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mrhaitch · 1 year ago

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hi mr.haitch!

as someone who's interested in academia, do you think you can speak a bit about your experiences and journey? it's something i've had my eye on for a bit but honestly don't even know where to begin and idk if i'm just having a mini life crisis because i'm feeling unfulfilled in my current field.

I think I've spoken about this before, but I'll do it again. Please note that I am currently not in academia at present, although I do have plans to return. Currently I'm teaching functional skills in English and maths to kids in their late teens (many of them with severe emotional, behavioural, or learning disorders) so this will be more of a retrospective.

(Be warned, it's long)

Let's get one thing very clear: I was a bad student and my road into academia is and remains crooked. I had bad grades in highschool, an appalling attendance record, and spent a great deal of highschool in detention. It is a miracle that I finished highschool, and a further miracle that I was accepted by a college, and fluked through my A-levels.

I never paid attention in class unless it was something I cared about. Homework was a mythical concept, I never participated, rarely engaged, and generally treated school with disdain.

And I didn't get better until I was in my twenties.

Some of it was anxiety, a lot of it was arrogance.

So fast forward through my undergrad years where I oscillated wildly between workaholic frenzy (political philosophy, existentialism, philosophy of religion) to staunch absenteeism (philosophy of language, socratic philosophy). In my final year things kind of clicked, I knuckled down, got into a few fights with my lecturers, forced my grades up, and came out with a good enough grade to get onto a masters course.

This was largely in thanks to my writing, which I'd become increasingly dedicated to, completing and submitting my first (and thankfully unpublished novel) in the process. During my master's I revelled in the greater degree of independence, how I could direct and engage with the material in my own way, and how it connected with my passions (creative writing). I still had an arrogant moment, failed to prepare for an assignment and failed it. The failure capped my overall grade at a pass which sank any hope for a scholarship.

Dejected and pissed off, I then took the first job that came my way and gave up on academia. I languished in the service industry for four years and thought I'd amount to nothing more. Some political nonsense happened towards the end, I pushed back against the wrong people who promptly tried to fire me under false (and illegal) pretenses.

Haitch pushed me to look into doing my PHD again. I applied, teaching out to one of my old MA teachers to be my supervisor and he accepted with far more enthusiasm than I could've hoped for. I got a loan from the government and vowed to throw myself at my PHD as hard as I could, and I did.

From 2019 until early 2023, I worked five days a week (plus some time in the weekends) on my thesis and my writing. 8-5 every day with my nose in a book, or plugging away at a manuscript, or drafting papers. I lived and breathed it every second. I kept a journal where I pushed myself to work harder and harder to achieve what I felt was my dream. During that time I was determined to come out with my experience and qualifications than I could possibly need for an entry position. I shadowed my colleagues when they taught classes, exchanged emails with academics I admired, published more short fiction.

Brick by brick I built a portfolio and a modest reputation. Then I was invited to speak at a prestigious convention in the UK. I met legendary literary agents, famous authors, hung out with people I admired, and had a chance to read some of my work to an audience and discuss its themes.

I taught for two years, while at the same time working two other contracts for various outreach bodies teaching and supporting kids from deprived or disadvantaged backgrounds.

And I still can't get a permanent position.

I've been shortlisted once or twice, and knocked back at the first hurdle a whole bunch.

Academic positions are like gold dust scattered down the back of a unicorn as it leaps over a double rainbow. It is hard to get a job teaching and researching at a university, especially in the humanities. It is endless rejection with minimal feedback, banging your head against a brick wall over and over wondering if you felt it move or if you've just softened your skull.

It's hard, very hard, and takes a lot of commitment and a lot of sacrifice, with zero guarantee you'll get anyway.

But you do it because you can't imagine yourself doing anything else.

The eagle eyed amongst you will recognise this as the same conclusion I reached about writing, and they're right. It's the same. Often thankless, frequently difficult. A feeling of toiling alone in the dark, waiting for someone, anyone to peer into the well you fell down.

But as hard as it is, if that's the path you've chosen, a part of you doesn't care. You do it anyway. You do it in spite of what it costs you, and the little it gives back.

At least, that's how I see it. Thank you for attending my rambling, somewhat doom-laden, TED talk.

#mr.haitch #mrhaitch #mr haitch #mrhaitch answers you too

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caelum-in-the-avatarverse · 3 months ago

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i ADORE all of your fics!! there's so much thought and care and careful worldbuilding in them- i'm an east asian immigrant, and for a long time atla was so dear to me as a fantasy animated show with asian-based worldbuilding. it certainly has its issues, which i try to stay aware of, but i appreciated even just the attempt

and then i entered the fandom and there was a good while when i was just an occasional lurker bc i disliked a bunch of fanon stuff- eventually figured it was probably due to embers and started curating things better- but i found your writing and fell absolutely in love because this!!! is AMAZING!!!! so much detail and genuine consideration for original cultures, thoughts on beliefs and agriculture and cooking and relationships- i was a very dedicated lurker lol

all that to say that i am still very in love with your work and i hope you know that you can take a decade to write a chapter and i will still devour it <3 this will never be pressure to write more, simply a letter of appreciation for what you do and gratitude for how it helped me in the past

TToTT aaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!! Omg thank you?? So much??? This is so nice of you to tell me!!!

