| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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Here's whatI have come up with (mind, I'm not in a good frame of mind right now): -We get off by hurting other people. People take some sort of mailicious pleasure in knowing that someone else's day has been dimmed because of an action they took. We get more and more clever at it until finally, the subject can't always put his finger on why it's happening, but it does. Sometimes we aren't subtle. Sometimes it's obvious, and all the pleas of the subject and his lawyer can't prevent it. -We get off on pretending to be something we aren't. It sounds better when we stretch the truth a little, people admire us more because of our lies, and we write it off. It's just a little white lie, we think. Just this once. -We get off on being better. Better, better, better, it's all about being better, about beating the next in the race. We all need to be superior to someone. Sometimes we like to emphasize it, call people stupid of childish or whatever. Because it makes us feel better. -We get off knowing that things are working in our favour. When things go well, whether it's that new loan or the grass is gorwing instead of dying, we feel better, because it's going our way, going as planned. I know there's more. Someone please remind me of it. |
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i'm thinking about taking the cross for my new name. people seem to respond well to that. |
God I miss her.... |
*comf* No, indeed, it doesn't. |
In reality, I don't want her to die. I hope that she finds what she is looking for, and has a great life. I have been lucky in the fact that we have been able to avoid crossing paths, and each of us seems to be fine with that. I just wish my grandchild-starved mother could let go of her. I think she loved this girl more than I did. |
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God, I can't wait to get out of this town. I hear NY is nice. I think people mostly get off on accomplishing goals. Those goals can be just about anything, really, but in the most general sense, it seems like everyone gets off on saying "I'm going to do X," and then doing it. I can't think of a way to define / distill what that "X" is, though. I don't really think many people get off by hurting others, except that occasionally hurting someone else proves the persons competitive worth; this really might be part of the urge to be better. Arg. that doesn't make much sense. Why are people so competitive? |
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maybe competitiveness is a convenient measure of worth. it used to be that most mothers wanted a doctor for a son. think about it. one of the oldest known traditions, coming from ancient times, is competitive. people watch contests on tv, hear them on the radio, read them in the news, keep track of them in the internet. there's always a grand prize, a first place. valdictorian, playmate of the year, it's all the same thing. survival is no longer an issue. there must be other ways to be entertained. so it's competitions. the winner can be proud, pride being a rudementary emotion. pride helps us to stand up for ourselves. but it doesn't keep us from being hurt. my band teachers tried to hear every single person play at the solo competitions. i think i was the only one missed, and it was the only year i placed. i felt proud of my achievement, but dismayed that they wouldn't listen. i was just as important as the others who played, even if i wasn't first chair. i worked hard. i think we all strive for others to recognise our achievements, and competition is the easiest way. nobody cares if you set the world record for the fastest mile during practice. but if you do it during the olympics, everyone cheers. |
In the good old days, we had school, and, if we were lucky, some sport or other extracirricular after school. Today's kids are being taught to multi-task and to squeeze as much as they can into their young lives as some form of justification for their being. It is almost as if kids who didn't letter in three sports, star in the school play, take post-secondary classes while still in High School, and get a 1600 on the SAT rarely do anything with their lives. And in the same day and age, we wonder why ritilin sales continue to rise.... |
So is being an ass. Both of which people do every day. It's very frustrating. The thing is that most people know better, but they take some kind of pleasure in acting like complete idiots. I don't really understand human nature very well, I guess, because I don't understand why people are pricks. |
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If you're trying to prove you're a better runner, a better writer, etc, that's another thing. It think that kind of competition is all good. It's part of being human, and I like that. But to just do something for the sake of feeling superior, no. |
if you accept the theory of natural selection, competition is essential, even the kind of competition in which someone gets hurt. |
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It's pavlov and his dog really. When you're the best, people love you, and really all people on some level are striving for some sort of acceptance. When you fail to compete, you fail to get recognized, and, by association, you fail to gain the loving appreciation that you see others receiving. I believe that the amount of competitive energy expended by a person is directly proportional to their need for acceptance. I was lucky enough to come from a more or less loving family, and to have attained a great circle of friends. To me, competition is done more as a form of release, then as a plea for acceptance. Jesus, I got to stop reading Freud before going to bed at night.... |
