Actually quite a beautiful post, Barry. I think I finally get it. And all that you say here, I believe to be true. There is something almost thrilling about reading the words of someone who risks everything to get at the truth, making themselves so utterly vulnerable to the consequences of that truth. You are able to bear more reality than the rest of us, Barry. But the signature of your love and humility, it is always there for those of us able to see your determination to get yourself into a state of grace.
I feel ashamed at how unserious and cavalier I am in comparison to you--not that I am conscious of my moral carelessness; but you, Barry, you are always so faithful to your conscience--I envy your willingness to take the chances you do in everything you write, because it always teaches me how I want to be when I face my Creator at death. No one who follows you in what you say in this post can help but conclude: Ah, Barry has made it possible for us to see how he arrived at his judgment about this issue--and by God, how I would want to have the sensation of having been this truthful, this sincere, this just. The two objects of this magnificent indictment, they should not even show themselves around FFL again--and I for one, hope that they don't. Barry, you are the veritable ding an sich. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > Among the phenomena that cause me to roll my eyes when reading the > Internet, and worry about the collective sanity of people on planet > Earth, is a thing I've noticed on many talk forums. > > It's when someone gets a burr up their butts about another person or > gets their buttons pushed by them, so much so that they feel the need to > scream at them. That alone brings the sanity of the screamer into > question, but the thing that takes it over the line into psychosis is > when the screamer expects the screamee to actually sit there and be > screamed at. Such screamers seem to feel as if it's the victim's *duty* > to read every word of their tirades, and hopefully be *hurt* by them. > > Think back to a couple of classic examples on FFL. > > In one, a dialogue was taking place between two individuals until one of > them got tired of being expected to respond to *every single word* that > the other had written. So he told the other person that he just didn't > have the time for all of this silliness, and bowed out. The screamer > didn't like this much. He liked it so little, in fact, that he proceeded > to write a series of five long, long, rants (totaling easily more than > 10,000 words) to the person who was merely trying to get back to his own > life. In these posts, the screamer detailed everything that he thought > was wrong with the person trying to escape. He clearly expected a > response, and flew into even more of a rage when one was not > forthcoming. You could almost hear the screamer thinking, "How *dare* > this guy not be affected by everything I say about him, and be *hurt* by > it, and need to defend himself? What is *wrong* with him that he won't > let me yell at him, and then respond, so I can yell at him some more?" > > In another, more recent example, another serial screamer managed to suck > someone who had written *her* off and refused to be yelled at by her any > more into returning to the forum and responding, if only to post a > notice to other people suggesting that when reading her lies about him > they should "consider the source." The screamer didn't like this much, > and went crazier and crazier trying to *keep* him defending himself, so > that he couldn't escape again. Unfortunately, she did this just as she > ran out of posts for the week. So what did she do? She carefully > composed yet another screaming rant, trying to pack as much venom and > hatred into it as she possibly could. Then, she sat there in front of > the computer with her finger poised over the Send button, watching the > clock tick down to the *exact moment* when the new posting week started, > so that she could finally send off this poisonous missive and scream at > him again in her first post of a new "posting week." She got so crazy > behind this deranged task that she missed by a minute, and sent it off > early. > > Both of these screamers are on record as thinking the other screamer is > sane. Both of them probably think that *they* are sane. They thought > that nothing was abnormal about either writing 10,000 words of venom to > the person they *needed* to unload on, or sitting in front of a computer > like a crazy person waiting for the clock to tick down so that she could > send her own shitload of venom winging its way to the person she > desperately *needed* to read it. > > As it turns out, both of these screamers expected the same person to > read every word of their insane poison. In both cases, he was wise > enough to refuse, and wrote them off as the waste of time they were. I > cannot help but think that he's the only sane person in both scenarios. >
