Permanent Vacation: Freelee & Durianrider "Save the World".
12 March 2016 [link youtube]
Gratitude vs. ambition: instead of feeling gratitude for the difference you don't make (while enjoying whatever advantages you've got in life), you could feel some ambition to go ahead and make things change (whether it's in Thailand or anywhere else).
For a more in-depth discussion of these issues (with many practical examples of activism, organization, and questions of "what can we do now?"), you can see my "advice" video, on "activism and ambition", here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlDRJ8SPZjM
I'm happy to cite my sources. Special thanks to Vegan Ava, who is quoted on gratitude: https://youtu.be/WSnTdel2wU8
Thanks, also, to "2gether Vegan", for the outdoor footage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZU91lDlDM1cjJXDWXLJseQ/videos
And, of course, a big shout-out to my #1 fan, Joe Best: https://www.youtube.com/user/BestTransformation/videos
His channel is called "the best transformation", and he's showing us all how to "transform" a reputation based on rape-allegations, womanizing, and being a bad landlord, into a leadership role in that vegan "community" I hear so much about… all while he continues to eat meat and dairy on the side, and to complain that he feels rejected by vegans (complaining that he never should have called himself vegan, that he now doesn't use the word vegan, etc.). It's quite an impressive "transformation", on the whole. ;-)
Youtube Automatic Transcription
tell me something um does this sound
like a cult to you at all I am grateful for discovering durianrider he taught me about life more than I have learned in 15 years of studying and schools and in the university no not even a little bit a little bit cult-like a little bit culty I am grateful for discovering freelee the banana girl on YouTube and she showed me how to do veganism properly to be happy and satisfied No maybe it's just me um gratitude is I think one of the most irrelevant and counterproductive categories that vegans have been congratulating and flagellating themselves under the heading of I am grateful for being able to live in Thailand right now it's a bit weird because the modus operandi here is to preach and practice the permanent vacation to live a life of total self-indulgence but then to back this up with constant statements about how grateful you feel that you're able to live this life with no responsibilities this life of self-indulgence this life of physical pleasures that is all wrapped up in an ideology that tells you that you are saving the world while you're on vacation I am grateful for having the access to best quality fruit here in Thailand because there is 40,000 kids dying in Africa today because they have nothing to eat look you know I can put up with up to a point there are worse things on earth I don't really have any animus or chip with my schulter about this stuff and if you hang out in Thailand it's full of scumbags who are on power trips about how they're saving the world through rock crystals or yoga or some meditation therapy their work you know there are all kinds of people to compete with the flaky BS the durianrider and freely or selling but there is an alternative to gratitude and a life of self-indulgence you can recognize the advantages you've got in life don't need to use words like privilege you have advantages other people of disadvantages now I could have been born with a clubfoot I could have been born with a stutter I could have been born with twice as much money or half as much money as my family has all of us have advantages and disadvantages coming into the game but the question is what are you gonna do with it and I think the reason why you have to have this cult of gratitude is because these people recognize that what they're doing with it is not helping any of the issues they claim they care about I am grateful for being able to live amazing life every single day oh yeah well you know you feel grateful because other people are starving and living in poverty and you're not yeah well you know you could do something about it oh you know you feel grateful because um you know human trafficking is a problem this is in Thailand yeah none of you you know I mean any of you could be using your YouTube channel even to make a documentary about this issue addressing it but you could actually do something you could take the privilege and advantages you have in life and do something positive with it instead of an aesthetic of gratitude you could have an aesthetic of ambition ambition to make a positive change um a conversation about repeatedly with a few different university professors over the years some of you may or may not know a lot of my research of the past had to do with Buddhism ancient and modern I've also done research on politics social problems poverty economics all kind of stuff uh and then spoke with professors of Buddhism I would often ask them why don't you you personally do something about you know apes being tortured to death on your campus and these guys were in a position to make a difference they were in a position of privilege a position of certain advantages where actually they could make a difference a normal student certainly couldn't make or a normal punter walking on the street couldn't make and they would even be rewarded for it professionally you know within the university they can sit on the ethics committee they can access both through Freedom Information Act and through just taking advantage of what is available publicly dad about what's really going on and they could sit there and write a letter to the local newspaper when these issues come up or give interviews completely non radical you know risk free activism they could really shine a flashlight on an issue that many people want to avoid and they could make principled statements simply as a