Eccentric Flower talk:201101/Two Reactions
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Comments on Eccentric Flower:201101/Two Reactions
What is a geek? Seriously, does a geek have all kinds of arcane, esoteric, essentially useless knowledge? Or does one only have to appreciate learning or hearing about all kinds of arcane, esoteric, essentially useless knowledge, and then say "Ha! That is so cool!" and file it away as a fun fact to know, in order to qualify as a geek?
I am not a geek, I'm pretty sure, but I fall into the second category. Learning for the sheer joy of just knowing should not be discounted. In that sense, when you write about a topic you find interesting, it's not useless to those who enjoy learning about new things. Everything doesn't have to have world implications. We'd all implode under the weight of all that seriousness. Gotta have diversions and it's fun to have someone with whom to share them. (One of mine happens to be grammar.)
It'd be a shame if this disappears later, is all I'm sayin'.
-- 18:34, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
Joy:
(I actually mean that completely sincerely. I realized it in high school, that it was all well and good getting through the school week in order to get to the weekend, but the weekend was just going to end anyway, so what was the point?)
I know the weather is crap there today, but I'd highly encourage a walk!
-- 18:36, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
Joy:
Um, in cutting and pasting my response since I had to log in again, I lost the first part of my reply, which was something like:
Oh, please don't delete this, your reply just made me laugh out loud! Because, really, what is the point of doing anything, even doing it well and solving all those problems, since we're all just going to die anyway?
-- 18:38, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
I hate avocados. Why would I ever want to buy one, let alone two? This post makes no sense.
The roulette thing, however, is really cool. Who wouldn't find that sort of thing interesting? Heck, they turned a similar story about blackjack into a book and movie.
-- 19:59, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
Your peculiar tastes in fruits and vegetables are well-documented and can safely be ignored, sir.
-- 20:16, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
1. Optional topics are, in fact, my job. If I don't ever discuss them--and sometimes argue about them--I have a far, far more limited palette for doing my goddamn job. Which I'm sorry you don't feel is worth taking seriously, but, y'know, it's not actually going to change the fact that I will do so.
2. I think you're an asshole. I don't say this as a condemnation but as a diagnostic: I think you were surrounded by assholes and had them pound assholery into you, and it stuck.
Seriously, *why* must I care to the same degree as the person who is talking? How will I ever find out about new things that are interesting if no one is ever willing to talk to me about the things they find interesting? This is so worth sitting through my dad's friend Al talking about the wrong kind of Vikings. And trying to shut people up and keep them from telling me about interesting things I might enjoy? Makes you an *asshole*.
An asshole I'm fond of. But still.
I mean, seriously. How useful is it to have a friend who has watched a metric buttload of Bollywood movies or James Bond or whatever the hell, so they can tell you which ones they think are worth the time? Jo has a ranking of Georgette Heyer novels, because she adores them, so I could determine that we agree on ranking but not on total level of enthusiasm, and I could read all the ones Jo thought were good, verify that the ones she thought were mediocre were in fact mediocre to my tastes also, and *stop*. This saved me countless hours with bad Georgette Heyer novels. Alec has been lending me anime by the trainload, because he is able to geek out about various anime shows and have me either say, "Yes, I'd like to watch that," or, "No, I see why you find that interesting but I will not be watching it," or, "God, no, thank you for warning me off that."
I don't have the *time* to do everything myself, though God knows I try. Bruce telling me in detail what is right with one restaurant and wrong with another is a genuine boost to my life.
-- 22:07, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
I largely agree with your Controversial Statement Which You Think Will Be the One Thing People Pick On In This Entry But Which Everyone Will Totally Ignore To Pick On Something Else You Thought Was Completely Harmless At the Time Instead.
-- 22:25, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
Well, first off, I agree I'm an asshole. Far more often than I'm comfortable with. (And your diagnosis of how I got that way probably has at least 75% accuracy.)
That said, I've never tried to shut anyone else up. Walked away, yeah, once or twice. But never tried to prevent them from talking about things. The person I tell to shut up is me. I figure I am entitled to tell me to shut up; I don't figure I'm entitled to tell anyone else (except in very rare circumstances).
