The Powerful And The Weak And The Deluded
Cassiel C. MacAvity
The Powerful
The Weak
---The Hipster Masturbation Walk
The Deluded
---The Hipster mildewface, aka, The Bathtub Ring
The Weak And The Deluded; Being Preppy, Then Yuppy, Then Hipster
---The axioms that describe The Weak and The Deluded
---The collective nouns that define The Weak and The Deluded
Four Varieties Of Behavior
The following is a scattering of observations and notes from reality that is somewhat inspired by, and definitely related to, William Bayer's "Juniors and Heavies".---J&H is to be found in his excellent book Breaking Through, Selling Out, Dropping Dead And Other Notes On Filmmaking. http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Through-Selling-Dropping-Filmmaking/dp/0879101237.
Each section here is somewhat independent, but does definitely draw from the others, so a couple of reads through this may be needed to completely assess the entire document. An early title for these notes was The Normal, The Weak, And The Deluded, until the realization that some of the weak and deluded would claim to be justified by "not being normal", or even more surreally, would claim that they are the normal. A followup thought was The Mensch And Ubermensch, The Weak, And The Deluded, but the problem there is the particular definitions of mensch or ubermensch---The concept will always continue to be admired and sought out, but will also always feature the overwhelming problem of just getting the weak and the deluded to begin to comprehend. At least with the P, W, D, title, while both the weak and the deluded still won't actually understand, at least what they think powerful means can be a starting point to getting some use out of them.
From there, even with a weak and deluded and imperfect understanding, the weak and deluded can choose to stay as they are, or they can choose to grasp, achieve, and stop being the weak and deluded, and become the powerful. And a further thought notes that while the serial comma is usually required with a list of items, that list is also usually a collection of equals. No one is ever going to confuse the powerful with the weak or the deluded, the latter two are mere variations on each other and absolutely the inferiors of the powerful. And thus, with that, the shift in title to P
(and) WD1 and WD2.
The Powerful
Being powerful, to the horrified shock and denial of all weak and deluded, can often mean not being seen, and not getting in the way, and many times not taking credit.
The powerful don't care. Such is certainly a gross oversimplification in general, but equally certainly, when the powerful are compared to the weak and their frantic clustering on some bandwagon, and the deluded and their frantic self promotion based on lies and failure, the summary is apt. Now as an example and further note of how and why the powerful don't care, consider that a Venn diagram is one of those charts where there are a set of partially overlapping circles where one sees what is only in one circle alone, and then in the overlapping portion, what is in two or more circles. In the case of the powerful, and the weak and the deluded, part of such a display would be more of a pie chart. For the weak, there is the pie slice of totally blending in with everyone else, looking the same way, thinking the same way, acting the same way, and totally despising anyone who does not exactly match them. For the deluded, there is the pie slice of fantasizing that everyone is to always admire them, look up to
them, consider them the center of the universe, while despising and being enraged by the rest of us who have a life and aren't the least bit impressed by any deluded of any variety. In turn, with the powerful, the extremely separate and distinct pie slices will remain, but a Venn diagram comes to mind because the powerful may do something that a lot of other people do, weak and deluded included, because sharing that occurrence with the weak and the deluded does work for the powerful---at that moment. At the same time, and by contrast, the powerful may go and do something that no one else does, and definitely something that no weak or deluded does, because the powerful feels like doing so. In all such instances, some random opinion from the weak or the deluded, or anyone else, remains irrelevant. Only an actually relevant observation may get noticed, usually because it is actual and genuine feedback that can or will then become a feature or factor of what the powerful is doing.
This last bit does note that the powerful do remain aware of the weak and deluded, if only to remember that they are indeed the weak, deluded, and useless. In all such cases, whatever the term of the moment to describe the weak and the deluded, be it preppy, hipster, chav, yuppy, narcissist, whatever, the weak and deluded will remain beneath the rest of us and will continue to be shunted out of the way at will. Therefore, on a number of occasions, the powerful will indeed structure some occurrence to take into account the unfortunate presence of the weak and deluded.---At some performance, a backstage area will be created and those not involved will be excluded, with enthusiastic enforcement, so that performers and crew can focus on the performance. The weak and deluded will be fenced out by the powerful, simply because only the weak and deluded would think that a good idea is to take up space backstage for the point of being seen backstage, and so that they can disrupt the performance.
The powerful do whatever they want whenever they want. Of this, only the weak and the deluded think that obviously doing such means a practice which not only must be demonstrated all the time, but must also cause the greatest amount of disruption to everyone in the vicinity. Only the weak and deluded think that "whatever and whenever" means to totally screw up everything, intrude at will, impose on everyone, and all the other trite little fantasies common among the limited, the naive, and the sheltered.
In reality, what the powerful always know and very openly acknowledge is that when the weak or the deluded---and also the powerful---break things, upset things, disrupt things, there will be always be some sort of response to consider. Furthermore, very regularly, the one who will be returning things to normal---or as this paper has noticed, the one who will be returning things to being powerful---is quite usually never going to be some weak or deluded who screwed things up. Very often the only person doing the work---and sometimes getting blamed for being correct---is the powerful. In all times that someone powerful makes a change and leaves that change in place, in that case there was a need for the change---and after some discussion, that change might get reversed or altered, or might not, but never at the whim of some weak or deluded and the inevitable fantasies of control.
