Witnessing Stupidity

UNSEEN RAMBLINGS

This is what I have been reduced to.

Over thirty years in the workforce with almost nothing to show for it has led me to develop this exposition about what I have done, what I am doing and what can be done about it.

If you have a job that you like – good for you.  I am glad.

If you have a job you don’t like, or have ever held a job you didn’t like, or held a job you liked in a place that didn’t let you like it, you may want to stick around and read through my posts to find out if we have anything in common.  There are a lot of places to work that nobody really wants to, but they go there anyway.  They tough it out.  They get through it.  Is that any way to really exist?  To just “get through” things so your day can be over and you can go home and wait for it to start over again?

For many people this is exactly what their world is like.  The workplace is an unbearable mess they can’t avoid because they need a paycheck.  I have spent my entire life working, mostly, in places I did not care to be.  I have held over 100 jobs in over 30 years and am still looking for work.  I need a paycheck just like everyone else.  I have bills to pay and goals to reach and I need some financial security.  So here I am, telling you all about it.  My story may be the only thing of value I have to share.

Thanks for listening.

Page One. Imagine.

June 25, 2011 

If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody to hear it – will it make a sound?  Of course it will.  Science proves that sound waves carry and indeed never die.  Every sound ever made, every radio and television broadcast is still alive on some minute wavelength that may never be heard again.  But it is there.

So, I have decided to develop this experiment.  If somebody writes a blog and does not tell anyone about it, will it be found?  Will anyone stumble across it in web searches and if so, when?  I am going to write something every day.  Right now I am focused on a 30 minute time block around lunchtime or after hours to remain diligent and be able to do everything I have to do and I will come to this keyboard and punch out a message that is delivered into cyberspace among millions, nay billions of megabytes of data and wonder if anybody will read it.  If you are reading this and there are no comments below, I urge you, I beg you, comment, and do it now before your chance at being a pioneer in the vast reaches of the world wide web slip into oblivion and somebody else steals your thunder.  And don’t just say something stupid, like “Yeah, I’m here.”  Make a statement, tell us what brought you here and how you came to be on a webpage that, right now, at this moment in time, is not about anything in particular.

While here, writing your response, I also urge you not to be lazy.  Check your spelling and fix your typos.  It is not that hard, your computer underlines it in red for you.  Turn on your dictionary if you can’t figure it out.  Have some style in what you write and by all means do not abbreviate.  Do not use the shorthanded text style that is undermining prose and developing into what is becoming readily accepted as another language.  Please help to preserve the written word in English language and do bother to use capitalization, punctuation, and proper grammar.

No, I am not an English teacher.  Nor am I a journalist or renowned author.  I would like to be.  I have written a multitude of screenplays, both features and shorts, a novel I never did anything with and an epic poem I placed on Amazon Kindle that nobody has yet purchased a copy of.  I have many more stories in my head than will more than likely never come out.  I try to write what I can when I can force myself to write, hence, the exercise herein.  This is my coping mechanism for writers block now.  Just a freestyle rambling that may entertain myself, and if I am lucky, somebody else.

But I do a lot more than just write.

Page Two. A far fetched idea.

June 27, 2011

So I missed a day, well, not really, I got to writing late, so here it is after midnight and I am ready to post my blog.  But I just did a lot of writing.

I felt compelled to write in response to a New York Times article posted on Yahoo entitled “Financial Advice Gleaned From A Day In The Hot Seat.”  Being a poor man in need of financial advice I readily clicked to learn what I could about improving my wealth and stature, since I do not have any.  So I read the article.

And then I replied.  I could have gone a bit father but instead stopped at the mandatory 4000 character limit.  Here is what I wrote:

There isn’t just a radical difference between Tiger 21 members and typical Americans. There is a radical difference between the author and typical Americans as well. The typical American, if we were to average the income level of all adults, would not allow for $100 a week to pay somebody else to care for your pets. Typical Americans do it themselves and eat out just as much as anyone else, albeit not gourmet dining, keeping the fast food industry in business. Typical Americans make under $50,000 a year and would never conceive of paying 5-10% of their household income to a dog walker. Typical Americans are the ones who spend 80 – 100% of their income every year to survive and in turn keep the American economy alive, helping to maintain employment at those fast food places and warehouse stores. Rich Americans don’t do that.

