Tag: ideals

Idealism

Rob Says3 Comments
This was the first poll

Definition of ideal

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1a: of, relating to, or embodying an ideal: ideal beauty

b: conforming exactly to an ideal, law, or standard : PERFECT an ideal gas— compare REAL sense 1c(4)

2a: existing as a mental image or in fancy or imagination only broadly: lacking practicality

b: relating to or constituting mental images, ideas, or conceptions

3: of or relating to philosophical idealism

4: existing as an archetypal idea

ideal

noun

Definition of ideal (Entry 2 of 2)

1: a standard of perfection, beauty, or excellence

2: one regarded as exemplifying an ideal and often taken as a model for imitation

3: an ultimate object or aim of endeavor : GOAL

4: a subset of a mathematical ring that is closed under addition and subtraction and contains the products of any given element of the subset with each element of the ring

I did a two-part poll the other day as I wanted to see what people would be willing to die for. Check out the screen shot above. Twitter would only let me have four options total, and so I had to combine a couple of the items into one item each.

What got me to thinking and ultimately doing this first part of the poll was a scene from Full Metal Jacket.

In the scene, a couple of soldiers had been killed in combat. The main characters of the story, Joker, Rafter Man, Doc J, Animal Mother, and a couple of others were standing around the corpses, paying their last respects.

Rafter Man: “Well at least they died for a good cause.”

Animal Mother: “What cause was that?”

Rafter Man: “Freedom?”

Animal Mother: “Flush out your head gear new guy, you think we waste gooks for freedom? This is a slaughter. If I’m going to get my balls blown off for a word, my word is poontang.”

When I did this poll, everything except “poontang” is an ideal. Social Justice is an ideal. We can’t hold it in our hands, we can’t touch it. We are going to disagree about what it is and what it means. The same can be said about Duty and Honor, and God and Country. None of those things mean the same to everyone. You can’t touch or hold any of them, you can’t take them home with you, except in your head.

A lot of people replied to my first part of the poll asking why “Freedom” wasn’t on the list. At the time I had forgotten about that one and I didn’t want to cancel the poll all in order to do another one. I have a feeling that had I done that, even more people would have voted for an ideal that they would be willing to die for. Yes, our beloved freedom is an ideal too. You can’t touch it, taste it, hold on to it, put it in your pocket and take it home with you. In fact, I’m positive that what you define as freedom is going to be different from my definition of freedom.

When the poll ended, I put up a new poll the next day:

Second part of the poll

I know that there were more respondents to my first poll than my second poll. I’m not claiming any sort of scientific analysis here. I’m sure that there were people who voted on one poll and didn’t vote on the other. I’m sure that some people voted on both and probably voted consistently. However, the difference here is exactly what I thought it would be.

Throw pretty words at someone and they will side with it. Use a nebulous term such as “ideal” and nobody wants to die for an ideal.

And yet you do.

You are willing to die for social justice, duty and honor, god and country, and the beloved freedom that didn’t even make it into the original poll. All of these things are ideals and nothing more.

I chose “poontang” not because pussy is the be-all-end-all, but because it’s tangible. It’s something we can all agree on what it is. Everybody knows it when they see it. We can touch it, taste it, feel it, and in a tongue and cheek sort of way, we can put it in our pockets and take it home with us.

The only other reply that I saw in my first poll that made sense to me was being willing to die for your family and children. Your family is tangible. They are your flesh and your blood. When it comes to children they are your offspring and the future, so I get that one. All of the others are just words. Container words to be exact. None of them have any inherent meaning except what you give them, and what duty, god, country, honor, or even freedom, is going to be different for you as compared to me.

Politicians, persuaders, cult leaders, sales people, conmen, grifters, and all sorts of others that may not have your best interests in mind know this. The question is, do you?

Not according to what my two non-scientific impromptu polls indicate. Most of you are willing to die for something that is nothing more than a word, a container word at that. An ideal.

I don’t consider that there was a “right” or “wrong” answer when it came to these polls. You die for whatever you want to die for. I know for me, if I’m going to die for something, it’s going to be more than just a word with some feelings attached to it. I’m going to die for something tangible.

“If I’m going to get my balls blown off for a word, my word is pootang.”

