Something is in the water, and it makes us all crazy. We start eating each other, while the monkeys around us hoot and gibber. I can feel it. My blood is filling up with poison, and my heart is full of hate and a blind rage that makes me lash out at everyone around me.
If only it were just me...then you could all just kill me and get on with things.
But it isn't, is it? No, it's damn near everyone. It's all happened before, and I can see it happening again. We all devolve into monkeys, dig our heels in, and screech. We KNOW we're doing it, we just can't STOP.
What causes this stupidity? Is it something in our genes or something in the water or just a DOOM which will not be denied? Somewhere, I swear to God I can hear Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon laughing...And why wouldn't they? They always hated us and said we were wrong-headed, with all the wrong values. Who knows? Maybe they're right, because if they were wrong, we wouldn't be so fucking stupid half the time.
Verthaine was right, you know, when he made everyone admit that we're all dumbasses. But then he found out just how dumb we really are, and he took off to wherever Curly went...And he didn't leave directions. Would you? I wouldn't. We squabble amongst ourselves as the world slides into the muck, so we obviously can't be trusted with Nice Things™.
Explain this to me, Payne, because I don't understand it.
Or kill me.
We hate because there's nothing else worthwhile left to do. It's either give up and join the rest of the herd at the trough or rage until the veins on your neck stand out like the cables on a suspension bridge. Those are your choices. And where the fuck do we direct the rage? We've all tried the rubes but how fucking rewarding is that? Kicking a sheep aint sport it's boring, with a subtle hint of cruel. What you need for a really good ragefest is someone who puts up a bit of a fight, maybe rages back at you.
Forget about nice things. There's nothing nice worth having, that's the thing about nice things - they suck. Every talking monkey and their dog spends their whole life cocooned under a mound of nice things, all at affordable rates with interest free payment plans that don't start til the end of the century. I'd much rather smash things up and set things on fire and scream and shout, somewhere horrible, in the middle of the night. That's real. Not some fucking color coordinated towels or a cute little device for removing the pips from your apple with a built in GPS and Pez dispenser.
Yeah, Pent, but you can't buy the nice things I was talking about, because I wasn't talking about cars and computers and Tivos, I was talking about Verthaine. And Curly. And my friend Nigel. And the feeling that we were, as a group, something other than slightly more clever monkeys, but still monkeys that smash everything they can, and shit on the rest.
I am stuck on the planet of the apes, Pent, and I feel like a bit of an ape myself.
I don't think I like it.
That's the thing, mate - we aren't something evolved from monkeys, we're just monkeys with an extra bit. You don't stop being a monkey just cos you've learned to walk on your back feet. Trying to ignore that fact is why this "evolved civilisation" of ours ended up such a decaying pathetic fucking excuse for an existence. You need to embrace the monkey, it's what you are first and foremost. Throw the dog a bone, have a swing in some trees, eat a bananna, smash another monkey over the head with a stick... Cos, until you've satisfied those filthy simian urges, the monkey won't give you peace to think.
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 20, 2010, 06:55:32 PM
That's the thing, mate - we aren't something evolved from monkeys, we're just monkeys with an extra bit. You don't stop being a monkey just cos you've learned to walk on your back feet. Trying to ignore that fact is why this "evolved civilisation" of ours ended up such a decaying pathetic fucking excuse for an existence. You need to embrace the monkey, it's what you are first and foremost. Throw the dog a bone, have a swing in some trees, eat a bananna, smash another monkey over the head with a stick... Cos, until you've satisfied those filthy simian urges, the monkey won't give you peace to think.
I reject that in its entirety. We may be built like tall, weak monkeys, and we may be WIRED like monkeys, but we can think rationally when we care to, so our monkey heritage is no excuse.
That's our real problem. Laziness and excuse-making.
Also, it happened again. :x
TGRR,
Will never address a psycho letter to a specific person, ever again.
My unsolicited take on it is that yeah, we come standard with the same flaws as the rest of the assholes, and our condition as a species makes us prone to desire something greater out of ourselves. I also have the nasty suspicion that we can't become anything greater without hard work and maybe even some adherence to some virtues, much as most people here won't like the sound of that.
