Pop-up HYSTERIA

[rockyracoon01]

The Michael Jackson verdict came in today. The jury voted innocent on all charges, including molestation, threatened imprisonment and supplying alcohol to a 13-year old boy. I'm not surprised by the verdict because I don't see Michael Jackson as a pedophile. He seems to be naive, clueless and immature, but no child rapist. Whether its because he

Comments

[ex_mysolace268]

Someone was talking on a talk radio show about how they think there's going to be a revolution in America. A full-blown proletariat revolution. But it won't happen.

People go aroud talking about how evil it is that celebrities get paid as much as they do, but unlike other times in the world's history, this is actually under our control. If we stopped buying Lil Jon's shitty music, he wouldn't be able to get paid that much. People blame greed. And, to some extent that's true, beacuse otherwise, they'd take their billions of dollars they make in profit (from us giving it to them) and end world hunger with it. But that's not going to happen. We still can't forget that every overpaid celebrity is rich because we pay to see them. Every greedy rich CEO got there because we buy their company's products.

The interesting thing about not having a revolution is that, on the whole, people are happy. Most people are like "what the hell are you saying? Most Americans hate their jobs." It's not true. Less than 8% of the work force belongs to a union now. Less people switch jobs than ever before. (Even though for some reason people like to claim we're in a day and age where career change is possible... it happens less than it did 50 years ago.)

It's a 2-way street. Yes, CEO's and musicians get paid a lot. But then again, most of them actually do legitimate things with a lot of thier money. You can't blame them for taking the check. It's not like they're sucking money out of people's pockets. If they didn't take the check, their bosses would. But you can't blame them entirely, since it is us who support them. Before we cry revolution and show the gap between the upper and lower classes, why don't we first look at how the lower and middle classes willingly create and support the upper class?

[rockyracoon01]

Well said as always, Daniel. As you know, the problem exists in our emphasis and how it is passed on to our generations. If for one generation we put no particular emphasis on rap stars and basketball players and instead focused in on scientists and human rights leaders, we'd have Ghandi trading cards and Curie action figures that weren't jokes but actual idols and heros to said generation.

The lower class willingly supports the upper class for a variety of reasons, the most obvious of which is their own personal hope for a chance at the American Dream. The second problem is the problem of the American Dream itself. It tells us that if we make money, we will be happy. And although most of us know that that isn't 100% true, we still hold on to some hope that it 'makes life easier' and will therefore make us happy. As a result, we spend half or more of our lives being workaholics just so we can have enough money to enjoy life when we retire. I don't know about everyone else, but I can't wait until 60 to start living.

[ex_mysolace268]

I don't think money makes you happy, but I think it gives you time and ability to do the things you want to do. Wouldn't it be nice to have a million in the bank so you could spend the year travelling or doing whatever it is that you want to do? Sure, it's not going to happen to everyone. But I personally believe it's very possible for a lot more people to be their own boss than there are now. Especially if you look at the business market today. The tendency today is for businesses to hire outside resources for their work. i.e. instead of hiring a web design team, you'll just hire another company to do a website for you for that particular project. If you talk to just about any business analyst, it's estimated that by the time we're about 30 or so, most businesses will hire independent contractors for work.

I don't know. I just still emphasize the problem I wrote in the last post - the average person just doesn't care. Perhaps people are misinterpreting the American Dream rather than it being completely false. Do people think they can not get an education and get a sub-par job and be rich? It doesn't make sense to me. It's not a fault of the idea, it's a fault of people not giving a shit. Believing that everything will be alright in the end rather than doing something now to help themselves.

Well, that's why I preach entrepreneurship so much. Maybe not everyone will be Bill Gates, but anyone who has a good idea can go out there and try to take it somewhere. Businesses have been founded by all kinds of people. People who were already rich. Middle-class Americans with good ideas. Students. Hell, I even know of a homeless man who started a business and pulled himself right out of poverty by starting a publication, originally with poems and stories written by fellow homeless people. There's a group out in New York called the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship that does just that - they teach high schoolers how to start their own businesses. They aren't teaching rich kids, they're purposely teaching poor students from the bronx. And 80% of them get small businesses going that at least bring them in a few hundred a month. Not bad as an underpriveliged high school student. The awesome thing is that the majority of them who take part in that program also do better in school and stay out of trouble, because they suddenly realize they have more control over their lives and financial freedom than they did before.

I don't know. I think there's times when the American Dream is flawed, and then there's times where I think it's very possible, but just a bit harder to obtain. If people started caring more and taking risks with their ideas, I genuinely think more people would be well-off.

[rockyracoon01]

i know it's late and all, but i just realized i never mentioned that i read this. there wasn't any point i particularly felt the need to debate which is why it was left. thanks for your thoughts.