Thursday, May 30, 2013




Anonymous Phone Call Syndrome

There's a Spiteful Silly Little Child in most of us just dying to get out and do it's darndest. Caller ID has made prank calls all-but impossible now, so these types –– many of whom might be bank presidents, college professors. medical doctors, or high-paid business executives in "real" life –– have found the net –– and various blogs and websites an easy outlet for the little demon within.

None of these people would ever DREAM of acting this way in any face-to-face business, social or professional context.

Most of us like to think we are above such behavior, but few really are when given the chance to "act out" with impunity.

Frankly, I don't think it's anything to get too excited about.

Here's my favorite proverb:

YOU FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PETER FROM WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT PAUL, THAN YOU DO ABOUT PAUL.

An' ain' DAT de troof? ;-)

Keeping your sense of humor in good shape is a great help, if you hope to stay sane, believe me.

I rarely use Comment Moderation, but I do feel free to delete "garbage” whenever I find it.

 I’m glad Ms Shaw, whom I regard as a friend, despite our opposing political views, understood what I was driving at with the recent experiment I called HATE WEEK. 

I just wonder how many looked in that mirror I set up, and recognized THEMSELVES?

Another favorite proverb -- this from Horace Walpole:

LIFE IS A TRAGEDY TO HIM WHO FEELS AND A COMEDY TO HIM WHO THINKS.



48 comments:

  1. Sorry but I missed Hate Week
    How about another go at it?

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  2. Good thoughts, there, Mr. FreeThinke.

    Anonymity does stir some to outrageous behavior.

    While I find Shaw Kenaw's "strike like a venomous serpent and then fall on her fainting couch when offended parties strike back" act grating, the personal insults against her are much, much worse, uncalled for, and ungentlemanly toward the weaker sex.

    The little lady doesn't deserve it! She's a spunky little gal with plenty of pluck and a sassy tongue, and she's an east coast liberal. What do our friends on the conservative side expect?

    I must confess I did not understand hate week and did not like it.

    Harlan from LeftWatch (Somebody's gotta keep an eye on 'em!)

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  3. Mr. Free Thinke, since Harlan made an accusation about me, I feel justified in defending myself:

    Harlan wrote:

    "strike like a venomous serpent and then fall on her fainting couch when offended parties strike back"

    But he gave no example of this. It is true that I go after conservative teevee and radio personalities, politicians, and pundits. And that's fair game, since every conservative blog, including this one, denigrates liberals (libtards, anyone, and have you read Mr. Free Thinke's opinion of Hilary Clinton?) and politicians.

    But I have not attacked anyone PERSONALLY and called them pieces of sh*t! as I was referred to on AOWs blog. I delete personal attacks.

    Mr. Harlan does not seem to be able to understand that simple difference.

    I do go after fair game: politicians. I do not slander and slur my commenters.

    Mr. Free Thinke knows this, as does RN Nation, Silverfiddle, and even Ms. AOW. No one on my blog called her a piece of sh*t.

    There's a difference, Harlan. It is not my problem that you and others don't get it.

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  4. How many "impersonal" "Thersites" posts have you done, Ms. pShaw????

    lol!

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  5. Just a tidbit... of course, not taken "personally"....

    His blognym is Thersites. This is his adorable little blog. Read it and understand why he continues to come here, begging for recognition.

    Dear, dear, little unloved and unread poltroon.

    Someone, anyone, please tell him what a clever little slink he is.

    Thank you. And may the blog gods bless you.

    Oh, I forgot to mention this, he’s a conservative.

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  6. "How many "impersonal" "Thersites" posts have you done, Ms. pShaw????"

    Dear Dog, Mr. Thersites, you spent all last summer spamming my blog with such a vengeance that I had to go to comment moderation. Yes, I went after you to defend myself. Something you and your ilk cannot abide in me.

    Too bad, Sir. When you give it; you have to learn to take it.

    All any fair-minded person has to do is look at the slurs that were thrown at me (and at anyone who dares to defend me) to understand what is really going on.

    I have presumed too much on Mr. Free Thinke's good will.

    You, Thersites, and your friends at AOW can continue your campaign to slander me. I read them, of course, with my friends and family, and we all have a jolly good time laughing at the folly of it all.

