The Lottery

[Fig]

So, I read Alan Dershowitz's column this morning Anti-Semitism gets a pass, and a couple of things struck me at once. The first is the way social media, especially as used by the Social Justice Warrior/Enviroreligionist, basically turns people in to a deaf and dumb, angry, virtual mob of outraged morons. These histrionics aren't generalized, but are rather focused and invariably seek to destroy someone personally (hat tip Alinsky). This is an old and well known phenomena. It's a flaw of human nature.

When I served we hung out with a guy who was a bully. I worked out with him (he was huge) and liked him, but he wasn't very nice. He bullied anyone he thought was less than him, and would make fun of them relentlessly in a not friendly way. He could have also physically bullied people in a different setting. One time I just asked him point blank why he was such a bully. He smiled and said, "I'm insecure, and it makes me feel good to bully these retards." We both laughed, and that was that. I usually didn't like the people he bullied, so I rarely if ever intervened (I probably should have).

"The Lottery" was a short story written by Shirley Jackson (most famous for "The Haunting of Hill House") in 1948. It was made into a short movie in the late 1960s. We read the short story and watched the film (actual film on a projector) in English class in high school in the 80s.


I can't stop thinking about it. The Lottery IS social media. Jackson's story was a social exposition, not accusatory of anyone in particular, about what people derive from destroying someone for a reason or for no reason whatsoever. It requires an inwardness and callousness (total lack of empathy) that is evidence of a diseased society/culture. I think the way social media destroys people is what Jackson's story is about. What they drive from it, and the way they attack with malice aforethought, it's really quite striking to me, and very disturbing. It is ignorance writ large, and it is indeed the very ignorance they revel in and for which they are proud. It's no different from some anti-gunner being proud they have never touched a firearm and know nothing about them whatsoever. Making ignorance a virtue has to be about the most dangerous thing the left does.

If I don't like someone I try to ignore them and avoid conversation. If you fuck me in business shame on you, but you're going to be a scoundrel in my book most likely forever. I have ZERO desire to destroy anyone even if I really don't like them. I mostly just want them to go away. These social media mobs are evil even if you can make a case that they occasionally attack someone who is an actual villain, because from where I sit it's mostly plucked from the ether, out of context, without empathy or understanding, and with malice aforethought to destroy. If allowed to metastasize I believe it will definitely be one of the things that rends this country apart.

 

[Inifinty]

Well they chased what little respect there was for God out of the schools and now teach self gratification thru masturbation among other things.

You made many good points. As good as any of us want to be, and many have no aspirations for good, we have these built in character deficiencies that pull us toward animal instinct when left unchecked. It seems we were built to require a good leader that is better than any man could ever aspire to be.

I believe it to be one part of the lesson that this experience is.

 

[Nik H]

Nice post and wholeheartedly agree.

I have been saying that both social media outlets and main stream news outlets are nothing but a means to an end. They are insidious in nature because they do nothing but polarize large collections of lemmings towards a common goal. The insidious nature is that they do it with abject bias towards one side.

The resulting lemmings now feel emboldened to an extent that they never did. This creates violence occasionally. This furthers and reinforces the original points made by the SM and MSM outlets. It is a self feeding perpetual circle.

The justice department should really consider prosecution based on inciting civil unrest

 

[Fig]

Well they chased what little respect there was for God out of the schools and now teach self gratification thru masturbation among other things.

You made many good points. As good as any of us want to be, and many have no aspirations for good, we have these built in character deficiencies that pull us toward animal instinct when left unchecked. It seems we were built to require a good leader that is better than any man could ever aspire to be.

I believe it to be one part of the lesson that this experience is.

I agree, but not with your conclusion. We have no choice but to have a leader who is a natural born sinner like the rest of us. The solution is not to find the best of the worst, 99% unworkable, but to limit power to the point where a bad person can't do lasting harm to the governed.

