dagblog - Comments for "Monsters Inside Of Us"

I didn't mean my comment

moat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:36:35 +0000

In reply to Whatever normal is, having

I didn't mean my comment about normalcy to be in any way an opinion about what was happening in your family. I was only thinking about the dynamics of taking our personal experiences as a bellwether or model of society at large. After all, I was encouraging you not to interpret your desire to protect yourself as something monstrous.

Whatever normal is, having

Orion — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:56:29 +0000

In reply to In regards to your saying:

Whatever normal is, having family members who tell you you're going to die the first minute you see them isn't it. She isn't the first to do that. They're lunatics.

The big machine... 200 cubic

cmaukonen — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:49:01 +0000

In reply to Monsters Inside Of Us

The big machine... 200 cubic miles of Klystron relays...
enough power for a whole population of creative geniuses...
operated by remote control. Morbius, operated by
the electromagnetic impulses...
of individual Krell brains.

To what purpose?

In return, that machine would instantaneously project solid matter...
to any point on the planet, in any shape or color they might imagine...
for any purpose, Morbius!

Creation by mere thought.
Why haven't I seen this all along?

Like you, the Krell forgot one deadly danger...
their own subconscious hate and lust for destruction.

The beast. The mindless primitive.
Even the Krell must have evolved from that beginning.

And so those mindless beasts of the subconscious...
had access to a machine that could never be shut down.

The secret devil of every soul on the planet...
all set free at once to loot and maim...
and take revenge and kill!

My poor Krell! After a million years of shining sanity...
they could hardly have understood what power was destroying them.

In regards to your saying:

moat — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 02:32:41 +0000

In reply to Monsters Inside Of Us

In regards to your saying: "Perhaps normal people don't get angry at comments like that", I think it would be weird if you weren't pissed.

I don't think that my own awkward attempts at establishing boundaries for myself are as monstrous as when I punish people because it settles some score I am keeping in my heart. It certainly can get confusing when life mixes those things together but the spirit of those impulses are different and it is important to distinguish them in oneself and others. For me, the job of sanity is to resist the immersion that conflation promises.

Forgiving oneself for some things cannot help but make other things even heavier than they were before. I agree with Buber who said that recognizing what can't ever be made right again is the source of the determination to do the right thing somewhere else.

I agree with you when you say: "A social disconnect on a massive scale might have to do with all these mass shootings." But what is the true point of departure? How will the "connected" society be understood as a starting point? For example, Baudrillard would frame the answer much differently than Leo Strauss. I don't think there is a "normal" that is self evident. That isn't to say the same thing as denying its existence. But it isn't just laying on the ground, ready to be picked up by anybody wandering by.

That is good to hear.

Orion — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:36:39 +0000

In reply to Conversations with family can

That is good to hear. Unfortunately, in my family, the ritual is either silence or screaming at one another.

Yes, this makes sense. I've

Orion — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:46:14 +0000

In reply to Orion, your episode with your

Yes, this makes sense. I've had the kitchen sink thrown at me and kitchen sinks weren't really being thrown at me as a child. I think many of them figured I was going to commit suicide - and I certainly thought about it when things got really dark - and I imagine the hostility had much to do with that.

Orion, your episode with your

Ramona — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:08:52 +0000

In reply to Monsters Inside Of Us

Orion, your episode with your sister isn't so far off from normal family dynamics. She didn't know how to handle your depression (or the new you) and you had your feelings hurt and lashed out. You handled it well--not at all like a monster. Good for you.

Keep on posting. Those who want to read what you write will and those who don't won't.

Conversations with family can

erica20 — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:46:54 +0000

In reply to Monsters Inside Of Us

Conversations with family can get very ritualistic. By this I mean that they go the way they go because that's the way they've always gone, often despite our best efforts to make them go differently. (Just try changing the words or tune of a song you know very well for a sense of the problem. :^)

You and your sister tried, and you can try again, maybe on a lighter or more social level, or for a very brief time. One of the great revelations of my life was that sometimes, changing bad family dynamics doesn't have to involve a bunch of deep conversations that invariably go to a dark place--it can be done with a light touch. Sometimes small talk and a smiling goodbye can go a long way.

(You were smart to take the high road and apologize, even if your sister did start out by tweaking you.)

Keep on posting.

Flavius — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:46:08 +0000

In reply to Monsters Inside Of Us

Keep on posting.