Reality

[Saevrok]

Look over the post, not once did I say I was enlightened or trying to be wise. It would seem you're having an aggressive response to someone with whom you dont agree, dont worry, its perfectly natural Select.

[Garrdor]

Doesnt really give me a boner, but seeing how quickly you guys lept onto it instead of the discussion did make my dick twitch a little. As for my previous comments, I type exactly what I think whenever I'm thinking it. One would assume that would have become obvious, but apparently it needed to be clarified.The tripping was merely a reference to what altered mental states can do to your perception of reality, not to suggest that my entire discussion is based upon chemical usage. Another point I would have thought you would have been capable to discern, but alas my faith was misplaced. Anyways, now that the pointless defending of my post is finished I can continue at least for a time before more nonsense washes up.

I wouldnt say I hate mankind, I just do not believe it is worth saving. It is pitiful in its existence, as a whole we are defined by our struggles. The sad thing is more often than not these struggles often are of our own making. Ever since we ascended to the top of the foodchain, and even during the trek to the top, we have canabalized ourselves. To such a degree we bear no resemblence to the potential we should have, instead of uniting to expand past our limits, we slaughter one another for petty differences. Bigotry and intolerance are prevelant everywhere, more often than not people are more than happy to discount someones opinion simply due to political leaning. A fact that you can see evidenced on our own board. People are more likely to declare that the other side is lying than to believe that perhaps it isnt a lie but an outright ideological conflict. Most people assume that if an idea or personality conflicts with their own, then it must be incorrect. Once more a fact very gloriously represented by this small crossroads we call our board.

If people took the time to remove themselves from the conflict and take a neutral look at it, they would see that no one side is wrong. Almost everyone, everywhere thinks they are doing what they must for the greater good. From tyrants to saints, almost everyone thinks they are right. The percieve it as true, so therefore it is their reality. I do think that some perceptions of reality are actualy detrimental to humanity as a whole and must be resisted, but that is a view that I have developed by weighing the pros and cons of the afore mentioned perceptions. Not merely a kneejerk reaction to something at the time I could understand. I think that if the rest of the world would do the same then we would be truly worthy of existence, but I dont think we have any worry of that occuring in our childrens childrens lifetime. As we are defined by our struggles, humanity will not unite until something threatens them with complete destruction with no chance of survival. Then we will struggle against that until we prevail, or are destroyed, and then in the event of success we will experience relative peace for a time until we slide once more into our self destructive ways.

Anyways, thats enough from me for one day, it should be interesting to see how people respond. With the typical trivial nonsense or with a conversation, my moneys on nonsense. Then again perhaps I am simply nihilistic as you would like to believe.

A little bit ramble-y, but I admire the thought and honesty behind all of this.

[Select]

Anyways, thats enough from me for one day

Changed your mind that quickly?

You don't know if I agree or disagree with all the opinions you're posting; I'm mostly commenting on the act of posting them. But frankly, you're not saying anything worthwhile. You're regurgitating things said by better people and that we've all heard. It's why Lurker posted the joke. It's also ironic and hypocritical since you're far from what you're essentially preaching. And yes, your post is worded to preach. These borrowed words, coming from you specifically are making me laugh and roll my eyes and I see it in the other members mocking you. It seems you're trying to make yourself seem different (deep) than what we know you are.

[Lurker]

It's also ironic and hypocritical since you're far from what you're essentially preaching. And yes, your post is worded to preach. These borrowed words, coming from you specifically are making me laugh and roll my eyes and I see it in the other members mocking you. It seems you're trying to make yourself seem different (deep) than what we know you are.

Exactly. More than the Sociology 101 feel of his speech (which was actually more shallow than even that indicates), it was the fact that he was the one giving it that made this so funny.

[Harlowe]

But frankly, you're not saying anything worthwhile. You're regurgitating things said by better people and that we've all heard. It's why Lurker posted the joke. It's also ironic and hypocritical since you're far from what you're essentially preaching. And yes, your post is worded to preach. These borrowed words, coming from you specifically are making me laugh and roll my eyes and I see it in the other members mocking you. It seems you're trying to make yourself seem different (deep) than what we know you are.

This. First, based on your posting history, it's hard to take anything you post as something thoughtful, it's usually knee-jerk nihilism for LOLZ. Secondly, lets be honest, this didn't even come close to being an honest pursuit of an intelligent discussion. It was a preachy "performance" of freshman philosophy & sociology. Not a genuine act of engagement.

