State of the Emily

[malana]

Haven't been posting much. Sorry about that. I keep meaning to be more active, but I don't really have much to say. Things are still going with R. I have no idea...I mean, I like him, but I don't know if it'll ever be anything more than what it is. Which is fine for now, and probably for awhile, but at some point we need to actually have a

Comments

[asinpterodactyl]

*hugs*

Oh man. I know how you feel. I was once in a serious relationship with someone who held some equally supernatural beliefs, and I totally sympathize. Being in that kind of situation feels really awkward, and frustrating, and painful.

*hugs again*

As I was reading your account of the things that R was saying, I kept thinking of responses I'd like to make to him... and then reading the next sentence and seeing that you came up with the exact same response yourself. (YAY for Dara O'Briain! YAY for Tim Minchin!) This made me smile, and it made me feel good about you. You're one smart cookie, and if anyone can handle this situation, it's you.

*oh, what the heck, hugs again*

[malana]

Thank you, Peter. Knowing that my responses were inline with what you would have said is highly encouraging.

It's hard, because I try to tell myself that he's frustrated with me, just like I'm frustrated with him, only from the opposite side. He probably thinks I'm being terribly close-minded and condescending. But in the end, that actually just makes me more angry about the whole thing. Because science is awesome! And because we shouldn't be so flippant about things like proof or facts or truth.

[asinpterodactyl]

Because science is awesome! And because we shouldn't be so flippant about things like proof or facts or truth.

Amen! Well said!

[wenchpower]

Oof. That's a doozy. I freaking hate History Channel stuff. "If we assume X, AND Y, AND Z, then MAYBE Q!" Uhhh . . . but there's no evidence to assume X, Y or Z.

Especially when it comes to "Our ancient ancestors were so stupid and this stuff could only have come from aliens" crap. I had an idea for a story set in the Stone Age, and I've been doing a lot of research about prehistory for it, and a lot of this "ALIENS!" BS basically comes from the fact that our image of Stone Age people is completely wrong. Pop culture tends to imagine them as giant hulking gorilla-men who dragged their mates around by the hair, and clearly giant hulking gorilla-men couldn't have miraculously evolved into people who invented the pyramids. But that's not true at all. There's evidence of successful surgery, lunar calendars, mining, math, and even writing as far back as the Upper Paleolithic. We didn't need aliens. We'd already laid all the groundwork ourselves.

I guess the only thing to do is keep doing what you're doing. Present things positively

[malana]

Thanks, hon. I'm going to try to not be insulting about it.

[lizardbeth_j]

omg, I don't know if I could bear that. I seriously can't stand that Ancient Aliens show (or its clones on Discovery and Skiffy and the like).

However, on the other hand, Penn and Teller's Bullsh*t! episode on 2012 is pretty spectacular for debunking that sort of mystical thinking. I don't recall if it specifically addresses the "aliens must have done it" angle, but certainly it makes a fool out of the people who believe in all the prophecy crap. It was quite fun to watch.

[malana]

I loved Bullsh*t. They did such a great job with that show. It's weird though, because R had mentioned before that he was a big fan of it, so the aliens/paranormal belief thing really took me by surprise.