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Post by Maggadin on Mar 4, 2012 17:27:44 GMT
I'm tired of people reminding us about the time limit. Agreed so much! I hate those Life is Short platitudes. They don't make me feel any more appreciative of life or make me think about Living Life to the Fullest. They just make me feel depressed.
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Post by magnusgreel on Mar 4, 2012 19:39:44 GMT
The whole concept of hurrying up and getting all sorts of things done before you die is screwy. Getting close to the end would get it through our heads that we need to let go and disengage a bit, I'd think. For me, the only legitimate use of the phrase "Life is short" is to get someone to stop obsessing on some nitpicky thing that doesn't really matter.
I couldn't and wouldn't listen to all these books if any sense of obligation were involved. Obviously I waited a long time to get started on this. I have empty places I'm trying to fill-- I'm not trying to get accomplishments under my belt.
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Post by jjpor on Mar 5, 2012 20:56:14 GMT
I agree with both of you - the idea of life being short more kind of reduces me to rabbit-staring-into-the-approaching-headlights than galvanises me to make something of myself. Maybe I lack moral fortitude or something.
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Post by Maggadin on Mar 5, 2012 23:29:56 GMT
Yes, you should be totally ashamed of yourself, son. You need to, like, teach yourself to say ''But that's liiiiife, isn't it?'' with your proper Platitude Face on.
In all seriousness, though, my response tends to be along the lines of ''Yes, I know. Why are you telling me this?'' And it's usually the Positive Thinking type of folks who seem strangely obsessed with this sort of thing and seem determined to depress me further.
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Post by magnusgreel on Mar 6, 2012 3:35:53 GMT
In all seriousness, though, my response tends to be along the lines of ''Yes, I know. Why are you telling me this?'' And it's usually the Positive Thinking type of folks who seem strangely obsessed with this sort of thing and seem determined to depress me further. THANK you, Maggadin. Permit me to go off on a rant about this, please. Facebook is an onslaught of simplistic, positive messages, some directed at me without the person having any specific knowledge of my circumstances (all they know is that things are bad)... and it's only been coming to me over the last few hours how debilitating that is. This is too big a subject to get into here, though, and I'm going offline. I did have the thought, though, that given certain very bad circumstances, there might be nothing more depressing or discouraging than a positive, encouraging message. Of that kind, anyway. Is Facebook breaking my spirit? I think this sort of thing, the rampant Positivism, is a result of the flood of self-help books over the decades. Now, anyone with a comfortable life seems to think they achieved it through "a positive attitude", when I doubt they have evidence for this. Therefore, the reverse must supposedly be true, that people with misfortunes must have brought it on themselves by not being cheery or rosy enough. Just mentioning a major difficulty to others can be frowned on as a sign of this bad attitude. If this was an American contribution to the world's insanity, I apologize to the world, on behalf of the remaining sane part of this country. It only occurred to me tonight how pervasive and all-encompassing a world view this might be. End result, a cheery, rosy, callous population, who won't try to identify with people less fortunate. I'm getting carried away tonight, but possibly in a good way, I don't know.
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Post by jjpor on Mar 8, 2012 21:54:00 GMT
I think you're very right, Magnus. It's the "cheer up, it may never happen" attitude - which of course overlooks the fact that for a lot of people "it" already has happened.
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Post by Maggadin on Mar 10, 2012 2:04:02 GMT
There's a very interesting-looking book out on this subject: www.amazon.com/Bright-sided-Relentless-Promotion-Positive-Undermined/dp/1427208360 Bascially, Barbara Ehrenreich was inspired to write that book after she'd gone through breast cancer and experienced the positivity-at-all-costs mantra of the Pink Ribbon Campaign etc. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I tend to be too negative, and I'm in no way advocating that philosophy. It's just been my experience that many of the Positive Thinking people tend to show a remarkable lack of empathy and understanding for those who are, for whatever reason, unable to share in their optimism or happiness. I've even seen people advocating the complete freezing out of ''unhappy people''. I can understand cutting out people who are bringing you down, emotionally, but I still can't help but think ''Wait a minute, so you mean you'd cut off a good friend who's currently suffering from debilitating depression? I certainly hope that your friends don't think the same way you do, if you ever become unhappy.'' Here's a great blog entry: upsi-upsi.blogspot.com/2011/11/cult-of-positivity.html
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Post by jjpor on Mar 12, 2012 18:55:04 GMT
Well, like the woman said, "happiness will prevail!"
