Subject: Re: On comparing apples and oranges (was: Q: on hashes and counting) From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: 2000/10/24 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3181377643986172@naggum.net> * xenophon@irtnog.org (Xenophon Fenderson the Carbon(d)ated) | >>>>> "Erik" == Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> writes: | | Erik> There are people who have to design their own alphabets or | Erik> spellings in order to feel able to express themselves, but I | Erik> think we label them "insane" rather than applaud them as | Erik> "language designers". | | I was going to mention two authors now (Tolkein and Le Guin), but I'm | afraid of tripping on a corollary to Godwin's Law. :) Sigh. Can't you read? IN ORDER TO FEEL ABLE TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES, I wrote. Authors like Tolkien (spelling!) and Le Guin have obviously been able to express themselves in an existing language without inventing any new languages first. And what was Tengwar? It was not the language Tolkien used to write his stories, was it? It was part of the story and the very rich and complete world he designed. Sometimes I wonder if some of the people who respond to me with some idiotic counter-example that isn't are actually devoid of a working brain and not just so lazy it looks like they are. What does it take for those of you who lack the ability to think or habitually seek ways to avoid it, to grasp something that you do not already agree with? Communicating thoughts to you sure is a waste of time when your first inclination is to destroy your ability to understand what people are telling you by responding with idiocy. I have read about how people can get into this mental state where input from the outside world must be blocked before it can be processed. It happens when they have been exposed to something so frightening and painful their brain has ceased working as a sort of self defense. This is supposed to happen in real life to have that effect, because it must happen under uncontrollable conditions and progress far beyond the point where brain has said STOP!, so no cases have been reported that _read_ themselves into this state, and obviously so, because one would have to read and comprehend beyond that stop signal. So how come you behave the same way to something you read? If it is not voluntary brain shutdown, what is it? Why are new thoughts to fantastically frightening to some of you that you react as if the world were to collapse if you made the little effort it takes to consider a contrary opinion or even fact at least enough to counter it with a _real_ counter-example? Why is it so fantastically important to some of you to reduce everything that you do not understand or agree with to silly jokes so there is no hope of ever understanding anything new? That kind of "humor" as a self-defense mechanism is also pathological. Granted that you are able to read a programming language newsgroup, I believe that there is no excuse whatsoever to be so intellectually lazy as some of you guys habitually are, and it certainly is no accident (like blaming alcohol for a low-quality posting -- how low is _that_?) which means you are here to post your drivel on purpose and that your intention, to whatever extent you can express intent, is to reduce the newsgroup to the level at which you are comfortable -- meaning: whatever the intellectually comatose can deal with. You have a TV set to watch if you want that, OK? You do not need the Net if you are looking for one-way idiotic "humor" -- you'll feel better with the canned laughter instead of laughing alone, too. If you think you have out-grown Jerry Springer or Ricky Lake, please try them again and leave the newsgroup alone. Do something that fits your inellectual level, Xenophon Fenderson the Carbon(d)ated. Your posting under that label means I have no idea what could possibly be your level, but I'd recommend one of the k12 groups. I'm sure they would have even more fun with your "name" than you have. #:Erik -- I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to death your right to say it. -- Tom Stoppard