This is a comment piece.1
My name is Rorshach.2
Taking it easy today. 3
No writing, just observing life as it passes me by. 4
It might surprise you all to know that I'm a trained journalist, but I am.5
I spent years learning how to write news stories, and how to exagerate the most interesting part of the information that I received. 6
I was taught to focus on the negative and sensational. 7
I was taught that most readers only read half of the story so you better start with the dirt and end with the (less interesting) facts. 8
My teachers taught me that human beings are scum. 9
They taught me that people are selfish, lazy, cowardly and very, very stupid. 10
Everything that I learnt as a journalist taught me to appeal to the lowest common denominator.11
I wrote scare stories about illegal immigrants and date rape drugs.12
Being a decent sort of chap I rejected this train of thought.13
I wanted to believe in the innate goodness of people.14
I admired Jesus, yet rejected Christianity. 15
I believed in the old Marxist dogma that the proletariat was being kept down by false consciousness. 16
like many nice middle class men I believed in the power of the common man to change things from the bottom up.17
I idealised the working man as a strong honest soul who lived a life of hard work, respect and honesty.18
So I rejected a career in journalism, and decided to live my life as an honest working man. 19
I worked like a slave for 10 hours a day. 20
After the work was done, I went home and I slept. 21
The next day I did the same, and on and on it went.22
My fellow workers didn't seem quite so attractive close up.23
Most of them were ugly, body and soul both. 24
I got over their physical ugliness, but their souls were hard to take. 25
Listening to their inane chatter made me want to vomit in disgust.26
They hated women, yet all of them were married or living with a long term female 'partner'. 27
They all cheated on these poor women as well and boasted about it like it was something to be proud of.28
When one married man (a braindead ex boxer) was seen shagging his girlfriend in the car park during a lunch break he was the hero of the week. 29
This despite him being married for 12 years and having three young children.30
I didn't quite believe that these people actually existed, yet here I was in the middle of it all.31
I often wondered why women put up with this kind of behaviour. 32
I went back home to my empty flat every night and it used to really bug me.33
It was only years later that I discovered why women put up with this. 34
I learnt this with horrible experiences that scar me to this day.35
The women put up with it because they themselves are as rotten to the core as the men they sleep with. 36
I used to admire women. 37
I read the poetry of Sylvia Plath and cried.38
I just wish that I still had that childlike innocence,39
but personal experience has killed it in me.40
My fellow workers were not the men that Karl Marx made them out to be.41
Their laziness shone through as they stabbed each other in the back when the possibility of promotion arose.42
They hated women, and they hated each other as well.43
They peddled drugs through their work contacts and lusted after the office girls like dogs in heat.44
They were selfish, lazy, cowardly and very, very stupid.45
The lessons my training in journalism had taught me had proved to be horrifyingly true.46
I don't think that I'll ever get over the disapointment.47
I'm working tomorrrow night.48
I have nothing less to hope for.49
My belief in humanity has gone, but my faith in myself is as strong as ever.50
I have always been a rock of independence and I will remain so until the day that I die.51
So kindness was an illusion.52
So Plath was a lie.53
So Marx was a fool.54
I can take it.55
Give me more.56
This was a comment piece.57
My name is Rorshach.
Comments
1 - 17 of 17
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Sadly, this is true.
Humans are cruel and selfish and lazy, and you expressed this all too well :-(.
I don't think it matters if you are a woman or a man (being a woman and all). If anything, females are worse.
But I love the way this was written.
Nice...
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This was just an angry rant from a deservedly lonely man. There are some decent people out there tobia. The problem is that they are well hidden and if you have a successful (financial speaking) life then you rarely get a chance to meet them. People with nice houses, careers, wifes, children etc have to compromise so much that they become wrapped up in selfishness and fear. It makes them unhappy and unhappy people lash out in whatever small way that they can.
This makes office bosses, politicians, care home owners, soldiers, taxmen and the rest of the mob always looking for somebody smaller than themselves that they can legally stamp on.
They react like animals trapped in a zoo, lashing out at anybody within their range. This is just a natural byproduct of the society that we have created.
Good people refuse to live by the rules of capitalism and feathering your own nest to the detriment of other people.
These people have heart and kindness because they don't care about their careers and the next promotion. They don't care about their cars, houses or what private school they want to send the children to.
It's just a shame that this attitude towards life leaves you at the bottom of the whole stinking pile. You have to work harder for less money than the people who play the awful game. So it is here that you find the good people of the world. Of course some people are at the bottom because they lacked the education and this is all that they can achieve. So even at the bottom you have awful people wanting to stomp on you. But every now and then you meet a decent person. A person who doesn't care about money and doesn't care about promotion. When you meet them it is a great feeling. It really restores your faith in humanity.
But, as I previously mentioned, most people simply never put themselves in the correct environment to meet these people.
