By David Futrelle
Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately. Been feeling like shit, and a resurgent sleep disorder has left me utterly wiped out most of the time for the last week or so. Doing my best to get a handle on it all.
In the meantime, here are some creepy pics of Trump and His Gang (both current and former members). Also consider this an open thread. (No trolls!)
And one last Trump, just for the hell of it.
Some unsurprising dirt on Alex Jones…
http://instinctmagazine.com/post/transphobic-info-wars-host-alex-jones-revealed-trans-porn-his-phone-during-video-recording?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
this probably won’t do anything to his popularity, but yeah, there is is.
Worth noting also that if it shows up in his browser’s home page, it’s probably not just recently visited but rather a site that he visited frequently – something the browser has noted as a favorite page.
Soooooo yeah, he’s probably what it says on the tin.
@ Lucrece
Aw, he’s cute!
My mom had a big poodle when she was a kid. She really liked ice cream, and got really excited whenever someone mentioned it. They tried to get around it by spelling out i-c-e c-r-e-a-m, but all that did was teach her how to spell.
@Lucrece
He’s an adorable floof-ball! Congratulations on your new fluffy friend 🙂
@Tovius
We had a Samoyed who learned to recognize and then spell certain words hehe
We went from “walk” to “w-a-l-k”
Then from “get the leash” to “get the l-e-a-s-h”
Then just pointing to the leash as surreptitiously possible or mimicking walking with our fingers.
I think she was both a smart dog but also very people oriented and receptive so she could sense when we were planning something fun in which she was going to be involved.
It also worked in the negative with words like “vet” or “pill”.
They are pretty amazing creatures 🙂
@Prophet309
Just a few thoughts on construction of the piece itself:
Scalzi begins the piece by comparing life to a video game, but as the piece develops notice that he actually removes bit by bit the parts of his analogy that most players take for granted in a video game (the ability to choose what your base stats are, the ability to respin your character, and finally the ability to even choose your difficulty level).
Scalzi himself freely admits in his follow-up piece that the metaphor is not perfect:
The game analogy is a Wittgenstein’s ladder, a technically-incorrect explanation that nevertheless is useful pedagogically in introducing the reader to a subject, but which should be discarded once the reader has apprehended the actual truth of the concept.
Therefore, I personally feel that it is not useful to overextend the metaphor, and to begin to see oneself as a “superior/inferior player”.
@Prophet309
Advance apologies for long, rambly post.
I’d definitely second (and third and fourth) what other people here have already said, re the Scalzi article. Excellent stuff from Ariblester, Surplus, and Redsilkphoenix.
No-one is inherently inferior. Not one single person.
I think I’m on fairly strong ground in claiming that Scalzi’s analogy was never meant to suggest some people are lacking, if they start with certain benefits but don’t “win” at life.
What I’d like to add, though, is, when you say this
how do you define “successful” in the first place? What is it that you feel you haven’t measured up to? Everyone’s markers vary, but some of the most common are:
Wealth/financial security/property etc.
Relationship/sex/romance
Happiness
Meaningful work
Stable health, physical and/or psychological
Education/knowledge
None of these relate to “success” in any inherent way, though. So I would take a step back and consider what you understand successful to mean. Plus, depression and Asperger’s? That’s a lot to be dealing with right there.
First, thank you everyone for your responses—I really appreciate the feedback!
I definitely have the advantage of class as well, though I was unaware of the shrinking middle class thing. *sigh* :/
I felt all 3 of Scalzi’s posts sort-of addressed my question, but it was difficult for me to piece together anything definitive. I kinda figured I was overextending the metaphor, but I wasn’t sure. I tend to interpret things more literally than most, which probably makes metaphors difficult. I may also just have an inadequate understanding of privilege.
@Mish
I’m not sure if “thank you” is the correct response to someone making a true statement, but…thank you. I appreciate it.
With the exception of physical health and (perhaps) happiness, all those categories pretty much apply. Though, to be honest, I’m not even sure what I mean by successful XD
Probably not relevant, but I’d hardly call your post long and rambling! I was disappointed by how short and succinct it was 😛
Anyway, thanks again Surplus, RedsilkPhoenix, Arbilester and Mish. 🙂
Sorry if I missed anything—I’m going to go back over later to make sure.
@Prophet309
Thank you for your thank you 🙂
I did do some serious pruning to my post, because I could easily waffle on for days about these kinds of issues. My psychiatrist often says that we’re all engaged in a constant process of story-telling about our lives. Depending on what I choose to emphasise, I could present as:
Mish: PhD, taekwondo black belt, parent of wonderful son, tertiary teacher with awards and commendations;
or
Mish: mentally ill, former addict, multiple failed relationships, product of several ‘broken homes’.
All of the above are true, and they don’t come close to describing everything about me.
Anyhoo, because you noticed Mayuri, I’m posting this pic. A friend sent it to me this morning – kindergarten Steins;Gate! Lookit tiny Mayuri!
I became a fan of Jameela Jamil thanks to The Good Place, but she’s so much more than Tahani.
https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1035439398853197825
@Mish
And tiny Ruka! So much adorable. ^_^