I remember during the earliest days of the Occupy movement that the media got a kick out of asking the protesters what it was, exactly, that they wanted: “What is your list of specific demands?” And when the pierced and inked twenty-somethings couldn’t answer with succinctness and precision, they were smirked at and condescendingly patted on the head by the (mostly right-wing) elites in a that’s-cute-but-call-us-when-you-find-some-actual-solutions kind of way.
The underlying premise was this: “Without a concrete solution to your perceived problems with the status quo, protest against it is just juvenile and silly.”
I would challenge that premise. In fact, I would argue that such a premise is designed to intimidate and thereby quell rebellion before it can even begin. The person questioning the status quo is made to feel like unless he has a plan to rid our food of GMOs or provide healthcare for needy Americans or manage the Middle East peacefully, then he should just sit back and let the grown-ups take care of things. Like Dr. Evil telling his son Scott, “When you’re in the main chamber, try to use your big-boy voice, mmkay?”, misfits and malcontents today are dismissed with a wave of the hand unless they are willing and able to become freelance lobbyists or policy-makers.
But I think there is plenty of middle ground between having a detailed plan to change the world and sitting back watching Dancing with the Stars while others worry about things.
What I personally like to do is to stage little mini-protests against things I consider harmful, often without even bothering to tell anyone about them. For example, I have never owned a cell phone. I am not on a crusade to take the right to own one away from anyone else, but for me personally, I don’t like the degree to which we become dependent on technological shortcuts, and I think smartphones are making us more stupid and unable to solve problems with our actual brains. So I personally choose not to participate in that aspect of culture, even if it causes me minor inconveniences from time to time.
Another few examples: I refuse to shop at Walmart because they are notorious for their horrific labor practices; I refuse to buy a new car until my ’00 Civic craps out, because I prefer the freedom from debt more than a fancy new GPS navigation system. Oh, and if someone gave me a new car I would refuse to use the GPS navigation system, because I prefer to actually figure out where something is rather than being dictated to by a machine. Also, I really like taking a couple hours in the middle of my day to go to a pub or coffeehouse to relax and read a book, because I refuse to be so identified with my job that I lose sight of what actually makes me who I am. And lastly, I am growing increasingly comfortable with my cigar smoke bothering other people when I sit out with a book and smoke on a warm summer day. Part of living in a society with other human beings involves having your little personal bubble compromised or popped. If I have to overhear your retarded conversation about your stock portfolio or favorite first-person-shooter game, a little second-hand smoke won’t kill you. So suck it.
My point? It’s simple: We don’t need to be a part of some highly-organized resistance movement in order to give the middle finger to societal norms every now and then. Personal outbursts of protest are easy, enjoyable, and perhaps most importantly, are often occasions for great discussions with people who ask things like, “It’s 3pm on a weekday, how can you be sitting here drinking your second ale and jotting down musings in that journal?”
“Well, funny you should ask. . . .”
I love that within a larger movement, there are a thousand single ones, as individual as we are. It’s the silent movement of our preferences and individuality that speak the loudest, by allowing others to be just as confidently quirky.
“It was more than mere chance that brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn. A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry and Pippin will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains.”
I’m trying to grow increasingly at ease with my neighbors’ discomfort over my dog’s use of their lawn to relieve herself for the same reason: it’s a neighborhood, and one unspoken rule about neighborhoods is that they contain dogs who have to go just like you and me, only they’re dogs unlike you and me. Yes, I understand it’s your property and you have your rights (ugh, you people with your property and rights), but don’t get all lippy with me when I forgot my stupid little shitbag and she sullies your precious lawn. It’s all a part of living in a human community. And while I’m at it, neighborhoods also come with kids, so back off when they cut your corner on their bikes. If you don’t like it then move into a condo or something.
But don’t get me stated on leash laws.
ps, though, I’m not much for banning smokers, but as a non-smoker it would be nice you people would ask us before you lit up inside. I mean, restrooms are in the back and cordoned off for a good reason. How’d you like it if I relieved myself over your left shoulder? Chances are good I’ll say go ahead and light up, but dial down the expectation that I should just put up with it.