Good friends are hard to come by and hard to keep and well worth the effort. I don't want to make this too personal Roger, but I read that you had an argument with that good friend of yours in another thread, sorry about that. Don't give up trying to be friends with him. It always breaks my heart to meet someone who doesn't have any old friends. I'm going to try and keep mine for a long time, because I like the idea of having friends I've known for several decades. There's been inordinate amounts of venom on the boards lately, though. This forum needs something to pour itself into, and when we're idle we eat noobs like popcorn and try to kill each other.
I've never been that enthusiastic about 'extracurricular' board activities, and I think it's time I got over that. This place needs people, not profiles with high post counts.
Quote from: Felix on January 20, 2010, 07:09:57 PM
My unsolicited take on it is that yeah, we come standard with the same flaws as the rest of the assholes, and our condition as a species makes us prone to desire something greater out of ourselves. I also have the nasty suspicion that we can't become anything greater without hard work and maybe even some adherence to some virtues, much as most people here won't like the sound of that.
Good friends are hard to come by and hard to keep and well worth the effort. I don't want to make this too personal Roger, but I read that you had an argument with that good friend of yours in another thread, sorry about that. Don't give up trying to be friends with him. It always breaks my heart to meet someone who doesn't have any old friends. I'm going to try and keep mine for a long time, because I like the idea of having friends I've known for several decades. There's been inordinate amounts of venom on the boards lately, though. This forum needs something to pour itself into, and when we're idle we eat noobs like popcorn and try to kill each other.
I've never been that enthusiastic about 'extracurricular' board activities, and I think it's time I got over that. This place needs people, not profiles with high post counts.
1. These threads are designed for unsolicited input.
2. I want my friend back. :x
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 06:57:53 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 20, 2010, 06:55:32 PM
That's the thing, mate - we aren't something evolved from monkeys, we're just monkeys with an extra bit. You don't stop being a monkey just cos you've learned to walk on your back feet. Trying to ignore that fact is why this "evolved civilisation" of ours ended up such a decaying pathetic fucking excuse for an existence. You need to embrace the monkey, it's what you are first and foremost. Throw the dog a bone, have a swing in some trees, eat a bananna, smash another monkey over the head with a stick... Cos, until you've satisfied those filthy simian urges, the monkey won't give you peace to think.
I reject that in its entirety. We may be built like tall, weak monkeys, and we may be WIRED like monkeys, but we can think rationally when we care to, so our monkey heritage is no excuse.
That's our real problem. Laziness and excuse-making.
You think?
I've seen a gorrilla use a stick to see how deep a river is.
This hideous thing called "Consciousness" is a bastard. Was once a time when it was considered a gift, this self-reflection and the subjugation of instinct under abstraction. The whole damn "You" thing.
Mysterious shit, hey? The priests told us it was from God, that we were special, and the only proof we needed of this fact was that we could consider the question. Try it with a dog and it just eats its food, shits in the corner and falls asleep. We think about it and get all crazy, like CRUSADES crazy. Cause suddenly God must want something in return for his gift, right? Maybe he wants us to go kick someones ass, preferably someone who doesn't believe in him in the Right Waytm.
So we go from being able to work together to kill and skin mammoths for fun and profit, to trying to kill badwrong ideas for profit and prophet. Fucking priests. That's why I skipped being a priest and went straight to being The Motherfucking Messiah.
Recently though, the Priests are pretty much out of the equation. We got to keep the crusades, but we do them in the name of "Democracy", "The Almighty Dollar" and "American Idol" (or whatever Simon Cowell vehicle is most appropriate at any given time). An even greater level of abstraction and bullshit than the Priests peddled. At least you got the promise of a fucking awesome time after you died, either way, with the Priests. Now we are being told constantly that all that matters is having a nice house, a nice car, a nice family and everyone sits back and waits for the heaven on earth we all know is just around the corner.
You and I, Roger, all of us here... We didn't follow everyone else when the Priests left. We didn't covert to McDonaldsismtm or the Reformed Church of Disneytm Evangelism. No, after the Prophets died we went back to thinking about consciousness again. We regressed, took one step back to take three steps forward later on instead of one step forward now. If we were going to have a New Heaven, it was going to be fucking AWESOME.
We have our own Gods now. Bespoke, perfectly turned out for our needs. You, yourself, are a God. And the pinnacle of your Pantheon is The Truth. A harsh master. It's a hard road you travel. The Lost Highway where Curly is always round the next bend. A man has to watch his own back when he is under the gaze of The Truth and the soles of his boots kick up the "dust" on that bleak strip of cracked and faded tarmac. The dust of those who were weaker, who looked back, who had plastic in their bones.
