main offender

[ZEZOZE]

if somebody says something offensive and you take it far more personally than the intended target of the insult then you are as bad if not worse than the main offender and the target gets double the damage.

for example...

when the forum i created was a busy place i used to take all kinds of shit. i know i can be a troll at times, but some of this was just because it was my forum. that alone made me a target. anyhow, people would say really shitty things to me and even about my kids, but they weren't breaking forum rules and i just saw it for what it was, so nobody ever got banned.

but oh people wanted me to do that. all kinds of private messages suggesting i ban these people who were insulting me. i would tell them to just relax, but these people were really fired up. then they would shift it to banning for the overall good of the forum, but since they weren't breaking any rules they weren't really guilty of anything. the people calling for the ban would end up putting me down for my decision and would leave the forum. the sad part is that those people leaving were people i considered to be forum friends.

i was a fool and learned a lot from this. it's really the supposed 'good' people who create most of the world's problems. pricks are pricks, but there are way more 'good' people out there (just take a poll!) and conflict still happens and war is still a reality.

anyhow, just thinking out loud after something came up today. not sure if this is lifestyle or philosophy themed, but i feel more comfortable in this loopy forum so i'll leave it here.

The Hives - "Main Offender" Burning Heart Records...

[Jerome]

There is major depression with activists after they get their proposed legislation enacted.

Most of these type people are in it for the fight, not the cause.

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by ZEZOZE

it's really the supposed 'good' people who create most of the world's problems. pricks are pricks, but there are way more 'good' people out there (just take a poll!) and conflict still happens and war is still a reality.

Perhaps.

It does not follow, however, that one should stop trying to do good -- only that one should attempt to gauge the likely consequences of one's actions before taking them. And that's always good policy.

[Jerome]

It does follow that when one continuously uses the 'good' people in power to 'do good' and things get worse, that you are a moron for continuing to beg goodness from the evil.

The thing is, the ponies that shit rainbows is such an appealing desire...

[Ari]

While this could go in another thread, it fits here as well. The number #1 thing I've learned in life is that everyone has a justification. Not all justifications are equal, of course, but very few people are actually 'the bad guy' in their mind. They might not even know the justification, or they might get it wrong but it's often there.