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Balance

Started by chaotic neutral observer, March 01, 2019, 01:55:24 AM

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chaotic neutral observer

We all seek balance in our daily lives.  Life-work balance, a balanced diet, balancing the needs of family and friends, balancing exercise and relaxation.

Balance is also needed in the world at large.  Balance between order and chaos, right and left, liberal and conservative, light and dark, good and evil, peanut butter and jelly.

What a crock of crap.

Balance between good and evil?  That's like asking for balance between being punched in the balls and not being punched in the balls, or a balance between being disease-free and terminal tuberculosis.  Good and evil don't need to be balanced.  That's a bunch of cosmic yin-yang hippie bullshit.

Star Wars said there needed to be balance between the light and dark sides of the force, but what was the real choice you were being presented with?  Between a bunch of pretentious weirdos in funny robes and a guy who thought it was smarter to blow up planets than to conquer and tax them.  They don't need to be balanced, they need to be institutionalized.

"Work-life balance"?  That's just code for "I hope my company understands that I need to leave the premises sometimes."  You're not taking time off from your job to rest, you're taking time off from your life to work.  You don't need to balance the amount of work you do, you need to minimize it.

You think "smart" and "stupid" need to be balanced?  You think both sides of the argument always deserve equal time?  No, if you're asking for balance, you probably just mean "the other guy is winning and it's making me feel bad so please listen to me".

Nobody seeking balance ever achieved anything notable.  You want to be somebody, you want to do something, you gotta go to the limit.  Balance is for flywheels, gymnasts and chemical equations.



In loving memory of Noble.
He sought to balance order and disorder, but went astray when he failed to balance speaking out with SHUT UP.
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Doktor Howl

Molon Lube

Al Qədic

To be fair to Star Wars, the Sith Empire is actually pretty great, if you're one of the light-side Sith in KOTOR. Light-side Sith can actually try to clean up the broken mess that is the Empire. They can be reasonable and badass.

Dark-side Sith are dictators and racist assholes with family issues.

Light-side Jedi are the abovementioned
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on March 01, 2019, 01:55:24 AM
pretentious weirdos in funny robes

And dark-side Jedi are edgy kids with access to weapons and information they shouldn't be handling.

But yeah, RIP Noble. He will be missed, if only because everyone needs a good punching bag.
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Al Qədic on March 01, 2019, 02:11:56 AM
To be fair to Star Wars, the Sith Empire is actually pretty great, if you're one of the light-side Sith in KOTOR. Light-side Sith can actually try to clean up the broken mess that is the Empire. They can be reasonable and badass.

Dark-side Sith are dictators and racist assholes with family issues.

Light-side Jedi are the abovementioned
Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on March 01, 2019, 01:55:24 AM
pretentious weirdos in funny robes

And dark-side Jedi are edgy kids with access to weapons and information they shouldn't be handling.

But yeah, RIP Noble. He will be missed, if only because everyone needs a good punching bag.

WTF good is a "light side Sith"?
Molon Lube

Al Qədic

Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 02:49:31 AM
WTF good is a "light side Sith"?
From a movie perspective? Not much of anything, since that isn't flashy or evil. From a storytelling perspective? It's a level of nuance that most of the rest of the series doesn't explore at all and that's a damn shame. They can still force choke a fucker to death and have their detractors killed, but they're neat in that they're actually smart and don't hold petty grudges over stupid shit. In a rarity of rarities among Star Wars characters, they actually understand that absolutes are fucking stupid, and they just want their own society to not crumble at their feet.

TL;DR Light-side Sith are tired of patronizing Jedi bullshit and authoritarian Sith bullshit. And that's great.
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Al Qədic on March 01, 2019, 03:08:00 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 02:49:31 AM
WTF good is a "light side Sith"?
From a movie perspective? Not much of anything, since that isn't flashy or evil. From a storytelling perspective? It's a level of nuance that most of the rest of the series doesn't explore at all and that's a damn shame. They can still force choke a fucker to death and have their detractors killed, but they're neat in that they're actually smart and don't hold petty grudges over stupid shit. In a rarity of rarities among Star Wars characters, they actually understand that absolutes are fucking stupid, and they just want their own society to not crumble at their feet.

TL;DR Light-side Sith are tired of patronizing Jedi bullshit and authoritarian Sith bullshit. And that's great.

This is disappointing.
Molon Lube

Al Qədic

Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 03:11:34 AM
This is disappointing.
Plenty of Star Wars-related things are, to be fair.
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Al Qədic on March 01, 2019, 03:13:37 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 03:11:34 AM
This is disappointing.
Plenty of Star Wars-related things are, to be fair.

Yes.  The only reason to watch star wars is because, unlike real life, things are nice and black & white, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and you can solve all of your problems by chopping people in half.
Molon Lube

Al Qədic

Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 03:15:21 AM
Yes.  The only reason to watch star wars is because, unlike real life, things are nice and black & white, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and you can solve all of your problems by chopping people in half.
Wait...you mean chopping people in half doesn't solve all your problems?!  :horrormirth:
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Con-troll

Quote from: Al Qədic on March 01, 2019, 03:19:01 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 03:15:21 AM
Yes.  The only reason to watch star wars is because, unlike real life, things are nice and black & white, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and you can solve all of your problems by chopping people in half.
Wait...you mean chopping people in half doesn't solve all your problems?!  :horrormirth:
How fast can you chop?
I get trauma from stuff most don't even notice.

Don Coyote

Quote from: Al Qədic on March 01, 2019, 03:19:01 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 01, 2019, 03:15:21 AM
Yes.  The only reason to watch star wars is because, unlike real life, things are nice and black & white, the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, and you can solve all of your problems by chopping people in half.
Wait...you mean chopping people in half doesn't solve all your problems?!  :horrormirth:

Well for one. You know have a messy corpse in at least 2 pieces you need to deal with.


Al Qədic

Quote from: Don Coyote on March 01, 2019, 03:25:56 AM
Well for one. You know have a messy corpse in at least 2 pieces you need to deal with.
In my defense, the lightsaber was supposed to instantly cauterize that wound...shoddy fuckin' kyber crystals...
There is no reason to,
Be ashamed of poetry. It,
Is natural. But you should,
Still do it in private,
And wash your hands afterward.

Q. G. Pennyworth

I feel like there's some potential here, the Star Wars EU slippery slope not withstanding.

altered

This is all excellent stuff.

I've learned to stop speaking of balance and start speaking of compromise (in the sense that compromise is a solution that pisses off everyone equally)  and to keep such chatter exclusively in the realm of "applied" problems, where I am trying to maximize two mutually exclusive traits and need to find a least miserable middle.

A great example of this is looking for work. Ideally you want to be paid like a CEO for the work of a stoner kid on weekend nights (and ideally only a few minutes of even that), and you want it to require the qualifications of a lobotomized goldfish.

This is when "compromise" comes into play. In reality, none of these things coexist. You have to look for the maximum wage with the best qualifications you can muster and the fewest hours and least difficulty, risk or just plain madness you can find.

Everyone will find different answers, and unless they enjoy the existential crises of life and are a Doktor, everyone will be miserable.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.