Do You Feel Lucky?

(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Platonic Bomb

Sometimes I picture science developing some weapon of mass destruction based on the mechanics of Plato's Separate Realm of Ideas. Or is it "Ideals"? Or is it Greek, and therefore, neither? In any case, that whole Realm thing was one of those concepts I kind of instinctively rejected, but later kind of got into how it might work, like, on the level of Star Trek transporters, or Asimov's Laws of Robotics? - where you acknowledge that it's bullshit, but you still like to get in there and poke around, maybe accept the premise just to kick around the consequences a bit. See what fun stuff develops!

For everyday use, though, I think the primary place people still cling to to Platonic-style Idealism is when they start from a completely anti-logical, unnatural, human-invented concept (Perfection, anyone?) and attempt to "reason from it." As if one can reason from tinkerbell principles and expect to arrive at aeronautics. Reason from perfection? Shit, reason TO it first, see where that gets you. If you can pull that one off, then you can try reasoning from it once you get there, and see what it's actually made of.

Hm. "Anti-logical" is too strong. Perfection is not anti-logical (working contrary to), or even illogical (demonstrably in conflict with). How about "alogical"? Perfection doesn't occur in nature, and it's completely outside of anything logic can get you to.

The concept of "perfection" is a nonsense elevation of human aesthetics to some "as if" absolute principle of the universe, really.

Monday, November 19, 2012

I Don't Know Who They Really Are

Dear person A, angry with me for not hating person B on your say-so,

Come on.

And Please, as well. Please, come on: do not take what I'm saying as an insult upon your judgment, or a breach of how much I trust what you have to tell me.

I'm not saying I know this person better than you. I'm not saying the bad you see isn't real. Sure it is. And the bad they see in you is real too, isn't it? It's kind of got to be, because some of it is the same bad you cry about, struggle with. And I tell you don't, because you're a great person.

I'm not saying this person is a great person. I can see they're a dick sometimes, but you know what? They treat me okay, I treat them okay, and I leave all the room in the world for them to impress or estrange me on their own. And you can tell me I don't know who they really are, but don't kid yourself that you do - all the while basing everything on the bad taste in your mouth. Remember, just going by what you yourself say sometimes: sometimes, you don't even know the real you. Right? That's not a knock either! I'm lost that same way. Not always, but often. It's a common problem of the human condition.

There are at least two people I know and love who are some of the best people I know, and who can't stand each other. These are good people. Great people. Each of them thinks the other's an asshole. So where does that leave me, then? Each of them would tell me I don't know who the other person "really is."

I'll tell you something: if the only thing you see in a person is the bad, consider that you do not know who that person really is. Okay, if so-and-so is a serial killer, maybe that raises the bar - but I'd have some keen questions for you as to where you get off not going to the cops, if your insight on that's reliable!

I see plenty of bad in the people I love. Much if it, they bring to my attention themselves. Nobody's perfect, but certainly: nobody's worthless.

You don't need to forgive everyone all slights. Fuck that Jesus noise! I don't try to recruit people into all that. But at the very least: you have to allow other people the freedom to decline, when you ask them swallow the bad taste in your mouth over somebody and call it a delicious egg creme. Allow other people to make up their own minds, based on their own 1-to-1 interaction with that person. You can tell them and warn them of what bad you've seen, that's cool, that's fine! - but recognize that what you've seen is not all there is. At least recognize that - for your own sake, even. Recognize that.

I guarantee you what that person has had to see of you, is certainly not all there is.

Don't be recruited into armies and factions. Be a free agent. Treat each person fairly, based on your own interaction with the person. Take bad reports under advisement! Don't be unwary - you should take practical precautions with the world at large, and people in particular! But that doesn't mean you need to put someone in the "bad person" box because somebody told you.

There's something really awful about that box. Once you put someone in that box, suddenly they deserve everything you do to them. I've had people I know and love brag to me about some petty reprehensible shit they did to someone, who they said deserved every bit of it. Who can say that? Who can really say that?

Do not be the one to say another person deserves your worst.

Friday, November 16, 2012

I may be a little busy for a bit.

I'm way behind pace over on my "poem-a-day-on-average" blog, A Pocketful Of Poesy, and I'm trying to discipline myself to catch up in ten-poem bursts whenever I get a chance to write.

Let's see. How many ten poem bursts will that be. Between now and December 31st, we're looking at...eight! Eight ten-poem bursts. Plus one odd poem, not part of any burst. Well that doesn't sound bad!

Anyway, point is, I'm on poetry detail for a bit.

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Important Announcement: I have A Huge Problem With Everything

Yes, that's right. But allow me to explain.

I find that as I age (and I do! I have - I have already aged, and I continue to do so!) I become more interested in strident posturing, affectations of bad-boyery, and trumped-up harsh stances clearly intended to "shock" or "to...whatever else goes well there, with 'shock.'" Yet clearly, Consider Your Ass Kicked! can not be the venue for this sort of improper content. Consider Your Ass Kicked! is a repository of kindness, mild yet gently righteous rebukes of the wayward, exemplary feats of human reason, candid sex talk and riveting, gripping yarns suitable for boys and girls of all ages, especially fortyish.

So a new venue was called for. And so it has been called. And so I call it! It is called: A HUGE PROBLEM WITH EVERYTHING.

Check it out. It's on the internet, and accessible via "clicky-links":

http://ahugeproblemwitheverything.blogspot.com/

As time goes by, I'll be republishing some of the worst material from this blog over there, so that it can serve as the most complete and primary showcase for my vitriol. But it will hardly be some mere archive of past rants! No. The strong focus will be on the even stronger vein of previously-unseen content - content that has yet to be seen. This is content that I'd consciously and conscientiously held back on, as unsuitable for this respectable, well-established outlet for my tamer muse. Already I can say with some confidence that we can expect some Recurring Features:

* ALL-CAPS MOVIE REVIEWS (expect these to be no-holds-barred)

* SATIRICAL TAKES ON CORPORATE AND SOCIAL ISSUES (expect these to be tortured and alternatingly over-obvious and subtler-than-can-meaningfully-be-discerned-as-satire, but please ask for clarification as needed, wherever you see the "satire" tag! If I can't identify what the satire is supposed to be, I'll own up to it, and remove the tag).

* "OTHER" (to be announced)

Anyway. While you're waiting for all that to happen, here's a foretaste of what you can expect when it does! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the very second post of all-new content on A HUGE PROBLEM WITH EVERYTHING.

CHICK-FIL-A WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING

It's a little political, but honestly I could give a shit about that. I'm not on anyone's side. I'm on my OWN SIDE. I stand with Jason Bourne on that one, and if you think you can take us, well why don't you just BRING IT. My buddy Jason Bourne will go TREADSTONE upside your head with an AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY provided by yours truly.