Guilty as charged!
The status symbol mentioned in the article so often amounts to wasting our lives, and we should strive against being caught in the web of busyness. But avoiding the status symbol of busyness won't be an easy task.
Your thoughts on this matter?
Call the Hypocrisy Police: Michelle Obama Praises Free Speech on China Trip That Banned Journalists. But then again. The WASHINGTON POST Said!..........The trip wasn’t supposed to be political! If it wasn’t going to be political, the why the hell is she talking about a political issue? Wasn’t this trip supposed to have the Moocher staying away from controversial issues, but instead she was going talk about education during her visit !! Instead we see her talking up about family values, and playing Ping Pong! And she talks about “For the first time she is Proud of her country!” She is and will forever be an embarrassment to our country. ."
ReplyDeleteAnd people wonder why the rest of the world continues to laugh their asses off at us. After reading that progressive blog-site, that is written solely for bitching about conservative’s and conservative blogs, such as this one, where the author constantly defends her, praises her, and just about worships her, and “Praises Her For Style and Warmth” and her Left Wing Crackpots, Weirdo readers with their Rabid Anger comment all that BS to please her, and making compressions to other First Ladies like Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan, who shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as this First Wookie.
It’s like reading about “The Barking-Mad Dogs of the Blogsphere" comic strip in the Funny pages of my local newspaper.
You just can't make this stuff up. “GUILTY AS CHARGED!”
Stephanie,
DeleteI saw an excerpt from my site excerpted over at that progressive blog-site. The excerpt was a comment made here at Always On Watch. My site wasn't mentioned in the blog post over there, so I'll not mention the name of the progressive site either.
Frankly, I don't have any concern about those diatribes. I have more important matters to worry about.
In my opinion, "Stephanie," your remark should have been CENSORED - EXCISED - DELETED - REMOVED, BECAUSE it does NOT pertain to the excellent post AOW published today. You are nothing but a TROUBLEMAKING TROLL, Stephanie, and I am making it my business to denounce you, because I DESPISE what you are doing. It is people of your hare-brainerd ilk who have polluted the blogosphere and made of it a TOXIC WASTE DUMP.
DeleteI'm sorry if this seems to be an implied criticism of AOW. It was not meant that way. It simply needed to be said. AOW is much too nice to tell people off, but I have no qualms about it whatsoever.
-----------------------> Katharine Heartburn
Katharine,
DeleteI'm not always nice, and I do occasionally tell people off.
At the time that I responded to Stephanie's comment, I wasn't aware that she had copied and pasted that same comment at another web site.
Also, as I explained in a comment below, "busying" ourselves with certain matters is, as I stated in the body of the blog post, wasting our lives -- my opinion.
Katharine Heartburn, I'm not perfect and I will be honest and say I am human and don't always do what I should, however for you to write a post as you did saying that you "DESPISE" me etc. Your language was out of line and frankly I I despise, YOU and i'm sick of people like you....
ReplyDeleteYou seem to Shoot the Messenger, and i think that you should be thinking of that, and about the people I mentioned in my post.
Look down your nose at me all you want Katharine Heartburn, but I am being honest. Perhaps YOU should be as perturbed about the subject as I am. This is a problem in my eyes, not a sick joke. I am very angry about the way our country is being run, or should I say "Being RUINED" And i for one am trying to do something about it. As much as I capable of doing anyway..
ReplyDeleteIf that bothers you, then SO BE IT!
An important essay. Intelligent, perceptive, provocative, well-phrased with profound implications.
ReplyDeleteIt suggests to me a crying need, however, to develop greater understanding of the vast differences among
WORK
BUSYNESS
BUSINESS
BUSYWORK
Genuine WORK is -- or should be -- soul satisfying -- the very stuff of life. It need not be 'creative," there is, as Albert Schweitzer said, "a beautiful dulness to long labor" in the workaday world.
Mere BUSYNESS is the product of humorless, deadly dull, unimaginative, heads, doctrinaire pedants, and martinets who try to justify their existence by simulating the appearance of genuine productivity. producing something of value.
BUSINESS is more of a necessary evil -- a DUTY -- something that MUST be attended to lest the world fall apart, and reduce itself to flotsam and jetsam
BUSYWORK is the twin sister of BUSYNESS. It involves the assignment of numerous tasks of no real significance set out to DISTRACT oneself -- or others -- from meeting the REAL challenges of REAL work and self-improveent, which involve either the use of creative intelligence, -- experimentation, entrepreneurship, the search for and discovery of more efficient, more enlightened methods of accomplishment, or the disciplined process of acquiring new knowledge and improved skills.
