Abbie Would Be Proud

In the late 1960s activist Abbie Hoffman wrote a book called Steal This Book. He had a devil of a time getting anyone to publish it because of its title but once it was published it was widely popular. The book is a guide to living in a heavily capitalist society for those who are being financially strangled by it every single day. His view is that the only way to rid ourselves of capitalism is to hurt the enablers of it in the only way that they can understand. You have to take away their profit. He explains many ways for a person to live virtually if not totally without using money. Some of the lessons are doable but many are (I thought) utterly impossible, especially now. Capitalism has a much bigger bite on society today, but I am hearing more and more stories of people doing so many of the things that Abbie wrote about that I have to wonder how many people are still reading his book today. It is available at many bookseller outlets more than 50 years later.

Whenever you order something from Amazon, Ebay or Etsy, and possibly other venues you have to wonder how many of those things are actually coming from a “Homeboy Shopping Club”. I frequently watch videos on YouTube by a fellow named Cash Jordan who reports from his home in New York City about all of the crime and troubles there. Many times, he talks about the enormous problem that they have with shoplifting. There are hundreds of news stories in his videos of people brazenly walking into stores and picking up whatever the hell that they want and just walking out with it because the shoplifting laws there are extremely lax. In the last year or so I have had the feeling that many of my online orders are being fulfilled by sellers who have obtained the merch by “five finger discount”.

My feelings are very mixed on this subject. On the one hand I can’t help but draw upon my upbringing when I was taught that stealing is wrong. I still believe that it is, strictly speaking. I have had my house broken into before. My computer was stolen. Locked boxes with important papers were stolen, and my jewelry was stolen. I was in no position to replace any of it. It seems a bit two-faced to say that stealing is wrong in some situations but not in others, I suppose, but I cannot help but feel that I am being robbed all of the time now with incredibly high prices that I am paying for everything while the manufacturers and sellers of everything that I buy are making obscene profits. So, I cannot actually feel bad about how people are stealing tons of merchandise in broad daylight when it is (possibly) their ill-gotten gains that many times offer me these items at a price that I can afford. Retailers aren’t doing that and they are completely unapologetic about how outrageous their prices are.

We are encouraged to feel badly for these retailers who are closing their stores because of theft. Truly, I do feel bad for small businesses and family-owned stores. If this is their only source of income then that really is tragic. I used to have an Etsy shop where I sold custom made clothing to supplement my income and it was extremely helpful in making ends meet until I started getting customers who would say that there was something wrong with the item but would refuse to return it to get a refund. They wanted their money back but refused to send the item back which isn’t standard practice anywhere that I know of. If you want a refund at Walmart, you have to return the item. When the buyers didn’t get to “have their cake and eat it too” they would leave snotty reviews which ruins your shop’s reputation. Eventually it ceased to be a lucrative business and ceased to be fun. It is too bad, too, because the first 2 - 3 years that I had the shop there were many very good customers who bought from me. I miss them.

So, it is a tough call in today’s world to get irate with people who are “boldly going” and stealing thousands of items from high end stores or just stores with high end prices when they are (most likely) just people trying to get by in this world and make a living by “robbing the rich to help the poor”. I am the poor now that everything that I need to survive costs me double and even triple the amount that it used to. Good old Abbie Hoffman advocated stealing back when prices didn’t even approach what they are now, but it was his view that capitalists rob from the poor to enrich themselves and the only way to stop it is to destroy their bottom line, which is profit over people. I wish that Abbie was here now. I would love to hear his opinion on how much stealing is going on today. No one likes being stolen from but it is far worse for the average person just trying to live a decent life. The wealthy can absorb the hit. They can get reimbursed by their insurance company. I cannot afford insurance. They can write the loss off on their tax returns. My tax return looks like “poverty row” now. Large retailers have many other stores. I can’t even have my Etsy shop anymore. So honest to God, I and millions of others need a Robin Hood advocate in this world now. And we still need an Abbie Hoffman to speak out loudly about the injustice of the capitalist system. It needs to go.