Take another look at the Tiger 21 group. $10M+ in net worth, typically spending 300K annually, according to the article. Great, they spend 6 – 10 times more than the typical American, but on what? Luxury items that keep a fraction of the population working and wealthy? $30,000 on dues to a club? Not being “in that league” it is difficult for typical Americans to commiserate.

Chances are the members of Tiger 21 or any other overtly wealthy Americans are not going to read this article and these comments, but if a good number of them did, and understood the value of expenditure, and I do not mean charity, I mean investment, and would just open the floodgates to their wallets, so much good would be done for typical Americans that the world would become a far better place. Most of the hyper-rich, those earning in excess of $1,000,000 a year, if they were to spend 80% of their earnings (after taxes) would boost the American Economy into a such a boom that whatever stocks they were invested in would likely rise based on consumer spending from the jobs they create through the simple act of investment in tangible business.

There are plenty of ways to turn the American economy around and still have a sweet and reasonable nest egg. But I suspect few of the hyper-rich would participate because they simply don’t have to. They are safe and secure and have enough to last many lifetimes so they don’t have to worry about the rest of the world. I am not trying to vilify anyone here, just stating a fact that spending increases spending and the ones with cash need to start that process now. Because guys like me need a job.

If the aforementioned rich were to invest 80% of their annual income in a combination of household wants and needs, vacations and new ventures, just for one year, that extra spending would boost the American economy far beyond what I now imagine or envision.

But what would they do? Where to invest? Who cares? Open some yogurt shops, start a new shoe factory, finance somebody with a good idea if you don’t have one of your own.

One way to create 250,000 jobs overnight would be to hire somebody to pump gas at every gas station in the country. It should be a law, not just because I don’t like pumping my own gas, in fact I despise it, but because it would create a job. You can’t pump your own gas in New Jersey or Oregon, why should you have to pump it anywhere else? Somebody should be getting paid to do that for you. It would not raise the cost of gas. Do the math on what would come back into the economy and you will see how sound the idea is.

Tear yourself away from the self-serve line and make somebody work. Don’t fall for it at the grocery or home improvement store. Just stand in a line with a live checker and make them do away with those things. A lot of us would love a job at a grocery store.

Now, if you see the value in spending and you are rich, by all means, please spend more money. At least this year. Share the wealth. Literally. Please.

And if you like the idea, let’s pick a day, say 09/02/2011 and call it DON’T PUMP YOUR OWN GAS DAY.

Email this to everybody.

Mike Rembis

I did not just come up with the gas station idea as I was writing.  I had that all along and was just waiting for the proper form to release it.

I wrote to President Obama with the idea and a staff member sent me a very nice letter on White House stationery with Mr. Obama’s authentic White House approved signature by the auto-pen that told me he appreciated my idea and wishes me well.  Nothing affirmative, yet not dismissive, perfectly apportioned politics.

I thought perhaps this forum would be a place to be heard, but one page refresh later, my comment is now on page two, likely gone for good and the few who may have read it said “Hmmph.”  Current comment count is 1,748 and increasing steadily by the minute.  In the next few wee hours of the morning it will be lost for good in cyberspace and alas, my birthday plans will be ruined.

Yes, my birthday is September 2, a.k.a. DON’T PUMP YOUR OWN GAS DAY.  If I had more than 4000 characters to work with I would have gone on to say that I was actually suggesting a don’t buy gas day.  Buy it the day before and the day after, but not that day, unless you have a delivery service of some kind and your business relies on gas.  I wonder what it would be like if all of a sudden gas pumps became eerily silenced for most of a day.  At least it would make for interesting news.

See.  I’m not just a writer.  I am also an anarchist.

Three. A belated update.

