posted
We wander through life, peppering our friends with pointless platitudes, and our enemies with pathetic pejoratives. Does it yield anything? What is the beneficial result?
We delight in the suffering of others; we wish vile torture upon them. We strive for others pain, while in public pretending to be appalled when someone says exactly what we were thinking. Justice’s only limitation is supposed to be blindness; we have hobbled her noble form with ropes of bondage so tight she can barely move.
We pride ourselves on the equality of system—despite Lalo’s bullshit near equality has been achieved. One would think that this would be the achievement of the ages; that it would be shouted from the rooftops, heralded by choirs of angles. Instead we squabble, we fight over ancient laws hung on the wall—the very system we claim to hold so high. We quibble—even murder each other over things simple physical possessions simply because we have been told that Cadillac is better than a Ford.
We never claim responsibility; rarely does anyone stand tall and say “I did this. This is my creation”. Everything that is done today is by Not Me, Nobody, and Someone Else; unless of course We see some advantage We can hold over everyone else. And then We bitch that the reward was not large enough. We have no humility; oh we claim that we are humble all the time. When We say that we are humble, all We have done is prove that We are not, that We do not even know the meaning of the word.
We tiptoe day in and day out terrified that we might offend someone. We stifle our opinions out of fear that someone’s feeling might be hurt. Yet with the same breath We celebrate the same supposedly hurtful things We refuse to say when a celebrated, famous individual says them. Because by achieving accolades for some other unrelated event somehow makes their opinion more valid
Our hypocrisy is complete. A women is raped, One of our one is utterly and completely violated. I life is derailed, destroyed, ruined. Our response is to lock the beast up for a short period of time. And during his lock up We hope he is raped by other animals we have locked away. We do absolutely nothing to resolve the situation, prevent it from happing again. We have our lists, our databases, our tracking systems, yet the supposedly cured beast rapes another woman, destroys another life, and still we do nothing. We refuse to solve the problem. We run from the solution because We think it removes our humanity, as if Our current solution does not. We refuse to put down the beast when it needs to be done. We yammer on and on about rights but refuse to stand up for one of own when it actually matters.
We claim that We are human—Superior Superior Man. We claim.
I want no part.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
(since it deserves a reply, but I don't feel this will be quite adequate so I apologize)
I understand. I see. And part of it is what makes me so frustrated with the world, with human beings. Because even if we see this so clearly, the solution is just as clearly out of reach. And if the solution is out of reach, what is our response? Is it to wallow in misery at the impossibility of true beauty, or to ignore the evils committed by our fellow human beings, or to do the little part we can even if it makes no difference?
I have no answers. But you're not alone.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I'm tempted to enjoy this bit of writing, but I don't know if the author realized that they are exactly what they're writing about or if they're sitting at home feeling superior.
Which, I supppose, still makes them exactly what they're writing about.
posted
I am working under the assumption that this is not a piece of satire. If it is, then well done, and I salute you. If not:
>> Does it yield anything? <<
Yes. Some people are happy.
>> despite Lalo’s bullshit near equality has been achieved <<
No, that's bullshit. Even the First World is nowhere near equality, and if you consider the entire world, equality is so far off as to be laughable at best.
>> I want no part. <<
Too bad. If you have the means to post here you are a part of it. Deal.
_______________________________
If you're going to complain, at least have the decency to propose a solution.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
twinky: I don't think it's necessary to have a solution in mind when posing a question. What's the worth of that?
Isn't it reasonable to prove need before creating solutions? Especially if such solutions are beyond your creative grasp?
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:We tiptoe day in and day out terrified that we might offend someone.
Or we hide behind anonymity, casting stones at the masses without trying to build anything, and claiming that you're not a part of it all.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
>> I don't think it's necessary to have a solution in mind when posing a question. What's the worth of that? <<
The first post does a lot more than "pose a question," though. If you're going to make accusations and blanket statements, also include solutions.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Edit to say: I'm not totally sure who this is, but can think of a couple of folks who could have written it and I wouldn't think they were just being weird.
...represent the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild. We...represent the lollipop guild, and we welcome you to Munchkin Land!
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
well twinky, I feel you're being very destructive instead of constructive.
while I may not agree with every point, I certainly do agree with some of the tone and emotions of the post. And I think they're worth discussing in a serious manner. I think people refuse to respond seriously to anonymous posts because they're afraid of walking into some sort of trap. But I think any post deserves the same amount of respect as any other post, especially when someone's taken the effort to write it. People (not necessarily you, twinky) treat a post completely differently if it comes from an ancient than when it comes from a newbie even if it were an identical post. And that's stupid.
Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
To be honest, this post would have gotten the same response from me had it been posted by even someone so illustrious as Slash or Tom. I suppose I might have prefaced it with an "I love you, but..."
I realize that's easy for me to say, and it's unconfirmable for now, but I will add that I finally understand why John's posts are so combative in style.
I'll grant, too, that I didn't bother to respond to the parts of the post that I thought were actually valid – for instance, the paragraph about rape. However, this is more than outweighed, by the phrase about Lalo and equality – especially given the blatant inequality in both the First World and the world writ large.
If you're going to ad-hom, don't hide behind a fake name. It utterly invalidates anything of value that you might say. For this reason, I have never registered an alternate alias on this forum.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Mkay... then I ask you to simply step back and see if anyone has anything interesting to say on the original topic. Else I'll have to just ignore your comments on style in this thread from now on Posts: 1892 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Does anyone see that this could be someone desperately hurt, angry, and feels isolated. That this could actually be the victim of a rape or someone who close to a victim?
