It’s really a pretty big lie that everyone is equal. No one is.

We are all different. We have different types of hair, different ways of thinking, different likes in food, different views of attractiveness, and different ways of handling things.

Conformity is a tool used to control groups of people.

When you need to handle unruly herds of people, or things (like herding kittens), you need to create rules and ways of handling things. Back in the days when organized schools first started popping up, the fierce independence of the children were bleached out of them to make room for order and control.

During this time, as the children grew up and became adults they began to consider that level of control and uniformity as necessary for “a great society”. And when the adults became politicians, they repeated that action and placed rule after rule, and law after law. One after the other. All in an effort to make a well-organized, well-run nation.

But it’s not really true.

Independent thought, differences in ability, thoughts, emotions and opinions are what makes the world an interesting and colorful place. You really don’t want to relive the old days of conformity under some kind of grand master plan do you?

We try to force people into boxes to make them equal. You know, sort of like the scene in the Movie Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, where all the students are being repackaged into clones of each other.

You know.

Maybe something like this…

Is everyone equal in a court of law?

• Homeless man gets 15 years for stealing $100
• Elite Kid Justice: Are Privileged Teenagers More Likely to …
• 5 men who were accused of sexual assault and got little or …
• Jeffrey Epstein: US opens inquiry into light sentence for …

Is everyone equal in skills or ability?

• The perfect jump: Beamon’s 8.90m celebrates its 50th …
• Couch Potatoes? Average Texan watched 406 hours of TV …

Is everyone equal in beauty or attractiveness?

• 10 Ugliest People in the World Right Now
• Top 12 Most Beautiful People of The World – Wonderslist

So WHY is America so obsessed with this notion of “equality”? No one is equal at anything. Instead, I argue that it is our DIFFERENCES that should be treasured. Not our similarities.

But…

That’s not how American schools operate…

And that indoctrination in school has entered American society. Like it or not. And that has since spread (like a dangerous virus) throughout the world…

One of the big lies in America today is that everyone is equal. It’s a lie because no one is actually equal. Everyone is different.

Quite. Different.

And that is a good thing.

Now the progressive liberals in the audience would be confused with this. As they equate “equality” with “democracy”, and “uniqueness” with “diversity”. You can’t do that and make those comparisons. They are nonsensical.

And the traditional conservatives want to make everyone fit into some kind of pre-determined role within society. One with stratification, and one where “misfits” have no place. It’s an exclusionary vision. It’s the “lone wolf” concept, where everyone is part of a tribe, with roles and set behaviors. All following a great parent-figure; their “leader”. And the misfits…

…well, they can just go somewhere else to die. Put them in a hospital. Put them on some kind of social program. Move them away, far away from the rest of society. They don’t belong. They are too different.

Which makes me want to have a cup of coffee and write this rant…

We see this all over the place.

There is NO SUCH THING as true equality. Yet, there is a large contingent of people that believe in this myth.

And I see it in the comment sections of social media. Where an eleven year old is commenting with a forty year old construction worker. The social media’s comment section gives the appearance that they are equal, but in “real life” they are world’s apart in knowledge, experience, ability and perceptions.

In truth, and in a real-world situation, the construction worker really wouldn’t give his “time of day” to the young opinionated kid.

Which is why metallicman screens all comments. It’s a grey-web don’t ya know. No one is equal. But everyone get’s an equal shot at saying their piece.

Other Places

On the LinkedIN social network, you can actually see the qualifications, experiences and abilities of the people commenting. This gives you advantage. And you can easily separate the commenters into groups;

• Knowledgeable, savvy, experienced.
• Young, idealistic, inexperienced.

Which is really handy-dandy in deciding whether or not to comment, respond or get dragged into a debate. If you see that the person is probably a ‘bot, or a youngster, or maybe a CEO (in name only) with no substantive background, you can well decide to ignore their sparring.

In “real life” you discuss matters as equals, with others that you consider to be equal to you. Whether it is an a social environment or in a work environment. You all know this. You talk differently with your bosses, boss than you do with a co-worker. Don’t you.