Built-In Software

In 1981, ABC Television had a show called That’s Incredible which ran an episode about May Lemke and her foster son Leslie. It was a very touching episode about how May took in an infant boy who was blind, brain damaged, and not expected to live. (see the YouTube link below) After many years of caring for Leslie, who could do virtually nothing for himself, May bought a second hand piano for him to try to engage him in some activity in case that was possible. Sometime later, (miraculously) Leslie woke May and her husband up in the middle of the night playing a piano concerto. He could barely even walk but he dragged himself out of bed and crawled into the living room and up on the piano bench. Unbelievable as that may sound, the impossible can truly be possible where the spirit is concerned given the right circumstances and the right combination of support from other humans and the encouragement to experience something new. Miracles are also possible in this existence for animals, plants, and virtually all living things if people get out of the way and stop forcing egotistical outcomes. Few people are allowed this in their lives. The majority of us are trained from birth to do as we are told and if we don’t fit into the assigned mold that others want us to be in - to make putting up with us easier for them - we can be classified as useless and discarded. Thank God that May Lemke didn’t see it that way.

The spirit within us is a magical thing. It is like electrical current going through an inanimate object. When a radio or a television is connected to electricity it brings to life sounds and images that would have blown the minds of people who existed prior to the 20th century. Benjamin Franklin showed us how to harness unbelievable power that we have never stopped using. There are more miracles to be found in the lifeforce, but they mostly remain untapped by humans. Discovering those miracles takes the right set of circumstances and an open mind. Unfortunately, most people are preoccupied by selfish pursuits, so you rarely see miracles today. 

After you watch the video try to step aside from yourself and your worries and concerns for your everyday life. You can make miracles in your life if you allow yourself to hear the higher mind that is within you. Sometimes the voice is almost imperceptible but if you are willing to listen, you can create some wonderous things in this life just by having the courage to take a chance.  Few things make life more worthwhile than having made a difference and realizing that you and others may have that same chance with your willingness to allow it.

May Lemke passed away in 1993 but Leslie is still alive at 72 years of age as of this writing. A relative of May’s took over his care. While we ignore the sick and the needy every day in this country it is disheartening to know that each one of those lives that we have viewed as disposable could have contributed to the betterment of life and made a unique difference in the world. Each of us has value. Taking the time to allow and discover what each of us has to give is one of the finest things that we can do in life. Everyone is here for a reason. Finding your own reason and passing that along to others will see to it that more have a chance to recognize the best in themselves. Be glad that you are here. You are capable of making a difference that no one else can because there is no other you in the world.

“Kids Just Wanna Have Somethin’ To Do”

-from the song Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue by The Ramones

Believe me friends, my use of the above titled song and the quote from it are NOT an endorsement of glue sniffing in any way, shape, or form. That is not what I do. My intent is only to make a point regarding how some people do not understand how a society would not collapse and die if every citizen received a basic income from the government equal to a living wage. The argument that I hear from people regarding giving us a basic income is that “nobody would ever get up off their ass and work again.” I think that is baloney and I have said so here on this blog many times before. There is one issue that does have some validity that is that there are some who would stay at home glued to their computers and smartphones schmoozing on social media sites all day without a care in the world, but that situation is one that I will address in a forthcoming post. It will require a bit more analysis. It may be true that there are some people who couldn’t care less about the world they live in. I would never say that everyone presents their best self to the world every day of their life. It is too bad that they choose to be this way when even the slackers have something positive to contribute to their world, but you won’t see something that you refuse to look at. So yes, there would be some who wouldn’t see the benefit in making a better world for themselves or anybody else but try to set aside for the moment how some morons would be thrilled with a perceived “free ride” in the world. There is little hope for those who adopt a mentality of uselessness.  If they don’t want to understand the benefit to them and to their world by doing a job that would actually change their entire way of thinking about their own worth, we can do little about it except present an example of it in the way that we live in hopes of changing their perspective. Remove their behavior from your mindset for a few minutes. We have more important things to ponder right now.