And you are making fun of it or ignoring it because they couldn't find just the right combination of words to satisfy you?
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:Our hypocrisy is complete. A women is raped, One of our one is utterly and completely violated. I life is derailed, destroyed, ruined. Our response is to lock the beast up for a short period of time. And during his lock up We hope he is raped by other animals we have locked away. We do absolutely nothing to resolve the situation, prevent it from happing again. We have our lists, our databases, our tracking systems, yet the supposedly cured beast rapes another woman, destroys another life, and still we do nothing. We refuse to solve the problem. We run from the solution because We think it removes our humanity, as if Our current solution does not. We refuse to put down the beast when it needs to be done. We yammer on and on about rights but refuse to stand up for one of own when it actually matters.
There are many different varieties of we. The we I've known here would give a home to someone without a home; pull together all resources to find an acquaintance that threatens suicide; shun a known sexual aggressor; and physically/emotionally stand between a victim and her attacker.
There may be some dispute about what to do after the danger is no longer imminent, but that doesn't detract from the good and love that is shown by a community.
Considering that the grammar/spelling falls apart during the last paragraph- I'm assuming that you're in alot of pain either on your own behalf or for a friend. Just because you and we were not able to prevent something terrible from happening, doesn't mean that you/we are uncaring or unloveable. It just means that we are still human.
It's okay. This is still a safe place. We don't have all the answers here, but there is always an outstretched hand and a shoulder to lean on.
What's this "we" crap? Speak for yourself, anonymous dude; you're not describing any "we" I know or associate with.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Well Tom, I don't know about you but there is a little bit of anger and aggression in everyone. That is part of what is human. That is part of the 'We'. 517 may be projecting their own response onto everyone, or what they think others are thinking. It may be inaccurate. But your response hasn't rejected their hypothesis.
"That is a bunch of crap, person below my respect, I'm not like that."
You know, sometimes there is a time for intellectual discourse, and sometimes there is a time to just be compassionate. Don't be insulted by what might be an inaccurate portrayal, feel glad this person (used to?) trust us with the anger. Don't push them away because they were in pain and bled on this board. Don't TELL them how compassionate we are. Show them our compassion.
This person has felt pushed out either by this community or by the society they live in or by humanity. And this thread has rejected them more.
Does our compassion only run as deep as the using the correct words to ask for it and putting out a few (())?
posted
This person isn't asking for compassion in the opening post; if it is a cry for help it's done in an angry, snarling, caged-animal sort of way. As such, is it a surprise when people keep their distance?
It sounds more like self-righteous indignation.
Yay, viewed from many perspectives, life is nasty, mocking, and in our society, neutered.
Now have you tried looking at it from another perspective?
We strike out, with hiking books and a stick taken from the wayside of the somewhat muddy track through life... We cover each other with kisses and smiles...
We delight in the successes of others...we have released the bird of freedom and let her spread her wings to catch the wind.
We are never satisfied with our society... yet we proclaim with golden trumpets from the spires and turrets of human ahcievement...
We never share achievement or success; one person will stand up and claim that he did this, and will not deliver the rest of the achievement to the others that provided their valuable support.
We have infinate humility, and we never say that we do. We live, from day to day, pretending that we are nothing...
We burst into every day with energy and direction. We express our opinions openly, but we do not celebrate them.
...We claim there is something better. Some way, perhaps, of achieving something worthier, more perfect.
The truth, I think, lies somewhere in the middle.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It is self-indulgent whiny crap. I freely admit that.
My name in no more anonymous than anyone else’s. The claim that I am hiding stems from the fact that this is my first post with this name. Which I suppose is true.
The jab at Lalo was a low blow, and for that I will offer an apology. Sorry Lalo. I shall not delete it or edit it out of the post, for that is hiding.
No I was not raped, projecting events onto your interpretation of the emotional content behind words rarely works very well.
The post was intended to piss people off, make them respond. An ambivalent post has little point. The blatant insult to Lalo stole center stage however, which was not my intention.
My points were: 1) A great deal of time is spent flapping our lips at one another, with little long term effect. 2) This one is pretty clear above, many people, myself included, with bad things to happen to people whom we (the group of people doing the wishing) dislike or have ideological disagreements with. 3) I am speaking about the USA, and to a lesser extent Canada and Western Europe as my knowledge of them is less complete than that of the USA. Legally everyone in the USA has equal rights (gay marriage aside for the moment). 4) My point was that everyone should take responsibility for everything that they do, both the good and the bad. 5) This one is pretty clear above. 6) Our legal system is pathetic. People, individuals commit crimes that we (society) have deemed horrendous. And we don’t really do anything about it, I mean we lock the people up, but many convicts commit more crimes once they are free. The system does not solve the problem.
Half of our (society) people claim that we are the best ever, the other half claim we (society) are the great Satan.
Yes it is pointless drivel.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
"This person has felt pushed out either by this community or by the society they live in or by humanity."
Hey, this person says he heaps vile torture and strives for other's pain. Why should I feel compassion or pity for society's rejection of him, if this is true?
I don't heap vile torture on anyone. I don't associate with people who do. If AnonymousCoward here wants to heap torture, he's doing it on his own time and without my knowledge or endorsement.
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