But we're stuck. We've turned into fucking monsters. We stepped back, but took traces of the same shit with us we were trying to escape. Our righteous anger and hatred is tainted with the plastic beliefs of this Post-Prophetic age. We're better off still than the cardboard cut outs that we call "normal" people, but we have to SEE this shit happening to us because that's what we DO. We poke around the gubbins and the what-nots and see what happens. It's not the water, Roger. It's something far far worse. It's US.
~~~~~~~
Specifically, this forum is a community. We rewrote a bunch of rules for ourselves, or at least chose to view them in different ways, but we cannot help but run by the same community rules that govern the outside world. There is competition for influence. Add to that the fact that we are hate filled, mostly pretty intelligent, and tend to find ego-maniacs of one kind or another in here... It's a powder keg. It leads to some awesome energy and inspiration, but there is a price to be paid for it.
I sometimes feel partly to blame for Vincent leaving us like that, but then I remember that The Verthaine is too mighty to be put off by a mere fly like memnoch buzzing around everyone's asses.
Vincent's genius came in his brutal honesty and refusal to bullshit around. I love that fucker and I wish he'd come back around. Once he got remarried, though, he sort of took off and hasn't been seen since. I don't think even Bella knows how he is, though she assures me he'll be back sometime.
I miss the fuck outta him.
As for being a monkey that smashes shit, I think we do still have the smarts to make the choice. We just choose NOT to do that. Which is another point about Vincent--he knew he had the choice to smash, and he only did it when it was necessary, warranted, or he goddamned felt like it and that was that. No regrets.
He was righteous. Shit, he still is. (No more past tense, Jenne, for chrissakes.)
Have you tried saying words to the effect of "I know I pissed you off and I understand if you'll stay mad at me, but I hope you don't"? You know, not in those words (because then it would sound fake) but in your own way.
That usually works, if you happen to mean it.
It's an old familiar game. We've been trapped on galciers of stupidity, and the only way to break free is three steps forward, two steps back. Every freedom we gain, be it our minds or in our lives, we keep looping back to where we started, like moths drawn to idiocy.
Sometimes, the trauma is so huge, we think to ourselves, "man, that is never going to happen to me again!" and then, a month, a year, a decade later, we're back to our old stupid tricks.
Because they're all tricks, in the end. Ways to get around that pesky sisyphusian rock that stands in our way, the one marked in cryptic letters, "TFY,S!" We think we've found a short cut, a way to get through the day without so much damn effort to evaluate and parse, but when we part the brush at the end of the trail, we're back at base camp.
Hell, let's face it. I know that I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Independent Evaluations are really hard work, and dammit, I just don't want to deal with that sometimes. And I know that when my back is turned, that the demons, and the spiders, and the Cities™ slink out and envelop me. Then before you know it, you're blinking in the harsh daylight, fangs bared and a handful of poop ready to fling at the nearest sentient object.
It's work. It's a constant struggle. And victory, while sweet, can only be short. But we fight on.
Because the alternative is repugnant.
Quote from: Felix on January 20, 2010, 07:16:43 PM
Have you tried saying words to the effect of "I know I pissed you off and I understand if you'll stay mad at me, but I hope you don't"? You know, not in those words (because then it would sound fake) but in your own way.
That usually works, if you happen to mean it.
Who is this for? If it's for me, Vincent gave me a thumbs up after the memnoch debacle at eb&g...but I still feel bad for what went down. That's my own personal fuckup. Vincent stays away for his own reasoning. But he knows there are folks who respect, love and miss him here and at Bella's forum as well.
Quote from: Jenne on January 20, 2010, 07:21:12 PM
Quote from: Felix on January 20, 2010, 07:16:43 PM
Have you tried saying words to the effect of "I know I pissed you off and I understand if you'll stay mad at me, but I hope you don't"? You know, not in those words (because then it would sound fake) but in your own way.
That usually works, if you happen to mean it.
Who is this for? If it's for me, Vincent gave me a thumbs up after the memnoch debacle at eb&g...but I still feel bad for what went down. That's my own personal fuckup. Vincent stays away for his own reasoning. But he knows there are folks who respect, love and miss him here and at Bella's forum as well.
No, Roger actually. I hate hearing about people losing good friends over arguments that, in perspective, don't matter.
But, as general advice, it has mileage.
