oliverstorm36
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Grey World
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This is a different kind of journal than you would traditional think of. In fact its not relay a journal at all, since it will have little to no focus on my day to day life. That kind of style of journal I find dull no mater who's it is, Instead of a log of the day to day life of Oliver, I'm writing a log of the day to day thoughts of Oliver. My Myers Brigs is INTJ also called the Logician, philosopher, engineer, etc. Basically i'm quite on the outside but chatty in my mind, so I don't often get opportunities to get my thoughts on matters that I find so fascinating out there all that often.
A normal journal often focuses on the owners actions, lets you seem them as friends and family do. This "journal" however will dig into things no one else can see behind the quite composed shell that is me. let me preface this let me just warn you that I can be a very cynical person and my views. If you are a optimist full of hope who has their faith in humanity intact, stay away. However if you feel that knowledge is more important than a comfortable veil of ignorance, please come on in.
Knowledge is akin to a candle in a dark cavern. Our human instincts draw us to the light, perfecting it to the terror that is not knowing what's lurking in shadows. We are drawn to pick up the candle and when we do we are able to better understand our position, but the further you walk the more the candle melts, dripping scolding hot wax onto your hands as you navigate through the darkness. The Truth can hurt, which is why after a point people always stop and set the candle down, content that they know their surrounding well enough to feel comfortable. They are at peace here and walking can only reveal more empty caves or even worse the realization that what they thought, that this cave was a safe place, was in fact false, that not 100 yards away a beast may be napping, with cubs with hungry stomachs, curled up next to their mother. no mater how far you walk, no mater how much wax sears your flesh, you can never uncover the entire cave. How could you? Their are not just so many factors in play in practically every aspect of life that to be able to uncover it all is unthinkable not to mention impossible. No man alive could understand not just every fact about a topic but also the endless different views that every man on earth has. How could they know every possibilities among all the uncertainties. After exploring the cave for long enough your candle will burn out, you will run out of information you can find. There is more of course but more than any man could find in a life time. There is still much of the cavern you have not explored but you have no way to see it all.
I try to understand a issue to the best of my abilities, which though I know is impossible, it is still a goal I strive for. Achieving full understanding is an impossible challenge for any human. We humans love to simplify issues. Its why we have things like stereotypes, Compacting a entire culture under your limited knowledge is efficient as it would be impossible to understand every culture and individual person to any reasonable degree. Humans on average can only know about 300 people. That is of course truly knowing them, not just knowing that your neighbors name is probably tom or something. 300 slots for all your friends, family, co-workers even fictional characters can take up space in your brain. That's why your brain has to conserve space and has to resort to simplifying for the same of time and memory.
But even though I try my best I like all humans stereotype. Its a unfortunate inevitability that we cant avoid, when I hear republican the though of racist redneck hillbilly's still pops into my head despite the fact I know so many reasonable Republicans including my own father. I always push these thoughts and remind myself that my party has its own share of problems. We humans even need to simplify ourselves, even our own personalities are too complex for our brain to be able to fully catalog. Leaving us without any one word, paragraph or even novel that could scratch the surface of who we are. so instead of trying to simplify who we are humans often focus on who we are not.
I am not a dumb-ass, I am not a racist, I'm not a coward, I'm not lazy, i'm not a half-wit, I'm not a heathen, I'm not a zealot. We all have a list of all the things we are not, that is more accessible than the list of what we are. While I cant stop my brain from making these generalizations and stereotypes I can do something that can help. Instead of tagging my self as something useless like i'm not a conservative, I try to focus on something more productive like, I'm not Ignorant. While this cause me to subconsciously be even more critical to "Ignorance is Bliss" types of people It's more productive and keeps me from making brash generalizations and keep a open mind to the best of my ability. There is one more thing I often tell myself i'm not... A extremist. Extremism is attractive, exiting, and ready to tell you all you want to hear despite what the reality of the situation dictates. I am proud to be a fence sitter, I see no reason to jump down on one side and then not be able to look back at the other side of the tall wall I was once perched upon. It cuts of opportunities and more importantly Ideas.
The world is not black and white, there is no such thing as good or evil. Humans and our motives are too complex too be described with a single word that judges every aspect if you and everything you do as being whole positive or negative. The world is not black and white just a consistent shade of grey. Even if the world is grey that's not how it often seems. For humans the world looks black and white, of course there's the grey but that's just a after thought. The world dose not appear in a black and white checker board pattern after all more like a gradient starting off white in the center, at ourselves. We are always the hero of our own story of course since we are the only protagonist we know. From you the white spreads out to the things you find most familiar and will darken more and more as things become more alien to you. Eventually the gradient turns into darkness, that of course being all about the world we don't understand. black and white, good and evil, are different for different people. We are each the center of the light that determines the side we are on, and which side we are not.
