So, I was on http://www.gaiaonline.com earlier tonight, when I decided I was going to show this shmuck what a total idiot he was, and started trying to get him angry. We argued back and forth, and his argument consisted mainly of "Fuck you, you're retarded." However, he pointed something out that I'm quite ashamed of. I'd dropped down to the level of a troll, and a bad one at that. I had become that which I claim to have no time for, that which I try to ignore most times I come across it.
I'm a White Knight, I come to the defense of Newbies in Guild Wars when people are taking advantage of them, I explain things to them, sometimes ten times if I need to, to try and help them, and I go into most situations in game with an open mind to meeting new people.
I don't do this in the rest of my life. I tend to mind my own business, and find myself looking down on others in a snobby, ignorant way. I'm judgmental, and command immediate respect from people, even when they have to earn it from me.
In trying to badly parody this pinnacle of every dark emotion in the human spectrum, I realized I wasn't doing anything different than he was, I was just masking it behind my own self righteousness. I help people in Guild Wars because in some way, it validates that I'm a good person to strangers. It shows that I'm a good person, in some small way, which excuses my general distaste for everyone else. This should change.
I should change, even in the way I act towards strangers. I'm a skeptic, and a realist, particularly in regards to other people. I always think that a crowd is out to get me, and that I'm about to get pushed, punched, etc. I'm afraid of the very world I want to try and protect. I don't even know how to go about solving it.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
We're doing this wrong.
Greetings to my abandoned blog. Today I'm here to talk to you about something we're, in my humble opinion, doing wrong. I was watching a movie with my girlfriend today, my lovely girlfriend who I'd do anything to protect, and there were women being raped and murdered on the screen. I can't describe how much it ended up upsetting me. She observed that most people were hardened enough about that sort of thing, and we continued watching the movie. As it went on, the Police picked up a survivor girl from one of the rapes, but she wouldn't talk about it, so they arrested her. Then, they cut a deal with the accomplice of the multiple rapist murderer.
I'm sorry, excuse me? Label me the Law-Abiding Citizen here, but that shouldn't cut it. I realize that in order for the justice system to function, there needs to be informators, and sometimes those are the accomplices. But it doesn't mean they should get off Scot-free. Something wrong has been done, and they should be dealt with as well.
I'm noticing that although society is taking steps to alleviate certain things like Racism, or Sexual Assault, or violence against the innocent, and this is, at it's core, good meaning folk wishing the best for others. However, not everyone gets to have such things. We're focusing too much on smaller problems of a bigger whole. What I'm referring to here, is that while we sit over in our stable environmental continent, while crimes go through as shocking tidbits in a regular day for most, or a life changing event for the unlucky, they're common place other places in the world, even within our own country.
The world is not a nice place. It has it's moments. Overall, this world is ripe with hatred and violence, and most reasons are dumb. One thing that came up during the movie was that I didn't really care about Native American/First Nations culture. I don't mean that disrespectively, but rather that I simply view them as equal to everyone else. The same goes for Asians, Afro-Canadian/Americans, etc. I don't see Arabian's as any different from other people either. It's just not my way of life, and I don't really understand why people can degrade eachother so senselessly. I mean, as anyone can really attest to, people of every ethnic origin are people. They have relatively speaking, the same flesh and blood as everyone else, but this doesn't seem to register. I don't know where they lost this idea. Perhaps it's in the religious texts from ages past, from the mouths of hateful and greedy leaders, but it needs to stop.
Now, I don't really mean to Patrick Stewart Speech you, but Humanity has so many great qualities going for it. We're infinitely adaptable, inventive, compassionate, capable of great feats. I believe that religion does a lot of good for people, even if I don't partake in it, however I also know that there are people that use belief out there for ill, and for abuse of fellow man. Take a look to the middle east, with the Israelis and Palestinians. This is not right, this is not just. However it is in ancient and more modern beliefs that such fight occur, and this must stop. People should be happy where they are, or if they aren't, they should have the freedom to try to do better, to strive for more out of life, not be shot down at gun point for not getting under a boot heel. This is created by evil men, whom have gained power.
