Why so many dark, foreboding, negative avatars?

My avatar is, of course, my baby picture.

I have a theory about avatars. Here it is in a nutshell: an avatar is that which the owner is not.

I, for example, am very, very old.

Hi People
Hope your all doing ok.
Avatars..
simple..
its an attention getter.
ITS A HEADLINE... its and advertisement for "crying out loud"
for your soul,, well maybe not.."Oi..Hello..Actung mine fuder. Por favor senors/senoris...Mam! Sir! Call it what you will. Its good..its communication, its the NET.
It opposes and reflects and makes conversation, debate, pondering of the saying of "never judge a book by its cover" syndrome.
Because its a trait that all of us humans share, that we DO judge books by their covers, and maybe its a time to NOT judge books for the covers.

Maybe its a time to just stop, look, see, and LISTEN to the avatar...post...thread..blogg..book..call it what you will and divulge anylise and mostly ponder what it is saying and maintain our human respect for all that is living and the right to live.
NUFF said
Peace. Respect
KB

I forgot to add that all my avatars are rendered by me and not cut and pasted from another artist. :p hehe

The name (mine) kirk..the photo is of an actor I deeply respect, do avatars command copyright ???
KB

Originally posted by St Udio
an avatar is an expression of the hidden self...

Thanks for a very fascinating, substantive post and an interesting avatar to look at.

I don't know that ALL avatars are mostly or only an expression of the hidden self but I'd wager that a big chunk of them mostly are. Good insight, imho.

just by being a hidden, secretive ...ones' psyche released as an avatar
is constrained by our normal standards to reflect the occult ('hidden' as opposed to 'sinister') nature of its' existance.

Ponder, ponder, ponder . . .

I think I'd respond more meaningfully if you restated that in a simpler sentence. That way I'd be less likely to misunderstand and make a fool of myself. It seems a bit disjointed as stated.

We intentionally choose
the 'darker' outward appearances because we -in the cyber & web world-
stll maintain that certain 'personal space' or distance from others...

Perhaps you could elaborate more and maybe conjecture about the whys of that, please??? Particularly, why is the darker outward appearance chosen ??more?? in the cyber world, in your view? Is it to put people off; push them away even further than the cyber anonymity does?

I do not willingly bump shoulders with others, it is because the elevator is crowded that I even temporarily give up that space and in effect put down my guard.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh . . . imho . . . plenty from my personal case of such . . . though Overall, at some point I swung to the other end of the extremes . . . REACTIVE ATTACHMENT DISORDER from dreadful parenting--both mother and 2 fathers, in my case . . . RAD tends to account for a huge chunk of folks' aversion to getting close to other individuals--particularly emotionally, vulnerably.

I think you have hit on a key . . . I'd guess that the darker avatars MOST OFTEN (not 100%--life and individuals are tooooo complex for 100% to be true) . . . that in the majority of the cases, dark avatars . . . particularly the darkest . . . do NOT come from individuals who have had wonderfully loving, healthily affectionate and super emotionally available and bonded moms and particularly dads--the first 6-8 years of life.

That monologue could go on for 10's of pages so I'll cut it short and give some responses to your interesting avatar . . .

I'm NOT familiar with the cartoon character nor his family.

quick cursory feelings responses to it . . .

Colors aren't dark.

Head shape and eyes are . . . more than a little unusual, strange.

The eyes look kind of obsessively punative somehow. At least obsessively checking-up sorts of eyes.

The notepad would be congruent with checking up on things and writing 'discrepencies' down. LOL.

The red and yellow sort of speak of a fiesty character. Could he be a meddlesome busy-body taking notes on all his siblings' infractions???

Still, he's a bit cute.

Very interesting mixture of things.

Thanks for the honor of your kind post.

Blessings,



One's avatar is what another sees in that crowded elevator
(ATS is just another crowded elevator)

reply to post by BO XIAN


ok. you didn't really answer my question though. and yes, as someone said, they are free.

reply to post by sc2099


I'm not a great fan of most wizards but Gandalf I like.

And I love your road sign avatar.

I feel like saying that every once in a while.

Part of me thinks it's not sized right for your personality--that it should be substantively bigger for some reason.

I'd love to know . . .

