I Believe
...that perspective is the primary determining factor as to whether people seem as much alike as grains of sand or as individualized as our old concept of snowflakes.
...that there is no such creature as a "singular objective reality".
...that most conflict arises fundamentally from failures of imagination.
...that intimacy, sexual or otherwise, can constitute all kinds of radical transformative spaces.
...that most people don't have the first clue what intimacy is.
...that blue SweeTarts taste just like bubblegum.
...that Whedon's new show has this waycool layer of irony to it that I can't help but wonder if he planned; its first episode was so unWhedonesque on some central level that people are reading the show itself like a blank slate that cannot be entirely erased, and which seems to contain shadowy traces of what was written on it before/every other Whedon show, but is really just all the fans projecting their hopes, dreams, desires, and fears onto it. What appears to be a remainder of the past from one source, is actually at least equal parts projection of anticipation of the future from a different source. I half expect him to pop out of a cake next Friday and go, "HA! PSYCHE! THERE IS NO NEW SHOW!"
...that because people can't live in a vacuum, no functional social analysis can take place there either.
...that between magical thinking and sloppy thinking it's a miraculous wonder that we have any functional social fictions at all.
...that I am thinking about functionality too much.
...that bigots are notorious liars and should be routinely mocked in the public square as an excellent example of how to be a really shitty person.
...that United States of Tara should totally be an hour per episode, because that show is coaxing some fascinating dynamics out of its writers and great performances out of all of its players. While I don't count myself a fan yet, at this point, I will at least put my ass in the seat and give a test watch to anything Diablo Cody writes.
...that I might decide to believe a whole different and possibly contradictory set of things after I indulge my new tea-and-cookie ritual later this afternoon.
What do you believe at the present?
Labels: teevee, theory dork
posted by Jen @ 9:29 AM
25 comments
25 Comments:
I believe I haven't had enough coffee for this. :)
I believe:
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." ~ Jimi Hendrix
"Bad laws are meant to be broken by good people." - Dylan
"This land is your land, this land is my land." -Guthrie
I also believe:
That the most disabling disability are the people who have no heart.
That "normal" doesn't exist.
That a person can be kind but for the most part people as a group are cruel.
I believe religion has done more harm, caused more bloodshed, grief and death than anything on this planet.
I believe ignorance and superstition will be the destruction of the planet.
I believe torture and wars are wrong. Period.
I believe that hockey is the greatest game and the San Jose Sharks will have the greatest year ever.
I believe in my children.
Great post, J. Bold as love, baby.
I believe that the older I get the less willing I am to believe anything. That said ...
I believe that a marriage that lasts is one of the most unlikely events in the universe and that I can't explain why mine has -- though I believe it has something to do with the lucky accident of building our house in the midst of 40 acres of awe.
I believe that when the dogs disappear for a couple hours they're out bragging to all the other dogs around here about how well they've domesticated us.
I believe that Fox will cancel Dollhouse before I ever get a chance to decide if I like it or not.
I believe that if there's a god I will be 5'7" at 1:03 p.m. ::waits:: Okay that's settled.
I believe in beautiful minds because everyday I go read the blogs I love and see them for myself.
Nice, Andi.
Okay that's settled
Indeed. Either god is plural or s/he runs on gmt and you will have to wait until tomorrow to sprout.
(PS. That line abut the dogs hit me right in the funny bone and I actually had to wait for the giggling to subside before I could snark on god's apparent apathy as regards your stature.)
I believe that I heart all three of you.
The longer I'm on this rock, the less I believe in anything ... the less sure I am ... the less faith I have. There are a few jewels here and there, but for the most part ... fail ... :(
I'm having a downer kind of day though -- that's the lens I'm looking through at the moment.
I'm sorry to hear you're bummed out {{Olivia}}, at least spring will be in soon and there will be all the green. Let me know if you need anything, hon.
I heart all three of you
Aww, right backatacha, big guy. ;)
I believe I also heart Manny ... and Jen ... and Janet ... and Olivia.
Huh, it seems we are a heart-healthy bunch. :)
The gods have decades of apathy about my belief that I was not meant to be short and thus, even if gods exist, they're screw-ups.
I believe you all ((((((MannyAndiJenOlivia))))
Which I believe is illegal in most states and in every religion :)
illegal in most states and in every religion
All the good stuff is like that. :)
Okay, I waited. I'm still short. It's still settled. ;P
Unfortunately not.
if there's a god I will be
Ahh, but what if there's many gods? Please insert another quarter and play again!
Nuh uh. Saying 'a god' doesn't preclude that there could many gods. I didn't say 'the god' or just 'god'. Whether there's one god or a zillion of them, anyone of them could have stepped up and done the deed but I'm still short. :P
Yeah, go make that argument to the Sphinx and see how fast you get eaten. What is the point of being omnipotent if you can't demand irrational obedience to your petty jealous whims, change the rules halfway through the game, or abuse the laws of physics and grammar for your own amusement? You must be thinking of Santa, not god. Santa gives everyone a very charitable read and is widely known to play fair. ;p
Actually... oh oh I've been thinking... :)
Actually I try not to believe.
