A few standardized thoughts.

[WordWolf]

I'm going to speak purely for myself, here. 

There's some thoughts I've had for a long time, now, but never stopped to articulate them. I just never felt it was the right time, or possibly not the right thread. So, I'm giving them their own thread.  Yes, these thoughts are "About the Way" and about "About the Way" discussions.  

1) I've been having these thoughts on and off for over a decade, so it was never a SINGLE poster who I've thought of. (So, if your immediate response is to get defensive, it says more about you than about my post.  I'd think about that for a moment.)

 

2)  A number of posters over the decades have all sounded almost identical.  It was as if someone had given all of them the same canned responses somewhere, and they just learned to parrot them back- rather than consider whether or not the canned responses reflected reality.   For ex-twi, I think it can either be very, very easy to get that to happen (for people who have left twi, but twi has not left them, spitting back what leaders said without ever thinking if it was sensible is how twi has always run things, and that's true now as well as then), or very, very hard (ex-twi who have a violent, knee-jerk reaction when someone tries that same bs on them one more time now that they're wise to it),  or anywhere in between (depending on where the person is in their personal growth.)   A long time ago, before the internet,  I saw a local leader do such an egregious job of it that I was THIS close to keeping packets of Saltine crackers in my pockets, prepared to hand him one every time I caught him do it.  But he seemed to have caught himself JUST as I was getting ready to start. I think I had a pack ready in my pocket at the time.)

 

3)  There's this depiction- a pretty consistent one- that paints the GSC as a place where people do nothing all the time but hate on twi.   It's not even true of our time on the GSC.  A lot of posting is pretty neutral.  Want to see examples to the contrary?  Make a ridiculous claim that twi made or makes. Then, when posters correct you, you can claim they spend all their time hating on twi.  It makes all the same sense as claiming a traffic cop signaling you past a hazard is "wallowing in hate" over the location he's signaling you past.

 

4) There this depiction- a pretty consistent one- that claims that GSC posters spend all their time doing nothing but hating on twi.  First of all, check my posting history. That's not even true of the time I spend here.  Second of all, you only see me for the few minutes I spend here, and not remaing  23:45 I spend in my day. Imaging I really spend any of that time on twi is a better example of "thinking evil" than anything I've ever said here.

 

5) There's this idea that warning people about twi or ex-twi groups is "thinking evil."  No, it's warning people not to get their car stuck in the ditch!  "In vain is the net spread in sight of any bird."   If you're determined to spend your money and time on twi and pro-twi things, supporting them and propping them up, I certainly can't stop you.  But if we warned you, and you ignored the warnings and went on and got caught anyway, that's entirely on you, we did what we could. 

 

6)  There's this idea that not being open to even considering you may be backing the wrong horse is a good thing.  vpw claimed that the first mistake Eve made was "considering."  No, it was paying heed to a dangerous, harmful predator who disguised himself as someone looking out for her, who got her to expose herself to danger by ignoring the sensible thing to do and trying to join a "privileged group" known as "wise."       Is it wise to never look around and consider whether you are headed down the wrong road? I'll leave these quotes that I think are relevant.

John Maynard Keynes- "The inactive investor who takes up an obstinate attitude about his holdings and refuses to change his opinion merely because facts and circumstances have changed is the one who in the long run comes to grievous loss."

 

Paul Samuelson- "Well when events change, I change my mind. What do you do?"

 

7)  There's this idea that people who- like GSC posters-  warn others about the dangers of twi can't ever even think of anything positive to say about twi, vpw, etc. No, that's confusing the obvious warnings for EVERYTHING.  There used to be something touted as a miracle mineral, something that saved a lot of lives in buildings by preventing the buildings from going on fire.  That miracle mineral's name is ASBESTOS.  I'm sure many, many, many people owe their lives to being able to escape a fire because asbestos impeded a bulding fire or prevented it.   However, if you look around, you don't find people going around saying it's such a fantastic thing, and touting its praises. Why not?  As you probably know- now if not decades ago when asbestos was popular- the thing has been responsible for a lot of deaths all on its own!  Breathing in asbestos fibers is incredibly harmful to one's lungs, and can lead to a problem with its own name- asbestosis.  (Feel free to look it up.)    You might say that all people have to say about asbestos is negative now, and they ignore the good it's done. I think most people would reply that asbestos may have done well- and I would say it's saved lives- but it's more important to point out the incredible dangers of exposure to this dangerous substance than to focus on some of the benefits and IGNORE the dangers that could suffocate you or kill you.  

I, myself, started a thread to discuss vpw and wanted his positive traits included alongside his negative traits.  I did the same for lcm and rfr.  I found it fascinating that, of the three, nobody was able to come forth with even ONE positive anecdote about rfr, which was not true about either rapist/molester.

Trying to focus on vpw's positive traits, now that I'm aware of a far more COMPLETE picture of the man, keeps reminding me of a quote,

"Now you fellas have said some pretty mean things...some of which were true under that fiend, Boss Grissom. He was a thief, and a terrorist. On the other hand he had a tremendous singing voice."

We've even discussed how Al Capone helped feed people in the Great Depression, but nobody ever focuses on the good he accomplished.  It's as if people can't even SEE the good he did, they have to only focus on the negative.

 

That's what's on my mind on this at the moment.  Every once in a while, I get curious about what source people are parroting that they come off, all reciting the same things. Then I get on with my life because it's neither my concern nor my problem where people get their delusions or their misinformation.   I do know that it would concern me if I were on the other side of things- if I could only recite what others had passed on to me...at least at my age. In twi, I was a lot younger, and a lot more naive. I fell for it then. If I fell for variations on the same themes decades later, it would concern me.  I don't know why others are fine with it, but it does illustrate some people are really different from other people, on fundamental levels.

[Allan]

Well said...whilst I hold fast to much of TWI teaching I would never EVER be stupid enough to be enticed back...and I've been certainly been 'romanced'...

[waysider]

"The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones." 

...the fishin' rod guy

[Nathan_Jr]

Mmmph