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Invest Inwards

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People who are outraged by Trump being outraged by what Sidiq Khan said and people who are outraged by  people who are outraged by Trump being outraged by what Sidiq Khan said and people who are being outraged by those who are outraged by those who are outraged, etc.:

Have you considered, just for variety’s sake, to respond to the show that these clowns are putting on by investing inwards other than outwards? For instance, every other time or every fifth time that the show begins, one can decide not to purchase the ticket but instead to spend the energy and the time on oneself. The second the show starts, one takes all of the energy that is about to swell outside and feed the vampires and instead takes a run around the block. Or does pushups. Or reads 15 pages of a book one needs for work. Or memorizes 10 words in a language one is learning. 

‘Cause they are getting richer and more powerful. And we are feeding them instead of feeding us. It doesn’t have to be politicians. Any species of vampire (movie stars, famous athletes, etc) will do. 

4 responses to “Invest Inwards”

  1. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    Good advice. I think my blood pressure might depend on it since I can’t invest it in the idea of somebody’s hissy fit auguring policy. It’s too much. “I have the President of the United States blocked on Twitter” is a sentence I’d never thought to utter, but here I am because it’s so dumb and exhausting.

    Could you expand on the idea of famous people being vampires? Certainly there’s a need they’re fulfilling or they wouldn’t be famous and the object of such wasted energy.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      ““I have the President of the United States blocked on Twitter” is a sentence I’d never thought to utter, but here I am because it’s so dumb and exhausting.”

      • Good for you. I do the same thing. It’s very hard to avoid being exposed to Trump’s twittering excesses because they are quoted everywhere one looks. But at least one can try to put some limit on the energy they are trying to devour.

      “Could you expand on the idea of famous people being vampires? Certainly there’s a need they’re fulfilling or they wouldn’t be famous and the object of such wasted energy.”

      • Absolutely, absolutely. This is the most important part. When one gets emotionally invested (or donates blood to the vampire), one experiences the illusion of the distance between oneself and the rich/famous/powerful person being shortened. If I can get angry about a celebrity’s philandering or social media or divorce or anything like it, that means I’m close enough to these rich and famous people. They are almost relatives. I’m almost one of them. It’s a pleasant feeling (I say from experience because I do enjoy the guilty pleasure of observing a daily collapse of a famous Spanish writer on Facebook). But it also blinds me to the very real difference in class interests that we have.

      The famous writer will go and sell more copies of the book as a result of her success at attracting attention to herself on Facebook. And what will I gain but this sad little illusion of being superior to her as she calculatedly makes a fool of herself on social media? I mean, it’s clear who’s the real fool here is and it’s not the writer.

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      1. Tal Hartsfeld Avatar
        Tal Hartsfeld

        It’s the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s, and I still have the same affinity for The Beatles I’ve always had, in spite of them being four of the biggest “vampires” in the history of popular media.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I asked my students if they knew who the Beatles were, and they had no idea. It made me very sad.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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