ThirstyFish

An earlier post, Drifters, asked whether drifters were thirsty fish? These travelers have come to be known as crusties or crustypunks. Crusties are the true counter-culture of today. Although some regard them as nihilists, and some crusties are, they are more existentialists. They do not suffer from the ills of modern man: Conformity, fear, obedience, greed, careerism, loneliness, hypocrisy, doublethink, cognitive dissonance, vanity, zeal, and persistent anxiety. But things are not all good; Freeliving is not free. Some crusties suffer from alcohol or drug addiction. Some suffer from STD's. They regularly get chased out parks and their campsites. Sometimes they get arrested by the police; some get harassed by local gangs and residents...

Many people are xenophobes, they fear those who are different from them. They are conditioned to dehumanize unfamiliar cultures and subcultures by reaffirming their own superiority. The more intense the xenophobia, the more a person unknowingly "suffers" from conformity, hypocrisy, fear and doublethink. Although most of us believe that we have a monopoly on the truth, the fact is that none of us do. So, what does qualify our lives? The mind is born and raised in a prison. We never understand that until we free it from its bounds. Once we truly taste mental freedom, we become addicted to it. But sometimes, freedom can be too much to handle for the mind...

Song of the Day: Self Defeating Prophecy - Dystopia (1999)