    As Mr. FT has observed, your behavior and everyone else who takes pleasure in internet bullying in this whole sordid episode speaks for itself.

    And I'm done with your juvenile antics.

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  7. Are you lying upon your feinting couch now???

    Just wondrin'....

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. From Shaw Kenaw's trash tabloid Weblog:
    ----

    "We understand how this controversy plays into the paranoia that is so rife in certain parts of the rightwing, and we understand how they will behave like chattering howler monkeys over it until they squeeze every last bit of Obama-hate from it and leave it on the cage floor to wither and rot."

    "Conservative pols and bloggers are as high as glue-sniffers"

    ---------------

    If you insist on dishing it out, don't go crying for sympathy when you can't take it.

    As I have previously stated, I condemn those who vulgarly insult others, but when you cut and past the most hysterical and hyperpartisan leftwing propaganda while gloating over it and deleting comments, don't be surprised at the reaction.


    Shaw Kenawe is also a reliable tongue-bath giver to the Obama white house, slinging invective at anyone who refuses the heed to Obama propaganda and ignore all the scandals.

    Well, guess what little lady? 76% of Americans want a special prosecutor.

    "American voters say 76 - 17 percent, including 63 - 30 percent among Democrats, that a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate charges the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today."

    http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1899

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  10. OH CHEESE! I just hate it when intelligent people I like and respect who have much to offer refuse to get along with each other.

    As I've reported many times already, I came from a family like that. I loved them all, but they kept on fighting and criticizing each other unduly -- ALWAYS insisting that I take sides.

    That's tough on a kid, believe me.

    No one's perfect, and few of us are able to recognize -- or ADMIT to -- the undesirable things in ourselves.

    All I can say is I like many of you IN SPITE of certain behaviors I can't say I admire.

    And yes I do absolutely loath and despise Hillary Clinton. For me it was Hate at First Sight, and nothing she has said or done has ever moved me to alter my opinion, but SO WHAT?

    I don't know anyone with any backbone, character and convictions who does NOT harbor pet peeves and objects of scorn, contempt and ridicule.

    Ms Shaw has a perfect RIGHT to say vile things about Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin just as I do about Hillary Clinton and her satanic, slothfully sinful satyr of a spouse.

    What we do NOT have a right to do -- at least not at MY place -- is continually HARASS each other about our differences of opinion and contrary sentiments.

    Do you remember The Farmer's Daughter with Loretta Young, Joseph Cotton and Ethel Barrymore?

    Lovely Loretta played "Katie," a Scandinavian-American farm girl with a charming Norwegian accent -- a strong, capable, no-nonsense character with a highly developed sense of right and wrong despite her pronounced lack of sophistication, and a great determination to do her duty.

    Barrymore played Joe Cotton's mother -- the matriarch of a wealthy, privileged clan with a great deal of political clout. Let us say they were Republicans, though we're not told that specifically in the film.

    Katie, of course, had strong liberal leanings, and despite serving as a maid in Barrymore's household out of necessity, had no compunctions whatsoever about speaking her mind.

    Anyway, this being Hollywood in the Forties and Katie being played by Loretta Young, EVERYBODY falls in love with Katie -- including Ethel Barrymore.

    I bring this up, because at one point after it has become inevitable that Katie is going to run for congress -- on the OPPOSING ticket -- Barrymore says something like this to her, "Katie, dear, even though I will do everything possible to defeat you, don't let anyone stop you from doing your best to win. You're a fine, hpnest girl, and I'm proud to know you." -- That wasn't it, but it's close enough.

    Barrymore's character is the most memorable -- and the most endearing --in that film.

    Why?

    Because she represented NOBILITY at its best.

    Personally, I believe NOBILITY is the quality towards which all should strive.

    Nobility is exceedingly rare these days largely because we have been artfully SEDUCED and MANIPULATED into REJECTING NOBILITY in favor of a vigorous veneration of the most vicious varieties of VULGARITY.


    If that were not true, we'd be treating each other with proper dignity and respect, despite our disagreements, instead of acting like Junior High Hellions staging a Daily Food Fight at the Cafeteria.

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  11. Anonymous, you and the others still don't understand. I have every right to criticize and attack what and whom I don't like on the conservative spectrum.