Quote from: Payne on January 20, 2010, 07:14:59 PM
We have our own Gods now. Bespoke, perfectly turned out for our needs. You, yourself, are a God. And the pinnacle of your Pantheon is The Truth. A harsh master. It's a hard road you travel. The Lost Highway where Curly is always round the next bend. A man has to watch his own back when he is under the gaze of The Truth and the soles of his boots kick up the "dust" on that bleak strip of cracked and faded tarmac. The dust of those who were weaker, who looked back, who had plastic in their bones.
Yeah, but I'm tired, Payne, and I need a rest...but there's nowhere to pull over, and I can't remember how to stop, and The Truth - while it may be the only thing worth having - is overrated. I can demonstrate that. I WILL demonstrate that.
The Truth is, there's nothing in this desert but more desert. There's nothing at the end of The Lost Highway, because
it's the goddamned Lost Highway. It killed Hank Sr and Johnny Cash and James Brown, and it will kill you and I, the moment we stop moving. The Truth is, Curly died for nothing. He was a sap, and he crossed that police line for morons who didn't care. The Truth is, Verthaine
isn't coming back. I can't blame him.
Ho ho! How's THAT for a revelation? Does that make it all worthwhile?
What, you want
more Slack™?
Quote from: Felix on January 20, 2010, 07:22:23 PM
Quote from: Jenne on January 20, 2010, 07:21:12 PM
Quote from: Felix on January 20, 2010, 07:16:43 PM
Have you tried saying words to the effect of "I know I pissed you off and I understand if you'll stay mad at me, but I hope you don't"? You know, not in those words (because then it would sound fake) but in your own way.
That usually works, if you happen to mean it.
Who is this for? If it's for me, Vincent gave me a thumbs up after the memnoch debacle at eb&g...but I still feel bad for what went down. That's my own personal fuckup. Vincent stays away for his own reasoning. But he knows there are folks who respect, love and miss him here and at Bella's forum as well.
No, Roger actually. I hate hearing about people losing good friends over arguments that, in perspective, don't matter.
But, as general advice, it has mileage.
Yes, I tried that. But this isn't just a case of one person being wrong...if it was, I'd take the hit no matter which one of us was at fault.
We make each other think. It hurts to think. At least it hurts me. Invariably it leads to a conclusion that I was fucked up all wrong about something I held dear. And I do not like this feeling.
The other monkeys hoot and jabber but they get what they want. On days like today, I find it hard to call that out as abject stupidity. The mob reinforces its will and American Idol spunks up another season for everyone to enjoy. And you must enjoy what they show you, otherwise you might end up with a thought in your head which will gnaw through your precious preconceptions faster than a pack of cartoon termites.
I used to hate celebrities and that faux culture, but I am all that is false in a world like ours. A deer gets caught in the headlights, and it doesn't take much more in the way of shiny bright things to stupefy most but all of us. And you know why we throw spotlights and glitter at our disposable Gods? If we didn't nail them to that fucking cross, Roger, they'd run away from us and we'd be left with our own thoughts.
I have this mental image of a game of chicken played on a dark road empty save for two oncoming cars, except it's deer doing the driving, and we all know how it will end. I think I need a sabbatical.
Quote from: LMNO on January 20, 2010, 07:17:00 PM
Hell, let's face it. I know that I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Independent Evaluations are really hard work, and dammit, I just don't want to deal with that sometimes. And I know that when my back is turned, that the demons, and the spiders, and the Cities™ slink out and envelop me. Then before you know it, you're blinking in the harsh daylight, fangs bared and a handful of poop ready to fling at the nearest sentient object.
169% Truth.
TGRR,
Forgot how to breathe again.
Quote from: FP on January 20, 2010, 07:29:22 PM
We make each other think. It hurts to think. At least it hurts me. Invariably it leads to a conclusion that I was fucked up all wrong about something I held dear. And I do not like this feeling.
The other monkeys hoot and jabber but they get what they want. On days like today, I find it hard to call that out as abject stupidity. The mob reinforces its will and American Idol spunks up another season for everyone to enjoy. And you must enjoy what they show you, otherwise you might end up with a thought in your head which will gnaw through your precious preconceptions faster than a pack of cartoon termites.
