In this episode, I discuss how being constantly ‘busy’ is probably a bad thing and that most people don’t properly balance their time with their consumption and life changes. I try to make the case that being “acceptably busy” is a conformist notion that has spread to every aspect of people’s lives. I steal a clip of Tim Ferriss. I also bizarrely get into the documentary “Lost Boys” about relocated Africans. As always, I take a shot at school and homework. I also explore alternate, more desirable consumption/time models that people might want to think about.

 

Clip sources:

– Decendents, “Suburban home” (Decendents rock!)

– “The High Price of Materialism”, Center for a New American Dream (Note: I liked some of the set up, but the rest of the video has some dicey lefty stuff I didn’t care for, such as eco-panic and having the government (!) regulate (!) intrinsic self worth (!))

– Seinfeld TV show

– “Too much homework” AndySunStory, YouTube.

– The Tim Ferriss Show, get it on iTunes – it’s great.

– “The Lost Boys” documentary (remember, watch the 77 minute documentary, not the 60 Minutes Special of the same name)

– “Fuck fuck fuck fuck”, The Hudson Debacle. My band, available at http://www.tasmlab.com

 

 

Below here is my outline, don’t read it is just for search spiders:

The busybody conformist

Suburban home

Conformist Busybodies

The accomplishment of being busy.

Looking busy at work

Why are we busybodies?

Acceptably busy

Why are we conformist?

Is busybody conformist the ultimate combination?

Being either or both is a way to avoid making decisions

The peace of a crisis.

Norm waking up to a broken toilet is a delight for him

The dishes after thanksgiving.

 

 

 

  • Work
  • Even looking busy at work
  • Some are more comfortable
  • School
  • Do parents like homework because it legitimizes the evenings?
  • Sport teams for kids
  • Screen limits
  • college
  • vacation
  • Errands
  • Do people fear retirement?
  • guilt without it
  • The love of crisis in the workplace
  • Protestant work ethic

 

Do we copy being busy?  Do we copy how we consume?

First the consuming busybody

 

Golf carts

Swimming pools

Me

 

Models of wealth success and consumption:

  • The conformist
  • The busy body
  • The inventor
  • The entrepreneur
  • The tycoon
  • The gross consumer
  • The hedonsist and the sexual
  • The rapper
  • The rockstar
  • The man of leisure
  • The athlete
  • The artist
  • The spiritualist
  • The philanthropist
  • The thief
  • The politician
  • The philosopher

 

Kid rock story

Xavi LOTR story

 

  • Africans
  • – Darwin quote

– Lost boys documentary

 

The presidents’ consumption. West wing and HOC (and independence day, and American president) vs. House of cards.

  • The general view of the office (criminal vs. heroic)
  • The benigness of Obama
  • What they consumed on their off moments (booze and cigarettes, BBQ)

Tim Ferris and others on the four hour work week.  They once had to hustle and work hard.

Do people need personal capital before they can think about their work patterns?  The trap is staying in those hustle patterns too long and then becoming trapped in copy cat consumption which makes change impossible.

The patterns of the successful (waking, walking, etc.)

Would a job interview with a success person be hysterical?  Should I employ that pattern?

What if you achieve the same outcomes without being busy?  Is it the same value.