If you are a parent, you already know that children, especially small children, love being able to help their parents with a task around the house. If you do not have children, it is a fact that you used to be one. You most likely remember wanting to be like mom and dad in that you wanted to help wash the car or work in the yard, etc. You wanted to be included. It is a very good feeling to know that you have accomplished something. You feel worth as a person, and it helps so much with your self-esteem to hear that you did a good job. This is the main point that I want to stress here. If your basic needs for living are being met with a basic income to cover them, you will still need to feel that you are needed in some way. Work provides that if it is work that you feel confident about doing. If it makes for a nicer, cleaner, and less chaotic world, all the better. I would be the first to admit that there are many jobs in this world that are not a lot of fun. Truly some of them are not as important as others but if you are an adult, you are wise enough to realize that they have worth in the larger scheme of things. I would also say that there are a lot of jobs that might fall by the wayside because their benefits are redundant, because there are hundreds of places that do the same thing such as multiple restaurants in the same town, multiple beauty salons etc. I do believe that most people are willing to delay a bit of gratification and do some of the crappy jobs to keep the world functioning in a balanced way. I think it would help if these jobs were part time. I also believe that it would be a tremendous benefit to the entire world if we stopped promoting glamour, sexuality, fame, and wealth as ideals. These things are the backbone of capitalism and advertising because it keeps people focused on striving for things that make a ton of money for them. To be effective, they must make you believe that you can be so much better than having to focus on those things that sustain and keep life going. I am counting on the fact that most adults are aware of what it takes to keep the world running in the best possible way for all of us and if they no longer have to experience the terror of being unable to live a safe and decent life or be constantly bombarded with messages of superiority, they will channel their energies into the tasks that make it possible to stay that way. Life is a gift. Food, shelter, and healthcare should be a human right, but in order to get and keep those things there must be gratitude for them and a contribution of your time and effort to maintain them. Karl Marx said it best, and though I am going to paraphrase here he basically said that we need to contribute to our society according to our ability and take from the world according to our need. A promotion of this ideal needs to be proffered starting in childhood and shown to us in a way that reflects it as our best selves truly are what gives us our best possible world to live in.

The above referenced song was written by Dee Dee Ramone in the 1970s. This was actually a part of his experience in life. A bored kid with nothing to do. Somewhere along the line he learned that he could sniff glue and it would keep him from being bored and give him something to do. I suspect that thinking like this, springs from overworked and overwhelmed parents who don’t have the time or the inclination to show an example of better pastimes than this. That happens way too much of the time. Capitalism does that. As overwrought as parents might have been at any time in history, we are now in situations globally where people are being mentally and emotionally destroyed. Our children are seeing this and also seeing that their future does not matter to us. If we don’t step away from the destructive path that we are on and try a different way of doing things there is little hope for us. Positive change is possible, and it can be done. It does start in the individual. Once you realize that the planet is falling apart and people are collapsing under the weight of a system that has far outlived its usefulness you can redirect your thinking toward propping up the people and promoting a better way. Beating them to death with capitalism is showing just how low we can sink under its dictates. If you can envision a better way you can take your vision to others and make it manifest. We can give people a reason to want to build up society instead of tear it down, but it has to start with a secure base. When people have that, it is unlikely that their first thought when they find that they have more time for themselves will be to “sniff some glue.” Keeping their better and more beneficial world will be the incentive to see that it stays that way. What would you do if you had more time for yourself? At first you might want to sleep late every day for a month. But then you are likely to get up and consider that you want to matter in this life. That is when you can begin to ask how you can matter in the shaping of your life and the shaping of your world. Manufacturing and maintenance of the world needs us to function. We ask for respect for being willing to do those jobs. With our basic needs met and the needs of the companies being met there is a level playing field for everyone and it is everyone’s best chance for understanding and equality in the workplace. What you do doesn’t have to be something that only benefits your employer in exchange for a small amount of money that they can deny you if they feel like it. This is what true freedom is. It is having a say in how you live and what you achieve. You deserve that. Others have sold you an ideal that benefits them more than it ever will you. It does not have to be that way. It is worth getting up off your backside for. And it is a good somethin' to do.

"Go Get a Job, Slob."

-from the 1970’s parody song, 50 Ways to Whip Inflation* sung by Judy Tenuta

In the 2010 Disney live action film Alice in Wonderland, the character Alice says that her father used to say that one should always try to do three impossible things before breakfast. Alice’s father has passed on by the time she becomes a teenager so we will never know if he changed his mind about that later, but as Alice still believes it, the movie can proceed with her actually trying to live by that goal, making for a more believable story. (maybe) I’d love to see if he would believe that getting a job in 2024 is possible or not. I count it as being damned impossible now for way too many people unless you can survive on gig work. Just two more impossible tasks to go and we would gain her father’s approval if we could pull it off.

