I was talking with my friend Mike today who, like me, has a very blunt personality. He doesn’t seem to mince words with people. But in a way, he still seems to cushion the things he says, whether that is intentional or not. My first reaction to a question for critique will be a harsh one, like my friend Matt. But Matt and I are perfectionists in our “art” (if you can call commentary over game play an art). Mike’s much more laid back and it shows in his videos and the way he critiques things.
Matt and I speak quickly and are blunt in a way that has anger behind it, a way that’s gotten of us called “elitists.” I don’t know if this is a product of rage with in Matt, but I can guarantee it is for me. I am a very angry person and when a simple “I don’t think so” would do, I sometimes still pull out a “fuck no!”
I’m not saying this as particularly a bad thing. Sometimes things shouldn’t be sugarcoated and sometimes people need a rude awakening. But in Mike’s case, the niceness and laidback qualities in his personality do not prevent him from being blunt. I see it as the same way that the rage and excitement in my personality doesn’t prevent me from being tactful behind my harsh words.
Either way, I very much prefer a blunt statement to a platitude spoken to prevent aggression. Is that just me?
At the Speaking of Marcao, Ender says that Novinha solicited beatings from her deceased husband in order to atone for her adultery. Marcao wasn’t really a violent person, you understand, since he never hit anyone but his wife. How false and ugly that seems to those of us aware of the truth about abusive behavior, which is that abusive people will take out their frustrations on anyone — woman, child, dog, or elderly parent — who doesn’t have the power to fight back. In this central chapter, meant to help us understand how speaking the truth heals a community, we see only a new lie traded for the old. Marcao may not have been the great guy we pretended he was, but hey, it was all his wife’s fault.
First off, I wanna start this off by saying, on an unrelated note, Godwin’s. But moving on from there, let’s talk about moral relativism. Again.
I haven’t read Speaker of the Dead. I may at some point, but that’s hardly relevant. What is relevant here is that this character, Novinha, was said to have solicited, which means asked for, beatings from her husband in order to atone in her own way. She chose them, and Marcao did what his wife requested. In this scenario, I believe that Marcao is not a misogynist, as Elaine Radford posits in this article. He is only fulfilling the wishes of another person. She wishes to be beaten; therefore, he is beating her.
I don’t wanna argue the rest of the article because I literally cannot be arsed to read it, but this point annoys me. The issue here is Novinha: she believes the beatings are the only way to atone. In a way, he is giving her the power, not taking it away from her. He is giving her the ability to even atone in her own way. She may be misguided by some standards, but it is her right to choose.
Different society, different rules. Stupid article.
There’s not much I can say that Stephanie hasn’t already said in this blog.
I can’t believe that a movement with the name “pro-life” goes around murdering people against them. I think about how many people are pro-life and pro-death penalty. Arguing how pro-life vs. war isn’t really the issue, as you can make a different argument about saving liberties and etc., but murder is murder is murder is murder in the way that you believe that all abortions are murder, you’re murdering. Murder. Why the fuck do I talk so much about murder on my blog?
Again, moral relativist speaking here. It’s hard for me to understand people who condone one behavior flatly without considering the individual situation, and yet, when it comes to a similar action, consider that immoral.
Is it because a baby is “innocent” and a criminal is “corrupt”? What is innocence? What is corruption?
|
About As a poet, I feel like any photography I do will always be a reflection of the words I use. When I think, I think in words, not images, unlike visual artists. This site houses a minimalist dream log, my poetry including poems from You May Waltz To Your Doom In Sanguine Stained Shoes, my photography, and a blog with Let's Play related entries.
|
