(All images by The Drifter)
Instead of only blaming the inventors, propagators and perpetrators of these products, we should turn the blame around once in a while and place it squarely on the individual consumer/s of said products as well. No one is placing a gun against anyone’s head in this matter. Take it from one who once had a gun placed against his head on a Chicago sidewalk. And a switchblade placed right below his eye in a Kansas City tavern. And a frying pan swung (hard) in the direction of his head in the kitchen. (The author of this opinion piece is good at ducking, fleeing, and flying (out the back door), as well as staring people down – or talking them out of it when necessary.)
Ruthless billionaire businessmen ye shall always have with you. In 2026 USA, one has the option to ignore them, or at least not to utilize their products beyond what’s necessary, selective, or right, depending on the situation.
They have figured out a way to feed the people exactly what the people wish to eat. And the people go to the hand of the master and lap up the usual b.s. because it is the usual b.s. they long and crave for. If universal wisdom, truth, love and beauty were popular and profitable, the business people would sell that instead.
There are some people who are not in control of their minds and thus have gone out of their minds by feeding their minds on nothing but The Algorithm.
As for the rest of us, we have the option to opt out and choose better materials at any time.
It is a matter of cultivating your one and only soul. If you let someone else feed your soul with nothing but junk, you will end up with a nothing, junk soul created by someone else, which will mean that you have abdicated your personality, the only real possession you possess in this vale of tears. This egregious and pathetic non-condition will not serve you, or others, well when the shit hits the fan, as it’s sure to do again and again in this world that is both spiritual battleground and mortal coil.
The Algorithm is not a gun against anyone’s head. You can choose NOT TO CLICK ON IT and not even to look at it at all, for that matter. Any addict who’s ever gotten over anything can tell you that you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. Nietzsche said, “There are so many things in this world I never want to know.” He knew a little and ignored the rest. He also said, “Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” right before going permanently insane.
A great picture is infinitely more valuable than a bad book (and can be read almost in the same way as reading a good book (and as the book of nature can also be read)).
Sincerely,
The Drifter
Saragun Springs 
Dear Drifter (and the Colonel and Boo)
You hit a point that I have always felt strongly about. People must stop settling for SHIT. Whether it be in food, housing, clothing or Art. We do not have to consume every damn thing!
The Washington legislature passed a 9.9% tax on millionaires last week. We will have to wait and see if that holds. The response came from the general manager of our NFL team, he said that will make it harder to sign players. For the love of God. Maybe all states should pass such a thing!
Anyway, top work once again,
Leila
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Leila
Capitalism is a monster that has gotten out of control like King Kong destroying the skyscraper. How unfair it is that so many and yet so few have so much while the majority can’t afford to buy a house, eat good food or raise kids if they want to. The good news is that kind of imbalance is utterly unsustainable in the long run and will correct itself one way or another (it has always done so historically and we aren’t as different as we think we are). It remains to be seen if that will happen during this century. Or even the next one…
Thanks for reading, and the Colonel and Boo and Bandit say so too, Bandit will be in pictures soon since I’m working on (the Drifter is) a column exclusively about her…
“D”
“Men are born free and everywhere they are in chains.” – Rousseau
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Dale
I’m with you on this. But not all of us are blest with a stern resolve. Maybe we need to distinguish between avoidance and giving up. I’ve found myself to be pathetic on giving up (the only thing I can recall successfully giving up in the past 20 years is going to the pub on my own), but I’ve successfully avoided loads of stuff in the same period. bw mick
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Mick
This is a fine distinction and it makes perfect sense at all levels. Everything on this Planet is specific to each and every specific individual. We all have to make our choices. Even choosing to not make a choice is a choice, of course. Thanks so much for reading, and your glittering commentary always adds nuance to whatever anyone says, which is great!…
D
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Hi Drifter
Quite intriguing right off the bat in the batter’s box. Duck! this comes at you like a line drive. Hard hitting truth–Drifter Style!
Also with a pervasive argument to change the course of a mind even a soul. It’s a choice.
The algorithm is real. It’s awake and people, as always, want to be sublimated to some amorphous control, while blaring their rebel horn in the traffic.
This dependence does wither the personality. As a shaky past drunk, I know the reliance on a false God.
Your descriptions of gun, knife point, and flying frying pan put the reader into the scene–big time! Reminds me of similar events–being on both ends of the gun–not sure which is scarier…
Great pics–helluva hat, man! Kathmandu! Love those dogs!
CJA
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CJA
Thanks about the hat! It comes straight out of northern Wisconsin, near the Lac du Flambeau Chippewa Reservation, and was given to me by a friend of mine, my cousin’s husband. He has one just like it. (Fake fur.)
When I look back at all the narrow escapes I’ve had in this life (most of them during my drinking days but by no means only then) I can sometimes come to only one conclusion: guardian angels really do exist. I can’t wait to meet mine in person, yet on the other hand (if anyone is listening right now) I’d like to qualify that and say I’m willing to wait for at least a few more decades. Picasso was still creating great and original art well into his late 80s!!! Not that I’m comparing myself but he is hero, goal, and model (one of them).
“This dependence does wither the personality. As a shaky past drunk, I know the reliance on a false God.” Utterly, totally brilliant prose on every single level anyone can possibly imagine! And all your commentary is always FULL of such things…Wonderful.
D
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