There is an occasionally repeated story about those who ignore reality and fixate instead on the framing mechanism that points to and at reality. One version is told by Bruce Lee in the movie Enter The Dragon http://www.amazon.com/Enter-Dragon-25th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/6304981635. It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. Among the failures of the weak is that because they stare at the finger instead of staring at the moon, they demand that everyone stare at a finger instead of staring at the moon---and sometimes that chosen finger isn't even pointing anywhere, has no meaning, and even the slightest bit of attention notes the lack of meaning. Among the failures of the deluded is that they demand to be admired because they stare at the finger instead of staring at the moon, or often even claim to be that finger themselves---
and sometimes that chosen finger isn't even pointing anywhere, has no meaning, and even the slightest bit of attention notes the lack of meaning. Quite differently as usual, the powerful doesn't demand anything and doesn't have to anyway. Whatever the circumstance, the powerful admires the moon, entirely at will, and continues to have absolutely no concern whether there may be any finger at all.
The fact that the powerful do not do what the weak and deluded expect or would do themselves is one of the reasons that the weak and deluded tend to dislike the powerful---at least on those occasions that the weak and the deluded even manage to realize the presence of the powerful at all. For the weak, the powerful keeps doing what the weak see as bringing failure, being something that the weak would never openly choose to do, because doing so will draw attention, and the weak absolutely demand that everyone be identical, and interchangeable, and weak. For the deluded, the powerful effortlessly achieves the admiration that the deluded thinks is paramount, but unlike the deluded, the powerful does so by actually doing something of merit without concern for the reactions of others.
A regularly occurring example of the powerful resembling the weak and thus being despised by the weak is military in the field. All the flashy and very prominent additions and labels and forms of identification are for the garrison or when out among the civilian public. When in the field, the point is to be totally anonymous, unobtrusive, and thus utterly effective, capable, and lethal, thus being the total antithesis of the weak. At the same time, when in the field, there are times to be a very visible guard post, sacrificial tripline, to tell all who watch that there is a presence and that presence is not blending in and is very evidently standing out from and very different from all surroundings, thus again being the total antithesis of the weak.
A regularly occurring example of the powerful resembling the deluded and thus being despised by the deluded is military after any combat or lack of combat has occurred. Flashy medals and mentions in reports only occur after the fact of some military occurrence. The reality of combat, and the reality of particularly stationed lack of combat, is that as either of those are occurring, there is no general practice of the deluded fantasy of "Look at me!!!! Look at me!!!!". In combat, demanding attention from others is always an invitation to get shot, and when opponents are being particularly aware, not only may they shoot anyway, but they will always become more alert for the previously unexpected actual attack from a different direction. In reality, in military service or not, while there may be awareness that the powerful is present, the point is to not be looked at and not to be noticed, and thus to be effective and successful. Whether in military service or not, the powerful is extremely quietly
acknowledged only by the equally powerful, not by some random other.
The actual practice of the weak is to demand ongoing decay and failure, so that the weak can blend in as everyone is left crippled and insipid. The actual practice of the deluded is to to demand ongoing decay and failure, so that the deluded can then claim to be admired for being crippled and insipid. The actual practice of the individual powerful is to demand and find and practice an improvement to make that powerful better than before. In turn, that improvement will automatically be confirmed in general practice when that practice and improvement is shared with all others. Further, as part of that sharing, all others get the same excellent result, with that demonstrated success thus making things better for all, regardless of how much the weak and deluded reject and despise. In doing this, the powerful will do only what is needed when it is needed, and will absolutely not do anything whatsoever at all when that complete lack of action is what is needed.
The Weak
The weak are the followers, those who don't just jump on the bandwagon but demand to do so. The weak are the ones who show up at a party and proclaim "Where are the cool people, so I can hang out with them." They never decide for themselves, they demand to to know what everyone else is doing, so that they will be seen as always going along and never being capable of the slightest trace of actual thought, capability, taste, or style. The closest that the weak ever gets to seeking attention is with a demonstration of being identical to and interchangeable with any other of the weak.
A clear instance of such demanded impotence is the symbolic penis, or necktie. Only the weak has ever demanded that everyone must be seen displaying a fake penis. An actual male just has a real one, where only a eunuch requires the display of a fake one. Consider from history that a female "Pharaoh" would tend to be portrayed as having a fake beard, to thus demonstrate legitimacy. This is why in more modern times, any female with such a fake penis has always wound up looking totally surreal, ridiculous, and weak.
Another blatant and unmistakable sign of the weak is the ostentatious display of the some particular feature or item, or a label or related fake placemarker. An actual person just wears clothing that is, simply, clothing. Only the weak must be seen displaying a costume where the primary focus is a particular item such as a particular hat. Only the weak must be seen displaying a costume where the primary focus is The Logo. Clothing often has a maker's mark of some sort that is, of course, on the inside of the clothing and out of sight. By contrast, only the costuming of the weak features a particular feature or item that is prominently displayed. As everyone knows, the only purpose of this display is the unmistakable following message: "The useless creature that is wearing this costume is miserable, unfortunate, and totally forgettable. This thing that has chosen to be in this costume has no value and is to be made use of by anyone for anything."
