Mark David O'Connor 9 hours ago
+Jennifer Armstrong Beyond colonialism? We still have the Union Jack on our flag. My grandparents were raised in a once-colonial nation (Malta), and they unwittingly retain much of that psyche up to the present. Even their eating habits are still very colonial. Interesting points about trolls; however, couldn't actively welcoming their attacks perhaps mutate into Christian-like masochism? Too much of a bad thing cannot be a good thing, can it? There should be a healthy balance, one could argue, of offense and defense, of inflicting and being inflicted, of pleasure and pain. Allowing others to habitually beat you up could be interpreted, ultimately, as inward-violence. Unless said attacks really did you little or no harm, and/or, by the right measure, only caused you to grow stronger (eg: gave you valuable insight, rather than only made you angry/sad/explode/implode, etc.)
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+Mark David O'Connor I think that is a misunderstanding (about the trolls). Supposing my formative influences are in the 1870s and 1940s, which I would say largely they are, then how is somebody whose psyche was formed in the 1980s or 1990s going to "beat me up"? Even those with an earlier origin, let us say those born in the 1950s, are fairly ineffectual in their attempts. Most of the attacks I've experienced have the formulation, "you are not fitting in." But I know this already and have written books about it, if anyone cares to read them. If the trolls read the books I've written and inwardly digested them (which is almost impossible because they can never fully get the mood of these antiquated times) they would know precisely the manner in which I don't fit in and why and how this fits into historical time. In the mean time (which is all the time) the attacks only make evident the conceptual, social and historical gaps that exist between us. It''s like the more they attack the further away they seem to be, which is reassuring in a way.
Modern people can't attack me effectively because I do not admire their values nor do I wish to be like them. When they attack me, they show me why I am right not to be anything like them.
Modern people can't attack me effectively because I do not admire their values nor do I wish to be like them. When they attack me, they show me why I am right not to be anything like them.