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Post by Maggadin on Mar 29, 2012 21:57:59 GMT
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Post by jjpor on Mar 30, 2012 18:14:34 GMT
John Ronson - good author, some interesting contributions. I read his book on conspiracy theories (or rather, the sort of people who start and believe in conspiracy theories). Interesting stuff.
And Henry VII - fascinating subject. Ruthless dude, but then again you suspect a non-ruthless dude wouldn't have fared too well in that time and place.
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Post by Maggadin on Mar 30, 2012 23:27:30 GMT
Started reading the Henry VII one and it turns out it's not a novel but a biography. Still interesting, though, as I don't think there are many books out there about (compared to, say, his son). He was weird, fascinating man, for sure. I think his granddaughter, Elizabeth, got lucky with inheriting her father's charisma and her grandfather's political shrewdness.
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Post by magnusgreel on Apr 2, 2012 3:18:23 GMT
I'm posting first, without looking for new replies, not sure how long I can stay online...
Thanks for telling me about this author, Maggadin. Long story short, this led to a sequence of events culminating in my deleting my Facebook account. Remember, I was wondering if FB was breaking my spirit? I had to quit anyway, because of eyes/nervous system-- in fact I'm trying to stop using the computer altogether. I've been online ten years with a severe eye problem where it's crazy to be online for one hour, because of the damage it does... with no lasting connections (personal or medical) made, nothing lasting to show for it all. I'd hoped in 2002 when I got this computer, from a group in Texas helping people with eye problems, to make those "connections", pursue them by means other than by computer (phone, big-print mail, tapes) then turn the computer OFF, and keep it off, and stop the self-abuse of my eyes.
Going off the computer cold turkey isn't working, though. Talking Books just doesn't fill the void by itself. By the way, finished "The Jungle", Upton Sinclair, and just started "On The Road", Kerouac. Also received an Ehrenreich book.
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Post by Maggadin on Apr 8, 2012 3:20:53 GMT
Oh, I hope you're not leaving completely Magnus! We need another grumpy Classic Who fan ;D However, if online life is causing you genuine distress, then don't hesitate to do what's best for you. You could also try to stick to people who don't bring you down and we're here for you!
PS. Do you know if it's possible to attach stuff in PMs? I wanted to send you that essay, finally.