All those examples you give are indeed very useful. (In fact, I asked for manga recommendations in this very space not long back, and one of them turned out fabulous.) And that's good and well - if wanted. I just won't ever assume again that it's wanted unless I have proof in advance that it is.
My assumption is that the default among people is that the information is not wanted, because my assumption is that most people don't want any information if they can avoid absorbing it, let alone the non-essential stuff.
I'm sorry. I think sometimes working in a school has really not improved my general outlook on humanity. You'd think it would; but I think it's moved me in the opposite direction.
Bottom line is:
1. Sure, *I* pick up new information by listening to others talk or write about it, and it's a good, interesting, useful, entertaining accretive process.
2. I realize y'all aren't most people and many of you do too. I don't mean to tar you with that brush and if it sounds like I did, I apologize. I know you are all better than that.
3. But I can't base my precautionary measures on you, or on me for that matter. Be easier if I could.
-- 22:33, 18 January 2011 (GMT)
>I knew someone who never, ever read or watched fiction of any kind (...) This, frankly, worried me a little.
I've met people like that, and it seems like they may have something hinky in their genes. Humans are wired to need stories. It's a near universal trait in our species, and to have no interest in fiction of any kind strikes me as a defect of the brain. You can probably get by, but it's almost like facial blindness or something.
From that quote it sounds like you appreciate that stories are essential to humans on some level... But then for some reason you think it's silly for people to have strong opinions about fiction. Fiction shapes us, for good or ill. It strongly influences how we see the world growing up, and even as adults we still use fiction to help us figure life out. We watch characters face problems we can relate to on some level, and then we reject or accept the character's solution. Millions of people, for instance, have probably tried to be kinder because they were influenced by A Christmas Carol. (And a lot of guys have been screwed up because they grew up watching macho movies with jerk-ass values.) How many times have we heard the thing about how Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry used sci-fi to talk about really divisive issues in an indirect, entertaining way?
You could argue that what you think about certain movies means a lot more in the grander scheme than what you think about politics. As individuals, our votes don't really count for much. If a government collapses in a foreign country, it may never have any direct impact on your life. But if you really liked the original Terminator, let's say, I don't think it's silly to discuss whether the transformation of Linda Hamilton into a snarling bodybuilder in the second film was a positive step for women in film or if it was just James Cameron action movie bullshit. Is she an early example of the "Rambo with boobs" cliche, or is she a bold, inspiring character? How much did her portrayal affect subsequent depictions of women in the media, and how have female characters like her affected the women who've grown up watching them? Sometimes when you're arguing about a movie, you're also arguing about larger issues in pop culture or the "real" world.
-- 03:24, 19 January 2011 (GMT)
I got roulette mania once (http://boston.conman.org/2005/06/15.1) but I got better, because my dad told me of the bias in roulette wheels. I also learned that in theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, they are not (and that a simulation is not the same as real life).
-- 07:50, 19 January 2011 (GMT)
The point of arguing about the Ten Greatest Composers is three-fold.
1. The list is not the point. This is a fun game because it's impossible to winnow down the list to ten must-have can't-miss oh-yes-hoom-that's-correct composers. The fun part is figuring out others' reasoning and values as articulated in the process of constructing the list.
2. It's an excuse to talk about something I love. Have you ever been to a chamber music concert? Not the symphony -- people still go to the symphony. But go to hear a string quartet play, and you'll see a thin, sad audience full of blue-hairs and MAYBE one or two people in their twenties. This is an art form that's dying, and that makes me incredibly sad. If the New York Times sparks some small amount of temporary interest in classical music, I'm grateful for the stay of execution.
3. The conversation, like all conversations conducted on the internet, reinforces my fervent belief that I am right about everything and everyone else in the world is crazy.
-- 11:00, 19 January 2011 (GMT)
Columbina:
You know, after I wrote this, I went back to reading about everything that was happening in the world, and I'm on the verge of deleting this. Because a pointless discussion about pointless discussions is itself pointless, and until there is a world where no one is dying or starving or getting raped, then really, how can I talk about any of this useless crap in good conscience?
So, um, don't be surprised if this disappears later, is what I'm saying.
ETA: P.S. It is possible that I have some seasonal depression today.
-- 17:44, 18 January 2011 (GMT)