Black Friday

Sometimes I'm convinced that the whole planet has gone retarded. Case in point, following Thanksgiving most of the country (except those in retail) have the day off to recuperate from tryptophan overdose, sleep in, spend time with their families, etc etc. For a day just enjoy family and humanity and being. Maybe even go on a little trip with people that you really care about and take some photographs and admire the way the face of the earth changes with the seasons.
But instead we go shopping. American-style Conspicuous consumerism is not a long-standing tradition; it became a part of our culture following WW2 as a way to maintain a sprawling industrial economy that the war effort had required, and was perpetuated by the application of Freudian psychological theory to advertising. So, even amidst record consumer debt
millions that can't really afford it (except via credit cards) will go out and spend billions of dollars on overpriced shit. The bulk of of profits going not to manufacturers but the warehouse/stores that lord over the gimmicky merchandise. I'm not anticapitalist, the market must be free for us to have even a semblance of freedom. I am antistupidity. I'm anti- being herded by corporate-owned media and cattle-prodded with illusory "sales" to think that I absolutely MUST do anything other than eat, drink, breathe, read, sleep, fuck and be intoxicated. Shopping malls and suburban big-box franchises are a trick! You do not need this stuff and the fact that so many people think they do is exactly what They want. This is not conspiracy, this is why advertisement exists.

So seriously. Thanksgiving, fuck shopping. Give thanks. You're still alive. People care about you. Life is tragic and beautiful. There is food to eat. You are capable of forming and managing your own thoughts and motivations. At night there are so many stars that the mind reels. Joe Rogan once said that if we all lived underground and there was only one place you could see stars, EVERYONE would make the pilgrimage. Make love to someone like it is the first and last time. Speak slowly and seriously, when appropriate. Tell bawdy jokes when appropriate. Toast to "all your friends", "to Truth and Beauty", "to the End", "to the laws of physics", "to artistic ecstasy".

Alright. Keep it real