Author Topic: The $%*! frustration thread  (Read 472922 times)

FaustWolf

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5385 on: October 27, 2010, 04:30:05 am »
From an existential point of view, it could be that the suddenness and distance of the conversion is more distressing than the content of the conversion. Perhaps it calls into question how genuine people really are when we interact with them. I daresay it's great fodder to channel through some artistic undertaking, though that's probably cold comfort to someone in the midst of asking these kinds of questions.

I'd hazard a guess that the friend is just as lightly Christian as he was atheist previously. In the bravado that follows striking up new friendships or relationships in general, one member of the relationship might feel tempted to adopt the other's interests as a way of latching onto the other. An exchange of views and perspectives is healthy, but ultimately a superficial swing in interests isn't going to bind people in the long term. There's got to be something deeper. The question is, is it ever possible to know when our relationships have that "deeper" stuff?


Seems to me a story that takes place at a costume ball would be a fantastic medium for exploring this question. And if the costume ball takes place in a Venusian cloud city, that would make it even better. Phew, I'd better lay off the booze. Or maybe I should have more...
« Last Edit: October 27, 2010, 08:53:54 am by FaustWolf »

tushantin

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5386 on: October 27, 2010, 06:40:32 am »
I'm very sorry to hear that, Saijanta. Forgive me if I say, though, that I do not understand how it feels for a person to simply dump someone because I've always found us humans to be predictable (unless they're online) and have also experienced a few "best friend's betrayal" in the past which I managed to forget. Thus I never take people's words for granted, no matter how much they mean (which is why I don't have many "true friends"). I don't want to sadden you so I'll try my best to appeal to your professional nature instead instead of your social one.

You see, human relationship sort of fluctuates in time, sometimes being closest while at times being at the brink of tearing. Yes, even with the closest of relatives or friends. At the same time, all a human being needs is love; a place where he's adored the most he'd wag his tail right there, loyal to his communities until he finds a better place -- like a mix of cat and dog. We seek community and some of us are usually willing change our beliefs just to blend in with the crowd, and when needed, protect the community no matter how wrong they are. Basically, protecting friends. And like FaustWolf mentions, his sudden lack of interest towards one friend/community and going for another certainly brings his loyalty into question.

Of course, what he did say was indeed hurtful, but I do have something to add. Considering you're an atheist, from your point of view worshiping a non-existent being would indeed be primitive, but for those who believe think that loving God would make miracles happen. I beg to differ, because if there's a reason why God created us would not be to bless us; if one truly believes in God and knows how a superior mind would work, staying lazy and praying for things to happen would make even God facepalm. No, Gods have little to do with miracles and judgement. If God exists, he's there to watch his creation burning with the flames of passion and dreams, stepping through obstruction towards the light, facing the darkness with a candle and burning the grounds so to let there be light.

You may be ill, Saijanta, but you're one of the strongest I know. You take arms against oppression towards helpless people, you take up a pledge to protect your friends. And I dare say that if a God exists to influence fate in any way, he would be a complete asshole to hurt you in any way.

I don't know how I could console you as I'm not good with words, but I hope for the best. Godspeed and may you live to your fullest and blessed.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2010, 06:42:21 am by tushantin »

tushantin

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5387 on: October 27, 2010, 06:52:24 am »
Great. Now somebody pickpocketed my brother's phone. Which cost me three months of salary...
 :picardno

utunnels

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5388 on: October 27, 2010, 09:16:43 am »
That sucks. Well, that's one of the reason I always prefer a cheap phone.
And I haven't encountered a pickpocket in my life, LOL, perhaps that's because I don't have something worthy to pickpocket.

Kodokami

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5389 on: October 27, 2010, 10:24:45 am »
Quote
I'm trying to learn to love God again.

Yes, the God that did horrible things to you. And no, I don't have an answer for that. I don't know if God does either. I just don't know. So don't ask.

What a terrible thing to say. Perhaps not in a general sense, but that he said it to you--someone he held a very close friendship with--makes it revolting. With Faustwolf I would agree that this "friend" is as lightly Christian now as he was atheist before. Looking from the opposite side, perhaps his conversion is due to something deeper--an internal problem, family or otherwise, that would cause him to question previously held beliefs? Regardless, I cannot guess what would be so demanding in his life for a conversion, and to drop the close bond of friendship he had with you. To put it in quotes, "[His] lack of faith of is disturbing."

skylark

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5390 on: October 27, 2010, 04:53:04 pm »
Bastard probably wanted to get into his 'new friend's' pants. Just another reason for me to believe humanity is nothing but shit... :x

Alright...

