Sunday, November 14, 2010

Is Life Really Worth Living Anymore?

Ok, so you look at the title, and immediately you think "Oh, another whinny emo kid talking about offing himself again." Well, really, if you put some thought to it, it really is a big, relevant question. Is life really worth living anymore?

Consider this: If you are reading this, chances are you are not rich, famous, or doing anything productive. This is a nothing blog. It's not written by a famous person, it's not popular, and you probably found it through some guerrilla advertising, a troll, or someone sent a link to you. That's about it. If I'm right, you are probably between the ages of 13 and 35 (on the high end). You are either about to enter college, in college, or not that far out of college (or about that time of your life when most people do so. No judgement if you aren't in college). So what I'm about to say is relevant to you.

The way I see it, there is nothing out there for us. Nothing.

I'm sorry, but I find this to be truer and truer every day. Look around you. What I am about to explain will make sense.

First of all, there's the job market. There are no real jobs. Now, first counter-arguement: "It's the economy. It will get better." Well, it will get better. That's called the business cycle. But, when it does get better, how many people will be hired? A lot. Not all of them. This is understandable. But with more and more people getting higher education, or going to tech schools, or learning trades, getting a job will be more and more cut throat. It's simple supply and demand. Populations all over the world are growing larger. More people all over the world are getting more schooling (This can be proven on just about any college campus. Look at the number of people from overseas. It's a lot). How many people can businesses hire until it's saturated? And with technology replacing people, the saturation point is getting lower. Demand for people is small. Now for the invisible hand: People who entered the job market before you have presidence over you for that nice job. Experience is wanted, and experience is rewarded. Now, there are some people willing to hire on no real experience. But this can work against you too. I know of at least one company that required 2 years of experience before they hired you, but if you worked for a certain other company that hired you on no experience, your application was passed over. It happens.

Then there's what happens after you get the job. You get paid, you pay taxes, you buy stuff. That's about it. Very, VERY few of us will have the opportunity to do great things or productive things. We will be just cogs in the larger machine. A few high points of recognition, some small accomplishments, but still a cog. So, for most of us, we will be working for a paycheck. Counter-argument: "If you like what you do, it's not a job." Look guys, a the end of the day, it is still a job, and you're just trying to make money to stay afloat in this life. You need money, you need a job, and the fact that you like it is just a perk to help get you through the day. The motivating delusions are all a lie. And what do you do with all this money you make? Buy stuff. Food, a house, clothes, necessities. You need them, so you get them. What about the rest? You save it, then spend it on other stuff. TVs, board games, comic books, things to make the front yard look better. But how many people buy things just to accomplish something? Sure, completing the lawn gnome set in the front yard may be great for you, but what about the rest of us? Not many people restore furniture anymore, or build train tracks in the garage, or buy spices to make a new dish that is uniquely our own. We hire people, have other people do it for us. Pre-assembled grills, ready to use spices, people hired to do this or that. The argument is "Well, they can do it for better and cheaper than I can." But by doing this, you rob yourself of the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. "I built that TV stand." "I painted this entire house, inside and out." "I made this dish, and I didn't follow a recipe like any bozo who can read can make." Instead, you rob other people of the accomplish they task. "Yeah, I hired a contractor to tile the bathroom. Did a good job didn't he? I'm real proud of him. Real proud of the work he did for me." It's all a false sense of accomplishment. It lifts us up, but it's an empty feeling.

So how do we, right now, feel some sense of accomplishment, belonging in our hopelessness, and superiority over others? Facebook. MySpace. Twitter. Celebrity gossip. That kind of trash. People watch it, gossip, trade stories over the same thing everyone else has watched, say how the 16 year old mother messed up her life and how you would never do that. It raises you up over the image of another person who is better than you, while creating a sense of belonging with the people you gossip with. But what does it really do? Nothing. Gets you from one day to the next. That's about it.

So if you're still reading this (congrats to your dedication), you may be wondering what my point is, how all this relates to the original question. Well, here it is: With all this going on, what's the point of living? To have friends? How much do they really help you, and how much more drama do they cause in your life? Humans are social creatures. It's part of our biology to crave social interaction. To reproduce? Again, purely biological. To be the best? At what? With billions and billions of people out there, even if you create something new to be the best at, given a little time, someone else will be the best. To improve yourself? Sounds great. It even holds up in most arguments. But at what point do you decide there's no real point in improving yourself? At what point are you trying to improve yourself and then settle for what you've done and say "This is good enough for me for now?" It's all to keep they rest of the lower 90% of us working (Reference: the top 10% pay the most taxes and [thus?] have the most influence in the U.S.A. and world-wide).