    That is EXACTLY what your conservative friends who blog do. Any day of the week I can read blog posts that criticize in the strongest terms the president and his administration and any liberal that conservatives dislike. That's what blogging is about.

    What you and a lot of other people can't seem to understand is that I am just as entitled to my opinions, likes, and dislikes as your conservative friends who blog are.

    What you quoted were criticisms by me against a political group or faction, and I qualified it by using the word "some."

    What your kind does is attack me PERSONALLY.

    You and a few more who can't let this go haven't the neurons flashing in your collective brains to understand that distinction.

    I have not called you or your friends a "piece of sh*t," a viper, nor claimed that you and your friends are mentally ill and deranged or any other slur.

    Again, the fact that you can't understand the distinction and continue to attack me here and on other blogs says more about your mental acuity than it does me.

    It appears that you and others are positively besotted with me and my opinions, which unhealthily enrage you all, and apparently haunt your every day life.

    Perhaps a few turns with some introspection may reveal why this is so.

    All of your rancor and rantings affect me not one jot, since I continue to blog as I choose.

    You and your unhappy group are wasting precious time on this futile project to slander and silence me.

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  12. And don't kid yourself Shaw, Ms. AOW never liked you, she was only being civil and cordial, because that’s the way REAL ladies act! Something you’ll never know!

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  13. And you can tell your friend Black Goat the same thing!

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  14. Shaw Kenawe said...

    Anonymous, you and the others still don't understand. I have every right to criticize and attack what and whom I don't like on the conservative spectrum.

    AND SO DO WE!!!

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  15. Sahw Kenawe said: "Anonymous, you and the others still don't understand. I have every right to criticize and attack what and whom I don't like on the conservative spectrum."

    Of course we do, little lady.

    I don't believe that even the most insane ranter on the right has said you do not have the right to freely speak your opinion.

    You must learn to get off of your high horse when people criticize the pinheaded, partisan hackery you post. Furthermore, the "oh pity me" boo hooing and verbal taunting back at your weblog does not cast you in a good light either.

    If you cannot take it, don't dish it out.

    You are just one more person with an opinion.

    Harlan from LeftWatch (Somebody's gotta keep an eye on 'em!)

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  16. Shaw Kenawe you and your friends have essentially made conservative politics a joke. You think that Rush Limbaugh’s listeners are mindless “dittohead morons,” but you have never doubt anything that you heard from Michael Moore.
    Well get ready for a wild ride, because us Conservatives aren't gonna take YOUR crap any longer.. No matter what Mr. Thinke says or thinks!
    From your diary blog it is obvious you know jack shit about conservatism. When we are pissed, we don’t let up one iota.
    Mr. Thinke may love you but Do NOT presume that he speaks for me, or anyone else.

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  17. What a pathetic waste of what precious little time we are given....

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  18. I’m sick and tired of you liberal scum that go around telling all the blacks and mexicans, that I’ll put money that you didn’t earn into your pockets! (NOT.)

    And also you idiot people the Defeatism mindset with the war in Iraq, because, even though Hilary Clinton and John Kerry, along with many other liberal scum, voted for the war, they like to say we’re losing it. And who can forget when beloved Former Presidick Clinton bombed Iraq’s facility’s of “WMDS” in 1998 so he couldn’t be Impeached? Who also remembers how he ended up bombing a fucking aspirin factory. Nice Job you lying cocksucker. Liberals are scum and will lead this country to the slow self-destructing ways of socialism. NOW LET’S ALL THANK KARL MARX FOR ANOTHER GREAT DAY IN THE UNITED STATES!

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  19. Free... I don't know we can change the tone of dialogue without the following...
    1. A commitment to treat each other, even when we disagree, like we would like to be treated and...

    2. A desire to seek common ground.

    Do you have any thoughts?

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  20. The truth is difficult to swallow, eh pShaw?

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  21. @Spidey --- Shaw Kenawe you and your friends have essentially made conservative politics a joke.
    ----
    I don't know how you managed it Spidey but you have Shaw et.al. confused with Louie Gohmert.

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  22. See, you're better off talking about music and the arts or the like, FT.

    Jen and I can't stand each others politics but get us talking about photography -- compañeros.

