The language of the BIP was (often, at least when I did it) structured to point out the otherwise unnoticed limitations of our perceptions, both physically and mentally. It was said that you can never escape the BIP, because it's necessarily made up of all the bits of you that make you the you that you are. If you attempt a jailbreak, you end up in another cell. So the task you set is one of architecture and interior design. If you can realize where some of the limitations are, you can shift them if you try hard enough.
At some point, the metaphor got stretched to the point of cracking, and a lot of us got carried away. Some really stupid shit got said, and denounced, and refuted, and we all got a bit wary of taking the BIP further than originally stated. The problem with that is, the way it was described lends itself very easily to "special snowflake" thinking. My cell is unique to my experiences, which must mean that I am special, too. Crowley tried saying this in The Book of Thoth, that the star you see is different than the star I see, because I am standing in a different place, even if it's only two feet away.
But let's give that the ol' Barstool, shall we? While we can nuance different walls in our BIP to ferret out the minute differences, that's functionally useless. If I point at a boat and say, "hey, look at that boat," you are seeing the same boat, even if you can pedantically prove an infinitesimal difference. Hofstadter introduced the idea of "high level chunking" when talking about consciousness in GEB, and we may be able to apply the same idea here. Some of our experiences are familiar enough to be considered "Common". For instance, let's say a bus crashes on the highway. What happened to each individual on the bus is different, but by and large, they all had the "same" experience, something they can share without too much explanation. You may even be able to identify "sets" of BIP walls. "The Wall of Getting Shot", for example. Or maybe "The Wall of Puking After Drinking Too Much".
If this is starting to sound a lot like tribalistic memes, well... I can't deny the similarities. If you start grouping together experiences at higher and higher levels, you start slapping labels on things like, "The Wall of Liking the New Wave of British Heavy Metal" and "The Wall of People Who Believe in Christ Our Savior". But at that point, things start to get unstable. There comes a point where the "color" of your wall (as in, the kinds of experiences you have had) becomes significantly different than your neighbors'; like when Teal Green becomes Cyan. At that point, the grouping becomes as meaningless a viewpoint as the isolationist one: You're not actually saying anything about a person's BIP; and at worst, you're giving misleading information.
So, they key to creating Common Walls seems to be not to rush into and entire wall of commonality, but to carefully determine which bricks and bars share the same properties. Sure, it's hard work, but if you go the easy route, it will transform into bullshit, and ooze between your fingers.
I think regional walls might be a good place to start. Even though your experience growing up in, say, South Carolina might be different from the experience someone else had, they're part of that same continuum. Even if you move away from the region, it's left an indelible mark on who you are and how you see the world. You may have moved over to the Thailand cell block, but you're still inside that wall of South Carolina.
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Written in the late 1700's this quote is as true today as it was then. Sadly, this says much more about human nature than it does about the prophetic ability of the author.
Whether we call it Black Iron Prison, The Golden Sphere or our Cavern, this human tendency to shut out those things that cause us confusion or discomfort also isolates us from so very many human experiences and opportunities to learn and grow.
As we build our cells daily we sometimes, possibly without realizing that we are doing it, create walls that conjoin other walls, and in doing so we also allow other inmates into our own space.
If we look closely enough we could see that others can share the space as well. It is even likely that one person can share the common rooms on one topic and be completely locked out on another topic. Far too many times we highlight those differences instead of keeping the focus on what we have in common with each other.
When we do this enough we will find ourselves surrounded comfortably by only those who share the majority of thoughts, thus isolating ourselves from new and different concepts. We may deny that this is the case, but it would be a hollow argument indeed.
It is when we are completely surrounded by others who are like minded that life loses its flavor. Everything becomes beige and bland. We become judgmental of others when they don't fit into our conceived presumption of what is and isn't good and right. When we allow this to happen, then the only place we can find the one person to correct our course, is in the mirror.
We have to constantly be on guard that we do not become slaves to our perceptions, after all, we no more have divine knowledge than any other person does. This can at times be difficult, because this trait to judge is wired into us as a species.
Our brain loves to attach itself to a single thread of a tapestry and cling to it desperately, all the while trying to convince us that it is the entire tapestry, thereby denying us the ability to step back far enough to see the entire tapestry coming together to form a thing of beauty. It is not the tapestry that suffers when this happens, but us as individuals.
We must teach ourselves to question our own perceptions, to give even greater scrutiny to our own than we would give to others perceptions, we must always be on guard that we are seeking the common ground and shared ideas and ideals instead of locking in on those differences, after all, it is those same differences that make life interesting and full of flavor.
You're A Whole Different Person When You're Scared.
Hey, kids. Things have gotten a little scary, haven't they? This is of course no accident. They've been teaching to be scared since you were a little kid. Scared of strangers. Scared of punishment. Taught "respect" (read: fear) for Authority Figures. Yes, the real lesson that Officer Friendly taught you in grade school is that one day in the future, you might find out just how friendly he is.
In the 70s, Americans were "outaged" (read: scared shitless) by endless hijackings and the seizing of the American embassy in Tehran. This was immediately followed, of course, by strange tales of shame and failure in the Iranian desert, when Operation Eagle Claw went sideways due to gross incompetence on the part of squabbling military branch's logistics branches.
The reaction was immediate. Jimmy Carter was sent packing, to build houses for poor people, and Ronald Reagan was swept into office in a landslide. Here's this kindly-looking tough old grandfather figure, saying "You just hunker down, folks, and we'll deal with these savages". America told itself that it was Standing Tall again, but the reality is that it was merely hiding behind a screen actor who wasn't afraid to do a little saber-rattling.
Reagan also introduced the fear of ourselves...Fear of the Drug Addict, fear of the AIDS Patient. He taught us to look at each other as potential killers and rapists, and to stay inside and shut the hell up. He in fact coined the ultimate expression of fear, "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about". Now pee in this bottle, please, to prove to us all that you aren't a drug-addled monster looking to rape our daughters.
The 80s and 90s were a time of dull fear, of a sense of unease. There was no immediate threat, but we all knew that something was out there, waiting to pounce on us the moment we stopped paying attention.
On September 11th, 2001, It Happened. We all remember that day, right? And there were our public servants, up on a podium, scaring the living shit out of us with the full cooperation & assistance of every major news network. The news stream at the bottom of your television screen was an endless parade of OH SHIT, WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!
After a while, of course, emotional fatigue set in, and people just couldn't work themselves up into an epileptic fit of fear anymore, at least not over terrorists. Foreign ones, anyway. So instead, sometime between 2005 and the present, we were taught to fear our public servants. The TSA, for example, instills pants-shitting terror in just about everyone who flies. You don't make jokes in the airport. No. Not unless you want to find yourself in a small room being cavity-searched by a guy with fingers the size of bratwursts. And if you piss off any of the rest of the executive branch, you'll be killed by drone aircraft or just taken away as a "person of interest", and what's left of your family will live under a bridge and drink filthy water until the day they die.
The question I have to ask, though, is Just what exactly are you afraid of? Why are you putting up with this, especially from a social fiction such as the US Government? Nothing is actually wrong. Let me say that again: Nothing is actually wrong. It's like watching children afraid of the bogeyman, trying to hide in their beds from a threat which does not actually exist.
So just stop for a moment. Stop what you're doing, and hit the TV or Youtube or whatever, and take a good long look at your local, state, and federal government officials. They're monkeys with power ties, they look kind of silly wearing those outfits, don't they?