If you were you honestly looking for an open discussion encouraging people to take on a more "neutral" perspective, you wouldn't have started out jabbing at the bourgeois nature of one of the more active areas of the board and you wouldn't have began by preaching and regurgitating information we've all heard our freshman year in college. What you have regurgitated is as "mainstream and uninspired" as you claim the politics section of the board is.

[Harlowe]

In my younger days I use to get sent to these corporate retreats where they did silly shit like teaching you to juggle and tried to brainwash corporate culture into you. Most of it was bullshit, but one thing has stuck in my head for 20 years and I still believe it.

Perception is reality.

Meaning: Whatever you think reality is, that's what it is. I think some important philosopher said as much (!?)

Whether you're the customer of a giant corporation or a patient in a mental institution, whatever you percieve, that is your personal reality. Now quite often, for most of us, there's a big overlap. If there wasn't, we wouldn't have much of a society. If we didn't agree on certain precepts then the world would be chaos. So there's personal reality and collective reality. Anyone that can't/won't participate in the collective reality is not considered functional within the system.

I'll echo Select on this, I absolutely agree Freecare.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

So why is it that we all live in the same world and some of us have drastically different perceptions of it?

You can say that a priviledged upbringing caused you to have a positive outlook, or something like a rotten childhood or personal tragedy caused you to be so jaded. But that hasn't been my life experience at all. I've known lots of suicidal rich kids and lots of people who won't stay down no matter how many times they're kicked in the teeth.

So how do we reconcile for example my view that the world isn't that bad of a place, and people are basically OK, with Saevrok's view that the world is fucked and everyone in it is fucked? Something I can say from experience is that these two ends of the spectrum truly do live in different worlds. Not that my viewpoint doesn't have moments of despair or his viewpoint doesn't have good moments, but overall it literally is a different world for each of us.

I a had a couple childhood friends who thought like Saevrok. Funny how shit never seemed to go their way, and ironically it never had anything to do with them. I'd hear them say stuff like "I went to this job interview and did everything right and those assholes didn't hire me." Uh, if you did everything right you would've got hired. I could give many examples of this viewpoint seeing itself as a pawn; a victim of forces/circumstances beyond its control. That's why nihilism to me is really just self-pity at its core.

[Fobbon Lazyfoot]

You know you're usually funny, Saevorok, but now you're just being a whiny little bitch.

[Taxious]

Reality, to me, is made up of my reactions to the world. Instead of focusing on an event itself, I like to think that my reaction to that event is far more relevant to my reality. I think that if I get offended by something, it's my fault for reacting that way. The world is uncontrollable, but our responses to the world dictate our control over our reality. Although I'm not too into philosophy, I really like the ideals belonging to Stoicism.

[Saevrok]

Meh, I'm allowed to get MPMS every now and again Fobbon.

Also probably the only time I will ever agree with Taxious, besides the fact that Christian Bale is so goddamn awesome I would probably go gay for him.

In my opinion Freecare its a result of different upbringings and different personalities in addition to mental nuances. Not everyone is the same, we are all our own brand of crazy, even though there is a baseline we can call normal. Just as time is considered relative, so is reality to a certain degree. A cannibal who is raised that there is nothing wrong with cannabilism will consider it odd when someone is opposed to his way of life.

A lot of my viewpoint on the world comes from the fact that as a member of the armed forces I see and hear some pretty awful shit. Soldiers are mostly good people, but we are required to be dispassionate towards anyone considered our enemy. I personaly dont have a problem with most people but I am required to be capable of doing what ever is required to accomplish my goal. If I had to lob a hand grenade into an orphanage to save one of my platoon, I wouldnt blink while I was doing it even though it would likely haunt me for the rest of my life. I am a strong advocate on self reliance and self responsibility, the reason I conflict with the viewpoint of the world is that most in my opinion love the phrase "Its not my fault, this happened when I was a kid." We are all responsible for our actions, whether noble or savage. I have absolutely no regrets in my life, every time I've fucked up or acted an ass, I've made myself better from the result and done my best to rectify the situation as best I am capable. That is not to say I wouldnt go back and change some things, I wish I could change quite a few things, but I do not regret the mistakes I've made. There is no point in it, what is done is done and no amount of self pity will change that fact

