What's the Answer to 49/50 Questions? (936 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.88 on 31 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <murphydog5.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2004-12-02 19:23:22 EST
Money.
I ripped that off of a movie called Vanilla Sky. Sometimes I wonder if I'm nothing more than a collective rip-off of things and people I like and want to be. A cup of Vonnegut, dash of Palahniuk, sprinkling of Orwell, zest of Kubrick, with a healthy pinch of Burgess. Mix: that's me.
Another thing I wonder about: when my dad stuck his wang inside my mom, resulting in me a few months later, did they think about ME or did they think about themselves? Didn't they already know that we human beings are too sophisticated to carry on and be genuinely happy? I guess not... I think they were just looking for a distraction. They probably weren't aware of that either... they were probably just doing what it was they thought was expected of them.
Now before I get a little crazy, I'd like to be perfectly reasonable. To do this, I ask the reader to imagine what we human beings were like before we started breeding heavily. We lived in places built from our own hands, ate food we killed and cooked ourselves, and had stable and functioning communities with one another. We lived like animals. That was the way it was supposed to be.
Now I work some stupid job for a huge company. I get paid once a week in symbols. These symbols are exchanged for shelter and food that someone else built and forged and prepared. All the while, the owners of everything make rich while the rest survive. Frankly, I'm scared to death.
That's just money, though. What about what's really important? My dad lives hundreds of miles away. My sister and mom, a few miles away. I see my mom once a month or so, sister during the holidays, dad about once a year. We have the technology to travel and get away from each other and we must take initiative to keep in contact. Before: they would have been right next to me. That's the way it was supposed to be.
My hero understands this. That's why he says that a key ingredient to mental health is building and maintaining stable and functioning communities. I think that's a start, but the big thing is developing lasting and personal connections with other people. In this world? Hard. The dead German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said that human beings are like porcupines. We desire warmth but are afraid of getting too close as to poke each other. Truth. I would like to add that a key ingredient to my personal mental health right now is taking two ten milligram yellow pills that make chemicals in my head right. They started out right, I know that, but something happened along the way. Anyway I'm better now.
Humor: Schopenhauer used to visit a local café and put a ten mark piece on the table. After eating and drinking, he would put the piece back in to his pocket. One day a waiter asked him why he did this. He said that if he ever sat through a whole meal without hearing a conversation about sports or dating he would leave the waiter the piece. I thought that was funny when I read that.
If you're looking for a point to all this, stop. I have no point. Just some random combinations of words printed on a random site from a random human being you will never meet. The creator of this site said this was an experiment in media. I don't really get that to be honest. I say this is a good place to write random thoughts without a point, good or bad, and not be held accountable. Eat!
Murphy
User Reviews
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2005-06-14 13:27:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Isn't the answer to 49/50 questions no?
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2004-12-03 11:35:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
holy shit, look who dropped in:
Submitted by Lisa (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:01:32 (#)
Ranking: 2
I miss you guys. I hope you're all doing okay.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-12-03 10:12:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by kiketta (user info) at 2004-12-03 10:07:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I know what you mean
Submitted by polyamorousaj (user info) at 2004-12-03 08:32:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by mrwolf (user info) at 2004-12-03 08:21:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Teephphah (user info) at 2004-12-03 08:16:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yet another reason I used to think that Perry Ferral was God. Witness, "Three Days,"
. . .
True hunting is over.
No herds to follow.
Without game, men prey on each other.
The family weakens by the bite we swallow...
True leaders gone, of land and people.
We choose no kin but adopted strangers.
The family weakens by the length we travel...
All of us with wings...
All of us with wings...
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
. . .
How are things, Murph?
Submitted by LexLutherin (user info) at 2004-12-03 07:57:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I say this is a good place to write (say) random thoughts without a point, good or bad, and not be held accountable.
--------------------
I wonder if we're ever going to be that way.
Submitted by bargled (user info) at 2004-12-02 23:46:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Impassive-Digressive (user info) at 2004-12-02 23:38:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
MRS. HENDY:
Oh! I never knew Schopenhauer was a philosopher!
MR. HENDY:
Oh, yeah! He's the one that begins with an 'S'.
MRS. HENDY:
Oh.
MR. HENDY:
Umm, like, uh, 'Nietzsche'.
MRS. HENDY:
Does 'Nietzsche' begin with an 'S'?
MR. HENDY:
Uh, there's an 's' in 'Nietzsche'.
MRS. HENDY:
Oh, wow. Yes, there is. Do all philosophers have an 's' in them?
MR. HENDY:
Uh, yeah! I think most of 'em do.