Chronic lurkers unite! (except no, don't, then we aren't lurking lol)

I haven't regularly read ATLA fic in like a decade, but I kinda wished I'd kept up with it just so I could better track the long-term Embers influence. You're absolutely right, curating your experience is key!

Thank you for the kind words about the worldbuilding, I try so hard with it and it's always nice to know when I'm not sticking my foot in my mouth. XD It probably helps that I often write for the worldbuilding instead of the other way around. Sometimes I'll learn about a thing and go "oh that's cool, I should look deeper into that and see if I can use it in a story someday" and a few years and a research rabbithole later I've got a story. Sometimes I already have a plotbunny and I think "surely there's something in the last 5,000 years of Asian culture/history that's relevant to this situation", and thus begins a series of awkward websearches to figure out what search terms I should use for more focused websearches, and then maybe books get involved, or videos if I have the patience for it, and then I might uncover some meta about whatever I'm looking up and realize whoops, I need to rework how I was doing this cuz it turns out the way I was writing it has certain connotations that I didn't even realize were a thing, and a few years later the story probably still hasn't been written but I sure do have a lot of amateur expertise on this one random topic! It'll pay off eventually, lol.

I think the most important advice I ever got as a child was "ask people questions about themselves instead of only talking about yourself, and listen when they speak". (This is ironic because I'm about to talk about myself a lot lol.) I don't talk to people much, but it was pretty easy to translate that into "look up things you don't know much about instead of assuming you can understand them, and listen to the explanations you get". And I also think it's really important to remember that I have no idea what I don't know. No shame in admitting that when both Socrates and Albert Einstein said it was true about themselves. Unfortunately I think a lot of people have a hard time even understanding that they don't know what they don't know, let alone admitting to it.

But that mindset (combined with my chronic lurking) probably saved me a lot of embarrassment in my ignorant youth on the internet, and also probably stopped me from writing/posting anything too stupid/hurtful/culturally insensitive. I mean, would you believe I didn't even realize ATLA was an Asian-based fantasy when I first watched it as a teen? It's so obvious, but I barely knew what Asian culture/aesthetics looked like, so it honestly did not compute until I saw meta discussions about the cultural influences. And I really didn't get why it was important until all the racebending criticism happened in response to the live action film, at which point I went "...huh."

I'm leery of conflating fandom with activism, but my personal developmental journey definitely involved using the stories I loved as a springboard to figure out what social justice is and why it matters. And also using those stories to learn about history and cultures that I never would've had a reason to look up otherwise. You're right that ATLA isn't perfect, but it can be a good starting point.

Anyway, yeah, I prefer to use worldbuilding as a main ingredient in my fics instead of just adding it for flavor, lol. Making it the focus is a good way to make sure it doesn't fall to the wayside.

And I am really really happy to hear that you appreciate my fics so much!! And that they helped you in some way, shape, or form! I know that readers like you and me exist IN THEORY and that there must be people lurking on and loving my fics just as surely as I lurk on and love other people's fics. I've also always known that I can never expect to learn more about my lurkers than they want me to, lol. So thank you so much for de-lurking for a bit just to say something so nice! I wish I could protest that it won't be a decade until the next time I post something, but you're clearly familiar with my ways so we'd both know that's a lie lol. ^_^" Thank you so much for being so patient and supportive! <3<3<3 You're lovely and I hope you have an amazing day!

#nice things people say to me #asks #caelum babbles

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wowbright · 7 months ago

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I've Been to the Mountaintop

by Martin Luther King, Jr.

delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee (source with audio)

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.

Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.

I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn't stop there.

I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but "fear itself." But I wouldn't stop there.

Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy."

Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding.

Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee -- the cry is always the same: "We want to be free."

And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.

And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and done in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.

I can remember -- I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn't itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world.

And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying -- We are saying that we are God's children. And that we are God's children, we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that.

Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do. I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."

Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about. And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water. That couldn't stop us.

And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air." And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take 'em off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome." And every now and then we'd get in jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham. Now we've got to go on in Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us when we go out Monday.

Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.

We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. And whenever injustice is around he tell it. Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and saith, "When God speaks who can but prophesy?" Again with Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," and he's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."

And I want to commend the preachers, under the leadership of these noble men: James Lawson, one who has been in this struggle for many years; he's been to jail for struggling; he's been kicked out of Vanderbilt University for this struggle, but he's still going on, fighting for the rights of his people. Reverend Ralph Jackson, Billy Kiles; I could just go right on down the list, but time will not permit. But I want to thank all of them. And I want you to thank them, because so often, preachers aren't concerned about anything but themselves. And I'm always happy to see a relevant ministry.

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people. Individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively -- that means all of us together -- collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the American Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles. We don't need any Molotov cocktails. We just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say,

"God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy -- what is the other bread? -- Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on town -- downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.

But not only that, we've got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank. We want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis. Go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something that we don't do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We are telling you to follow what we are doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven black insurance companies here in the city of Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in."

Now these are some practical things that we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.

Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. If it means leaving work, if it means leaving school -- be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus, and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters of life. At points he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew and throw him off base....

Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But he got down with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother.

Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to a church meeting, an ecclesiastical gathering, and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem -- or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effect.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles -- or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked -- the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job?" Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" The question is, "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.

