The following quote is from a live Bill Hicks performance:
“Get this, I actually asked one of these guys, OK, Dinosaurs fossils – how does that fit into you scheme of life? Let me sit down and strap in. He said, “Dinosaur fossils? God put those there to test our faith.” I think God put you here to test my faith, Dude. You believe that? “uh huh.” Does that trouble anyone here? The idea that God.. might be.. fuckin’ with our heads? I have trouble sleeping with that knowledge. Some prankster God running around: “Hu hu ho. We will see who believes in me now, ha ha.” [mimes God burying fossils] “I am God, I am a prankster.” “I am killing Me.”
Sorry, I ran across that looking for the actual quote I was supposed to post, and couldn’t resist. Here’s the really quote I you to see:
“Folks, it’s time to evolve ideas. We . . . . You know, evolution did not end with us growing thumbs. You do know that, right? It didn’t end there. We’re at the point now where we . . . we’re going to have to evolve ideas. The reason the world is so fucked up is because we’re undergoing evolution, and the reason our institutions, our traditional religions are all crumbling is because . . . they’re no longer relevant.”
Bill Hicks dies in 1994, of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 32. He is one of those people you don’t typically hear of, except by word-of-mouth. Oral tradition. It’s still alive and well, and now spreading to the Internet. Some of the most subversive ideas in regard to our existing paradigms.
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Today the Dow Jones index dropped another 700-something points. This, after a continual slide despite the news of the Bail-out bill passing.
Nobody knows exactly what to think. But in the back of each of our heads is our own, fearful interpretation of The End of the World. If you’re a tribalist, it’s the realization of primitive prophecies. If you’re a Christian Fundamentalist, it’s all in the Book of Revelations, another myth, but more widespread in the modern world. If you’re a rationalist, it’s global economic collapse into crises and anarchy. It could be global natural disaster caused by global warming.
Of noticably curious timing, at this point, is the sudden rise in the popularity and understanding of the Internet: the one global media conduit that is relatively unfettered, globally, by the powers that be. And the big stink for businesses is the whole notion of social media. Naturally, Big Business wants in, but the paradigm is not theirs, and they have trouble seeing how to survive.
To this opportunity flock the growing array of social media consultants. Seems like everybody’s getting into this game. There’s a relatively low level of technical expertise involved, and the game is fun!
Social Media is of, by, and for the people. The spirit is one of reciprocity; of mutual sharing. This is not the profit-based mentality handed down by our ancestors. It’s a spirit of creating authentic community, not of focus groups, manipulation and money-lust. Most of the people I come across in Social Media are decent-seeming people. And this is quite a new thing for traditionalist businesspersons.
Hicks on the advertising industry:
“By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing… kill yourself. No, no, no it’s just a little thought. I’m just trying to plant seeds. Maybe one day, they’ll take root – I don’t know. You try, you do what you can. Kill yourself. Seriously though, if you are, do. Aaah, no really, there’s no rationalisation for what you do and you are Satan’s little helpers, Okay – kill yourself – seriously. You are the ruiner of all things good, seriously. No this is not a joke, you’re going, “there’s going to be a joke coming,” there’s no fucking joke coming. You are Satan’s spawn filling the world with bile and garbage. You are fucked and you are fucking us. Kill yourself. It’s the only way to save your fucking soul, kill yourself. Planting seeds. I know all the marketing people are going, “he’s doing a joke… there’s no joke here whatsoever. Suck a tail-pipe, fucking hang yourself, borrow a gun from a Yank friend – I don’t care how you do it. Rid the world of your evil fucking machinations. I know what all the marketing people are thinking right now too, “Oh, you know what Bill’s doing, he’s going for that anti-marketing dollar. That’s a good market, he’s very smart.” Oh man, I am not doing that. You fucking evil scumbags! “Ooh, you know what Bill’s doing now, he’s going for the righteous indignation dollar. That’s a big dollar. A lot of people are feeling that indignation. We’ve done research – huge market. He’s doing a good thing.” Godammit, I’m not doing that, you scum-bags!Quit putting a godamm dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet!
“Ooh, the anger dollar. Huge. Huge in times of recession. Giant market, Bill’s very bright to do that.” God, I’m just caught in a fucking web! “Ooh the trapped dollar, big dollar, huge dollar. Good market – look at our research. We see that many people feel trapped. If we play to that and then separate them into the trapped dollar…” How do you live like that? And I bet you sleep like fucking babies at night, don’t you?”
Our traditional systems are failing in the face of change. We need to imagine new, better possibilities. Ones that work for all people, not just the lucky few at the top. There is no existing social institution that isn’t quantitatively showing some signs of failure. Education. Banking. Government. Law. Medicine. Economics. Law Enforcement. Energy. Agriculture. Transportation. And these are external ones. Our internal systems are also failing. Our very understanding of our selves is inadequate to the task.
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“The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly coloured and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, “Hey – don’t worry, don’t be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride…” And we… kill those people.”We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real.” Just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter because: It’s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you’ve been great.”
