(At least things get a bit better as the seasons progress ... I particularly liked hearing that Captain Tasha Williams "doesn't do drama". Mind you, my partner has commented that the character of Jenny seems to almost have a dissociative personality disorder ... at times they all seem to have a bit of this: oh well, it is a TV drama ... )
This choice of title was reinforced recently when I was buying petrol: as I was being served the service station attendant, someone who is quite polite and pleasant - and the reason I go there to buy my petrol - asked how I was, and the young male idiot behind me answered! What an absolute moron! Did that cretin think that because a female was in front of him the female didn't count? Or was he just up himself and decided that no-one else in the world was of enough importance for anyone to talk to so of course he was being addressed. Either way, he was a complete jerk.
There are, in my opinion, too many examples of people being, well, stupid is too harsh a word, but let's say at least foolish, or maybe naive. For example, I recently joined a few Yahoo groups. I left one when racist tripe started being thrown around, and then on one of the others, it became clear to me that someone responding to a comment from myself had completely misinterpreted the article we were discussing, thinking it was favourable, not critical, of the person we were discussing. This was then compounded when everyone seemed to buy into an apparently inspiring story about Herman Rosenblat - which even came with advice to Google him. Well, I prefer Dogpile, but in this case, I used Wikipedia, and found out that, yes, he is a genuine Holocaust survivor, but no, the amazing story he claimed was true was actually a hoax.
Another example of the sort of behaviour I am thinking of is the person who, when told I most missed giving up honey when I found out I was diabetic, said "Oh, but honey is healthy! You should still eat honey, it can't harm you". Well, stupid, actually, yes, it can - its is 80% sugar, sugar in a more natural form than refined sugar, but still SUGAR, and the blood tests I did on myself when I tried one honey sandwich proved how catastrophic it can be for a diabetic.
The important question here is: why? Why do people do, think and say these stupid things? In general, I consider people fall into many of these traps out of desperation. They want something, whether it is a feeling of connectedness, a feeling of affection, or feeling that they have got a bargain (which has at least two or three layers of emotion under it that I can identify without trying), and they allow that desire to override common sense - which, sadly, as the saying goes, is far from common.
Another view on this is Lobsang Rampa's comments, in several books that, allegedly, signals are not getting through to us from our Overself. If that is so, it would certainly explain the importance of meditation, which fosters that connection (when done properly, and not debased into an exercise to try and force relaxation rather than addressing the causes of tension).
On the other hand, at the opposite end of the spectrum is the legal concept of a "reasonable person". This is the basis of legal advice I have had, for instance, that here, in Victoria, Australia, someone using the wrong pronouns to refer to a trans person is doing something that a reasonable person would find offensive. The concept refers to someone who is mature, properly informed, without unreasonable biases - so not a fundamentalist extremist of any persuasion. (You can find a more formal definition here, and a recent opinion expressing doubt about the currency of this concept here.)
Finally, I want to touch upon the concept of physical travel. Yes, this can be enjoyable, and can even broaden the mind - particularly if you've had a sheltered upbringing (it is arrogance to presume that it will broaden the mind of everyone: some people have travelled well with their minds already, through things like ... reading, meditating, growing, their own life experiences, astral travel, etc). Personally, I often find, at this stage of my life, travel of the mind/spirit/soul better ... Travel to the country to escape the psychic pressures of the city can be rejuvenating for me, and international travel, in these post 9-11 days, is fraught with so many problems because I don't fit into the "normal" boxes that the experience in-between the trip there and back is more than outweighed by the trauma caused by security theatre. There are some places I would like to see, but I will happily wait a decade or two until the current insanity dies down and decisions about security are no longer being made by people who tend towards the stupid end of the spectrum because of their limited understanding of human beings ... which is an assessment a reasonable person would agree with :) For more on this, see here, here (especially the comments about security theatre; also, try following aviation safety generally for a little while, and then assess your perception of security risks ... ) and here (which I particularly agree with, having had some sexual assaults in my life).
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
(Pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
Notes:
- Episode 2 of Season Three: Lost Weekend
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Tags: astral travel, common sense, responsibility, sexuality, world
First published: Sunnudagr, 20th March, 2011
Last edited: Sunday, 20th March, 2011
