--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > I write for the sheer fun of writing. Admittedly, being > somewhat perverse, sometimes I also write for the fun > of pushing buttons in those whose attachment buttons > are easily pushed. I would suggest that this latest > tempest in a pisspot is proof that I'm pretty good at it. :-) > > I'm having FUN by throwing out the occasional provocation > and then just watching how Gladys Knight and the Pips > (Jim, Ravi, and MZ) react to it. Gladys is without > question the leader of the group; the Pips are just > backup singers. Their lyrics and choreography are just > doo-wah's and dance steps intended to provide backup for > Gladys. Lately I've been having fun by pointing out that > the Pips *are*, in fact, nothing but Pips, and that > none of the four of them are really worth paying much > attention to, except when they can provide some amusement > in the form of pushing their buttons and then watching > them strut their stuff and sing doo-wah's. > > From my point of view, what is pushing their buttons > the most in this latest exchange is the notion *that* > none of them are worth my attention, and that I'm not > really giving them much of it. That contradicts and > flies in the face of their narcissistic "I'm the center > of the universe" self images, and makes them a little > crazy. As the song goes, the more I ignore them and > move my focus to other people on this forum who *are* > interesting, the more they're "about to lose their > minds." I see my provocations in this thread as a > way of pointing out what people who feed on the > attention of others DO when that attention is > withdrawn. > > This is OPINION. However, it's my honest OPINION. > Yours may vary, and that's OK. Unlike Gladys Knight > and the Pips, I'm not trying to sell you my OPINION > by calling it Truth.
That said, there is a simple test of whether my opinion on this is accurate or not. What would happen if I *completely* withdrew my attention from Gladys Knight and the Pips for an extended period of time? During that period I would neither read any of their posts nor mention them in any way. I would do this no matter how much they tried to provoke me into doing otherwise. If my Attention Vampire Theory (opinion) is correct, what I think would happen is that Gladys Knight and the Pips will not only continue to spend a sizable percentage of their posts trying to diss me and taunt me into responding to them, they'll actually *increase* that percentage because they are, after all, vampires. They *feed* on attention, and the thing that pushes their buttons the most is someone withdrawing that attention from them. If a former victim is allowed to do that, *all* victims might be tempted to do that, and they'd starve. So they'd have to diss the absent victim even more than usual amongst themselves, settling for attention from their fellow vampires (bottled "True Blood"...not really very nourishing or fulfilling) to supply their attention sustenance. Admittedly, this is just opinion, a colorful fantasy, probably inspired by watching the season finale of "True Blood" last night. :-) But what would happen if I turned the opinion into an actual test of the opinion's validity? What would Gladys Knight and the Pips *DO* if all of my attention were withdrawn from them? The funnest part of this whole test for me is that it's very Zen. Since I wouldn't be reading any of their posts, I wouldn't know WHAT they're saying about me, or how they're reacting. But you will. My prediction -- if I were to conduct such a test, you understand...just hypothesis -- is that between the four of them they'd continue to write no fewer than 25 "Gotta get Barry" posts per week. If that turned out to be true, I would suggest that there might just be some truth to my Attention Vampire Theory. Start counting now, just in case... :-)