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Post by magnusgreel on Apr 8, 2012 4:04:10 GMT
Oh, I hope you're not leaving completely Magnus! We need another grumpy Classic Who fan ;D However, if online life is causing you genuine distress, then don't hesitate to do what's best for you. You could also try to stick to people who don't bring you down and we're here for you! PS. Do you know if it's possible to attach stuff in PMs? I wanted to send you that essay, finally. Maggadin-- I'm trying, and failing, to go offline for good. Some big new piece of damage has to happen to my eyes for me to force myself off, or something. Here's the problem-- the limitations because of the condition are such that everything I could possibly do for enjoyment is off-limits, damaging, or ineffective. The neurological effects would take some explaining. No reading except if in 3" letters, horrible memory/concentration, blunted emotional capacity, from bad neurotransmitter production it seems. Can't go out in day, light hypersensitivity. I'll stop the list there. On top of everything else, the VCR gave out and 20 years of tapes are inaccessible. The computer makes every part of this condition just a bit worse, permanently, with every day I'm on it. Yet a few random cheap DVDs, Talking Books, and the radio aren't anywhere close enough to "life" or enjoyment to begin to compensate. They aren't human contact. As for people who bring one down, I suppose that my talking about all this makes me one, despite my trying to retain a (black and otherwise) sense of humor. As for people I need to avoid, to survive all this intact, I really need a core of people around me who "get" and accept the condition, with whom it's naturally a part of life-discussion between friends. I've never had that, in 32 years. I've had plenty of "I believe you", but it was more a substitute for listening and learning what's really happening to me. It's more than invalidating, not being heard for years... it's maddening, almost literally. I'd never have joined FB except to break out of isolation imposed by this condition, and get to know new people. That was ridiculous and unrealistic. I wreaked havoc on my nervous system, for nothing. I'm stupid, not behaving like someone with a severe eye condition, by posting day after day. I'll stop there. Thanks for the nice words, and for being the first person to say, yes, get offline if you need to! This neurological state just gets so intolerable and "empty" without the stimulation, though. Oh-- I'm not one to ask about message board stuff. If you don't see a button to click on for "attachment" I guess you can't send the essay that way, but if it's lengthy it would take me forever anyway. I never read full articles. Three or four paragraphs, sometimes. (Blown-up print, but I can do that myself) I'm definitely interested.
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Post by jjpor on Apr 11, 2012 20:07:19 GMT
Magnus - I hope you know you'll be missed around here if you succeed in taking yourself offline. You've been one of the stalwarts around here for as long as I've been a member and one of the ones whose contributions I've thought of as the most valuable, but you're right, and so is Maggadin - if that's what you need to do (and it sounds as if you do), then of course you need to put your own wellbeing first. But we will miss you. I know I will, certainly.
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Post by magnusgreel on Apr 11, 2012 23:57:57 GMT
Thanks very much jjpor, it's very much reciprocated. If it comes time for me to cut contact with the outside world, soon, and go back to being just some ill guy holed up in an apartment in a Bible-Beltish Midwest US town where I'm really an alien, I should give a few people alternative contact information, just in case some may someday choose to use it.
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Post by Maggadin on Apr 12, 2012 0:29:02 GMT
Magnus, I don't know if it'll mean anything to you, but I can sympathise with having to deal with chronic pain, including the hypersensitivity to light. I have myself been suffering from a 24/7 headache for the past decade or so, so just know that you're not alone. I would certainly love to keep in touch, somehow.
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Post by magnusgreel on Apr 12, 2012 0:43:48 GMT
I'll PM you my real-world contact info before going away, thanks Maggadin. The more people I know offline, the more likely I'll be to make myself get the f offline (at least for a few months) like the beleaguered eyes are screaming at me to do. They (I'm anthropomorphizing my own eyes) must think my hearing's bad.
Commisserations on the continual headache. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone except you and me, who have this. I walked into a 7-11 convenience store in 1980, and suddenly had blurred vision and headache. The headache never stopped, and no MD was interested in looking into it.
I discovered I could draw by computer in 2009. That might be the biggest factor in the latest worsening. I went a bit crazy with that, and did a lot of damage.
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Post by clocketpatch on Apr 13, 2012 6:42:57 GMT
If you'd like to pm me your address Magnus I'd be happy to send you some snail mail correspondence.
Is it possible that you could use some kind of screen reader in order to navigate the Internet, thus saving your eyes? I understand that they can be tedious to use and you'd still have to come up with some solution for typing, but surely it would be better than complete isolation?
Unfortunately, I think this software is also very expensive and thus might be out of reach. But if you got the computer, maybe its possible to get the grant/program/whatever people to come back and install the software you need to actually use it without damaging yourself.
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Post by Maggadin on Apr 13, 2012 22:26:32 GMT
Took me 10 years to get a diagnosis, and I'm not even sure if it's the correct one. It responds somewhat to indomethacine, but it's still there. Most of the time, my right eye feels like it's about to explode out of my skull. Fun times.
It's outrageous that no doctor would look into it for you!
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