A friend of mine has pointed out another identifying characteristic of the weak, that of consistently and repeatedly shoving hands into pants pocket for the sole reason of appearing to masturbate in public. My friend is a retired acting teacher, and throughout his career he would rather memorably and reasonably remind his students that anytime they had their hands in their pockets; "I'd offer to shake hands, but I can see that you're busy." Of course if one of the weak is also wearing a symbolic penis when also standing around and appearing to masturbate, or when doing the masturbation walk, the immediate thought that everyone else has is, of course, "Are you really trying to find your penis, when your symbolic penis demonstrates to everyone that it isn't there anymore?
Another thought easily comes to mind every time one sees one of the weak with hands in pockets. Ever seen a picture of a prisoner in court, hands so manacled that the arms can't even move? Ever notice that any of the weak with hands deliberately stuck in the same position thus deliberately signal to everyone of being weak and crippled and incapable? Someone who is capable and accustomed to free thought and independent will and action never has hands in pockets, unless, of course, pulling something out of the pockets.
There are two regularly occurring perfect examples of the weak as symbolizing the weak.
The first example is that of the standard stereotypical image of the British schoolboy. This is someone stereotypically trapped, oppressed, victimized, beset upon, who is not only seen wearing the symbolic penis, but where the standard schoolboy jacket very prominently features the label of ownership. In the case of the weak, such wearing of the fake penis is just the beginning. The weak having no importance is further underlined by that choice of jacket with logo on the front, about where a shirt pocket would be---In the case of schoolboy, the logo will at least be that of the school and have a purpose of identifying that schoolboy with his school. For the mere weak, the logo is just a visual nothingness, confirming to everyone at all times that the wearer is also just an irrelevant piece of nothing.
The second example of the weak being unmistakably and undeniably weak is any and all costuming which attempts to resemble or be derived from the clothing of those in military service. Aside from the universal awareness that the weak remains unable to be capable of or support military service, only the costuming of the weak has symbolic or actual epaulettes and other items that only occur in a military setting. Clothing never has epaulettes, fake badges, fake symbols of military rank. A military uniform has epaulettes because they are used to display actual genuine military rank. In the case of the weak and being seen with useless and meaningless strips of cloth stuck on the shoulders of some costume, as everyone knows and always remembers, the weak have no rank or value.
The Deluded
While the deluded share many of the characteristics of the weak, the deluded differentiate themselves from the weak in that they fantasize that they can plausibly claim that they should have the ability to impress others. Where the weak cluster in crowds and identical anonymity, the deluded fantasize that they are to be recognized as the unique and individual center of attention. In fact, only the deluded even manage to fantasize that they are even capable of holding any attention at all. However, the closest the individual deluded ever gets to any form of recognition is in the utterly derisive and collective awareness that the deluded individual is merely yet another of many instances of One Of That Kind: Such recognition never involves admiration. As a part of that recognition, in the 1990s in the United States, a filmmaker named Christopher Guest began to regularly and undeniably accurately record what became known as the hipster, at a time when they were still called the yuppy, after they had
earlier been called the preppy.
A hallmark of the deluded is a choice which the deluded insists is absolutely to be admired by everyone and is often to be practiced by everyone. The stated choice is always blatantly complicated or contrived and completely a blatantly surreal affectation, it inevitably leads to certain failure, and then the certain failure is then emphatically denied as a facet of the practice.
A couple of such examples among male deluded are the mildewface and the early comb over. The comb over occurs when a balding deluded male can't decide whether the top of his head will have hair or have none, where he lacks the ability to make a viable decision because he's deluded. The result is where the deluded tries to have both hair and no hair by attempting to extend hair over the top of the head, where it never goes or stays. In turn, the early comb over is where a particular deluded hasn't started balding, yet, but gets the haircut where there is barely any hair on the sides of the head and the rest of the hair is across the top, where the comb over is already being frantically glued in place over the top of the scalp, whether from front to back, back to front, or side to side. Absolutely in kind, the mildewface demonstrates the blatant inability to grow a beard or not grow a beard and choose one of those. While the deluded with mildewface then fantasizes that someday he will be mistaken for something to admire, the actual, immediate, and only result is to make the deluded look about age fifteen. Physical age is irrelevant, where the mere presence of mildewface appearing at any number of years of age demonstrates that the deluded male is mentally at about thirty seconds just past adolescence. A friend's description of this affectation is "The Bathtub Ring", which also does provide a quite accurate description of a walking display of mold and mildew.
In time the physical age of the particular deluded will reach about thirty-five, at which point the deluded will then stack proof of irrelevance on top of proof of irrelevance by engaging in both mildewface as well as the comb over. In all such situations, the deluded male with mildewface is left with the very real likelihood of being told, directly, "You have the face of an immature fifteen year old boy, and as long as you have that mildewface, you will always have the face of an immature fifteen year old boy." I suppose if one wants to be polite or otherwise duplicitously congratulatory, one can say to such an adolescently appearing deluded; "Nice mildewface". Clearly one is never going to say "Nice beard" because the poor deluded can't figure out how to grow one. Of course, there also is that intent of having a face that does look like it's covered in mildew, in which case anyone with mildewface really does want to be told Oh look, your face looks like it's covered in mildew.
