95%....Honestly by Jongsstraw

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

95%....Honestly

POSTED BY: JONGSSTRAW
UPDATED: Friday, October 5, 2007 14:55
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VIEWED: 781
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Thursday, October 4, 2007 2:21 PM

95%......

That's the percentage of things in this country & planet that either scare me or disgust me.

Probably, of the 95%....75% disgust me, and 25% scare me.

Yet I generally feel like I'm a lucky and happy
person...job, family, friends, big screens, etc. Is it this board, or CNN, or Fox..or what? Why should I even want to know a gorram thing about this stained toilet world? How 'bout all youze?

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Thursday, October 4, 2007 3:33 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Jongstraw, according to your statement, 71.25% of all things in this world disgust you, and 23.75% of all things in this world frighten you.

That would seem to imply that if you look out the window at any given time and see 100 identifiable objects, 71 of them will make you feel disgusted and nearly 24 of them will scare the bajeezes out of you.

But that can't be true, else you couldn't possibly be a generally happy or content individual.

I propose that IF 95% of the things in the world actually evoke a negative emotional state from you, then the only way you could remain generally happy is if the distribution of those things is in your favor. For example, the small slice of the world that you inhabit may not contain a great many of these 95% offenders. Thus, while 95% of the world at large disgusts or frightens you, perhaps only 25% of your personal sphere of living contains revolting or frightening things.

So, you would then succeed in being happy by ensuring that your immediate environment contains more 'happy' things than 'unhappy' things. A good example of this is in choosing to live on dry land. Living a life entirely in the sea may be unpalatable to some humans. Hence, they choose to live on the ~25% of the planet that is covered by land. The result is that while the majority of the Earth is an unfriendly environment, the 25% which is dry land isn't nearly as bad, and so they can stomach it.

In a similar fashion, I expect you have chosen a home, friends, a job, and possibly a wife in such a way as to create a little island of tranquility for yourself.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Friday, October 5, 2007 1:26 AM

LEADB

That's an interesting point, Anthony; and to some extent we do that.

I'll observe there's a large proportion of things that disgust me in Washington DC; and a large proportion of things that scare me in the Middle East.

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Friday, October 5, 2007 1:36 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

No one ever said this place was suppose to be paradise.

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Friday, October 5, 2007 1:43 AM

SERGEANTX

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Yet I generally feel like I'm a lucky and happy
person...job, family, friends, big screens, etc. Is it this board, or CNN, or Fox..or what? Why should I even want to know a gorram thing about this stained toilet world? How 'bout all youze?

I'll offer you this. It's what I used to tell my kids.

Television is not reality. The internet is not reailty. The 'news' is not reality. The 'media' are not reality. Combined they comprise a hyper-efficient freakshow that combs the earth digging into the all the corners of the globe for the most bizarre things that can be found (or convincingly made up). All in the name of getting your attention and freaking you out.

If you want to know what's going on, go outside, take a walk around the block. Talk to your neighbors, your family & friends. THAT's reality.

I'm not saying we should ignore that which is wrong in the world, certainly not the wrong being done in our names, by our leaders. But there's only so much we can do. If everyone did as you've suggested - and focused on making their tiny plot as sane as possible, most of the craziness would melt away.

I'm remembering a quote (I think I heard it from Paul Harvey, but it sounds awfully 'Clemensesque')

"In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been 'times like these'."

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Friday, October 5, 2007 2:58 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yeah there is a "freakshow" aspect to the media.

OTOH people who only looked at their little plot of neighborhood were surprised as hell by 9-11. And then they ran for daddy and a quick fix, and look at the nightmare THAT created.

You live in a bigger world than your neighborhood and it can come crashing into you at any time in a big way. If you pay attention you'll be able to vote in such as way as to not shoot yourself accidentally.

---------------------------------
Always look upstream.

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Friday, October 5, 2007 3:44 AM

FREMDFIRMA

How's the old saying go ?

If you ain't pissed off, you ain't been payin attention.

Bein annoyed provides motivation, which becomes intent and thus evolves to action.

Bear with me for a short while folks, some nimrod crushed the rear end of #32 today with his Excursion and was so clueless he about drove over it as all his attention was on the cellphone at the time - and my poor back is killin me, good thing for him I couldn't move at the time, or he'd need a proctologist to get that cellphone back.

-Frem
"I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."

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Friday, October 5, 2007 4:24 AM

JONGSSTRAW

Thanks for all your responses...I appreciate your honesty as well. Just needed to vent a bit last night....seems that when I'm occupied and busy with life's "things" I feel good, but when I watch TV, or read the paper or internet I get a bit ornery and opinionated. So...more of living life, and less of knowing the harsh realities of the world. Thanks!

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Friday, October 5, 2007 4:48 AM

HKCAVALIER

Thanks for posting your thoughts, Jongstraw.

A central truth of human nature comes to mind in this context: at the most basic level, people do what they want to do; and don't do what they don't want to do. Complaining and bragging pretty much amount to the same thing: look at me and look at my struggle. Not criticizing, just making an observation about the perspective we choose.

The vast, vast majority of people in the world are just trying to get through the day and be kind to their neighbors: that's what humans do best. There's always a noisy minority in power. There's always a noisy minority killing each other to get more power. Some of the rest of us get caught in the middle and that is tragic beyond words. The rest of us think we choose sides, have all manner of opinions of which folks with power and guns are right and which folks with power and guns are wrong, but most human beings would rather not have anything to do with the whole mess. Think of the actual number of people actually, physically engaged in this "war." Think of the actual number of people "running" the country--a tiny minority of humans on this planet. In spite of our often loopy opinions, most human beings are, practically speaking, pretty sane.

I try to think of the folks who are actually in the thick of it--the power hungry, the homicidal, the vengeance obsessed, the profoundly unlucky--as sick and I hope they get better. I do what I can to help. I look at human history and I see more people across the globe able to live quietly and comfortably untroubled by the warlords and the maniacs than at any other time in human history. We've got a long way to go, but that's the trend I see.

Does any of that make sense?

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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Friday, October 5, 2007 8:46 AM

FREMDFIRMA

HKC - That reminded me of a clip of discussion found in a David Drake Novel

(paraphrased, not a direct quote since I can't find the book at the moment.)

Suilin - "The consolidated action movement is just a terran front, only a small fraction of the people support the consies!"

Cooter - "Only a fraction supports your side too, allright yes, a bigger fraction - but what most people want is for the shooting to stop, trust me turtle, that's how it always is."

Suilin - "But we have a right to decide our own government!"

Cooter - "That you do, and that's what you're paying us Slammers for, so their fraction gets tired of having it's ass kicked by your fraction."

Excerpt from Hammers Slammers: Rolling Hot.

btw - being barely able to move really, truly sucks.

-F

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Friday, October 5, 2007 1:42 PM

JONGSSTRAW

HK...thanks for your thoughtful post...very interesting.

Off topic, but... if you had $100 million to burn would you :

a) finance another Serenity movie
b) finance your political agenda(s)

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Friday, October 5, 2007 2:55 PM

HKCAVALIER

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
HK...thanks for your thoughtful post...very interesting.

Off topic, but... if you had $100 million to burn would you :

a) finance another Serenity movie
b) finance your political agenda(s)

They're the same gorram thing! And you call yourself a browncoat!?!

(Good question: more serious answer forthcoming)

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

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