"I only shot a ni---r". Yup, Florida.

[calimary]

71. A direct result of capitalism and capitalist thinking.

"Competition" is what surrounds us in all things. Look at the race for money. Look at the race for beauty contest crowns. Look at the race for that glitter-ball trophy on "Dancing with the Stars." Look at "American Idol." Look at the race for ratings - ANYWHERE. Look at the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, etc. Hell, ANY awards show including the freakin' Westminster Dog Show. Look at Vegas and the gambling industry. Look at the fashion industry - "Project Runway" and Fashion Week etc., which filters down to "who got the first new (fill in the blank here) whether Neiman Marcus or Target. Look at any state or county fair and the hard-on to win for best hog or best blueberry pie. Shit - even Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show" was into it. Look at the weekly box office results. Look at Wall Street. Look at a disturbing explosion of competition shows on the Food Network. Forcryingoutloud, LOOK AT SPORTS!!!

I swear - sometimes I just frickin' HATE it. I'm tired of always having that "GOTTA compete! Gotta ground the other guy into powder and leave him eatin' my dust! Gotta be Number ONE! GOTTA WIN!!!" mentality. It's like a drug. One win is never enough. Fucking competition for grades, the best schools, the hottest cars, the hottest babes, the biggest house, the best neighborhood, the biggest stock portfolio, the biggest client list, the biggest sales figures, the biggest merger/acquisition, the biggest write-off, even all the way to the biggest fuckin' funeral and biggest mausoleum.

I realize it seems to be part of human nature. But it's SO FUCKING TIRESOME after awhile. And you never stay on top, no matter how long you compete or how many times you defend whatever title or gold star it is you won. It's so fleeting! It's so superficial! Today's winner is destined to be tomorrow's also-ran. Robert Downey Jr. said it best in what I think was either a Rolling Stone or Playboy interview, when he was asked to define "hot." His answer? "Destined to be cold."

And it just tires me out. I'm so fucking tired of it. Because you DO begin to view everyone else as an adversary. It begets this anti-social thinking that leads you to regard everybody else around you as not part of a community or a collective in which we band together and survive and thrive - all those other assholes are merely In Your Way. Even trash to be kicked aside while YOU forge ahead into the winner's circle. It even comes down to who gets to the light first, so they're first onto the freeway onramp, or first across the street before the damn bicycle rider and lady with the baby stroller. And forget the competition for parking spaces. So. Fucking. TIRESOME.

It reminds me of the time I took the kids to the neighborhood pumpkin patch before Halloween, one weekend. CRIMINY!!!!!!! There was this one woman who seemed hellbent on getting in front of me WHEREVER in the pumpkin patch we went, whether it was the line to get on the little pony ride or the line to buy the pumpkin. Everywhere we went, she popped up. "I was first." "I was here first." JEEEZ!!!

I just don't even play. I won't play the game. I refuse to give them the satisfaction. It won't be any fun to beat me because as soon as you suit up ready for battle, I'm gonna have something else much more interesting to go do. And you're gonna be sitting there, forced to get your jollies by competing with your own damn self. And hey, go knock yourself out.

It just does NOT foster any kind of sense of community or collegiality or working together - for ANYTHING. I just freakin' HATE IT.