I've never been good at giving advice, especially to anyone who's been what you've gone through, but I've been through a hell of a lot of 'false friends' myself, so at least I can relate to you on that regard.

I realize it bothers you, but if this friend of yours wants to be a douche, then to hell with him. Anyone who does what he did isn't worth the drama. And that goes for anyone else who decides they want to back out.

Just keep on pushing forward, and don't let anyone or anything stand in your way.

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5391 on: October 27, 2010, 09:43:58 pm »
As much as I love the sexy time... It complicates everything.

Lord J Esq

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5392 on: October 28, 2010, 06:54:04 pm »
My old best friend (whom I haven't completely lost--he still wants to be friends) has decided to convert to Christianity.  Previously an atheist, but now wants to "love God".  I'm really upset.  I can't tell you how many times we discussed religion and how ludicrous we found the Bible to be, how often we rolled our eyes at the super religious people in our classes, how sometimes we were downright condescending concerning Christians.

I had a friend like that in high school. Militant feminist, black panther, godless heathen and proud of it. Then, after we had all gone our separate ways after graduation, something happened and she became one of those hardcore conservative fundamentalist Christians who we had derided so thoroughly. It left me wondering: I had considered her an intelligent, aware person. Had I been wrong about that? And, if so, how?

Lessons like these--when taken cumulatively across many subjects of interest--involving the capacity of somebody you thought you knew to become radically different with apparent suddenness, have led me to suspect that true honesty is an even rarer bird than I had figured it for. It seems that people just can't or won't be honest about who they are and what they're thinking.

This former friend of yours was probably never the person you thought he was. You got it wrong in your perception of him. And now you're left wondering how that could be. It's a lousy frustration to have, isn't it?

utunnels

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5393 on: October 28, 2010, 09:12:59 pm »
Well, somebody feels proud of something might because he thinks his standpoint is different from many people, not because he has a strong faith towards it.

FaustWolf

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5394 on: October 29, 2010, 04:06:16 am »
Urrrgh! It takes a lot to get me riled up, but people who've drunken all the kool-aid of conventional economic wisdom fit the freakin' bill. "Why, all those people who are struggling right now need to better themselves! Let the market handle it! Why are so many people complaining? If they don't have money, they're not working hard enough! All these angry people got just what they deserve, so they should clam up and stop complaining about CEO paychecks." It goes on and on like this in various comments sections of econ articles.

And I know all these folks can't be pampered elites chewing on tobacco pipes while sitting back in leather chaise lounges as they fire off comments in that spirit. And yet, there's some hideous disconnect between them and the young African American man with an education who can't land a job no matter how hard he tries; the laid-off middle aged parents whose human capital withers while they spend their waking lives firing off hundreds of resumes; the valedictorian of a graduating class who's shut out of some opportunity because she's from a poor household and couldn't afford to develop connections through an unpaid internship.

There's a complete void where creative economic leadership is needed, and a frightning abundance of apologists for an economy that functions like we're still in the 1800s, when we should be in the Information Age. This is nuts.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2010, 04:08:53 am by FaustWolf »

ZeaLitY

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5395 on: October 29, 2010, 04:27:12 am »
Urrrgh! It takes a lot to get me riled up, but people who've drunken all the kool-aid of conventional economic wisdom fit the freakin' bill. "Why, all those people who are struggling right now need to better themselves! Let the market handle it! Why are so many people complaining? If they don't have money, they're not working hard enough! All these angry people got just what they deserve, so they should clam up and stop complaining about CEO paychecks." It goes on and on like this in various comments sections of econ articles.

Hah, working as a waiter has only strengthened my feelings about that. It's difficult. Restaurants must run lean or they'll lose out at the margin. One's sense of timing must be supreme, and one's acting and social skills have to be at the top. It's hard damn stuff. To some people, I'm a romantic young person crossing the stream with this stepping stone. To others, I'm probably a deadbeat who needs to get a real job.

