karma bs
this is just a short rant after my bike got stolen today, off my front door.
several times my guests would say “you’re generous, i’m sure you get what you give”, or babble something about good “karma” and bad “karma”.
so let’s analyze this claim rationally.
to date, i hosted, fed and helped over 800 people from all over the world. pretty good “karma”, right?
the result? a lot of learning (which people could argue is priceless), but mostly putting up with pampered kids and prejudices. some facts.
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costs of clumsiness or lack of consideration. an average of 1 cup a week and 1 plate a month for 2 years is a lot of cups. then there’s the guy that fucked up my car. i lent it to about 20 people, only 1 fucked it up, that’s true. but come to think of it, that 1 guy that finally killed it, killed it for everyone. and then, for me, it was another 1000€ to add to the bill. was i to ask the traveler for money? a traveler that can’t even afford his hotel, how could he afford fixing a car?
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physical harm. i got beat up once, just because one of my guests couldn’t keep his mouth shut and had to hit on the wrong girl. i went out and protected him, only to get beat up on the street by two guys for doing nothing. plus, i was out with about 7 or 8 guests. not a single guest stood up or defended me. they all ran away. how’s that for karma? did i do a bad thing defending my guest? i guess so. but doing the right thing meant i ended up suffering the consequences, whereas the wrong thing would’ve meant the guy that fucked up actually dealing with it. big irony. you know what i got from the guests that got me beat up? a scrawl of poorly ripped paper saying thank you.
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the whole SPCC project. not only we funded it and helped homeless people and travelers, i also got almost everything stolen. instruments, goods, tools, plus even got physically threatened by junkies, the same junkies we had taken care of for over 6 months. plus, now apparently we were labeled as the wrong kind of activists, the very same we criticized every day. did we get what we gave? no.
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resource cost. i just got a 600€ bill from the gas all the couchsurfers used for 6 months. that’s about 300 people, so about 2€ of gas per person. that’s nothing. that’s something anyone, even the street punks and the homeless people, could give. but part of the premise of generosity is that you give this without expecting anything in return. well, anything good that is. because what i got in return for the free hot showers was a 600€ bill. a thank you doesn’t pay any bills, doesn’t put food on the table or fix my broken lip. it gives the user the illusion of reciprocity, when in fact reciprocity is the last thing happening there.
are we to continue believing the main reason to give is that you get? this is believing a lie. factually, it is wrong. plus, that’s why poor people remain poor and greedy people get rich. we always joke about it, but if you are generous, the little extra you have will be spent on others. if you are greedy, you will keep the little extra and get it from others.
i’m not advocating greediness at all. what i am saying is your motivation to do good can’t be the illusion of getting something back. you will get something back, but more often than not it will be bad.
that’s why the most generous bitter up, why the strongest activists give up, why the poor remain poor, and why those in power are the most perverse. the good and generous will never be able to be in any position of power, because the position itself requires a specific temperament (and usually, upbringing and class).
in systems theory, it’s called a positive feedback. in chaos theory, small differences in initial conditions lead to incredibly different results. just try predicting the motion of a chaotic double pendulum.
people are a chaotic system since they are born. we have so many positive feedback loops in our life, it serves as a positive amplifier of our own particular temperament we’re born with, most of which we do not control. girls and boys will be treated differently because they are girls and boys since they are born. this feeds back so much it leads to gender differences (not sex differences). rich kids are born into rich families that teach them the honors of being greedy. poor people are born into poor families that teach them the honors of being poor. this feeds back to make it not only a personal issue, but a group and cultural issue.
there is no way you can simplify this system using such a dumbed down shorthand as “karma”. random impossible things happen all the time. there is no need to make greater sense of it.
so instead of blaming “karma” or asking “why? i’m such a nice guy!”, i’m blaming the fact i left it outside my door in a poor neighborhood. if there were such a thing as divine powers, i’d still have my bike. i’m not bitter though, i very much enjoy black humor.
check out what’s happening to activists coming for the summit. barred at the border. are we back to fascist years? going across the border through the woods like criminals? i have dreadlocks, does that make me a member of the black bloc? is the black bloc any danger at all? some smashed windows, so what?
some young, naive activists are traveling hundreds of kilometers to protest wars they never fought, in countries they probably never visited, to protect people they don’t know, probably don’t understand, with no personal interest at all but making the world more peaceful. they are sacrificing their personal life for a cause. misguided or not, their heart is in the right place. then they get to the border control, and since they are doing all this, they are sent back because they are dangerous black bloc members. their selfless effort is canceled by a dry ruling class decree and a stereotype made up for and by the media. was it karma that sent them back? was it divine intervention? would any decent god or universal law do this to such an individual? no. it was people. it’s always people. i can’t stand the deluded hypocrisy sometimes.
and this week, while maybe some windows get smashed and activists do their drama enactments, deals will be done to improve military action in other countries, promote war crimes, increase private investment in war, privatize everything possible and proceed with the brave new world we live in. and the ones shouting will remain deluded that something can be done that way.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then how can there be evil? — Attributed to Epicurus