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SpecialEd
+ one
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 6,220
Loc: : Gringo
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
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Shopping malls
#2177048 - 12/14/03 02:45 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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editor's note: This definately has a slopism sentiment to it
I was at a busy shopping mall the other night, and I was just taken aback by all of the people mindlessly wandering around. Every once in a while, my internal dialogue quiets down enough for me to become lucid and aware of my surroundings.
I observed hundreds of people soley focused on buying things that they didn't really need. It seemed so damn alien to me. These incredibly complex beings with a very finite amount of time on this earth, choosing not to explore truths or further humanity or use their minds to solve problems, but to cross a few names off of their shopping list...
I'm rambling now and I don't really have a point. Wait, yeah I do, I just can't express it. It's when I become cognizant of everything going on around me, that I am forced to recognize how beautiful and complex everything truly is, and I just want to marvel.
MARVEL!!!
I enter thought patterns like this and it becomes completely unfathomable to me why people settle for the things they do in this life.
-------------------- "Plus one upvote +1..." --- // -- /l_l\/ --\-/----
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muhurgle
Turtles all theway down
Registered: 10/29/03
Posts: 299
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2177059 - 12/14/03 02:48 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I enter thought patterns like this and it becomes completely unfathomable to me why people settle for the things they do in this life.
I'm so there with you right now. Goes for my own life too of course. But what if there is nothing to ultimately comprehend? Shopping doesn't seem so bad then?
-------------------- "To make this mundane world sublime Take half a gram of phanerothyme." Aldous Huxley
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: muhurgle]
#2177072 - 12/14/03 02:53 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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special ed's inner monolouge as we walks around mall: "I observed hundreds of people soley focused on buying things that they didn't really need. It seemed so damn alien to me. These incredibly complex beings with a very finite amount of time on this earth, choosing not to explore truths or further humanity or use their minds to solve problems, but to cross a few names off of their shopping list..." Jessica Swanson's (average 18-35 consumer) inner monolouge: "Hmmm, I wonder what kind of music Ricky likes, well...U2 is pretty good, and alot of people like them, so thats what I'll buy for his christmas present! awesome! I hope he likes it, wow..he is so dreamy, I think I'm falling in love" My inner monolouge while in mall: "Crush kill destroy, crush kill destroy, crush kill......"
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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Mixomatosis
great ape
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 1,306
Loc: cipherland
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
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Ed: those people in malls (mauls) don't only wander around buying things, they have entire lives.
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Renegade8
Niggar please
Registered: 10/11/03
Posts: 386
Loc: Orange County
Last seen: 15 years, 6 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: muhurgle]
#2177111 - 12/14/03 03:08 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Shopping malls are a great place to see people for the mindless drones they are. I worked in a mall last Christmas season and I got to watch the mad blitz of consumerism that starts suddenly on the day after Thanksgiving & then stops just as suddenly when the last after-Christmas sale ends. (I "worked" at Mrs. Field's, so don't feel sorry for me. ) I moved away from my family & my friends aren't into the gift exchange thing, so I'm (thankfully) exempt from all this shopping crap this year.
Quote:
It's when I become cognizant of everything going on around me, that I am forced to recognize how beautiful and complex everything truly is, and I just want to marvel.
I had an epiphany last year & have felt the same way ever since. I'll stop & just look around at how amazing everything is. Kinda like in American Beauty - that's a great movie.
I'm not so much surprised by the masses wandering around oblivious to this beauty as I am saddened. Then these fucks act like they know better & tell us how to live, not to do drugs, stay in school, etc. I just listen to their bullshit & laugh to myself at how much they're missing out on. They're so clueless they don't even realize that they're clueless.
-------------------- I'm just see-through faded, super jaded, and out of my mind. - R.I.P. Layne
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Renegade8]
#2177115 - 12/14/03 03:11 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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renegade: "I'll stop & just look around at how amazing everything is. Kinda like in American Beauty - that's a great movie."
why dont you go down to the mall, wander around like a zombie and buy American Beauty on DVD for a friend>?
