endsthegame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
endsthegame) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2014-07-16 12:44 pm
endsthegame) wrote in fandomhigh2014-07-16 12:44 pm
Entry tags:
Practical philosophy, Wednesday
"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."
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."
Re: Talk.
"Cynicism isn't a good look on me. And I've been surprised by people a lot in the time I've been around. For better or worse."
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.
Deep breath. He'd learned that one the worst way possible.
"That would be the bad surprise," he added. "When people who are supposed to be the ones you can trust the most are the ones that hurt you the hardest, when it's people you look up to, who you want to be more like, and it turns out that they're not better than the ones who set out to destroy what's good in the world."
Re: Talk.
Re: Talk.