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  23. Sam Huntington from Always On watch. I do think Sam and most of his fan club there are fucking idiots.
    Not sure if this eyeball-rolling ranter is calling me a “lieing (sic) cocksucker or if he means Clinton. Republicans are a bunch of right-wing religious nuts with a hate-filled agenda, like the ranter Sam

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  24. Perhaps you should stick to talking about things that you're good at, duckman. For as a physician of a national economic system, you've almost killed the patient.

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  25. You may have noticed that this is not a happy page. This is a page of anger and hate. Like the anger and hate free men felt for Hitler in World War II. Like the anger and hate free men felt for the Soviet Union during the cold war. Like the anger and hate free men feel for Red China today, this the hate that we Conservatives feel about Shaw, who has been belittling us for years and calling us them most vile names in the book. Today this hideous mental virus is calling itself Liberalism.. I’d call it Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism and Socialism! I hate all of you fucking pretentious, dirty, smelly, ugly liberals.

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  26. Dave,

    I mostly agree with you. I cannot understand why we (meaning all of us) cannot disagree on points of economics and political philosophy without making an attempt to insult, harass and bully each other with childish taunts and name-calling.

    Of course, I see MIRROR IMAGES everywhere in that BOTH sides have lapsed into the habit of regarding the Other as "Spawn of the Devil" or some variant thereof.

    I've reached the point where nothing HURTS me, personally, anymore, but the scene here is extremely disappointing and depressing. So much so that I am seriously considering calling a halt to my efforts at blogging.

    I've posted many WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL items, as I hope you've noticed, and what happens? Invariably they are either IGNORED, MISUNDERSTOOD or clumsily and ineptly placed in a political context to which they do not properly belong.

    It's my sad observation that what the majority -- on BOTH sides of the aisle -- are looking for is something to DESPISE and DISPARAGE. Everyone seems to be spoiling for a fight ALL THE TIME.

    Whatever happened to the sweet idea of "smelling the flowers along the way?"

    I am a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, but one of the Old School -- what-has-been-recently called a PALEO-Conservative. We may not ever have endorsed the more radical policies of Democrats, but it was unthinkable when I was growing up to regard The Other Side with utter contempt and derision. Eisenhower often referred to "The Loyal Opposition." I grew up believing we were all AMERICANS first and members of a party second.

    I'm not sure that's true any longer.

    Frankly, things are NOWHERE NEAR as bad as many seem to think. Our feelings have been aggravated and exaggerated by a lot of propaganda.

    I don't know what might unify us again short of an invasion from Outer Space, God forbid.



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  27. FT, you are working hard, man. Good job. Recall, it's the journey!

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  28. A new low for Republicans! Just when it appears right-wing absurdity written and said about President Obama has leveled off it adjusts and reaches new heights. I am referring to an article titled “Was President Obama high on coke while Benghazi burned? by Dean Chambers, a writer whose bio reads that he was inspired by the “courageous independent journalism of Andrew Breitbart”. Gee, after reading this, who would have guessed.

    It’s certainly no shocker that when it comes to this President, there is no proof offered to substantiate any of this speculation – specifically that the President was high on coke on the night of the Benghazi attack. Chambers bases this nonsense on some unfounded speculation of Kevin DuJan, a self-described “gay conservative political analyst” writing for a publication called HillBuzz. DuJan states that his claim, is made based on knowledge and experience of drug addicts, and it explains the President being missing for most of the evening during the attack on Benghazi.
    You really can’t make this stuff up. However, this type of hateful garbage is indicative of a bigger picture. Since the election of President Barack Obama, followed by the emergence of the ultra-conservative Tea Party, the so-called conservative movement has quickly evolved into an extremist ideology – a fact-free zone where emotions have replaced reason. Emotions like fear, anger, hate, and greed – none of which have any logical basis. Every single day there are millions of right-wingers hating, distorting, maligning an Obama law or policy or tying the President to every scandal under the sun. At this very moment, there is an ignorant right winger ranting about his taxes going to assist the so-called “lazy” poor, or screaming about paying for healthcare coverage that includes birth control for so-called “sluts”, or promoting anti-immigrant paranoia against so called “criminals” who are here illegally – all this while STILL, till this day, there are those insisting that the President’s birth certificate is a forgery.