Just loungng around unbathed, undressed, swilling down beer, smoking pot, eating junk food, having meaningless sex devoid of affection and commitment with a succession of strangers while listening to the mind-rotting sounds of Rock Music, etc. is NOT "leisure" it is ACTIVE DESTRUCTION of the individual's relationships to Mind, Soul and Spirit, and his capacity to LOVE.
"Do not weary in well doing," we are advised by the Bible.
"Well-doing" is the absolute ANTITHESIS of "BUSYWORK."
"All this struggling and striving to make the world better is a great mistake; not because it isn't a good thing to improve the world, if you know how to do it, but because striving and struggling is the worst way you could set about doing anything."
~ George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
FT,
DeleteThis morning, I was out and about taking care of satisfying business: getting some cornbread and cilantro as accouterments for tonight's dinner -- my homemade chili.
Maybe fixing dinner is a small thing in the big scheme of matters, but it is satisfying in more ways than one to fix a dinner that all in the household love and clamor for -- especially on yet another winter's day.
------------
"Well-doing" is the absolute ANTITHESIS of "BUSYWORK."
I'll add this: well-doing is very, very rarely financially rewarding.
I must agree with Katherine, even as I disagree with her discordant tone.
ReplyDeleteStephanie's comments are off-topic.
Yes Stephanie's comments may be off-topic, and she is as AOW said ."Guilty as charged!" But so what? Is it SO terrible to write a comment that is "off topic" I think not.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone complained about Free Thinke's off topic post? I think we are all guilty of that from time to time. However as Miniver Cheevy said Katherine's discordant tone was uncalled for..
What Stephanie said was something that she wanted to address and she did it well. So i think that we should all move on and consecrate on AOW'S topic.
The First Lady's outlandish vacation and spending will surely be discussed at a later date, you can be sure of that!
Francis,
Deletei think that we should all move on and consecrate on AOW'S topic.
Thank you.
By the way, another “Off Topic” post of importance: is Malaysian Flight 370 was found in Indian Ocean
ReplyDeleteand confirmed.
Francis,
DeleteApparently.
There is also this new information: Missing jet WAS carrying highly flammable lithium batteries: CEO of Malaysian Airlines finally admits to dangerous cargo four days after DENYING it.
Now, I have following the story of this missing jetliner, but I didn't attempt to ferret out information 24/7. To have done so, would have been "busyness" on my part.
On the other hand, there is also this about the missing jetliner: The news out of the our enlightened media used to tell us the plane made a sharp left turn.
DeleteNow, CNN has dropped the word "left" from the phrase, and changed it to "sharp turn".
While I think that the subject of today's post is applicable to many, how does one explain the unparalleled expansion of Unemployment Insurance benefits? I'm just asking.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment benefits used to come with a few requirements -- one of the being providing proof of actively searching for future employment.
DeleteIs there such a requirement now?
Is searching for future employment now a dead end in this ailing economy? If so, then searching for future employment is "busyness."
Hold.
ReplyDeleteThe.
Phone.
Although Stephanie Gordon's comment may have been intended as off-topic, I didn't see it that way.
Why?
Because so many on the web are "busy" in ways that I simply am not -- that is, I do see lots of things that I don't like, but I don't "busy" myself with pursuing those comments or responding to them. I'm trying to live what some call "a more balanced life."
I think that Ms. Heartburn's comment was a bit too dramatic and in appropriate but whatever floats her boat. Let's move on.
ReplyDelete"searching for future employment is "busyness."
ReplyDeleteOK, but that seems to get quite [busier] toward the termination date of UI benefits.
Mr. McGrath,
ReplyDeleteHow you, or anyone else ,could construe what I said about work, busyness, business and busywork as "Off Topic," I cannot imagine. From the look of the board I may be the only one who DID make a serious attempt to address the topic. Everyone else seems to have gone off on a tangent about Katharine Heartburn -- and whose fault it that? ;-)
I agree with Katharine by the way. She always speaks with considerable asperity. It seems to be part of her nature. She's a "character," all right, but I find her astute and entertaining most of the time.
There my have been nothing "wrong" with Miss Gordon's remarks, but they were posted in the WRONG PLACE, because they are irrelevant to the content of the excellent essay AOW linked. I read the essay, enjoyed it, agreed with much of it, but feel the author didn't address every aspect of the topic by a long shot.
From the article:
ReplyDelete“As for multitasking, one 2012 survey found that 38 million Americans shop on their smartphones while sitting on the toilet.”
Well, that certainly provided what-may-well-be The Chuckle of the Year.
It's funny how sad things can strike you funny, isn't it?
FT,
DeleteI'll read in the john. But shop? Nope.
