response by JK Brady so much that I have decided
plagiarize it and post it here for all to see because as she noted
it is a quite succint analysis of many problems we face here in
the ugly ugly present day world . Best I can tell plagiarization
is not a huge issue here on OS , judging by the many copy and
pasted posts I have read . This stuff here is too good to go
unread so I hope everyone reads it and takes it to heart .
JK's IrreveRANT
(this in respone to my post " Is there a poverty gene"
http://open.salon.com/blog/trig_palin/2009/02/25/is_there_a_poverty_gene )
Oh Trig, such an evocative post. First off, approx 90% of the world's total wealth is controlled by 5% of the population. This is ancient family shit. So think the Queen, and her small cadre of relatives all over Europe...all interbred to keep out the riffraff. You don't hear them moaning about the recession do you? Is the Queen selling off property to weather the recession...I don't think so!
The other 10% of the money, they just let us play around with and pretend we have some power and control...but we really don't, no matter how big your Mercedes is, they can take you down in a heartbeat. (and now we know that there was never any real money, it was just smoke and mirrors)
The rest of us really do not have an honest shot at ever competing at their level EVER...but sometimes if you become a major shareholder in a company that builds WMDs and manage to corrupt democracy enough to become the evil VP of a major country (not naming any names) or unless you are really clever and super lucky with great timing a la Billie Gates. Or unless you are so driven by money that you will sell your mother to the Taliban and you are also clever enough to know how to negotiate that deal.
We non-royals (all 5.9999 billion of us) are permitted some amount of play money to fight over and share amongst ourselves, but you have to work for it. You want money, it has to be the number one focus in your life, sell your soul to the devil, work 80 hours per week, and be willing to trash the entire world economy for your next bonus. Fuck everyone in other words—think Wall St. and the disgusting bonuses they earned for bankrupting the country/world.
The little folks who prostitute themselves for the leftovers are protecting the real power elite's anonymity. The crass, big car driving, cigar smoking, People magazine fodder type of person entertains the masses and keeps them from burning the castles. Think the cheap seats in Shakespeare's time.
The problem here in the New World, is that we are mostly the offspring of outcasts (seen any real royalty in the neighbourhood lately?) My grandad came from Russia when he was two (he was big for his age), and I'm pretty sure there was a sod hut in his early life. So here in the New World, we don't have access to the birth right of money, and no, that princess is never going to marry you just because she thinks you’re cute, her family will kill you first.
So we make do with the amount we are delegated to control, and we then fight each other for crumbs. Some do better than others. Some emulate the true elite and crowd together, effectively keeping out the lower riffraff.
However in Canada, we have a more socialist...erm...way about us. While you 'Merikan's conquered your land, we sort of managed our way into control - we don't have that gun slinger mentality. Just not the fighting type. The American Dream is world famous, and boisterous and bold and fearless, but it seems to be more available or more attractive to recent immigrants than it is to families who've been landed for a couple of generations and are stuck in the poverty rut.
Education plays a big part in success as well. As long as social programs are trashed in favour of war machines, then the status quo continues for too many families. The government (yours more than mine - sorry) likes to sell high school drop outs the promise of an education for putting their tender ass on the line so that they can line their own pockets with dividends from Halliburton while some uneducated, mom without healthcare in a housing project cries her little eyes out. They don't give a shit about her or you. Trust me.
But I digress. Oops, sorry, should have put up a soapbox alert earlier in the post. I fear I’ve hijacked your post…damn.
Sorry, the short answer is:
Yes, you are a poor dumb asshole.
But welcome to the club. The only difference between you and me is that I didn't get to that chair first.
And I'm willing to sell my soul a little for a pair of $400 boots that speak to me baby. And I don't have kids. And I'm gay--No, I'm not, (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I wanted to cover all the bases of your post.
Great post, sorry for the long answer, but I didn’t have time to make it shorter. ;)
The other 10% of the money, they just let us play around with and pretend we have some power and control...but we really don't, no matter how big your Mercedes is, they can take you down in a heartbeat. (and now we know that there was never any real money, it was just smoke and mirrors)
The rest of us really do not have an honest shot at ever competing at their level EVER...but sometimes if you become a major shareholder in a company that builds WMDs and manage to corrupt democracy enough to become the evil VP of a major country (not naming any names) or unless you are really clever and super lucky with great timing a la Billie Gates. Or unless you are so driven by money that you will sell your mother to the Taliban and you are also clever enough to know how to negotiate that deal.