There is a fundamental lack of empathy in this system and its principles. And one of my favorite question is, what would happen if everyone did work hard enough and go back to school and be more qualified, etc.? Well, competition would increase for those good jobs, and then everyone who didn't make it would still get the leftovers. The Starbucks counter isn't going to man itself, nor is garbage going to fly itself into the landfill. Service jobs are essential until robots or other automated systems are created, and even then, sometimes a person just has to be there for the right service. Something so essential is also such a fucking scapegoat and punching bag for these unempathetic, heartless people who view the people manning them as inferior.

FaustWolf

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5396 on: October 29, 2010, 05:25:39 am »
Yeah, I was on the verge of bringing up the word "empathy" as well. It's probably the same people who give you a 5% tip at Red Lobster who suggest that the middle class vanishing is a perfectly desirable and efficient thing.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2010, 05:31:50 am by FaustWolf »

tushantin

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5397 on: October 29, 2010, 06:33:51 am »
You get that a lot, but the system isn't going to change so soon. Anything alive today is selfish in some way or other, and that goes without even going in details about political harassment of civilians and broad-daylight bribery (and robbery). System is drawn out, some find it unfair, and there's a race of survival all over again; screw education. Those experienced in the field, and with enough help and Godfathers behind them (as Zeality says, "extreme social skills") win the bet despite all the hard work and intelligence of a middle class worker.

What frustrates me even more is how some people sway off paths by providing loopholes to principles. Get this: Business doesn't need emotions involved and thus superpowers are happy enough making people's lives miserable so long as they keep their customers satisfied and get the dough. If you involve emotions in business, the offices are biased enough for employees to trip each other and rely on ass-kissery to get to the top for the sake of competition, leaving behind the intellectuals who can actually make a difference.

I'm not that kind, and would happily stay poor if that's the way it is. I wish all the world's money-lovers would stop making love to green paper and remember that it's not a luxury, but a necessity to trade for something far more meaningful, because in the end it's just that: green paper. I'll change the world in my own way. Which reminds me of a sarcastic quote by Banksy:

We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.

skylark

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5398 on: November 01, 2010, 04:06:27 pm »
My Halloween sucked.

First people to come to my door: Missionaries. God damn missionaries.

Go peddle your fascist beliefs somewhere else, you sacks of crap! :evil:

Everyone after was pretty normal... except for the last group.

I hate it when late teens don't even try to pretend they're trick-or-treating. I hate it even more when they start laughing at me and making nose-picking motions. (I've been sick so there's a bit of crust around the nose.) By the time I went to get my bat, the pricks ran off.

Yeah, I'm never letting trick-or-treaters at my door again.

rushingwind

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Re: The $%*! frustration thread
« Reply #5399 on: November 01, 2010, 04:56:49 pm »
You get that a lot, but the system isn't going to change so soon. Anything alive today is selfish in some way or other, and that goes without even going in details about political harassment of civilians and broad-daylight bribery (and robbery). System is drawn out, some find it unfair, and there's a race of survival all over again; screw education. Those experienced in the field, and with enough help and Godfathers behind them (as Zeality says, "extreme social skills") win the bet despite all the hard work and intelligence of a middle class worker.

What frustrates me even more is how some people sway off paths by providing loopholes to principles. Get this: Business doesn't need emotions involved and thus superpowers are happy enough making people's lives miserable so long as they keep their customers satisfied and get the dough. If you involve emotions in business, the offices are biased enough for employees to trip each other and rely on ass-kissery to get to the top for the sake of competition, leaving behind the intellectuals who can actually make a difference.

I'm not that kind, and would happily stay poor if that's the way it is. I wish all the world's money-lovers would stop making love to green paper and remember that it's not a luxury, but a necessity to trade for something far more meaningful, because in the end it's just that: green paper. I'll change the world in my own way. Which reminds me of a sarcastic quote by Banksy:

We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.


I guess this is only slightly related, but I will say this. I spent years in a cutthroat, miserable job just like that. Employees tripping each other up, doing underhanded, dirty things to get ahead just for more money.

Now, I have much less money, but I wouldn't go back, not for a minute. Leaving was one of the best decisions of my life, and I don't regret it at all. I have more time for everything, including trying to manage my various stresses (instead of ignoring them just to make it through the workday).

Now I'm in school studying for a career that still won't make me rich. But I enjoy it, and I won't participate in that kind of nonsense again if I can absolutely help it.