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  29. This President has been a target of hate-filled narratives for the last five years. Some of the prize winners include an anti-white conspiracy being perpetrated by America’s first black President, or Obama sympathizes with Muslim terrorists, or Obama is a communist who wants to institute death panels and touch off class warfare. Here’s a real dandy since it is Memorial Day after all – Obama hates our men and women in the military. Does any thinking person really believe that?
    So just how extreme and out of touch with reality is today’s conservative movement? They have a fanatical focus with the U.S Constitution that they claim is “under attack” by President Obama. They are so paranoid that it’s under attack that they have become delusional. They are convinced that President Obama and the Democrats are tyrants, Socialists, Communists, and Marxists – in no particular order – who want to take your guns, property, and liberties away. However, they cede the country hasn’t reached that point yet. They believe that America is still under a “soft tyranny” and there is still time to save the country – that is if only we can get rid of that Muslim Socialist in the White House. As for the Constitution, right wingers please take note: Yes, the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to equal opportunities to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – but not to a rigged system where the rich have been getting richer on the backs of the poor and middle-class since the days of Ronald Reagan.
    The real danger in all this insanity is, except for a few moderate Republicans left inside the Beltway, the tea-intoxicated GOP continues to perpetuate these lies to mainstream America with the help of their media accomplices – Fox News and talk radio. Outlets like Fox News have done a good job of exerting a disproportionate control over media with a 24/7 non-stop propaganda cycle. Millions of ordinary citizens are turning into mindless obedients – casualties of a misinformation bubble created by talk radio and Fox News and funded by billionaire Republicans who have a corporate agenda. To their own intellectual demise a segment of the population chooses to ignore surveys that show that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources.
    Between what they are being fed by right-wing politicians, talk radio, and Fox News, conservatives have allowed themselves to be turned into misinformed, angry, and irrational tools. They equate American patriotism to being racist and xenophobic (Obama is a Muslim!); they equate tradition to being intolerant of other cultures; proud achievement to greed is good; women’s rights to remaining barefoot and pregnant and transvaginal ultrasounds; and if you are unemployed and poor – that becomes grounds for laziness and dehumanization.
    In any event, my apologies for going off on a tangent but it’s this type of hateful unfounded nonsense written and said about our President that sets me off and I’m sure I speak for millions of Americans. All it accomplishes is to feed the hate and ignorance perpetuated by today’s far right extremists. No serious journalist would ever consider publishing such unfounded garbage.

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  30. Once a coke head...

    ...always a coke head.

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  31. Nattering on and on about the recent "blog war" accomplishes nothing. Everyone is entrenched in his views, and those who have taken positions are not going to budge.

    FT said: I grew up believing we were all AMERICANS first and members of a party second.

    I'm not sure that's true any longer.


    Well, I am SURE that it's NOT true any longer! I'm sure that blame can be cast at both sides. Not that casting blame makes a whit of difference.

    Some bloggers are trolling around trying to involve other blogs in this particular "blog war" that erupted about a week ago. Stirring the pot. To what end?

    Perhaps some people don't have enough to do. Perhaps some people are more interesting in pursuing a vendetta than in living their own lives.

    Whatever.

    But here's something to consider.....If your goal in this particular "blog war" were to be fulfilled, would achieving that goal really be of any significance other than to you personally?

    We are drops in an ocean, and there is no going back to the peaceful brooklet in the mountains.

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  32. I don't know where you find your illustrations, FT, but they're always terrific. Very clever choices.

    Helen Hghwater

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  33. Wasn't there something about mirrors not too long ago?

    A good place for every individual to start methinks...

    Thanks FT for a admirable attempt at, well, you know...

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  34. That's what the net really is, Les, -- a gigantic Mirror that reflects the surface aspects of Human Nature.

    We may like to think we are exposing and thus harming those we fear, dislike, disapprove of, despise and hold in bitterest contempt, but in Truth we reveal only the worst part of ourselves.

    The net is also a vast, limitless Echo Chamber. The disturbing sounds we hear of sneering, scathing denunciation, mocking laughter, and snarls of derision are our own voices.

    WIth every note of negativity we utter, we negate part of our individual selves.

    This process is COMMON, ORDINARY, USUAL, quintessentially VULGAR.

    That's why an honest expression of Affection, an honest attempt at Understanding, an earnest application of good Conscience, and any true gesture of noble Sacrifice or Forgiveness is often capable of moving many to tears -- of Joy and Contrition that come with the exercise of Compassion.