competition is not stupid, it's in your blood, it's in your nature. it's like saying hunger is stupid, or envy is silly. it's pointless, and it's appears to be a form of social induced denial, saying these things. it' APPEARS to be some sort of left over feminist crip crap that tried to teach boys that competiton is silly, it's the reason we hear coaches of junior leagues saying after a 5 goal loss in soccer, hey, "everyone's a winner"... it's not pavlov and his dog, it's something way before that... competition is healthy, it makes us human. whether we like to admit it or not, we are all competitive. females are just as competitive as males, make no mistake. competition has nothing to do with acceptance Sure, we are not fighting over flank steaks at the market, or locking horns over a female, but the desire compete is derived from a sense of survival and a sense of purpose. We compete for jobs, which put food on our tables, we compete for education, education can equal better jobs which means better food. Competition is based on a clear defined goal, i work (train), i compete, i win (or loose). sure they are people with that kindergarten mentality, but thats not really about competition, thats more about immaturity and arrogance. |
All competitivieness is not stupid. Damnit, read my post above. Jesusfuck. I don't like it when people treat me like dirt trying to prove they're better than me, capiche? I think THAT kind of copetitiveness is silly. |
But why the importance on winning? If you look a step futher, what do you see? Anything? When we win, we are acecpted, when we lose, we are outcasts. I agree that it is human nature to win, I just don't understand why we need to perpetuate this belief. Look at Vietnam. The Americans lost. We put up a good fight, but we weren't prepared for the war we found, and as a result, we were out smarted by the oppostion. The vets who put their very lives on the line were treated like pariah by a country whose opinions of the war had shifted and intensified since they left. We weren't agitated at the men. We were agitated at the fact that they had not only fought an unpopular war, but they also lost. Tell me how this is a positive trait? And as for Isolde, well you just rock. |
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the vietnam war is way too complicated to shave down to prove your point. Im not sure i see what you are you are trying to say byt hat example. In my view it wasn't overt aggression (of course it was, literally, but the motives behind hit weren't), it was more like a chess game, than say a game of dodge ball. Im not sure the way toe soldiers were treated coming home has anything to do with aggression. It wasn't always their aggression they were acting on. the importance of winning can* mean the difference between life or death, house or apartment, car or bike, spouse or alone, tv dinner or steak, job or no job we just like our prehistoric ancestors, just more intelligent, but our nature is essentially the same. we don't have clubs anymore, we have sports cars, and bank accounts. |
contridicting your intentions in order to be more competitive is silly. however, climbing on the table to eat the ferns is sylvie. |
Anyhow, yeah. I was competitive today. I beat my roomate in the sleep war. It was excellent. Slept until noon... |
Nice argument. Point to Patrick. |
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don't get me started on vietnam. bad analogy. im glad patrick argued that better than i would have. jesus fucking christ. i've been taking a class for the past three months which entirely deals with literature written by vietnam vets. i never ever knew. oh, and for the record...as silly as it may be... i still think i'm better than all of you. |
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One. |
how the hell do you expect to win yourself a man? |
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Actually, knitting is just for wusses who can't run a printing press. |
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And it was the nicest one ever. |
im better than you! |
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I am taller. |
and better at it! |
And I juggle |
oh wait you're all chicks (not sure about the lizard though) ummm my wife can knit all your asses in a knot and keep em warm at the same time.... that is if i have a wife tomorrow. no encryption, no crip crap, we got worry |
So fucking what? |
So Fucking what? |
wait...hold on. did you feel that? that was me. |
And I'm pretty damned good at ground work. |
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At this very moment,I'm sitting with my legs wrapped around my neck,typing with my toes,which keeps my hands free so I can continue working on the sweater I'm knitting for Patrick for Xmas. |
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:p |
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http://www.geckolinks.com/jungle.jpg |
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with my teeth. |
i got worry thats all (insert jsbx tune) |
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Then, read this commentary on the above. Is this fucked, or what? |