Let me add something else. If you are still reading, great. If you are still following me, fantastic. But if you are really thinking about what I said, and are really digesting it, let me put this little thought in your head: This may all sound like conspiracy crap about the upper class keeping the poor man down, or a bunch of who-ha from an emo kid, then why are depression rates way high? Why are suicide rates up? What are less people feeling satisfied with their lives? Why do 6 different spices come in one box so that you can make the best, perfectly seasoned shrimp scampi? Why do shows like "Teen Mom," "Jersey Shore," "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," and other such shows exist? Why is it harder and harder to get a job flipping burgers or working at chain stores?

So what's the solution? Kill yourself? Putting aside religious arguments, social expectations, and fear of what comes after, this may seem like a good solutions. Semi-logic at least. But that just defeats the purpose of existence, and our problem is with life here. Be productive? That's doing what's best for "the greater good," going back to being another cog in the machine.

In all honesty, I don't have a solution. It seems like everything we can do is in some way just another attempt at staying afloat in all this mess. I'm not entirely sure there is anything we can do. Maybe form utopia communities and try to find meaning in that or something. Religion is another option, but that has become so closed minded, intolerant, and more focused on filling pews that helping people find meaning in their lives.

Is life futile? Maybe. It's up to you to decide. I'm just an observer.

****UPDATE****

I posted a counter-argument/rebuttle to this post. Published 11/23/10

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

congratulations shitbag, you just discovered nihilism. either kill yourself or stop showing the internet your massive vagina

Aeonhem said...

Please just kill yourself and save us the effort...

Anonymous said...

Killing yourself isn't as bad as it sounds you know. Just do it.

Anonymous said...

no, go kill yourself, faggot

Anonymous said...

...Are you serious? So a lack of life is better than any life at all? If thats seriously your outlook, jesus, take a look at the way you "observe".
There are plenty of things to look forward to in life. Stop wasting internet and go the fuck outside.

Anonymous said...

Leaving your mom's basement is a prerequisite for having a successful job... that being said you should just kill yourself

Anonymous said...

Find something you're passionate for (or better yet, someone) and chase it/her/him! Gotta have passion bro

Anonymous said...

TL:DR Im sure you have something to live for.. or not either way if you do it you should record it/live stream for scientific purposes

Anonymoose said...

Write a book.
It will give you the sense of accomplishment that you're so craving.

Anonymous said...

observe all you feel like you want to,
then kill thyself.
if there's an afterlife,
you can observe some more and post shitty blogs like this about how you can't achieve meaning there, either.

jacob said...

you should read camus' the myth of sisyphus. He covers this topic and manages to avoid pure nihilism. I have my own feelings on the subject though. The purpose of life is as it ever was, we are just becoming more and more disenchanted by false purposes(religion, patriotism, family, etc.). Life, in all forms, is about being happy. Religious zealots are happy through worship. That is no less genuine than a man who is happy through painting. Modern society is assaulting all of the little lies that gave its people something to be happy about.

Anonymous said...

Dont do it man.

Keep living.

jacob said...

couldn't finish in one. All you have to do is figure out what makes you happy and focus on that. Seldom does it need as much money as you spend. Also, seldom is it a singular focal point like music, its usually just a way of life. A standard of living and a moral code. Figure out which cosmic lies you want to live with everyday.

Anonymous said...

kill self

post pics

Aonnymous said...

wow, you present a nice argument. I thought from the description of the guy who posted it on /b/ this was gonna be some piece of shit "omg i haet mai lyf tell me im good or i shhoot myseldf" but no.
only real complaint about it was that it was pretty two-dimensional. You need to focus less on specific examples and draw broader points with more examples. like maybe don't talk so much about the job market, maybe more about other relevant things. But I dunno, I'm not you.