Beliefs. They are pretty much like religion. Iffin you knowin what I meanin. People die for that shit. They'll kill, maim, torture, eat deady babies... okay maybe not.. at least not yet... over a "belief".
You can't change a belief. You can't even really explain a belief.
But an IDEA... that can be changed. Tossed out. Shared. Expanded. Shortened. Not too many people die or kill over an idea. Unless your GM and some old guy has a new idea for cars then they find a way to kill him. But...!!!
Overall my top post is/are just my ideas. I am free to change that at a whim or after an education or experience.
;)
PS it's way way easier to say, "Wow, my idea was completely fucked up." Whereas saying what you believe in was all wrong. Which for most of the country is a very hard thing to even consider. Hell, they'll KILL you for even mentioning that idea...
:D
You can't change a belief. You can't even really explain a belief.
Maybe *you* can't. :) *I* can explain almost everything I believe, and why I believe it, and why and how chunks of it have changed drastically over the years. Whether it's referred to as a "belief" or an "idea" or a "fdajkkgi" doesn't matter to me, it's the concept we're talking about that matters, the naming of it is irrelevant. The concept I'm talking about when I talk about beliefs is not even a little bit like the popular concept of religion. It doesn't share a ground, it doesn't share a method, it doesn't share a movement. We probably mean a similar concept when I say "beliefs" and you say "ideas", and fwiw it doesn't bother me that we prefer different words for it, so long as we understand each other's meaning. Also, just because other people kill each other over beliefs doesn't mean, to me, that I need to avoid beliefs. It means I need to avoid those people! :)
Yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page. It's mostly just semantics actually. But there is an underlying "stance" to my trying to differentiate belief with ideas. It's mostly about choice. Yeah I do have "beliefs" but I choose not to kill over them or become a zealot. And I do that by reminding myself that it can be changed, altered, tossed out. It keeps me more open and honest and less rigid.
Plus it kinda sorta helps my kids see that there are more options available if they try and see outside the box like that. It's not just an activist spouting off... it's also a parenting tool I use to try and teach/share and create. It may sound too cliche or concrete or possibly too abstract, but it's a good brain reminder.
It's kinda like when our Sensei said no one could use the word "can't" in his dojo. It made you rethink things before you created your sentence or excuse. :)
One co-worker who I avoid now, said she thinks parents like me are horrible because I'm raising my children "without God or moral values"... WTF? I'm raising my children to be thinkers. They have values. And those values do and should change as they grow and think. As they meet others. As they experience new things.
I always believed my Mom made the best cookies. Anyone who said differently must've been an asshole. Then... I met a man who made the most amazing cookies... and I asked for his recipe and gave it to my mom. :)
But it's not about cookies. :) yeah it's hard for me to explain. But it works for us. That could change, too. In fact, you've had me thinking. YIKES! :)
And yeah I try to avoid the people who think it's best to kill differening ideas. I would never kill for a cookie recipe. Ever. At least not today. :)
I guess it's about the core building blocks of what makes me Janet. Beliefs, values, guide, ideas... I dunno. Probably alot of cookies.
OH and I believe I'd better jump in the shower and get ready for work I'll be fubared today.
xoxoxox! Save some cookies and tea for me will ya? :D And know that I love you dearly.
Thanks for expounding on that, Janet, that was interesting to read. I am always so fascinated by people's processes of becoming. Fwiw I really love and admire the way you model things like resistance, love, and critical thinking over mindless conformism for your kids.
Ain't nuthin' we can't do around here! ::cookies and tea set aside that will magically stay at the perfect temp until Janet is ready for them::
I believe that's one of the best analyses of Whedon's new show that I have yet read.
I believe that Andi is still short because her extra height went to someone else and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - making her taller would mean taking something away from someone else. Now, if that extra height went to me I'm cool with transfering it. But with Andi's luck it went to a supermodel who is making millions off of it and wants to keep it.
I do believe god is. I have no concept whatsoever of what god is, nor do I care. I try not to waste my time on unanswerable questions. Yes, this does tie into my aversion to philosophy classes jen :)
I believe Janet may be the most entertaining blog commenter that I know.
Mary, it's so kind of you to be willing to donate some surplus to Andi's altitude, what a pal!
Just for the record, I'm probably better described as an agnostic than an atheist. There are a lot of things I don't feel very certain about (although I'm not sure I agree about them being unknowable) and I'm not comfortable taking a firm position about most of them. As you know, I enjoy questions, generally, answerable, unanswerable, whatever, but imo god questions aren't really philosophical questions as much as they are theological questions. A lot of people blend theology and philosophy, including some philosophers that I admire, but to me they are as different as night and day. There are always those places like dusk and dawn where things overlap for a while, but other than that, there's not much commonality to the movements from my pov.
I believe the gods gave my extra height to Bebo and just to be extra cruel about it, the extra inches are all horizontal instead of vertical.
lol, it would seem that having a warped sense of humor is a job requirement for many deities.
Aha... the Gods. My daughter thinks that Zeus was more like a serial rapist than a deity. :)
She's into mythology. And she can totally freak us out with her "connecting the dots" of myth and present day religions. ROFL.
I can't BELIEVE just how few cookies come in the Girl Scouts boxes nowadays. Cripes. What a scam! :)
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