But social media has taken those natural barriers away.

Now we don’t really know whom we are talking with. Is is a peer, an equal, or someone we respect, or is it a snot nosed kid, a paid-for troll, or a drunk 20-something in his mother’s basement?

I like to imagine them trying to debate me face-to-face.

More than likely they would be pissing in their pants long before they skedaddled out the door.

Which is a handy thing to be able to do; you only comment when it adds something to the discourse. You try to keep it focused, positive and kind if you can.

Metallicman Comments

Most of the Metallicman comments are worthy.

Meaning that they provide something of value to the discourse, and it enhances the site. You don’t have to crawl through comment after comment of insults, or distractions, or nonsense that you might find on other venues. (You know, I screen everyone. Yes. Even you Rob. LOL.)

Have you ever seen that?

You are reading a great article, and you get to the comment section and find that it has been hijacked by others, and the dialog went “off the rails” and on to some other subject? Yeah. Most of that is intentional. As most Trolls are paid to be assholes.

Anyways.

I like to think that the MM comment section is one of the best on the web. There’s good “meaty” stuff there from all over the world. And while not everyone agrees with each other, or holds the same point of view, everyone contributes equally. Some of which are truly outstanding.

It’s not like you have a stream of one-word gibberish from “participants” like this…

Hey!

Did any of those comments have meaning for you? Did they make sense to you? Are they contributing to the dialog in any way?

I read them, and I get this image of a 1950’s style robot with beeping and flashing red eyes, and brushed steel skin.

This equal participation is quite different from being fractionally equal to each other. Because I value our differences as key contribution vectors.

Contributions. Discussion. Social interaction.

Adds value to our life.

VALUE.

Time to chill over coffee

Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there used to be a big old tureen of coffee in the backroom of where we would work. It did not matter what kind of work that you were doing. All companies provided free, thick and ample coffee to their employees. And as such, employees were free to drink as much as they want, with as much sugar and cream as they would like. This was thick, syrup-like deep coffee, with lots of sugar and real whipped cream.

We would drink the coffee in what ever was provided. Often is was one of about twenty old reused (over and over) old coffee cups. Sometimes it was styrofoam cups that we would use and then discard. When I worked in the military it was a big white cup emblazoned with the name of a project that I might be working on. I had about twenty of such cups lying all over my office(s) at one point in time.

Anyways…

Drinking coffee and chatting about work is a pastime that I have come to appreciate. You know, when you go to a trade-show and you meet others in your industry, and you all can relate “war stories” about the same kinds of issues or the same kinds of problems… well it’s a bonding experience.

Whether it is something like this…

...That style mill is NOT a Sieg product, many enjoy it or the Precision Mathews branded version of it. I think Brian Rupnow has the Busy Bee one which is painted in Canadian paint. I can't specifically tell you if it is good for those jobs. I would think so, as long as it is mild steel and nothing hardened.

Or maybe something like this…

...With a nightmare engine, you may have tolerances set "by the book" on the ring gap, the mains and rod bearings, but every time you torque the bolts, you have to use a 4 foot pipe wrench on the crank pulley to turn it over. How does a normal rebuild become a nightmare? You may know or have heard of the scenario. You waste three gasket sets putting it together… tearing it down… putting it together… tearing it down etc, each time waiting for the UPS truck and new parts that you should've put in right off or replacements for new parts you destroyed on your first attempt. (Note: there's nothing I dislike more than cleaning gasket surfaces that I cleaned the weekend before). What should have been a weekend project has taken months, much of the time spent trying to avoid the shop so you can forget this perplexing failure. Many times, you are not at fault for a rebuild working out this way. It can happen frequently with engines that seized up in a hurry. Fortunately most rebuilds are undertaken because the tractor was just getting tired and nothing catastrophic happened to force the rebuild. By catastrophic, I mean something happened that made the engine stick hard and stick fast… while it was spinning at 1500 RPM.

