Achieving self-reliance, sustainability, and independence just isn’t right for you. So, shut up, sit down, and listen to what you are told. Here are seven reasons why going off grid just isn’t right for you!
One — Paying Bills Gets You Out of Bed in the Morning
Face it, getting up and going to work gets you through the week. What are you going to do? Be a hippy homesteader? Be a farmer? Find a dream the motivates you?
You have no interests, no skills, and no drive. Without the fear of being fired, you would just lay around in bed all day. The only difference between you and a homeless person or a 500 pound shut-in is that horrible job that you go to day in and day out.
What about reading great literature? What about raising your kids the way they deserve? What about finding a deeper meaning in life? That will never happen to you!
Some people are meant do great thing. Some people are meant to have a joyous and meaningful life. But those people aren’t you. And if you were meant for great things, you would already know it.
Two — Other People know Better Than You
The government, corporations, and institutions have your best interests at heart. They do everything they can to keep you happy and safe. Why would you leave all that behind?
Ultimately, the millionaires that are funded by billionaires know a lot more about how to live your life than you do.
The best thing you could possibly do for myself is quit asking questions, put my head down, and be confident that everything you deserve will come to you of its own accord. Believe everything that you am told by the media, politicians, and academics, because they are entirely selfless and much better informed than you will ever be about anything.
And, worst of all, by doing something different than the mainstream, you face ridicule from people who know nothing about you or what you’re trying to do with your life. And, you don’t think you could face that type of rejection.
Three — You Live for Retirement
The best thing we can hope for in life is a long retirement.
Adulthood is a something like a horrible nightmare shoved in between old age and childhood. The faster you can get past it, the better.
Everyday, the trying circumstances and grind of employment are the penance you pay for the freedom you had as a child, and the hopeful freedom you will have as a retired person.
Someday, you will once again be able to break the routine, maybe buy an RV and travel the country. Spend time in the woods with your children and grandchildren (if they aren’t stuck working too that is). Maybe go fishing. Won’t that be nice!
Eventually, you will have the money and free time to do everything that you want, but just not now. Not yet!
Four — Nature Scares You
Nature is full of gross things — death, manure, bugs! The farther away from that you can be the better.
Oh, you know that these things are inevitable. That, something had to die to have the bacon that you eat in the morning. But, you’d much rather someone else take care of that for me. You don’t want to think about how the things you enjoy on a daily basis came about, or what the true cost was.
So long as the stores are stocked and your paycheck still holds out, you’re just fine. You know that, even with the slightest provocation people will buy out store shelves until there is nothing left. But you’d prefer the danger you know to the unknown worries of keeping a garden, or raising your own animals.
Compost your poop? You’d rather die that go without indoor plumbing or a flush toilet for a single day!
Five — You Hate the Idea of Hard Work
Growing food! Isn’t that for foreigners or poor people?
ou have an office job specifically because you don’t have to stoop down to the level of working with your hands, or acquiring intrinsically valuable skills.
Your parents raised you to make good money and live a nice suburban life.
So what if your job is unfulfilling? So what if your job aught to be automated, or just outsourced entirely? Just as long as your able to eek out comfortable living while doing as little as humanly possible, then you’re living the dream!
While others may say that living off grid is joyful. That enjoying the labor of your own two hands is a reward in and of itself. That knowing where your food, power, and heat come from is the best security. You just don’t by it.
If you can go your whole life without ever striving for something or building something, then you may not be happy, but at least you won’t have suffered.
Six — You Trust Corporations with Your Life
Corporations and the people who run them are the most selfless people on the planet. So you know that you can trust them to transparently run every aspect of your life. The less you know the better.
GMO foods are healthy! Otherwise, why would they sell them? Isn’t there someone who is supposed to take care of that for you? You obviously can’t be trusted to make an important decision like what is healthy for you to eat or not.
Grid power never goes down, and if it does, it comes right back up again. Your money is too valuable to the mega-corporation utility companies to ever let anything disrupt your consumption even for a moment. What happened to those people in Northern California will never happen to me.
Banks and real estate agents would never let you borrow beyond your means, or buy a house that is too expensive for your income, subjecting you to a life of virtual slavery to pay of an exurbanite mortgage. After all, banks are the embodiment of humility. Just look at the modest skyscrapers they build for themselves and the plush mansions owned by their executives. These people have your best interest at heart and are not driven by money in any way.
News and the media live for the truth, and their multi-million dollar incomes are just a small bonus to the real reward of keeping the population updated and informed on relevant news. The newest political finger pointing is, of course, of utmost importance to your daily life. At least until next week, when the next big thing comes along and the events of this week are almost entirely forgotten. You can trust the things you’re told, especially the ones that scare you and keep you in line. What motivating could they possible have to lie.
Seven — You Have No Idea Where Your Food Really Comes From
Isn’t picking food from plants potentially dangerous? Food comes from stores, and that’s all that you need to know.
The idea that you can go from almost nothing to a full pantry over a summer is suspect. How do you expect things to grow without large tractors to plow, chemical fertilizers to nurture, and gallons of pesticides to protect? Gardening is the most expensive way to get a pound of cucumbers after all the bags of potting soil, greenhouse starts, and special gardening clothes that you need to buy.
Don’t you know that people die from things, and don’t you know that food is among those things. So, we better not step beyond our bounds. ConAgra may not keep us healthy, but they will keep us alive, and that’s all you really need.