Especially concerning policy towards terrorism, this nation(america) has slapped a big fat sticker with enemy written on it, all across the middle east. I've met people who believe that the reason there are terrorist at all is because of the Qur'an, which according to the man is an "evil book". This ignores all the thousands of years where Islam was able to live peacefully, not to mention all the times that the Bible has been the excuse for drawing blood whether it be the crusades or the Spanish Inquisition, the bible is certainly not guilt free. It is not the book that is guiding these bloodthirsty extremists, it's the followers that read the book and from their can interpret the same book to mean we should all live together in peace or that all other religions must be vanquished without mercy. If you look at the transformation of Christianity over the centuries It has adapted to our ever changing culture. Your local church is no longer lynching the heathens and executing the sexually perverse. The book never changed, but how we read, understand, and interpret it makes all the difference.
These people are dumb-asses I know and I should pay no attention to this and normally I wouldn't if It wasn't for one thing. Trump, now while I lean more on the liberal side I am a political mishmash not siding with either party. And while I have a great many issues with both candidates, i'm not here to bring up politics, I'm here to focus on generalizations. And trump is constantly spouting garbage like, Mexican's are going to come over and rape your wives, suggesting to bring back banned methods of torture and worse, and that we should kill the families of terrorists. And despite all of this people are loving Trump to the point that he is the republican GOP. Hillary is nearly as bad but its trump that truly fascinates me. Trumps campaign has revealed something that while its been plain to see its never been so clear as this campaign. That people love to feel good and boost their own ego, rather than go with the dull but logical answer.
I'm gonna Try to step away from politics which is hard since Politics are rules by extremists. A wishy-washy president who could make both Red and Blue content is the most logical choice, but most people rather have the exiting, the EXTREME! Thus why we have a two party system with two groups that are polar opposite, who take turns every 4 years choosing a president which will make one side happy and the other miserable. The Wishy-Washy candidate would have been a better choice for everyone instead of the two extremes where only one side can win, but our voting system makes it so its impossible for President Wishy-Washy to ever make it into office.
Extremism for any cause can be harmful, all you have to do is look at the Social Justice Warriors, people who mean well and fight for what most agree is a respectable cause but go too far in their endeavors. Don't jump to any one side, and shut the door on the rest of the world. Try to understand all sides of an issue to the best of your ability. I've found Video-games out of all media can best teach about keeping a open mind since you are allowed choice in a world where you can have a more objective view of the world than we could ever possibly have in this world. In particular i'm talking about any game but mostly Role Playing Games that involve factions. For now lets look at Skyrim and the two major factions in the land of Skyrim. At the time of the game Skyrim is in the middle of a civil war. There are two sides the Imperials who surrendered peacefully with the elves of the Aldmiri dominion, in exchange they gave up their warship of Talos(basically Jesus) in favor of their 7-9ish other deities that were already widely worshiped in all the land. They brought peace to skyrim but at a price not all the people of Skyrim could bear. The Storm cloaks were the rebellion against this oppression of their religion and oppression by the elves. Sounds well and good with the exception that once they gain power they will prosecute, kill and or subjugate any elves they can find. One side is weak in the face of enemy and the other is bold but fueled by hatred of the elves. Neither side is good or evil. each one has their own respectable qualities as well as their own flaws. real world nations and cultures are like this as well though we lack the perspective of a outsider that we have in Skyrim.
We never stop to think, "what does the enemy think of us?" We know what we think of the Islamic Terrorists as, but how do they view themselves and more importantly us, as shaping how we appear will have a effect on relations with other countries. These terrorist were raised and taught about how evil the west is just like we do about how awful they are. It creates a never ending spiral of hatred that benefits neither side.
These terrorist do not think of themselves as the bad guys, perhaps they feel they're agents of god, perhaps they feel like the rebels from star-wars and us America is the oppressive Galactic Empire. After all the abuse that the middle east has gone through by Europe and America it only makes sense that resentment would start after a while.
I'm not condoning terrorism, and the fact that I feel like I even have to say that whenever I discuss the motivations or peacemaking of terrorist occupied countries is a testament to the tensions that have been created between these two groups. Relating to the enemy can often make people look at you like your a terrorist sympathizer. It's Ironic since its that same Your with us or against us mentality that these terrorist groups use against us. so how do terrorist feel about us? Similar enough to how we feel about them. We must not forget that no mater what war is being fought that we are fighting PEOPLE. if you were born in that alien enemy country, you quite possibly would be as loyal to that enemy as you are now to your home country. Never forget the enemy humanity. It can be so easy to forget they're not monsters but people. The closest thing to a monster you'll find is the War itself. War after all, is the most costly form of diplomacy, and by far the least effective.