You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?" And I was looking down writing, and I said, "Yes." And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, your drowned in your own blood -- that's the end of you.

It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply,

"Dear Dr. King, I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School."

And she said,

"While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I'm a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."

And I want to say tonight -- I want to say tonight that I too am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream, and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in inter-state travel.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent.

If I had sneezed -- If I had sneezed I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great Movement there.

If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.

I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.

And they were telling me --. Now, it doesn't matter, now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us. The pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.

And I don't mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

#mlk #mlk jr #mlk day #martin luther king jr #martin luther king day #martin luther king quotes #dr. martin luther king jr.

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dragon-daemon · 8 months ago

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On Plato's Symposium, 1/?

Been reading Plato's Symposium, and it really has a "what the hap is fuckening" vibe that I recommend to anyone.

TW: sexism, homophobia (or, at least, a bad take on how homosexuality works). Spoilers for the Symposium.

First, it's a guy telling another guy about what another guy told him about what happened at a dinner party.

Socrates is going to this party to celebrate the success of a play his friend, Agathon, wrote. Socrates didn't go to the play, because he doesn't like crowds, but promised to go to the party (supportive introvert friends yay). He meets another friend on his way to the party and says "go with me, you weren't invited, but we'll make up an excuse on the way".

Arriving at the party, Socrates literally tells his friend to go to the room with the banquet without him, because he decided now is a good time to spend a few hours thinking about stuff. He sends his uninvited friend ahead to the living-room, while he stays alone in another room.

Until now, the whole thing has this sit-com vibe, characters make self- and other-deprecating jokes, etc. So it's a whiplash when they get to the party and you're reminded that ancient greeks had slavery. And Agathon, the host, doesn't explicitly mistreat the slaves, except insofar as, you know, they are unpaid involuntary workers. This isn't even important to the plot, but it's weird to read with modern eyes.

Anyway, they eat, Socrates arrives almost at the end of dinner. Then they start drinking, have a discussion about how much they're gonna drink and decide on "not much" — which seems to me like they're teenage-hood friends who used to get WASTED but are now adults™ and gotta wake up by 8AM tomorrow and one of them is a doctor etc.

They decide each one is going to give a ted talk speech about Love, and Socrates, the Greatest Philosopher of All Time and Totally Not Plato's Personal Hero is all like "oh no, I don't know if my speech is going to be as good as you guys'es, whatever am I to do".

So we get some speeches on the nature of Love. They start out interesting, praising Love as the oldest and best god, saying that it inspires mortals to be the best that they can be. They are sometimes about politics, the doctor guy talks about Love as manifested in medicine and (what passed as) physics (at the time).

One guy talks about love, like, relationship and sex, and you get an actual, less sanitized, less modern "hihi the greeks were so gay you guys" understanding on how ancient greeks saw homosexuality: the good mainstream relationship is a teenage male who loves an older male because the latter is good and wise and accomplished, and the older male loves the teenage male because he is pretty and inspires him. Two older guys, or two teenage guys, or anything else is seen as improper and immoral. The reader will notice how this is fucked up. Oh, and also, men can have sex with women too I guess. It's really written as "yeah, if you're a dumb jock who's into that kind of stuff, go ahead".

But then, there's this one guy, right? He's called Aristophanes. And the madman decides to just SHITPOST like it's nobody's business. Talks about how humans used to be spherical two-headed four-armed four-legged people who rolled real fast like a cannon ball like sonic the hedgehog go fast real sonic fast guys but then they decided to climb Mount Olympus to throw hands with the gods because why the fuck not but the gods were real angry about it so Zeus split them in half.

But here's the thing: the round people used to have three genders: double-man, double-woman, and man-woman (since each of their heads had a gender of either man or woman).

So now, people can be one of three types: Men and women who came from the man-woman spherical people. These are sluts, you hear me, sluts I say!

Women who came from double-woman spherical people. Lesbians. The text says nothing about them.

Men who came from double-man spherical people. These are gay man and they are cool and wise and awesome.

I swear to the gods, he finishes his speech saying "we better be good and humble, or Zeus will get angry and split us again, then we will have to walk around by jumping on our single foot".

Anyway, it's eventually Socrate's turn. And he says "oh, I guess I misunderstood the assignment, I thought we were supposed to say true things about love, not determine who can come up with the most inane ass-kissing BULLSHIT about love".

He then does the thing where he questions the last speaker, Agathon, about some stuff that he said, and Agathon has to agree that what he said didn't make sense — you know, the Socratic Method™. Then he tells the story of the time he talked with this mysterious hot goth wise woman called Diotima who goes to another school, and she revealed to him the true nature of Love. Plot twist, Love is actually neither human nor god (a daemon), is a thing that interfaces between the gods and the humans, and is halfway between being good and bad.

Anyway, I haven't read the rest, but skimmed through wikipedia to write this and, apparently, a drunk guy crashes the party, is stalker-level in love with Socrates, drama ensues.

This is considered one of the most important texts in classical philosophy and western literature.

#plato #the symposium #ancient greece #philosophy #we lose a lot of perspective and useful information when we regard intelectual historical figures as Very Serious all the time #I wish my history or philosophy teachers had told me that plato's texts were sort of insane

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grandhotelabyss · 11 months ago

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Thoughts on Sontag's The Aesthetics of Silence?