I used to hate celebrities and that faux culture, but I am all that is false in a world like ours. A deer gets caught in the headlights, and it doesn't take much more in the way of shiny bright things to stupefy most but all of us. And you know why we throw spotlights and glitter at our disposable Gods? If we didn't nail them to that fucking cross, Rog, they'd run away from us and we'd be left with our own thoughts.
I have this mental image of a game of chicken played on a dark road empty save for two oncoming cars, except it's deer doing the driving, and we all know how it will end. I think I need a sabbatical.
There's a reason most civilizations worshiped idols, FP. Idols don't make a sound, they just sit there for generation after generation, getting progressively more blood-soaked or moss-covered.
Real Gods, on the other hand,
Never shut up. They jabber at you and jabber at you, natter natter natter, until they drive you so fucking crazy you turn into a prophet, just to get some peace. And we all know what happens to prophets, right? Remember John the Baptist? Neither do I.
The reason I respect LMNO so much is that he seems to have some sort of white noise generator turned on, and he doesn't seem to be plagued by random deities (you know, Tlaloc, General Motors, Barack Obama, Simon Cowell, etc), and he seems to have a pretty solid grip, which is pretty fucking rare these days.
I could use a little quiet, you know? Just for a little while.
Quote from: Jenne on January 20, 2010, 07:15:14 PM
I sometimes feel partly to blame for Vincent leaving us like that, but then I remember that The Verthaine is too mighty to be put off by a mere fly like memnoch buzzing around everyone's asses.
You should have banned that fat piece of shit the moment he showed up. That jackass poisons everything he touches, while he jabbers about "personal responsibility" from his mother-in-law's basement (literally).
I have no time for graven images, TGRR. I worship two gods, who stand supreme beyond all things.
1) The audio waveform.
2) Mrs LMNO.
They're both so damn complicated to figure out that it takes most of my time and concentration to make sure I know what the hell is going on. Everything else just fades into the background, most of the time.
Although, it doesn't hurt to have a sense of humor dark enough to creep out Beckett.
I'm not certain LMNO, but finding purpose sure looks like cheating. Eschewing the false dichotomy of stopping to get eaten by buzzards or speeding yourself into the sausage creature - it sounds like you've got some passengers and are actually enjoying a roadtrip on the lost highway. I'm not sure if this is sacrilege or wisdom. But I like it.
Not wanting to be too spaggish, but it reminds me of this:
(http://thedeviousplot.com/random/journey.png)
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 07:26:21 PM
Quote from: Payne on January 20, 2010, 07:14:59 PM
We have our own Gods now. Bespoke, perfectly turned out for our needs. You, yourself, are a God. And the pinnacle of your Pantheon is The Truth. A harsh master. It's a hard road you travel. The Lost Highway where Curly is always round the next bend. A man has to watch his own back when he is under the gaze of The Truth and the soles of his boots kick up the "dust" on that bleak strip of cracked and faded tarmac. The dust of those who were weaker, who looked back, who had plastic in their bones.
Yeah, but I'm tired, Payne, and I need a rest...but there's nowhere to pull over, and I can't remember how to stop, and The Truth - while it may be the only thing worth having - is overrated. I can demonstrate that. I WILL demonstrate that.
The Truth is, there's nothing in this desert but more desert. There's nothing at the end of The Lost Highway, because it's the goddamned Lost Highway. It killed Hank Sr and Johnny Cash and James Brown, and it will kill you and I, the moment we stop moving. The Truth is, Curly died for nothing. He was a sap, and he crossed that police line for morons who didn't care. The Truth is, Verthaine isn't coming back. I can't blame him.
Ho ho! How's THAT for a revelation? Does that make it all worthwhile?
What, you want more Slack™?
The Truth is heavy, but The Truth is only the pinnacle. It is a God over Freedom, Happiness and Knowledge and many other things in the same way that a Capstone is the top of a Pyramid.
The Truth is, Curly died for nothing. He was a sap, and he crossed that police line for morons who didn't care.
But it was NECESSARY.The Lost Highway is a road that MUST be travelled. Many choose to drive along it. Many find themselves there quite by accident. Many will never find themselves upon it, or on the wrong road mistakenly identified as The Lost Highway. But there are those of us who are here because it MUST be so. Not "for" anything, not "against". There is no reward, and all must become dust in the end no matter where they stand.
however:
QuoteThis is for all of you out there who have shit going on, in your life, and can't deal. Can't vent. Can't defend yourself from.