Or on a different kind of subject…

We started off buy purchasing 1×12” fir from a local guy who has a small saw mill for his vast amount of timber. It’s always fun to dream of new creations when we go there. One thing when going through a small saw mill is the price of lumber is so much cheaper than the local hardware store. But the boards all needed plained so we bought a plainer to get this job done. It took five times per board going through the plainer. It was a full days job...

Or maybe something like this…

...now we must use the new FinCEN reports, which are available only electronically through the BSA E-Filing System. FinCEN is no longer accepting legacy reports, and that is a real pain in the ass...

To something not work related…

...You wouldn't need an alarm clock if you lived in the barn. That's because horses have a clock in their heads. Ask anyone who has to explain daylight-saving time to their horses. The better you can stick to a routine, the happier the horses are. That's not just referring to time, either. Make any other changes gradually, too, such as feed, water and turnout times.

Horses need friends. They're happy in a group situation, and if you see a horse who's a loner, he probably has some problem. Perhaps he's ill or hurting, or he's been pushed out of the group. You'll know right off that he's not a happy camper. The buddy doesn't have to be another horse, though that's preferable...

So what?

So what? Why is the “coffee break” so friggin’ important?

It’s simple really.

We are humans. We are not machines. We don’t go into a cube, at a certain time, stare into a lighted monitor for a set period of time, and then leave. We are social creatures, and we need social stimulation. The Coffee Break does that.

We can talk freely about anything.

Ah.

The freedom of speech.

It actually means something, don’t you know.

Being able to speak freely, with friends, colleagues, family or business associates is the bedrock of society. It is important. We can share our hopes, dreams, lives and frustrations together. We don’t need to hide behind politically correct speech or be quiet because someone might be offended.

And…

so…

I think that many of us have substituted “social media” for face-to-face in-person chatting and dialogs. We have forgotten that there is a difference between chatting with a kid on the street is different than with a coworker, which is much different than chatting in “mixed company” in a church, or some other social venue.

Conformity and “free speech”

When you have those that openly talk about limiting speech or print for one reason or the other, what you are seeing is that they are forcing people to conform.

Their vision of Heaven is one in which everyone wears the same state-issue wings. And all wear the same white robes, and all say the same things, in the same way.

Yet…

If you have a “free for all” where they are no rules, it becomes colorful and interesting. But only for a while…

A short while.

That marvelous utopia tends to collapse because there will always be a percentage who would abuse it. Whether it is a company trying to profit from it by spam, a couple of bored teenagers, a crusty old ill-tempered senior citizen, or an enraged SJW type, all it takes is a few misfits to spoil the entire “pot of chili”.

Which is why you need a minimum of rules, and a very flexible police force.

Here, on MM for instance… the rules are simple.

• Don’t Troll.
• Don’t insult me.
• Don’t spam.
• Don’t derail the discussion.
• Don’t try to advertise.
• Don’t be an asshole.

Aside from that, it’s pretty much a free-for-all. It’s colorful, and interesting and fun.

• It’s not white = only approved comments that fit within the expectations of the readership.
• It’s not black = anything goes. It’s not policed in anyway what so ever.
• It’s grey. Minor policing of a chaotic situation.

And when you think about it, isn’t that the way everything should operate? Instead of having a 56 page manual on how to dress, like they did in General Motors, just replace it with a simple sentence “Dress appropriately for the task, role and situation.”

I like to believe that this “grey area” of discourse works for 95% of the population. And the policing keeps the 5% at bay and under control. It’s a mix of what is wanted and desired as opposed to abuse by those whom have poor social skills.

Conclusion

We need to realize that the ideal situation (in anything) is complex, colorful, chaotic and curious. To maintain that condition, you need to police it. You need to control the elements that want to either [1] destroy the individual environment (for what ever reason), or those that [2] want to improve the situation (usually invoking some kind of conformity).

This is true whether it is here at Metallicman, or in you local community.

We need to be on the constant alert for the people who wish to change what exists into something else…

…be it a free-for-all with trolls, commercials, profanity and other distortions…

…or, someone’s idea of utopia. One that can only be obtained with a great deal of laws, regulations and rules of behavior.

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Happiness Index here…

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