They are in fact absurd. So just what ARE you afraid of? Terrorists have killed less American people in total than will die in car accidents in the next 3 months. The government? Ridiculous. They can't seem to do ANYTHING right, mostly because they're just a convenient arrangement we dreamt up to make sure that the roads get paved.
The police, perhaps? How many police are there? The only reason they have any power at all is because we agree that they do. Other than that, they're just brigands with tasers and a taste for a little roadside aggression.
But it's not even that, is it? No, the reality is that fear has become your baseline emotion. Everything is assessed first in terms of fight or flight. Aggression or panic. That is the very first filter that you employ when processing any data at all in your lives. Fear for it's own sake. Fear of fear itself, as a giant of a man once said.
And you must enjoy that constant low-level anxiety, right?
Because if you didn't, you'd stop.
Or Kill Me.
(Note: The Doktor Howl version will follow today or tomorrow.)
You're A Whole Different Person When You're Scared.
I have always said that The Good Reverend Roger is too easy on you humans. Spare the beating, spoil the primate, I always say. I mean, it's not like you aren't used to beatings, it's not like you don't expect them and in fact mentally prepare yourself for them every day of your lives.
Take the average citizen. Left to his own devices, he is a rational creature, with a vague notion that he should be able to say and do what he pleases, so long as everything involves consenting adults. Now put in some fear...Say, Rush Limbaugh telling him that the Gays are going to "recruit" his sons and daughters and turn them into homosexuals that won't continue his genetic line.
Suddenly, he's a different guy, isn't he? Now he's ranting about Gay marriage being the work of the devil, and he'll join any lynch mob or pseudo-fascist political party you care to create.
Or maybe tell him that terrorists are going to come kill him and his family, thus ensuring – again – that his genetic line will be erased. Now he's calling the FBI on poor old Habib that runs the gas station on the corner, asking them why that crazy Arab hasn't been hauled off to a camp yet.
Or even tell him that Black people are going to break into his home and rape his wife and daughters. Again, the genetic imperative, yes?
Humans are rational beings until such a time as their ersatz immortality is threatened, at which point they become angry howler monkeys, ready to kill or maim anyone who looks different than they do. There has been precisely zero measurable progress over the last 2 million years, at least in the way humans think.
And don't run off blaming Rush Limbaugh. If people didn't want to hear him, he'd be out of business. Likewise with the so-called "federal government"...Fascists wouldn't be running the show unless humans allowed them to do it. Tyrants don't appear, they are advertised for and then hired by a gutless public that can no longer bear the weight of freedom and self-determination.
On September 20th of 2001, my then-boss's wife was railing about how everyone in America of Middle-Eastern descent should be locked up until such time as they could prove themselves to be "loyal citizens" (the standard she set for loyalty was, of course, religion). I remarked that we had to be free or the terrorists had succeeded, and she looked at me like I was about to reveal a bomb vest.
"We have to be SAFE!", she snarled.
Well, here's a quick tip from your Family Doktor: You aren't safe. You can't be made safe. You are a weaponized ape on a planet full of weaponized apes, and even under the most strict authoritarian rule, you can't stop your neighbor from doing stupid or hostile things.
And besides, freedom – the only acceptable state for a biped – is by definition not safe. "No blood, no foul", play rough, and LIVE.
There was a T-shirt meme back in the 80s/90s, called "No Fear". I always liked that. It spoke to me of primates who refused to be cowed, who refused to fear physical harm or imprisonment, who KNEW, instinctively, that Martin Luther King and Mohammed Ali were the REAL American heroes, and made pantywaists like General Westmoreland look like the absurd little clowns they were.
It's easy to feel brave, after all, as a general, or even in a mob of howling maniacs demanding more war and less butter. It's a lot harder to be brave when alone, when The Man is right there in your face, telling you to toe the line or go to prison for the rest of your life. Or when you know that every time you get behind a podium or walk on the sidewalk, there's a very good chance that some crazed yokel with a rifle will shut you up for good.
Martin Luther King KNEW he was going to die. He alluded to it in his last speech. And he still didn't shut up. He ranted and ranted and when some redneck swine finally shot him, his rants continued, and have never faded away, despite every effort on the part of Those who oppose his message.
Humans can stand on their hind legs. This has been proven. Mohammed Ali stared the United States Army in the face, and threw his career away, just to demonstrate that he was a Free Man, and that they had no power over him. He had no handle for them to grab. Nothing they could take away from him was enough to make him knuckle under...And, in the end, nobody – not even the most virulent racists or hyper-patriots – have the stones to talk trash about him, even though he is now a feeble, sick old man.
So there. You have no excuses, anymore, for the handle sticking out of your forehead. You have no excuse to crawl, no excuse to live in fear of some nebulous threat conveyed by talking heads and criminals in suits. It is time to decide whether you are a rational human being, or a terrified monkey. Nobody can make this choice for you. YOU have to stand upright in the sun, or scurry into the shadows like a rat, and take whatever bullshit They hand you.
And you have to decide NOW.
Okay for now,
Dok
Whoa. Nice one-two punch, there.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 09, 2012, 08:26:02 PM
Whoa. Nice one-two punch, there.
Thanks.
Having a crowded skull
1 sometimes has its advantages.
1 For those of you new to PD, this is not a claim of self-diagnosed multiple personality syndrome or any shit like that. It is rather an admission that my head is simply wired out of code & upside down, with no ground wire installed. Fuck you, I'm
sick!
Charley, I like how you've identified something akin to a filter-within-a-filter, or the echo chamber effect. We create our cells, avoiding things we don't like, and then see others' cells, and then filter out what we don't like about their cells, and we end up in a self-reflexive complex of sameness. I need to think about that, because it intersects what I was going to write about next.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 09, 2012, 08:35:39 PM
Charley, I like how you've identified something akin to a filter-within-a-filter, or the echo chamber effect. We create our cells, avoiding things we don't like, and then see others' cells, and then filter out what we don't like about their cells, and we end up in a self-reflexive complex of sameness. I need to think about that, because it intersects what I was going to write about next.
Thank you, after reading Rogers bits it occurs that filters can be a result of the very fear he was talking about and to tie it to yours it seems possible that at times we tend to try to degrade meaningful topics by going over the top as well. It's not quite cognitive dissonance, but it could be a first cousin to it.
ETA; Now I wonder if we shouldn't attempt to determine the main things that drive our filters.
Hey you! You're not so special!
I know, I know; the world is going to shit, and no one around you seems prepared to wake up and THINK! Horrifying laws are being passed every day that restrict the freedoms of ordinary citizens, and at the same time the laws that used to protect the little guys from the big guys are being struck down. We're at their mercy, but it seems like you're surrounded by a legion of sheep, of armchair heroes who do nothing but cheer on the erosion of their own rights, their own prosperity, and their own future. You feel like you're all alone in a world full of automatons.
After all, the vast majority of the people in this country are Traditional Christian Families who hate gays and teenage girls who get abortions, and love God, war, and Wal-Mart. They get their information from Fox News and they're against taxes and social programs. They think the poor deserve to be poor because they aren't good enough, that homosexuality is a sin, and that if you can't afford healthcare, you probably deserve to die. They're on the side of those big corporations that close down factories and leave whole towns devastated and hopeless so they can increase their profits by moving manufacturing to Mexico. They support the shareholders, and think big business should get welfare and tax breaks the rest of us don't get because What's Good For Big Business is Good For America. Besides, they think they might just be rich someday, and they don't want any slackers taking a nibble out of THEIR slice of pie. Right?