On a side note, I must complain about Disney’s decision to prominently showcase Johnny Depp’s (he plays the Mad Hatter) picture on the cover of the DVD package of the above mentioned film and the later released film Alice Through The Looking Glass instead of Mia Wasikowska’s who plays Alice. There is no logical reason for this except to promote the highest money-making draw actor ahead of the actor whom the film is actually about, Alice. Pure capitalism, it is. (Yoda speak reference) & (money speak reference). It is also possible that it speaks of favoritism on the part of Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland was a Tim Burton film) who has a long standing friendship and work history with Johnny Depp, but I tend to lean on the side of pure money making reasons for it.  That usually tends to overshadow every possible reason for every possible situation. Which brings us back to the issue of why getting a living wage for a life sustaining job is on the impossible things list. And while I cannot be sure of it without doing the research, I would wager a small (because that is all that I can afford) bet that Johnny was paid a salary for his work in the films that was many times higher than Mia’s.

So, why is it so difficult to get a job now? What are the reasons for it? Some people have proffered some very good explanations for it but I tend to feel that it is like Max Von Sydow tells the young priest in The Exorcist when the younger priest tries to tell him the background of the demon possession and how many demons that he estimates there are. He says “There is only one.” It is the “because they can” reason. They can deny you anything that they like regarding employment because there is no such thing as democracy in the workplace. There never has been to my knowledge but it used to be a little easier to ignore that fact if you were able to at least squeak by financially. Since that ability is pretty much gone with the wind now you really cannot ignore it anymore. I very much admire the people who are publicly raising hell about it but it is a fact that there are few of us who are in a position where we can join in the hell raising with them without losing even more of our livelihood than we already have. The risks are too great, and since employers know this and also know that our government representatives do not give one big damn about how bad off we are with few exceptions, this is how things are going to stay. Go ahead and scream your head off about it. No one intends to exorcise this demon. So, this is the second impossible thing that we need to do before breakfast.

I keep waiting to see this idiotic mentality jump up and bite the employers in the ass. It seems only logical that if the people cannot afford to buy what these companies produce or partake of their services, they would see the connection between their business practices and the hits that this has to be making on their bottom line. Maybe they do see it, but rather than rethink how what they are doing is destroying everything they somehow always manage to work around it. Most of the reason for this has to do with the fact that the majority of them have more than one business. A mom and pop business could never survive it but those who have multiple businesses can sacrifice a few of them to strengthen those that are still doing well. They can cut corners, get rid of some employees, give their remaining employees fewer work hours, and raise their prices on everything. They owe their employees nothing. Everyone is told that they must have a job anyway. Any kind of job, whether it pays you enough money to sustain your life or not. You must work, your spouse must work, and your children must work. Here is the third impossible thing that you are up against. You are going to get awfully hungry trying to accomplish all of these tasks before you get to eat. Most of us already realize that we just are not going to get any breakfast.

So now we know why it is virtually impossible to get a job in this country. In case you missed it, it is because the employer class is not being held accountable for not providing jobs that pay a living wage equal to the amount that it actually costs now to sustain life. They create the jobs. They set the prices for their products and services. They hire and fire the employees with no accountability as to whether or not a person will live or die based on their disconnected to reality whims. The ruling class turns a blind eye to their behavior and inhumane practices and our society crumbles as a result. The employer class makes lots of money. The ruling class makes lots of money, and they made sure to set up a system that covers their financial asses for the rest of their lives no matter how bad things get.

So who was Alice’s father really talking to when he said one should try to do at least three impossible things before breakfast? It had to be those people who are secure in the knowledge that they can even afford breakfast. He must have believed that he would live forever and guarantee that his daughter would always be provided for. He was wrong. That being the case, if he actually thought that far ahead, he must have believed that Alice would find herself a wealthy husband who would always make sure that Alice had breakfast. He would have been wrong here too. In the sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice and her mother nearly lose their asses and all the trimmings, but thanks to the magical thinking of the writers, Alice prevails as the Captain of her own ship and her own company and indeed does do the impossible like her father told to her to. This was even more impossible than anything for a woman in that time period. And she did it all without a husband! So, I don’t know who the hell her father was really meaning that endeavor for but it surely was not for a female in the 18th century unless he already knew that their story was pure fiction. Jump ahead to now, the 21st century, and it all makes sense. Capitalism did indeed manage to do three impossible things before breakfast. They set it up so they would always have the upper hand. They set it up so they would always have money. And they set it up so no one would hold them accountable for their behavior. They managed to do this even as they are an extreme minority in the world considering that the working class in this world outnumbers them by the billions. That is a stunning achievement to have accomplished before breakfast! And to have managed to do at all!

