Well, it seems that way. Today, I:
1. Scored a new job that pays well and won't suck;
2. Confirmed my interview with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls (Bob from Roadrunner is such a great pal)
3. Judas Priest on Friday, which, is more chance rather than an action of my design.
It's kind of like this:
As the two or three followers of my blog are aware, I have immersed myself in the studies of General Semantics this year. I believe I have progressed to such a point that I GS has changed my patterns and "way" I think to such an extent that my behavior has become more rational as a result.
As some of you already know, the territory (reality, etc.) is merely a space in which we project our beliefs and base our semantic reactions.
Therefore, my inference that an acquaintance of mine stopped dead in their tracks to avoid me due to fear, hatred or courtesy is as unverifiable as the inferences that they may make about me. However, to my advantage, my time-binding ability and my consciousness and the separation of first- and second-order functions makes the distinction between belief and fact, report and inference. I shall never know for a "fact" whether their behavior was from any of the reasons stated above, as they may not even know themselves or "know themselves."
From my own observations, I believe that my inferences "analyze" rather than "deceive"; that I would now rather use them deconstruct games and refrain from playing them; to find choice where others find a zero-sum defeat; to view failure as feedback; to feel that a prize and its attainment is for a rational purpose, well within the purview of second-order logic instead of first-order "infantile" stupidity.
Sure, Ellis and Korzybski and their followers teach us to "unconditionally accept" people as organisms as a whole in their environments, but allow ourselves to disagree with their actions and beliefs, if it so comes into conflict. Some people believe (or, rather, I believe they believe) that my ranting and raving is the result of a mind in disequilibrium, out of touch with "reality."
In actuality, it serves as an outlet for my thoughts and feelings, allowing my sometimes dormant creativity and critical analysis to take flight.
In recent months, I have begun to accept the way I am, and in doing so, I am able to lead a much more involving and rewarding life as result. To improve myself - from whatever conception I deem appropriate - is a set of goals I desire to attain; but it does not constitute an absolute necessity, causing grief or self-loathing if I do not achieve them to my satisfaction and within a reasonable time-frame. When one thinks about it, once the need for oxygen, food and other such requirements are met, most things "are not" needs after all.
Before the end of this year is through, I seek to submit an article to ETC., the General Semantics scholarly journal, as a tribute to the teachings of Korzybski, his contemporaries and to his legacy. I doubt any such intellectual contribution that I have ever encountered has given me so much when "it" asks so little in return.
Crushtor.net's Guide to Australian White People - Part II
Scared yet? Shudder before your displays of liquid crystal in our second installment of Crushtor.net's Guide to Australian White People!
Private Ownership of Common Property
Of course, most white people abhor the spectre of Communism just as much as ever these days, what with the appeal of a badge-based economy growing ever less once its made clear that iPhones would be classed as a tool of the imperialist oppressors and only the dirtiest and smelliest Arts degree toting comrades would ever be allowed to lay their eyes on one.
In simpler terms, Australian White people love staking their claim to films, books and internet memes they chanced upon as if the mass media was in a perpetual Eureka Stockade, and they think themselves as the one-armed Peter Lalor demanding that the prospectors own their plots of land, or in this case, a video of Chocolate Rain, or whatever. They publicly proclaim their "ownership" of any such social occasion when the name of the production is raised as if they wrote, directed and distributed the fucking thing themselves.
Likewise for concerts and other such events - they also believe as a ticketholder, the band/troupe/comedian performed exclusively for their benefit, although this is clearly contrary to what occurs in reality.
Language as Social Control
As Hayakawa eloquently and simply put in his Language in Thought and Action, "society makes its mightiest collective effort to impose predictability upon human behavior" and is expressed in nearly every way possible from the absurd to the profane, such as marriage or the agreement to form relationships. The ritualistic dance of humans as they are made to be slaves to the utterances they make seems really stupid, and as Hayakawa continues, "that many of our social directives and the rituals accompanying them are antiquated and somewhat insulting to adult minds." However, Australian White people believe that emotional security in objects and the perceived qualities of others are far more desirable than freedom of mind and person, and as such, will be quite content to fuck themselves up in such a fashion to attain such ideals.
Events to Commemorate Events
Australian White people also love confusing spontaneous events such as births, deaths, employment, promotion and other such bullshit with pre-determined events to commemorate the said event. They hold events to commemorate an event which may have already occured, and summarily confuse the organized event with the spontaneous one. Tony getting his promotion at the Glue Factory happened in an office with a sweaty, bespectacled gentleman named Steve, not when Tony told all his mates in a hail of saccharine adulation and Chicken Parmiagiana. Even more confusing is holding events for non-events, such as "Christmas in July" and "Ben and Marks' post-pissup pissup pissup."
Exaggeration
If there's one inescapable fact of modern life, is that Australian White people tend to exaggerate their participation in any and all activities - that if a small group of AWPs were to work towards a goal, the combined sum of all efforts would equal 230% if aggregated from individual testimony. Concert attendance would see a crowd over triple the capacity of the venue in which it was held, the production 500 times more profitable than what was fudged in the ledger. Even their golf scores are rounded to the nearest ten, their actual duration of the minor celebrity rounded up to the nearest half-hour, and the achievements of said celebrity rounded up to "Major TV Personality."
Until next time, friends!
Click here to view Part I of the Guide
“The universe is change, life is what our thoughts make it.”
