I stumbled upon the notion of the freegan way of life whilst perusing BoingBoing today, and it gave me immense pause. Voluntary joblessness? Dumpster diving? Really? This is what the freegans advocate? I understand their philosophical stance and I can't say that I disagree with it - American society is probably the most wasteful civilization in history - but this seems a bit too over-the-top. What say you, my loyal army of readers?
Cory Doctorow's proposal for Ninja Airlines, on the other hand...now there's a beautiful idea. Extreme? Yes. But how cool would it be to be transported to your destination by ninjas? I'm pretty sure that even if the plane was only staffed by ninjas, there wouldn't be any terrorist activity because you'd never know when you'd get a bag of peanuts on your tray or a throwing star in the jugular.
Now that's security. And for all you link-hounds out there, here's a link to the original post from BoingBoing on freegan options for in-flight meals from whence this hyar post was derived.
I just read up on the Freegans. I'm a little grossed out. Does this laziness really deserve to be defined as a legitimate cause?
I thought at first it was a joke.
But, it's not.
Is it?
Interesting...I wonder what explanation an anthropologist would have for groups like this who drop out of modern culture? Agree with Drew concerning some of their observations about our culture, but it seems a bit over the top to rail at a society that they are the beneficiaries of living freely in. Interestingly though as long as someone else buys the car, the gas, and pays the taxes on the roads, they are fine with accepting a free (to them) ride. Seems a bit paradoxical to me.
Like ancient Rome, our culture does indeed have it's ugly underbelly. Perhaps that is the price we choose to pay for things like medicine, clean drinking water, and a fairly dependable food supply.
It's like they just give "homeless" a new name (squatting), and beggers a new name (freegans). I think the difference is they do work "a little" to make some money, but what is not said is the money they make more than likely goes toward purchasing drugs.
I think the point to their argument of "Rights" over privilege is weak. Because when you look at "rights" of a society, it is a privilege because you are a part of that society. If they really believe that a "right" is something that should be automatic because they're human, then take that attitude to the Middle East and start shouting your message of it being your "right" and see how that works out for you. I think this is where the political correctness movement is way off track, and a lot of our judges are wrong. A "right" to them is no longer defined as a "privilege" but something owed (even if you're in this country illegally). That is what is going to destroy this nation.
I can't tell if this is the real deal or not, to be true. One the one hand, I can see how this could be a valid movement for some people; on the other, I can see how this would be an elaborate joke to give homeless people some sort of a life philosophy for what they're doing rather than just accepting that bad things happened to them. Either way, I still don't know if it's real or not and I've been known to be somewhat gullible about these things.
Like I said, though, there are definitely some parts of this philosophy that I agree with - I've been convicted a lot (ever since the move) about how much perfectly good stuff I throw away just because I don't want to deal with it cluttering up my space. I'm also a charter contributor to the "replace it rather than repair it" mentality, as I don't think I've had anything actually repaired (aside from my cars) in about 8 years. The last thing I can think of which I had repaired rather than replaced was the zipper on my leather coat. And we won't even get into all the perfectly edible food that I've thrown out because I didn't want it - in fact, I'm in a bit of a moral dilemma right this very moment because I have a box full of NutriSystem food that I don't want and don't plan to eat, but I don't know what to do with it. It makes me cringe when I even think of throwing it all out, but who will take diet food for free? *shrug*
That whole rights vs. privilege argument didn't hold much water for me either. It's one thing to decide you're going to do something to go against the conventions of society or do something that you feel is right, but it's quite another to be militant about it and expect other people to recognize what you're doing as valid (which is usually why we trot out the word "rights" to begin with). It also carries some sort of smug sense of "I'm right and you're wrong" with it such that it is designed to make the other person feel bad while you feel superior. Kinda like those frakkin' Prius drivers...
Anybody that has "rights vs. privilege" questions should spend some time talking with Kyle Miller and reading through and getting to the bottom of what "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" really, really means. If we could get off of this whole American kick of constantly expecting justification and validation because of some silly rights, if we would just realize that we don't really have any rights under God, then I think we'd be a whole lot happier.
My $.02 (which I guess would make it $.04, since I posted the original thoughts which already amounted to about $.02).