Right?
Hold the phone there, Mister.
Just where did you get this impression, anyway? Who told you that's what most Americans are like? Why do you think you're so unique, so extraordinary, so alone?
It's called alienation, and they're doing it to us on purpose. But who are they?
Five media companies control over 90% of the media in the US, and they have counterparts... mostly inextricably linked counterparts... all over the world. When you hear that "most Americans want this" or "most Americans oppose that", take a moment to ask yourself; in this media-controlled world where what you hear is not what's true so much as what they want you to believe, why would you believe that most Americans are mindless sheep complacently following the shepherd?
Alienation is embedded at all levels of Western culture. In our jobs, we are isolated from the products our companies produce. If we are in manufacturing, we spent months or years or a whole lifetime only handling that one side panel our machine puts out. Just the side panel. How can you take pride in a side panel? How can you pat that side panel and say with satisfaction "Yessirree, I made that!"?
You can't. Work has become a daily grind, and people are working longer, more productive hours for less pay. Who benefits?
You might get laid off at any time. Your co-workers want your job. The company demands loyalty, and the more loyal you are the more likely they are to spare you in the next round of layoffs. Troublemakers don't stay. You know this. You can't trust your co-workers; they have the wrong values, anyway. They're sheep, mindlessly following orders, happily obedient. You do your job and you're glad to have one. You know you won't be getting a raise this quarter but if you keep your head down you might get to pick up an extra shift here and there to make ends meet. Alienation.
The banks have coffers stuffed full of all the extra profits created by the widening gap between wages and production, and are all too happy to lend you (at a low low introductory rate for the first six months) the money you are so short on so you can have the stuff it takes to keep up. But it's just the stuff you need, not like those jackasses down the street who bought a huge flatscreen TV that you can see them watching the game on through their window. You know those guys oppose single-payer health care, you can see it in their baseball caps and their Ford Explorers. You try not to make eye contact when you walk by and they're on the porch smoking. They're different from you; they're not paying attention and they have the wrong values. Alienation.
But wait a minute... if that's what you think of them, what do they think of you? And how is it that if the media is controlled by five giant corporations, all of which also have their fingers in industries ranging from soda to pesticides, everyone thinks it's liberal? Why would the media be telling its audience that the others are different, and they're out to get you?
As you've long suspected, there's someone running the show, and they're telling you all the things they want you to hear.
Most Americans, traditional Christian families or not, want the same things. They want jobs, healthcare, living wages, and a democratic political system in which their voice matters. Most Americans do not hate gays, do support single-payer health care, are concerned for the environment, don't want to be at war, have a strong sense of compassion and concern for their community's well-being, and think big business has too much influence on government.
That last bit has everything to do with why They don't want Us to know that we're really not all that special. If We The People dropped the illusion that we are irreparably divided by what are, in reality, relatively trivial elements to our ideologies, we would learn that our larger ideologies match up much better than They've been telling us... and united, we could do something about getting the power back in the hands of the populace, and government out of the hands of the international mega-corporations. YOU would discover that hey, you! You're not so special!
And doesn't that feel good?
Brrrr, Roger, just reading back through the posts now and yours is fucking awesome.
Holy shit there are two of them! KA-POW! Fucking PERFECT! I like the synergy going on in this thread!
Quote from: Nigel on February 09, 2012, 11:30:59 PM
Holy shit there are two of them! KA-POW! Fucking PERFECT! I like the synergy going on in this thread!
Yeah, I attacked it from both sides of my brain, in a pincers movement.
I am the Von Clauswitz of screeching. :lulz:
Yours is fucking top notch.
Thanks!
This is an incredible thread. I'll have to read it over a few more times and stew on it before I can formulate a proper response. Hot damn.
It makes me think of this idea that we make the most optimum decision that we can within the range of the choices that our genetic predispositions, experiences, and social ecology presents to us....
It also calls to mind the conditions that allow cults to brainwash people: alienation from a supportive social network and insecurity about one's identity. Consumerism as a macro-scale cult....
| Demons are everywhere now. Little invisible trickster spirits. All you have to do is hear about one of them and they copy themselves into your head.
Everybody's head is full of demons. Thousands of them. Most of them sit there quietly until they're activated. You might be on the phone, catching up with an old friend, and she references a time you two went out to see a movie. All of the sudden the demon comes out. It says, "Did you hear they're making another Batman movie?"
That wasn't me talking. A demon said that sentence. I remember when it first possessed me. I was in the living room, my friend was playing the new Batman video game and he said "Did you hear they're making another Batman movie?"
This demon was able to work my brain's control panel so easily because his buddy already has a superuser password. That one entered me while I was reading reading Batman comics as a kid, visualizing what it'd be like to be Batman - rich, mysterious, smart as a whip, empowered... It really spoke to me, to the me I wanted to be. And now that demon is holding the door open for other Batman demons. When the movie comes out, Batman will have access to my bank account.
I started wondering how I can get rid of these demons posessing me. And I started to wonder how Batman would do it. Maybe he'd go into the batcave and use his computer to collect information on them. Maybe he'd make a list of all his demons and knock them out one by one, committing each one to Arkham Asylum.
Then Batman goes back to the cave and Alfred says, "You are meeting so-and-so for dinner tonight." And Batman realizes that Alfred is a demon too.
And Batman realizes that Bruce Wayne is a demon too.
If Batman realized that HE was a demon, would he check himself into Arkham Asylum? And then he stops and I wonder:
who is this demon trying to lock up Batman? | |
Quote from: Net on February 10, 2012, 12:35:22 PM
This is an incredible thread. I'll have to read it over a few more times and stew on it before I can formulate a proper response. Hot damn.
It makes me think of this idea that we make the most optimum decision that we can within the range of the choices that our genetic predispositions, experiences, and social ecology presents to us....
It also calls to mind the conditions that allow cults to brainwash people: alienation from a supportive social network and insecurity about one's identity. Consumerism as a macro-scale cult....
I really like that angle... like a cult that has displaced community.
I have another one brewing, but I want to see which way LMNO goes before I proceed.
We're going in several different directions. Proceed without caution.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 10, 2012, 04:26:28 PM
Proceed without caution.
This needs to be the subtitle.
Or "Proceed Recklessly"
Proceed Recklessly or Cautiously, just Proceed!
yeah, we're diverging a bit, which is 100% okay. After I read LMNO's piece and Roger's pieces, mine sort of tumbled out. It's in step with the first BIP pamphlet I think. Right now, during the brainstorm phase, it's best to just throw everything we can against the wall and hold nothing back.
For my part, I'm trying to avoid a trap I fall into where I write pieces that are basically passages from a self help manual. I don't want to just blast "advice" at people. Every so often I read a piece that I wrote, and it concludes with a vague phrase like "learn to swim", and I wonder how useful that advice really is when phrased that way. My current thinking is that narrative, parables, and imagery can deliver the same information as a straight "advice" piece but some of the defenses people build against persuasion techniques.
My "thinking about things" writing style does tend towards the academic, so color commentary and changes of tone are complimentary and welcome.
Quote from: Cramulus on February 10, 2012, 04:49:56 PM
yeah, we're diverging a bit, which is 100% okay. After I read LMNO's piece and Roger's pieces, mine sort of tumbled out. It's in step with the first BIP pamphlet I think. Right now, during the brainstorm phase, it's best to just throw everything we can against the wall and hold nothing back.