A great essay: the kind of performance—impeccably well-read, meticulously thought through—that gets lost in the discussions of Sontag as icon or celebrity. Also a master class in how to describe, critique, evaluate, and contextualize without ever seeming to debunk, to exert a blatant will-to-power over the works under scrutiny—

To describe silence as a rhetorical term is, of course, far from condemning this rhetoric as fraudulent or in bad faith. The truth of myths is never a literal truth. The myths of contemporary art can be evaluated only in terms of the diversity and fruitfulness of their application.

—a decorum or tact totally lost among today's smug sociological and historicist academic critics. I am broadly unsympathetic to the art she discusses—Duchamp, Cage, Stein, etc.—but she brings alive its impetus and urgency, makes me see it anew for the spiritual ambition it represents. Speaking of decorum and tact, this is my favorite observation in this essay every line of which is quotable; it bears on the discussion of humor on here earlier:

But viewed as a spiritual project, a vehicle of aspirations toward an absolute, what any work of art supplies is a specific model for meta social or meta-ethical tact, a standard of decorum. Each art-work indicates the unity of certain preferences about what can and cannot be said (or represented). At the same time that it may make a tacit proposal for upsetting previously consecrated rulings on what can be said (or represented), it issues its own set of limits.

And the end of the essay, early as it comes in her oeuvre, belonging to the late 1960s, where she rounds upon irony as a strategy of silence, and implicitly upon the project of silence as the dissolution of consciousness—

From Socrates forward, there are countless witnesses to the value of irony for the private individual: as a complex, serious method of seeking and holding one's truth, and as a method of saving one's sanity. But as irony becomes the good taste of what is, after all, an essentially collective activity—the making of art—it may prove less serviceable. One need not speak as categorically as Nietzsche, who thought the spread of irony throughout a culture always signified the floodtide of decadence and the approaching end of that culture's vitality and powers. In the post-political, electronically connected cosmopolis in which all serious modern artists have taken out premature citizenship, certain organic connections between culture and "thinking" (and art is certainly now, mainly, a form of thinking) may have been broken, so that Nietzsche's diagnosis no longer applies. Still, there remains a question as to how far the resources of irony can be stretched. It seems unlikely that the possibilities of continually undermining one's assumptions can go on unfolding indefinitely into the future, without being eventually checked by despair or by a laugh that leaves one without any breath at all.

—contains the seed of her later move toward humanistic rather than revolutionary politics and the "Romantic realist" novel instead of the nouveau roman.

#susan sontag #literary theory #art theory

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sunstranded · 1 year ago

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INTJ: Accused of Arrogance

I enjoy intellectual conversations and socratic-esque discussions so much more than small talk and aimless conversations. Despite my preference, I am capable of small talk— I just slowly die inside. Yet I am cursed with being called arrogant. No matter what intricate string of words I craft, no matter how docile my question sounds, the moment I critically challenge someone is the same moment a logical conversation becomes personal? Good heavens isn't this a special kind of hell.

I am, once again, gracing my grievances with a post full of complaints.

People find me arrogant. I can be proven wrong; I can make mistakes; and I can recognize this margin of error. If anything, I seek to make it as small as possible. This is why I always seek that challenge that sharpens my thinking and points out things I failed to see or establish.

People always argue that I need to know when I should criticize and when I shouldn't. I also learned from my rookie mistakes that being the first shot doesn't guarantee the blow. If anything, it is an announcement— a blowhorn of your own progress. Among other things, this is why I keep to myself.

Hence, when people start asking for me to speak only to be on the receiving end of an accusation less based on reality and appropriate context, I am absolutely and utterly pissed about it. As much as I am pissed with yes-men and sorry-men.

Do not apologize for learning when someone critiques you with something you can work on. Do not just agree and say yes to every information. Moreover, do not use your feelings and personal matter as a shield for everything— even deflecting the good things.

But let me define arrogance as I have defined humility. Arrogance is dominating over someone else with non-substantial or fabricated claims or putting one's self-importance and impact above others by means of overestimation.

I am the person who tends to be precise to a fault. Even my goals, my present moment skills, and the orchestration of my forward life plan are precise in respect of what I want to be and what I am now. So when I am called arrogant and I, like any accused, would ask for evidence only to find irrelevant emotions.

I acknowledge the chances of people losing their cool and/or having an off-day. I understand this, and I also have such chances. If anything, those are what I usually apologize for. Forcing myself when I am not in a good state of mind; letting my restraint loose; all of which, I would understand.

However, in the interest of my complaints, I highlight the people those individuals that have the gall— the audacity— to call me arrogant for giving constructive criticism, for answeing their question, and for defending someone who is unjustly accused.

That is the aggravating part. If you are butthurt for being proven wrong, if you had no clapback after a retaliation to your challenge, do not start appealing to pity. It's not going to work on me, and I have been used to social exile because of my coldness and cruelty. I keep my principles, I will not fall for an informal fallacy, nor will I fall for weaponization of emotions.

I can apologize for maybe losing my cool and having raised my voice, but I will not apologize because I made someone cry. Truth hurts, I cry about it too, but I am not so shameless to solicit pity, so my mistake would be excused. Like everyone, I seek to be understood; but unlike everyone, I only seek to be understood by those who want to do so.

