Practical philosophy, Wednesday

[endsthegame]

"First of all," Ender began, "I want to invite anyone who wants to do so to talk about the weekend. Sometimes Fandom draws us into strange versions of ourselves that do terrible things, and sometimes the best way to process it is by talking about it."

For him personally it hewed a little close to home, but he wasn't going to deprive them of the chance to talk about it.

"Otherwise, let's draw this on a broader scale. From what I can tell, last weekend fell within the bounds of certain movements in fiction. Usually these movements are born at a time when reality itself seems bleak. When it seems like you can't trust anyone, that the world can at any point come down on you as a pile of bricks and crush you. Is there any value in that kind of cynicism, in that sort of negativity? You could argue it's a good way to protect yourself - but for how long can you do that?"

He smiled briefly. "Or maybe that really is reality, and our conception of everything else is... overly optimistic. Maybe thinking in any other way is a foolishness, a blanket we tug over our own eyes so we don't have to deal with the reality of it all."

He paused briefly, then shrugged. "Or maybe the island's just mad," he said, "and so are the writers and filmmakers it tries to imitate."

Comments

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Why," Ender repeated, "Do you think that?"

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

Repeating yourself was not helping Kathy any, Ender. But she was going to take a stab in the dark (too soon!) and try to answer you anyway.

"Well, if it's crazy, then you don't need to look for rational sense or explanations. There may be some kind of internal consistency that makes sense to it, but that doesn't necessarily reflect on you."

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"So you'd say you prefer to look at the world as something you might be living in, but you're under no obligation to make sense of, because there is none?" Ender said, trying to parse it.

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm talking about the island," Kathy clarified. "So, if the island makes you a bad person for the weekend, it's only because the island is crazy, not necessarily a reflection on you."