There are times when you must be seen, heard, felt. And even the most apathetic or the most cynical of us do it. There are times when you must stick your head over the trench wall and see others toiling away, and take comfort from the fact that you are not alone.
So I am here. I am listening.
Some of us take up the pen, the sword, the megaphone, and turn negativity into a positive. Some of us create temporary monuments out of the shrapnel that rains on us.This is why: if we do not shit our hate, we will die.
Your tasks are your own, what you do, you must do alone, but what is done, will be seen.
The best will be remembered and emulated and refined, it is true, but the best will fade as fast as the worst.
There is nothing permanant. In the space of a life time, we build many monuments, and we tear many down.
There is respite, though. There is a moment of hiding in a shell crater as you run across no-mans-land, sharing a knowing glance with another refugee, leaving your mark, before you jump up again, and run to the next bit of scant cover.
There is that assurance that what we do will have meaning, for a fleeting time perhaps, but not an empty gesture.
So friends leave us, comrades become fractious, Truth leaves an empty and coppery taste on the tongue. There is
yet something that connects us and binds us together, that makes our toil worthwhile. In a world where we have nothing to hope for, but hope itself... That's precious.
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 07:40:58 PM
Quote from: Jenne on January 20, 2010, 07:15:14 PM
I sometimes feel partly to blame for Vincent leaving us like that, but then I remember that The Verthaine is too mighty to be put off by a mere fly like memnoch buzzing around everyone's asses.
You should have banned that fat piece of shit the moment he showed up. That jackass poisons everything he touches, while he jabbers about "personal responsibility" from his mother-in-law's basement (literally).
Yeah, except I totally invited him.
It was a horrible miscalculation on my part in getting memnoch over there to troll him (memnoch, not eb&g or anyone there).
Yeah, that was a wrong turn alright.
ed for clarification
This thread is truly a great read.
Quote from: Payne on January 20, 2010, 08:15:00 PM
So friends leave us, comrades become fractious, Truth leaves an empty and coppery taste on the tongue. There is yet something that connects us and binds us together, that makes our toil worthwhile. In a world where we have nothing to hope for, but hope itself... That's precious.
The game isn't worth the candle, to use an old phrase.
I need to do something. I gotta breathe.
Quote from: Aufenthatt on January 20, 2010, 07:14:22 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 06:57:53 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 20, 2010, 06:55:32 PM
That's the thing, mate - we aren't something evolved from monkeys, we're just monkeys with an extra bit. You don't stop being a monkey just cos you've learned to walk on your back feet. Trying to ignore that fact is why this "evolved civilisation" of ours ended up such a decaying pathetic fucking excuse for an existence. You need to embrace the monkey, it's what you are first and foremost. Throw the dog a bone, have a swing in some trees, eat a bananna, smash another monkey over the head with a stick... Cos, until you've satisfied those filthy simian urges, the monkey won't give you peace to think.
I reject that in its entirety. We may be built like tall, weak monkeys, and we may be WIRED like monkeys, but we can think rationally when we care to, so our monkey heritage is no excuse.
That's our real problem. Laziness and excuse-making.
You think?
I've seen a gorrilla use a stick to see how deep a river is.
No offense, GI, but you're pissing the wrong kind of blood here.
Heard from my friend, and my worst fears are confirmed.
I'm heading out for a while. Gonna go 4 wheeling in the mountains until I feel better.
The truth is, we're all of us fucked in the end. Such is the human condition but the part that rankles, that really sticks in my throat is that, in the end, we're no more or less fucked than any other primate on the surface of this meaningless ball of biology floating through space.
Like Payne said, the natural instinct is to make up some gods, some convincing fairy tale that gives the whole thing meaning and perspective. But, no. Us smart fuckers saw right through that bullshit. When we looked down, through the cracks in the highway, we saw there was nothing but dark, neverending void.
Unlike the ignorant savages who have something to look forward to we, for all our hard work and dedication, get nothing and fuck if I can see how that's fair. Some mythical wunderkind said "the truth will set you free" but the author lied. All the truth is ever going to do is piss you off but fuck it, it's the truth and there's no way in hell anyone who's shared it with us is ever going to forget cos everytime they do, every time they start slipping back into the American idol coma, one of us will be there to shake them by the throat and scream, "WAKE UP MOTHERFUCKER YOU AINT LEAVING ME HERE ALONE WITH NOTHING BUT VOID CRACKS IN THE HIGHWAY TO AMUSE MYSELF!"