in my deealings with folsk in oregon, i have foudn there are considerable pockets of homophobia and conservatism. Oregon is not always as progressive as it seems. pez, tell you dad if he fucks with your cat, your gonna break ever tv in the house and move out. don't forget you are 18 and you don't have to listen to him. if he pulls that "my house my rules" shit, then just split. |
I'm sure it won't get passed, but it still upsets me that it should appear, period. Ugh. Oregon has some serious conservative pockets. |
"we don't have those kind of customers" or "we don't carry that kind of product" or "we don't support homosexuality" whic is utterly stupdi to assume you don;t have any gay customers as a porn shop of bookstore...business and politics need to be kept as seperate as possible, thats why feminist and gay/lesbian bookstores are going out of business....and chains are picking up the slack. |
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we do have a lot of consevative types here...several major corporations are here purely for the tax breaks. we have bill "let's pay less taxes. my kids go to private school and so i shouldn't have to support the public" sizemore. we have lynn "i was a beauty queen in high school and the money for public schools should also support charter schools" snodgrass. then there's the red-meat loggers and cowboys. portland i fairly progressive. vera katz is a great person, extremely open on what's happening. a month ago she walked for the cure; she's been diagnosed with breast cancer. the last concer i ever played (it was at the schnitz) took place two blocks from a gay pride parade. i didn't see it, but i knew it occurred around that time. on the way home on max, a lesbian (mannish appearance, talking with two other women about her gayness) handed me a marigold and said, "has anyone ever told you that you are beautiful?" i think it was the nicest compliment i've ever had. |
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the eastside suburbs are pretty conservative. most people here work in portland, either close to the river or on the west side, furtherly contributing to traffic. my highschool was pretty conservative. we were known for good basketball, good wrestling, good bands. nobody really cared about how the band goes to state and placed in the top five every year until we didn't make it. i remember hearing a classmate say "i can't believe anyone would ever vote democratic." when i had short hair i was called a homosexual several times, someone even got into my backpack and typed a nasty note on my calculator. i'm glad to be in college where it's ok to dress the way you like, talk the way you like, express your own ideas. |
Maybe I was halluncinating. I totally fucking remember a town called Wagontyre filled with rednecks. Hrm. |
oregon is a strange place. it's the tree huggers vs. the tree cutters. we have (or had, depending on my source) the highest "timber!" volume of export in the country. less trees mean more money to many people. entire towns thrive on the cutting of trees. |
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i've had ancestors living in oregon since 1840's. my great-great grandfather held an important position as superintendant of the school in knox butte. he was one of the most highly-respected people in town. right now nader holds ten percent of the oregon vote. i'm thinking of voting for nader rather than gore so we can at least have a third recognised party. it's about time. |
first, let it be known i side more with nadar than any of the other canidates, as far as policies go, at least what i know of nadar... now lets say for aminute, he did win... how would he get anything done? congress? he'd be all alone, no other party support in congress. he'd be chewed and spat out in 4 years, and i would suspect it would be a blue moon before any green party canidate ever took another office again...i don't think middle america is ready for Nadar....so what kind of influence would he have as president. as you know president holds more influence than actual power. i think his ideas are noble, radical and necessary, but i also think that the Greens need to step up on the first rung before trying to leap to the top (i.e. presidency). at first my funding argument was key, however i haven't seen any more visability in the reform party since they copped 12.5 million...so Im not so sure that money from congress really matters... SO with this in mind, i must do what i can to keep bush out and vote Gore. |
geek boy and I just saw modern dance. woah. |
Nader's campaign is not a/b him winning, it's a/b planting seeds for the future, the next election. unnerztand? i's a/b the overthrow of the 2 party system. after Perot did his little cake-walk through the electoral college, the two parties 'got together' and fixed the rules to keep it from happening again (on a nat'l level). Puchannan aside, a third party (and/or 4th. 5th) that can present itself as a viable alternative is crucial for our survival as a nation. and yes, it meands that the freaks will be much more visible, but natural selection will (does) take care of that problem. if you were gonna vote 3rd party before, please continue to do so... keep in mind that the president is important, but he's only a third of the gov't. Bush could not get away with what he's done to my Beloved Texas on a national level, so voting for Gore to keep him out isnt a very sound idea in the long run. |
actually, bush is a prime example, good for passing a few tax bills. "if you vote against money for the schools, we'll have a lot more idiots like him running around" it might get a few laughs. |