"In A Society That Has Abolished All Adventure The Only Adventure Left Is To Abolish That Society"
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Now, this is clearly a quote that is implying that anarchy would be good, not that the people who quote it know that, they think it is just saying that people don't take enough risks or some shit like that. But either way, it is ridiculous! I mean, by abolishing society in favour of adventure, you are just going to create a different society, one that is completely adventurous, but it will become the norm and you will be left with another 'boring society'?
But it isn't really the 'plot holes' in the quote that annoy me, it is the people who use this quote as some form of inspiration behind their life, it all links back to my previous 'Teenagers refusing to grow up" post. It's the sort of people who think that to grow up and accept your place in society is boring, who think that getting a 9 till 5 job is selling out, people who think that the only thing to life is adventure but only if it is their idea of the word... you know, immature people. What these people need to realise is that 'adventure' does not mean 'going out and causing disturbances by being a moron'.
This is a reasonably short post because I have covered most of it before.. but people need to realise that society is a necessary part of life, also they need to see that 'society' and 'adventure' can actually go together. Their thirst for adventure is actually just typical teenage rebellion, but when you have rebelled against everything the only thing left to rebel against is rebellion itself.
The quote inspires thought. It isn't meant to be taken literally. Relax champ.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't read the second paragraph, (excluding the quote itself) did ya, champ.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so wrong with rebellion? What is so wrong with challenging the norm? When we question, we can find better ways and better answers. So teenagers don't want to work 9 to 5. Maybe it's because they see it doesn't make their parents happy. Maybe they want adventures because they've never been on one. Personally I find it immature of you to talk like you know everything. You act like you know that society is a necessary part of life and that people who use this quote as inspiration are teenagers refusing to grow up. Who are you to know the answers? You are getting angry at those who question, while you just accept society at face value. How does you view contribute to improving society? I don't claim to know everything either, but it doesn't quite make sense to me how you are so upset about people wanting to change the world for the better by trying to abolish our current society. Do you really think this quote is just all about having an adventure? With all due respect, this view seems narrow-minded.
ReplyDeleteOf course it seems narrow-minded to you, oh Anonymous one, it differs to your opinion. Much like your comment seems narrow-minded to me.
ReplyDeleteYou make assumptions that abolishing our society (not entirely sure who you mean, the world hardly shares a society) will make the world a better place. You assume that because you haven't ever done anything 'big', that you have never been on adventure. And perhaps most narrow-minded of all, you assume that because I do not have a problem with our current society, that I must just be a simpleton who accepts the world at face value.
Of course, I'm not saying that you can't think that. If you want to, by all means, go ahead. I'm just pointing out that you are kind of doing exactly what you are accusing me of doing, just on a smaller scale. Much like everyone else in the world. We all think we know everything, son, and life is just a series of realisations that we were an idiot when we used to think we knew what was going on.
I'm a teenager and one of my friends put this quote on Facebook. As I thought about it, I got irritated for reasons similar to yours, and because most of the people my age usually don't have the slightest idea of who they're quoting or where they're quoting from, I googled it and came across this. I don't think you're being narrow-minded at all, you're just analyzing the quote for what it is. And if teenagers want a quote about adventure and taking risks, there are better ones out there.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, sir. I am glad you think so.
ReplyDeleteYou're right; it does differ depending on your opinion. However I never thought your opinion was wrong. I see how my comment can seem narrow-minded, too. I think all opinions and perceptions about the world can be viewed as narrow-minded because I think any perceptions or points of view narrow our minds, depending on how you look at it. Really, I was just trying to point out that the assumptions you made about people who like the quote aren’t true about everyone who likes the quote. I wrote what I did to show the other side of the conversation, not to prove you wrong but to just simply put the thoughts up for consideration.
ReplyDeleteAlso I never assumed abolishing society would make the world a better place. I just don't dismiss the possibility that it could improve the world, that’s all. Again, how do you know it won’t? No one does. I know ‘society’ is a general term, but in general the societies of the world use government, money, and have profit-based businesses that thrive through marketing and advertising, even in third-world countries. If you knew governments around the world tortured and experimented on human beings, you would be entirely okay with that? I’m not okay with governments abusing power. I'm not okay with profit slowly casting a shadow over ethics. I’m not okay with the growing gap between the rich and the poor. I’m not okay with children starving. I’m not okay with these aspects of society (and many more), and if it could be changed if we all came together to think of something better—well, I don’t see what’s so negative about that. You are free to be 'okay' with these things. I never assumed that doing something 'big' was the only adventure, but in society the word 'adventure' is not often used, is it? I think life can be an adventure, but that this quote implies, to me, that society holds us back from having adventures that we want to because perhaps people want something different than going to college and having a family. Yet, society expects this of you, without stating it. Not to say that going to college and having a family isn't an adventure, but it's not the only adventures we humans can have. It's not so much that society physically prohibits us, but it puts us into a mental bubble of what life is. It's not much a of a choice when a child's mind is drilled with the same ideas for over a decade: pick a career, go to school, have a family. It's different, what is expected, everywhere you go--but the fact that something is expected is what is prohibiting.
