7 Comments
Apr 6, 2023Liked by Josiah Lippincott

Really great stuff; the vitriolic reaction was quite informative

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Excellent. When one actually sits down and examined modern life, the contradictions and stupidities contained therein become so apparent it’s hard to not want to burn it all down. We exist to be extracted from by our so-called superiors. Vampiric is the perfect word.

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There's nothing here about hard work destroying character. At best you provided examples of how you found your jobs annoying.

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Wow! What an incredible piece! I'm old, and look back on all the totally meaningless work I did and regret it all. To get to your 70s and have lived a meaningless life is difficult to bear. I keep it to myself.

You are a talented writer. By that I mean you make me think and feel deeply.

Ken Upstate SC

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May 31, 2023·edited May 31, 2023

You are arguing for your own character all the while complaining of the past that brought you to this point. This sounds like some angsty teen bullshit about your own choices or frustration at your parent’s expectations. Either way a bunch of sour grapes about your station in life before you clawed your way out. Good on you for climbing out of it, seems to me like you’ve done pretty well for yourself, but nobody owes you anything. How are the powers that be to even know you exist? The unalloyed egotism that it takes to say “Why don’t they see the glory that is me?” is some spectacular narcissistic navel gazing. This line of thought is at best myopic and shortsighted. Because you got some good grades in high school and college? A dime a dozen. You volunteered at church and charities? Darn common among the striving. The biblical curse exists as an admonition to all men, not just the losers or those who lack ambition. Your menial labor history has certainly proven effective in galvanizing your mind as to what you don’t want to do and can be considered valuable in that respect alone. As hard as it may be, writing articles for a living while pursuing a doctorate strikes one as pretty cushy gig on the whole. The most frustrating part of this screed is how you seem to lack gratitude for how much you have benefited from the extant system. As much as there are problems with the current paradigm, the ancien regime will gladly be “vampiric” of ambition and intelligence as easily as it will be of a strong back.

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Modern cities are black holes that suck in youth and fertility, it's no surprise that many jobs are much the same.

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