Turq wrote:
Bronte, I have challenged you in the past here to do one simple
thing -- something that should be a breeze for someone who considers
herself as smart as you obviously consider yourself -- write
something positive. One post. One in which there is zero negation
or putdown of something you don't like, only a presentation of
something you *do* like and that you think might be valuable for
other folks. I honestly don't think you *can* any more.
>
Bronte writes:
Turq, I am going to spend one last post responding to you, and then
I'm done until you get over yourself. I didn't comment on this remark
the first time you made it because it was three days after I sent you
a "positve" post: pages of lyrics from Joni Mitchell songs I had
typed out for your pleasure. Pure enjoyment there,
nothing "negative." But three days later, you couldn't even remember
it. Why, because you're deadset looking for the bad in other people?
I do have answers of my own for the problems I see in the world, but
I don't talk about them to folks who don't see a problem to begin
with. In this forum, no one agrees with me that the trouble I see (in
the guru game) is real. Why suggest solutions to problems no one
believes exist? Better to present evidence or arguments when I find
them for the problem being real. That is the most positive thing one
can do in the face of an evil that wears the mask of good.
I have nothing to prove to you, cowboy. You don't like other people's
critical posts? Good. You want to think Bronte's negative? Wonderful.
I'm going to do what I like, because you cannot intimidate or
embarrass people on this forum into doing what you want. You speak of
getting attention, but a chat room is a not a stage, and you are not
a ringmaster or a competing circus performer. There's plenty of room
for everybody here to speak their minds. Let people do what they
want, and if you can't handle that, expect your own "whiner" posts to
be ignored.
This is the last thing of yours I'm reading until you get off your
high horse. Smoke away in your rants if that gives you jollies. Most
of us will not be listening.
- Bronte
> If (a big if) you ever write the book you claim
> to be writing, I'm sure there will be a large
> and profitable market for it. But you should
> know that when it hits Santa Fe, the owners
> of the best bookstore in town will take one
> look at it and put it on the shelf in the section
> of the store clearly labeled, WHINERS.
>
> Really. The owner and the employees of the store
> originally labeled this section CRITICISM, but
> after noticing the tone, the content, and the
> consistent "me-fixation" of the authors, they
> ordered a new sign and called the section
> WHINERS. The patrons of the store, even the ones
> who browse there, love it. It captures the tone
> and the mindset of the books stocked there.
>
> The thing that *all* of the books in the section
> have in common, no matter which spiritual trip
> or psychiatric practice or self-help technique
> they're ragging on, is that they are only negative.
> There isn't an ounce of positive suggestion for
> something *else* to do within a one of them.
> They're just someone whining about what's *wrong*
> with all these trips.
>
> It's EASY to criticize. I do it myself from time
> to time, and know just how easy it is, especially
> with easy targets like the TM movement. But there
> is neither any creativity nor balance in *only*
> criticizing. To achieve balance, one has to get
> *past* the ego-hurt and be able to accept the
> good things that came along with the bad ones.
> And to achieve any measure of creativity, one has
> to be able to propose something *else*, something
> that could actually *help* someone else, something
> they might consider doing *instead* of the thing
> being criticized/whined about.
>
> So far, you have proved yourself incapable of
> getting to this Next Step. I resubmit my challenge.
> Since you clearly intend to hang around here and
> post your whining, *supplement* it from time to
> time with some creative suggestions of your own
> for something *else* one could do. These supple-
> mental posts should contain *no* negation ("What
> I recommend is that one *not* do X.").
>
> Give it a try. It's a lot more difficult to write
> shit like that than it is to whine. So far you've
> been taking the EASY (and intellectually LAZY) path,
> and not only have you been taking that path, you've
> been demanding that people *admire* you for taking
> that path. I don't.
>
> The day you can transcend the EASY path and propose
> a completely positive *alternative* to that which
> you criticize, on that day you have my respect.
> Not until.
>
