"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank...

[The Spawn]

...You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your ****ing khakis..."

I was thinking about this like 2 seconds ago.

Was Tyler Durden right?

Or was he totally wrong?

Somewhere inside of me...I can't help but think this is wrong.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

If Tyler Durden was right, then you would in fact be a mass of pointless threads.

 

[mrvlknight21]

Where is the "In Tyler we Trust" option?????

 

[terry78]

That's just something people that already have money say. You notice all the emo hipster anti-establishment types are often from upper middle class upbringing. The poor folks never have that mentality.

 

[Johnny Drama]

your not the thread that fails. Your not the mod who closes it.

 

[PyroChamber]

That's just something people that already have money say. You notice all the emo hipster anti-establishment types are often from upper middle class upbringing. The poor folks never have that mentality.

Almost like people who say "money ain't a thing".

 

[\S/JcDc\S/]

I don't know why, but I could imagine Weber or Durkheim saying something like this.

 

[Majic Walrus]

...You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your ****ing khakis..."

I was thinking about this like 2 seconds ago.

Was Tyler Durden right?

Or was he totally wrong?

Somewhere inside of me...I can't help but think this is wrong.

Tyler Durden didn't exist. He was the narrator's fantasy. He's all of our fantasy. We are Tyler Durden and we don't want to live like this anymore.

 

[Anita18]

I think it's right. I mean, many people's sense of self is so caught up in their jobs or what they have, that their world comes crashing down when it's taken away.

My law school friend sent me an article where a partner in a law firm committed suicide in his office a few days after he was laid off. Achieving the position of partner in a law firm, it's like a professor getting tenure so you supposedly can't get fired.

But...it's not like he was banned from law forever! Or that he was turned into a vegetable! He could go on and do other things with his life, but chose to end it, with his wife and kids and other family members to pick up the pieces.

That's when I think sayings like, "You are not your job" is totally relevant, especially in this financial environment.

 

[Ender Durden]

I think Tyler's philosophy is that the greater part of humanity has built entire walls of s**t around ourselves and we've gotten so convoluted with this fake "power" that we've made ourselves believe to be important, with the greatest offender being tiny slips of paper being tossed around and traded for things that truly do not matter. We're so wrapped up in our own business, we stress ourselves out and live unhappy lives in order to fulfill this false sense of the American dream that we've all been told we can and should achieve, a dream that never seems to be satisfied because our society always pushes us to do greater (and if you don't well you're a loser or crippled in some way), when the only real dream we should live for it survival for ourselves and our loved ones. Thats what he was talking about during the scene where he leaves Jack while he's sleeping, about hunting for deer with a bow and arrow among the ruins of man's skyscrapers and foundational failures, living a simple, peaceful life where you only have to worry about yourself and not bull**** like a mortgage or taxes or impressing your neighbor with a slick car you spend years in debt paying off. i dunno.

 

[michephantom]

Hmm, would you rather have a comfortable life in house, driving a car, eating food everyday, wearing nice clothes, and not having to worry about your existence, or would you rather live in a shack, have to chase/forage for hours for your food, wear rags, and die an early life?

Sure, our modern life does contain an excess of unnecesary things, but generally it's a good thing. I mean, a mortgage means you have a house, and taxes mean you have roads and schools and military.

Besides, when will you be able to visit the hype if you're spending all your damn time hunting that deer?

 

[Anita18]

Hmm, would you rather have a comfortable life in house, driving a car, eating food everyday, wearing nice clothes, and not having to worry about your existence, or would you rather live in a shack, have to chase/forage for hours for your food, wear rags, and die an early life?

Sure, our modern life does contain an excess of unnecesary things, but generally it's a good thing. I mean, a mortgage means you have a house, and taxes mean you have roads and schools and military.

Besides, when will you be able to visit the hype if you're spending all your damn time hunting that deer?

Geez, what's with people taking things to the extreme?

I think the point of the anti-establishment message of Fight Club was that beyond basic necessities (food, shelter, health), anything "extra" is just whatever society pressures you to have.

A car just needs to get you from point A to point B. If that's all you need (and necessarily want it to do), then why splurge on a fancy import? A bag just needs to hold stuff. If that's all you need, why pay thousands for a designer brand? Why? Image. "I'm the kind of person who likes designer stuff, because other people will admire me for it." That's the BS.

Such things shouldn't define you as a person.

 

[Kelly]

I would close it.....but I don't know what the hell it is?



Anita's posts are helping alittle....but, I'm overwhelmed.

 

[Obi-Ron]

Luminous beings are we...not this crude matter.

The story of stuff.

 

[michephantom]

Geez, what's with people taking things to the extreme?

I think the point of the anti-establishment message of Fight Club was that beyond basic necessities (food, shelter, health), anything "extra" is just whatever society pressures you to have.

A car just needs to get you from point A to point B. If that's all you need (and necessarily want it to do), then why splurge on a fancy import? A bag just needs to hold stuff. If that's all you need, why pay thousands for a designer brand? Why? Image. "I'm the kind of person who likes designer stuff, because other people will admire me for it." That's the BS.

Such things shouldn't define you as a person.

I guess I was referring more to what ender durden wrote. It annoys me when people say the root of our problems is money and credit cards, because they are very valuable tools for our life. It's the person's stupidity that causes problems.

