Originally posted by Getsmart
reply to post by mistermonculous
Hi Mister Monculous,
Actually I haven't lost my sense of humor as you gave me a good laugh when you made what seemed to be a reference to me as a person with a delicate
mind and prone to paranoia. While the first is quite true of my childhood, and understandably so, and the latter became a logical response to very
threatening circumstances, I have become "rather solid" psychologically speaking, possibly due to having to overcome many difficulties.
I beg your pardon regarding my earlier statements. They were insensitive, and just as I have no means of confirming or refuting a significant
proportion of the information presented here, I also have no means of ascertaining your psychological state.
Regardless, your sifting through the discrepancies in this thread is quite attentive to details as possibly being more relevant than more
salient points. At ATS this is not customary, and is at least for me a welcome renewal of the discussion.
As for my keen eye for detail, well; I am an avid follower of breadcrumb trails, and have been known to spot cunningly hidden Easter Eggs well into
June.
Is your background in the esoteric and the occult, leading to a certain distance towards mundane preoccupations which are subliminal if not
downright holographic ?
My areas of interest are varied and ever-changing. Emerging mythologies, however, comprise a topic which has always illicted inordinate facination in
me. It is here on the ragged edge of Western culture, where the twin fountainheads of fear and faith gush untempered by reason or mitigating facts
that the new myths are to be found.
Are you experienced in structuring influence on others' minds and if so was this on your own or within a group with such a vocation
?
My word, no! To the contrary, I am strongly inclined to think that public discourses such as the one we are currently engaged in are precisely the
sort of thing which acts as a tonic against that sort of thing. In fact, I am taken with the notion that public discourse encompassing a diverse and
numerous cross-section of participants is key to our collective development.
During a recent discussion on the subject of the social value of internet forums, a good friend pointed out that the internet is not ancient Greece,
to which I replied; "Quite right, but I remain a Greek." By which I mean that upholding this sort of principle should not be situationally
dependent, and that even should the forum body consist of poorly educated and belligerent participants (a common complaint among users), that the
exchange of ideas holds a value which transcends the quality of the ideas being expressed.
Let the record state, furthermore, that CIAgypsy's last post resolved many of my questions to my satisfaction.

There are three qualities in a
poster which I find distasteful in any context: disingenuousness, a tendancy to muddy the semantic waters, and vulgarity. I believed her to be
exhibiting two out of the three traits listed above, and was a tad garrulous toward her as a result. Though my reservations were allayed by her last
post, I still disagree with her on the point of relativism in communication.
I agree that a perfect understanding between two parties in any given conversation can, by definition, never be reached due to the subjective nature
of the mind. I agree also that one is not responsible for the the listener's biases, nor for how the substance of one's communication is ultimately
interpreted by the listener. I still feel the speaker bears a responsibility to make a good faith attempt to have their ideas (and should there be an
emotional subtext, their motivations) accurately apprehended by the listener. This may entail framing one's
conversations with the temperament and biases of the listener in mind, though not to the extent that the content is compromised. If the aim is not to
be correctly understood, then what is the point of communicating at all?
I would also doggedly aver that presenting oneself as subscribing to an idea one believes to be false is fundamentally dishonest, however benevolent
one's intentions might be. It also seems to me to be a particularly ineffective form of communication.
Regards,
M.