Another such example of the complicated, contrived, and blatantly surreal, among both genders of deluded, is all instances of pulling up or winding up with the collar on end, of a shirt or jacket or whatever, to be a symbolic veterinarian or vet's collar. Or, with the same action, the deluded may intend to visually demonstrate to all observers that the particular deluded is actively seeking and expecting radio signals from the Mothership or the space aliens or The Secrit Govment Agency, or whatever stated reason the deluded gives for having a collar standing on end. When a person wears a shirt, coat, whatever, with a collar, the collar is folded over because such a collar just is. By complete contrast, consider the following two possibilities of any deluded that has the collar pulled up on end, or worse yet, has wound up with a shirt or coat where there is no way to have a normal collar.
For the deluded that wants everyone to think of a vet's collar, observe any dog that has just been castrated, is newly returned from the vet, and is wearing the exact same collar. Note the deluded with vet's collar that is standing on end. Note the dog with vet's collar that is standing on end. Note deluded and dog being totally and openly identical in appearance. Note that such appearance openly signals to all the message of being castrated, docile, completely at the whim of the nearest owner. There really is nothing complimentary that will ever be said to any deluded wearing a vet's collar, the deluded will never understand it, and really is expecting or hoping to be told any variations on "Heel", "Roll over", "Play dead", and "Who's your owner?".
In turn, for the deluded that wants all observers to be impressed that the deluded is clearly trying to get guidance from the space aliens---or whomever---observe any radio antenna used for picking up radio signals from space. Note the deluded with a radio antenna collar that is standing on end. Note the radio antenna with exact same shape, complete with feed antenna sticking out of the middle. Note deluded and antenna being totally and openly identical in appearance. Note that such appearance openly signals to all the message of the deluded eagerly seeking out radio transmissions from---whomever---so that the deluded then claims to have a sense of meaning and purpose. There really is nothing complimentary that will ever be said to any deluded that is costumed to look like a radio antenna, the deluded will never understand it, and really is expecting or hoping to be told some variation on "I notice you have your collar pulled up so that you can collect radio signals to have guidance. Do you think the Mothership will arrive soon?"
In like manner, a particular variety of the deluded is the fairy. The fairy is a male or female who goes about in a cloud of perfume that can be noticed three blocks away---Granted, if the fairy doesn't quite manage to cover three blocks, and only manages about ten to fifteen feet, it's not from lack of trying. The reason everyone calls this form of deluded a fairy is because the particular fairy is considered to be a big fairy in the middle of a cloud of metaphoric but still extremely aggressive little fairies with little wings which fly everywhere in the area of the big fairy. And yes, according to the fairy, that area that the metaphoric fairies cover is usually or ideally---but only to the fairy---that three blocks area in all directions. At all times, the fairy fantasizes that everyone admires the fairy for being smelled from three blocks away. The fairy is happiest when someone walks up to him or her and says "Obviously you're a fairy because I can smell your perfume from across the room.". In
reality, people bathe, and never need to or do wander about in a cloud of perfume.
Over time and in organizational structures---a company, a volunteer project, whatnot---, another practice of the deluded has turned up, that of Having The Title. At no time whatsoever is Having The Title ever to be mistaken for the totally different and opposite situation of doing the job. The powerful do the job of the moment, the deluded Have The Title. In fact, the powerful do any and every job of the moment, from sweeping the floors to leading the company to back to sweeping the floors. Sometimes the powerful lead the company while sweeping the floors, doing both at the same time.
In this practice of Having The Title, the deluded will eradicate any traces of the actual job, so that there can be no comparison between any powerful who is indeed doing the job and the deluded that is Having The Title. The fact is never, ever, addressed or acknowledged that the result of eradicating any and all traces of that job is that the job then never gets done. The point is that the job never getting done is both considered totally irrelevant and is utterly and vehemently denied on all occasions. Such denial does demand that the deluded that is Having The Title also has to openly, repeatedly, insistently, pathologically lie on all occasions about the job that is not being done. Such ongoing lying is considered both perfectly normal and absolutely required as long as it is done by the deluded.
From there, what can also often happen as a part of Having The Title and of constantly lying about the results is that the deluded will make certain to inflict the results of never doing a job upon anyone who is doing any job. The intent and result is that more and more attention is hijacked back to Having The Title and away from any actual work that needs to be done. The reason for hijacking and lying is that doing any of the work involves doing the job, and is therefore the reverse of and the antidote to Having The Title.
For any powerful who get stuck in such a fiasco, the first response is certainly to point out the failure of the deluded, because such stated notice is part of doing the job, doing the work, of arranging and achieving success. On an other hand, for a fiasco that involves several deluded that are reinforcing each other and doing all the aspects of Having The Title, any and all of the powerful who find themselves in that fiasco will just cut any losses and get the hell out and ideally do so before the rest of the roof falls in, which it will in enough time.
