Charlie's Rejection of Certain Modern Assumptions and Conventional Wisdom

The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free.

NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB

I am an odd guy. I'm not odd like the way the Unabomber was odd. That guy was looney tunes. But I do find myself out of step with the rest of the world in terms of my customs and habits. I would notice more if I cared, but I usually don't. But other people notice. These people embrace certain modern notions and habits that I reject. Naturally, they would like to beat me into some sort of conformity until they meet with the jet blast from the furnace of my anger. I don't like when people push on me, and people like to push on you. It's not enough that they have lives to live. They want to live yours as well. This desire ends when they drive headfirst into the brick wall of my defiance.

I don't care to live like everyone else. This is because everyone else is stupid. That would be an arrogant thing to say except that it is true. On the whole, the rest of the world is a herd of imbeciles. They march in drumbeat to disaster. I'm not saying that I have all of the answers because I don't. But I do ask the questions that few ask which is why my path makes divergences from the mainstream. I am neither a revolutionary nor a conformist. I just have arrived at a different set of answers in opposition to the herd. Here is a list of those different answers:

1. Debt.

I don't believe in debt. I have used debt before, but I don't believe I was better off for it. Debt is the rich man's trick on the working man. The company store got replaced by MasterCard, but it's the same old con. It is the scheme to convince you to rent your food instead of buying it. You may laugh at that until you recall the dinners you put on your Visa. You may still be paying for them.

The difference between the rich and the poor is time. The rich believe in later. The poor believe in right now. Because of a crisis today, the poor mortgage tomorrow. The result is a lifetime of neverending crisis and more debt which begets more crisis. This is debt slavery. I refuse to do it.

My antidote to debt slavery is that I do without. If I don't have the cash for something, I don't buy it. The result of these choices is that I live a fairly austere life and accumulate money as a consequence of consuming less than I earn. If I were really clever, I would become a lender to idiots and get filthy rich. But I find this distasteful. It is enough to stay out of the trap without luring others into the trap.

2. Vacations.

I hate vacation. This goes back to my childhood when the old man would take us to places like the beach, but his ill temper made such trips a living hell. Subsequent trips and outings have done little to improve my viewpoint on these things.

What makes me hate vacations is twofold. The first is the people. I love going places with my wife, and that's about it. Most people go with family members, and the truth about family is that these are the people you would never be friends with in life except that you had the misfortune of being related to them. So, you cram yourself together with people who think they have a license to behave badly because you are related to them. This is why family relations are such a comedy goldmine for television sitcoms and movies. Family members are more civil with their co-workers than they are with the people they profess to love. Spending extra time with these people you can't stand in some different place is a recipe for disaster. Yet, the family vacation endures as some indispensable rite of suffering.

The second reason I hate vacations are the places. The hellish pit of all time would have to be Disneyworld and the other attractions in Orlando, FL. There are other places in similarity like Myrtle Beach or Gatlinburg. I've been to all of these tourist traps, and I just don't like them. These places are designed to excite the senses, but they are tacky, contrived, and ugly.

The places I really enjoy visiting are not the ones they charge admission to experience. These would be parks, museums, libraries, and churches. I call these the "quiet places." These places tend to be beautiful and/or tranquil. And that is what makes me separate from the herd. In my leisure, I seek tranquility and quiet. Everyone else seeks excitement and noise.

3. Retirement.

If I had it in my power, I would raise the retirement age in this country to 85. As it stands, we have people who spend almost as much time in retirement as they spent working. I find this to be a shame and a disgrace.

I don't believe in idleness, so the idea that I have to work to pay for someone else to spend decades in idleness sticks in my craw. We are not talking about feeble and crippled seniors with walkers. These able bodied people are running marathons, climbing mountains, and going to the gym even in their seventies. Unlike the grandparents of yesteryear, old people today don't have bodies destroyed from backbreaking labor and workplace injuries. They had it easy in life. Now, they feel entitled to take it even easier for the last 30 years of their lives before they croak and enter eternal damnation.

4. Man caves.

I'm not sure when these became a thing, but I have always been against them. The typical man cave is a place where a man and his friends can gather to watch sports on a big screen television while drinking beer, smoking cigars, and scratching their nether regions. They may even debase themselves further with video games. The man cave is really swank if there is a bar along with various sports paraphenalia decorating the walls.