Besides, if the money's there, why not buy fancy designer things? If you make 80,000 a year, you have money to buy some outrageous car from europe. In the end it financially supports the people who make it, and you get a fun toy. Also, designer clothes may have better quality than others. The problem results when you try to live a lifestyle outside of your means. Or you need something else besides material, which is not true of everybody.

 

[StorminNorman]

I call bull.

You are your career, which is why selecting your career is so important.

 

[Anita18]

Besides, if the money's there, why not buy fancy designer things? If you make 80,000 a year, you have money to buy some outrageous car from europe. In the end it financially supports the people who make it, and you get a fun toy. Also, designer clothes may have better quality than others. The problem results when you try to live a lifestyle outside of your means. Or you need something else besides material, which is not true of everybody.

I agree to a point, but it's only if you have a reasonable attitude about it. Like, buy something because you think it'd be useful. Or even because you think it's beautiful. I understand that.

Buying something just for the label is lame, no matter how much money you have or how much you spent on it.

I call bull.

You are your career, which is why selecting your career is so important.

And what if, like that lawyer I mentioned above who committed suicide, you get fired or get hurt and can't work in your chosen career anymore? Should injured military vets just crawl into bed and die?

Your career definitely adds to who you are, but it doesn't make you.

And recent surveys determine people change careers 5 times in their lives, anyway.

 

[StorminNorman]

And what if, like that lawyer I mentioned above who committed suicide, you get fired or get hurt and can't work in your chosen career anymore? Should injured military vets just crawl into bed and die?

Your career definitely adds to who you are, but it doesn't make you.

And recent surveys determine people change careers 5 times in their lives, anyway.

People change. For example, lets look at the lawyer. If that lawyer goes from making six figures a year to working at a Walmart, does he not change as a person? His career relationships change, his lifestyle changes, likely his values change. His life changes.

 

[terry78]

The dude flipping burgers at the local Mickey D's has a vastly different persona than the guy in the Manhattan office earning 700K a year doing nothing but hiring and firing.

 

[Anita18]

People change. For example, lets look at the lawyer. If that lawyer goes from making six figures a year to working at a Walmart, does he not change as a person? His career relationships change, his lifestyle changes, likely his values change. His life changes.

Right, but it doesn't change who you are inside as a person.

My mom retired to a life of gardening and quilting after working as a software debugger for 20 or so years. Sure her life changed, but she didn't. I still know exactly how she'd feel about certain things.

The dude flipping burgers at the local Mickey D's has a vastly different persona than the guy in the Manhattan office earning 700K a year doing nothing but hiring and firing.

And I believe that people's personas lead them to their current place of employment. But it doesn't make you who you are. Someone who works as a CEO is a person who works hard and is very ambitious first, THEN a CEO. You don't suddenly find yourself ambitious and a hard worker when you get a CEO position.

I work as a scientist, but I don't really consider myself one. Don't have the mindset of a scientist, really.

 

[StorminNorman]

Right, but it doesn't change who you are inside as a person.

I disagree. When people make dramatic shifts in lifestyle, people do tend to change.

In the end what really determines who you are as a person is not what you think, it's what you do. A major factor in the "what you do" is your career and what comes from it. Somebody with all the answers in the world doesn't do anyone any good if he is making 7 bucks at the Choco-Freeze.

 

[StorminNorman]

The dude flipping burgers at the local Mickey D's has a vastly different persona than the guy in the Manhattan office earning 700K a year doing nothing but hiring and firing.

Exactly. Even if the Manhattan fat cat was Mickey D's guy the 20 years ago.

 

[Anita18]

I disagree. When people make dramatic shifts in lifestyle, people do tend to change.

In the end what really determines who you are as a person is not what you think, it's what you do. A major factor in the "what you do" is your career and what comes from it. Somebody with all the answers in the world doesn't do anyone any good if he is making 7 bucks at the Choco-Freeze.

Well, even if someone in a high position in the US has all the answers in the world, it probably won't do anyone any good because of lovely bureaucracy.

And I do agree with you, although I think we're approaching the Fight Club saying differently.

My interpretation of it is that if you lose your job, if your house catches on fire and all of your possessions burn to the ground, it's not the end of the world. People often treat both scenarios like their lives would end if they happened. It doesn't - we're human, we're intelligent and we can adapt and find ways to survive.

 

[terry78]

Richie Rich says, hell yeah mother****er.

[YT]32FzKcS8C2w[/YT]

 

[StorminNorman]

Well, even if someone in a high position in the US has all the answers in the world, it probably won't do anyone any good because of lovely bureaucracy.

Too true.

And I do agree with you, although I think we're approaching the Fight Club saying differently.

Probably. I may be the only one here who has yet to see that movie

My interpretation of it is that if you lose your job, if your house catches on fire and all of your possessions burn to the ground, it's not the end of the world. People often treat both scenarios like their lives would end if they happened. It doesn't - we're human, we're intelligent and we can adapt and find ways to survive.

I don't equate surviving to living, though. If we loose all of our job, our possessions, our savings, our house - we have lost everything we have worked for. Now that doesn't mean you die, but it does mean that you have to forge a new life.