1. What 5 things/people do you most often feel like saying YOU CANNOT PASS to/about???

2. What two incidents were you told you could not pass that most outraged you?

3. What 3 wizard powers would you most like to have? 3.1 What 2 things would you first do with each of them?

4. What powerless situation did you learn the most from, in your life?

Originally posted by sc2099
reply to post by pluckynoonez

 

. Call me paranoid...

imho,

Call you wise and realistic.

There are orcs abroad in the land . . . and inhabiting the highest puppet master slots . . . and lots of intermediate slots . . . Senators . . . House leadership . . . the whole bureaucracy . . . another topic

Increasingly, we are being forced to take precautions our grandparents could not have imagined. And that's just for starters. Sigh.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by BO XIAN

 

ok. you didn't really answer my question though. and yes, as someone said, they are free.

Sorry my quick response didn't answer your question. I'm really trying to take posts MOSTLY in sequence.

When I get to your post in the sequence, I'll certainly try to answer each question.

If I drop the ball again, please tell me and I'll immediately try to answer that post.

Originally posted by Kingalbrect79
Isn't an avatar just interpretation?

I'd say quite a lot of interpretation on both ends . . . in the creating, choosing, posting and in the viewing.

Much like a painting, or the worshack test, interpretation gives it meaning and power, not the other way around.

Hmmmmm Wellll, the Rorschach ink-blot test is REALLY JUST INK BLOTS. Any resemblence to anything is coincidental and therefore SUPPOSEDLY ALL the comments about it come from within the person.

The avatars are not at all that neutral.

All kinds of elements, factors exist--often enough even in the simple avatars. Certainly in a complex avatar, all manner of stuff can be related, involved, tweaked, being communicated.

And those choices are not made out of a neutral clean slate state sort of place.

We choose dark vs light or vice versa for REASONS. And those reasons are a huge part of my current curiosity.

And that's ONLY from the standpoint of the creator/chooser of the avatar. Doesn't even yet start to get into the viewer's internal stuff.

If a schitzo saw a picture of a puppy sitting on a black couch, could that mean that he would see a black hole sucking in this said puppy? Possibly.
Or he could just see a puppy sitting on a couch and it is us who will see a dark foreboding background.

Certainly either COULD be the case. If the puppy was on a black cushion with big 12" spikes sticking through it surrounding the puppy . . . what would your response be? What would you conjecture about the creator or chooser of such an avatar?

And if the puppy was skewered on several of the spikes, would that change your conjectures about the creator or chooser of such an avatar?--regardless of whether you'd had a bad day/month/year at all?

Horrible example I know, but interpretation is up to each person. What one person see's as dark and scary might be beauitful or enlightening to others.

Wellllllll, certainly my darkest times have enlightened me the most. But they also durn near killed me. NOT FUN!

I think OUR RESPONSES to darkness and light are probably more important than the stimulus.

===========

let me reflect on your avatar . . .

The figure strikes me as a kind of triumphant kingly personage.

The colors are fairly bright.

The sword implies serious business but likely business already accomplished.

The regalia implies honors etc.

The hood/helmet seems to mostly hide the eyes. Not sure what that's about.

The red fosters a sense of energy, power. The blue a sense of calmness, perhaps royalty. The white perhaps some dashes of purity.

Not sure what the feathers imply--flight?

I rather like the avatar. A bit complex in ways that aren't likely communicating clearly but it's interesting.

And, of course, I'd prefer to be able to see the eyes! LOL.

Thanks much for your find post and very interesting avatar.




My avatar is just my favorite character from an old White Wolf card game I used to play, it doesn't mean I want to cut your head off with a big sword because I have a black background. I just wanted blue lettering, and black makes it show up better.

King

reply to post by Conluceo


Yes, I'm here, briefly, yet again.

I plan to get to each post in sequence. Sometimes I check the end of the thread and make a quick comment. But I'll comback to the sequence and plug along bit by bit.

At the moment, I'm sleepy enough I wouldn't do your fine post justice if I tried to reply to it now. So, I'll try and get to it first thing after a nap.

Thanks tons for your kind contribution to our ponderings on this thread.

don't be afraid it's just me!

[edit on 13/7/08 by shr4n]

i dont consider mine ever being dark, and my current avatar refers to something that aint exactly dark.

although i once noticed someone's avatar here that reminded me of a nightmare that i used to have. oh ya it was bigbert81's avatar.

reply to post by Astyanax


So that means in real life you are dominated by your wife and kids? Cause your avatar is soldiers dominating women and throwing small children over the tower wall. Actually I just saw it as intellectual and reflecting a love for history.