Because men have debased themselves to the level of adolescent brats, they feel entitled to a play room where they can indulge their vices and separate themselves from their wives and families. These men are hedonistic and selfish which is unmanly.

The man cave is a variation on the study which gentlemen of a different era would go to read books and write. These men were literate, and the study allowed them to develop their minds. But men don't read anymore. They play with toys when they are not playing with themselves to smartphone porn in the bathroom.

I am against man caves because I believe a man's space within a home should be small. My space in my home is a desk made from a very large table bought from a thrift store. This desk sits in the living room, and it is the place where I do everything such as writing this blog, reading the internet, answering email, etc. I have some clutter on the desk that needs to be cleared. Except for my desk, my home belongs entirely to my wife. She makes the home, and I am fine having my small space in it.

The only legitimate spaces for men are the yard and the garage/workshop. Men are made for work not playing like children or lounging about. This is why I don't care about having a man cave.

5. Eating out.

I hear various stats about the frequency of people eating out. It is usually 3-5 times a week. This is more than I eat out in an entire year. The only time that I eat out is when I am traveling far from home. I will stop at Taco Bell and Subway and eat something. But even when I arrive at my hotel, I will go to the nearest grocery store and buy food that I can eat in my room. My wife is totally on board with this.

I have two reasons for not eating out. The first is that I am vegan and eating out for a vegan is a nightmare. Plus, nothing tastes as good as home cooking. The second is that I am a cheapskate. Eating out is expensive. Not eating out will save you a ton of dough.

In addition to not eating out, I also don't go to bars or coffee places. I make my own coffee at home and put it in a travel mug. Cold drinks go in a stainless steel tumbler. I don't buy coffee from Starbucks or soda pop from convenience stores. This will save you a lot of money. I also pack a lunch for work and snacks for trips.

My wife makes this lifestyle possible, so I need to give her credit. But if she went on strike tomorrow, I would still make my own sandwich and cook at home. It just wouldn't taste as good as her cooking, but it will still taste better than eating out.

6. Smartphones/social media.

I still prefer a flip phone. I have never owned a smartphone. I deleted all my social media accounts, so I am Facebook free for years now. The result is that I am present. I have conversations with people. I don't terrorize people on the highway while looking at my smartphone instead of what is in front of me. I can enjoy an outing without the need to post it on Instagram.

I get looks and comments when I pull out my flip phone to answer a call. People wonder how I survive and live without one of those rectangles. But I live the same way I lived before those things ever came into our lives. I do use a computer and the internet, but these things are confined to my desk. I don't even own one of those stupid tablets like the iPad. I write, so I need a keyboard.

7. Toys.

I don't buy toys, and I never will. These toys would be things like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a bass boat, an RV, a Jet Ski. or a sports car. You can also add expensive exercise equipment, large screen televisions, and hot tubs to the toy list. These things are decadent and wasteful.

I know many people who buy these things usually on credit except they don't have time to play with them because they have to work so hard to make the payments on their toys. Then, there is the storage for all of this crap which costs even more money. I don't have time and money to waste on crap.

I prefer buying tools. This would be things like lawn movers, old tractors, utility trailers, and pick up trucks. I like drills and saws and wrenches. If it enables work, then I am willing to spend money on it.

8. Hunting, fishing, and playing golf.

This one is a corollary to the one on toys. Where I live, men do one, two, or all three of these things. Basically, hunting, fishing, and golf allow men to abandon their wives and go sit outside somewhere. That seat may be a deer stand, a boat, or a golf cart. If you do all three, you always have a weekend activity for the entire year.

I don't pull the trifecta because I am a vegan which kills two of the activities, and I don't have the time or the money to waste on that crap. Plus, I really hate golf.

9. Hobbies.

I only have one thing I consider a hobby, and you are reading it. Writing costs me nothing but time and a miniscule amount of supplies and equipment. Everything else are temptations which I resist. Then, there are interests that I don't consider to be hobbies but necessities. This would be things like firearms, self-defense, gardening, homesteading, and what have you. I consider these things not so much as fun pastimes but as necessary things for survival and prosperity.