For my part, I'm trying to avoid a trap I fall into where I write pieces that are basically passages from a self help manual. I don't want to just blast "advice" at people. Every so often I read a piece that I wrote, and it concludes with a vague phrase like "learn to swim", and I wonder how useful that advice really is when phrased that way. My current thinking is that narrative, parables, and imagery can deliver the same information as a straight "advice" piece but some of the defenses people build against persuasion techniques.
Gods, I hope mine didn't come across that way, if it did I will remove it right away!
I'm pretty sure he was talking about his own writing, and why Batman suddenly showed up in the thread.
Which, by the way, I liked a lot.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 10, 2012, 05:19:47 PM
I'm pretty sure he was talking about his own writing, and why Batman suddenly showed up in the thread.
Which, by the way, I liked a lot.
I liked it too.
Quote from: Charley Brown on February 10, 2012, 05:15:42 PM
Gods, I hope mine didn't come across that way, if it did I will remove it right away!
oh no way dude! I'm just reflecting on my own writing style. In another life, somebody started calling me "preacher dan" because I was always spouting advice at people. It's a part of me I try to mute because it leads to stuffy guru moments.
I liked your piece too. :)
Nice one, Cram!
it really conveys the idea of something insidious going on inside one's head.
Quote from: Cramulus on February 10, 2012, 05:23:10 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on February 10, 2012, 05:15:42 PM
Gods, I hope mine didn't come across that way, if it did I will remove it right away!
oh no way dude! I'm just reflecting on my own writing style. In another life, somebody started calling me "preacher dan" because I was always spouting advice at people. It's a part of me I try to mute because it leads to stuffy guru moments.
I liked your piece too. :)
Whew. Had me worried for a minute there! :oops:
"The sound shivers through the walls, through the table, through the window frame, and into my finger. These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics. Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother's holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed... and this being fed, it's worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world." Chuck Palahniuk
Everyone is so worried about Big Brother watching. People spend hours every day wasting time and energy on the worry that someone might see something. Bi-peds hold their privacy so close, it is as important to them as air.
Maybe that is the problem. Everyone is so worried about who might see something they stopped concerning themselves with what they are or are not seeing. See Big Brother isn't watching us, we are watching him.
Few are safe, because humanity has become addicted to watching everyone else, they've forgotten that there are traps they cannot see. They don't think about the things that once seen cannot be unseen. So they watch.
What are those Kardashians up to today?
Who's left in the Big Brother house?
Is Lindsey Lohan back in jail?
Who will be the NEXT American Idol?
While humanity is distracted with trivial interests like this, Big Brother, he's kicking ass in every corner no one is looking. While so many were worried about some little girl falling off a stage last night on American Idol, 28 people were killed and another 235 wounded in Syria.
While everyone is watching everyone else's status on Facebook, a couple was killed in Tennessee for un-friending another woman. The couple's eight month old baby was found in its dead mother's arms.
While Obama caves on the birth control issue and the Catholic church continues with it's go forth and multiply message, proven by the average daily births worldwide of 353,015, no one stops to wonder what happens when there is just no more room.
Is it possible that we need to stop looking at the obvious and find out what the obvious is hiding behind its back?
Quote from: Cramulus on February 10, 2012, 04:49:56 PM
yeah, we're diverging a bit, which is 100% okay. After I read LMNO's piece and Roger's pieces, mine sort of tumbled out. It's in step with the first BIP pamphlet I think. Right now, during the brainstorm phase, it's best to just throw everything we can against the wall and hold nothing back.
For my part, I'm trying to avoid a trap I fall into where I write pieces that are basically passages from a self help manual. I don't want to just blast "advice" at people. Every so often I read a piece that I wrote, and it concludes with a vague phrase like "learn to swim", and I wonder how useful that advice really is when phrased that way. My current thinking is that narrative, parables, and imagery can deliver the same information as a straight "advice" piece but some of the defenses people build against persuasion techniques.
Awesome, that helps me understand the piece better! I was trying to jam it into the context of commonalities, and it wouldn't fit. I absolutely agree that we should proceed without caution, full speed ahead, TO THE WALL, and then see what sticks to it.
I really dig that last one, Charley.
One thought: Maybe change "Catholic Church" to "Organized religion"? Most of the births on the planet are in countries where Catholicism is rare.
Quote from: Nigel on February 10, 2012, 08:18:06 PM
I really dig that last one, Charley.
One thought: Maybe change "Catholic Church" to "Organized religion"? Most of the births on the planet are in countries where Catholicism is rare.
Thanks! Let me think on that change, it was written with the current political climate in the US in mind.
I am currently smacking my brain around, working on a piece called "Discordia is Not a Brand".
I expect to finish it either today or Monday.
I'm halfway through part two. I'm getting distracted by work. :lol:
Hot damn, you guys are prolific!
"We The People..."
Famous words, indeed, potentially powerful words, even.
Has the intent and meaning of those words been lost? Are we now We The Lawyers, We The Workers, We The Poor, We The Rich, well, you get the idea.
It seems that nearly everyone these days has an agenda, and if you don't agree with that agenda, then you are an outsider, one of "them". Someone to be ridiculed or reviled and dismissed.
We, the inhabitants of the planet, are fractured into billions of pieces, unable or unwilling to realize what we have allowed to happen. I can't place the blame on politicians or banks or corporations, after all, they have only done what we have allowed them to do. We have allowed ourselves to become followers, blindly following whomever has the spotlight at the moment. We have stopped formulating our own thoughts and opinions and have become like a ship with no course and no anchor.
What we do have, in many cases, is a vague concept that hasn't been properly nurtured. When this happens, someone can make a comment that may strike a chord within us and we begin partly listening, without thinking it through. We are responding to tribalism when this happens. We then begin to gravitate towards that person and allow them to formulate out opinions.
Then it gets worse, we start looking at others who simply can't, in our minds, see the brilliance our new guru is spouting. Now, because we haven't thought it through, is that we become suspicious of the "others" and we may even attempt to convert them, to help them see the light that is shining down on us from our new leader. If we aren't successful then we can start talking louder, because volume always helps, right?
When that fails, then it's time to start distrusting or hating the "others", because they have become a threat to our new found knowledge and sense of 'rightness'. How can they not see and what are they going to do to try to destroy this light?
Then, of course, the "others" decide to fight back, defending themselves and attempting to show their attackers just how wrong they are for following such a silly guru. The "others" then go on the offensive and the situation escalates. Then new others show up and say that they are both wrong.
QUIET PLEASE!!!
What has now happened, is that we have allowed ourselves to become divided. Not just a division that can be compromised around, but a huge and terrible wall between us.
Military history buffs will tell you that successfully dividing your enemy is the first step towards victory. In the scenario above everyone has allowed themselves to be completely manipulated by an unknown source. They are blissfully ignorant that there is an invisible enemy who is now perfectly poised to conquer them all. There is still time to set aside those petty differences and join together to fight a greater, common enemy, but have we become so caught up in the unbeliever directly in front of us that we forgot to watch our flanks. I fear that we have, our doom may be well sealed.
Picture a few trees, each tree filled with primates, each from a different tribe, each screaming and fling shit at each other. The noise is so deafening that it is impossible to make any sense of any of it. The shit continues to fly.
This will insure that every day will be a shitty day.
Charley when you say a source poised to conquer us all to you mean one internal that affects all of us, or some external entity. I think we should be wary of "some external entity trying to conquer us all" rhetoric because it really starts sounding like some kind of conspiracy theory. It paints an us vs them in a different but equally destructive, and vacuous, way.
