TheGrinchSR wrote:

Rutiger wrote:I heard this Bill Hick's audio clip on Viceland TV. They are using it as a commercial for their cable TV channel as if it's some universal truth. It's an interesting sound bite. I don't know anything else about Bill Hicks except he died at age 32 from cancer. And I do get the last part about governments stopping all money on defense and war and use it for more humane endeavors. Can't argue with that. Count me in.

It's the part I underlined below about " No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love" that I don't quite get. While I guess it would be nice to be a confident free-spirit and never worry about work and jobs and saving sof money, I don't see how that is considered wise advice. "A choice between fear and love?" Is that the real choice? I dunno. How does Bill Hicks imagine all these no-jobs-no-money people will feed and house themselves? No fear? Nice slogan, but a little fear makes you prepare. Prepare for possible hard economic times...prepare for old age and retirement...prepare for your childrens' health and education. Bill Hicks death at age 32 meant he never had time to worry about much of those things very long.

Bill Hicks wrote: Bill Hicks - It's Just A Ride

“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”

He's not saying that you don't need to work, or need a job, etc. He's saying you don't need these things to make a choice between a life lived in fear and a life lived with love. He's saying it costs nothing to have a better life when you let go of your fear. Because it is all a ride, we get born and eventually we die, there's a show in the middle that's all.

I loved Bill, he was one of my teenage heroes. His angry, aggressive humour was delivered without fear or favour and designed to get people thinking about a better world. His early death was a genuine tragedy.

Rutiger wrote:We're all one are we? Including ISIS and jihadists? Love, bruh, love. All ISIS be needin' is some love, Jamie. It doesn't take guns or locks or jobs or savings of money. It's a choice to love ISIS, Jamie. Love them! Love them! But you know all that because obviously YOU are one of "those that get it".

Rutiger wrote:Alright, so how do you apply that nicely worded Einstein philosophy to daily life? Last I checked, there were some bad folks running around doing bad things to others, and some personal security is often required. Check the Newsworthy section. And even the simplest act of cultivating a plot of land for crops destroys the natural home of a billion other living things. Is a farmer/rancher/fisherman/consumer practicing love or fear? Do only humans count? We may all be cosmic gobs of slowly vibrating strings, or particles, or whatever, but unless you are keen to give up this particular realm of consciousness in this body you now have, then some mundane life choices are required continually that seem (to me) to be in some contradiction to the Bill Hicks narrative. Mundane life choices don't make for good soundbites, though.

TheGrinchSR wrote:Nicely said Jamie. Of course, the bit nobody seems to get that is ISIS aren't anybody to be scared of unless you're in fucking Syria. All that fear is wasted. You might as well spend it on something more constructive.

Rutiger wrote:Forget ISIS. Look in the newsworthy section regarding the rape/murder of the second 14 year old girl in Kampot this year. Some fear and precaution is a necessary part of survival in this existence. No one is saying one needs to lock themselves away and worry continuously, but not to acknowledge the dangers we all face and take reasonable precautions is irresponsible. Those girls needed someone to have some fear for their daily safety and protection. Some big locks and guns are practical in this world. The "choose love over fear" is not a reasonable all-or-nothing choice. It's just a feelgood soundbite.

TheGrinchSR wrote:[
Tell that to Mahatmas Gandhi. Who brought an empire to its knees without locks, without guns, etc.