#mbti #intj

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airlock · 1 year ago

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the hour is nigh for some self-reflection mixed in with just whipping myself unfairly, woohoo

sometimes, these days, I feel like a gadfly with a broken stinger.

like, there's that thing Socrates said once; I'm not going to fuss with getting the exact quote out, but it's something like, Athens is a lame horse and I'm the gadfly that stings it so it'll keep moving. that's the sort of person I used to fancy myself as. someone who breaks ruts, who sees past groupthink and snaps people out of it. someone original, marching to the beat of her own drum no matter what anyone says.

in some ways I've changed, and in some ways I've gotten more in touch with the kind of person I actually am. I don't like hurting my peers; there's a difference between that, and snipping at people who think they can lord over me. I never loved debate and heated discussion much; I care a lot about talking about subjects that are unpleasant and difficult, but although persuasive rhetoric is a fundamental part of that sort of thing, it's also something that's very often used against me and against which I can scarcely fight back properly, so it's become a spectre around which I can never feel safe. and I do care what other people think of me, more than I'd love to; even if that doesn't really compel me to make more compromises, instead of just hurting about it.

I haven't really swung all up the other way either. I don't love harmony; I worry about echo chambers; I'd much rather work on understanding, than just take someone else's word for things.

it feels like I've just driven myself to the most stifling middle. like I'm just running out of ways to put myself out there that would be worthwhile at all.

it's almost like I peaked when I was willing to be even more of an insufferable asshole -- but that's crediting the thought that it was really any better to be the way I used to, just because I'm still not happy being the way I am now. after all, one other thing that's changed since the years past is that it's never been easier to be a fucking edgelord, and that further peels away the illusion that that was ever a thing worthwhile to be.

I've just probably never made anything that's worth looking at, or said anything that's worth listening to, ever.

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wisponed · 1 year ago

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did you really think this is the right thing to do ?

SEND ME MEMES !

"are we having a discussion about morality or are you just trying to get in my way?" scratch doesn't look to shadow as she cleans her wispon with an oil rag, going over the same spot across the wisp port for the third time. it's not that shadow intimidates her, more that she thinks his look might force her to reconsider, reflect, recontextualize, think.

scratch is so tired of thinking.

she can't remember the last time her body hasn't felt like a taut wire, tension making her feel like something brittle. hit it once it won't break. twice? maybe it'll survive, fault lines holding together like a kind of belated prayer. three times...?

if she's going to break in front of someone, it certainly won't be shadow.

the ivory lightning wisp swoops over to her, hovering at her elbow, its glare expectant. she's gotten used to calling it blitz, a name it seems to accept if not outright enjoy. blitz isn't hers, not a pet to be toted around or a simple weapon to use, but it is the closest thing she has to a friend she has. scratch may not have a fancy miles electric to translate the language, but she and blitz have been working together long enough to understand one another. the robotnik base is clear. time to head inside.

scratch tucks the rag into the back pocket of her pants, double checking the grappling line on her wispon. when she finally does look up to shadow, yellow eyes meeting red, her gaze is hard. blitz bobs up to float near her shoulder, staring shadow down in tandem. even if blitz doesn't condone scratch's hunger for revenge, she knows she can count on it to back her up in any argument.

"you gonna force me into a socratic, or can i get my night started?"

#rotcalypse #( ASK. )#( MEME REPLY. )#she's probably breaking in to dig through the database for info about infinite's whereabouts + phantom ruby shit #and also downloading robotnik base schematics to see if there are consistencies so she can eventually plot eggman's assassination #there's actually a part in idw where eggman gets amnesia and moves to a town and starts making little toys for the children in the town #and shadow is like “we should murder him” and sonic is like nooooooo he's nice nowwwww #but scratch would absolutely murk mr. tinker in the dead of night and watch him choke on his blood sorry sonic #scratch singlehandedly saving idw verse from the metal virus. you're WELCOME --

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apexart-journal · 1 month ago

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Radostin Sedevchev in NYC, Day #9

I continue to wake up early and sleep less than usual, but strangely, I don’t feel tired in the mornings. After a bit of journaling, I made a good breakfast—my usual routine when I have a late start.

At 12:00, my first activity was a livestream on Agentic AI for SEO: Learn How to Rank in the Age of AI Overviews & GEO, led by Chris Raulf. The presentation focused on how to get your website to dominate search engine results—like Google—by taking over all the “sweet spots.” But in reality, it turned out to be more of a one-hour commercial for Raulf’s software and company. The topic is pretty far removed from anything I normally engage with, but I can see why someone working in that field would find it useful. Toward the end, though, I could barely keep myself from dozing off.

Next up was a meeting with Nia at Apexart. I left the apartment exactly 30 minutes in advance, thinking I could walk to the gallery since the weather was so nice. What I hadn’t anticipated was that thousands of other people had the same idea. Broadway was packed, and I ended up being five minutes late. Still, we had a great chat about the upcoming activities and what’s in store for me. Then Joe joined us, and our conversation took a wild turn—from the similarities between peanut butter and tahini, to Cartoon Network, to Latin phrases, and somehow ended on dubbed films. Don’t ask me how we got there, but it was fun.

