Words to An Alienated Teenager From His Potential Future Self

Recognize reality, but don't become negative.

You realize that this society is moribund, that people are in denial, that most of them are stupid and/or have vapid values, that jobs are for tools and that your government is basically a retard with a FEMA card.

Your job, if you reflect on it, is to master this system, and you can, because you're a realist.

There's no point running away to your bedroom, retarded record store job, and drugs, convincing yourself that you've escaped it all. You haven't. In twenty years, you'll hate yourself. (Look at the rock-n-roll burnouts from failed bands you see flogging their wares for proof of that... )

It's better to admit that some things are gonna suck, but if you play it well, you can come out ahead and be a leader of men for your virtuous conduct and direct assertion of reality.

There is no point going after the things that aren't going to change. Too many heads of the Hydra. Instead, strike at the core of society: its lack of realistic leaders who show others better ways to act, to conduct their lives and businesses, to think, and so forth.

Your favorite rock music may have run its course -- probably temporarily -- but the heavy metal spirit and mythic imagination lives on. Create; do not retreat. Strike hard and fast every god damn day.

This world doesn't need more people obsessed by entertainment, withdrawn into themselves, making excuses for being failures because society suxx and it oppresses them. Make something of it. You can and you owe it to yourself and your ancestors to do this.

DLAMH

There's a point to this: as civilization collapses, most people are going to give up and start pleasing only themselves and abandoning every other pursuit -- which is exactly what caused the decline, strengthens it and what makes our lives a mess daily when we have to interact with our selfish, oblivious, cruel and often imbecilic fellow citizens.

You either join the giving-up-and-pretending-you're-too-cool-to-care trend, or you start working to reverse the situation -- which benefits both you and the world at large, including both society and nature.

Our civilization is not the first to have failed. Others have preceded us, great civilizations with learning and culture, although maybe not our technology. Not all will go down in the slow "whimper and not a bang" that takes thriving civilizations like ancient Greece and leaves behind burnt-out husks that get dominated and invaded by once-weaker enemies.

You can be one of those people who makes a difference, becomes a leader, counteracts the trend. Or, you can fire up the Wii, plop your ass on the sofa and become one with the entropy. There is a choice. No one is "oppressing" you; this is a cycle of history. But you're defined by whether you act or passively watch.