Comic Strips

Gonna get crucified for this, but:

While the comic is cute, the message is bourgeois slave mentality propaganda.

If the capacity to enjoy less is so aspirational as scorates, ghandi et al. would have us believe, then why don't the rich ascend to this purer existence in a trailer park? Why is it always the poors? It's because they have class consciousness and we don't.

These people have an objectively shit life and shouldn't have to live like this.

Don't get me wrong - If they want to - that's fine, but you can't really say you truly love something you didn't go out of your way to choose - and it doesn't seem that way here, and either way - this is a comic glorifying poverty, when there are many who don't want to live like this but have to, and it's kinda gross, tbh.

Also, weed is 21st century opium. Yes it should be legal, but you shouldn't do it if you want to have a life, it's no different from excessive social media use, it is an artificial relief for an ancient instinct of boredom that you have for a reason - it is your brain telling you to get off your ass and do something. Using chemicals to quell it - is just brainrot coated in an appeal to nature fallacy and new age aestheticism to make it more palatable.

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.

Here's Tom with the Weather."

-- Bill Hicks

The problem with this simple life is that it's notthat simple.

The first time they need to repair something or someone has a medical problem reality hits. The little trailer home falls apart more and more every month but they can't afford the repairs. Food keeps getting more and more expensive. Medical conditions become chronic problems and soon every day is difficult. If they didn't have a drug problem before they do now. Just to cope with the hardship of being chronicle Ill. Theft and crime are common around you. What little you have is always vulnerable to being taken from you. Life is stressful and difficult. This kind of life is an endless downward slide, and the only way to get out is to claw your way out.

The only way this life is truly simple is if you have money and a lot of it. You can live a simple unemployed life as a trust fund baby. Or if your spouse has a good job and you just stay home and chill.

Yeah, no. Let's not romanticize poverty.

This works until private equity comes by and makes their trailer home just as expensive as any other home. Yes, this is a thing that is happening in the remaining trailer parks, because of course it is.

Capitalism is the best system.

I was waiting for the part where Carly accidentally gets pregnant cause, you know, that happens a lot. And their happy life gets obliterated by being forced to carry the fetus to term, because of GOP abortion laws, and raise a child they didn't want all the while damaging the ever living fuck out the kid's mind through bad parenting via neglect and self hatred.

Some people were never meant to be good little capitalistic drones capable of working long hours just to be profitable to some member of the Parasite Class who already has obscene amounts of wealth but desperately needs more.

Some people were just meant to go through life vibing with the universe.

And that’s OK, it just means they are wholly incompatible with our current civilization.

This comic speaks to me because both the general vibe and the specific actions are the kinds of things I've consciously been putting more into my life.

I have managed to curate an existence similar to the comic in many ways. As opposed to their tranquil little home being a camper in the woods, mine is more of a combination petting zoo and computer lab hidden in plain sight. It's a little old house in a blue collar neighborhood. Being old means even though it's quiet here, I'm located SO close to local resources and POIs.

Being able to walk my son to elementary school is also some next-level wholesome and calming stuff. I get just a dose of the walkable lifestyle, even though I expect I will be driving a car everywhere else for my entire life.

The problem is that the human body ages more between the ages of 25 and 30 than it does between 30 and 50. A 30 year old is, basically, a very healthy 50 year old.

It's going to be harder and harder for them to live rough as they get older. They won't sleep as well, or have the energy they have now.

Employers are going to be reluctant to hire low skill workers in their 30s.

And that trailer is already 'beat up.' How many bad winters can it take?

What happens when Carly gets sick and needs to go to the hospital?

Itt: tons of people judging these characters for being happy.

Where are they getting money from? They sit around all day doing drugs. How can they afford chicken tenders & electricity & drugs?

how do you even pay for that food and weed without any kind of employment in the US?

"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." - Socrates

"Dogs. Dogs know how to live."
— Diogenes, while masturbating in his barrel in full view of anyone passing by.

i want to get rid of most of my technology and just live with the bare minimum. I don't like how my brain has been trained to be a good little piggy to these algorithms... but at the same time, its so hard to leave...

I agree with the "enjoy the simple things" of this but this is not a smart plan for your future. You should absolutely make an effort to not only get by now, but also later when problems may arise.

God damn i wish I could setup a camper somewhere and not be fucking kicked out.

Fuck the social contract, if society wants participants it can offer something of value in return.

I don't think it's about the "capacity to enjoy less".

I think it's about shedding the things we think we need. It's about surrounding ourselves with the beauty of the world, and allowing ourselves to enjoy these things while weathering the horrible things.

It's not easy, and I think the comic deliberately focuses on the beauty while also conveying hardship through the simple juxtaposition of abject poverty.

There's nothing wrong with "more", but sometimes when we must discard our dreams and visions of "more", and embrace less, we find ourselves ultimately enriched.

In short, society likes to lie to us about what we truly need and want. And those lies convince us all too often that we are failures if we don't meet or exceed certain societal and cultural expectations.

I'm sure many people took the quote to mean this, but I don't like wording... It's not about a "capacity" to enjoy less, it's about an ability to see more.

Last night I went to bed at nine instead of playing space marine two and drinking whiskey. This comic was the reason why

But tonight I will

Chicken fingers? In this economy?

I agree with the sentiment in a way to not endlessly want but the actual best thing that leads to happiness, fulfillment, and way more is:

Hope https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/hope-key-in-meaningful-life

Hope that your life will be alright. Hope that people will and are working together. Hope that the planet gets better. Hope that your relationship will continue to grow. Add that with purpose, action, and consistency then that is a well-lived life