Also I liked the other lines about Big Brother holding all of our attention with magic tricks and illusions but I think it might fall into the thing I said previously.
Some of these could also be linked to the Chao.
There is only people. Distinctions like us and them and distractions, illusions.
We are what we have allowed ourselves to become. Which could also tie into a greater notion of responsibility for one's own life and actions instead of blaming others or nebulous entities. Saying "I just work here." isn't a sufficient excuse. If we all 'just work here' then we are responsible for our own problems societal or otherwise.
Quote from: Wolfgang Absolutus on February 12, 2012, 02:37:28 PM
Charley when you say a source poised to conquer us all to you mean one internal that affects all of us, or some external entity. I think we should be wary of "some external entity trying to conquer us all" rhetoric because it really starts sounding like some kind of conspiracy theory. It paints an us vs them in a different but equally destructive, and vacuous, way.
Also I liked the other lines about Big Brother holding all of our attention with magic tricks and illusions but I think it might fall into the thing I said previously.
Internal. Tribalism, bigotry, hatred, all of these things come from within.
Quote from: Charley Brown on February 12, 2012, 03:04:18 PM
Quote from: Wolfgang Absolutus on February 12, 2012, 02:37:28 PM
Charley when you say a source poised to conquer us all to you mean one internal that affects all of us, or some external entity. I think we should be wary of "some external entity trying to conquer us all" rhetoric because it really starts sounding like some kind of conspiracy theory. It paints an us vs them in a different but equally destructive, and vacuous, way.
Also I liked the other lines about Big Brother holding all of our attention with magic tricks and illusions but I think it might fall into the thing I said previously.
Internal. Tribalism, bigotry, hatred, all of these things come from within.
Then I have no criticisms. Good work.
Quote from: Wolfgang Absolutus on February 12, 2012, 03:05:47 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on February 12, 2012, 03:04:18 PM
Quote from: Wolfgang Absolutus on February 12, 2012, 02:37:28 PM
Charley when you say a source poised to conquer us all to you mean one internal that affects all of us, or some external entity. I think we should be wary of "some external entity trying to conquer us all" rhetoric because it really starts sounding like some kind of conspiracy theory. It paints an us vs them in a different but equally destructive, and vacuous, way.
Also I liked the other lines about Big Brother holding all of our attention with magic tricks and illusions but I think it might fall into the thing I said previously.
Internal. Tribalism, bigotry, hatred, all of these things come from within.
Then I have no criticisms. Good work.
Thanks, I forgot to add fear as well.
This is a great thread! I want to participate, but I can't just do this on demand and expect it to be good. Here's hoping inspiration strikes soon. In the meantime, guys, keep up the good work!
Edit: It also doesn't help that Nigel took the words right out of my brain. Seriously, lady, that first post of yours was AWESOME!
Thanks. :)
There is No Discordian Brand Name
You hear it all the time, anywhere where Discordians meet..."What is Discordian Music/Movies/etc?". In a religion in which the only commandment is "Think For Yourself, Schmuck", this has got to be the absolute nadir of irony.
Of course, there IS Discordian literature. That is to say, there are books and articles on Discordianism (you're reading one right now), but you can't point at a work of fiction and say "that is or is not Discordian". By its very definition, Discordianism is what YOU want it to be. You are not required to get consensus, or to maintain lists of what is or is not Discordian. You CAN, of course, but people will point and laugh.
There are no set rules, for example, for having a Discordian wedding. For one Discordian, the wedding might involve Harley Davidsons and assless chaps. For another, it might involve a full Catholic ceremony, done with an entirely straight face.
If you want an Official Discordian™ List O' Reading Material or whatever, than you have in fact found the ONE way to DO IT WRONG. If you want church members to tell you what is and what is not canon, then you are in the wrong religion. You could try Catholicism, or maybe Scientology or even the Moonies. They will tell you what to do, and how to do it.
So will I, come to think of it, but religious consultation can get a little pricey. Write me a line detailing your questions, and I'll send you an estimate. Once we have all the financial monkey business out of the way, I'll tell you what you need to listen to, watch, read, have sex with, whatever, in order to be a REALLY REAL DISCORDIAN FOR REALNESS.
However, all sales are FINAL. Cash UP FRONT. No personal cheques, please.
There. That's settled...So no more asking what's "Discordian", unless you are willing to dig DEEP, brother/sister/etc. I mean, you wouldn't go to the doctor and ask for advice without expecting to be billed, right? You wouldn't ask a plumber to blast out that enormous fossilized turdball stuck down in the pipes for free? What kind of person ARE you? Apparently, some sort of COMMUNIST or perhaps even a TERRORIST, and we have PLACES for people like you, and big, corn-fed brutes from Alabama to tend to your rehabilitation.
So knock it off.
Or Kill Me.
This whole thread is awesome.
So far, I've been talking about how the cells and bars that were given to us, or imposed upon us, or as an accretion of what we have experienced. But what about when we realize the kind of game we're playing, and then begin redecorating for ourselves? And what about when we seek out and build new cell walls with other people?
Obviously, there are some limitations we can't change. We've gone over that before. But as far as mental/psychological bricks and bars go, then, to quote the Chao te Ching, "turning one into the other is simple as changing your mind. [please note that changing your mind is not simple.]" We can make an effort to overcome barriers and fill in gaps, provided we know what we're looking for. We can study the many kinds of bias and be mindful to recognize when we're falling for it, and we can challenge our assumptions for which we never received good evidence. And as far as I can tell, it makes us better bipeds for it.
Of course, we see the bars of other people's prisons much more easily than we see our own ("you're making conclusions without proof, while I simply have faith," and all that). And if we're going to share common walls, we're going to see things in the people we're sharing with that seem to us like serious limitations: A Pro-Gay-Rights Republican; a punker who also likes Chick Corea; a LARPer who likes anchovies on their pizza; an Occupy-er who's also racist. And there's usually a strong impulse to call out barriers we don't like in other people. But this can lead to what Roger has pointed out among a lot of good-minded activists – A tendency to focus on the differences rather than the similarities.
Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that we blindly open arms and accept a "means justifies the end" approach when we work with other people. Considerations must be made if the non-common things in a person's life case a pall or taint the entire purpose of the collaboration (the example of a racist Occupy person comes to mind). But at the same time, we need to make a conscious and deliberate effort to establish the point where another person's un-shared belief hurts the group, and where your belief about their un-shared belief hurts the group.
There seems to be an unspoken and unexamined bit of "truthiness" that says a group must be orthodox and in complete agreement about a subject, or else all is lost. But this is clearly bullshit. Just in the same way that your walls can have similar properties as another persons', you have to also recognize that there will be differences, as well. If you set the bar too high, you're going to isolate yourself and your actions to a point where they are not effective.
Very nice.
I have a couple of ideas for "advertisements" to be placed in the book. Is that something we're interested in?
I'm open to all ideas. The more creativity, the better.
Working on a part 3.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 13, 2012, 05:03:27 PM
I'm open to all ideas. The more creativity, the better.
Working on a part 3.
Okay, I'll start lashing them together.
One is an advertisement for The Church, and the other is for Herpaderp (the product that does exactly what it says on the label).
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 13, 2012, 04:58:28 PM
Very nice.
I have a couple of ideas for "advertisements" to be placed in the book. Is that something we're interested in?
I totally think so.
Quote from: Nigel on February 13, 2012, 07:32:04 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 13, 2012, 04:58:28 PM
Very nice.
