Gymnasium of the mind or vapid, self-absorbed, group-hugging, support network?

[The Unnamable]

Which is it?

[RobinHood3000]

Kinda depends which forum you're in, doesn't it?


Put it this way: You, Pendragon, and Virgil (among others) provide the mental workouts; rachel, samercury, Night, Pensive, Kaltrina, Miss Darcy...(the list goes on)...provide the group hugs.

[Scheherazade]

Maybe those who are in need of mental workouts exercise their minds and those who are in need of the assurance of cyber hugs get that?

[Sami]

I’m not sure whether you’re launching a complaint or posing a question? As Robin and Scheherazade have said, the forums seem to be trying to cater to both aspects in different places. Also, it seems to provide entertainment for quite a large audience. Only a minority of people who visit the site actually post anything. There are hundreds of guests who don’t actively participate in the gymnasium or the group hug. I find this a bit surprising. Maybe they’re mostly looking for homework help but feel shy about posting?

[papayahed]

Do you really mean to be that insulting or are you just that unaware?

[Scheherazade]

Do you really mean to be that insulting or are you just that unaware?

Is that a rhetoric question?

PS: Mine is.

[Isagel]

I take your question to be what we are, or want to be. I have been gone for some time, and when I came back the pages are filled with more interesting discussions then I remember there being before. I sometimes thought that we lacked a bit of sound criticism towards each others ideas. There has to be some friction and some conflict to provide growth. So I am happy with the "gymnasium of the mind". But I am also thankful for support people here gave me in some hard times, and the warmth that people have shown. Just criticism would scare me away. But just praise do me no good either. I have read some of your posts Unnamble, and I do not think that your mind works in black or white fashion ( or support versus gymnasium) I would really like to know what you want to say, beyond the rethorical question.

[Stanislaw]

I think that it is a bit o colum A and a bit o colum B...same for any community, be it online or otherwise...no one can survive on pure logic allone...not even spock.

and if yer layin an insult o me ship, then to the 7 hells with ye!

[Petrarch's Love]

How about the place where I take a study break from accademia to tune into a little chat on poetry, read the latest haiku, or see how the weather is elsewhere in the world? You'll have to judge for yourself if the mental gymnastics are up to olympic standards or not. I take it you're complaining more about the dearth of group hugging though. Do you secretly need a group hug and this is your subtle way of hinting for one?

[The Unnamable]

Thanks, I appreciate the apology.

Yes, once again, sorry about that. The original post seemed like another assignment question and I quickly wanted to rectify what I assumed to be a mistake. When I noticed the Head, I knew I’d have to be quick and you were caught in my urgency.

I’m not sure whether you’re launching a complaint or posing a question?

Exactly. For many on here, they are one and the same. By the way, there is a very appealing balance to the way you have expressed your question.

Do you really mean to be that insulting or are you just that unaware?

How about you decide? You will anyway. You’ve given me an idea, though – I could ask contributors, ‘Do you really mean to be that stupid or are you just that unaware?’ Isn’t it strange that offering stultifying ill-informed opinions is acceptable but pointing out that they are, isn’t?

Is that a rhetoric question?

PS: Mine is.

Don’t worry; I think most won’t need the PS. I know what you think of me, however much you try to sanitise your disapproval with smiley icons. May I ask you if you are bothered that you have upset a student of mine by publicly suggesting that she doesn’t exist and is simply me under another name? Do you have the means to verify that she and I are not one and the same? I can provide you with information about my ISP, my school and my position in it if you promise not to make any of that information public and then post an apology to my student. You are welcome to think what you want of me but she has done nothing to warrant your misinformed insinuation, other than to say she likes me as a teacher.

There has to be some friction and some conflict to provide growth. So I am happy with the "gymnasium of the mind". But I am also thankful for support people here gave me in some hard times, and the warmth that people have shown.

I think this is where we see things differently. I don’t think friction and conflict are welcomed at all. The thing I find most depressing about many of the comments here is the hypocrisy that convinces me that the poster has neither knowledge nor any real appreciation of Literature. The same people will quote and eulogise certain authors, works and characters and then condemn the very same attitudes when they appear in a different form. As an example of what I mean by this, I’ll take your tagline as a starting point. Blake also said, “without contraries is no progression”. Such aphoristic wisdom will be greeted with appreciative oohs and aahs, lauded as profound and even adopted as a tagline. It might even make a nice t-shirt slogan. Then someone very contrary (like me) comes along and contraries are suddenly no longer so fashionable.

As for support, it’s great if it’s genuine but it seldom is. As an example, I’ll say that one of the people on the side of ‘group-huggers’ mentioned above regularly sends me PMs. Recently I was sent one that sounded quite desperate. It contained notification that he or she might soon quit the forum for a number of reasons. However, one of those reasons was that he or she regularly receives complaints about me, criticisms of his or her support for me and the insistence that he or she sees me as they do. Such nasty, mean-spirited and cowardly creatures would like me banned. Instead of telling me this, they surreptitiously harangue a total innocent and try to mould his or her views to suit their own agenda. How noble! I believe I have far more genuine respect for the person I am referring to than all those who profess their devotion. If anyone reading this is such a person, please leave him or her alone. You are causing genuine pain to someone who has done absolutely nothing to deserve it.

Another poster complained (on a thread this time, perhaps there was no room left on my back) that I choose soft targets. First of all, I disagree – I don’t believe I target people but the garbage they offer. I also try to avoid challenging the evidently young and naïve. Secondly, such a comment makes the patronising assumption that some contributors are soft targets. In other words, they think of them as stupid but would prefer it if that wasn’t openly implied. That is why I asked the question, admittedly in such a way that I knew would vex and perplex. Is the purpose of the site to provoke thought or promote self-esteem?
I think my problem is similar to one Gore Vidal faced (and no, I am not comparing myself to Vidal now, I just like his comment). He said, “People hate me because I speak in correct sentences.”

Just criticism would scare me away.

Nothing but criticism or criticism that is ‘just’?

I do not think that your mind works in black or white fashion ( or support versus gymnasium)

Sometimes a simple polarisation gives us a way in. To be or not to be?

I would really like to know what you want to say, beyond the rethorical question.

Perhaps, in future, my posts should come with ‘Spark Notes’? I hope I have given you some idea of the ‘why?’ above.

and if yer layin an insult o me ship, then to the 7 hells with ye!

It can’t be much of an insult if you aren’t able to decide- or perhaps that’s the best kind of insult. Very Jane Austen.

Do you secretly need a group hug and this is your subtle way of hinting for one?

No. I don’t like people touching me. They might have germs.

[The Unnamable]

or see how the weather is elsewhere in the world?

It's always between 27 and 37 degrees centigrade here - but mostly about 32.


“Sometimes I turn on the air conditioning in the morning and turn it off at night, and between the two absolutely nothing happens.”
Houellebecq - Platform

[papayahed]

How about you decide? You will anyway. You’ve given me an idea, though – I could ask contributors, ‘Do you really mean to be that stupid or are you just that unaware?’ Isn’t it strange that offering stultifying ill-informed opinions is acceptable but pointing out that they are, isn’t?

No can you explain it in simpler terms.

[Logos]

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