💾 Archived View for midnight.pub › replies › 6236 captured on 2023-04-20 at 02:36:17. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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> Thus I can't help but wonder: what's wrong with being a > "kook"?
There was a time when being a "kook" seemingly had less real world consequences. Now I can imagine it being grounds for "cancellation". Never underestimate the speed at which murmuring, scarcedly-able-but-to-shout-slogans masses can whip out their torches, pitchforks, and clubs.
> Why is self-denial necessary?
It's not. But to me, without at least degrees of it people live predominantly for themselves, which I believe precludes living enough for society and/or other greater causes to flourish. So it's only necessary to the degree we want nice collective things.
> The third option I was talking about is doing just enough > to get by in mainstream society, and otherwise opting out > and doing one's own thing. The ideal would be getting > together a couple of million and being able to own a > house and car outright while using investment interest > to cover property taxes and thus face the world from the > position of "fuck you", but that might not be realistic > for most people.
That's very doable (or was in my day..), but generally not until after decades of fairly consistent minimalism (especially during inflationary times), and likely enough unfulfilling labor to arrive at sufficient savings, but then quite possibly "arriving" with too much disillusion with the world - never mind far less energy than one had in the days of one's youth - to get the precious middle finger in the all important permanently gravity-defying position. :-)
And I'm not making that up. I'm 62 and roughly in the place you describe, but I'm physically and mentally noticeably lesser than I was a few decades ago.
> Would this make a meaningful difference at the societal > level? Not if only a few people do it. But as more people > do it, mainstream capitalist society begins to crumble.
I've difficulty imagining such a crumble leading more to a meaningfully positive difference in the near term. What I *can* imagine is people murmuring, gossiping, taking rumor to be truth, and ultimately mostly panicking in fits of self interest. Perhaps something more enlightened emerges from the subsequent rubble, but I'd bet against it despite wishing it could be so.