SCZ,
Your entire position is fallacious since it is based on the (incorrect) analogy between dog poo and cigar smoke. But the thing is, is that dog poo smells bad, while cigar smoke smells amazing.
PS – I will admit that I am at my most comfortable with my own cigar smoke when I was the first person sitting outside and then people chose to sit near me. You get near me, you pay a price, is what I’m saying.
This is cool Jason but let me be honest, I’ll have a hard time reading through this. Not because I necessarily disagree but because I’m jealous.
1. My consistent apathy might be the only thing that gets me fired-up. Then I wait 5 seconds…and I realize I’m also pretty apathetic about my apathy. I have beliefs and opinions but I’m seldom willing to argue them. It could very well be I’m a bit insecure with my own convictions, maybe I lack a conviction to “make my voice heard”, or it could just be my deep seeded dislike of confrontation. My guess is probably a healthy mix of all three. Therefore, for the next 4 seconds I’m going to be pretty excited and jealous about your passion and challenges.
2. I live in a constant state of internal conflict over my cell phone. I’m tethered to my smart phone and all the conveniences it provides while simultaneously bemoaning how reliant I am on it. I tried a few years back to sever the cord but my wife quickly placed a kibosh on that idea. “what if I need you?”…and she regularly does so I gave in (see point #1 above). I’ll have to live vicariously through you on this issue and the next….
3. I have no qualm with your cigar smoke nor hoisting a couple pints mid-day (I probably wouldn’t tell you if I did anyways. See point #1). I just wish I could do the same. I’m not asking you to reveal your secret on how you manage to finagle hanging-out mid-day rather than working, shit, I wouldn’t give-up that pearl of wisdom either, but needless to say I envy that luxury. A mortgage payment, private school tuition, student loans, health care insurance, and four kids have me shackled working for the man while you imbibe and “muse”. The depth of my covetousness knows no bounds in this matter.
Can you now see the slope of envy I would slide down while following your contemplations and challenges? I lack the iconoclast attitude and pioneering spirit of a free thinker. Not that I don’t want to possess such passions but rather find the pursuit far too exhausting. Remember, I’m that guy who likes the LOTR movies far better than the books because I had to work too hard to figure out what was going on in the books.
All that being said I’ll probably frequent Heavy for the Vintage and marvel at the coolness of it all. The Dude abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there.
Will you marry me?
(oh wait, I don’t fucking believe in marriage…will you just fuck me forever, please?)
Jacob, the Dude DOES abide…yeah, man.
Jacob,
Hey, if we misfits can inspire a bit of jealousy, that’s a good thing, right?
1. I hear you on the apathy. That’s why I said in the About piece that part of what frustrates us is looking within rather than just without. And it’s also the reason I wanted to write the first post about subtle little forms of protest: sometimes turning off the phone or switching to cash can be ways we overcome our laziness and give expression to how we’re tired of conforming (even if no one but us sees it).
2. All the reasons why cellphones are quote-unquote necessary existed before cellphones existed, and yet somehow we all made it to 1995 intact.
3. Ha ha, yeah, I know idling can be costly (depending on how expensive one’s lifestyle is to maintain). I make half the money now as I did a couple years ago, and it’s not easy.
If you’re who I think you are (guy with the pornstar mustache mad-dogging me in the bathroom at Disneyland that one time), then I’ll buy you a pint next time I’m down there. And if that’s not you, well, I’ll just leave that comment to your imagination and let you wonder what the hell I’m talking about.
Melissa,
Ha ha. I’ll check with my beautiful wife and get back to you. . . .
Every time I enter the Disneyland bathroom I look for you…in a totally platonic kinda way. I would rather run into you at the Staples Center bathroom sometime! The Mamba will strike again! Looking forward to that Pint.
But your counterpoint sucks because cigar smoke is not amazing. It smells like powerful white men wearing those gay bow ties. Pipe smoke is pretty amazing though. It smells like contemplation wearing whatever it wants.
First off, I’m not that powerful. And secondofly, my bow ties are only attracted to bow ties of the opposite gender (not that there’s anything wrong with the alternative. A lot of my friends’ bow ties are gay).
