I watched this 16 years ago when I was 9 or 10. In retrospect it's clearly had a hand in coloring my perception of society and the way the world works.

It's all just one big machine that has innumerable methods by which to make you miserable - some of them happenstance, many of them discriminate and arbitrary; the obstacles erected, punishments inflicted and rules set by entirely hollow people.

If you want to escape the circumstances currently surrounding you, you have to act within strictly defined parameters to succeed at the lowest level even if they don't truly reflect your mentality, emotional state your wants or needs. None of it matters to the machine - produce, perform, conform, smile.

How many pieces of me is it going to take in exchange for the freedoms it affords me? How many of those freedoms will it slowly take away?

Is there a way to act independently from the machine? Or can I smile long enough to "make it"?

This has been somethting of a religious experience. I never would've thought nor hoped that this flash video would be so enduring.