I have a couple of ideas for "advertisements" to be placed in the book. Is that something we're interested in?
I totally think so.
You need to get in on the Herpaderp one, since it was originally your idea.
Adding this to the mix, as per TGRR:
Quote from: Cainad on February 13, 2012, 07:29:59 PM
I shall dig you a grave, that you may find new purpose in life by struggling to climb out.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 13, 2012, 04:56:53 PM
So far, I've been talking about how the cells and bars that were given to us, or imposed upon us, or as an accretion of what we have experienced. But what about when we realize the kind of game we're playing, and then begin redecorating for ourselves? And what about when we seek out and build new cell walls with other people?
Obviously, there are some limitations we can't change. We've gone over that before. But as far as mental/psychological bricks and bars go, then, to quote the Chao te Ching, "turning one into the other is simple as changing your mind. [please note that changing your mind is not simple.]" We can make an effort to overcome barriers and fill in gaps, provided we know what we're looking for. We can study the many kinds of bias and be mindful to recognize when we're falling for it, and we can challenge our assumptions for which we never received good evidence. And as far as I can tell, it makes us better bipeds for it.
Of course, we see the bars of other people's prisons much more easily than we see our own ("you're making conclusions without proof, while I simply have faith," and all that). And if we're going to share common walls, we're going to see things in the people we're sharing with that seem to us like serious limitations: A Pro-Gay-Rights Republican; a punker who also likes Chick Corea; a LARPer who likes anchovies on their pizza; an Occupy-er who's also racist. And there's usually a strong impulse to call out barriers we don't like in other people. But this can lead to what Roger has pointed out among a lot of good-minded activists – A tendency to focus on the differences rather than the similarities.
Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that we blindly open arms and accept a "means justifies the end" approach when we work with other people. Considerations must be made if the non-common things in a person's life case a pall or taint the entire purpose of the collaboration (the example of a racist Occupy person comes to mind). But at the same time, we need to make a conscious and deliberate effort to establish the point where another person's un-shared belief hurts the group, and where your belief about their un-shared belief hurts the group.
There seems to be an unspoken and unexamined bit of "truthiness" that says a group must be orthodox and in complete agreement about a subject, or else all is lost. But this is clearly bullshit. Just in the same way that your walls can have similar properties as another persons', you have to also recognize that there will be differences, as well. If you set the bar too high, you're going to isolate yourself and your actions to a point where they are not effective.
Definitely what I had in mind when I mentioned "addressing alienation from an optimistic perspective" was a focus on solutions, and on finding commonalities. The BIP is very much about recognizing our own bars, and taking control of them... I think that "Common Walls" is poised to point out the shared bars that divide us, and to inspire, hopefully, an optimism for moving those bars.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 13, 2012, 07:33:59 PM
Quote from: Nigel on February 13, 2012, 07:32:04 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 13, 2012, 04:58:28 PM
Very nice.
I have a couple of ideas for "advertisements" to be placed in the book. Is that something we're interested in?
I totally think so.
You need to get in on the Herpaderp one, since it was originally your idea.
Good goddamn, it was? :lol: Oh, the things I forget!
the prison dwells
as far back in time
as livings cells.
and, as cells,
living become our prisons,
themselves.
if our prisons jell
together, then together
we're like cells
as well.
well...
at least so far as I can tell...
EDIT: Fix't for improved punctuation and rhythm.
Oooo Dimo! I really like that!
We're all the same, just in different ways...
Your prison is the summation of all the things that have happened to you in your life. No one else has lived all of those experiences in the same way that you have. Yet, your prison is similar to Other People's Prisons (You down with OPP?). Every cell has that large cinder block foundation made of materials like "mammal", "land dweller", "earthling", "puberty", "birth", "knowledge of death". These blocks are held together by mortar made of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell... just like every other prison cell in the place.
Of course, that spot worn in the floor where you pace back and forth, that's somewhat unique. Every cell has one, but some are short, some run the length of the cell, some are deeply marked from constant frenetic pacing, while others are light and barely noticeable. Some inmates pace, desperate to escape, some rarely pace, perhaps forgetting that they're in prison.
The material in your wall and bars, well those are less common. Not everyone has that chunk of bricks labeled "raised conservative christian", but you might be surprised how often that one makes an appearance. Some cells don't have the bar made of "liberal politics", but oddly, the ones with the bar made of "conservative politics" appears almost identical in so many ways.
Hell, even that spot where you took a sledgehammer to the wall and built yourself a nice rec room... its not entirely unique. Other inmates have also remodeled their cell. Your remodeling is still distinct though, but are you really proud of being the only one that selected the "Elvis on Velvet" decor?
So what difference does it make? We're all in prison cells, we can never break completely free, we didn't even get a say in the early development of the walls and bars. Why should we care if our cell is entirely unique or full of similarities?
I'll tell you why.
Every belief, every experience, every brick and bar of your BiP has a flaw. It can be broken, busted, rusted, knocked loose and replaced with something slightly less constricting. Not every brick and bar can be broken with the same sledge. Not every guard can be knocked out with the same barstool. Not every tunnel can be dug with the same spoon. However, similar bricks and similar bars can often be broken or removed in similar ways. We are not all the same, but the similarities mean that we can learn from each other. If the guy in the cell next door finds a way to break his "conservative politics" bar, you may be able to learn from that when wriggling your 'liberal politics' bar loose. When someone knocks loose the brick made of 'betrayed love', you might gain some insight on how to dislodge that same brick from your wall.
We are all unique. Uniqueness allows us to put information together in new ways, it allows us to stumble on new ideas and it provides us with an experience that will never be duplicated. Yet, we can say the same about that pig who died for your bacon, that tree that died for your hickory smoke and that kitten you gave half of your breakfast to. Not so special now, is it? Everything that lives and dies is unique and will have a unique set of experiences... whoopie.
We are all similar. Similarities allow us to communicate. Similarities allow us to have compassion, empathy and the similarities allow us to learn from the similar experiences of others. The uniqueness is not so special, however being able to share, analyze and act on the similarities, THAT is some pretty special stuff.
I like it, Rat. The idea of information sharing to help create communal experiences/spaces.
Also, thanks for temporarily buying back in to the BIP metaphor, and not arguing it's "bleakness".
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 14, 2012, 12:49:18 PM
I like it, Rat. The idea of information sharing to help create communal experiences/spaces.
Also, thanks for temporarily buying back in to the BIP metaphor, and not arguing it's "bleakness".
I swapped out that brick for a small window ;-)
There once was a young man who was born in Texas.
He hated it. He hated the anti-intellectualism, hated the casual attitude towards the destruction of the planet, hated the way the word "nigger" rolled off the tongues of his family members, hated the music, hated the religion. He didn't want to be in Texas. He didn't want any part of himself to be Texas. He was going to jailbreak, if it was the last thing he did.
He moved away. He avoided contact with his family. He educated himself and argued for atheism loudly and often. He took speech lessons to remove his accent and never once allowed himself to slip. He never owned a handgun. He became a liberal figurehead in his community and marched for the environment. He married a pretty black girl and raised three beautiful mixed-race atheist children. At last, he though to himself, I have freed myself from my prison. He removed the last mental brick from the Wall of Texas inside his mind.
And behind it was the Wall of Raised in Texas.
Very nice, QG. Deliberately flouting convention for the sake of flouting convention means you're still allowing convention to rule your life.
Really great pieces, Rat and Gogira!