You have yet to prove to me that you don't accept the world at face value. Though I'm sure you don't, because your comments don't embody all you know. Still, looking at your comments, you haven't really ever supported what exactly you're okay with about our society. You just made assumptions about what I think, though I don't think those things at all.
I'm a sixteen- year-old girl, and yes, I can see how it seems like the quote’s implying anarchy--though, it's really just a quote and it can imply many different things, just like a story or song, depending on how a person interprets it. But, if you see it as implying anarchy, that’s understandable, and everyone is free to see anarchy as bad. However it could also imply, as it does to me personally, that society has the potential to be better and rebuilding it could be a positive thing that many people feel is called for, hence how they enjoy the quote. I think people like this quote not because they don't understand it, because, as I said, it can be interpreted differently. What they made of it they agreed with, just like what you made of it you didn’t agree with.
However I don't understand why you told me that 'we all think we know everything, son, and life is just a series of realizations that we were an idiot when we used to think we knew what was going on', when I posted 'I don't claim to know everything...'
Yeah, you misinterpreted that quote.
ReplyDeleteHey, not often I get a second comment from the same person! How exciting.
ReplyDeleteClearly you have put a lot of thought into this, and a lot of the points you make come down to personal opinion, so I can't really dispute them. What I can say is that this quote annoyed me to begin with because of a friend who loved it for all these reasons that annoyed me, which I then wrote about in this blog. Because, as you may see, this blog is called "What Annoyed Me Today", and her interpretation of the quote is what annoyed me on that day. Good, I'm glad that is out of the way.
And the problem with all the people who are going to be interpreting it in the ways that you have specified is that it is completely one sided. Like all the things that you said you don't find okay in the world, and that IN YOUR OPINION the world would be better without them. Well, you don't say better, you just say you don't see what would be negative about that. But in your ethical crusade, think of the people you would harm. You would harm the rich people, the people who have the profit, the goverment officials who 'abuse' their power. But no one ever cares about those people, as soon as someone is outed as being 'bad', no one cares about them, do they not have a right to the riches that they have managed to earn? Is it their fault that your mindset prohibits you from leading a life similar to theirs? Thinking that changing a society could make it better just because YOU think it could is exactly the same as people thinking that there is nothing wrong with the current society because they are comfortable.
You see, for every 'other side' of a conversation, there are infinite more 'other sides'. Which is why I strongly disagree with you that rebuilding society could be positive, because you haven't stopped to consider the countless lives that could be destroyed if the world were to become your idea of a utopia, the people who lust for money or power and need it to feel fulfilled, only to find they suddenly have none.
But then again, it is not really fair to argue about this with me. My mind will not change, I have a fatalistic view on the world. No amount of quoting or wishing the world was different it going to change what happens at the end of everything. This whole conversation was pretty pointless, it neither changed, nor achieved anything. But hey, at least there was an exchange in knowledge.
Yes, I understand this was your personal opinion and I understand that so is mine. You expressed yourself on the internet, and so did I. I don't believe in the possibility of a utopia, first of all. A better world doesn't mean a perfect world. And I have considered that people will get hurt or killed when rebuilding society. However, think of the people who are hurt and killed by our current society already--don't people suffer either way? I do care about people and do see people who may have done 'bad' things as still human. As you personally have a fatalistic view of the world I personally think the world will change no matter what. But what kind of change? That's not known. Honestly, I agree with you that no amount of quoting or wishing will change anything. Still, for me, that doesn't justify not quoting or not wishing, because these two things can give way to action which causes change. I thought this conversation was incredibly interesting despite it going no where. Haha. Nice exchanging ideas with you, sir.
ReplyDeleteQuit your bitchin'
ReplyDeleteAnonymous troll is anonymous.
ReplyDeleteNo one denies the utility of society.
ReplyDeleteWhat will be replaced are the petty desires that are currently binding this one together.
You seem incredibly unimaginative, my friend. When you find something a little deeper in life, you might consider reading, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Then you'll realize what the quote means. Read "1984" by George Orwell. Then you'll realize what the quote means. Read "Into The Wild" by Jon Krakauer. Read "Walden Pond" by Henry David Thoreau. And if any of it makes sense to you, and civilization still seems like a good idea, then you may consider yourself understanding of the issue.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, stay off the internet.