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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Alan Stone
Corpus
Registered: 11/23/02
Posts: 986
Loc: Ten feet up
Last seen: 18 years, 8 months
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Quote:
Mixomatosis said: Ed: those people in malls (mauls) don't only wander around buying things, they have entire lives.
You can make an analogy; what if most people spend their entire lives shopping for something they'll never be satisfied with?
-------------------- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
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recalcitrant
My Own God
Registered: 04/20/02
Posts: 2,927
Loc: Canada West
Last seen: 7 years, 10 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Renegade8]
#2177125 - 12/14/03 03:15 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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You people are always dis'n ppl for wandering around aimlessly, being "Cattle" or "consumerist" without purpose. And then you go on to say that you just want to "marvel," to purposlessly enjoy what you have been given.
double standards? hypocrisy?
feed the beast or he'll get hungry enough to eat you!
-------------------- We have to answer our own prayers
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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maybe these drones are able to "marvel" at a shiny new 50 cent CD, is 50 Cent not part of the universe?
ta-da!
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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Mixomatosis
great ape
Registered: 10/28/03
Posts: 1,306
Loc: cipherland
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
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I like it when people see one aspect of someone's lives (buying goods at the market place) and then make all kinds of assumptions about how mindless these people are. It could be that there is more to these people than meets the eye, you judgemental fools.
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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I love all the tactics malls use to zombify you; the lighting, the colour scheme, the air, the muzak, the outlay, its all a trap to keep you in there until you need to buy something in a pathetic attempt to keep your sanity.
its like a release - ahhhhhh, now I can leave this place, now that ive eaten a plate full of slimy Chinese fast food and bought a new baseball cap.
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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SpecialEd
+ one
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 6,220
Loc: : Gringo
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Quote:
I like it when people see one aspect of someone's lives (buying goods at the market place) and then make all kinds of assumptions about how mindless these people are. It could be that there is more to these people than meets the eye, you judgemental fools
This post wasn't judgemental about people. I understand your interpretation. I just think shopping malls are symptomatic of something that is very, very wrong.
Judging these people by their appearance...I dunno, when I see a blonde woman who is unhealthy thin, has all sorts of make up on, is dressed in designer clothes, and Scampers around in a frenzy, then yes, I do judge them on their appearance
-------------------- "Plus one upvote +1..." --- // -- /l_l\/ --\-/----
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Positronius
playboy
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Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2177177 - 12/14/03 03:31 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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i wanna rock with you....I wanna groove with you...
I dont see anything wrong with consumerism, but there is something wrong with malls, they are horridly uncool. A really lame way to organize the way we spend money. I like downtown way better, it provides more diversity in the shops, it seems like malls all have to conform to some ugly, plastic visual aesthetic.
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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SpecialEd
+ one
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 6,220
Loc: : Gringo
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
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Quote:
And then you go on to say that you just want to "marvel," to purposlessly enjoy what you have been given. double standards? hypocrisy?
running with Swami's concept of slopism
slopism is irresponsible commentary. I make an observation on something I deem detrimental, but I offer no solution...like I said I
Marvel...
rolling on the ground like a
Euphoric Hedonistic Child...
laughing, happy
YEA!!!
-------------------- "Plus one upvote +1..." --- // -- /l_l\/ --\-/----
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infidelGOD
illusion
Registered: 04/18/02
Posts: 3,040
Loc: there
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2177291 - 12/14/03 04:09 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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malls teach conformity
and they're good at it
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Jellric
altered statesman
Registered: 11/07/98
Posts: 2,261
Loc: non-local
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2178300 - 12/15/03 12:00 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Leonardo DaVinci referred to such people as "meat machines". They are sleep walking through life and comprise the better part of humanity. I was six years old before I realized that there were other people who are sentient.
