You might remember the first time you guided Mario though Bowser's castle. Dodging the fire, avoiding the lava, and running past that spikey-backed bitch to hit the switch that sends him to his death. Then, as you run up to the princess, you realize that its not a princess at all, its just a common toadstool. The victory you just thought you achieved wasn't what you thought it was, and your quest requires you to beat 7 other Bowsers at a much harder level. Life isn't much different when it comes to achievements. Maybe that's why such a game remains so relevant all these decades later.
Many of you have accomplished some serious achievements in life. Our audience is skilled, educated rather through school and experience, and many of you that I talk to put in hard work to accomplish what you have in life. You make things, you keep things working, and some of you save lives. Even though you have met and exceeded those goals in life you continue to look to gain knowledge of the world around you through media like this and attempt to make changes in yourself and therefore the world. But not all victories are what they are presented to be here.
I've been able to observe a lot of different behaviors of people who choose to engage in this kind of political discourse and one of the things that has stuck with me is the team sport mentality that some folks have. We're probably all guilty of it in some shape or form. I know that when I see a fellow metalhead rocking a Motorhead t-shirt that I have something in common with that person. I fucking love Motorhead. But in public, no matter the setting, if I see a man walk past me with that iconic devil dog logo and at least gonna give him a nod. That may lead to a “Nice shirt” or a “Hell yeah, Motorhead!” and that can lead to conversation. I have friends I never would have met that have had a tremendous impact in my life if I didn't have that affinity to the loudest band in the world. Shoutout to tinnitus, wheeee!
Anyway, the moral of the story I'm getting at is that we as humans have a need for acceptance from one another. Those of us with quirky personalities may have not been accepted by the masses, so we find subcultures. Heavy metal is one of my favorite subcultures but so is what I would call the Liberty Movement.
I have a tremendous amount of affinity with my crew here on TNP Live, I also have that same affinity with people like Chuck Ochelli, whom we had on last week, and he also loves Motorhead. But one of the lessons that I picked up from our conversation on the show last week was is that there are many different ways that people can approach a goal like achieving Liberty, rather in our lifetime or for future generations. However, those achievements have to be accomplished individually. There is no group victory at the end of this road. We will always be dependent on one another in some shape or form, but we should never be dependent on the state, the banks, or even a collective of people who claim they are for Liberty or whatever label you want to slap on having autonomy in a world that constantly seeks to usurp it.
I'm not saying that good things can't be celebrated, or new friendships and our affinity towards one another shouldn't be, all I'm saying is set the goals for victory for team you because team victories will give you common toadstools for an eternity.
When I heard somebody say "Motorhead" it brings me back to my college years...and of course, the greatest motorhead of all time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz81ZO0qfvI
Great piece - agreed with everything you said here. Thanks Number Six 😀👍