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I just don't understand any kind of absolute egalitarianism philosophy. Whether it's branded as anarcho-capitalism or straight anarchism or sockfucking libertarianism, it always misses the same point.

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The Monster

Started by The Wizard, April 05, 2011, 02:43:33 AM

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The Wizard

       It's out there. The Monster's out there right now watching you. Peeping through your windows with its mad, yellow eyes, and waiting. It's huge, bigger than any man, stronger than anything made by God. It has grayish skin that feels like paper but that stretches over its misshapen muscle like tight leather. Most terrible of all are its hands, the long, powerful fingers built for choking murder. It's out there right now, watching and waiting for its chance. You created it, and for that it hates you and wants to hurt you.

   It all started out innocently enough. You and your friends, all intellectuals, all politically active young radicals. You just read books and talked about how to make things better, how to make change. You started reading up on John Locke and some other political writers of the Enlightenment, and you thought, why not try them out? So you and you bodies got together and started working. Tom supplied a lot of the ideas, as did Ben and John. They took some old dead ideas, threw in some of their own, stitched them together, and then brought the whole thing to life with something even better than lightning.

   The creature came to life, staggering off of the surgical table with all the clumsiness and fear of a newborn. It wasn't a pretty thing by any means, in fact it was quite ugly, but it was innocent, well meaning, and passionate. And for that you all loved it. The creature did great things, inspired others with its ideals. It had the potential to change the world.

   But time passed, and your creation began to change. Some of the changes were necessary, such as the alterations done when it was twelve years old. But as time passed, it began to get violent and controlling. It turned away from the idealism and fire of its youth, devolving into a twisted, power obsessed monstrosity.

   It took whatever it wanted, its hideous strength making it easy to intimidate others or when it needed to, use force to get what it desired. The creature became paranoid and controlling, suspecting everyone and imposing its rules on everyone. The greed, the violence, the paranoia, and the power hollowed it out, killing the beautiful spirit it was born with. It came to hate the ideas that gave birth to it, and to seek vengeance against the optimists who had helped create it. It became a Monster in both mind and body.

       It has only gotten worse since then. Its paranoia drives it to attack anything different, anything that it is unfamiliar with. The Monster has pushed away all of its old friends and allies, those who looked up to it. None of them trust it, and many of them hate it now. In its madness it does not care whether one was friend or foe. The only difference it understands anymore is between a threat and a victim.

   It's outlived all of its other creators, all except for you. You were the one who did the most to bring it about, the one who was most responsible for both its birth and its decline. It was your job to keep an eye on it, to make sure that your friend's work was not done in vain. And you failed. So now it haunts your shadow, keeping you caged and afraid. It does not want to kill you, but to control you and make you miserable. The Monster holds you prisoner, never letting you leave the house, never letting you feel safe. You do what you can to try and forget its out there, whether its losing yourself in the routine of work or taking whatever pills will make the fear go away, if only for a while.

   But no matter what happens, the Monster is still out there. It'll keep tormenting you forever, until you finally take that step outside of your safe, comforting prison of a home, and face it. On that day, you and the Monster will come to terms, and only one of you will survive it. But until you're willing to take that gamble, to put it all on the line for your freedom, it'll still be out there. Waiting.
Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

I like this, but I'm not entirely certain I get the point.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

QuoteI like this, but I'm not entirely certain I get the point.

Well, it's kind of how I feel about America these days. An ugly, paranoid, Monster that seems to hate everything it used to stand for. This was my attempt to try and get that out. I'm not especially good with metaphors though, so I was kind of wondering whether the idea would be clear or not.
Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on April 05, 2011, 02:48:33 AM
QuoteI like this, but I'm not entirely certain I get the point.

Well, it's kind of how I feel about America these days. An ugly, paranoid, Monster that seems to hate everything it used to stand for. This was my attempt to try and get that out. I'm not especially good with metaphors though, so I was kind of wondering whether the idea would be clear or not.

Ah.  I was thinking along the lines of peoples' self-images or whatnot.

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

QuoteAh.  I was thinking along the lines of peoples' self-images or whatnot.

Yeah, I could see how you could interpret it that way. I came up with this early this morning. I was thinking that I needed a kind of central idea to hold my project together, something like the BIP without being the BIP with different wording. And Frankenstein was the first thing that occurred to me.
Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on April 05, 2011, 02:52:43 AM
QuoteAh.  I was thinking along the lines of peoples' self-images or whatnot.

Yeah, I could see how you could interpret it that way. I came up with this early this morning. I was thinking that I needed a kind of central idea to hold my project together, something like the BIP without being the BIP with different wording. And Frankenstein was the first thing that occurred to me.

Needs a little more exposition, though.  Maybe something about how it beats the mortal shit out of anything it doesn't understand, etc.  Or maybe emphasize the size of the creature.  Made up of 301,000,000 angry, unworthy little monsters, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it's awesome...But it's better now that I'm sure of what you're talking about.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

QuoteNeeds a little more exposition, though.  Maybe something about how it beats the mortal shit out of anything it doesn't understand, etc.  Or maybe emphasize the size of the creature.  Made up of 301,000,000 angry, unworthy little monsters, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it's awesome...But it's better now that I'm sure of what you're talking about.

Hmm. Yeah I can do that. I like that first suggestion. I can do that. Maybe something involving laziness (when it comes to anything not related to dominating/hurting its creator)?

Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on April 05, 2011, 03:09:15 AM
QuoteNeeds a little more exposition, though.  Maybe something about how it beats the mortal shit out of anything it doesn't understand, etc.  Or maybe emphasize the size of the creature.  Made up of 301,000,000 angry, unworthy little monsters, etc.

Don't get me wrong, it's awesome...But it's better now that I'm sure of what you're talking about.

Hmm. Yeah I can do that. I like that first suggestion. I can do that. Maybe something involving laziness (when it comes to anything not related to dominating/hurting its creator)?



It comes driving a mobility scooter called the USS Nimitz, straight from the 21st century, right into your town.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

Quote
It comes driving a mobility scooter called the USS Nimitz, straight from the 21st century, right into your town.

Heh, I like that. I added another paragraph based on your suggestion. See if that works better.

Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on April 05, 2011, 03:19:23 AM
Quote
It comes driving a mobility scooter called the USS Nimitz, straight from the 21st century, right into your town.

Heh, I like that. I added another paragraph based on your suggestion. See if that works better.



Yes, but "thread" should read "threat", I think.

Also, America IS in the process of eating itself like that Ouroboros thingie.  Edit:  Never mind.  That's the whole OP.   :lulz:
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

QuoteYes, but "thread" should read "threat", I think.

FIXED. Thanks for pointing that out.

QuoteAlso, America IS in the process of eating itself like that Ouroboros thingie.  Edit:  Never mind.  That's the whole OP.

:lulz: That's what I'm going for, at least.

Thanks for the tips, by the way. I can't wait to see this project completed, and now I've got something to built it around.

Anything you can get out of this?
Insanity we trust.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Dr. James Semaj on April 05, 2011, 03:30:45 AM
QuoteYes, but "thread" should read "threat", I think.

FIXED. Thanks for pointing that out.

QuoteAlso, America IS in the process of eating itself like that Ouroboros thingie.  Edit:  Never mind.  That's the whole OP.

:lulz: That's what I'm going for, at least.

Thanks for the tips, by the way. I can't wait to see this project completed, and now I've got something to built it around.

Anything you can get out of this?

Yeah, I'll riff on it tomorrow.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Wizard

QuoteYeah, I'll riff on it tomorrow.

Fair enough. Can't wait to read it.  :D
Insanity we trust.