professor of Buddhism in the in the given University and say well I'm a professor of Buddhism it's not my field but I sit on the Ethics Committee I read the annual reports from the biomedical sciences wing and I'm part of this university and here's my opinion and here's my concern and then other people can back it up or kick it around City Hall whatever um you know they're in a position to play a really positive role and I got different sorts of excuses back from professors as to why they don't do this as to why in fact they do lead lives of self-indulgence shall I say Chu you try to find me an example of a professor of Buddhism by the way was any interest in poverty or politics in Cambodia Thailand Laos Sri Lanka sadly there - there's a separation from political reality that's a bit shameful but I digress um imagine if any one of these professors had come back to with the excuse of them well you know I just feel a lot of gratitude you know I just feel very grateful that I get to come into this university and teach courses and do original research I'm I'm focused on that home boy um instead of feeling gratitude for the difference you don't make why not actually try to make a difference people think of ambition as if it only had to do with money that's very sad my ambitions in life had nothing to do with money that's got to be good to where I am in life which is not having any money so that can work out for you chase your dreams people but look you know any of these scumbags like the homie Joe BES you know if you're just a little bit of ambition imagine if he just wanted to get an article published in the newspaper no I have I've had a couple different articles potions while I was living in Southeast Asia while I was doing humanitarian work while I was doing Reese and for me that wasn't a big ambition but you know any of these folks who are talking about gratitude and this weird cult of the permanent vacation pretending that you're saving the world when you're living this life of self-indulgence um you know imagine if you just had the passion to write an article on any subject and you got it translated into Thai or translated into Cambodian or translated to Chinese and you said you know I want this to see print I want this to reach an audience in a mainstream newspaper think about the you know inherently humbling relationships that brings you in to you know now you have an editor at the newspaper you get along with now you have you know demands and deadlines and what have you now you're engaged with the whole social sphere around you in all sorts of ways that a tourist isn't you know it's really a mockery of what the word community means to say that you check into a hotel for two weeks with people who maybe drink and dance and ride a bicycle with you for those two weeks and it called out a community in a lot of ways if you spend time with journalists people are trying to make an honest living out of a pen out of doing research and writing words there you have really a much more dynamic sense of community if you hang out with journalists in Thailand there are questions like hey if I get thrown in prison are you going to come and visit me you know if I'm put on trial because you know the government interprets an article I've written as insulting you know to the interest of the state are you gonna be there to back me up in court and you know day to day are you gonna help me meet this deadline are you gonna help me do this research are you gonna help me figure out what's why are you gonna help me set up this interview no we get this done and I can't say it's a different world it's exactly the same world these people on permanent vacation in it's just a world they are choosing to ignore
like a cult to you at all I am grateful for discovering durianrider he taught me about life more than I have learned in 15 years of studying and schools and in the university no not even a little bit a little bit cult-like a little bit culty I am grateful for discovering freelee the banana girl on YouTube and she showed me how to do veganism properly to be happy and satisfied No maybe it's just me um gratitude is I think one of the most irrelevant and counterproductive categories that vegans have been congratulating and flagellating themselves under the heading of I am grateful for being able to live in Thailand right now it's a bit weird because the modus operandi here is to preach and practice the permanent vacation to live a life of total self-indulgence but then to back this up with constant statements about how grateful you feel that you're able to live this life with no responsibilities this life of self-indulgence this life of physical pleasures that is all wrapped up in an ideology that tells you that you are saving the world while you're on vacation I am grateful for having the access to best quality fruit here in Thailand because there is 40,000 kids dying in Africa today because they have nothing to eat look you know I can put up with up to a point there are worse things on earth I don't really have any animus or chip with my schulter about this stuff and if you hang out in Thailand it's full of scumbags who are on power trips about how they're saving the world through rock crystals or yoga or some meditation therapy their work you know there are all kinds of people to compete with the flaky BS the durianrider and freely or selling but there is an alternative to gratitude and a life of self-indulgence you can recognize the advantages you've got in life don't need to use words like privilege you have advantages other people of disadvantages now I could have been born with a clubfoot I could have been born with a stutter I could have been born with twice as much money or half as much money as my family has all of us have advantages and disadvantages coming into the game but the question is what are you gonna do with it and I think the