June 30, 2011

Being a supreme procrastinator I am finding it difficult to maintain a daily schedule writing a blog.  Obviously people who can maintain such schedules are either being paid to do so or have nothing better to do.  So I am foregoing the “Days” in my title line and am going to just continue to number them.  I was here 48 hours ago, after an hour long diatribe in response to an article on wealthy Americans giving advice (my previous post) and just checked on that original article to see what type of responses I did get there.

I had one that was an actual response, but was not so much an actual reply as it was another tangential rant about people with money and the state of the economy and how only jobs will fix America, so I guess she agrees with me.  At the top of the post I received five thumbs up and two thumbs down which are devoid of comment.  This equates to a 71% approval rating.  Meaning, if extrapolated, 29% of readers would likely disagree with me.  Oh well.

I don’t know what to do about that.

In one of the many emails I received I found a link to a white paper entitled Mastering Public Relations in Social Media.  This is probably something I should read.  In fact it is something I am going to attempt to read and more importantly, try to comprehend.

I am not fascinated by social media, rather, I am perplexed by it.  Mainly because I have been, in the past, diagnosed as a narcissist.  I do not deny that this is true.  I am narcissistic and I do not understand why that is a bad thing to some people.  I think it bothers those most who have self-esteem issues.  I think everyone should take pride in themselves, especially if they have some type of accomplishment to be proud of.  This is where my confusion lies when it comes to social media.  A lot of entities shouting out “Look at me!  Over here.  I’m cool.” and on Twitter they find themselves with droves of followers and on Facebook legions of friends.  What’s in it for the followers and friends?

I guess I understand one side of the coin; talking about yourself, or your business or project or idea and promoting it, but when it comes to being one who jumps on board to whatever bandwagon gets them excited, I have to say, it’s really tough to get me excited.  I am just not inclined to read tweets to find out anything, nor am I one to rifle through page upon page of Facebook to find out much about anyone.  Unless I am searching for somebody specific or an actual piece of useful information the voyeurism aspect does not engage me at all.  Not even sure I should say sorry, but as a dedicated narcissist, I can not honestly say I am interested in what anybody is doing unless it affects me.

So that is my problem with social media.  There is a lot of useless information out there.  It appears that it is an extension of the magazines that greet us at checkout counters with pictures of people pregnant, divorced or engaged who are extremely popular to somebody, apparently a lot of people if they make the covers of magazines, but I have no idea who they are.  Nor am I inclined to find out.

My obstinacy apparently holds me at bay from something.  It must, or I would not wonder about it.  I do read news on the internet, I have scanned tweets and at times wound up on a Facebook page, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

Try as I might to be fascinated, I am not.  That is not to say it never happens.  I enjoy physics and cosmology immensely and love to hear astronomers suppose what the universe may be like far beyond what the eye can see and theory suggests is out there.  But even if Stephen Hawking had a blog, and he probably does, I doubt I would look it up and read it.  This is why I am somewhat confident mine will never be read.

Just like the billions of stars and galaxies in the ever expanding universe I am but one writer in a menagerie that grows constantly at an immeasurable speed.

I would bet Stephen Hawking would love to ponder that equation: how fast is the internet growing?  How big can it possibly get?  Are there pages that will never be seen?  And if not – do they truly exist?

THE CORPORATE AMERICAN SLAVERY BUSINESS REVIEW

IDIOCY IN THE WORKPLACE AND BEYOND

My final essay in this series focuses on an art exhibit that I found ridiculous. Because I am an art collector, who once owned an art gallery in Spokane, and still maintain The Penstock Gallery on Etsy, I like to consider myself a bit of a critic when it comes to art. I don't usually write about art, but when I do, it is to point out something obvious and painfully stupid.

Banal Art – The Tale of the $120,000 Banana

Lastly, please enjoy this essay by Paramultart, which I re-blogged. I love sharing great finds and wholeheartedly agree with this writer's critique of the work of Jackson Pollock. I could not have said it better myself.

Pollock is Bollocks | Paramultart's Blog