I don't waste time and money with stamp collecting, coin collecting, baseball card collecting, stocking a wine cellar, playing musical instruments, ham radio, collecting vinyl records, and things like that. I have barely enough time for my single hobby. I know this makes me a boring person, but I am fine with it. For me to pursue an interest to the level of a hobby, it has to be for some sort of practical benefit. I might build things out of wood one day if I ever get a shop. A chair is a practical thing.

I know too many people with cluttered garages from hobbies they started and never stuck with. I don't want to be one of those people. The truth is that people's number one hobbies today are watching television and goofing off on social media.

10. Meathead diets.

First, there was the Atkins diet. Then, there was the Paleo diet. Then, there was the keto diet. Then, there was the carnivore diet. They are all essentially the same diet. They are heavy on the meat and light to non-existent on the carbs. In addition, you can throw the gluten free insanity on this pile of stupidity.

You can lose weight on these diets in much the same way that taking up smoking will help you lose weight. But these meathead diets are not healthy. They wreck your digestive tract and promote cardiovascular disease. Bacon is not a health food. Steak is not a health food.

The best and healthy way to lose weight is to eat a low fat vegan diet and embark on a fitness program with an emphasis on aerobic exercise. Carbs are good. They provide energy you need for exercise. They curb hunger. They will not give you a heart attack.

11. Porn.

I don't do porn. I have two reasons for this. The first is that I am Catholic. Viewing porn and the activity that goes with it is a mortal sin which means you will pay for it in Hell. You can receive forgiveness for this if you confess it to a priest and receive absolution. This is its own hell.

The second is that I am married. Wives are not cool with husbands looking at porn. Spouses are shocked and dismayed to learn why men carry their smartphones to the bathroom with them. This is also why I never care to touch another man's phone because I know where it has been.

Most men look at porn, and its ubiquity has made it an almost acceptable vice in our modern internet connected culture. But I reject this. It is filth and sickness leading to all sorts of evil. If you doubt this, merely imagine your sister or your daughter doing porn. Imagine coming across someone you know and loved locked into videos of this sickness.

I pray three Hail Marys each day for purity, and I use an image of Our Lady as the wallpaper on all my devices. The Mother of God is the secret to chastity, purity, and custody of the eyes. Her intercessions will keep you from sin and temptation.

12. Nominalism.

I attend Catholic Mass each Sunday which I have not missed in seven years. I also make Holy Days of Obligation and attend daily Mass. I pray the Rosary each day. I read the Bible and other spiritual books. I know and practice my faith.

It is popular among many Catholics especially Catholic men to just sleep in on Sundays or to let the wife take over the religious leadership in the home. These men are half ass in their faith. They think this is OK because deep down they don't really believe. They don't have the courage to declare themselves as atheists, so they opt for the functional atheism we know as nominalism. This would be CATHOLIC IN NAME ONLY.

Men who do not practice religion are not manly. They are a disgrace lacking neither courage nor conviction. What would these men fight and die for if they don't even have the stones to get to Mass on Sunday morning?

13. Sports

This is a sort of corollary to the man cave thing, but I do not watch sports or ESPN or listen to sports talk radio or hang out at the local sports bar. I used to do this with basketball being my favorite sport to watch and discuss. Then, one day it hit me that I was wasting my life on this stuff. None of it really mattered to my life or the wider world.

Think about it. Why watch a basketball game when you would derive more benefit from playing a basketball game? Why not use the time you watch athletic people playing a game when you could just go to the gym and get in shape? Even if you just want to relax, you would be better off sitting down with a cup of coffee and a nice book.

I don't follow sports. I follow politics. This means that none of my conversations are safe. Men use sports as a safe topic of chit chat, but I am not a chit chat guy. My conversations tend to be controversial and confrontational. I make a lot of people mad, but I don't care.

Conclusion

The one thing you can derive from all of these things is that the C-Man is not a fun guy. I actually find great joy and satisfaction in the few things I do which would be reading and writing. As for the rest of my life, it is simple and functional. The upside of these rejections is that I derive great enjoyment from life at a very low cost. I don't need a lot of things or a lot of space or a lot of money. It may seem that my life is starkly different from others, but I don't think it is that different. My life is probably the same as yours minus all the junk and wasted time and money.