Some Random Thoughts
They're called trolls.
I'm sensitive. Though I've lost a great deal of it over the past two years and have become even prickly I suppose, I'm still sensitive. And there are certain things that hit trigger buttons with me. And I want to respond.
And I shouldn't.
Too many of these are people who are setting out specifically to push these buttons, whether with me or others, and it is a little game they play. They love to provoke responses, to see how riled up they can get you. For them, it's fun.
Not that this sort of behavior would be tolerated in person. Polite rules of society, this sort of thing just isn't done. The normal results might be at least a major scolding, at worst hospitalization (or death). Since this is the Internet, they are relatively immune, hiding behind a cover.
Don't get me wrong, I've done some rotten stuff on the 'Net. I've created a sockpuppet or two (and regretted the decision) and have done light trolling (normally just poking fun at things). But the length that some of these people go through amazes and shocks me. Perhaps they are true believers in what they say?
I've had many regrets over the last two years. There are things I wish I had never done, many of them, and yet they still are there, lying like bleached whalebones on the shores of my life; the ruins of things once viewed as splendiferous that either through my own inattention collapsed, went horribly awry or that I deliberately dynamited. Not particularly wise everyone of those choices, and I live to live with the consequences. There have been some good things that have come out of it, but too much of it is simply painful. I'm still trying to mend and have become oh so very cautious (some would say too cautious).
But I'm also 45 years old, and perhaps this is some long midlife phase. For the first time, I'm trying my best to put my life in order and concentrate on the things that matter. I have consistently, insistently, tried to find fulfillment through others, as if having another helped me to be complete (to some small extent that may be true). Some have said that I seem distant at times, as if my mind is really elsewhere. Maybe.
While I don't necessarily prescribe to the bulk of their beliefs, Ayn Rand followers seem to follow a simple statement that has shown up in the game "BioShock" (to my readers; I'm not a gamer, but came across this via Wired.com) -
"No Gods Nor Kings, Only Man"
A bit more powerful version of "If it is to be, it is up to me".
And I've entered that portion of my life.
I'm sensitive. Though I've lost a great deal of it over the past two years and have become even prickly I suppose, I'm still sensitive. And there are certain things that hit trigger buttons with me. And I want to respond.
And I shouldn't.
Too many of these are people who are setting out specifically to push these buttons, whether with me or others, and it is a little game they play. They love to provoke responses, to see how riled up they can get you. For them, it's fun.
Not that this sort of behavior would be tolerated in person. Polite rules of society, this sort of thing just isn't done. The normal results might be at least a major scolding, at worst hospitalization (or death). Since this is the Internet, they are relatively immune, hiding behind a cover.
Don't get me wrong, I've done some rotten stuff on the 'Net. I've created a sockpuppet or two (and regretted the decision) and have done light trolling (normally just poking fun at things). But the length that some of these people go through amazes and shocks me. Perhaps they are true believers in what they say?
I've had many regrets over the last two years. There are things I wish I had never done, many of them, and yet they still are there, lying like bleached whalebones on the shores of my life; the ruins of things once viewed as splendiferous that either through my own inattention collapsed, went horribly awry or that I deliberately dynamited. Not particularly wise everyone of those choices, and I live to live with the consequences. There have been some good things that have come out of it, but too much of it is simply painful. I'm still trying to mend and have become oh so very cautious (some would say too cautious).
But I'm also 45 years old, and perhaps this is some long midlife phase. For the first time, I'm trying my best to put my life in order and concentrate on the things that matter. I have consistently, insistently, tried to find fulfillment through others, as if having another helped me to be complete (to some small extent that may be true). Some have said that I seem distant at times, as if my mind is really elsewhere. Maybe.
While I don't necessarily prescribe to the bulk of their beliefs, Ayn Rand followers seem to follow a simple statement that has shown up in the game "BioShock" (to my readers; I'm not a gamer, but came across this via Wired.com) -
"No Gods Nor Kings, Only Man"
A bit more powerful version of "If it is to be, it is up to me".
And I've entered that portion of my life.
posted by Robert at 11:49 AM
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