
Sans
Protesting the conditions of an inhumane world
- Oct 2, 2019
- 350
Don't hate the player, hate the game.
Perhaps one of the most often heard quotations in modern history, or at least one of the most memorable.
I don't know for certain where it comes from, though if I'm not mistaken it comes from the song "Don't Hate the Playa" by the American rapper Ice T.
The first time I had ever heard it was when I was nine years old, from my cousin. At the time, I didn't think much of it, because I just took at face value and thought of sports and video games and whatnot, which is probably what you'd expect from a nine year old anyway, and I didn't think it had any deeper meaning.
A decade later, however, I find "don't hate the player, hate the game" to have a whole new meaning.
Being alert to the absolute state of injustice and unfairness on this rotten earth, I've come to think of life itself as being like a game - in particular, a trip to the casino. Blackjack, slots, roulette, whatever casino game you prefer, they all have one thing in common: they are based entirely on luck, and in all likelihood, they are rigged against you. In a casino, there is the occasionally lucky winner who goes home rich, but the vast majority of people go home losers, out of whatever money they had when they entered.
I find life to be the same way. Except instead of a slot machine or a a roulette wheel, it's your DNA that determines whenever you win or lose. Just like the casino, life is going to be rigged against you (unless you're part of a very lucky, very small minority), and you don't get to choose your genes - it's all luck what you get.
Chances are, the way you were born is going to affect the way you are treated in life, either for the better or for the worse.
Those who are born with attractive, desirable traits, tend to be treated much better than their unattractive counterparts. They'll get much more opportunities (which tend to involve a lot more money), a lot more friends, and most likely praised to no end.
the worst part is, that there is no way to change the way you were born. So if you were born disabled, deformed, or with a body shape or height or other trait that you don't want, there's no sort of medicine or surgery to fix it. Sure, face lifts and other cosmetic surgeries exist, but not for the vast majority of problems that one could have, and there's no choice other than to live knowing you can't have what other people do have.
For this reason, I've found it very easy to resent those who were born the way I wish I could have been - the "players" who get all the advantages in life at the expense of people like myself. But even more so, I hate the "game" - life itself. And if the game is rigged against me, then I do not want to play the game. In other words, I'd like to quit the "game that is life" - or, bluntly speaking, CTB.
Here's another quote for anyone who's made it all the way to the bottom of my crazed rant, this time from the 1983 movie "WarGames", in reference to nuclear war but in my case, very true for life itself, and a good way to finish off a post that's gone on for long enough.
"The only winning move is not to play."
Perhaps one of the most often heard quotations in modern history, or at least one of the most memorable.
I don't know for certain where it comes from, though if I'm not mistaken it comes from the song "Don't Hate the Playa" by the American rapper Ice T.
The first time I had ever heard it was when I was nine years old, from my cousin. At the time, I didn't think much of it, because I just took at face value and thought of sports and video games and whatnot, which is probably what you'd expect from a nine year old anyway, and I didn't think it had any deeper meaning.
A decade later, however, I find "don't hate the player, hate the game" to have a whole new meaning.
Being alert to the absolute state of injustice and unfairness on this rotten earth, I've come to think of life itself as being like a game - in particular, a trip to the casino. Blackjack, slots, roulette, whatever casino game you prefer, they all have one thing in common: they are based entirely on luck, and in all likelihood, they are rigged against you. In a casino, there is the occasionally lucky winner who goes home rich, but the vast majority of people go home losers, out of whatever money they had when they entered.
I find life to be the same way. Except instead of a slot machine or a a roulette wheel, it's your DNA that determines whenever you win or lose. Just like the casino, life is going to be rigged against you (unless you're part of a very lucky, very small minority), and you don't get to choose your genes - it's all luck what you get.
Chances are, the way you were born is going to affect the way you are treated in life, either for the better or for the worse.
Those who are born with attractive, desirable traits, tend to be treated much better than their unattractive counterparts. They'll get much more opportunities (which tend to involve a lot more money), a lot more friends, and most likely praised to no end.
the worst part is, that there is no way to change the way you were born. So if you were born disabled, deformed, or with a body shape or height or other trait that you don't want, there's no sort of medicine or surgery to fix it. Sure, face lifts and other cosmetic surgeries exist, but not for the vast majority of problems that one could have, and there's no choice other than to live knowing you can't have what other people do have.
For this reason, I've found it very easy to resent those who were born the way I wish I could have been - the "players" who get all the advantages in life at the expense of people like myself. But even more so, I hate the "game" - life itself. And if the game is rigged against me, then I do not want to play the game. In other words, I'd like to quit the "game that is life" - or, bluntly speaking, CTB.
Here's another quote for anyone who's made it all the way to the bottom of my crazed rant, this time from the 1983 movie "WarGames", in reference to nuclear war but in my case, very true for life itself, and a good way to finish off a post that's gone on for long enough.
"The only winning move is not to play."