    It is in losing ourselves in the needs and concerns of others -- with no thought of gaining any reward for ourselves -- that we may find our TRUE selfhood, and thus gain Fulfillment.

    Great works of Art -- and by that I mean Literature, Poetry, Sculpture, Painting, Music, Architecture, Interior Design and Horticulture when used to nurture plant life on windowsills, in conservatories, and to create and maintain beautiful parks and gardens -- help to put us in touch with the finest things Earthly Existence can produce and thus the wellsprings of Compassion, Understanding and Love everyone of us has, but takes great pains to hide most of the time for fear of being mocked, misunderstood and possibly damaged.

    Fear and Hate are the evil twins that hold us back from finding true Joy in Life.

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  35. How about that which the mirror doesn't reflect... which is the true subject of much blog discourse?

    When we are on the net, we are not confronted with the Levinsonian face of the "other", the "aspect" of which we find both human and wish to be compassionate towards.

    No, we see naught but the blemishes upon that face, the inhuman and ugly stain/blot that the face is meant to conceal and disguise.... and that which we feel compelled to "expose" and thereafter, "eradicate".... the evil substance that lies "below" the surface of the reflection... below the skin... that must be eternally cast out of our world... and kept from re-turning.

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  36. ...the real work (at the zero level) of life. ;)

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  37. True music occurs only when an initial statement of consonance is followed by a series of relative dissonances all of which must be resolved into consonance.

    A vast oversimplification, of course, but an excellent "blueprint" or "paradigm" for how best to live one's life.

    We are only able to TRY. We can never fully SUCCEED.

    The only joy in life comes from making an earnest effort to make something wonderful of each day's experience, while knowing full well that FAILURE is inevitable no matter how hard you try.

    The best in Art is the closest we will ever come to Perfection, and very few of us are capable of recognizing it when we come into contact with it.

    "Beauty is Truth; Truth Beauty. That is all ye can now, and all ye need to know."

    As Thornton Wilder said in Our Town through the voice of The Stage Manager, who is asked by Emily, if anyone ever understands how wonderful life is while they are still alive?

    "Only the saints and poets," he said, "they do -- some."

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  38. Beauty is only one possible aspect of truth. Sublimity is another. Only "one" of which is non-threatening.

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  39. Beauty, as I understand it, and the sublime are one and the same.

    Beauty is not to be confused with being merely "pretty," "agreeable," "attractive," or "decorative." It's infinitely deeper than that -- akin to Mystical Union with facets of Ultimate Truth.

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  40. I'm going by Kant, "Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime". Beauty is a meadow with flowers in sunshine. The sublime is a stormy mountain peak. There can be "terror" in the sublime.... as well as "awe". These elements are not present in beauty.

    ...but they can be "true", as well.

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  41. in other words, there is "fear" in the sublime.... but "love" in beauty. The "sublime" is the fear at the heart of love. ;)

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  42. Beauty is the Sublime with the experience of fear generated in its' perceptor "subtracted" from it.

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  43. I disagree. Beauty -- as I understand it -- is ALL of those things rolled into ONE.

    Beauty may be found in the grotesque, the ugly, the noble, the humble, the horror of the battlefield, by the hearth at home.

    Beauty is not about comfort, pleasure and having allure, glamor, or charisma at all.

    There may be much Beauty in tragedy. There may be Beauty in comedy too, but not when it stoops to mockery.

    There is no Beauty in bathos or mawkish sentimentality, nor may it be found in travesty or dry didacticism, and especially not in vapid, empty-headed prettiness.

    True Beauty always involves an element of AWE and WONDER.

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  44. If what you say is true, then why do we have two words, one "beauty" and the other "sublime"? What's the "difference" that necessitated and perpetuated a different word? If Beauty is also "Truth", why two words? A words stands for a "difference", just as the Sun is a star, but what makes it "different" is that it represents the closest star to OUR planet. Are you saying that every concept represents a "Holy Trinity"? ;)

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  45. All those "things" rolled into one, "beauty - symmetry - truth" is "The Good", NOT "beauty". (Plato, "Philebus")

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  46. More on the evolutionary nature of love/ desire...

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  47. ...still more, and some "good" advice for the proponents of multiculturalism and "affirmative action."

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