Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Snarf Zagyg]

The first ... half, or third, or two-thirds--it's been decades, and I don't remember where the break is--of Purgatorio was also a good read, not wildly dissimilar in content and theme from Inferno (though obviously redemption was happening in Purgatorio and approximately impossible in Inferno). The back portion of Purgatorio and Paradiso are certainly less my jam, and at least in the Ciardi translation more notes-laden, but my take is that those "fun" parts of the Comedy don't make sense--or at least make less sense--if you don't read the rest of it.

Fun fact- beneath the mask? It's John Milton.

 

[prabe]

View attachment 367220

Fun fact- beneath the mask? It's John Milton.

I've always figured that evil was both more stupid and more ruthless than good, so the whole thing was just about a push.

Also, I always thought that was Rick Moranis. I've apparently been lied to by reality. (Not for the first time.)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Also, I always thought that was Rick Moranis. I've apparently been lied to by reality. (Not for the first time.)

As Mama Snarf always used to tell me, "Snarf, you snivelin' little nigmenog, let me explain to you sumpin' you won't find in any fancy book learnin'. You can tell that reality is lyin' to you because its lips are movin'. Now hush yer wails and get yer mama a few handles of the good stuff, you know, the kind they put in the fancy plastic."

 

[Autumnal]

My take on the Dante comparison: it says that it’s possible to do a bunch of things denounced as innately bad and get results that aren’t just good but great. It also points to a gendering of standards. Junior high boys write a bunch of self-insert fanfic too,’but the term Mary Sue didn’t get coined until men reading sf fanfic noticed young women doing it. The classic canon is very heavily overbalanced, as widely noted by its critics, and there’s no shortage of men willing to explain how women can’t write great literature. It’s not just that critics find reasons to put Dante’s self-insert action into context, it’s that so few would dream he could have anything in common with young women at all.

 

[CleverNickName]

Remember kids: if your beliefs aren't realistic, the problem isn't reality.

 

[RealAlHazred]

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The Forge!

 

[Autumnal]

Remember kids: if your beliefs aren't realistic, the problem isn't reality.

People don’t live realistic lives inside their thoughts and feelings, and recognizing trust is importsnt. Both our hopes and our fears routinely exceed the possible, and we want what cannot be.

(This is “yes, and”.)

Part of maturity is learning how to bridge the gap between what’s inside and outside. What steps can we take in the direction we want? What are goals that can be satisfying along the way, short of completion? And like that. Making reality infinitely accommodating won’t happen. Nor will the innately unrealistic part of our inner lives go away. (Fifty thousand years of drug use hasn’t fixed it. It’s not fixable.). So we have to keep rediscovering finite solutions that still feel good.

 

[CleverNickName]

Part of maturity is learning how to bridge the gap between what’s inside and outside. What steps can we take in the direction we want? What are goals that can be satisfying along the way, short of completion? And like that. Making reality infinitely accommodating won’t happen. Nor will the innately unrealistic part of our inner lives go away. (Fifty thousand years of drug use hasn’t fixed it. It’s not fixable.). So we have to keep rediscovering finite solutions that still feel good.

A lot of people (so many of them in my own family) have trouble squaring their beliefs with the world around them. They want so badly for The Thing to be true, and they believe The Thing with all their heart and conviction, and reality thwarts them at every turn. It might be different if The Thing were a matter of preference ("pineapple doesn't belong on pizza") or a matter of opinion ("pineapple tastes terrible"), but that's not always the case. Sometimes The Thing is a matter of fact ("pineapple is a plant") and no amount of belief, conviction, and heart will change that.

It's important to grow in one's knowledge and belief. The desire (expectation?) is for one to mirror or reinforce the other, and that is seldom the case. Both need regular examination and reevaluation. Both need to change over the course of a lifetime.

 

[overgeeked]

A lot of people (so many of them in my own family) have trouble squaring their beliefs with the world around them. They want so badly for The Thing to be true, and they believe The Thing with all their heart and conviction, and reality thwarts them at every turn. It might be different if The Thing were a matter of preference ("pineapple doesn't belong on pizza") or a matter of opinion ("pineapple tastes terrible"), but that's not always the case. Sometimes The Thing is a matter of fact ("pineapple is a plant") and no amount of belief, conviction, and heart will change that.

It's important to grow in one's knowledge and belief. The desire (expectation?) is for one to mirror or reinforce the other, and that is seldom the case. Both need regular examination and reevaluation. Both need to change over the course of a lifetime.

Mostly. Yeah. A lot of things people think are facts are not. They're opinions disguised as facts. Usually enforced culturally...and/or forcefully.

 

[CleverNickName]

Mostly. Yeah. A lot of things people think are facts are not. They're opinions disguised as facts. Usually enforced culturally...and/or forcefully.

Learning the difference between knowledge and belief isn't easy, but it's vital.