Boring boring boring. The facts are easy to remember, but geez, are they sleep inducing. I hope the history stuff will eventually get to the juicy bits
( Read more... )
Boring History.exileineternitySeptember 2 2006, 14:12:10 UTC
"Oh you are totally right, totally right, it can get boring boring BORING!!!...The PROBLEM is that to understand and SOLVE the problems you run into, you really DO need to understand the boring boring boring stuff. Like what economic conditions drove people to actually listen to that annoying little man, or what happens when these two pieces of metal get too close, or exactly what the rituals of a million-years-dead civilization were. I can't count the number of times my life was saved because I knew some little boring piece of trivia... that wasn't NEARLY so boring when I realized what I could do with it."
Re: Boring History.driftingmayaSeptember 2 2006, 16:55:01 UTC
Oh, absolutely! Some people really need to study some of that, it's infuriating when they prance around like idiots and go all "Hey, these stones are pretty, let's touch them together" and cause the entire mine to collapse. Such behaviour drives me crazy! That girl ruined two perfect gems...! I can totally understand learning that. That's useful.
But what about that little old man? If he said crazy stuff, then he's crazy. If people believe it and started to do bad stuff, they're freaking stupid and in need to get a clue, preferably by a good whack to the head. Sure, these guys always have some whiny reasons for their deeds. "But it's for the good of the planet!" "I want to fight other people because I think I am stronger than everyone, so I can kill everyone" "This planet needs to evolve because we threw the entire economy into decay ten years ago with our crazy plan, and now we need to do an even dumber plan to fix it!" But so what? None of these reasons excuse doing the really nasty stuff.
Re: Boring History.exileineternitySeptember 2 2006, 17:49:02 UTC
I am a strong believer in education. I have always avoided violence in dealing with such matters, the mind and the exercise of knowledge is my greatest weapon.
Indeed, some times you need to fight to resolve an issue, especially when you are dealing with individuals who refuse to understand the greater good. I have fought many wars in my time. I am an idealist but not a believer in complete pacifism. If one is attacked, one must defend their home and children.
However, one must learn how to look at the big picture for they do comprehend what is really happening around them. It is easy for one to say, People are stupid because they do X. It’s harder to find why X is being done and how to redirect the people to do something less destructive, something that affects everyone for the greater good.
Education in the end is the best solution, with education; people are less to fall into the hands of others who want to take advantage of their ignorance.
Re: Boring History.driftingmayaSeptember 2 2006, 18:14:27 UTC
Doesn't work. Insane scientists don't give a damn what people say, they just fire their crap up, the world be damned, with people looking up to them blindly. Bandits still shoot you, and when you try to talk to them, they'll like it - their friend will sneak up from behind while you're distracted talking. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against educating these you can talk to. It's just...
Some crazy follower of an even crazier cult that was built on the craziest dreams of their nutty cult leader? They don't listen. They'll believe what they are told. Last that I checked, they're still after some greenie who saved the butts of the lot of them. Facts? They don't really seem to care. They made up their own. I don't see how talking to such people archives anything, when they already ignored what they saw in favor of what was more convenient to believe. Geez, is that a philosophical dispute here? Ain't good at them, I guess.
History is written in the terms of the winning side. Everything else is hidden until a new force takes over and then digs out the old secrets. Unless some secrets are buried too deep to be uncovered.
This of course does not cover ancient civilizations. They are fair game to anyone who can put a sentence together.
That's true. Who else survives? The losing one usually isn't in the shape to write history.
On the other hand, a self respecting historian won't buy the crap someone feeds him, I'd think. But well, I'm no historian, so I wouldn't know.
Either way, I mostly care for the ancient ones. Ancient temples! Hidden champters, deathtraps, treasure. Old truths buried in places not touched by human hand for centuries! That kind of stuff. Some people actually research such properly, at least they did on my world.
Self-respecting states that one has to do their best to find the information that they need for their thesis. However, if a historian is hampered, threatened or cannot get the information they need, then their thesis will be affected as well. There are also times when the information needed had never been put down to paper or any other medium, hence making it harder for a historian to dig up the truth of the matter. Then all you can hope for is that the heresy and rumors are close to the actual facts to make the research click together.
They do so here I think. I wouldn't know too much yet.
But then, digging these facts up and verifying if they are correct firsthand is part of the fun, no? Over there in my world, there were some rather shoddy attempts at keeping history covered up. They kinda failed big time though, although they made it rather dangerous to discover the truth, for a while. Didn't help them much in the end, heh.
Comments 30
Reply
I can totally understand learning that. That's useful.
But what about that little old man? If he said crazy stuff, then he's crazy. If people believe it and started to do bad stuff, they're freaking stupid and in need to get a clue, preferably by a good whack to the head.
Sure, these guys always have some whiny reasons for their deeds. "But it's for the good of the planet!" "I want to fight other people because I think I am stronger than everyone, so I can kill everyone" "This planet needs to evolve because we threw the entire economy into decay ten years ago with our crazy plan, and now we need to do an even dumber plan to fix it!"
But so what? None of these reasons excuse doing the really nasty stuff.
Reply
I am a strong believer in education. I have always avoided violence in dealing with such matters, the mind and the exercise of knowledge is my greatest weapon.
Indeed, some times you need to fight to resolve an issue, especially when you are dealing with individuals who refuse to understand the greater good. I have fought many wars in my time. I am an idealist but not a believer in complete pacifism. If one is attacked, one must defend their home and children.
However, one must learn how to look at the big picture for they do comprehend what is really happening around them. It is easy for one to say,
People are stupid because they do X. It’s harder to find why X is being done and how to redirect the people to do something less destructive, something that affects everyone for the greater good.
Education in the end is the best solution, with education; people are less to fall into the hands of others who want to take advantage of their ignorance.
Reply
Bandits still shoot you, and when you try to talk to them, they'll like it - their friend will sneak up from behind while you're distracted talking.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against educating these you can talk to. It's just...
Some crazy follower of an even crazier cult that was built on the craziest dreams of their nutty cult leader? They don't listen. They'll believe what they are told. Last that I checked, they're still after some greenie who saved the butts of the lot of them. Facts? They don't really seem to care. They made up their own. I don't see how talking to such people archives anything, when they already ignored what they saw in favor of what was more convenient to believe.
Geez, is that a philosophical dispute here? Ain't good at them, I guess.
Reply
This of course does not cover ancient civilizations. They are fair game to anyone who can put a sentence together.
Reply
On the other hand, a self respecting historian won't buy the crap someone feeds him, I'd think. But well, I'm no historian, so I wouldn't know.
Either way, I mostly care for the ancient ones. Ancient temples! Hidden champters, deathtraps, treasure. Old truths buried in places not touched by human hand for centuries! That kind of stuff. Some people actually research such properly, at least they did on my world.
Reply
They do so here I think. I wouldn't know too much yet.
Reply
Over there in my world, there were some rather shoddy attempts at keeping history covered up. They kinda failed big time though, although they made it rather dangerous to discover the truth, for a while. Didn't help them much in the end, heh.
Reply
Leave a comment