After that, I had my therapy session with Nancy. Like last time, we covered a variety of topics—particularly the role of journaling and how it can positively impact one’s mental space. We also discussed the idea of care, and how important it is to offer support when we see potential in others and feel we can help. It was, once again, a meaningful and grounding exchange.

My final activity of the day was a visit to the Chogye International Zen Center of New York for a meditation practice. The place is very close to the apartment, so I left just in time—but ran into an unexpected series of mishaps. First, I couldn’t find the right entrance. Then, even when I did, I didn’t know how to use the doorbell to be let in. Turns out there was another doorbell outside I hadn’t noticed. Meanwhile, outside the building was typical NYC chaos: people blasting rap music, smoking weed, a police patrol parked right in front, and me—frantically trying to figure out what to press or whom to call. In desperation, I started asking people coming out of the building if they knew where the Zen center was. Let’s just say... they weren’t too thrilled.

Finally, after 20 minutes of trial and error, I made it inside. I was greeted by Manu, a kind French woman who offered basic instructions before we began. She explained the structure of the session and the rituals involved. Then it was time to change into robes, go on a 10-minute walking meditation, and finally settle into a 30-minute seated session. Of all the meditative experiences I’ve had so far, this was the most powerful. Sitting in silence with the Quakers had its own peaceful, modern vibe, but this felt rooted in something much older—more intentional, almost like stepping into an immersive installation. The robes, the chanting, the slow walking, and the precise postures all come from a deeply established tradition. Unlike yoga or the outdoor meditation at Socrates Sculpture Park, here the genuineness of the participants stood out. They brought a certain care and attention to their presence that felt meaningful, devoted, and quietly intense. I felt good during the session—calm, focused, engaged.

I do have some background in Zen traditions from my “History of Religion” classes back in art school, but this experience reminded me that I should probably revisit and deepen that knowledge. I’m happy I was able to be part of this session.

#Inbound from Sofia #Radostin Sedevchev

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camelotlifecoach23 · 6 months ago

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The Growing Impact of Life Coaching and the Role of The Best Life Coaches

Everyone faces problems in life. In fact, even the best life coaches have their own set of challenges. The way we perceive and deal with those problems is what helps us make crucial life decisions.

Life coaching is a billion-dollar industry, and in this blog, we’ve discussed how it emerged, some of its common techniques, and where it stands today. So, let’s dive in!

The Beginning of Life Coaching

Life coaching has been around since the 1980s and was started in America. There is no particular inventor of life coaching. Just like other developments in the modern days, this idea was also nurtured by the people because it was the natural step from business coaching, which first evolved from sports coaching.

However, Thomas J. Leonard is known as the father of professional life coaching. He believed that the Socratic method of questioning, listening, and understanding yourself could help them to become a better version of themselves.

Leonard founded the International Association of Coaching (IAF) and the International Coaching Federation (ICF) in 1994, which are still prominent today. These organizations today have become the most trustworthy source from which we are getting certified best life coaches.

Common Techniques Used by Best Life Coaches and Their Impact

Active Listening

It is considered the gold standard for the best life coaches. It involved being fully present and attentive to what the client is saying, both verbally and non-verbally. With this, the client feels heard and tends to further open up to seek clarity.

2. Powerful Questioning

It refers to the process of asking thought-provoking questions that encourages the client to deeply examine their thoughts and behaviors. Instead of guiding clients what to do, answering these questions makes them guide themselves, and it becomes truly beneficial.

3. SMART Goals

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound is a framework used to set clear goals that individuals can track and work towards in a designated time frame. This roadmap helps the client stay motivated and focused.

4. Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

As per the National Library of Medicine, CBT has been found effective in large numbers of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.

It also states about the founder, Aaron T. Beck, in the 1960s, who discovered the ground-breaking approach to psychotherapy and has presented a new cognitive theory of depression. He published Cognitive Therapy for Depression (Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery, 1979) after conducting a study to assess and establish the efficacy of cognitive therapy.

The combination of a thorough treatment procedure manual and outcome research was a novel approach to psychotherapy practice, previously explored exclusively by behavior therapists in the treatment of specific behavioral issues.

Thus, in these cases, results indicate that the best life coaches utilize these kinds of techniques to identify and challenge negative thoughts and replace them with positive and more realistic ones.

What Type of People Must Take Life Coaching?

People who are unsure of their next steps in life, whether in career, relationships, or personal goals, can take help from the best life coaches.

Individuals going through major life changes, such as divorce, relocation, or the loss of a loved one, may feel overwhelmed and need help finding a new direction.

Individuals who have trouble staying motivated or following through on goals can benefit from the accountability and encouragement provided by the best life coaches.

People who are overwhelmed by life’s demands, stressed, or anxious about the future can benefit from life coaching to manage their thoughts more effectively.

Those who find it difficult to juggle career, family, and personal time can use life coaching to find balance and prioritize what matters most.

Anyone who wants to improve their personal lives, whether through better habits, increased self-awareness, or confidence, can benefit from the best life coaches.

Latest Trends in Life Coaching Industry

Digital Transformation

Industries have been revolutionized after the integration of technology. Best life coaches are now able to provide their services without geographical barriers. Recipients are also getting access to worldwide services and products, which might not be possible otherwise.

