so nerds and scifi franchises

[Count Chocula]

i fail to see how i could disagree with a flaming ice cube

[Oxymoron]

Not here, on TEO. Here I've tried to avoid you as much as I can.

(I'm pretty much the anti-thesis of confrontational, see ?)


Seriously though, as long as we avoid speaking about politics or related subjects, there should be no problem.

[starku]

I don't know why people can be non confrontational

Especially with shitbags

[Oxymoron]

An adaptive reaction to years of frequenting "shitbags" ? Not wanting to waste efforts on actions I know will lead only to frustration and loss of social tranquility ?

It's pretty much just a cost/benefit analysis.



I prefer to keep a smiling face and ignore the stupid. It has served me really well to this day. Far much than venting my steam at assfaces would have.

[starku]

You don't have to be agitated to be confrontational

I actually find it quite relaxing

Internet shitheads seen like real ones because they can't actually cost you anything

[Aaron]

I just can't be bothered to fuck up my kharmic wheel, ya know?

[Oxymoron]

Yeah, but I can't just say "fuck you, you're dumb". I have to argue. To prove my point. To have them understand what I mean, why I think their opinion is stupid, and how they would be better served by reconsidering their position.

To let them improve themselves in short.


Maybe I've got a Messiah Complex ? I dunno.

But that shit is tiring and I'm a lazy asshole, so I just let them be.

[Infinity Biscuit]

Someone said "we should give minorities better access to something to improve their lives" and Chocula responded with "no no give it to EVERYONE" and people really think it's because he's deeply concerned with everyone being given the right footing and not because he reacts reflexively against the spectre of REVERSE RACISM

About literary stuff, one thing I'm wondering is if character analysis follows the same patterns as thematic analysis or not. I know I used to be terrible at figuring out how to describe characters' personalities outside of broad strokes and I got better at that around the same time I stopped being so terrible at everything social. I wonder if that's coincidence or it's related since I figure understanding the nuance of imaginary people should come more easily to social creatures than themes.

[uraniun235]

You don't have to be agitated to be confrontational

I actually find it quite relaxing

Internet shitheads seen like real ones because they can't actually cost you anything

a lot of people find confrontation to be stressful and undesirable, fyi

[Count Chocula]

Someone said "we should give minorities better access to something to improve their lives" and Chocula responded with "no no give it to EVERYONE" and people really think it's because he's deeply concerned with everyone being given the right footing and not because he reacts reflexively against the spectre of REVERSE RACISM

Wow now you're jumping on the lol choc's a racist mini-meme. prove it, infinitesmal triscuit. How's about we just talk about the topic, sport. EDIT this was an interesting thread.

fuck you, asshole

[Zod]

Someone said "we should give minorities better access to something to improve their lives" and Chocula responded with "no no give it to EVERYONE" and people really think it's because he's deeply concerned with everyone being given the right footing and not because he reacts reflexively against the spectre of REVERSE RACISM

Wow now you're jumping on the lol choc's a racist mini-meme. prove it, infinitesmal triscuit. How's about we just talk about the topic, sport. EDIT this was an interesting thread.

fuck you, asshole

you're beginning to sound like a broken record

i hear they have meds for that

[Aaron]

Actually my first thought on that thread was that entertainment isn't exactly flattering to any group. White males are all fat and dumb, black woman shrieking harpies, etc.

[The Spartan]

White males are all fat and dumb

Then how do you explain Ryan Reynolds, sir? How do you explain him?

[Zod]

White males are all fat and dumb

Then how do you explain Ryan Reynolds, sir? How do you explain him?

He's a Canadian. Doesn't count.

[The Spartan]

So's Dan Aykroyd.

Or however the hell you spell his name.

[Zod]

So's Dan Aykroyd.

Or however the hell you spell his name.

Doesn't count.

[The Spartan]

I refuse to accept your answer. Canadian money doesn't count; their people do.

Otherwise we'd not have Scotty or Kirk.

[Infinity Biscuit]

Actually my first thought on that thread was that entertainment isn't exactly flattering to any group. White males are all fat and dumb, black woman shrieking harpies, etc.

One thing I found interesting upon a reread is that the study found the effect's the most extreme in video games. Considering how biased video game major characters are towards white males, I think that goes to show it's not just that certain groups are represented by flat, unflattering characters. White males, being the default choice, get so many more roles that you can more easily find the better examples by sheer number, and they always get first dibs at the interesting and important roles.

[Aaron]

I wonder, would ME fans have cared if default Shep was black?

