And So On and So On and Scooby-Dooby-Dooby

Stop the fussin' and the feudin' for #FreedomMusicFriday

Last week’s Distributed Nation installments definitely had a theme: We should stop caring so much about what other people think.

We care because we’re social animals. We care because the default assumption is that the only way to live together is to impose single-solution systems on everyone. We care because the system forces us to care. We care because we want to be liked. We need to stop.

The sagacious and delightful Charlotte Pendragon responded to this line of discussion with a note and a link to a song: Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” (video below):

I knew right away that this song would make a great #FreedomMusicFriday post. Charlotte was correct—the lyrics of the song hit several related themes:

• There are lots of different kinds of people in the world.

• There are lots of different opinions and lifestyles in the world.

• People are obsessed with the opinions and lifestyles of others.

• People like to fight others over their opinions, lifestyles, and identities.

• It’s better just to be chill.

• We can get along better together by NOT caring about the lifestyles, ideas, identities, thoughts, opinions, and beliefs of others.

The song begins with an honest admission, right at the start: I might not have all the answers.

Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong

This creates a sense of confidence that Sly and the Family Stone are not going to start shoving their way of life down anyone’s throat.

However, they say, if you’re interested, you are of course free to listen:

My own beliefs are in my song

And why exactly are we so obsessed with identities anyway…?

The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in

I am everyday people, yeah, yeah

And what’s with all the fussin’ over ideas and lifestyles?

There is a blue one who can't accept the green one
For living with a fat one, trying to be a skinny one

How about just live and let live?

Different strokes for different folks

This might be my favorite part—just making fun of the whole thing with a happy little “scooby-dooby-dooby.”

And so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby

And here is where the rubber meets the road. Getting along does not require forcing others to think a certain way or obsessing over how others think. Instead, it is the opposite. Stop caring.

Ooh, sha-sha
We got to live together (Ooh, sha-sha)

This is not the left’s false “tolerance.” As an aggregate ideological phenomenon, the left only has tolerance for its specific client cohorts, and only so long as they are useful as a means to power. This isn’t that. This is insouciance. This is just being chill and not getting worked up one way or the other.

Next, a crucial mention of ontological equality:

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same, whatever we do

And then, the silliness of trying to pigeonhole people:

You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in

The rest of the song proceeds in similar fashion, so give it a listen and enjoy.

It makes people a little crazy when they learn that others think differently. But Sly and his family know better than to let it bother them.

And we should know better too.