-------------------- I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2178343 - 12/15/03 12:22 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Oh my... this reminds me of that time I was banned from the mall... All I was doing was telling the people stuff along the lines of what SpecialEd is bringing up here. Of course, I told them through a bullhorn. Most people scuttled off looking confused. It's to be expected.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Frog
Warrior
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Sclorch]
#2178363 - 12/15/03 12:33 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Sigh. Okay, I have to give my rendition of going to the mall. Yes, I've seen what y'all have seen. But here's what I also see:
I see people in various stages of life, acting out the parts they are playing for that stage, the grandmother, the mother, the child, the father, etc.
See, even if life here on this planet isn't perfect, we are all still human beings, in different transitions. I don't believe people are "drones". Maybe their focus is in the wrong place, but calling them "drones" just sounds so much like a racial slur or something.
I see me at a mall, and anyone else at the mall could look at me and think I'm a drone. When you see these people, they may be just like you, but wanting to go shopping for someone they love as part of the tradition that we have adopted at Christmas.
Going to tell a story:
Once, I took a mediation training seminar. One class, the instructor told us to find someone in the room who looked like they had the least in common with ourselves.
I looked around the room, and I didn't see anyone who looked like s/he had nothing in common with me. There were all ages, and dress, etc.
A woman walked up to me and said she thought she and I had the least in common. She was a welfare mom with several kids, going to school. I was an attorney.
She said she thought that I was an "Irvine wife" who got bored and went to law school because my husband was an attorney and I needed something to do.
The truth was, I initially went to school because I was a single mom on welfare and I decided to go to school in order to support me and my kids instead of looking for a man to do it for me. So she and I actually had a lot in common.
The point being, when you go to the mall and look at the "drone", that drone might be you.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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Zahid
Stranger
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2178510 - 12/15/03 01:31 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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A few days ago the nearby Shopping Mall just got electronic talking garbage cans that say things like "Thank you, and Goodbye" and "Thank you for not littering." in the food court. Freaked me out for a second, and had me thinking "The future is now."
--------------------
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recalcitrant
My Own God
Registered: 04/20/02
Posts: 2,927
Loc: Canada West
Last seen: 7 years, 10 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Frog]
#2178513 - 12/15/03 01:33 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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well go on then, post a picture of yourself
-------------------- We have to answer our own prayers
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Frog]
#2178549 - 12/15/03 01:55 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Frog, I know what you're saying. What you're talking about is the Ivory Tower syndrome.
There's always the perspective that maybe we're just lucky bastards. We're lucky enough to have these "grandiose" view of the world and its inhabitants. From our disassociated stance, it's easy to judge and condemn others for their petty squabbles and mental squanderings. Well, I say FUCK THAT.
Let me tell YOU a story: I ran into this woman at the university a few years ago. She was obese, not all "there", and she had a hell of a stutter. While she was running off some copies for my colleague (the woman worked in the Administration office), she began talking about how smart we must be. I paid little attention at first (mainly because I hate unneccessary compliments that I don't feel I deserve), but then she said something that struck me. "There may be many people that are greater than me... but they ain't no better than me."
And that's pretty much exactly how I feel about mall folk, drones, and the general public... in general. They're lacking all this blah blah yadda yadda blah, but I'm no better than them as a person. We're all equal in the "hey, I'm a human, too!" department.
I'm not about getting kicks by belittling people. I'm about psychological change. If you're a dogmatic, unbending, unmindful person, you're just setting yourself up for some otherwise avoidable hurt. I'm talking to the insecure teenager who thinks they're not good looking enough because of the images they're bombarded with everywhere they turn. I'm talking to the kid who begs his/her single mother on a fixed income to put the latest and greatest, over-priced, asian sweat-shopped, "designer" jeans on layaway even though they won't fit 8 months later. Change is good.
Now if you don't mind... I'm going to polish my bullhorn for my day at the mall tomorrow.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Frog
Warrior
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Posts: 4,284
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Sclorch]
#2178569 - 12/15/03 02:05 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Yes, sclorch, you see what I'm saying and I see what you're saying. And I'm going to tell another story, just for fun:
I was in jail when I was younger (and no, I'm not going to say "what for"). Now, when I go to court on behalf of someone else, when it's a criminal case, sometimes I have to go into the holding tank.