The Black Iron Prison is the only place where everyone is a lifer there at some point. It doesn't matter whether you read the terms and agreement because there are none, there is no loop hole to get of there. Everyone is born there, and everyone dies there. How you choose to live there, however, is up to each individual person. You can isolate yourself in your cell, or you can explore the Prison, but beware, for there are many dangers of which you may not know of. There is one danger you must be cautious of at all times. It is whispered amongst the inmates, a being which is so monstrous that he is no longer considered human. No one knows his name, or how he ended up the way he is, but they all know to avoid his cell. His hair is black and encrusted with dried blood, his body is nothing more than a hulking mass of muscle, and he wears a mask to hide his face, though you can see his eyes. His eyes are bright yet dark, and they capture prey who wander in carelessly. And what exactly is his prey you ask? Why what else could it be other than humans? Many have met their death in his lair, and few have survived. Bones litter almost every corner of his cell, and he carries a butcher knife, which is how he came to be called The Butcher. He welcomes one and all with a charming devilish smile.
His complete opposite would be Dave. Outside the Prison, Dave is an accountant, but he is very plain and boring. But within the Prison Dave isolates himself within his room. He refuses to allow anyone to enter, and all he does is mutter to himself, or rather to his wife's head. You see, Dave couldn't take the Black Iron Prison any longer, so while his wife slept he chopped her head off. He buried her corpse in a park or something, but keeps her head in the freezer. You see, Dave tends to mix reality with the Prison, and can never tell which one he is in. In reality he pretends to be a man who tries to be happy even though his wife supposedly left him, but in the Black Iron Prison he can keep his wife forever. He'll hold her rotting head lovingly in his arms and whisper about how someday he'll get them both out of there, and that they'll be free. Poor Dave, he'll never be able to leave until he casts off the mortal coil. Perhaps someday he'll realize that.
Now don't get me wrong, there are other people who aren't crazy within the confines of the Prison. In fact, probably the most sane people in there are a pair of twins. The twins, James and Sophia, they explore the Prison and know almost everyone in it for they have quite a good memory. They've even gone so deep into the Prison that they've found the older ones that no one uses anymore. The cells that have fallen into disrepair and crumble at the slightest touch, and something like a moss grows on the walls. But the farther they venture in, the darker it gets, until they may never be able to find their way back.
A dream you can't wake up from, no matter how much you want to or don't want to.
THE END.
That's daddy's little psychotic! :lulz:
Quote from: Cramulus on February 20, 2012, 02:56:38 PM
x-post
(http://i39.tinypic.com/1179wdk/5)
We're immersed in time.
So we rarely notice it or think about it. It's a forbidden topic -- the ellipses following a euphemism. We pretend that we're not drowning in time. We just doggy paddle down the mysterious river.
Some photographs remind you. They show you a moment that has passed. A snowflake that has melted into a drop of water, refracting the light into a spectrum. The colors of buildings. The costumes of the actors. The shape of a car. The fonts on a sign. You don't have to go back very far before everything starts looking foreign.
If you were to travel through time, even if you remained in the same city, you would be a foreigner. Sometimes that thought makes me very lonely. We have to face the mystery alone.
The faces in the photograph look at you with knowing eyes.
But they don't know, you know.
Their mystery has melted. My mystery is now. I am writing it as I'm solving it. Mystery novelists say you should start with the ending and then work backwards. So I take a mental snapshot of the future. I'm looking at the fonts, the shapes of cars, the spectrum of color hidden in the white light. When you look at a photograph of the future, does it make you nostalgic for the present?
Let's take a moment to drink it in and reflect.
A bunch of foreigners gripping umbrellas form a line to immigrate. | .................................................................................. |
On Joining The Church:
I always knew everything was screwed up...Like this was the test-run, prototype universe that was never actually intended for actual use, right? But the funding for the finished product ran out, and we got stuck here.
Then I found The Book of the Subgenius in the early 80s, and I liked what I saw...But it wasn't QUITE what fit the bill. Then I came across the PD a year or so later, and IT wasn't really what I needed. But taken together, they made a hell of a lot of sense. In fact, the only thing I've ever added to it in my head is some of Warren Ellis and HST's weirder stuff.
I don't worry about what the atheists say, or the Christians, or even the Buddhists. They're not my people. My people are on PD and in the pervert bars and the low streets of the Holy City™ of Eris. I may holler, I may rant and screech obscenities at you, but that's not necessarily because I think you're wrong or you're a bad person, it's because I am a very, very angry monkey who feels better when he roars, because it reduces the pressure of the endless hate & rage that is in my head, put there by a planet full of monkeys that never learned the old axiom "Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD".
Really love this thread.
So, editing people, have you already got a layout person lined up, or is that something I can help with?
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 22, 2012, 04:07:09 PM
So, editing people, have you already got a layout person lined up, or is that something I can help with?
I am totally down with this, and I believe I saw that LMNO said that he is too... that would be awesome!
Part 3
So, we've seen common walls that occur naturally, and we've seen those that are created in collaboration; and we've discussed what happens with the inevitable differences that arise, but the subtle and the major. But consider this: The differences you see in your shared wall could very well be merely a shadow case by one of your very own bars.
For example, Joe and Sam both love the music of the Delta Blues; both love barbecue, and both want to work together to improve the civil rights of women. But for some reason, they simply can't agree on anything, and their attempts at conversation always end in acrimony and bitterness. Because as it happens, Joe is white and was born in South Africa in 1942, and Sam is a black American born in 1984. Obviously, Joe's biases are getting in the way.
Now, while this is an obvious example, follow the trail to its conclusion. Since your cell is made up of your experiences, the differences you see in the common wall are not just your neighbor's, they're yours, as well. It's very easy to fall into "Right Man" syndrome when encountering something familiar and different at the same time. Your brain clicks into the familiarities being "right", the unfamiliar things being "wrong", and you find yourself simply unable to stop and self-analyze the situation. Because maybe, just maybe, you're the "Joe" character in the above story.
But if we're trying to both set the bar high enough for other's differences and at the same time make allowances for our own potential biases, we again run into problems. There's a saying, "Do not understand me too quickly." That's what happens when you only focus on what's familiar. If you ignore everything that someone is sharing with you except for the familiar things, then you will completely misunderstand any message that adds something new to the signal. You'll think you understand what is being communicated, but in no time at all, you'll be stuck in your own cell again, and eventually fuck something up.
The point of common walls is a focal point, a foundation; they're too unstable to support anything of value on their own from the very start. It takes work, effort, and an understanding of both yourself and your neighbor to transmit information and work together to build more familiarity, to strengthen the wall you share.
If you focus on the differences, the common wall will never get started.
If you focus on the similarities, the common wall will not last.
If you work together to build more familiarity, the wall will grow stronger.
Quote from: Nigel on February 22, 2012, 04:39:39 PM
Quote from: Queen Gogira Pennyworth, BSW on February 22, 2012, 04:07:09 PM
So, editing people, have you already got a layout person lined up, or is that something I can help with?
I am totally down with this, and I believe I saw that LMNO said that he is too... that would be awesome!
SEXYAWESOMEFUN!
Let me know when you guys settle on an order to put in the things that are already done and made the cut, and I can start working on my end. I think as it stands right now it may be able to fit in a single booklet, but with a bunch of people still saying they're not done it may end up being a multiple booklet deal.