We need a government that is small and weak enough that we can drown it in the bathtub when necessary. We were given such a Constitutional Republic, but a long series of bad SCOTUS decisions has allowed it to burst it's bonds, and now it is an unaccountable leviathan for whom the law does not apply to it's denizens. The only classes in America have become "Federal Worker", and "Slave" forced to pay for Federal Worker. There IS a Deep State, and it IS ruling us.

 

[Deleted member 113831]

The only classes in America have become "Federal Worker", and "Slave" forced to pay for Federal Worker. There IS a Deep State, and it IS ruling us.

Total number of the U.S. work force is about 130 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics...thly-number-of-full-time-employees-in-the-us/

Total Federal work force is about 2.8 million. https://www.governing.com/gov-data/federal-employees-workforce-numbers-by-state.html

The average salary of the federal worker is $80,000. So, of the 7 trillion dollars spent every year, roughly 3.2% goes to federal worker
salaries.

4 trillion goes to social programs. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...-dollars-on-social-insurance-programs-mostly/

It isn't the salary of the "federal worker" the "slaves" are struggling to pay for.

 

[Nik H]

Total number of the U.S. work force is about 130 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics...thly-number-of-full-time-employees-in-the-us/

Total Federal work force is about 2.8 million. https://www.governing.com/gov-data/federal-employees-workforce-numbers-by-state.html

The average salary of the federal worker is $80,000. So, of the 7 trillion dollars spent every year, roughly 3.2% goes to federal worker
salaries.

4 trillion goes to social programs. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...-dollars-on-social-insurance-programs-mostly/

It isn't the salary of the "federal worker" the "slaves" are struggling to pay for.

The social programs are what keeps the Deep State in Power...and is the cork preventing the force of change from leaving the bottle.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Well they chased what little respect there was for God out of the schools and now teach self gratification thru masturbation among other things.

I'm fairly certain that a bit of fun with yourself is not really what is causing the problem.
I don't want to offend those with religious issues about sexuality but really, claiming a bit of self pleasuring is the cause of the downfall of civilization???? (I understand some folks have a real dislike in their specific religious dogma regarding sexual stuff so please don't take my post as a personal affront.)

How I would possibly put it, is to paraphrase Machiavelli's conclusions in the Discourses on the first decade of Titus Leviticus, that morals and religion are inexorably intertwined in the outcome of any society, and if the predominant religion of the society has useful morals, it provides a stable foundation for the society to prosper so long as they are not too fanatical in their application. Remove that key pillar and your society starts to crumble, sometimes temporarily propped up by harsh governance, which simply delays the inevitable.

 

[W54/XM-388]

The social programs are what keeps the Deep State in Power...and is the cork preventing the force of change from leaving the bottle.

The social programs are not just the cork. What the represent is the Deep State's/Democrat's/Communist's ability to project power & control. Their ability to keep their subjects in line. Their ability to tell their subjects that they must all toe the line or else it's the gutter for you.

If you look at almost any government "assistance" program, it is designed from the beginning to give you just enough to keep you barely comfortable and dependent on the "government" in a benefit check to benefit check, hand to mouth level.

They specifically discourage harshly any attempt to get ahead, save up a bit, move yourself up on the income ladder, or in any way get out of being under their thumb. The moment you try to do anything for yourself, the rug is yanked out from under you hard, so there is a big gap between the overall net of benefits when fully under their thumb and how much you have to make / do to have the same for yourself once they pull the rug. That large gap is what keeps the serfs in line.

They specifically destroyed the previously strong African American family structure On Purpose, to keep their serfs in line. The African American community should be outraged, but they have had too many generations of indoctrination now.

Then they can whip their serfs into action anytime there is a "vote" by telling them, either do as we say and vote as we say, or face hunger.
(Like why Obama went out of his way to make sure any government shutdown was as painful as possible for the public, even spending more money to block people from things that were previously just wide open).