So yes, I do believe in people. In a football stadium that holds 70,000 people there might only be two or three decent, kind souls but that is more than enouth to keep me living this cruel and brutal life.
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That sucks that you had to experience that side of humanity. I see from your comments that you are not completely jaded by it. Thanks for this very nice piece of writing, I enjoyed reading it.
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I'd just like to say I'm no one to judge anyone. I know there are bunnies out there, but if anything I'm worse than them. I personally don't have any faith in humanity, not even myself. Even journalists themselves are the most judgemental and acidic people you will ever meet, because they have the power to ruin someone's reputation, forget the politically correct 'rumours' and 'allegations'.
This is the world, try to tolerate it.
(ooo..Marx was wrong. I always knew that. I hate how people assume that the lower class are weak, defenceless and good-hearted people, they're as bad as the upper class themselves.)
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Very wise words about Marx saffron.
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Hmm...are you being sarcastic, or did you really find them wise?
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You old cynic Saffron
Not sarcastic at all. You got the point of my story extremelly well and I was very impressed. I read Marx when I was a young middle class idealist. Only experience taught me the true nature of the working man. Marx himself never worked (he was turned down from a job with the London underground once, that's as close as he got). His money came from his mate Engels who had a rich (factory owning) Daddy.
Marx got it so wrong because he never actually lived it.
I only understood this afterwards (and yes, I feel very stupid now).
Your comments were spot on. -
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Hehe, how do you know I'm cynic? XD
I only learnt about Marx in sixth grade. I still find Lenin pretty cool. It's just that my cynicism refuses to believe their ideologies. XD
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Interesting
It seems you were delt a bad hand in life. There are those who are sorry and worthless.There are also those who are good and decent,some people will not stab you in the back but I agree in the work place you need to have eyes in the back of your head. Keep your enemies close and your friends closer
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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Boy are you down on humanity!
I'll have to agree with you on a big part of society being the way you describe. I am glad you believe you rise so far above basic nature.
As for the first part of you piece, journalism, so very true. Most people don't want the heart warming humanity stories, they want to read the worst about humanity, to make them feel better about themselves.
As for women being as rotten as me, of course. The ones that are bad are worse than men, but the ones that are good are true treasures, just as the good men are and I will always believe there are more good people on this earth than bad. You just hear more about the bad.
I realize this was more or less a rant, but I still believe in humanity. You still believe in your own humanity, can you be the only honest man?
Trish
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Thanks for the review Trish
I am a honest man, but I've retired from the living part of life. I prefer writing now.
I do believe in the potential for goodness in humanity, but I don't really get involved with people anymore.
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Extremely Moving and eye opening
You are a great writer. I've gone through this life watching as this world became more and more hateful, greedy and lustful. All the while I was raised with Christian values and high morals but yet those same people turn around and become what they set out to destroy. I fear for my childrens future. Afraid that the world they will live in will be more hateful and greedy. This is a great piece and I was extremely moved by it.....Because it is the horrible truth!
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Scary comments.
If I'm correct then humanity is doomed.
I watch the movies on the True Life movie channel and there are so many inspirational people out there. I only write about the bad side of humanity because that is all I have experienced.
I am still hopefull that things will change and the good and kind hearted amongst us will make this life something worth celebrating.
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Nice. Whoever taught you was obviously knowledgable of psychology, or at least sociology. It's not hard to find the indecency in people. It's humanity.
It may be cynicality, but humanity, as a generality, is really quite gruesome - there's really no dishonoring that argument. Decency is harder to come by. It's there, in ever person, it's just a matter of degree.
Your personal experience is a little biased, however. At least, the one you spoke of. I imagine you worked at a plant of some sort, or a warehouse - somewhere dank and bottom rung when it comes to the blue-collar. When it comes to these places, you'll get the dogs. There's no reason to hide their inhumanities, or their indecency. There's no need for class. They're true to who they are.
The worst, in my opinion, are the 'classy' or 'social' people. They have masks and know when to use them. If they're indecent, a lot of the time you won't know, unless they're proud of it.
Good piece, though. I enjoyed it.
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Great comments
I have only worked in factories and other blue collar jobs, so I write what I know.
I'd love to meet classy people who pretend that they are decent.
I know that they are as bad as the factory scum, but it would be nice to pretend for a while.
You sound as cynical as me, so you've obviously lived.
I really appreciate your comments Mag, cheers.
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really cynical aint ya?
its a bit true but not everyone is that way. sure about 99% of everyone might ACT that way, but trust me, theres a shitload people in the wold that dont act like animals. there are morally upright people, but they dont shine out like beacons, they are people.
people are people are people are sheeple are sometimes animals...SOMETIMES not always.
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Thanks for the comment always
I know that there are decent people out there.
I'm just writing from personal experience.
Perhaps I should write a comment piece on the good people who I have met. There hasn't been that many, but it makes them all the more special.
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