MRS. HENDY:
Oh. Does that mean Selina Jones is a philosopher?
------
...And now for something completely different!
Submitted by YELLOW-MAN (user info) at 2004-12-02 23:16:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by will72 (user info) at 2004-12-02 23:09:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
very good
Submitted by kaysee (user info) at 2004-12-02 22:39:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome post
on a side note... my plant's name is murphy. it's a good name.
Submitted by TimeCop (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:58:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I've gotten on a Palahniuk kick lately, read everything I could by him. Reminded me of some of his stuff.
Submitted by the_lone_stranger (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:49:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Get out of my head!! AAAAHHHH!!
We seriously need to get together and talk.
Anywhere near L.A.?
Submitted by William_Q_Percy (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:32:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Eat at Murph's
Submitted by GlitchCowman (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:27:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Nomad (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:16:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Murphy spoke well. Very well.
Well enough to inspire me to write this. It's funny, you know, that he posted this. It's funny that my last post gave me +2's when I expect "die". Maybe it's an alignment of the heavens or something, but I'm having a moment of clarity tonight, and it seems like a few others around here are too.
I like what Murphy said about family. He's right. It's not supposed to be like this. It's actually quite horrific. So much pain in so many lives. Yet, this is our society.
I love sociology. It was my favorite class in high school.
Our system of values. Our culture. Money, power, sex. And yet, we lie.
We lie and say that we are decent and right. But truthfully, be honest with me now, when was the last time you really felt good about being alive?
It's a dead world.
Wrong time and place? Perhaps. There are many things that bother me about these modern times.
Lets take sex and relationships. We are shown sex and sexuality, are bombarded by it. We are a nation of nymphomanics unaware of our own neurosis.
Were we back in those days that murphy spoke of, sex would have value, shared between two, and only two people.
Do we see other wildlife do the things that we do? No.
We are one of the only few species that makes love facing each other, looking each other in the face.
I was at a bar a while back. I was listening to the conversation next to me.
"...and that's why I throw my ass around, because no man is good enough for me."
What is that? What the HELL is that?
Power. Relationships are less about love, and more about control. Marriage is almost valueless.
I remember a lesson I learned from a television show called Star Trek: The Next Generation.
That's right, I learned something important from star trek.
Worf, the Klingon was on his home planet. It was his right to kill someone that betrayed his family. In the council chamber he was given a knife and expected to take the life of this traitor - but he didn't.
His brother was upset and asked him why he wouldn't do it. He said, "But, Worf, it's our way.."
And Worf replied, "Yes brother, but it is not my way."
Thank you Gene Roddenberry.
Though we live in a society of competition, ruled by money, power and sex - it is not my way.
Perhaps having the strength to live my life my way in such a culture as this is my test. To not succumb to the pressure to be part of a community. To be classified as "different". To not climb a corporate ladder. To do what makes me happy rather than doing what makes me rich. To not have sex with a woman that I don't feel love for. To make the terrible decision to wait for a person like me, to have the courage to face that fact that I might just die alone, never finding her, because she might not even exist.
To live life my way. To actually do it, and stick to it. Is there any greater challenge?
Submitted by sketch9 (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:01:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
a needle full of artificial sleep.
and a cup full of black consciousness.
Submitted by Lisa (user info) at 2004-12-02 21:01:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I miss you guys. I hope you're all doing okay.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2004-12-02 20:51:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Really self indulgent, but beautifully crafted. You never fail to provide an interesting read.
Submitted by Nomad (user info) at 2004-12-02 20:50:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Love it.
Submitted by Can_Always_Trust_A_Liar (user info) at 2004-12-02 20:32:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2004-12-02 20:06:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'll email you later tonight then. unless you get online. i should be home around 10:00, your time.
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2004-12-02 20:01:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You were one of the first two people (Loren being the other) who greeted me on Ubersite. Since then, I've used your posts as the bar by which I measure all others.
A year and a half later, you still have yet to disappoint.
Please stay well.
Submitted by Murphy1844 (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:54:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
No more metal-mashing, thank god. Thanks for the compliments, guys. No cell, hidden. :) Email always works though.
Ta-ta,
Murphy
Submitted by antluvdog (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:35:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done.
Submitted by Death_Metal_Dude (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:34:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:28:55 (#)
Ranking: 2
some parts of this gave me that Vonnegut feeling
.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:30:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
as always, well written.
you still mashing metal together?
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:30:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
devastating
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2004-12-02 19:28:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
some parts of this gave me that Vonnegut feeling. good read.
call me in a half hour if your cell phone is on, man.