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Underground eXperts United
Presents...
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[ To Kill Time ] [ By The GNN ]
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TO KILL TIME
by THE GNN/DualCrew-Shining/uXu
The industrial revolution spiced with common ignorance left mankind with an
endless array of pointless occupations, most of them unintentionally forced
into existence for the sake of the abstract thing called 'the public good'.
Somewhere in this pile of ongoing progress towards nothing special, we
find the individual, whom constantly tries to been seen and heard,
appreciated and confirmed. But as no cogwheel is more important than any
other in a complex machine, few are ever appreciated at all. This is not to
say that the human 'individuality' has been unmasked as a fake, it is
simply completely uninteresting given the way our world is constituted.
Still, people need confirmation of some kind to be able to live. They
need to be given priority, they want to be admired for being the kind of
person they are, or, if the former is too boring, being 'someone' at all.
Though humanity is not intelligent enough to avoid her own collective
madness, she do possess one crucial skill that separates her from other
creatures: the ability to pass on complicated information and concepts
through language - to other people, to coming generations. No matter how
many chains we dress a human being in, she will always be able to speak; the
ability is hard-wired, unavoidable; and the only thing that can make
humanity stop talking is - paradoxically - if we all agree (with the help of
language) to do so.
'Stop talking', however, need not imply that we merely avoid using our
mouth for communication. We can 'stop talking' about the relevant questions,
by transforming language, with language, into trivialities, making all
important questions impossible to understand even for ourselves. And this we
do every day. We do? you ask. Why would we do such a thing? There seems to
be no rationale!
Indeed, there is no rationale in a broader perspective, but given the way
our world works, there sure is a rationale for the single individual.
Recall, the individual is alienated in the machinery of pointless jobs, a
cogwheel, disposable. She wants to be confirmed, perhaps not by the whole
world, but at least from those in her direct vicinity.
To fulfil this desire, mankind has invented an expression, a concept that
serves the purpose of giving the individual her beloved attention. This
expression is, in a broader aspect, disastrous for humanity, but is, on a
narrow conception, excellent for the individual as it leads to attention and
admiration. Of course, the expression is a fake, it relies on no truth, it
is merely an attempt to indirectly justify oneself and one's way of living.
"I have no time!"
If freedom is the ultimate goal for humanity (the state of being able to
do whatever one really wants), one sure cannot find any rationale for
constantly fleeing to this expression. No time? No time, for what? How could
someone be worthy of admiration, due to lack of time? That seems utterly
ridiculous, on the border to insane. Do something, instead! But people in
general say this all the time - I have no time, I have no time - sometimes
when it is not even called for; they just have to say it. Why?
The answer is agonizing, as it reveals a vicious regress of our modern
way of living. We work, but we want to be free. Work is given priority over
freedom. Not because people in general do not want to seek freedom, but
because they dare not. They are afraid to use their short period of time on
earth striving for the truly good and free life. Because, as they look
around they see all other people working; working, with the pointless
occupations we call the fruits of the industrial revolution. While working,
man is alone and disposable, crying for attention. Nevertheless, standing
out of the crowd is even worse, seeking the really good life is lonely work,
a long and hard trek that few dare to embark. How much better is it not then
to stay put, work until you die, being given a little piece of admiration
with the help of the expression "I have no time! I work so much!"
I have met people whom have given up their favourite things to do in life
- hobbies, family, knowledge, wit, charm, everything - partly for the sake
of doing work, mainly for the sake of being able to proudly state "Oh, I
have no time", begging for some kind of admiration. "I have no time to be
free, I must work. This is my place in this world, to work. I have no time.
I confess, cry for me: I want to be free, but I have no time. Pity me,
admire me for my strength of being able to live in this hell: I have no
time, no time at all!"
Yet, all know they are not schackled to their work. They can break free
any minute. But this must be denied with the help of the expression, or with
lame entailing excuses as "I must pay the rent", "I must buy food", "I must
pay other salaries", or (the most commonly used one) "this is how the hard
reality is constituted"? Why? Why not state the obvious truth instead?
"I lack the sufficent motivation to do anything else."
Why must this truth be denied?
The answer is simple. If the expression "I have no time" was not taken
completely seriously, it would fall flat to the ground and be replaced with
laughter: "Look at that fool who dare not leave his work for the good life!
Look at him! He claims that he 'have no time'! Who the fuck believes that?
We all know that he merely lacks the motivation necessary to stand up and
walk straight!"
Actions have consequences, and the invention of the expression in
question will be no exception. Due to the excessive misuse, the expression
will slowly initialise itself into the human ethos so that one day the
chains will not be possible to break, not even in principle. Since those who
use the expression in their daily lives must deceive themselves into the
belief that it is a perfectly true statement, the coming generations will
need no such deception; they will simply take it for granted, as they learn
that the former generation did.
Thus, the expression will sooner or later transmute from a bold lie into
a perfectly true statement: humanity will have no time, and this will be
admirable. Those who dare to claim the opposite, or wish for some kind of
free time, will be dismissed as 'lazy', 'bohemians' or 'wishful thinkers'.
That day, some day, will be the end of freedom, and those responsible for
that dystopia will be the common people of today who began violating the
expression as a mean for excusing their own lack of motivation.
What the future generations will not be able to see (as they will be too
busy boasting about their lack of time) is that the interesting feature of
all this is that it - as usual - took no devilish conspiracy to chain
humanity, merely ourselves and our collective madness.
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uXu #432 Underground eXperts United 1998 uXu #432
Call THE YOUNG GODS -> +351-1XX-XXXXX
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