### ### ### ### ### #### ### ### ### #### ### ### ##### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##### ### ### ########## ### ### ########## ### ### ### ### Underground eXperts United Presents... ####### ## ## ####### # # ## ## ####### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## # ## ## #### ## ## #### # # ####### #### ####### ## ## ## ## ##### ## # ## ## ## ## ####### ####### # # ## ####### ####### [ To Kill Time ] [ By The GNN ] ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ TO KILL TIME by THE GNN/DualCrew-Shining/uXu The industrial revolution spiced with common ignorance left mankind with an endless array of pointless occupations, most of them unintentionally forced into existence for the sake of the abstract thing called 'the public good'. Somewhere in this pile of ongoing progress towards nothing special, we find the individual, whom constantly tries to been seen and heard, appreciated and confirmed. But as no cogwheel is more important than any other in a complex machine, few are ever appreciated at all. This is not to say that the human 'individuality' has been unmasked as a fake, it is simply completely uninteresting given the way our world is constituted. Still, people need confirmation of some kind to be able to live. They need to be given priority, they want to be admired for being the kind of person they are, or, if the former is too boring, being 'someone' at all. Though humanity is not intelligent enough to avoid her own collective madness, she do possess one crucial skill that separates her from other creatures: the ability to pass on complicated information and concepts through language - to other people, to coming generations. No matter how many chains we dress a human being in, she will always be able to speak; the ability is hard-wired, unavoidable; and the only thing that can make humanity stop talking is - paradoxically - if we all agree (with the help of language) to do so. 'Stop talking', however, need not imply that we merely avoid using our mouth for communication. We can 'stop talking' about the relevant questions, by transforming language, with language, into trivialities, making all important questions impossible to understand even for ourselves. And this we do every day. We do? you ask. Why would we do such a thing? There seems to be no rationale! Indeed, there is no rationale in a broader perspective, but given the way our world works, there sure is a rationale for the single individual. Recall, the individual is alienated in the machinery of pointless jobs, a cogwheel, disposable. She wants to be confirmed, perhaps not by the whole world, but at least from those in her direct vicinity. To fulfil this desire, mankind has invented an expression, a concept that serves the purpose of giving the individual her beloved attention. This expression is, in a broader aspect, disastrous for humanity, but is, on a narrow conception, excellent for the individual as it leads to attention and admiration. Of course, the expression is a fake, it relies on no truth, it is merely an attempt to indirectly justify oneself and one's way of living. "I have no time!" If freedom is the ultimate goal for humanity (the state of being able to do whatever one really wants), one sure cannot find any rationale for constantly fleeing to this expression. No time? No time, for what? How could someone be worthy of admiration, due to lack of time? That seems utterly ridiculous, on the border to insane. Do something, instead! But people in general say this all the time - I have no time, I have no time - sometimes when it is not even called for; they just have to say it. Why? The answer is agonizing, as it reveals a vicious regress of our modern way of living. We work, but we want to be free. Work is given priority over freedom. Not because people in general do not want to seek freedom, but because they dare not. They are afraid to use their short period of time on earth striving for the truly good and free life. Because, as they look around they see all other people working; working, with the pointless occupations we call the fruits of the industrial revolution. While working, man is alone and disposable, crying for attention. Nevertheless, standing out of the crowd is even worse, seeking the really good life is lonely work, a long and hard trek that few dare to embark. How much better is it not then to stay put, work until you die, being given a little piece of admiration with the help of the expression "I have no time! I work so much!" I have met people whom have given up their favourite things to do in life - hobbies, family, knowledge, wit, charm, everything - partly for the sake of doing work, mainly for the sake of being able to proudly state "Oh, I have no time", begging for some kind of admiration. "I have no time to be free, I must work. This is my place in this world, to work. I have no time. I confess, cry for me: I want to be free, but I have no time. Pity me, admire me for my strength of being able to live in this hell: I have no time, no time at all!" Yet, all know they are not schackled to their work. They can break free any minute. But this must be denied with the help of the expression, or with lame entailing excuses as "I must pay the rent", "I must buy food", "I must pay other salaries", or (the most commonly used one) "this is how the hard reality is constituted"? Why? Why not state the obvious truth instead? "I lack the sufficent motivation to do anything else." Why must this truth be denied? The answer is simple. If the expression "I have no time" was not taken completely seriously, it would fall flat to the ground and be replaced with laughter: "Look at that fool who dare not leave his work for the good life! Look at him! He claims that he 'have no time'! Who the fuck believes that? We all know that he merely lacks the motivation necessary to stand up and walk straight!" Actions have consequences, and the invention of the expression in question will be no exception. Due to the excessive misuse, the expression will slowly initialise itself into the human ethos so that one day the chains will not be possible to break, not even in principle. Since those who use the expression in their daily lives must deceive themselves into the belief that it is a perfectly true statement, the coming generations will need no such deception; they will simply take it for granted, as they learn that the former generation did. Thus, the expression will sooner or later transmute from a bold lie into a perfectly true statement: humanity will have no time, and this will be admirable. Those who dare to claim the opposite, or wish for some kind of free time, will be dismissed as 'lazy', 'bohemians' or 'wishful thinkers'. That day, some day, will be the end of freedom, and those responsible for that dystopia will be the common people of today who began violating the expression as a mean for excusing their own lack of motivation. What the future generations will not be able to see (as they will be too busy boasting about their lack of time) is that the interesting feature of all this is that it - as usual - took no devilish conspiracy to chain humanity, merely ourselves and our collective madness. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- uXu #432 Underground eXperts United 1998 uXu #432 Call THE YOUNG GODS -> +351-1XX-XXXXX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------