A normal journal often focuses on the owners actions, lets you seem them as friends and family do. This "journal" however will dig into things no one else can see behind the quite composed shell that is me. let me preface this let me just warn you that I can be a very cynical person and my views. If you are a optimist full of hope who has their faith in humanity intact, stay away. However if you feel that knowledge is more important than a comfortable veil of ignorance, please come on in.
Knowledge is akin to a candle in a dark cavern. Our human instincts draw us to the light, perfecting it to the terror that is not knowing what's lurking in shadows. We are drawn to pick up the candle and when we do we are able to better understand our position, but the further you walk the more the candle melts, dripping scolding hot wax onto your hands as you navigate through the darkness. The Truth can hurt, which is why after a point people always stop and set the candle down, content that they know their surrounding well enough to feel comfortable. They are at peace here and walking can only reveal more empty caves or even worse the realization that what they thought, that this cave was a safe place, was in fact false, that not 100 yards away a beast may be napping, with cubs with hungry stomachs, curled up next to their mother. no mater how far you walk, no mater how much wax sears your flesh, you can never uncover the entire cave. How could you? Their are not just so many factors in play in practically every aspect of life that to be able to uncover it all is unthinkable not to mention impossible. No man alive could understand not just every fact about a topic but also the endless different views that every man on earth has. How could they know every possibilities among all the uncertainties. After exploring the cave for long enough your candle will burn out, you will run out of information you can find. There is more of course but more than any man could find in a life time. There is still much of the cavern you have not explored but you have no way to see it all.
I try to understand a issue to the best of my abilities, which though I know is impossible, it is still a goal I strive for. Achieving full understanding is an impossible challenge for any human. We humans love to simplify issues. Its why we have things like stereotypes, Compacting a entire culture under your limited knowledge is efficient as it would be impossible to understand every culture and individual person to any reasonable degree. Humans on average can only know about 300 people. That is of course truly knowing them, not just knowing that your neighbors name is probably tom or something. 300 slots for all your friends, family, co-workers even fictional characters can take up space in your brain. That's why your brain has to conserve space and has to resort to simplifying for the same of time and memory.
But even though I try my best I like all humans stereotype. Its a unfortunate inevitability that we cant avoid, when I hear republican the though of racist redneck hillbilly's still pops into my head despite the fact I know so many reasonable Republicans including my own father. I always push these thoughts and remind myself that my party has its own share of problems. We humans even need to simplify ourselves, even our own personalities are too complex for our brain to be able to fully catalog. Leaving us without any one word, paragraph or even novel that could scratch the surface of who we are. so instead of trying to simplify who we are humans often focus on who we are not.
I am not a dumb-ass, I am not a racist, I'm not a coward, I'm not lazy, i'm not a half-wit, I'm not a heathen, I'm not a zealot. We all have a list of all the things we are not, that is more accessible than the list of what we are. While I cant stop my brain from making these generalizations and stereotypes I can do something that can help. Instead of tagging my self as something useless like i'm not a conservative, I try to focus on something more productive like, I'm not Ignorant. While this cause me to subconsciously be even more critical to "Ignorance is Bliss" types of people It's more productive and keeps me from making brash generalizations and keep a open mind to the best of my ability. There is one more thing I often tell myself i'm not... A extremist. Extremism is attractive, exiting, and ready to tell you all you want to hear despite what the reality of the situation dictates. I am proud to be a fence sitter, I see no reason to jump down on one side and then not be able to look back at the other side of the tall wall I was once perched upon. It cuts of opportunities and more importantly Ideas.
The world is not black and white, there is no such thing as good or evil. Humans and our motives are too complex too be described with a single word that judges every aspect if you and everything you do as being whole positive or negative. The world is not black and white just a consistent shade of grey. Even if the world is grey that's not how it often seems. For humans the world looks black and white, of course there's the grey but that's just a after thought. The world dose not appear in a black and white checker board pattern after all more like a gradient starting off white in the center, at ourselves. We are always the hero of our own story of course since we are the only protagonist we know. From you the white spreads out to the things you find most familiar and will darken more and more as things become more alien to you. Eventually the gradient turns into darkness, that of course being all about the world we don't understand. black and white, good and evil, are different for different people. We are each the center of the light that determines the side we are on, and which side we are not.
I've run into so many people who make sweeping generalizations about topics they know little of. I've met people who believed that every form of feminism was awful, judging all of a very diverse movement on the actions of a couple extremist. There are so many different types of feminism many of which conflict with each-other about their own personal values, but since this one crazy bitch on the internet wants men to be oppressed by society, who wants total domination instead of equality, that apparently makes all those diverse groups with all their different values and goals all evil. Yea... That makes sense judge the entirety of a group based on the actions of a few lone extremist nuts. Except for the fact that this happens on a daily basis.
