Ain’t Nobody Telling Me What To Do

From what I understand, Ottawa has a curfew and stay at home order right now. Check out this short conversation Nevermore Zine had with a local Ottawan skateboarder.

Are they being reckless? Are they putting their lives or others’ lives at risk? Or are they just kids enjoying a healthy Spring Day? How do you feel about these kids not living in fear, despite having recently been surrounded by cops and fined and ticketed?

I was really glad to see this because on my walkabouts around Pittsburgh I noticed it’s the skaters that are the ones taking advantage of the empty streets and doing “whatever the fuck they want” and none of them are wearing masks. But the cyclists, who I thought would take this same skater attitude, are the ones all masked up like obedient dogs.

This is our future, guys. This is it. These are the kids that are going to break it apart and set everyone free. I may not see it in my lifetime, but if they’ve cultivated this attitude now then it’s most likely gelled in their character and consciousness and ain’t nobody telling them what to do.

I think the adults in the room should take a lesson here.

I just finished reading Helen Buyniski’s latest RT piece on how people trust algorithms more than…people. Yet, this is juxtaposed against the understanding that it’s the people writing the algorithm, genius. She mentions fear of bias and what came to mind was a content creator I know who purposefully covers the most benign stories in order to “beat the algorithm so YouTube won’t take down their channel.” I think of all the other content creators out there or creatives, like myself and JP, who have curated and edited our messages just to “beat the algorithm” so our YouTube channels and websites don’t get taken down. We’re all quivering over our two strikes and once that magical third strike hits, we are OUT! The YouTube channel is disappeared down the memory hole. One conservative platform uses the term “noodle” when referring to the Covid shot and the word “scam” when referring to the face muzzle. I see these adults acting silly, almost to the point of sycophantically, in order to please their master host whether it’s YouTube or some hosting platform you pay a monthly fee for and all I can think of is these skateboarders, “Aint’ Nobody Telling Me What To Do.” Not even the algorithm.

In a vacuum of totalitarianism, Hitlerian messianic figures always emerge to lead people into poppy groves instead of allowing the people to face the real issues head on. Dangerous, psychotic and sometimes gibberishey they lead people into a sense of belonging and bliss, high on the heroin of their righteous benevolence. Some can cull what they want from the psychosis and give shape to the gibberish, but these Oedipa Maas types that always emerge like a tragic Atwood character are simply the mother once again resurfacing into our adult lives telling us what to do. And, like children waiting for mom to come home to feed us cookies and chocolate milk and give us a chore lest we lose ourselves in our self-guided autonomous nature, we anxiously await for their YouTube or Facebook or Twitter channel to light up and again, tell us what to do and inform our child-like sponge-brains of the next kernel of magical discoveries. We want to be like the skaters above, “Ain’t Nobody Telling Us What To Do” but when these types materialize on social media the algorithms act like dopamine hits and they are invited in to replace the mother that apparently never loved us enough.

These types always seem to emerge right when there is a cultural turn in American society: a new election, a collapsed economy or war. They are always about the same age and have a commanding presence and some sort of gimmick that makes them charming and human. We have ALL fallen for the types, and they are not all bad but because American humans are the way they are, these unhappy-at-home narcopaths tend to suck the life out of any true movement or momentum, instead encouraging people to boil down the poppies to shoot the poppy juice elixir right into their veins and seek their bliss. While we lose ourselves into our own blissful attitude we mumble “Ain’t Nobody Telling Us What To Do.”

Or, they stream in such passionate displays of anger, wildly flailing their arms about sometimes even dancing and raging against the corporate state, they exhaust their listeners into a stupor. Perhaps at first these bored housewife archetypes meant well, but it soon consumed them into a frenzied need to hoover up as much attention as they can because there is a planet to save. After all they are the Messiah. And, like true mothers they hardly ever eek out any encouragement to their “children followers”, and are all too adept at pitting them against each other,gathering their golden children and enablers into the fold while cutting the scapegoats, dissidents and black sheep out of their proverbial will. This “will” of course is the rich inheritance of knowledge the Messiah Mothers bestow on their adoring child-fans lulling them into a false sense of nobody telling them what to do.

Again, I think of these skaters, like Shane here who has a $500 fine for the crime of being a kid and probably skates in the park to get away from such a person who lives at home and most likely, tells him what to do every day of his young life.

What’s going to happen when you are fined for not wearing a mask, or not having proof of the Covid shot or not standing in a certain circle or worse yet, defining unlawful mandates and staying out past your bedtime-curfew? Will you be like Shane here? Will you try to do work-arounds like you do with the algorithms or will you find an online cult leader to lull you into a false sense of security?

Shane’s position isn’t a popular one, this position of doing what he wants and no one telling him what to do. Maybe he doesn’t exactly think the way you do or believe the COVID narrative you happen to believe. It doesn’t matter I guess because Ain’t Nobody Telling Him What To Do.

book of ours are working artists and could really use your help. By becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/bookofours you can help support us as we continue to archive history in unique and creative ways through our video essays. You can find all of our work at http://www.youtube.com/bookofours and our back-up channel at book of ours backup on YouTube. The artists can be reached at info@book-of-ours.com