[starku]

One thing I found interesting upon a reread is that the study found the effect's the most extreme in video games. Considering how biased video game major characters are towards white males, I think that goes to show it's not just that certain groups are represented by flat, unflattering characters. White males, being the default choice, get so many more roles that you can more easily find the better examples by sheer number, and they always get first dibs at the interesting and important roles.

its not just people or characters

the white/american/science/un faction generally gets more attention cause viewers are supposed to identify with it and actually care

rather than the 'bad guys' who get 1 mook ship or gun or whatever

[Bakustra]

i think part of it can also be simply lacking the background necessary to draw certain connections. like your LOTR example: i never picked up on the christian/catholic thing when i read it as a teenager, but i also didn't pick up on it when i read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe as a kid, so maybe i just absorbed "dude dies and comes back to life" as just another storytelling convention, and didn't associate it with the resurrection of christ at all (in part because i was never a christian and the jesus story was never particularly special to me; if anything i tended to really resent ever having to hear about it or anything else pertaining to christianity, in large part because i associated christianity with being bored off my ass as a kid and dismissed everything about it as boring and uninteresting and irrelevant)

in fact even now thinking about it i'm struggling to figure out what the catholic connection is with LOTR, in part because it's been so long I'm not remembering it all, and in part because i still have a very, very rudimentary knowledge of christian mythos. is Saruman the Pope, making a covenant with the devil Sauron? or is it something else? this isn't to say i'm at all skeptical that there is a christian/catholic connection in LOTR, just to highlight that i'm still somewhat ignorant of things.


anyway i do appreciate your being patient with me, i know i've been a bit difficult in this thread.

no you ain't, it's good chatting and being chill and shit

anyways, LOTR is catholic not because of direct correlations so much as the worldview. the characters that resist the ring successfully (sam, faramir) are also the most sexual male characters (and faramir hooks up with the most sexual female character). within catholic (and orthodox) views, sexuality and regular sexhaving is essential to spiritual well-being, as long as you do it within marriage, which is why their (catholic leadership) attitude towards homosexuality is that it's only ok if you're celibate- can't get married, can't be having the good sex. so these characters are sexual and thus complete and grounded and capable of throwing off the ring, while poor asexual frodo falls.

there's also the perception of sin as an action, which is distinct from protestant and orthodox views of sin. frodo sets up his failure not by the ring being irresistible, but by using it actively to force smeagol to work with him- he chooses the easy path of sinfulness and thus is unable to let the ring go. there are probably other examples i'm not thinking of.

[Shroom Man 777]

i hope my continuous screeding of 'gods fuck that place' is a sign that i'm getting better in severing myself from past shit rather than a sign of my getting worse

I'm gonna go ahead and say it's probably a sign of getting worse rather than better, dude. Or, at least, not getting better, as opposed to getting worse. I mean, if you had a friend who broke up with a girlfriend or parted ways with a friend, and every time they heard their name mentioned your friend went "GOD, FUCK 'EM," would you suppose they're doing better than someone who just shrugs and goes "eh, whatever"?

I'd think that depends on context?

Everything's context dependent, obviously, and this isn't nearly as bad as someone raging obsessively over an ex-girlfriend or the like, but it's still less than optimal for Shroom, in my opinion.

yeah, i need to get over it

maybe a forum founded on the principles of bitching about TEO might not be the most therapeutic environ for this

[Zod]

i think part of it can also be simply lacking the background necessary to draw certain connections. like your LOTR example: i never picked up on the christian/catholic thing when i read it as a teenager, but i also didn't pick up on it when i read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe as a kid, so maybe i just absorbed "dude dies and comes back to life" as just another storytelling convention, and didn't associate it with the resurrection of christ at all (in part because i was never a christian and the jesus story was never particularly special to me; if anything i tended to really resent ever having to hear about it or anything else pertaining to christianity, in large part because i associated christianity with being bored off my ass as a kid and dismissed everything about it as boring and uninteresting and irrelevant)

in fact even now thinking about it i'm struggling to figure out what the catholic connection is with LOTR, in part because it's been so long I'm not remembering it all, and in part because i still have a very, very rudimentary knowledge of christian mythos. is Saruman the Pope, making a covenant with the devil Sauron? or is it something else? this isn't to say i'm at all skeptical that there is a christian/catholic connection in LOTR, just to highlight that i'm still somewhat ignorant of things.


anyway i do appreciate your being patient with me, i know i've been a bit difficult in this thread.

no you ain't, it's good chatting and being chill and shit

anyways, LOTR is catholic not because of direct correlations so much as the worldview. the characters that resist the ring successfully (sam, faramir) are also the most sexual male characters (and faramir hooks up with the most sexual female character). within catholic (and orthodox) views, sexuality and regular sexhaving is essential to spiritual well-being, as long as you do it within marriage, which is why their (catholic leadership) attitude towards homosexuality is that it's only ok if you're celibate- can't get married, can't be having the good sex. so these characters are sexual and thus complete and grounded and capable of throwing off the ring, while poor asexual frodo falls.

there's also the perception of sin as an action, which is distinct from protestant and orthodox views of sin. frodo sets up his failure not by the ring being irresistible, but by using it actively to force smeagol to work with him- he chooses the easy path of sinfulness and thus is unable to let the ring go. there are probably other examples i'm not thinking of.

wait. wait wait wait wait wait wait.

frodo's asexual?

are you saying all these slashfics between frodo and aragorn lied?

[Shroom Man 777]

then why was he killing all those whores and breastbleeding them in basin city

[Zod]