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Everybody has their personal sense of the way to live. I kind of like mine but with a shorter commute. In a couple of years I will go on half pay with no commute at all. It is called retirement. What annoys me is some folks, by chosing sane and wealthy parents, never have to go through the 40 years of working to get a retirement income.
How does someone choose "sane and wealthy" parents?
I don't care if someone enjoys a minimal life. It might be healthy for lots of people to experience a minimal life occasionally. I think it would also be interesting to know how many people, rich or poor, could take care of themselves if they were dropped off in the wilderness.
However I do care if a person chooses a lifestyle that depends on other people (including the government) for sustenance. I think any member of society has the responsbility of taking care of themselves. In other words - their minimal contribution to society is to not be a burden.
Why don't we just have a general thread that goes like "If you're not a ______, bash them. If you are one, defend them". We could reduce this whole forum to just one thread.
I have no respect whatsoever for people who cannot or refuse to find work they enjoy. I have no respect for people who simply leech off of society without caring for anyone but themselves.
There is something you are missing here. Now I'm sure what you say applies to you personally and others, but it's certainly not universal. What bothers me about what you say here is that you assume you have to enjoy something to do well at it. Not true.
Here is another take on work: Work is sustenance. No more, no less. It’s something we do so we don’t starve to death. When I go to work, I am selling my time to my employer. I do not have to enjoy it to do a good job. I don’t look at my employment as anything other than me trading my time and effort for currency to sustain myself. It is not a social club. It is not a party. It is not a place for me to gloat. It’s not a place to provide ‘self worth’ to me. It's not a place for me to make a name for myself. It is not a competition. I’m there to do a job and I do it. Those hours I spend at work are not a part of ‘my’ life; those are the hours missing from my life. As far as my ‘real’ life is concerned, those hours don’t exist. I am simply a drone doing its assignment during working hours.
Now, before you go off on me about having a bad attitude with my work and that it will certainly affect my performance, I’ll just flat out tell you that you are wrong. Simple as that. Again, enjoying a task is not a prerequisite to doing the task well. With this ‘bad attitude,’ I have been nominated as employee of the year (or the equivalent in my field) six times and actually won this award one year (out of hundreds of candidates). The certificates are collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. I’ve had thousands of compliments over the years from my superiors and my co-workers. On the other hand, I’ve never been to a ‘company’ Christmas party, or stroking session, or any other ‘social aspect’ get together related to work. I’m simply not interested in that. I sell my time. That’s where it ends. No ‘enjoyment’ required. I do my job well when I'm there. Then I leave and resume my 'real' life.
I really don't see that I'm a leech because I don't whistle while I work. I'll just bet you that I do my job better than you would do that same job, even though you may enjoy the hell out of it. In fact, your attitude towards work could lead to a more 'leech-like' situation than my attitude. You have to enjoy your work to do your job. Otherwise your productivity falls off. I don't have to enjoy it; I simply do my best if someone is paying me to do it--enjoyed or not.
There is something you are missing here. Now I'm sure what you say applies to you personally and others, but it's certainly not universal. What bothers me about what you say here is that you assume you have to enjoy something to do well at it. Not true.
Here is another take on work: Work is sustenance. No more, no less. It’s something we do so we don’t starve to death. When I go to work, I am selling my time to my employer. I do not have to enjoy it to do a good job. I don’t look at my employment as anything other than me trading my time and effort for currency to sustain myself. It is not a social club. It is not a party. It is not a place for me to gloat. It’s not a place to provide ‘self worth’ to me. It's not a place for me to make a name for myself. It is not a competition. I’m there to do a job and I do it. Those hours I spend at work are not a part of ‘my’ life; those are the hours missing from my life. As far as my ‘real’ life is concerned, those hours don’t exist. I am simply a drone doing its assignment during working hours.