Maybe your cigar smoke is YOUR own personal bubble; and maybe part of living in community with others means that bubble’s gotta be popped now and again. I mean you’re a guy but if you knew what it was like to inhale that stuff while pregnant….blech. Or even to trot your tots by some guy smoking way too close to others….. At any rate, not a fan. It’s best, in the end, to have some manners, in my opinion. I do think that going without a cell phone is excellent, however.
Ha ha, OK, I’ll make society a deal, Emily: On those rare summer days when I light up a cigar in the vicinity of other people, if they promise to talk softly enough so that I don’t have to hear them, I will make sure they don’t have to smell my smoke!
An aside, but this could be made part of a larger narrative in which I compare the U.S. to Europe, looking at the sense of entitlement and personal space those in each culture feel they are owed.
Future post, maybe?
Ah, the tyranny of culture that is a mile wide and an inch deep. What is cultural usually becomes political. We see that all the time, don’t we. Well intentions become burdensome regulations. And I think Emily is right, the smoke creates a nice bubble. Hi Jacob…. Thanks to Mr. Newnham for the link.
Great to see you, Ixtlan. Yes, thanks to Michael Newnham for the link.
Identifying a problem is the first step in the process of finding a solution. We cannot allow ourselves to be bullied by the powers that be!!! One of the most grievous trends in modern society is the lack of honest dialogue. Within a few comments we categorize and label others and then often shut them down. In arrogance, we flaunt our position as an absolute, not because it is worthy of merit in and of itself but purely because we believe it. Disney has taken over our minds, we feel at liberty to create our own facts and realities and then demand that they be treated with respect. The self-centered and lazy dogmas that immerge lack basic logic in many cases, and though not devoid of emotion, they are soulless. There is no life in the make believe. God help us.
I enjoyed your rant, Jason. I’m sorry I couldn’t refrain from adding one of my own.
This is a rant-safe zone, Sara! You’re welcome any time.
Well, first of all, by gay I don’t mean homosexual but rather ostentatious and self-promoting. And B., I’d be willing to over look their gayness if they could do in real life what they do in the cartoons–spin around when a woman walks by and then cause me to fly around town.
You clearly watch your cartoons on the Vaudeville Channel. . . .
Va-VOOM!!
“I refuse to be so identified with my job that I lose sight of what actually makes me who I am.”
Profound words, rich in value. Thanks.
I’m in total agreement with J on the cigar thang. I had to listen to a bunch of cunts screaming and yelling at a Sounder’s match while I was trying to enjoy my pint of Boddington’s and a Cohiba…and it was I who was asked to move twenty feet to accomodate THEM?
Naw. SAME THING, people. SAME level of offense.
Wondering about my hearing loss from those eejits screaming over NOTHING. My secondhand smoke is, perhaps, equally offensive to them. I’ll give you that.
What the fuck happened to tolerance though? Just ’cause the FDA tells you that secondhand smoke kills, you’re going to BELIEVE them? Since when did we start believing what the fucking government tells us? Ha ha ha! Shit. (I WISH the FDA was right because my Mother would have been dead long ago from secondhand smoke…saved me and my family ALOT of fucking grief)
I’m tolerating your inane sports obsessions, you can tolerate the gorgeous scent wafting from my perfect rosebud lips while I enjoy the finest smoke a gal can have…
SARA!!!
YES. The lack of honest dialogue…shit.
This is something I’ve been aspiring to for a few years now and it hasn’t steered me wrong yet. I’ve certainly garnered a shitload of sideways glances and the occasional perturbed comment of a friend or family member but I’ve pushed back and pushed on…it’s WORKING.
It’s TOTALLY working.
Jason, the next time you ask to use my cell phone or your wife calls you on my cell phone, I’m going to refuse your request and reject her call out of respect for your personal protests. Please make sure she is aware of this.
Nice to have someone “keeping me accountable.”
[…] middle finger to these structures. Is it some decisive death-blow? Of course not. But like I say, little bursts of protest for sanity’s sake are good enough for me. Plus, experiments like these are healthy (ahem) for […]