Before it's over The Oligarchs will have maneuvered us into DINING on the JOHN --- COMMUNALLY. Just wait and see.
DeleteMark My Words.
ASTUTE QUOTE #1:
ReplyDelete’Keeping up with the Joneses used to be about money, cars and homes. Now, she explains, “if you’re not as busy as the Joneses, you’d better get cracking.”
ASTUTE QUOTE #2
ReplyDelete”... at our most idle, our brains are most open to inspiration and creativity — and history proves that great works of art, philosophy and invention were created during leisure time — we resist taking time off.”
ASTUTE QUOTE #3
ReplyDelete’While accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for president in 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower envisioned a world where “leisure . . . will be abundant, so that all can develop the life of the spirit, of reflection, of religion, of the arts, of the full realization of the good things of the world.”’
ASTUTE QUOTE #4
ReplyDelete”Leisure for all was exactly what the U.S. Labor Movement had been pursuing for more than a century. As late as 1923, the steel industry required 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Finally, it seemed, workers were about to savor shorter, saner work hours. So, what happened?”
YES! The inference I draw from this is that one must properly EDUCATED to have so much as an inkling of how best to USE their leisure time. "Partying" and sprawling in front of the TV swilling down junk food and alcohol are not going to fill the bill.
ASTUTE QUOTE #5
ReplyDelete<”New York University sociologist Dalton Conley argues that today’s knowledge-economy professions in art, technology, engineering and academics are similar to the pursuits of the mind that the ancient Greek philosophers envisioned as leisure. So, we work a lot because we enjoy it.”
I believe he is referring to the definition of "work" as opposed to "busyness"I tried to supply in my initial remarks.
I'm not sure "busyness" is all that new of a phenomena. We use to call it the "rat race". I lived it for years and enjoyed it while I was in it. I've been out of it for fifteen years and don't miss it one bit.
ReplyDeleteJim,
DeleteThe rat race is similar, but not quite the same, IMO.
For one thing, the rat race had a goal (acquisition and climbing the career ladder, I think). "Busyness" is -- most of the time, anyway -- a self-imposed punishment that provides the illusion of doing something important, IMO.
Of course, the rat race and "busyness" have one thing in common: raising one's stress levels. It is debatable whether or not raising one's stress levels to a certain point is a bad thing per se. However, living in a perpetual state of stress is certainly dangerous for one's health (cortisol levels, for example).
After reading some of these blogs I would be accused of being hateful toward liberals if I really wrote what I feel like writing. But let me put it this way. While liberals view the world with shades of gray, conservatives view the world as black vs white, us vs them, good vs evil.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be accused of being hatful towards liberals. By the way they are Progressives now, They just go back and forth between the Liberal and the Progressives moniker when people realized how nuts Democrats became .
All I want if for them to stop taking my money, telling people what they should say or write, telling me and my family what to do and when to do it, what to eat and how to eat it, what to drink and how much of it to drink, and interfering in my life. That's all
"By the way they are Progressives now, They just go back and forth between the Liberal and the Progressives moniker ..."
DeleteYes, but in truth they are MARXISTS --- i.e. COMMUNISTS. They would never admit that, of course, so they went from that to Socialist, then to Progressive, then to Liberal, then back to Progressive again. Today Democrats exist in name only. They were taken over by the Reds once and for all in FDR's administration. FDR was either a dope, a dupe or a demon, probably a bit of all three. Everyone who fell for his assburger policies qualifies as a Useful Idiot.
Isn’t it so that Obama said the following in the Presidential debates.
ReplyDelete“Obama said the cold war is over and Al Queda is on the run”
Romney accurately predicted Russia would take center stage as a geopolitical foe while Obama declared that a "reset" had been made and Russia was now our "good friend"
Obama weakened our national security with his ignorance and lack of preparation while a governor (Romney) could see Russia coming from a mile away, and all those Liberia's STILL can support Comrade Obama at all costs!
I have no argument with either of your two comments above.
DeleteThe "reset" never happened. Period.
FYI: IN CASE REGULAR READERS OF THIS BLOG HAVEN'T NOTICED:
ReplyDeleteI've backed away a bit from blogging and blog rounds.
It's not that I'm in despair or angry or uninterested.
Rather, I'm finding that my life has been too full of "busyness" -- especially the past 4+ years.
The WaPo article that I cited in the body of this blog post discusses a matter that has been on my mind for quite a long time.
So, when I'm not here in the blogosphere (as a lurker or otherwise), I'm reading a good book or listening to music or working or, best of all, enjoying time with Mr. AOW -- in other words, living life.
BALANCE!