Post A Random Fact About Yourself..

**The Lawspeaker** · 11-17-2010, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Karl

How are you capable of stealing anything at all?

I suggest that you ask that question to politicians and the tax collector. They after all are the true masters of theft (whether legal or illegal).

**ZeDoCaixao** · 11-17-2010, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Civis Batavi

I suggest that you ask that question to politicians and the tax collector. They after all are the true masters of theft (whether legal or illegal).

And that's an eternal problem of perspective here: the criminal on the ground, stealing some small tangible commodity, will always be judged more viscerally and immediately than the unseen criminals dealing in figures of commodities or money. The petty criminal stands in primeval relation to a commodity; his propinquity with other commoners delivers him the faster to their retribution. What the fellow commoner does not see (such as the sordidness exposed in one book I stole recently, Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man) arouses no ire, or if he take his cue from media, only a rational ire with no immediate object; the super-criminal is thus spared real relations as the "things" he manipulates have only an abstract relation with the world to begin with. He is spared the spirit of communal wrath which can have as object only the poor, petty criminal, and most often is spared any punishment whatever.

But hey, I don't want to dress this up -- what I do is crime, not social protest. There is a deeper dimension but so what. I do it because it can be done: the true spirit of kapitalismus!

**~~Aemma~~** · 11-17-2010, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by ZeDoCaixao

Because I wasn't raised under any definite taboo against theft, I imagine. The word villain was, after all, coined for we immoral poor folk. I might be moved to concede that stealing from libraries is social blasphemy, but from national bookstores selling over-made and so overpriced books, the financial impact is negligible, and again I harbor no moral sentiment related to theft and other such peccadillos of hypercapitalist society. You know why the old mass market paperback was phased out? Not because it was a bad format, it was actually ideal for travel, shelving and packing; but the cheaper production value necessitated cheaper retail value, which couldn't survive where a market could advance. As manufacturers awakened to the larger format = larger price-tag formula, the big chains sprouted, able to apply an artificial mark-up to all books where Schoenhof's, for example, rightly charges more for rarer and necessarily larger volumes such as dictionaries & imports. We don't have a Reclam or a Livres de Poche because it isn't sufficiently lucrative to produce small plain handy uniform volumes and we are a cultural backwater that puts the dollar before all. Even when an author's work is republished (as they are every year!) the presentation is gaudy, the binding is off, and the cover is usually that scratchy matte paper every American publisher is using for its paperbacks these days. The Library of America series is overpriced (because overmade) and represents women and blacks in preference to, say, Henry Miller (whose books largely shattered censorship in American and European publishing) or Ezra Pound (no explanation needed).

And that is why I fucking steal: to avenge myself upon this artificial state of affairs. It is a market, not a cultural enterprise. France does it right. Though I've lifted from Fnac and Leclerc too, LOL.

Ok I get what you're saying and I note that your politics are "extreme" as per your own words. But why not fight within the system as opposed to wholly without when you really don't have that much leverage outside of it? I doubt being in jail for petty theft of books one day really will be such a big contribution to the furthering of our People(s). I would think there would be more effective and creative ways of really sticking it to the Man.

**ZeDoCaixao** · 11-17-2010, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by Aemma

Ok I get what you're saying and I note that your politics are "extreme" as per your own words. But why not fight within the system as opposed to wholly without when you really don't have that much leverage outside of it? I doubt being in jail for petty theft of books one day really will be such a big contribution to the furthering of our People(s). I would think there would be more effective and creative ways of really sticking it to the Man.

I am presently at work fitting myself into das System to, as you say, fight from within, or offer some insider's bounty to those outside, at least. No idea if I will succeed. If so, at least I can stop stealing. Believe me, nothing would please more than walking up to one of those shabby cash register airheads with a stack of books for which I am able to pay. I daydream about it, blowing money.

I wasn't inside for theft, btw. I've never been caught for that. It's just too easy. Those chains anyway have a "no chase" policy to prevent disruption of store ambiance. No kidding.

**~~Cato~~** · 11-17-2010, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by Aemma

Ok I get what you're saying and I note that your politics are "extreme" as per your own words. But why not fight within the system as opposed to wholly without when you really don't have that much leverage outside of it? I doubt being in jail for petty theft of books one day really will be such a big contribution to the furthering of our People(s). I would think there would be more effective and creative ways of really sticking it to the Man.

He's just making a longwinded excuse for the fact that he's a sticky-fingered grifter who's to cheap to pay for something.

**ZeDoCaixao** · 11-17-2010, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by Pallamedes

He's just making a longwinded excuse for the fact that he's a sticky-fingered grifter who's to cheap to pay for something.

Broke. And cheap.

**~~Cato~~** · 11-17-2010, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by ZeDoCaixao

Broke. And cheap.

Get a job.

**Wölfin** · 11-18-2010, 04:54 PM

"My" (quotations because he's not legally mine but he's the horse I ride most often and is "attributed" to me by my instructor) horse has a thrush problem in his hind left foot, and since almost no one seems to have paid attention it spread to his hind right and front right.
So anyway after riding yesterday since I had extra time and he wasn't ridden afterwards, I took care of his hooves, cleaning them out thoroughly first. I was frustrated at the lack of cotton balls in the product cupboard but I improvised by using paper tissue. So I go and get the solution with which you need to treat thrush, which is green and has a very strong smell. I treat the hind left, first. All is good. Then for the front right, I squeeze a bit too hard and I end up with green slime all over my left hand and partially on the floor.
I've washed my hands at least 8 times since then, I even scraped under my nails several times, a faint scent lingers. Its pretty frustrating. Well, at least I know Sheldon's feet have a strong chance of healing, all that matters I suppose.