The Weak And The Deluded; Being Preppy, Then Yuppy, Then Hipster
Hipsters, by definition, are not the counterculture, they are the lackingculture.
In turn, of the specific instance of the weak and deluded being more specifically known as the preppy, and then the yuppy, and then the hipster, this is a sequence which occurred in the United States---and occasionally elsewhere---in the late 20th century and early 21st century.
Approaching the mid-20th century, the United States was a participant in World War II. Those Americans involved in the war later generally became known as The Greatest Generation. During the nineteen fifties, as they settled in and helped expand the American economy, a number of the weak and deluded of that time took place in and supported the anti-communist witch hunts. By contrast, as usual, the powerful focused on actually doing actual and genuine national security and support, and on opposing the anti-communist hysteria. In the 'sixties and 'seventies, the children of the Greatest Generation grew up and encountered the Vietnam War, among other occurrences. The powerful both took part in the Vietnam War and also opposed it, the powerful expanded civil rights, and joined the Peace Corps. The weak and deluded also took part in and opposed the war, where generally the weak and deluded would have likely opposed the civil rights expansion, and probably would not have joined the Peace Corps.
And then along came the nineteen-empties. Naturally, the decade will never be remembered as the nineteen-eighties. Because of the weak and deluded, the 'empties wound up instead being the undoubted, bar nothing, butt-ugliest decade of the entire 20th century. Early on in the nineteen-empties, a very minor bit of social satire was published, called "The Preppy Handbook" The powerful uniformly noted the satire as being satire, where a redundant indicator is that it always was, still is, and always will be filed under humor. On an other hand, the weak and deluded rather uniformly delineated themselves as the weak and deluded by totally missing the point, subsequently fantasizing that the book is an actual guide, and as the weak and deluded do, they also additionally fantasized that if they called themselves preppy, that any of the powerful might someday thus mistake them for any form of capable adults.
As it was, while the pretension of the weak and the deluded had already been documented and confirmed them as being ongoing complete failures; they weren't even able to be original failures. By that point and continuing on, the sapeurs of the Congo area of central Africa had already totally established themselves as the undeniable older cousins of all weak and deluded who claimed they must be called "preppy". Starting in the 'fifties or so, and definitely continuing on through the 'seventies and 'eighties and later, the sapeurs had already started to worship the idea of being mistaken for the middle classes. Like the other weak and deluded, the sapeurs had already fantasized that mere brand names instead of actual capability and intelligence could have any meaning or value. In addition, earlier even than the sapeurs, the cargo cultists of the South Pacific had already started insisting
that if assorted gestures and appearances existed and were practiced---with no attention at all to where they came from or how reality actually functions---clearly such would make the cargo cultist admired and successful. And then, years and years later, the ongoing failure of the cargo cultist and the sapeur continued to be repeated daily by those later editions of the weak and the deluded who made any claim of or being impressed by being "preppy".
Immediately of course, back in the Unites States, the satire based delusion called "being preppy" hit its first hurdle. That satire has a very particularly declared focus on an extremely small cluster of people and situations where the most definitive parameter is that everything described occurs in a very small portion of New England, in the northeastern United States. Certainly, just from any first declaration, any weak and deluded claiming to be a preppy immediately and blatantly identify themselves as being particularly clueless, weak, and deluded. In addition though, any of these weak and deluded in Idaho, North Dakota, California, Tennessee, anywhere but the very limited area described by the satire, instantly manage to emphasize even further the declaration of failure and pointlessness.
In time, even the weak and deluded managed to finally begin to realize that instead of portraying utter uselessness and failure, they were displaying ultimate uselessness and failure. Something had to be changed, and the weak and deluded then started being called the yuppy. While the change provided zero improvement whatsoever, at least there is no geographic limit to this variety of weak and deluded. The weak and deluded then continued on with their fantasies on the theme of demanding to have absolutely everything at all times, with no limits, while also being totally and absolutely admired and envied for . . . . . envied for . . . . Well, at no time do any of the weak and deluded ever manage to explain why anyone would want to admire or envy them, but the demand for that fantasy continued nonetheless.
Unfortunately, however, being easily identified as weak and deluded wasn't enough. The weak and deluded also began to insist that the economy also had to support their fantasies, and not just in the United States, but also everywhere else on the planet. Just one particular point alone is that under normal circumstances, savings money is savings money, and investment money is investment money. The two completely different areas of finance are very clearly and particularly administered and regulated. In the delusions of the weak and deluded, however, the two are to be considered the same, there are to be no limits and no restrictions, and everyone is to admire and support the weak and deluded and not notice the total and continuing cascading failures that inevitably result. The resulting collapse of the economies of Iceland and Ireland, with Greece following behind, are just one such example of economy as defined by the weak and deluded. Two books on the overall subject are The Narcissism Epidemic:
Living in the Age of Entitlement, at http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/ and Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present at http://www.amazon.com/Age-Greed-Triumph-Finance-Decline/dp/1400041716 but of course there are many, many other books and other discussions documenting this perpetual and ongoing failure of the weak and deluded.
In the United States, around the time that the weak and deluded were being called the yuppy, just one result is the collapse of what is called the dot bomb economy. A result of the existence of the dot bomb economy was a massive housing bubble, and in time it collapsed too. Very quickly the weak and deluded called yuppy were left with no way to avoid the financial and situational limitations that they also still managed to attempt to deny. In addition, as all this was going on, actual and genuine increased economic productivity delineated a further example of the worthlessness of the weak and deluded.
As noted, the all time fantasy of the weak is to disappear onto the bandwagon of looking just like everyone else, and being admired for such. In turn, the fantasy of the deluded is that everyone will single out and admire the deluded, usually for something which the deluded wants everyone else to think is unique and important. However, with successful economic production being available, very quickly everyone could get everything. The weak yuppy wound up having to face reality because anyone could be anything and the weak yuppy was left with no way to find the one, unique, social bandwagon that the weak fantasize they all absolutely must climb upon all at the same time. For the deluded yuppy, when everyone can have the same things, and thus everyone will, there is no reason that the deluded yuppy is going to be admired for having the best or only metaphoric shiny thing, as if any yuppy would ever be admired. From the point of view of the powerful, of course, if everyone had a 30 inch computer monitor
and a 150 mile per gallon car, the price would drop, and that would be wonderful.
Of course, at this same time, those collapsing economies caused the further ripples for weak, deluded, and powerful alike. Getting absolutely everything all the time requires lines of credit that can only be supported by ongoing credit fraud, and while the weak and the deluded remain totally happy to commit this fraud, someone else still has to support that fraud as well. When supporting banks that had been staffed by the equally weak and deluded started collapsing right and left, the yuppy ran out of equally weak and deluded suckers to scam.
Thus the yuppy then migrated over to being the hipster, where the hipster fantasy now involves cheap alcohol or something that looks like it, a cheap bar or event or something that looks like it, and bizarre costuming that is mass produced if new, or cheap and easy to get at if used. The weak hipster gets the identifiable blob of the badly costumed weak to anonymously disappear into, and the deluded hipster practices the delusion of demanding to be admired in a form that can be paid for with scrounged up pennies, or mommy and daddy's credit card, or something that looks like it.
Particularly with the shift to being called hipster, there has been an attempt to claim some set age range for the weak and deluded. In actuality, through, there has never been one. Remember, the hipsters were already of late teen and adult age when they first started claiming to be called preppys back in the early nineteen-empties. Thirty years later, in the twenty-tens, any attempt at claiming that hipsters are only in their twenties or thirties automatically fails. If nothing else, one needs only one sighting of a white haired hipster in a veterinarian's collar or radio antenna collar as that hipster climbs behind the wheel of an SUV, pulls out a cell phone, and clearly intends to fantasize operating the phone and the SUV together, when as a hipster, there won't be the capability of competently operating even just one. Inevitably, whatever the weak and deluded are called, whatever the age, they're always the laughingstock of history, and the rest of us are always having to filter out them and their
hatred of taste and judgment.
Of course through all of this, in all times and places, the powerful, the weak, and the deluded just are.
In turn, there are the axioms that have turned up over time and always accurately describe the weak and deluded, regardless of the label of the passing moment.
There is an influencer born every minute.---Traditional, regularly attributed to P.T. Barnum
The sight of an individual hipster will usually provide amusement or pity for any and all adults, where two or more hipsters become merely an exercise in herding.
A yuppy and its money---or the parent's money---are soon parted.---Traditional
Never give a preppy an even break---because you can never cheat an honest man.---From W.C. Fields
From Tanakh we have the observation which notes For there will never cease to be hipsters within the land. --Devarim, 15:11
And also, As a dog returns to his vomit, so does a hipster repeat the costuming of the Nineteen Empties.--Mishlei, 26:11
And from the Christian testament: When I was a narcissist and thus a failure in many forms, I spake as a hipster, I understood as a preppy, I thought as a yuppy: but when I became an adult, I stopped being deliberately incompetent while demanding that all must be like me in my failure. ---1 Corinthians 13:11
Of course through all of this, in all times and places, the powerful, the weak, and the deluded just are.
In turn, there are the collective nouns that have turned up over time and always accurately describe the weak and deluded.
A debacle of hipsters
A fiasco of hipsters
A congeal of hipsters
A fail of influencers
Of course for each of these, hipster is merely the term of the moment for any such pretentious, the way the term was yuppy before that and preppy before that. In the UK, popular and relevant terms are chav and sloane ranger and yob, as well as yuppy. In all such cases, the mere pretentious are merely the pretentious instead of being adults, instead of being the powerful.
In both cases of weak and deluded, reality still continues, and with the yuppy further congealing into becoming the hipster, reality has become more and more present, and more undeniable. And, inevitably, this situation of being trumped by reality is a situation that the weak or deluded as hipster spends a lot of time in. At every instance of the many times of being so displaced by reality, the hipster's reaction to the circumstances or origin of the latest occurrence of reality is a stare that is sometimes enraged, sometimes bewildered. The reaction is just as pointless as the hipster, because no amount of stunned bewilderment or enraged fuming from any hipster has ever resulted in reality having the slightest concern. In fact, very often whatever is that occurrence of reality
doesn't ever notice that the hipster is again being reminded of and guided by reality. After all, universal reality is just universal reality, and certainly that source of reality is never going to have any reason to care what any hipster demands as inevitably impossible fantasy. And, in many instances, the continuance of reality is caused by the powerful, where the powerful correctly work within reality and react to reality and reality alone. And for those rare occasions when the hipster is not being bewildered or enraged, such weak and deluded continues in its normal condition of being pointlessly vacuous.
As perfect examples of the hipster being displaced by reality, these two phase variations that the hipster regularly goes through both involve the numerous occurrences of those who are not the weak and deluded, usually when non-hipsters arrive in large numbers at some place that a fiasco or debacle of hipsters have tended to congeal.
The circumstance of the hipster becoming totally bewildered tends to be when the hipster has fantasized that reality has been obliterated. Not only does reality continue regardless of the fantasy of the hipster, but ignoring hipsters occurs with such emphasis that the hipster can not ignore that reality continues. Therefore, at that time that the hipster encounters reality, one can regularly read the face of the hipster as the regularly recurring thought very slowly travels through the hipster's very limited synapses; I am a hipster, and thus being totally deluded, I have the fantasy that I am the totally admired center of all and everything, a situation which Just Is and everyone knows that, where at this moment I Have Arrived, and the admiration from all will now clearly continue---but wait---instead, I am surrounded by reality. Here in reality, there is some activity that is going on that is based in reality instead of my fantasy. I can tell it is based in reality because it is clearly occurring
for its own sake and does not demand attention from anyone. First off, I am incapable of understating the concept of not demanding to be admired, and secondly, worse yet, all these people are watching whatever the event is and not admiring me. I can not conceive of being seen as I actually am, but, reality is occurring regardless of my demand for fantasy, and, and, and, I Did Not Approve Of This!!!!!!!
The circumstance of the hipster becoming enraged---openly or otherwise---occurs when queuing up for a taxi, filing onto a train, arriving at an event with open seating, any such instance where everyone who is not weak/deluded/hipster shares with and openly assists everyone else who is not weak/deluded/hipster, while hipsters in the same situation leave themselves floundering about helplessly. With this second occurrence as well, one can regularly read the face of the hipster as the equally repetitious recurring thought very slowly travels through the hipster's very limited synapses; I have arrived and because I am a hipster, I have the delusion that I obviously and automatically do have the universally recognized right to have the seat on the commuter train/to be at the front of the line/to have the best access/to sit or be front row center to best guarantee that all will see me watching something---but wait---I am surrounded by reality. Here in reality, others have arrived before me, and because they arrived on time, they already have a seat/are ahead of me/
have better access/have taken all front and center seating. Because everyone ahead of me has arrived first, there isn't even any space that I can grab and force my way into while trying to ignore everyone I displace, and I did Not expect this to occur, and I did Not approve of this occurring, This Is Wrong!!!!!!
In addition to the two recurrences listed above, there is a slower and larger form of the second recurrence that has been occurring in the United States during the time that the weak and the deluded have been insisting on totally destroying all economies everywhere. Originally, when one would particularly study some subject, in time one would be able to demonstrate in all applicable circumstances that one knew the studied material. In further time, a variety of shortcut was developed, where the study and certain knowledge was required---and actually is still required---, but as a result one could get a college degree, a masters degree, a PhD, and the degree would serve that shortcut demonstration of capability. However, actual study is not what the weak or deluded are capable of. Actually working towards and earning an actual college degree, an actual masters degree, an actual PhD is not what the weak or deluded are capable of. Instead, what the weak and deluded have been demanding is that the piece of
paper be separated from the original meaning of actually having skill and knowledge. At the same time, while the weak and deluded have been able to wave about more and more amounts of fake money---that fraudulent credit---more and more of the same sort of weak and deluded have started diploma mills that they call colleges and universities. The only purpose of any such diploma mill is to print a cheap piece of paper for a massively large amount of money, so that the weak and deluded will then claim to have such a college degree, or masters degree, or PhD. Totally unsurprising, the next occurrence after the creation of the wallpaper bubble is when it pops. All fake academic wallpaper printed after a particular date or from a particular source entirely is quite correctly be declared worthless. There is much enraged screaming and fuming from all the weak and deluded, but such histrionics are no replacement for someone who matter of factly demonstrates the genuine and actual knowledge of the actual subject.
All in all, at all times, the only success that is ever achieved by the weak and the deluded is to be extremely arrogantly proud of having a definite je ne sai pas, all while vehemently insisting that everyone recognize this at all times. And yes, such recognition is particularly demanded of those with even only the slightest understanding of colloquial French.
Basically, the all time fantasy of what the hipster would like to be able to be imagined as mistaken for is a grand and uniform combination of the likes of Richard Feynman, George Patton, Rudolf Nureyev, Peter Cook, Dwight Eisenhower, Norman Rockwell, Al Grey, Richard Burton, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Albert Einstein, Dudley Moore, Salvador Dali, Omar Bradley, and Peter O'Toole---or the individual and collective female equivalent. The reality of the hipster since before being called the preppy, through being called the yuppy, then on to the hipster, and whatever may follow, is, has been, and always will be, a sort of piss-poor, watered down blend of Edward VIII and Douglas MacArthur.
