So, I'm attending this "From Violence to Wholeness Class"...

[Ladyhawk]

...and it's making me feel guilty about playing video games and liking The Lord of the Rings. :wtf:

I just went through a transition from Repub to Dem and before that a longer transition from fundy to atheist. I'm tired of dogma. I just want to do the things that interest me and make me feel good. Sigh.

[Ready4Change]

1. Only you.

Only you can decide what is important and what is bullsh*t. This class may teach you something important. However, that lesson may not be what the teacher intends for it to be.

I took an appreciation of art class once. In it I learned that what some people consider important in art is, well, bullsh*t. Ego on canvas is not "grand concept." It's public masturbation. My teacher, who worshiped such trash, disagreed. I toed the line to get a grade, but the lesson I learned was mine alone.

The world is not a tightrope which you may only walk forwards or backwards. It is a globe, on which you can walk in any direction. You are also free to dig down into it or rise above.

You alone choose your path. You can walk in someone elses footsteps, or you can head off in your own direction. Or you can sit down and take a nap.

Your choice.

[Ladyhawk]

2. Yeah, I know.

The difficulty is that I've learned to let in other points of view, but considering all of them makes me tired. I have to find a happy medium.

I also had an art teacher whose style I couldn't stand...hehe. That's probably the story of a lot of students' lives.

About the only thing I'm pretty sure of is that I should never EVER trust a fundy.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

3. i love william s burrough's take on fundies

"When doing business with a religious son-of-a-bitch GET. IT.IN.WRITING. His word isn't worth shit, not with the Good Lord telling him how to fuck you out of a deal."

[Ravenseye]

4. Don't feel guilty

Look if you like something, that doesn't hurt anyone, and someone makes you feel guilty about it, ignore them.

I applaud your transition, and I think it sounds like you're a person who now wants to make up your own mind.

There was a line from a very very violent movie that I like. From Starship Troopers which was essentiall "The ability to make up our own minds is the only freedom we really have. Use it."

Violent games don't make you violent. I find that they're a good way to relieve frustration and tension. Without them I'd be a much more tightly wound person in real life. It's mock combat in a way. Just like playing tennis, or basketball is. it's competition. You're not actually going out there and chopping off someone's head with a sword or shooting them with a BB gun.

We're primates. We're born violent. To ignore it is dangerous. To let it out is dangerous. We need to recognize it and harness it. Games are one way that is possible.

As far as making you feel guilty about liking Lord of the Rings? What the fuck is that about. It's a story. What are you supposed to read? Childrens books?

Still.If you like something I say do it. However, make up your own mind.

[Ladyhawk]

5. I feel the same way you do, Ravenseye.

I use violent games to get anger out of my system. I really do think it helps. One lady in the group asked what I would do if the power went out. :eyes: I'm not so dysfunctional that violent games are the only way I get rid of negative energy. I read, sing, etc.

Another thing about the class: it asserts that humans are not inherently violent. Bullshit, I say. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have wars all the time. Plus, our history is full of violence. I say we are inherently violent and to assume otherwise is a mistake, possibly a dangerous one.

The curriculum is derived from a religious source and I'm beginning to think it is yet another form of dogma. I'm not into dogma. As the saying goes, my karma ran over my dogma. I'm sick of dogma telling me what I should and should not do. Fuck it.

As for Lord of the Rings, it has become a powerful metaphor for me. Some "friends" have laughed when I tell them I feel like the Ring represents the weight of depression around my neck and that I'm on a voyage to get rid of it. I identified so strongly with Frodo that
The Return of the King reduced me to a quivering, weeping puddle. I guess others can laugh if they want, but Lord of the Rings is one of my myths: a myth to give me hope in dark times. At least I realize it is a myth and don't try to pattern my life on bodiless eyes atop towers and warring wizards. :)

[Ravenseye]

6. Ah

I thought this group was telling you lord of the rings was bad cause it was violent.

As far as not humans not being inherently violent....If someone told me that I'd laugh in their face, call them absurdly ignorant, and then pretty much be unable to earnestly listen to anything they had to say after that.

[Ladyhawk]

7. Yeah, I'm having that trouble...sigh.

Yes, they were telling me LOTR was bad because it was violent and bad because there were no shades of gray, only black and white. Hello? Gollum? Boromir? And the extra-Tolkien aspects of the film's version of Faramir?

Sigh.

[7th_Sephiroth]

8. plop down the money for a GTA game

thier good, violent, but good, its all pixels and polygons, not real people GTA is the ultimate stress reliever a whole city (state in San Andreas) fot you to have full free reign in without inhibitions

[Chovexani]

9. I hear ya Ladyhawk

I'm just fatigued from having to defend my hobbies from everyone, especially people who are supposedly on my side politically (liberals). In particular I'm sick and fucking tired of having my commitment to feminism questioned because I love GTA and fighting games. The other day I got into an argument with a self-professed feminist gamer because I'm a Soul Calibur addict and somehow the game demeans women.

Sometimes a girl just wants to blow some shit up or beat the crap out of somebody with an aesthetically pleasing polearm while wearing a fabulous outfit. Is that so wrong?! :P