When I walk in there, I get an eerie feeling of "who's the prisoner?" It could be me in there. Keeps things in perspective, for me.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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recalcitrant
My Own God
Registered: 04/20/02
Posts: 2,927
Loc: Canada West
Last seen: 7 years, 10 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Frog]
#2178646 - 12/15/03 02:33 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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jail or prison?
-------------------- We have to answer our own prayers
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buckwheat
Cynically Insane
Registered: 12/09/02
Posts: 11,179
Loc: Not Enough Characters to ...
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Quote:
Mixomatosis said: Ed: those people in malls (mauls) don't only wander around buying things, they have entire lives.
yea those lives consists of making more money in order to go wander around buying things and poor conditioned social life
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bumski
cattle russler
Registered: 01/27/03
Posts: 83
Last seen: 18 years, 5 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: buckwheat]
#2178948 - 12/15/03 06:24 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I live across the street from a mall and back in the day me and my friends would go down there and chill 'cuz it wasn't really shady and it beat the hell outta the neighborhood. They're not really aimlessly droning about on a quest to separate themselves from their money, but are instead putting up a clever front. Everyone looks and acts neutral because everyone else is doing the same; nobody wants to stand out from the crowd. They probably really want to be a bit less robotic and let a little humanity shine through, but that would be "wrong".
[slopism]That mall kicked so much ass before it got shady. We could smoke blunts down there and not get caught (this is Walpole, mind you). Then this shady-ass posse of 14 year old juggalos came and decided they'd just stand in front of the Papa Gino's (my former place of employment) and just stay there for like 9 or 10 hours until the place closed, nobody ever figured out why. They'd do drug deals right there and just be generally sketchy. After about 2 months of this the cops got fed up with their antics and gave 'em the boot, a letter of disinvite. I almost got tagged myself for occasionally being seen with them (*cough deals *cough they never caught on) but since I worked at Papa's, which happened to be their general stompin' ground, I passed it off to the pigs as coincidence and that i was associating with my friends who still worked there instead of consorting with the likes of the Whack Pack (the name we ended up giving them). They've migrated to Norwood for most part but not before making the mall beef up patrols in and around so We've also had to find new spots. Schmucks.[/slopism]
-------------------- Cheech: Hey man, the house is bein' raided man! opsCays! You hear me man? get-outski!
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Entelle
wanderer
Registered: 11/05/03
Posts: 64
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 20 years, 21 days
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everyone does things for their own reasons, and who is to comprehend another's reasoning? here is a neat exercize that helped me realize this crazy thing:
ask a person who is not yourself HOW they think.
example: my friend thinks in an inner monolouge,(dammit i have to go shopping now) friend 2 thinks like a narrated story (and the heroine ventures out to the car, for the quest of shopping) myself, imagine a hand of playing cards being held up, and spread out. when one says "shopping" a card with the last mall i went to comes up, and i remember the sound of all those people all murmuring at once, and the place i parked, and the look the dog gave me when i got back.
so, even tho the three ways of thinking i have outlined(and im sure there are more) belong to three different people, these three people are friends somehow, and even manage to interact, share ideas and concepts.
kinda amazing that we understand each other at all, to any degree, when i think about it.....
-------------------- "Not all those who wander are lost."
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Entelle]
#2179440 - 12/15/03 12:07 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Entelle: ask a person who is not yourself HOW they think.
That's a pretty good drone-mode-breaking question. I'm going to try it.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
Posts: 3,198
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2180134 - 12/15/03 04:24 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I feel the same way almost all of the time, but I must admit I actually enjoyed the first hour or so of christmas shopping, yes, in the goddamn mall since I was too tired to take a bus to Vancouver and shop in ethical non-corporate stores I respect. The vast majority of the time I hate the place and make fun of the people that go there all the time... but for a few brief moments it felt good to look at pretty things and try and figure out what so-and-so would like. It was a fun experiment to turn off my brain and be tempted by the crap I'd probably find myself hating once I got it home. It was fun to chat with the girls in the store about how "cute" something was and where the best deal for something else was. It's is now completely out of my system, and probably will be for quite some time, but it seems that every few months I have a strange lapse in my ability to reason and feel and then go on a comsumption binge. I think it's more boredom and lack of inspiration more than anything else, the need for something to occupy attention for at least a little while.