We are past the tipping point and the FSA and the SJW idiot crowd have more votes than the hard workers who pay for everything.
It's not going to change till there is a head on crash with the wall of reality like in Venezuela and there is simply no more of other people's money to pass out.

 

[Inifinty]

I'm fairly certain that a bit of fun with yourself is not really what is causing the problem.

Hey if one has blueball pain then take care of it and carry on. I certainly would.

Jerking off wasn't as much of the point as was the lack of a standard now where compassion, forgiveness, and generosity among peers are not taught or held in high regard at a societal level. Instead its conformity, consumerism, and self gratification of the inner animal desire (all of them, not just shaggin it).

 

[Nik H]

@W54/XM-388 ,

We are saying the same thing regarding the purpose of the social programs. I just was too lazy to expand on it...

 

[Fig]

Total number of the U.S. work force is about 130 million. https://www.statista.com/statistics...thly-number-of-full-time-employees-in-the-us/

Total Federal work force is about 2.8 million. https://www.governing.com/gov-data/federal-employees-workforce-numbers-by-state.html

The average salary of the federal worker is $80,000. So, of the 7 trillion dollars spent every year, roughly 3.2% goes to federal worker
salaries.

4 trillion goes to social programs. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...-dollars-on-social-insurance-programs-mostly/

It isn't the salary of the "federal worker" the "slaves" are struggling to pay for.

I'm not a zero government, libertarian type, but I look at the leadership of all these agencies and programs and I am thoroughly and totally appalled. Many are unionized. They negotiate with the Democrats who they put in power. You cannot sit on both sides of the table and negotiate when no one represents the people who pay for it, which is why we are continuously fucked.

Your numbers are also crazy low. Including USPS, military (which lowers that $80K considerably), and all the contractors they use it's more like seven to ten million all making far more actual money and far, far, far more benefits than the private sector citizens who support it all. You have to look at the whole thing, not just strip out everything that disproves your point. Though, you're right that it's a drop in the bucket next to entitlements, and the growing debt.

But, I don't want to argue about it. It's all totally unsustainable and will sort itself out if we keep doing nothing, which I'm all for, but I do feel bad for anyone who thinks they're getting SS or the pension they've paid into...

 

[Jefe's Dope]

So I'm to blame for the fall of Western Civilization? My dad only said I'd go blind. ?

 

[Deleted member 113831]

I'm not a zero government, libertarian type, but I look at the leadership of all these agencies and programs and I am thoroughly and totally appalled. Many are unionized. They negotiate with the Democrats who they put in power. You cannot sit on both sides of the table and negotiate when no one represents the people who pay for it, which is why we are continuously fucked.

Your numbers are also crazy low. Including USPS, military (which lowers that $80K considerably), and all the contractors they use it's more like seven to ten million all making far more actual money and far, far, far more benefits than the private sector citizens who support it all. You have to look at the whole thing, not just strip out everything that disproves your point. Though, you're right that it's a drop in the bucket next to entitlements, and the growing debt.

But, I don't want to argue about it. It's all totally unsustainable and will sort itself out if we keep doing nothing, which I'm all for, but I do feel bad for anyone who thinks they're getting SS or the pension they've paid into...

It isn't worth arguing over, you are correct. I didn't count them all individually, I just drew some readily available numbers from the sources provided in the links to illustrate the point I was making. Even doubling the numbers doesn't change that point any.

 

[Fig]

We're over here Jefe! You're facing the wrong direction and it's hard for us to hear you.

 

[pmclaine]

"The Lottery" reminds me of Carol Emshwiller's "Day at the Beach".

I remember seeing them in grade or middle school.

I dont think these stories get that exposure to kids today.

They describe a world where the collective is greater than the individual and the individual is disposable.

These stories were taught to expose the horror of that type of dystopian society. That type of education does not fit the intentions and goals of the powers that be.

Another story that shocked me as a kid/made me think.."An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890) is a short story by the American writer and Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce .