[Mr. Blonde]

Originally Posted by Repugnant Abomination

Laws are in place for a good reason, and even though some overreach or are stupid, parking laws serve a helpful purpose.

Preface: I'm just illegally removing a parking boot, I'm not starting a revolution (yet).

I was booted in my home parking space, not booted in a public space where I had an expired meter. This tells me they prowl around checking license plates (as cops do with profiling and warrants, an incredibly ethically fucked-up practice that is widespread practiced).

Your Confucius-like-attitude with obeying laws and deeming them as "automatically just and to be followed" has always perplexed me. I don't know your history of fuckery, but I was brought up, (with a few members of this board), constantly causing trouble and mischief in my little town, just because there was nothing left to do. As an adult, this can translate quite well to the intelligent and social-justice-minded. I know you are probably a "good citizen", Repug, but I hope that as your life goes on you begin to sway further away from being muzzled by the government, and perhaps return to your roots as a true journalist -- perhaps displaying a bit of civil disobedience for once in your life. Read Walden, Read Civil Disobedience, read anything and everything throughout history about people going to prison or being executed simply for peacefully disagreeing....

I really don't see how anything about this is unfair for you, other than the fines might be disproportionate to the crime.

I don't really view it as unfair -- I don't feel victimized at all. I knew it was coming, although I figured it would be at a downtown parking meter, not in front of my own house, which is probably the most insulting part about it. Agreed, the fines are disproportionate to the crime, but that's okay too -- it doesn't really bother me, simply because I don't have the money. What society WANTS me to do, is to freak out about not having enough money, work real hard to get a job to pay them off, get my car back, and be a guilt-free 'Murican citizen again. That's silly. I own a bicycle, have no real responsibility, live right across from a bus system (a public service I will gladly pay for -- and never be fined for, mind you), and have been toying with getting rid of my truck for a while. All in all, one way or another, this is a blessing.

If I can't remove the boot, it will be towed by tomorrow, at which point it will no longer really be a problem of mine. I'll notify the bank that I can no longer take payments, that the City of Denver has impounded it, that I'm not planning on making any more payments, and I'll let them sort it out. There's literally nothing they can do -- summon me to court? all I have to do is tell the truth --- "I'm too poor and couldn't make the payments", bring my bank information, and that's that. I'm not sure we're at the point in society for imprisoning people for not possessing enough money yet. I wish you could view this as liberating as I do.


It's important for me to let you know on a personal level how much loss I have experienced over the past couple of years. Our experiences after returning from teaching in Asia could not be any more different, and the formative effects of this are apparent here. I know you have experienced great loss as well, but the kind of loss I have experienced is the kind of loss where I have lost so many opportunities to even create the kinds of attachment where I can even enjoy the pre-loss joy of said lost person/object. I have, ultimately, lost the fundamental ability to form the kinds of attachments that lead to the consequences of loss, a consistent feeling that I can only describe as being that of a living ghost.

Between consistent health problems that constantly remind me of my own mortality, between constant depression, between having no financial resources to fall back on, on top of being a very good and loyal worker who has tried very hard to "fit in" to society, all failing miserably, I wish that you would look at my behavior and what I'm going through in life not as a direct contrast or challenge to you, but a series of unfortunate events that, perhaps, had I better guidance or other circumstances in life, I may have avoided. But as it stands, this is my situation. You know I'm intelligent, you know I mean well, and you know I'm not an "intentional" deviant. My biggest problem, admittedly, is my stubbornness and my oppositional defiance. That's part of who I am, and it's the part of my I actually admire the most -- no matter how much suffering it has brought me. Because no matter how much I have lost, I have always stayed loyal to myself.


Because of how much I have lost, I have also gained an incredible amount of freedom. It's difficult for me right now because I have the choice to express this newfound freedom in several different ways --- and "fighting the system", is one of the best ways I can think of, with my education and intimate knowledge of the justice system. I have spent a lot more time around police and authority figures than you have (i'm guessing), and because of the turns my life has taken, I have also spent a great deal of time around "the poor" and "meek" of society -- those continually victimized, beyond their control, by figures of authority. These are also some of the most kind-hearted, caring, loving individuals I have ever met, despite all the drug problems, tattoos, and past criminal behavior these individuals have been involved with.

What does "done playing by the rules" even mean?

If you have to ask the question, I can't answer it for you. We have very different backgrounds and very different interpretations of each other's behavior and life choices. I'm trying very hard not to judge yours, as I have a lot of faith in you as a good-hearted individual who will, I hope, eventually, see things a bit more from the side that I"m seeing things. But until you do, I want you to enjoy your life and the path you have chosen for as long as you are permitted to.


In summation, just try to have fun with it. I really don't have a lot to lose, Repug, and the "crimes" I am committing and plan to commit are on the level of Bansky and the civil disobedient of our society. That's what I mean by not playing by the rules, I guess --- I'm just not going to follow laws I deem are unjust anymore, and on top of that, have decided to become an active agent AGAINST these unjust laws. I am in the unique position of having nothing to lose but my freedom, which is what I am planning on expressing to the fullest amount until it is taken away from me.


Life means different things to you and me. I don't like being told what to do, ever, unless i'm asked nicely or paid for it. I ESPECIALLY don't like being told what to do by faceless, cowardly, hidden sneaksters who don't directly confront me, face to face, about issues that need to be settled. I would rather fight back however possible and lose rather than not fight at all. In another time in history, I probably would have been killed a long time ago. But we live in 2014 and I'm taking full advantage of the fact I probably won't be killed for fucking with the government a little. In fact, since we all have to die, being assassinated by a government would be one of my most preferred ways of leaving this Earth.

This goes back to that thread with DH. It's not about winning or losing. It's about not giving up, it's about not even caring about the outcome, as long as you do SOMETHING about it.

Plus, honestly, what else am I going to do with my life at this point? As far as I can see it society has given me no other choice but to become a public nuisance, and at this point, I'll gladly take on that role. Society as we know it WILL change, drastically, over the next few decades, and I plan on being very involved in that change in whatever way possible. It's just my destiny, man. I don't know what else to tell you.

Originally Posted by Dr. Timothy Leary, Folsom Prison, 1973

Well, yes, I'm in prison, and that may seem odd: a philosopher in prison. But I'd like to say this about my profession. The best philosophers often end up in prison. If you're a good baseball player, you end up in the Major Leagues. If you're a really successful politician, you end up in Washington, I'm sorry to say. If you're really a good philosopher -- if you're coming out with new ideas about the seven great destiny questions that are going to rattle the walls of the social institutions, like most of the men I have modeled myself after -- they'll have been lucky if they got away just being in prison, with their ideas.