To be fair we should probably realize that at least a portion of the people in the mall hate being there. Some of them are probably quite put off by the consumerism of the Christmas season but don't want to give nothing to people who are buying things for them.
None of what I said is an attempt to justify rampant consumerism and mindlessness, but perhaps a few descriptions of where it may come from and what keeps it going even in people that know it's ridiculous.
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NiamhNyx
I'm NOT a 'he'
Registered: 09/01/02
Posts: 3,198
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Sclorch]
#2180141 - 12/15/03 04:27 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Sclorch said: Oh my... this reminds me of that time I was banned from the mall...
All I was doing was telling the people stuff along the lines of what SpecialEd is bringing up here. Of course, I told them through a bullhorn.
Most people scuttled off looking confused. It's to be expected.
THATS BRILLIANT! I'd like to do something like this at some point but I still am trying to get over my dislike of a lot of public attention.
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Phluck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/10/99
Posts: 11,394
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 5 months, 3 days
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2182216 - 12/16/03 10:53 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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"These incredibly complex beings with a very finite amount of time on this earth, choosing not to explore truths or further humanity or use their minds to solve problems"
Do they really need to do that either? You're here posting about shopping malls when you could be out solving society's problems.
"Wait, yeah I do, I just can't express it. It's when I become cognizant of everything going on around me, that I am forced to recognize how beautiful and complex everything truly is, and I just want to marvel."
Are shopping malls and the people in them exempt from being part of the beauty of everything?
-------------------- "I have no valid complaint against hustlers. No rational bitch. But the act of selling is repulsive to me. I harbor a secret urge to whack a salesman in the face, crack his teeth and put red bumps around his eyes." -Hunter S Thompson http://phluck.is-after.us
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SpecialEd
+ one
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 6,220
Loc: : Gringo
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Phluck]
#2182314 - 12/16/03 11:38 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Do they really need to do that either? You're here posting about shopping malls when you could be out solving society's problems.
Of course they don't need to. It just seems weird the way that people keep busy, work jobs they hate, and trash the planet for consumerism.
As for me, every time I have an epiphany, I rush to the shroomery to post about it. I have all of the solutions to the world's problems, but nobody will listen to me, and I have not the gout to bring about change. Believe me, I've fucking tried.
-------------------- "Plus one upvote +1..." --- // -- /l_l\/ --\-/----
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2182442 - 12/16/03 12:23 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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SpecialEd: Believe me, I've fucking tried.
You haven't tried hard enough. I almost ended a commissioner's career with ONE email.
Creativity is a powerful tool.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Zero7a1
Leaving YourWasteland
Registered: 10/23/02
Posts: 3,594
Loc: Passing Cloud
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Phluck]
#2182455 - 12/16/03 12:31 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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of course, so could you, so could all of us. How would you go about actually solving those problems? I would think it would be something like removing assholes from their positions and showing people what was wrong with what they were doing. But personally i dont know, where would you start? If it were directly possibly on a daily basis, why wouldnt more people be doing it?
-------------------- What?
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Frog
Warrior
Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 4,284
Loc: The Zero Point Field
Last seen: 11 years, 2 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Zero7a1]
#2182463 - 12/16/03 12:38 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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What was that movie..."Pay it Forward"...I liked the thoughts behind that.
I don't know if change can come about by preaching at people about what they are doing wrong. No one likes to be preached at.
But if you go around living your life as an example, and if you do small things for others, perhaps others will take your example with them, or repay the favor by doing something for the next person.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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NariusFractal
Sat Chit Ananda
Registered: 12/19/02
Posts: 804
Loc: USA
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Sclorch]
#2184194 - 12/16/03 10:50 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Hehe I was just at that mall last Thursday SClorch
-------------------- You are the microcosm of the macrocosm.