Four Varieties
Regarding the powerful and the weak and the deluded, there are four varieties of behavior that have turned up over time, and for this telling, this borrows from English sociologist Kate Fox and her book Watching The English "http://www.amazon.com/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867".
Person number one has a garden. In this garden weeds are pulled, plants are planted, decisions are made to arrange this area and that. The entire point of the garden is the general amusement of person number one. The garden is not particularly spoken of, or not spoken of, the knowledge or reactions of others is recognized as being totally irrelevant.
Person number two has a garden. Very particularly in this garden is A Garden Gnome---and for actual practice, instead of a gnome, there could be a gazebo, a fountain, or a scale model of the Taj Mahal. In all cases, what person number two absolutely demands is the absolute admiration by everyone because the garden gnome is there in the garden. In all instances person number two insists that the garden gnome demonstrates total and absolute taste and success which everyone is to admire. In making this demand, the ongoing fantasy of person number two manages to simultaneously require a set of utterly self canceling concepts: 1) There is the repeated and ongoing reminder to everyone of this fantasy. 2) There is no fantasy, the fantasy is reality. 3) No reminder is ever needed because everyone inherently and automatically accepts and supports and takes part in the fantasy.
Person number three has a garden. Very particularly in this garden is A Garden Gnome--- and for actual practice, instead of a gnome, there could be a gazebo, a fountain, or a scale model of the Taj Mahal. In all cases, what person number three absolutely demands is the absolute admiration by everyone because the garden gnome is there in the garden as an example of being humorous and providing contrast to the rest of the garden. In all instances person number three insists that the garden gnome demonstrates total and absolute subtle taste and success which everyone is to admire. In making this demand, the ongoing fantasy of person number three manages to simultaneously require a set of utterly self canceling concepts: 1) There is the repeated and ongoing reminder to everyone of this fantasy. 2) There is no fantasy, the fantasy is reality. 3) No reminder is ever needed because everyone inherently and automatically accepts and supports and takes part in the fantasy.
As Fox points out in her book;
I once expressed mild surprise at the presence of a garden gnome in an upper-middle-class garden (I said something intelligent like 'Oh, a gnome'). The owner of the garden explained that the gnome was 'ironic'. I asked him, with apologies for my ignorance, how one could tell that his garden gnome was supposed to be an ironic statement, as opposed to, you know, just a gnome. He rather sniffily replied that I only had to look at the rest of the garden for it to be obvious that the gnome was a tongue-in- cheek joke. But surely, I persisted, garden gnomes are always something of a joke, in any garden - I mean, no-one actually takes them seriously or regards them as works of art. His response was rather rambling and confused (not to mention somewhat huffy), but the gist seemed to be that while the lower classes saw gnomes as intrinsically amusing, his gnome was amusing only because of its incongruous appearance in a 'smart' garden. In other words, council-house gnomes were a joke, but his gnome was a joke
about council-house tastes, effectively a joke about class. A subtle but clearly very important distinction. Needless to say, I was not invited back.
This man's reaction to my questions clearly defined him as upper-middle, rather than upper class. In fact, his pointing out that the gnome I had noticed was 'ironic' had already demoted him by half a class from my original assessment.
Now, getting back to the four varieties, person number four has a garden. In this garden weeds are pulled, plants are planted, decisions are made to arrange this area and that. Tucked somewhere in the garden, or blatantly out in the open, is a garden gnome. Or two, three, a dozen garden gnomes. The entire point of the garden and accompanying gnome(s) is the general amusement of person number four. The garden---and its gnome(s)---are not particularly spoken of, or not spoken of, the knowledge or reactions of others is recognized as being totally irrelevant.
As Fox continues;
A genuine member of the upper classes would either have boldly admitted to a passion for garden gnomes (and eagerly pointed out other examples of the genre dotted about his otherwise effortlessly elegant garden) or said something like 'Ah yes, my gnome. I'm very fond of my gnome.' and left me to draw my own conclusions. The upper classes do not care what a nosey anthropologist (or indeed anyone else) thinks of them, and in any case do not need ironic gnomes to emphasise their status.
Persons number one and four are the powerful. Number two is weak, and number three is deluded.
As a final general thought, anytime the weak or deluded do not yet do what the powerful do, it doesn't really matter. There are three possible reasons for this.
A) The weak and deluded haven't yet started to become the powerful, but they will start soon. In doing so, the soon to be former weak and deluded will begin to do what is needed by circumstance or personal whim, will themselves become powerful, and thus will become despised by their former associates. At that point, because they have become the powerful, they will cease to care about those concerns of the weak and the deluded.
B) Anytime the weak and deluded both become noticeable and remain weak and deluded, they remain irrelevant and are always casually discarded at whim. Regarding this, the weak and deluded repeatedly deny, and just deny, and merely deny, all with total and unchangeable futility.
C) In time, as the weak and deluded do not remake themselves into the powerful, they are abandoned, left behind, and when there is any further encounter with the powerful, the powerful dispose of them as needed and totally without effort or hindrance.
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