reason why you have to have this cult of gratitude is because these people recognize that what they're doing with it is not helping any of the issues they claim they care about I am grateful for being able to live amazing life every single day oh yeah well you know you feel grateful because other people are starving and living in poverty and you're not yeah well you know you could do something about it oh you know you feel grateful because um you know human trafficking is a problem this is in Thailand yeah none of you you know I mean any of you could be using your YouTube channel even to make a documentary about this issue addressing it but you could actually do something you could take the privilege and advantages you have in life and do something positive with it instead of an aesthetic of gratitude you could have an aesthetic of ambition ambition to make a positive change um a conversation about repeatedly with a few different university professors over the years some of you may or may not know a lot of my research of the past had to do with Buddhism ancient and modern I've also done research on politics social problems poverty economics all kind of stuff uh and then spoke with professors of Buddhism I would often ask them why don't you you personally do something about you know apes being tortured to death on your campus and these guys were in a position to make a difference they were in a position of privilege a position of certain advantages where actually they could make a difference a normal student certainly couldn't make or a normal punter walking on the street couldn't make and they would even be rewarded for it professionally you know within the university they can sit on the ethics committee they can access both through Freedom Information Act and through just taking advantage of what is available publicly dad about what's really going on and they could sit there and write a letter to the local newspaper when these issues come up or give interviews completely non radical you know risk free activism they could really shine a flashlight on an issue that many people want to avoid and they could make principled statements simply as a professor of Buddhism in the in the given University and say well I'm a professor of Buddhism it's not my field but I sit on the Ethics Committee I read the annual reports from the biomedical sciences wing and I'm part of this university and here's my opinion and here's my concern and then other people can back it up or kick it around City Hall whatever um you know they're in a position to play a really positive role and I got different sorts of excuses back from professors as to why they don't do this as to why in fact they do lead lives of self-indulgence shall I say Chu you try to find me an example of a professor of Buddhism by the way was any interest in poverty or politics in Cambodia Thailand Laos Sri Lanka sadly there - there's a separation from political reality that's a bit shameful but I digress um imagine if any one of these professors had come back to with the excuse of them well you know I just feel a lot of gratitude you know I just feel very grateful that I get to come into this university and teach courses and do original research I'm I'm focused on that home boy um instead of feeling gratitude for the difference you don't make why not actually try to make a difference people think of ambition as if it only had to do with money that's very sad my ambitions in life had nothing to do with money that's got to be good to where I am in life which is not having any money so that can work out for you chase your dreams people but look you know any of these scumbags like the homie Joe BES you know if you're just a little bit of ambition imagine if he just wanted to get an article published in the newspaper no I have I've had a couple different articles potions while I was living in Southeast Asia while I was doing humanitarian work while I was doing Reese and for me that wasn't a big ambition but you know any of these folks who are talking about gratitude and this weird cult of the permanent vacation pretending that you're saving the world when you're living this life of self-indulgence um you know imagine if you just had the passion to write an article on any subject and you got it translated into Thai or translated into Cambodian or translated to Chinese and you said you know I want this to see print I want this to reach an audience in a mainstream newspaper think about the you know inherently humbling relationships that brings you in to you know now you have an editor at the newspaper you get along with now you have you know demands and deadlines and what have you now you're engaged with the whole social sphere around you in all sorts of ways that a tourist isn't you know it's really a mockery of what the word community means to say that you check into a hotel for two weeks with people who maybe drink and dance and ride a bicycle with you for those two weeks and it called out a community in a lot of ways if you spend time with journalists people are trying to make an honest living out of a pen out of doing research and writing words there you have really a much more dynamic sense of community if you hang out with journalists in Thailand there are questions like hey if I get thrown in prison are you going to come and visit me you know if I'm put on trial because you know the government interprets an article I've written as insulting you know to the interest of the state are you gonna be there to back me up in court and you know day to day are you gonna help me meet this deadline are you gonna help me do this research are you gonna help me figure out what's why are you gonna help me set up this interview no we get this done and I can't say it's a different world it's exactly the same world these people on permanent vacation in it's just a world they are choosing to ignore