Originally posted by Conluceo
To get to my point, If the powers that be, for the moment, believe the internet to be an ''enemy weapon's system'' and i believe the target of that statement was not just aimed at terrorism, I would send a good portion of pro's armed with negative intoned Avatars to intimidate on public forums (especially this one) to try an gain a psychological advantage. They cannot have people running around with all kinds of information that could individually affect them, (there is a budget for this) so they send soldiers in discreetly to battle from within.

Quite plausible.

However, imho . . .

1. A good percentage of folks who might be classified as such hereon seem to me to be much more like aged hippies and otherwise discontented adult results of Reactive Attachment Disordered childhoods. The resulting insecurities and angers foster a wide range of dark STUFF.

2. I think the NWO puppet masters are so arrogant that they do not think anything can stop them at this point. And nothing will until Armageddon. Satan has lied to the human puppet masters, convincing them that satan's "ET" friends will defeat GOD ALMIGHTY at Armageddon though he knows better--it's a great lie to get more of God's favorite Creation to join him in hell.

3. Besides, they can monitor sites and ferret out the more dangerous citizens rather quietly and easily.

Mind you, I'm not saying all avatars are like that, just a majority of the ones that come out when the more sensitive subjects arise. I've seen it work, But its all just a facade in the end.

I wouldn't want to insist that nothing like that occurs. I'm just skeptical that it's as wholesale as you seem to think it is.

I think there's a lot more psychodynamic stuff and maybe some spiritual stuff going on with the darker avtars than political NWO stuff . . . though certainly none of those are mutually exclusive. LOL.

Oh, right, no avatar to respond to! LOL.

Thanks for your kind, substantive post.

Originally posted by Mad_Hatter
My avatar signifies the coming of the antichrist because I am the devil and drink the souls of men. Maybe I just said that to twist your psyche....maybe I didn't....

WOW!

Rather a stark statement! Rather a stark avatar!

As you note . . . being tweaky or meaning most every word to the max . . . I wonder what the difference would be in results and consequences.

I wonder what difference you'd expect in responses depending on which it was.

I also wonder . . .

1. What path lead to such words and perspective for what reasons?

2. And what the pleasure is in posting such words and such an avatar. And what were the initial associations rewarding such a bent?

3. And how much of that bent is a reaction against something or set of things vs toward, in behalf of something. And if the latter, why in behalf of that focus vs another sort of focus?

4. And how much quality emotionally bonded healthy affectioned, extended frequent times connection was there with Daddy the first 6-8 years?

5. And how many of those professing this or that label of 'goodness' were rank destructive hypocrites the first 16 years?

I could likely come up with several dozen more questions so I'll stop there. LOL.

When hell is full, the dead shall walk the earth...

No. Not my reality--when hell is full, it will be encapsulated and walled off from all the rest of Creation . . . to puss and fester in on itself.

=============

To your avatar . . .

Hmmmm

The colors don't strike me as particularly dark.

The images, tones, feel etc. do.

And, I think an undercurrent, overtone, foundation of extreme sadness somehow leaps out at me.

Maybe some existential angst to the max, as well.

Guess that's about it.

FWIW.

reply to post by ExquisitExamplE


I don't think I have sufficient reference points to make any meaningful comment on your verse.

So I'll just pontificate about your beautiful avatar.

The big inning of the end

is a fascinating phrase, label. Could be Christian Apocaleptic or any number of such transitional scenarios, imho.

The white peacock is quite beautiful. And the white feathery texture against the dark green and on the stone urn . . . quite pleasant contrasts.

That with "Location: static"

and "Mood: Phoenix"

clever.

Must be some philosophical playfulness, I'd think.

Maybe some tweaking against, tilting against conventional windmills for whatever historic reasons.

Thanks for your kind contribution to our thread.

OOPS left a "t" off an against

[edit on 13/7/2008 by BO XIAN]

I love the avatars here at ATS, dark or light! I spent about 2 years lurking here before I registered and couldn't believe all the creativity I had been missing out on by browsing whilst not logged in.

You don't like strange looking things? Then, you better not see the new movie "Hellboy II". LOL

reply to post by BO XIAN


when you say "dark" and "negative", you are using your own subjective analysis. what is dark or negative to you may not be to others.

s