ERIC KIM

DON’T BE A COW

Eric Kim McDonald’s

Nowadays we are like cows. We want a life of ease. We want to just live an easy life. We don’t want to work. We just want to sit, and eat. Have sex. Watch sports. Drink beer and alcohol and get high.

What separates us human beings from cows?

I’m on the feed lot.

Huntington Beach. Phone photo by Eric Kim
Huntington Beach. Phone photo by Eric Kim

I had this thought when eating all you can eat conveyer belt barbecue in Saigon.

Imagine, you’re sitting on a stool. You have a boiling pot of soup in front of you. Meats, veggies, and other food items are circling you, like a conveyer belt.

It’s pretty cool. You choose the foods you want. No more need to deal with the hassle of talking to humans. You just eat and eat and eat, and drink the water from the faucet (next to your bowl).

I then had the realization：

Holy shit, I’m like a cow, being fed on a feed lot, ready to get slaughtered.

Which made me wonder, how else are we passive cows?

We want to minimize pain, and maximize pleasure

Paris, 2016. Shot on phone by ERIC KIM
Paris, 2016. Shot on phone by ERIC KIM

I read from Nietzsche that humans invented science to minimize pain, and maximize pleasure. Kind of makes sense.

Walking in hot weather, for long distances, is painful and annoying. We invented the car (with air conditioning, of course) to minimize this pain.

Even now, I wonder,

“Why do we even need legs anymore?”

We need legs to walk. But we have cars now.

We need legs to stand. But we sit down in chairs all day now.

We need legs to dance. But we prefer to watch others dance now.

Why do we need eyes?

HAPTIC EYE CAMERA by ANNETTE KIM
HAPTIC EYE CAMERA by ANNETTE KIM

I’m sad, I feel the only purpose of having eyes now, in today’s dystopia society is to have our eyeballs advertised to.

For example, we get tempted by fancy cars, fancy vacations, fancy clothes, fancy cameras, fancy everything. Our eyes stimulate a desire in our brains.

Without a stimulation of desire, advertising, consumerism, and capitalism wouldn’t work.

How NOT to be a cow

Shot on a phone. In and out by ERIC KIM
Shot on a phone. In and out by ERIC KIM

Practical ideas：

  1. Whenever possible, walk. Walk for the joy of it, not for exercise. I get my best ideas when walking. Nassim Taleb thinks walking might be as necessary for humans as sleep.
  2. Ask yourself before or while doing something, “Is this making me more passive, or more active?” Whenever possible, always opt for the more ACTIVE ACTIVITY. For example, do a puzzle with your family instead of watching Netflix.
  3. Be an ART MAKER not an art collector. More fun to make your own ridiculous modern art, modernist, abstract paintings, than buying pretentious wall decoration for millions of dollars.
  4. Prefer to make photos, instead of looking at the photos of others.

Don’t be a cow. Be a human!

BE STRONG, PROSPER, AND CREATE.
ERIC

MAKE MORE ART

eric kim photography black and white leaves flash

Re-discover you inner-child and feel like PABLO PICASSO:

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