For now, leave it open ended. Focus on design, look, and feel. Try a few things out, experiment, play around. We'll probably change our minds about thing at the drop of a hat, so don't get too committed. Might be a good idea to start by grouping by tone, length, and subject, which then can be arranged to form an arc. However, since things are still being written, everything is mutable.
Definitely not putting a cap on anything, just figured I'd give you a heads up on the multiple booklet issue before I get too involved.
Quote from: Charley Brown on February 10, 2012, 07:53:01 PM
"The sound shivers through the walls, through the table, through the window frame, and into my finger. These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics. Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother's holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed... and this being fed, it's worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world." Chuck Palahniuk
Everyone is so worried about Big Brother watching. People spend hours every day wasting time and energy on the worry that someone might see something. Bi-peds hold their privacy so close, it is as important to them as air.
Maybe that is the problem. Everyone is so worried about who might see something they stopped concerning themselves with what they are or are not seeing. See Big Brother isn't watching us, we are watching him.
Few are safe, because humanity has become addicted to watching everyone else, they've forgotten that there are traps they cannot see. They don't think about the things that once seen cannot be unseen. So they watch.
What are those Kardashians up to today?
Who's left in the Big Brother house?
Is Lindsey Lohan back in jail?
Who will be the NEXT American Idol?
While humanity is distracted with trivial interests like this, Big Brother, he's kicking ass in every corner no one is looking. While so many were worried about some little girl falling off a stage last night on American Idol, 28 people were killed and another 235 wounded in Syria.
While everyone is watching everyone else's status on Facebook, a couple was killed in Tennessee for un-friending another woman. The couple's eight month old baby was found in its dead mother's arms.
While Obama caves on the birth control issue and the Catholic church continues with it's go forth and multiply message, proven by the average daily births worldwide of 353,015, no one stops to wonder what happens when there is just no more room.
Is it possible that we need to stop looking at the obvious and find out what the obvious is hiding behind its back?
Khara has decided to take ownership of this piece. I posted it here under my name at her request, and now, at her request I am giving her the credit.
Oh yeah... I liked that piece when it was written. Good to see it's found a new home.
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on February 24, 2012, 03:37:28 PM
Oh yeah... I liked that piece when it was written. Good to see it's found a new home.
I will pass this on to her and thanks!
(Crossposted from the Citizens United thread)
Faith in American supremacy has always been founded in the American Dream; the belief that the system that benefits the rich will benefit YOU some day, because in America, anyone can get rich enough to own a house and a nice car. The American Dream has been largely mythical from the beginning, but since the 1970's it's been a lie which is getting harder and harder to maintain. The people are becoming aware, and aren't as dully complacent as the media wants us to continue thinking they are.
We have these various lunatic fringe groups who are absolutely convinced that they represent the majority, because that's what the media has told us all. But their numbers don't back it up. The real Average American is not a complacent sow parked in front of American Idol; the real Average American is working too many hours for not enough pay, is upside-down on a mortgage that he's not sure he's going to be able to pay this month, has inadequate health insurance, is in favor of universal health care, eats poorly and is overweight and feels bad but is too damn tired all the time to do anything about it, does not give a shit whether his gay neighbors can get married, is afraid his job (which he hates) is going to be lost due to offshoring, and is helplessly outraged at the influence corporations have over the government.
The only thing keeping them in check is the carefully media-fostered belief that the rest of America consists of fat, happy, bigoted consumers who support the status quo, and that there are so many of them that we can't do anything to change things. When something big like Occupy comes along, the media does its level best to make sure the people involved are portrayed as radicals, hippies, spoiled trust-fund kids, anything but regular people you can identify with, because if you can see yourself in a movement you might join it.
Truth is, the them we're so afraid of is us.
HEY
This was a goddamn good thread.
Feel free to use the OP in the new project.
LMNO is already on it, I see!
Bump.
Also to easily find this later and give it the read it deserves.
I suppose it is too late to try to contribute with something to the project?
Quote from: Mistre on October 10, 2012, 02:28:14 AM
I suppose it is too late to try to contribute with something to the project?
Hit the project board for BIP2013, and post your contribution. I'll see if Net can squeeze it in.
With your permission, I'd like to yoink this for a FB group that's discussing "American Exceptionalism", with or without the @DarkEmpressNigel attribution as you prefer...
Quote from: Man Green on February 27, 2012, 08:13:12 PM
(Crossposted from the Citizens United thread)
Faith in American supremacy has always been founded in the American Dream; the belief that the system that benefits the rich will benefit YOU some day, because in America, anyone can get rich enough to own a house and a nice car. The American Dream has been largely mythical from the beginning, but since the 1970's it's been a lie which is getting harder and harder to maintain. The people are becoming aware, and aren't as dully complacent as the media wants us to continue thinking they are.
We have these various lunatic fringe groups who are absolutely convinced that they represent the majority, because that's what the media has told us all. But their numbers don't back it up. The real Average American is not a complacent sow parked in front of American Idol; the real Average American is working too many hours for not enough pay, is upside-down on a mortgage that he's not sure he's going to be able to pay this month, has inadequate health insurance, is in favor of universal health care, eats poorly and is overweight and feels bad but is too damn tired all the time to do anything about it, does not give a shit whether his gay neighbors can get married, is afraid his job (which he hates) is going to be lost due to offshoring, and is helplessly outraged at the influence corporations have over the government.
The only thing keeping them in check is the carefully media-fostered belief that the rest of America consists of fat, happy, bigoted consumers who support the status quo, and that there are so many of them that we can't do anything to change things. When something big like Occupy comes along, the media does its level best to make sure the people involved are portrayed as radicals, hippies, spoiled trust-fund kids, anything but regular people you can identify with, because if you can see yourself in a movement you might join it.
Truth is, the them we're so afraid of is us.
Quote from: NoLeDeMiel on October 18, 2012, 09:09:50 PM
With your permission, I'd like to yoink this for a FB group that's discussing "American Exceptionalism", with or without the @DarkEmpressNigel attribution as you prefer...
Quote from: Man Green on February 27, 2012, 08:13:12 PM
(Crossposted from the Citizens United thread)
Faith in American supremacy has always been founded in the American Dream; the belief that the system that benefits the rich will benefit YOU some day, because in America, anyone can get rich enough to own a house and a nice car. The American Dream has been largely mythical from the beginning, but since the 1970's it's been a lie which is getting harder and harder to maintain. The people are becoming aware, and aren't as dully complacent as the media wants us to continue thinking they are.
We have these various lunatic fringe groups who are absolutely convinced that they represent the majority, because that's what the media has told us all. But their numbers don't back it up. The real Average American is not a complacent sow parked in front of American Idol; the real Average American is working too many hours for not enough pay, is upside-down on a mortgage that he's not sure he's going to be able to pay this month, has inadequate health insurance, is in favor of universal health care, eats poorly and is overweight and feels bad but is too damn tired all the time to do anything about it, does not give a shit whether his gay neighbors can get married, is afraid his job (which he hates) is going to be lost due to offshoring, and is helplessly outraged at the influence corporations have over the government.
The only thing keeping them in check is the carefully media-fostered belief that the rest of America consists of fat, happy, bigoted consumers who support the status quo, and that there are so many of them that we can't do anything to change things. When something big like Occupy comes along, the media does its level best to make sure the people involved are portrayed as radicals, hippies, spoiled trust-fund kids, anything but regular people you can identify with, because if you can see yourself in a movement you might join it.
Truth is, the them we're so afraid of is us.
It's OK with me, but please credit it as an excerpt by Nigel from BIP 2013.