Hey Wayfarers and Travelers, Whats the coolest thing you own?
My collection of banned and censored books. Every time I see a re-print of something with half the pages missing I know it was money well spent on all the expensive hardbacks and 1st editions I missed meals to afford. The most recent one in my collection I saw re-printed was Bill Cooper's book
Behold a Pale Horse. If you try to buy it from Amazon or major retailers now you'll end up with the 2019 re-print with over 300 pages and an entire chapter missing. Most of the pages they removed were copies of sources (newspaper clippings and a large index of sources from the Library of Congress). Even if I don't agree with the contents of a book I'll snatch it up fast if I know it's on someone's banned list. My library is extensive and has everything from Gaddfi's Green Book to the only English translation of Hitler's book approved by the Nazi party. I even have a hardback of Rockwell's book right next to the collective works of Malcom X on my shelf. When people rarely visit they aren't sure what to make of my library since I have everything from hardcore leftists/right-wing political works to works about Buddhism and other hippie related topics. I read everything I can get my hands on and I seek out anything that's been banned at any point in history.
I started building my collection in my youth because the hardcore Christian fundamentalists in the area tried to ban so many works of the devil. I was rebelling against all religion in those days. In recent years I've come full circle and found my way back to religion in my own way. I don't force what I believe on to other people but I talk freely about everything I know. Depending on who you ask they might tell you I'm a Neo-Nazi, Commie, Jesus freak, Satan worshiper, or whatever else they choose to project on to me. I'm just about truth and free access to information and data. Which has gotten me in trouble in the past and will probably continue to bring me trouble. I've hung around so many different types of people that claim to believe this and that. But in my experience most don't really believe anything and are trying so hard to fit-in with whatever group that they don't even bother to read the source material they're quoting. I can kick it with just about all types and have. There have been weekends when I've gone directly from white supremacist meet-ups where weed is banned because it's a "nigger drug" to the big ol' gay orgy filled with "peace and love" where anyone that doesn't enjoy anal is labeled a bigot. I never end up at these places by choice. Someone always ends up taking me to them because they've projected their own way of thinking on to me. I'm just a nice guy that can get a long and I don't like to cause trouble. So I smile, nod, keep the peace and move on if I find myself somewhere I don't like. I've figured out over the years most of these people would get along fine if they could simply agree to disagree and keep their more extreme habits hidden from public view.
The funny part is it doesn't really matter which of these groups you end up around. You'll discover the vast majority of these people have never cracked a book or sought out source material in their lives. For example, most black power/white power types don't even realize the major players in those movements back in the 1960s regularly ate together and agreed on many subjects. Rockwell and Malcom attended each other's gatherings and regularly worked together. Hence why the Government murdered both of them. The last thing the Government wants is people like that finding common ground and coming together to fight against the real enemy.
Aside from my books the next coolest thing I own would probably be some of the very rare computer hardware I've acquired over the years. Most of it I dug out of dumpsters. Lots of it has suddenly become hip and cool with wannabe geeks. I'm thinking about unloading a lot of it for cash because I rarely use it anymore. Every pretender wants some old hardware or video game to display on a shelf these days. My basement is a goldmine of old hardware. I also own an arcade machine worth several thousand dollars. It's the Waverunner arcade game. I have the one with the life sized Jetski that you ride. I need to repair the hydraulics and get rid of it. I haven't set it up and played with it in many years. The big screen TV on mine still works which I never see on the ones listed for sale on the internet. The last one I saw sold for $15k without the original screen. Mine is from the Myrtel Beach Pavilion. It survive the tornado and some guy near me ended up with it. Sat in his garage for years until his wife forced him to sell everything in his collection. I only paid $20 for it. I keep trying to turn it into a motorcycle or Honda Civic but it's so hard to find anyone with the floor space. I've been waiting for someone with too much money to open an arcade with enough floor space to either trade it or sell for cash. I almost had a guy ready to trade me multiple arcade games for it a few years ago but then covid happened and he was forced to shut down his business.