Especially concerning policy towards terrorism, this nation(america) has slapped a big fat sticker with enemy written on it, all across the middle east. I've met people who believe that the reason there are terrorist at all is because of the Qur'an, which according to the man is an "evil book". This ignores all the thousands of years where Islam was able to live peacefully, not to mention all the times that the Bible has been the excuse for drawing blood whether it be the crusades or the Spanish Inquisition, the bible is certainly not guilt free. It is not the book that is guiding these bloodthirsty extremists, it's the followers that read the book and from their can interpret the same book to mean we should all live together in peace or that all other religions must be vanquished without mercy. If you look at the transformation of Christianity over the centuries It has adapted to our ever changing culture. Your local church is no longer lynching the heathens and executing the sexually perverse. The book never changed, but how we read, understand, and interpret it makes all the difference.
These people are dumb-asses I know and I should pay no attention to this and normally I wouldn't if It wasn't for one thing. Trump, now while I lean more on the liberal side I am a political mishmash not siding with either party. And while I have a great many issues with both candidates, i'm not here to bring up politics, I'm here to focus on generalizations. And trump is constantly spouting garbage like, Mexican's are going to come over and rape your wives, suggesting to bring back banned methods of torture and worse, and that we should kill the families of terrorists. And despite all of this people are loving Trump to the point that he is the republican GOP. Hillary is nearly as bad but its trump that truly fascinates me. Trumps campaign has revealed something that while its been plain to see its never been so clear as this campaign. That people love to feel good and boost their own ego, rather than go with the dull but logical answer.
I'm gonna Try to step away from politics which is hard since Politics are rules by extremists. A wishy-washy president who could make both Red and Blue content is the most logical choice, but most people rather have the exiting, the EXTREME! Thus why we have a two party system with two groups that are polar opposite, who take turns every 4 years choosing a president which will make one side happy and the other miserable. The Wishy-Washy candidate would have been a better choice for everyone instead of the two extremes where only one side can win, but our voting system makes it so its impossible for President Wishy-Washy to ever make it into office.
Extremism for any cause can be harmful, all you have to do is look at the Social Justice Warriors, people who mean well and fight for what most agree is a respectable cause but go too far in their endeavors. Don't jump to any one side, and shut the door on the rest of the world. Try to understand all sides of an issue to the best of your ability. I've found Video-games out of all media can best teach about keeping a open mind since you are allowed choice in a world where you can have a more objective view of the world than we could ever possibly have in this world. In particular i'm talking about any game but mostly Role Playing Games that involve factions. For now lets look at Skyrim and the two major factions in the land of Skyrim. At the time of the game Skyrim is in the middle of a civil war. There are two sides the Imperials who surrendered peacefully with the elves of the Aldmiri dominion, in exchange they gave up their warship of Talos(basically Jesus) in favor of their 7-9ish other deities that were already widely worshiped in all the land. They brought peace to skyrim but at a price not all the people of Skyrim could bear. The Storm cloaks were the rebellion against this oppression of their religion and oppression by the elves. Sounds well and good with the exception that once they gain power they will prosecute, kill and or subjugate any elves they can find. One side is weak in the face of enemy and the other is bold but fueled by hatred of the elves. Neither side is good or evil. each one has their own respectable qualities as well as their own flaws. real world nations and cultures are like this as well though we lack the perspective of a outsider that we have in Skyrim.
We never stop to think, "what does the enemy think of us?" We know what we think of the Islamic Terrorists as, but how do they view themselves and more importantly us, as shaping how we appear will have a effect on relations with other countries. These terrorist were raised and taught about how evil the west is just like we do about how awful they are. It creates a never ending spiral of hatred that benefits neither side.
These terrorist do not think of themselves as the bad guys, perhaps they feel they're agents of god, perhaps they feel like the rebels from star-wars and us America is the oppressive Galactic Empire. After all the abuse that the middle east has gone through by Europe and America it only makes sense that resentment would start after a while.
I'm not condoning terrorism, and the fact that I feel like I even have to say that whenever I discuss the motivations or peacemaking of terrorist occupied countries is a testament to the tensions that have been created between these two groups. Relating to the enemy can often make people look at you like your a terrorist sympathizer. It's Ironic since its that same Your with us or against us mentality that these terrorist groups use against us. so how do terrorist feel about us? Similar enough to how we feel about them. We must not forget that no mater what war is being fought that we are fighting PEOPLE. if you were born in that alien enemy country, you quite possibly would be as loyal to that enemy as you are now to your home country. Never forget the enemy humanity. It can be so easy to forget they're not monsters but people. The closest thing to a monster you'll find is the War itself. War after all, is the most costly form of diplomacy, and by far the least effective.
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