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
Posts: 4,805
Loc: On the Brink of Madness
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sheister: Hehe I was just at that mall last Thursday SClorch
So... where's YOUR trespassing warning?
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Sclorch]
#2184444 - 12/17/03 01:24 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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I'm not about getting kicks by belittling people.
Ah, you are denying yourself one of the great joys of life.
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Swami]
#2184482 - 12/17/03 01:44 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Swami said: Ah, you are denying yourself one of the great joys of life.
Back in line, mere slave! To think you can talk in a thread that I haven't even posted in! See that avatar? That's Jesus. If you're not Jesus, you're nothing.
No harm intended, my friend. Much hehe Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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SpecialEd
+ one
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 6,220
Loc: : Gringo
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Oh fireworks , you are FUCKED if there is a vengeful christian god
-------------------- "Plus one upvote +1..." --- // -- /l_l\/ --\-/----
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: SpecialEd]
#2185179 - 12/17/03 11:45 AM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
SpecialEd said: Oh fireworks_god
If I am vengeful or not depends on what drug I am currently on. Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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Anonymous
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lol i just got back from the mall.. had to go xmas shopping. also bought myself some new clothes.. i also talked to this girl who is best friends wtih this girl i have been talking to online for the past couple years..twas a good day at the mall
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Frog]
#2188246 - 12/18/03 03:41 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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wanting to go shopping for someone they love as part of the tradition that we have adopted at Christmas.
The fact is that people go Christmas shopping because everyone else does it (even people who do not follow this religion) and they believe they are buying these things out of love when in fact it is a habititual response once a year to a tradition that has conditioned their mind since they were little children.
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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yeah, right. Just like everything else. Why are you using the english language? because youve been conditioned to do so since you were a little child. snore.
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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yeah, right. Just like everything else. Why are you using the english language? because youve been conditioned to do so since you were a little child.
exactly! Everything that makes you who you are, your beliefs, your prejudices, your actions, your feeling and thoughts, was conditioned in you since you were born and that conditioning is happening right now. What do you think television and the mass media is doing? Where do you learn your english writing and speaking? Primarily from schools that are based on certain ideas, principles, and beliefs. How did you learn about Christmas and Christmas shopping? cartoons? books? your parents? Why do you personally give a shit about what somebody said about somebody else who wrote about somebody who claimed that a long time ago someone named Jesus was born and that 3 dudes on horses gave him gifts? Everyone in our society is taught the same thing and if you don't conform you are wierd, that's why most people go holiday shopping, they don't even know why they are doing it. They do it because it has been programmed into them. We live in a consumer driven economy, materialism and capitalism are the big shots of this game. You either buy your family and friends their gifts or else they will be upset, think you are unreligious, that you don't love them, that you are cheap, or that you have some illness. ok, rant over. sorry about that but I had to get the Christmas spirit out of my system but the hat stays, my avatar celebrates Christmas.
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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chodamonkey: "Everyone in our society is taught the same thing and if you don't conform you are wierd, that's why most people go holiday shopping, they don't even know why they are doing it. They do it because it has been programmed into them." ------I dont know what Christmas is to you, or to your hypothetical consumer drones, but Christmas for me, and for my family is about...family. Being together, having fun and enjoying life. Not about products or jesus, but simply about FAMILY. What did I give people for Christmas last year? homemade recycled paper and used books. -OOOOH- welcome to consumer hell. "You either buy your family and friends their gifts or else they will be upset, think you are unreligious, that you don't love them, that you are cheap, or that you have some illness" -I dont know anybody who behaves like that. And I dont think all this conditioning you speak of is very effective, I used to watch lots of TV growing up, I use to love Nike sneakers. Now I barely watch an hour a week and I'm wearing a 5-year old pair of Koston 1's, which my friend gave to me (he bought them at a second hand clothing store).