I find myself angered by people who would rather curse the darkness than light a candle, so many things in life are easier than people make them out to be. People limit themselves and allow self pity and doubt to rule their lives and it leads to horrific acts. How many people were cruel to another out of fear of that persons beliefs? Hate to sound like yoda, but hate is based from fear, a person who hates someone based on their skin tone is typicaly in some way afraid of that other person. "Damned spics taking our jobs" "Fucking niggers bringing crime to my neighborhood" "Whitey keeping us down" "Jews control everything!" This fear is everywhere and it stings my nose when I see it. The reason I want to see humanity destroyed is because in those last few moments before something horrible happens, you get to see what we really are. I have seen men who hated each other do amazing things to save one another when the shit hit the fan, I have seen cowards become brave and I have seen strong men cry like babies. The final moments of life are the only true moments. The only time we are true to ourselves and to the world is when we know it is all going to end and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Some will bemoan their fate, some will end it themselves rather than feel that lack of control, and some will summon bravery that astounds and inspires all around them. You can never know someone until the end, you cant even know yourself until you are pushed beyond yourself. Beyond your thinking and your prejudice and are slammed into genuine reality, not your perception of it, not your brains grand delusion of reality, but the genuine reality that we are all exist in and ignore until that point.

We are all the same, we all bleed red, and we all are scared.

[Saevrok]

Those are my thoughts broken down as plainly as possible. Now I am gonna reread some of the lolzers posts and make merry sport of ridiculing them. People dont like me when I am serious, I suppose its my own mistake for only allowing my mischievous side to show through here.

Harlowe, never been to college so I wouldnt know what you experienced in your freshmen year of colledge aside from probably every cock you could get your lips wrapped around, both pairs.

Select, I am about as wise and enlightened as you are attractive. Which is to say in reality I am a base and simple creature with a couple bright spots here and there. Your bright spot is that for some reason you hopped on my dick this post, and I always enjoy that, even when the woman reminds me of woody woodpecker, thats ok, thats why I have my lights set to clap off. Truth be told, I'd love to give you an Angry Dragon, but I am afraid of ruptering my internal organs on that tent stake you call a nose.

Lurker you are as inspired as rsak, the regulars of the politics board are so similar its mind blowing. Its like watching real politics, people saying anything and quoting any bullshit statistic to make the other guy wrong and all because they like their money too much. One day I hope you realize that there isnt an honest politician in all of the world and it doesnt matter how much you bleat your parties line, it doesnt alter the fact that its a crock of shit.

Anyways, if you ladies want to try and derail this thread I'll quote the dumbest president in history, bring it on. I got enough snide comments for you chumps to sink a nimitz class super carrier and I get fucked with harder by my buddies here in Ft Lewis than your entire pathetic time in high school. There isnt a thing you can do to even remotely phase me.

One line no waiting, come get some.

[Select]

A lot of my viewpoint on the world comes from the fact that as a member of the armed forces I see and hear some pretty awful shit. Soldiers are mostly good people, but we are required to be dispassionate towards anyone considered our enemy.

Bullshit. I remember your post about joining and you are no different now than you were before you joined.

Hate to sound like yoda, but hate is based from fear, a person who hates someone based on their skin tone is typicaly in some way afraid of that other person. "Damned spics taking our jobs" "Fucking niggers bringing crime to my neighborhood" "Whitey keeping us down" "Jews control everything!" This fear is everywhere and it stings my nose when I see it.

Bullshit #2. You've made cruel comments about specific groups before. And I don't give a shit if it was for the lulz or not; it takes an inherent racist/sexist belief to "joke" about specific groups - if you can even call it that. Don't give us that 'you equally want to see all humanity go' crap because you've shown us otherwise.

Why are we coming down on you? Because something this board tends to be united against is a hypocrite.

Your "serious" side here is false. A lie. If all you can do is fabricate insults rather than directly respond to our accusations, then you're just further condemning yourself.

[Harlowe]

You know you're usually funny, Saevorok, but now you're just being a whiny little bitch.

Fobbon said it best. Other than that "usually funny" part.

[Saevrok]

One small flaw to your arguement select, you came to this thread with no other intention other than going on the attack. Perhaps you see yourself as some caped crusader, I dont know nor do I care why you style yourself as anything other than what you are. You state that my previous posts make anything I say invalid, so by that logic you must dismiss anything Garrdor says because they guy comes from further out in left field than I ever could manage. Or we could just go ahead and slap a few more stereotypes in there, anytime anyone does anything for lolz they are therefore incapable of any sort of discussion aside from lolz. That is your stance, and quite honestly its shortsighted and naive, I would expect better from someone from claiming your creditials.