Now, before you go off on me about having a bad attitude with my work and that it will certainly affect my performance, I’ll just flat out tell you that you are wrong. Simple as that. Again, enjoying a task is not a prerequisite to doing the task well. With this ‘bad attitude,’ I have been nominated as employee of the year (or the equivalent in my field) six times and actually won this award one year (out of hundreds of candidates). The certificates are collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. I’ve had thousands of compliments over the years from my superiors and my co-workers. On the other hand, I’ve never been to a ‘company’ Christmas party, or stroking session, or any other ‘social aspect’ get together related to work. I’m simply not interested in that. I sell my time. That’s where it ends. No ‘enjoyment’ required. I do my job well when I'm there. Then I leave and resume my 'real' life.
I really don't see that I'm a leech because I don't whistle while I work. I'll just bet you that I do my job better than you would do that same job, even though you may enjoy the hell out of it. In fact, your attitude towards work could lead to a more 'leech-like' situation than my attitude. You have to enjoy your work to do your job. Otherwise your productivity falls off. I don't have to enjoy it; I simply do my best if someone is paying me to do it--enjoyed or not.
Your post reminds me of the beginnings of my mid-life crisis. It's proceeded with me wanting to get rid of most of my belongings and move into a Tumbleweed House. Can I get my membership card to the Hipster movement as a forty-something?
because most of these hipsters dont understand real poverty, having lived in middle or upper class leisure. they think by romanticizing poverty and pretending to be poor (all the while getting an expensive education and working a posh job and eating out all the time), they will somehow appear less bourgeoisie.
i'd much prefer the rich who are shameless about their wealth. at least they dont pretend.
I dealt with the same kind of people who liked to "play poor" when I was in college.
Funny, when I offered to trade places with them so they could enjoy all the glory that was growing up in actual poverty - I found no takers.
I dealt with the same kind of people who liked to "play poor" when I was in college.
Funny, when I offered to trade places with them so they could enjoy all the glory that was growing up in actual poverty - I found no takers.
Yeah, these hipsters who like to wear poverty like a badge have never truly experienced it. Let's see how well they do when they have to live off of Ramen noodles for six months (and that's when you can afford food) and they get down to 115 pounds (like happened to me one winter).
)))
We should make an experiment and offer each hipster a million bucks. We'll see just how may of them will remain hipsters and resfuse to take the money.
I knew a hipster in college, Liberal arts major, VW van, dread locks , grateful dead ,the whole thing , when I found out the name of the company his father owned , and once he got done finding himself, there was $100,000 per year + job waiting for him.....seriously I wanted to kick his a$$.
I heard many people say they knew of some one like this, dread locked "Trust-a-farians"
Your post reminds me of the beginnings of my mid-life crisis. It's proceeded with me wanting to get rid of most of my belongings and move into a Tumbleweed House. Can I get my membership card to the Hipster movement as a forty-something?
I really like Tumbleweed House's offerings. I think he's too expensive, though (sorry, but it's true, even though I totally support what they are doing). That high price kind of defeats the purpose of having that tiny home in the first place. So... I designed my own house--actually several of them. My favorite weighs in as a hefty 298 sq ft (including sleeping loft) timber framed masterpiece. Now all I need is the land.
Back to the OP... I guess I've just never met the type of person you are talking about ('hipster'). I've known lots of grubby people--the type that have motor blocks hanging from their porch truss and lie under their car all day with a case of Budweiser. But I don't think that's a 'hipster,' is it? And I've met people like myself that don't care about wealth much--but then I (we) don't care who knows (other than when we are arguing on CD forums) and would prefer to remain basically 'invisible' to the rest of the sandcastle builders in the United States of Wealth-Accumulation-for-the-Sake-of-Wealth-Accumulation, anyway. And it's not that we flaunt what we don't have. We simply don't need much and would rather not have useless clutter in our lives. It's not a talking point, it's a lifestyle. It has nothing to do with being impoverished. I'm not impoverished. I just don't like junk, that's all. Nor do I need a mountain of gold that serves no purpose. I believe the term is 'simple living' or 'minimalist.' That must not be the same thing as hipster.
Last edited by ChrisC; 04-22-2010 at 03:09 PM..
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Now all I need is the land. 