2. Niche Specialization

There is a growing trend toward specialization within the coaching industry. The best life coaches are focusing on specific areas like health & wellness, leadership, career, and personal development. They tailor their services to meet the unique needs of their target audience.

3. Professionalization and Certification

As the coaching industry grows, there is an increasing emphasis on professional training and certification. Clients prefer coaches with recognized credentials, and many organizations are requiring coaches to have formal qualifications.

Conclusion

At some point in life, everyone needs direction or clarity. The presence of the best life coaches offers valuable assistance that can make a significant difference in improving people's lives.

Camelot Life Coach is one such place where you can clear your doubts and gain insights for a better life. This organization is run by Barry T. Cervantes, a life coach with extensive experience, making it a trusted place for many. Visit the website for more information.

Website: https://www.camelotlifecoach.com/

E- mail: [email protected]

Contact: +1-3142760423

Address: St. Louis MO 63105

#best life coaches

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remoteteach · 8 months ago

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3A. Transmitters and receivers

We’ve found in our own research that conversations tend to go better when they are primarily between two people. This is not to say that you shouldn’t have three or more people involvedin the conversation, but in any given five-minute span of time, there should mostly be just two people talking—one who is currently trying to convey something, and another who is trying to understand (and whose understanding the first is specifically optimizing for; discussing a topic at a level such that four or five different people can all follow everything is usually worse on net).

Call these two roles the “transmitter” and the “receiver.” Things you might transmit:

A specific question or confusion

A model or chain of reasoning

A piece of relevant background information that needs to be deeply understood in order for the conversation to proceed

Things the receiver might do:

Mirror back to the transmitter what the transmitter just said, in different words. This lets the transmitter check where the transmission has succeeded or failed.

Take notes on a whiteboard, or attempt to draw diagrams, and have the transmitter verify or correct them. Do this as formally as you can. Try to write down statements in logic and turn informal arguments into proofs. Type theory is good for this kind of receiving; just writing down precise data types corresponding to what’s being discussed can be very helpful.

Resist the impulse to round off what the transmitter is saying to something you already understand. A good way to guard against this: attempt to find at least two interpretations, and ask questions which differentiate between them.

Hold tight to the assumption that the thing the transmitter is trying to convey is interesting. Avoid “critic” mode that will tend to make it harder for the transmitter to think and express freely. Even if there is a fatal flaw in what the transmitter is explicitly saying, your job is to help them dig up the spark of intuition which made them go down that path, so that they can turn it into a useful idea if possible.

Stay closely in touch with confusion, and speak up where things don’t seem to make sense. Ask clarifying questions. Your job as receiver isn’t to just nod along or make the transmitter feel understood. Be gentle when necessary to help the transmitter get in touch with what they’re trying to convey; but once they’re in touch, your job is to really get it out of them, in detail!

If the transmitter’s idea seems quite clear, the receiver can start red-teaming it, which means looking for attacks to make the approach fail. Being the critic when an idea isn’t properly out yet blocks things up, but once there’s a firm proposal which seems to make sense, it’s open season.

Look for implications of what the transmitter is saying. (“Ah, so then X!”; or, “Would that mean that X?”, etc.) This serves at least three purposes. First, it lets the transmitter know that you see why their idea would be totally awesome if it worked. After all, you’re doing all these useful things with the idea. This helps keep things going. Second, it tests whether you see what they’re getting at. Third, a totally absurd implication can suggest that you’re down a wrong track and should back up to see where you took a wrong turn.

White-hat trolling or gadfly-ing. Sometimes there’s not much doing with the transmitter (or there’s no active transmitter; no one having ideas). Play the role of a mischievous Socrates. Ask questions about seemingly basic things and try to show why nothing anybody thinks makes any sense. Or, defend an absurd position. (A troll may sometimes seem like a transmitter, but is actually a receiver.)

The transmitter should feel as free as possible to just make claims, including “totally fake” claims, as long as they are keeping in touch with their intuitions; try to establish a norm where you can ask receivers to collaborate with you in uncovering the kernel of truth in what you’re saying rather than shooting down half-formed ideas because they’re still half-wrong. No matter how nonjudgemental the receivers are, it may help the transmitter to say things like “everything I’m about to say is totally wrong, but” every so often.

The transmitter should also remain in touch with their intuition and curiosity, steering the conversation to what they think is most interesting rather than trying to perform or entertain. The transmitter is under no obligation to answer the receiver’s questions; feel free to say “that’s not what I want to think about right now.”

The key idea is that the receiver is helping midwife what the transmitter is saying. In that moment, it is the transmitter’s thinking that should take priority, and the receiver is acting as a sounding board, a living intuition pump, and a source of confusion and (minor) chaos.

Meanwhile, any third parties in the audience should be trying to serve as facilitators/translators. They should be watching both the transmitter and the receiver and seeking to model what’s going on for those people. Where are they missing each other, and talking past each other? Where are they running up against confirmation bias, or the double illusion of transparency? Where are they both agreeing that something makes sense without actually understanding it?

The audience members should speak up from time to time (probably less than 10% of the total words) to inject relevant thoughts or models or questions. Sometimes, such an interjection will be the cause of a role switch, with an audience member taking on a new role as either transmitter or receiver, and one of the other parties rotating out.