We non-royals (all 5.9999 billion of us) are permitted some amount of play money to fight over and share amongst ourselves, but you have to work for it. You want money, it has to be the number one focus in your life, sell your soul to the devil, work 80 hours per week, and be willing to trash the entire world economy for your next bonus. Fuck everyone in other words—think Wall St. and the disgusting bonuses they earned for bankrupting the country/world.
The little folks who prostitute themselves for the leftovers are protecting the real power elite's anonymity. The crass, big car driving, cigar smoking, People magazine fodder type of person entertains the masses and keeps them from burning the castles. Think the cheap seats in Shakespeare's time.
The problem here in the New World, is that we are mostly the offspring of outcasts (seen any real royalty in the neighbourhood lately?) My grandad came from Russia when he was two (he was big for his age), and I'm pretty sure there was a sod hut in his early life. So here in the New World, we don't have access to the birth right of money, and no, that princess is never going to marry you just because she thinks you’re cute, her family will kill you first.
So we make do with the amount we are delegated to control, and we then fight each other for crumbs. Some do better than others. Some emulate the true elite and crowd together, effectively keeping out the lower riffraff.
However in Canada, we have a more socialist...erm...way about us. While you 'Merikan's conquered your land, we sort of managed our way into control - we don't have that gun slinger mentality. Just not the fighting type. The American Dream is world famous, and boisterous and bold and fearless, but it seems to be more available or more attractive to recent immigrants than it is to families who've been landed for a couple of generations and are stuck in the poverty rut.
Education plays a big part in success as well. As long as social programs are trashed in favour of war machines, then the status quo continues for too many families. The government (yours more than mine - sorry) likes to sell high school drop outs the promise of an education for putting their tender ass on the line so that they can line their own pockets with dividends from Halliburton while some uneducated, mom without healthcare in a housing project cries her little eyes out. They don't give a shit about her or you. Trust me.
But I digress. Oops, sorry, should have put up a soapbox alert earlier in the post. I fear I’ve hijacked your post…damn.
Sorry, the short answer is:
Yes, you are a poor dumb asshole.
But welcome to the club. The only difference between you and me is that I didn't get to that chair first.
And I'm willing to sell my soul a little for a pair of $400 boots that speak to me baby. And I don't have kids. And I'm gay--No, I'm not, (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I wanted to cover all the bases of your post.
Great post, sorry for the long answer, but I didn’t have time to make it shorter. ;)
(no need to apologize Janie , couldn't have said it better! )
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Comments
Thank you and JK for this.
I'm thinking if I had some of that, along with my "new"
'puter chair I could be rich as J.K. Rowling in no time .
Best "comment" ever . Thank you, and sorry for stealing it
but by Merikan law I think I owned it anyway, since it was dangling
at the bottom of MY POST !
been studying up on the barter system.
Theodora glad you like. JK Brady laid it on the line didn't she.
Grif I would agree on the percentages I think but that's all
just statistics. Yeah, why quibble.
Renaissance so true
"Of course, if you're a megalomaniac, you're probably not going to want an educated, vibrant and self-sufficient working class. "
once again I think it's PRICELESS ( money puns )
i had a point when i began writing this but damn if i know...oh yeah, JK's comment. it was really pretty insightful. whether Chi inspired or not, she spake a lot of truthiness there. my favorite part though is where she called you a dumb asshole. i don't know why she tried to sugarcoat it like that, i guess she's just nice that way.
I've actually seen a Chi master throw a 200lb man without touching him. Amazing stuff. I'm not that good yet though. But watch out!! ;)
Reagans speechwriter ? Or maybe you WERE the speechwriter.
Yeah , that's the ticket.
Zuma glad you read this ...it's for OUR people .
nANateHAy , get it right....it was " poor dumb asshole"
and trig, you're right, it's the "poor" part that takes the sting out of it.
These aren't high school drop outs per se driven to the military. It's worse. They are failed college grads--atheletes that did not make the pro cut. Since they attended "ghost" classes in school, they don't know anything; they aren't trained to do anything but sports. Their next step is the military, and, in fact, many argue that the US hs/college sports/business complex is ultimately a feeder system for the military.
confused with the power of illicit drugs
grif...dammit, hosting? well, maybe
I have posted a couple of blogs dealing with this same subject. One of them proposes a solution by way of a system of "designed capitalism" in preference to the dog-eat-dog wide-open chuck-you-farley imperialism that we now "enjoy".