Anonymous said...

end it, kill yourself. your probably to much of a pussy to do it though. fuckin faggot. ranting on the internet about your problems. just kill yourself. you'd make a lot of people happier, and you'd improve the amount of faggotry, and fuckerry on the internet. do it. now.

Anonymous said...

Don't kill yourself. Life is worth it. Start a new live, it is hard but worth it.

Anonymous said...

NIGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSS

Anonymous said...

JIBUN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anonymous said...

some twat just posted this on 4chan; i hope you like hordes of morons

Anonymous said...

suicide is always a viable option

Anonymous said...

NIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGEEEEEEEERRRRRSSSSSSSSS AGAIN

Anonymous said...

I don't kill your self. Everyone telling you to. Is just a bunch of life less fucks from http://boards.4chan.org/b/

10swords said...

Um... Ok people. I never even thought about suicide. I was just trying to think of any counter arguments that could have come up. I'm not sure why you think I'm suicidal, but I apologize if you got that impression. If any of you /b/ros are interested, I'm about to write a follow up article to combat this one. I'll post the link in this article under an edit

Anonymous said...

don't do it. people care about you.

Anonymous said...

If all you strive to do in life is just improve yourself, even if you succeed, in the end the accomplishment means very little.

If you strive to help humanity as a whole, and bring everyone forward along with you, even a small amount of progress means a lot.

Yes there will always be someone better. But the reason they could get ahead of you is that you paved the way, opened a new path, and by standing on your shoulders they could get even higher.

Anonymous said...

You seriously think anyone is going to take this seriously? That anyone reading this even fucking cares? NO one cares, no one gives a shit, just go kill yourself, fucking whiny emo nigger.

Anonymous said...

Read half, skimmed half, pretty uninteresting and unoriginal blog post. This just reminded me of a 16 year-old trying to be edgy and philosophical.

Anonymous said...

Okay so this anon guy telling you to commit suicide is a troll....We are all entitled to our opinions and beliefs, unless America says they are wrong and shuns for them, but thats a different discussion...My point being if the troll wishes to tell you to kill yourself then let him, but all in all what matters is what YOU do, if you live life and make it better then good for you, if you follow the guys advice and kill yourself then good for you as well, honestly what people say and do can not make you do anything you don't want, what they say and do, can however influence what you do in life...So TL;DR do as you wish but make your life worth living as long as it makes you happy

Unknown said...

you're a fucking wenie op just live your life and fuck the rest.

Anonymous said...

so what not like you're worth living if you're writing faggotry and such

NonExist said...

OP,
You make some very good points.
From an objective point of view life has zero meaning.

But people arbitrarily put meaning
into it in order to bear it.
Thing is no matter what one does one is goind to die one day anyway.
Essentially there is nothing wrong with one choosing to end one's life if that person sees that they do not want to continue.

After all none of us choose to
live, we are thrust into life by our parents procreation. And it is a demonstration of freedom to choose when you die if possible.

Of course few people can look at the coin from both sides. For those who want to live, there are pkenty of reasons. For those who want to die also plenty of reasons.

All comes down to the individual.

Anonymous said...

Hey, whats with all the just kill yourself comments??? This post is not even about suicide, its about the struggle everyday people are going though wondering about whats in store for them. Suicide is a response to the overwhelming fear of whats to come, failure can be a bitch. All you people making stupid suicide comments, I bet you have all struggled with fear of what tomorrow will bring, probably not considered suicide but hey, not everybody is as 'strong' as the rest of us. So just shut your traps, take your own advice and go get a real life.

Anonymous said...

Ironically, I came across this post while searching for reasons to be happy with the idea of life. I wanted to thank you for your post though, it was an interesting read. In the comments of this article though, I found the answer I was looking for. Life is about being happy. I've known that all along, so I must have had to realize it again. I hope you do well.

Anonymous said...

You are worth it. To many people... But whoever wrote this, thank you. We have very similar minds and we must think alike since I thought I was reading my own self talk. I agree with you and the way you look at life is amazing. Because its true. And some people can't face the truth, yet.

Anonymous said...

You guys are mean. I found this inspirational. And he made this a little over two years ago, and it still seems pretty much exactly what I'm going through in my mind. I'm not a loser, I am turning 17 in a few days, I have a life, a loving family, and a job. I have a promising entry to college and a fantastic job with exquisite pay. And yet I find no real reason to live this life.