The truth is misery and misery needs company.
:argh!: Oh great. I've been here 6 months and you've had at least three near-death experiences. Chances are, you won't feel better till you're dead.
i told u i wuz hardcore
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 09:24:10 PM
Heard from my friend, and my worst fears are confirmed.
I'm heading out for a while. Gonna go 4 wheeling in the mountains until I feel better.
PLEASE NO SPLATTER SELF, K?
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 20, 2010, 09:24:10 PM
Heard from my friend, and my worst fears are confirmed.
I'm heading out for a while. Gonna go 4 wheeling in the mountains until I feel better.
You have my number. I'll stick my phone to me like a leech/lover. CALL.
So, the general idea I'm getting from this thread is, "there is no bliss, except for ignorance" ?
I think we all need to god damn cheer the fuck up a little.
What I take from this thread is the following pair of statements:
1) "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?"
2) "Being human is hard work."
There ain't no rest for the blissful, folks.
Quote from: LMNO on January 21, 2010, 01:00:53 PM
What I take from this thread is the following pair of statements:
1) "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?"
2) "Being human is hard work."
There ain't no rest for the blissful, folks.
I dunno, I get the idea that a lot of us are pretty stone-set sure about their answer to question 1).
Well, I'm pretty convinced, myself.
Which brings us to point 2).
For alll the craziness and backasswardness, they had it right in medevial times. The tournaments, the land fights, hell maybe even the crusades, were serious ways to catch your breath. That need to release all the pent up rage and hurt, there is nothing that satisfies that urge in this day and time, except for possibly professional fighters. But back when, just about anyone could go kick ass and walk away breathing just fine and continue on with their lives.
That violence that so many will say "Oh that is so wrong." Was not just a result of our desire to conquer everything in sight, but a release of all the bullshit. They didn't breathe better just because the air was still clean back then, they could breathe better because they didn't have a huge ball of bullshit stuck in their airway clogging them up.
I'm wondering these days if we have over civilized ourselves. If we have put ourselves so high above the monkeys to distinguish ourselves from them, that we have not only made everything worse, but have bred a whole new stupid.
Quote from: LMNO on January 21, 2010, 01:05:13 PM
Well, I'm pretty convinced, myself.
oh, it was a rhetorical question, I didn't catch that.
Quote
Which brings us to point 2).
Wouldn't that rather be "being happy is hard work"?
And what about our motto "things have the tendency to turn out allright" ?
Well, some would argue that acting like a pre-programmed shit-throwing monkey isn't actually being "human". But that's just definitions.
"Things generally will turn out OK" is a broad statement of physical existence, and a way of looking for and following positive outcomes. It isn't necessarily a statement of behavior, or of emotional state.
At least for me, that is.
The thread is a downer, but the OP writer was in a downer state when he wrote it. I think the responses he got were commensurate to that general feeling. Things do sometimes turn out for the best, and sometimes, you're just damned lucky to be alive. Too much has happened to me and mine over the last decade for my outlook to be "La Vie en Rose" that it used to was...but then, I try very hard not to become the jaded cynic I think I'm turning out to be.
Holding strong opinions as I do has really weathered my viewpoints on a lot of things. A lot of esoteric things, and a lot of issues that come home to roost daily.
It sucks.
But I'm alive, my kids are thriving, and my husband's still in remission. We have a roof over our heads and clothes and food to keep us warm.
Perspective, I guess. It's all in perspective.
Quote from: Jenne on January 21, 2010, 04:46:31 PM
The thread is a downer, but the OP writer was in a downer state when he wrote it. I think the responses he got were commensurate to that general feeling. Things do sometimes turn out for the best, and sometimes, you're just damned lucky to be alive. Too much has happened to me and mine over the last decade for my outlook to be "La Vie en Rose" that it used to was...but then, I try very hard not to become the jaded cynic I think I'm turning out to be.
Holding strong opinions as I do has really weathered my viewpoints on a lot of things. A lot of esoteric things, and a lot of issues that come home to roost daily.
It sucks.
But I'm alive, my kids are thriving, and my husband's still in remission. We have a roof over our heads and clothes and food to keep us warm.
Perspective, I guess. It's all in perspective.
THIS!!!
You just have to make the best of what you have, change what you can and survive the rest.
Maybe that is what it is, we are all on different levels of survival.