Feeling hungry? Now all we need is for Alice’s father to have a talk with the governments of every country on this planet and tell them that they will not get to eat until they do some “possible” things like turn this situation around and make the world that they live in a place where survival is possible for everyone. They might tell you that this is impossible, but don’t believe it. There are at least 50 ways to eliminate capitalism. That this hasn’t been done before now is a ‘problem that is all inside our heads.' “The answer is easy” if you recognize that you are not the only person on the planet who matters.

*a parody of the song 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon

Unconditional Love and Acceptance

In the 1970’s, singer Aretha Franklin married actor Glynn Turman. Theirs was a love story like I have never heard of before. Glynn once said in an interview that he came into the marriage with three children and that could have been a major problem for some women to deal with, but Aretha had no qualms about it. She liked the children and they liked her. People can do well in so many seemingly difficult situations if they want to. This family did, and it is a wonderful thing to see when people decide to allow themselves to be their best self in a challenge. They were married a little less than six years, but it ended peaceably and amicably with them still being in love and remaining good friends. We should all be so lucky.

In the 1960’s film To Sir With Love actor Sidney Poitier is a teacher who tells his class that “Marriage is no way of life for the weak, the selfish, or the insecure.” Wow. Truer words were never spoken. Unfortunately, most human beings have one or sometimes all of those character issues. Try telling them to not get married. In fact, many people get married precisely for those reasons because they believe that their partner will accept and allow that kind of behavior because they need them. Many people also believe that their partner will change to suit their needs. Maybe not at first, but certainly after a multitude of battles over it. You can call it stupidity, but it is more likely that they have seen this kind of behavior in married couples all of their life and it looks normal to them. What a shame. These kinds of relationships never end well, and the cycle of ignorance and abuse keeps being passed on to later generations. I don’t know how old Aretha and Glynn were when they got married but they obviously did not bring any of those behaviors into their relationship because they both professed to feeling great joy and happiness toward each other for the entirety of their marriage and even after. The reason for their breakup was due to conflicting career situations such as having to be separated too much of the time. Neither one of them wanted a divorce but having high profile and well-paying careers made it impossible for them to overcome the problem. So dreadfully sad, but at least they understood all of the ramifications and made the decision to separate not in anger but in realizing that their careers were who they were and what they were and neither of them could give up something that was such a large part of their identity. This might be viewed as selfishness to some people, but it truly isn’t. We have all been told that marriage is supposed to be forever but that is not necessarily correct for everyone. Sometimes we have things to do together in this life with others. They may or may not be an experience that has longevity. Some people would say that either Aretha or Glynn should have changed careers but people on the outside looking in are not qualified to judge. They made the correct decision for them and whatever ideals that we may hold as sacred are just that, our ideals.

When a situation in your life can no longer sustain and balance you in a positive way it is time to begin reflecting on what will. Our needs change as we evolve. To assume that everything in your life always has to be to your liking falls into the category of “selfish”. To refuse to understand that change is sometimes inevitable falls into the category of “insecure” many times because one may feel that the situation is their fault, and they may never find love or acceptance again. To not own up to our individual responsibilities in any situation is in the category of “weak.” It cannot be said that Glynn and Aretha were the gold standard of what everyone should strive for in a relationship, but it is worth noting and remembering that they were wise enough and mature enough to know when to let go of something that was no longer sustainable and do so without malice or blame. This is an extremely valuable life lesson for all of us to ponder.

Relationships are a gift for those willing to experience them in positive ways. Trying to mold them into what others believe they should be or what will best suit only one defeats their purpose and can be the cause of great suffering not just for the couple but for others as well. To appreciate what life has given you reveals a high level of maturity on your part. It many times brings you pain along with a blessing, but everything has worth for the balanced soul. Endings are beginnings and beginnings are only possible with the end of your previous experience. Congratulations when you know how to navigate through them both. For Glynn and Aretha, their story gives hope to those of us who may not be in a relationship now but may be open to and hopeful for one that can be worth the risk and worth welcoming, even when the people and the times we are living in seem darn near hopeless unless we can be strong, unselfish, and secure in our own self.

 

One of Aretha’s finest songs.