You would like to assume everyone stays the same, perhaps my opinions have changed over the course of time, however that isnt the approach that you want to take, you would preffer that I was some abstract stagnant creature devoid of rational thought who regurgitates things that they have heard in a vain attempt to sound intellectual. To me select it would appear you have a guilty conscience, perhaps you feel you are in some way that stagnant creature. Once again I dont know nor do I really give a flip, as of right now you're dissapointing me to no end by repeating the same line over and over again like some idiotic pundit.

You like to claim that since I have made jokes about specific races in the past that therefore I am a racist, so we have to assume Garrdor hates america because he makes fun of our morbid obsession with 9-11. We could take this theory of yours, laughable as it is, and apply it to everyone on this planet. If you've ever flirted you're a whore, ever been angry you're a psychopath, ever gotten a speeding ticket then you're a bad driver for life. We might as well scrap the prison system, because if someone commits a crime once, they will always be a criminal, no hope of rehabilitation. How you react to my opinion is a telling view into how you think, you like generalizations and certanties, people for you cannot be multi layered, they have to be one dimensional. You assume entirely too much Select, but its nothing I dont really expect from you, you're as predictable as you would like to think I am.

Harlowe, regurgitating what other people say does not amount to an opinion. Select gets a couple paragraphs for being a narrow minded trollop, you I wont waste more than this on.

You two go ahead and put your darling little heads together for a bit while I get some sleep and try and come up with something a little better than that. I asked for a conflict not two mewling infants begging for their mothers teet.

[Select]

Of course I have been on the attack from the start. As are other members here. We've said why.

Of course it is possible for people to change - No shit Sherlock. The thing you're missing here is we don't believe you have. You're coming off as a hypocrite and a liar. I don't know why you haven't been able to understand this - Everyone here has been loud and clear. It's not about generalizations because we won't react this way to everyone who says this; it's about you specifically.

You like to claim that since I have made jokes about specific races in the past that therefore I am a racist, so we have to assume Garrdor hates america because he makes fun of our morbid obsession with 9-11.

Flawed.

The difference is that someone who truly understands racism and systematic oppression, understands how making racist jokes (even if you claim not to be racist) is damaging to the oppressed minority and actually contributes to the culture that oppresses them. It goes beyond purely being offended. To not understand why these "jokes" are damaging shows a lack of true education on the subject and means you're actually racist as a naive contributor. A lot of basic 101 racism reading needs to be done. This also applies to homophobia, sexism, and other minority groups.

Your comparison doesn't work because the view of "America" that Garr has in his mind and makes fun of is not a historically oppressed people that is still working to fix things. The "lulz" he creates on the subject is not the same. The rest, your speeding ticket, etc. comments... well, you just took it and ran with it off the deep end into blown-out-of-proportion, missed-the-point, off-topic land. o_O

Also, we know and believe Garr's "serious" feelings. We don't believe yours.

I believe Harlowe kept it short and sweet because she has so little respect for you, the hypocrite, that she doesn't find it worth her time to engage much with something so pitiful. I am not Harlowe and that's my mistake here.

[Kulaf]

it takes an inherent racist/sexist belief to "joke" about specific groups

You can't seriously believe that, can you?

[Jarochai Alabaster]

it takes an inherent racist/sexist belief to "joke" about specific groups

Well golly gee, I must be racist, sexist, and bigoted against them dirty faggots!

Ok, I really am bigoted against gays. Honestly I don't want to be gay, but I'm forced to because I refuse to date anyone who isn't at least my intellectual equal. This is also why I've never dated a black guy, but I did briefly date a hispanic! Wait. That was only for the lulz because he had the same name I do.

Damn.

[Partha]

The only time we are true to ourselves and to the world is when we know it is all going to end and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

I can't believe I'm breaking my own rule and feeding the troll, but this is arrant nonsense.

[Garrdor]

>

[Taxious]

it takes an inherent racist/sexist belief to "joke" about specific groups

Yeah, that's some bullshit if I've ever seen it.

Honestly I don't want to be gay, but I'm forced to because I refuse to date anyone who isn't at least my intellectual equal.

Sexuality and intelligence have nothing to do with each other. WutRUTalkingAbout??