Heck it's even better than socialism.
JK,
Now that we've whupped them evil Vespuccians, perhaps you should lead us in establishing the new social order......(just so's ya know that this was really written by me - the secret password is ~~~erp~~~
IF and I say IF it is plagiarism, you sure know how to pick the best of the best to 'borrow' from. Well done!
rated
we all kinda in the same economic boat , though 'hose of us to
the south might be sinkin' a bit faster. Y'all have the ice to hold ya
up . JK ...her I adore ,m and being from the TO she's already
prackly merikan
Trey welcome to the frey
of my world
http://open.salon.com/blog/zumalicious/2009/02/26/the_merry_maids_of_utopia_part_iv_by_zumaspeare
us poor bastards gotta stick together ...
JK that chi is some pretty mean stuff.. Maybe you should take it easy..~~Grins~~
Thank you both for the reality of it all
Now THAT is plagiarism !
Thanks for that Sally Swift ...but thank JK
Fireeyes ...Trig get's no credit here excepting maybe the inspiration
which is good enough for me . I love this forum
ANIMAL SKULL LAMPS????????????
PEOPLE!!! What more do I need to convince you of Nanatehay's depravity?
WHERE ARE THE MILITIA MEN?
"um, Trig lives in Kansas?
oh boy, this is becoming a conspiracy. be very very scared. "
Well, I'm all hepped up on Chi again tonight and anything can happen, but I will probably keep a low profile tonight -- but anything can happen.
I guess I should stop by and show some appreciation for all the folks who got this ying and yang post/comment/post and liked my part of it. (hey, is this a first here on OS?)
Someday, I'll take this and clean up all the bad punctuation and sentence structure that I just didn't care about in my blind chi-crazed posting mentality last night. Then maybe I'll repost it just for posteriority or posterity depending how you look at it.
Is this how McCain felt when he paired up with that other Palin? (well, maybe after the first speech)
It's a Brady/Palin ticket in '09 maybe.
I also have to give some credit here. The final sentence "sorry for the long answer, but I didn’t have time to make it shorter" is paraphrased from a quote that Steve Axelrod sent me the other day. I think he was trying to tell me something about the length of my messages, but I'm not sure. ;) I'd tell you who wrote it, but has anyone else noticed that you can't scroll past the first page of your messages?
Gah, is the email system on OS is a little weird or what?
Oh JK the OS email system isn't a little weird.. it just fucking suck.. Had to be a man who programed that one. Those damn Programs.. (sorry Tink I am not including you)
~~EVIL GRINS~~
I LOVED that ending sentence . It was ironically perfect.
Oh no, now I see Steven was quoting EB White !
Any way , give Tai chi the credit for the rant if you will .
I like it.
Fireeyes (and JK ) Yes the mail system is BEYOND weird.
I mean ...is this not the year 2009 ?
I saw JK's post last night but just kind of skimmed over it. I'm glad you posted it here so I could give it the attention it deserved. Not much I can add that hasn't been said but the imbalance is frightening.
Nice work, Trig, JK and commenter s. You guys rock!
Thanks for visiting as always .
JK was wound up and layed it right on the line I thought.
In other words she SAID what I was thinking
owmmmmmmm
Answer these people . I have to go to bed .
( Hi MAWB )
http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm
And, btw, here's a report stating that 40% of the world's wealth is owned by a mere 1% of the population.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006/dec/06/business.internationalnews
okay but anyway JK haulered at me all the way from Canada to get over here to check out this tag team post the two you have going on. It was easier for her to just hauler because the email system fucking sucks..~~Evil Grins~~
Rated for wampum
Me ? I am just the poor dumb asshole!
(just kidding janie)
It serves me well to remind myself sometimes that I'm a European mongrel by heritage -- various parts of my family were kicked out of every respectable country in Europe to wind up here (France for being Protestant at the wrong time; Ireland for being Catholic at the wrong time; Scotland for being ... well, Scottish at the wrong time, and so on) They too were poor dumb arseholes, just like me, their lineal descendant.