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Christmas for me, and for my family is about...family. Being together, having fun and enjoying life. Not about products or jesus, but simply about FAMILY.
great, we have something in common. but why do millions of people go out to buy each other stuff they don't need (most of the time), and why do people do it who don't even believe in Jesus or Christmas? I have many Jewish and Islamic friends who participate in the shopping part but not in any other traditional events to do with Christmas.
What did I give people for Christmas last year? homemade recycled paper and used books.
that's awesome
I dont think all this conditioning you speak of is very effective
Go stand infront of a mall and count how many people walk out of there with bags full of products vs the people who come out with nothing.
I used to watch lots of TV growing up, I use to love Nike sneakers.
Me too, what happened to us?
Now I barely watch an hour a week and I'm wearing a 5-year old pair of Koston 1's, which my friend gave to me (he bought them at a second hand clothing store).
Gosh darn it, maybe me and you aren't so different after all? I don't watch tv anymore and I don't care what label is on my shoes. Maybe my previous post sounded a bit on the extreme side, but I'd rather make a point sharp then beat around the bush. Personally, I don't celebrate Christmas anymore (I used to be Catholic) and I don't go shopping for things my family and friends don't need. I buy them stuff any time of the year if something comes up.
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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I think lots of people buy each other products for christmas because they enjoy it. Some probably dont, but hey...some people dont even enjoy sex. whats wrong with doing something you enjoy? I own lots of things I dont NEED, but I like them. I enjoy my cds, my beer and my books, but I dont need them. edit: also, I think you are forgetting how awesome and magical christmas is for kids.
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Whether you enjoy shopping or not (and of course we are told shopping is FUN) is not relevant. I tried to make a point earlier that we are conditioned by our environment since we are born, that is a simple fact and I'm sure you agree with this statement. We are living in a society that exploits us through mass manipulation of our desires and needs, Christmas shopping is one of these exploits. edit: I don't doubt kids enjoy christmas, it's like a real-life fairy tale and they get to participate. Very effictive way of grooming them into obedient consumers who will pass the tradition onto their children. okay, I'll stop for tonite.
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Frog
Warrior
Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 4,284
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I like Christmas and, if I could afford it, I'd go Christmas shopping for my family and close friends. I like the tradition.
But the most important thing to me is that that is the day that Jesus was born.
The second most important is sharing it with people, whether family, friends, or strangers. I don't automatically feel like it's Christmas just because it's that time of year.
Once I was working on Christmas Eve, at a restaurant, and I was not feeling the Christmas spirit. Working, you know, and it was a slow day. But finally, people started coming in, and they brought their Christmas spirit with them. I borrowed some.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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chodamunky
Cheers!
Registered: 02/28/02
Posts: 2,030
Loc: sailing the seas of chees...
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Re: Shopping malls [Re: Frog]
#2190826 - 12/19/03 02:33 PM (20 years, 3 months ago) |
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But the most important thing to me is that that is the day that Jesus was born. You do know that Jesus was not actually born on Christmas Day right? Keep your eyes open, I think I'll need to make a post about where Christmas comes from.
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Positronius
playboy
Registered: 11/27/03
Posts: 947
Loc: montreal-vancouver-tokyo
Last seen: 19 years, 7 months
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choda: "We are living in a society that exploits us through mass manipulation of our desires and needs, Christmas shopping is one of these exploits."
I dont follow your logic, society is an in-progress process that is being constantly created by US, not a bunch of corporate geniuses. Society doesnt exploit anything, corporations exploit christmas to sell their goods, a very normal course of action. We do not like the things we like because capitalism has conditioned us to like those things.
We like them because they help us make life more enjoyable. Last year my mom bought me "Crime and Punishment", she bought me that because she knew I would enjoy it, not because she is conditioned to do so.
Its not so insidious. Its humans trying to make life a beautiful, lovely, happy, cozy experience.
-------------------- and you know it like a poet, like....babydoll
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Frog
Warrior
Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 4,284
Loc: The Zero Point Field
Last seen: 11 years, 2 months
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I know. The date we picked to celebrate Jesus' birthday is off by a few years. So? 'Snot my fault.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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