Despite fluoridation of water, and the wide scale public consumption of statins and Ritalin, modern life is not always the joyful utopia that TV shows and Hollywood films often portray it to be. Until the revolution comes, life will mostly resemble a shit sandwich.
Unless you are a government employee or accredited journalist, life sucks: You wake up in a cramped apartment you ‘own’ (once the 500-year mortgage is paid off), shovel down some genetically engineered breakfast cereals, travel to your dull, cubicle-based job for some faceless corporation in an overcrowded train, before returning a few mind numbing hours later to whence you came, feeling exhausted, mildly depressed, and wondering where it all went wrong. Did you really get into $150k of debt studying critical race theory at Portland Community College just for THIS?
It’s never too late to turn your life around and find better pastures. But where? Well, you could try joining the Krishna Consciousness cult. In addition to world-class vegan cooking and wearing bright yellow clothes, you get to chant the words ‘Hare Krishna’ as often as you like while playing exotic musical instruments and walking the streets, looking for other people to join in the fun.
The Krishna Consciousness movement isn’t for everyone, unfortunately. Some former male devotees I knew became upset when their ‘guru’ hit on their womenfolk and were also left more in debt than even before. Their search for an alternative lifestyle continued elsewhere.
Perhaps the best alternative way of living is that followed by the GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveling) community. Much maligned and deeply oppressed, the GRT community is high up on the oppression pyramid, having suffered under the Nazis just like the Jews and other ‘undesirables’. Why exactly this peaceful, nomadic people is victimized is largely unknown. Some ignoramuses say the GRT people are lazy, thieving, lying, cheating, filthy, superstitious and incestuous, among other insulting adjectives. We know that these are lies, however, from the typical depiction of gypsies in films as tough, hard-drinking people who love their mothers, just like Brad Pitt in ‘Snatch’
No-one knows exactly from where the GRT folk originated. Some say India a thousand years ago, others believe their ancestral home was Central and Eastern Europe; a less likely opinion still is that they were the original Romans, related to Julius Caeser and this explains the ‘Roma’ designation.
What we do know is where they now live: usually in a charming caravan in an ‘illegal’ settlement at the bottom of your garden, on a roundabout, in a field on the edge of a village or perhaps in scrubland at the side of the highway. Even though they are routinely referred to as ‘travelers’, they actually do very little in the way of traveling. They are quite happy to stay exactly where they are, until narrow minded non-GRT bigots obtain a court order to evict them.
There is much to admire about the GRT lifestyle. Firstly, they have strong family and community values and stick together through thick and thin. Never a burden on outsiders, they obtain all that they need for nutrition, clothing and shelter from nature itself.
The GRT people would rather do without than ‘steal’ what is not theirs; for extra income, they sell bunches of wild heather, use their wisdom, tarot cards and powers of foresight to make predictions about non-GRT lives. It’s advisable not to cross a GRT person, as their curses carry special power.
The gypsy life is a simple one. But, if it’s your dream to live under the stars, sing ancient ballads, have over ten children by ten different girlfriends, live off the land and generally have an existence of total freedom, you could do much worse than become a non-travelling Roma traveler.
Nice, I will love to be a government employee and AT journalist so that we can put some truth in to Anon ‘s head. Thanks P.
Thanks, Abu, but’s let’s not mention you know who. AT Towers feels like a better place today in his absence.
Back to you – you have no need to dream about being a government employee. Focus simply on leading your country by being the president of Guinea! You will then have the power to create millions of government jobs and dominate the economy. Economies like France thrive precisely because their public sector accounts for the majority of the GDP!
Christina charity? Good luck bagging Christina, Mr Bronie.
Awesome Abu. Bare in mind it’s hard work though. We have trolls like Anon on here all the time, and sometimes his hateful comments get past our algorithm and we have to manually flag them. Sorry about the abuse Anon has dealt you. Don’t worry we’ve reported him to the NSA on multiple accounts of hate speech.
I totally agree Pbier! The gypsies are such well-mannered people, and are so pleasant to be around. I can’t understand why these bigoted conservatives don’t want them camping in their local parks and at the edge of their gardens? What I love about gypsies is they always clean up their litter when they leave an illegally occupied area, and the grass they camp on is always left in perfect condition. It’s disgusting that conservatives are more concerned about their own safety and the preservation of the land than these peaceful, friendly people. The land belongs to everybody! It’s called RIGHT OF WAY!
Exactly! All property is theft and gypsies have every right to put their caravans anywhere they want. The debate should end there.
It’s almost beside the point that, when they leave their occupied area, no one would ever have the slightest clue they were even there.
Yes – the REAL vandalizers are the permanent residents who set up a PERMANENT home in one place, denying other people the RIGHT to use that land!
keep watching brad pitt; it buttresses your IQ.
What the hell would you know about accredited sources? You are about as as unaccredited as a Republican Christian vivisectionist.
Unnamed and unaccredited bronies do not count as credible sources.
The Roma live a life that nature intended for non-white humans just like the happy tribes depicted in such movies as Dances with Wolves and Avatar. They live happy, natural lives in spite of all the evil white capitalist temptations to have things like soap, heat, beds without lice and bedbugs, clean running water, and safe privately owned homes in nice neighborhoods. It’s the evil, white male, capitalist aberration that has led people of color to pursue miserable lives of material abundance.
White industrialists destroyed the perfect, safe and disease-free environment that nature created for us, and now we’re paying the price.
Yes, a cult is all about blind submission which is the total opposite to Islam which is peace and love
Christianity is so patronizing! They try to convince people to join them with moral arguments rather than threats. Ummm Helloooo??? I’m a young progressive – I already KNOW everything! I don’t need to be lectured by patronizing Christian bigots!
you’d like to cult a joint. we know
People in soulless jobs would like a nomadic life style, at least temporarily during their vacation. But flying all over the world, sailing in a luxury yacht, is very different from a nomadic lifestyle.
You have detached yourself in a way that doesn’t let you experience life.
If a nomad pitches a tent in the city, then it is mostly to trade things that he got from elsewhere – pelts, seeds, hand-made stuff, traditional medicine. But in a rural setup a nomad connects with the place more intimately. He offers different services – catching snakes, rats, birds, game meat, collecting honey, gathering seeds, weaving baskets, etc. These are useful to rural folks. This flow of life, just like the flow of water in rivers and streams, the flow of air, and the migration of birds, enrich both the nomads and the people who use their services.
But with capitalism, private property, trespassers will be shot idiocy, fencing and walling the farms and countries, etc, people will have to have to make the nomads into criminals, and prevent them from functioning. Otherwise they will get depressed from their soulless existence, and yearn for alternatives, similar to nomadic existence.
If the nomadic existence is not a choice, then we can easily accept smart cities, smart phones, and digital cashless economy, fully taxed with complete surveillance.