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Comeuppance

Rob Says6 Comments

happy businessman checking message on smartphone in downtown alley
He just saw the latest “revenge porn” story.

I watched a couple of Rian Stone’s latest videos on his channel recently and he’s going over some material that has been in circulation now for nearly 8 years. The two latest videos that caught my attention was Michael’s story and Confessions of a Reformed Incel. In both videos, Rian points out and breaks down some really interesting information, and what is interesting and a little sad to me is that “what is old is new again.” Not to sound like a cliche, but the more things change, the more they stay the same. Check out those videos though, they are worth the time and worth the price of admission.

One of the things that really stood out for me was the bitterness that both guys had towards women in particular, “Chad’s,” and society in general. I can see why “revenge/outrage porn” stories have their appeal. It’s men getting a sense of justice, even if they are living it vicariously through a story of another man “who got his.” It’s women getting their comeuppance for their shitty behavior and their shitty choices from their pasts. I understand this. Hell, just thinking about it gives me “warm and fuzzies” at least for a moment.

But here’s the reality:

Kaylene speaking to Michael: “Michael let me tell you something: not only am I going to have my cake eat it and eat it too. I’m going to have it with ice cream and sprinkles”. All of the girls laughed and smiled in agreement.

Source

Some men like to think that women will “pay” for their poor choices that they made while they were younger, and in all honesty, some of them do. The real reality though is that most won’t pay for their poor choices because they won’t have to. There are plenty of beta males ready and willing to forgive them of their sins and ready and willing to wife them up. There is an ocean of guys ready and willing to give them a pass.

Understand that “the pretty people” have had it good for the younger parts of their lives and for the most part, they will go right on enjoying their lives at least into middle age or beyond. Just because you chose an air of superiority and chose not to participate doesn’t mean that others won’t. People living the “good” life tend to go on living the “good” life. Sorry if you find that disappointing.

You have a couple of options:

  1. You can stay bitter and probably end up unhappy and possibly alone for the rest of your life. If you are young, say around 25, you have roughly another 50 years of life ahead of you. That’s a long time to be bitter and possibly alone. I’m not talking about the Lonely Old Man Myth here, but it will be a possible choice that you may have to face down the road.
  2. You can “settle” for “used goods.” Guess what? Most women are going to be sexually active because it’s encouraged and because they can. Again, you can hang on to your anger and bitterness, and you can take on the role of provider/plow horse and maybe you’ll get sex from your wife who isn’t interested in you once or twice a year. But hey, you got to be a Dad right? If you think this way, your entitlement and your bitterness is still showing. You get the woman and the relationship you deserve.
  3. You can say fuck it all and walk away. Plenty of guys go this route. Maybe it’s for you. It’s not for me. It seems too much like surrender and giving up. If you are young, you still have the rest of your life ahead of you to figure out what you are going to do with your time. Don’t worry though, you’ll have plenty of time to figure that out.
  4. You can accept reality for what it is and you can join in on the fun. Instead of being angry that things aren’t the way that you think they should be, you can accept them for what they are and enjoy yourself, your life, and the women that show up in your life. Not all women are absolute whores. Not all of them have made the shittiest of shitty decisions. You won’t know that though if you can’t get outside of your bitterness and your ideals. You can have all sorts of amazing experiences with a bunch of amazing women and who knows, one of them could turn into something that could possibly last you the rest of your life.

I don’t know about you, but I know for me I would rather be on my deathbed with all of my memories of the people I have met and the things I have done than dying alone, which we all do anyways, with nothing but regret and ideals swimming in my head of things that never were and would never be. You see, I don’t regret the things I have done. I don’t regret the things that didn’t work out the way that I had hoped they would. I regret the things that I haven’t done and now that window of opportunity is gone. I regret not making certain decisions and certain choices and taking certain actions, because now I’ll never know how those things could have turned out. That’s what I regret. Ideals of what “ought” to be and fear paralyzed me into doing nothing and that is the biggest regret of all.

Comeuppance is a great dopamine hit. It’s that satisfaction that “Karen” got what was coming to her in the end. The real truth though is that comeuppance is just another form of mental masturbation. It’s another coping mechanism to get you out of taking responsibility for your own life and your own choices. It’s another way for you to not take action or do anything but it sure feels like you are doing something.

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