⠀

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khorneschosen · 6 months ago

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I believe the term is bouncing and I'm bouncing with joy. Because this discussion is enjoyable.

Hey I hate the shit on your parade but again if you can't prove something you have to get rid of it So the scientific method was made by a woman was it can you prove it was can you.

You don't know what I am do you. Could be many things could be nothing what could I possibly be other than an entity within reality though.

Funny though that's not Aristotle though. You know the creator of laws of logic. And even so can you really prove that any of that was aleppo's then you prove that she was real. After all why would men allow the creator of the great weapon and tool that being philosophy and religion to go named in the history books. Why didn't they smash any findings when they came across them after all this is a grand conspiracy that men have had for so long you know and on top of that men seemingly gave you the right to vote rather than crushing you like the little girls that you are. They could have done so with the full right to after all You did do a little wartime terrorism at the time and they could have used that to crush the feminist movement outright.

Seems to me there's some rough edges to this conspiracy theory.

But anyway can you improve she existed how can you know after all men have allowed and conspired against women their entire lives how do you know that they allowed her to be taught as the teacher of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle every every philosopher actually throughout history maybe she's immortal can you prove otherwise.

Can you even prove I exist?

After all logic is something not known to me right You must have an ability to validate objective observation Right It's something that you have right You such a good philosopher such a great philosophers You're doing great honey You're doing great.

Even Eastern philosophy or is it just Western philosophy That's good to know I was wondering why Western world was somehow so evil and malicious downright awful as compared to say the people of Africa and the Middle East and Asia because remember we in the West are evil and bad and no good.

But have you ever considered that feelings don't care about facts. It works so horrifically in the opposite and in such a way that a person who could say that would never realize that again feelings don't care about their facts. They simply believe no matter what.

I'm having fun and that's what matters to me You have given me a great deal of joy and I have made you go through a long torturous process that you likely don't enjoy.

But you want the honest answer You're philosophy is a sham It's a big old fucking sham You got it from Kant, and tried to make of it what you will and return have created this entirely warped perception of reality that does not correlate to direct observation and doesn't even make logical sense.

Your philosophy is based on the work of a man who as always preached sacrifice. And you think you're special because you are the few people who say no I will not sacrifice I want others to sacrifice to me. Only to then realize that those who you ask to sacrifice for you will make demands of their own and change according to those demands.

The comedy comes from me is that the one person who actually created their own philosophy and was a woman is one that belongs to my philosophy but has never belonged to yours. You worship the worst kind of men as your philosophers by putting a female face on them but then when it comes to the one woman who actually created a philosophy unique and fundamentally important you deny and rebuke.

Because and this is the big one no matter what you have ever said about the intelligence of man. You've always understood on some level that men in according to your theory are malicious to you and your worldview and thus when your worldview and you raised a bloody fist or an ax as historically was the case and demanded rights the men whose, only function according to your worldview is that a violence did not violently just suppress you and have it be done at that.

That was the time for this patriarchal system to show women why it cannot and will never be allowed to be free of it by engaging in violence.

There would be no logic or empathy to speak to because again these are beyond men right logic and empathy do not work on us according to your idea and yet that's all you had that was the only way you could have gotten us to give you your rights.

According to your philosophy the very moment you demanded the right to vote we should have violently suppressed you without any interest in empathy or logic or rationality to persuade us against that.

And yet never happened. You know this is to be the case. On every level you know what I am saying is true. And yet that every part of it is necessarily contradictory.

So the question is your theory relies on the idea that we don't think and we don't feel and yet having lost two of these frankly primary ways one could even make decisions what was left to us even malice requires emotion or rationality behind it. Are we just these empty vessels in your worldview but an empty vessel doesn't even have the substance of malice not the substance of inferiority or superiority because he has no standard by to wieght either.

This has been amusing to me but I assume this is going to be your last hit So I'm going to make mine good. Your worldview is self-contradictory and frankly contradicts the historical record.

But then your feelings don't care about my facts so your free to ignore this You have to simply shut off your mind deny logic deny reason deny your own mind in order to continue with your malice and that's easy because it requires nothing of you. It requires nothing but in the end cost everything because whether you realized or not you haven't actually thought traditionalism You never have every right you have is only come from maximizing a traditional position.

And so you are never actually going to be free of this thing that you hate because ultimately breaking the gender rule would mean creating a system in which you either exterminate men which you are incapable of not just because this species would die off soon after which I don't think would be a major loss to you but because you don't have the courage of your own malice.

You could just shoot us in the street after all you've come to the conclusion that we are universally evil and negative and thus murder is a just a rational but a necessary choice. And yet you don't do it. Even now you do not do it.

Because to you violence is men's work perfectly aligned with the tradition you have always believed in.

On a good couple of years you will be forgotten You're in philosophy broken driven and thrown from the world as the useless irrelevant thing that it is because it by its own nature is self-contradictory and only sustains itself by that which came before it and that which is swiftly disappearing from the world.

I'm closing the worst thing that could ever happen to you is to give you exactly given to your demands without giving any part of ourselves over to your demands.

male philosophers are unbearable. So shallow yet theyre so praised to the point people will fucking worship them

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