I do not understand why people can do so much damage to one another. Speaking as someone who has hurt people emotionally and physically before, I regret everytime I did it, and I'd take it back if I could. But lately, I've taken a step back from the world and watched, and found that in my dealings with people, there isn't a lot that I should be very offended about. I may be upset for a few hours after it happens, but it's not worth stressing over. I'm used to people not believing what I believe in life, so maybe that gives me an edge, but I'm satisfied that people have their own beliefs and I have mine. My beliefs keep me happy, and living, and theirs do the same for them. Why is there conflict? There shouldn't be any there. I do not know enough about politics in Africa, or perhaps the lack of politics, to make any real commentary about that land, I wish I did though.
To finish up what might be this blog's revival, is a quote I found which I like. It's from Robert Heinlein.
I'm sorry, excuse me? Label me the Law-Abiding Citizen here, but that shouldn't cut it. I realize that in order for the justice system to function, there needs to be informators, and sometimes those are the accomplices. But it doesn't mean they should get off Scot-free. Something wrong has been done, and they should be dealt with as well.
I'm noticing that although society is taking steps to alleviate certain things like Racism, or Sexual Assault, or violence against the innocent, and this is, at it's core, good meaning folk wishing the best for others. However, not everyone gets to have such things. We're focusing too much on smaller problems of a bigger whole. What I'm referring to here, is that while we sit over in our stable environmental continent, while crimes go through as shocking tidbits in a regular day for most, or a life changing event for the unlucky, they're common place other places in the world, even within our own country.
The world is not a nice place. It has it's moments. Overall, this world is ripe with hatred and violence, and most reasons are dumb. One thing that came up during the movie was that I didn't really care about Native American/First Nations culture. I don't mean that disrespectively, but rather that I simply view them as equal to everyone else. The same goes for Asians, Afro-Canadian/Americans, etc. I don't see Arabian's as any different from other people either. It's just not my way of life, and I don't really understand why people can degrade eachother so senselessly. I mean, as anyone can really attest to, people of every ethnic origin are people. They have relatively speaking, the same flesh and blood as everyone else, but this doesn't seem to register. I don't know where they lost this idea. Perhaps it's in the religious texts from ages past, from the mouths of hateful and greedy leaders, but it needs to stop.
Now, I don't really mean to Patrick Stewart Speech you, but Humanity has so many great qualities going for it. We're infinitely adaptable, inventive, compassionate, capable of great feats. I believe that religion does a lot of good for people, even if I don't partake in it, however I also know that there are people that use belief out there for ill, and for abuse of fellow man. Take a look to the middle east, with the Israelis and Palestinians. This is not right, this is not just. However it is in ancient and more modern beliefs that such fight occur, and this must stop. People should be happy where they are, or if they aren't, they should have the freedom to try to do better, to strive for more out of life, not be shot down at gun point for not getting under a boot heel. This is created by evil men, whom have gained power.
I do not understand why people can do so much damage to one another. Speaking as someone who has hurt people emotionally and physically before, I regret everytime I did it, and I'd take it back if I could. But lately, I've taken a step back from the world and watched, and found that in my dealings with people, there isn't a lot that I should be very offended about. I may be upset for a few hours after it happens, but it's not worth stressing over. I'm used to people not believing what I believe in life, so maybe that gives me an edge, but I'm satisfied that people have their own beliefs and I have mine. My beliefs keep me happy, and living, and theirs do the same for them. Why is there conflict? There shouldn't be any there. I do not know enough about politics in Africa, or perhaps the lack of politics, to make any real commentary about that land, I wish I did though.
To finish up what might be this blog's revival, is a quote I found which I like. It's from Robert Heinlein.
And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown --in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability....and goodness.....of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth --but that we will always make it....survive....endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure --will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage --and his noble essential decency.This I believe with all my heart.
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