All Because I Swam

After watching videos of people parodying extreme scenarios of Political Correctness for comedic relief — we all need something to remind us not to take life too seriously from time to time — it dawned on me (perhaps later than it should have) that Offence and Self-Guilt are a very dangerous combination when it comes to examining the more bizarre aspects of human behaviour. I am not making the implication that people need to be thicker-skinned and less worried about what other people say to them, but rather the absurdity of taking self-offence and feeling self-guilt on the behalf of others.

So I imagined the most extreme version of the combination of unwarranted offence-taking and guilt-inducing situations I could conjure: can a person's mere existence be deemed offensive to somebody else and make me feel guilty at the same time? (Unfortunately, the answer is yes.) Why? Because if ridiculous associations are permitted, you can make ridiculous associations to justify that offence. If somebody else agrees with you that offence ought to be taken, you no longer have the "insane" obstacle to overcome before others will believe you. If a group of people agree with you, you no longer have the "handful" obstacle to overcome. If you have country believing with you, you no longer have the "local" obstacle to deal with. if you have a continent, you no longer have the "national" obstacle to overcome, and so forth. It is actually much easier for this slippery-slope I have just described to escalate in a way that it is almost too late to ever stop, unless there is an overhaul of human civilisation.

[Dark Ghost takes on the role of Insanity Incarnate]

My existence is an offence in its own right. When I swim and decide to hold my breath under water and then re-emerge, what then compels me to think the air I am now breathing is my divine right? Was I forced to go under water and hold it to experience fun? There are people who exist that can only survive because a machine aids their breathing. Did I think of them when I decided to selfishly put my need for fun ahead of their horrible situation? Did their need for fun, like being able to breath unaided by a machine, enter my mind before or even after I emerged from the water with a smile on my face? No, it did not. Maybe it should have.

Maybe I should stop thinking about what I should have done and start thinking about what I can do. Perhaps I should start thinking about starving children in Africa who are so malnourished that unless a miracle occurs, they will probably die within the next week. Yeah, I wonder what their version of “fun” would be? Being able to splash their face using free-flowing fresh drinking water and laughing would probably be like me going on a 5-star international 3 month cruise ship holiday and finding out on my return that it was not all expenses paid. That luxury to feel bad, to feel that I am probably close to financial ruin would be like winning the lottery to that starving kid in Africa splashing his face with the fresh drinking water analogy I mentioned before. Really, my existence is disgusting.

Maybe I should end my own life? That would fix all the problems I mentioned before. They would all go away and nobody would have to suffer from my “right” to exist. Would that be ok? No, it would NOT be ok. The pool guy that services my pool might only just be making ends meet, and needs that job to survive, and if I commit suicide, there would no longer be somebody at my house whose pool needed to be serviced. Do I want to be responsible for somebody losing their job because I had the “right” to take my own life, when his freedom to do that is existent on him not having a family to support, to look after, to provide food and shelter for? Yeah, his right of “fun” would be to be inside a coffin 6 feet under and not have to worry about his responsibilities. They are VERY real concerns for HIM.

But you know what is even worse than ALL of that? What if some advanced Alien Race was able to transmit my thoughts into their own language and begin to understand what I was saying. Did I have their informed consent that I was about to start thinking about such disturbing and depressing content? No, I did not. In my failure to even contemplate such a scenario, I failed to think of the “thoughts” they'd prefer to listen in on. Did I even consider how my thoughts might come across as being representative of the human race's thoughts in general? Now they won't even bother to visit our planet and reveal themselves. How selfish of me to have the arrogance, the audacity to assume my thoughts didn't have the power to harm others...not even other human beings that I can relate to, but aliens who I just assume want to even be interested in tapping into my stupid thoughts for any reason whatsoever.

Bet I didn't think about 1/3 of that while I was about to jump into the water to swim in the first place.

[Dark Ghost abstains from his role of Insanity Incarnate]

We should coin a term for this kind of mindset. I don't think”mentally insane” or “extreme psychosis” would quite cover it. How about we call it the “Offensive-Guilt Reasoning Hysteria” disorder (OGRH).

Although, come to think of it, did I consider the officials who would have to attempt to implement that disorder into the relevant textbooks and databases of knowledge so that others, besides us, could be aware of its existence?

No, I probably shouldn't have considered that. So I will not.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

There are two sides to every story. Why are you critical when a statement like "black people have smaller brains" is labeled politically incorrect. First it's factually wrong. And second it's a racists and intolerant. So why would you be critical of someone being critical of such a statement. Is being against political correctness means you are trying to promote tolerance of intolerance? What exactly is so bad about political correctness? Please give me a specific example so I can understand the hullabaloo is all about.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
There are two sides to every story. Why are you critical when a statement like "black people have smaller brains" is labeled politically incorrect. First it's factually wrong. And second it's a racists and intolerant. So why would you be critical of someone being critical of such a statement. Is being against political correctness means you are trying to promote tolerance of intolerance? What exactly is so bad about political correctness? Please give me a specific example so I can understand the hullabaloo is all about.

I hope you didn't take the opening post TOO seriously, although it kind of seems like you did...

As to your questions:

What is so funny about your example (I am actually laughing as I type this, trying my best to convince myself that you are trolling out of boredom) is that it reminds me of a video I finished watching 10 minutes before creating this thread where in a movie, a black man was finding the most extreme ways to find symbolism of racism inherent to white people to such an extent, that he was referencing other movies and how they were symbolims for making people of colour appear radical, violent, stupid, reckless and irresponsible while people of non-colour would be presented as righteous, peaceful, tolerant and friendly.

So if you ARE indeed trolling: well played, you made me laugh...a lot.

If you were being serious, then read this thread again and may God have mercy on your Soul.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

RE: "Maybe I should end my own life? "

Get help for this if you really feel this way.

originally posted by: Dark Ghost

originally posted by: dfnj2015
There are two sides to every story. Why are you critical when a statement like "black people have smaller brains" is labeled politically incorrect. First it's factually wrong. And second it's a racists and intolerant. So why would you be critical of someone being critical of such a statement. Is being against political correctness means you are trying to promote tolerance of intolerance? What exactly is so bad about political correctness? Please give me a specific example so I can understand the hullabaloo is all about.

I hope you didn't take the opening post TOO seriously, although it kind of seems like you did...

As to your questions:

What is so funny about your example (I am actually laughing as I type this, trying my best to convince myself that you are trolling out of boredom) is that it reminds me of a video I finished watching 10 minutes before creating this thread where in a movie, a black man was finding the most extreme ways to find symbolism of racism inherent to white people to such an extent, that he was referencing other movies and how they were symbolims for making people of colour appear radical, violent, stupid, reckless and irresponsible while people of non-colour would be presented as righteous, peaceful, tolerant and friendly.

So if you ARE indeed trolling: well played, you made me laugh...a lot.

If you were being serious, then read this thread again and may God have mercy on your Soul.

One man's trolling is another man's point of view. Being labeled a troll is like being labeled a "liberal". It's really funny how people are obsessed with labeling each other. I don't like to label people because I feel if I do I may miss something important they might be saying.

I believe our omnipotent God uses his omnipotent powers of forgiveness to have mercy on everyone's soul regardless of our earthly sins. So I am pretty confident God is powerful enough to be able to forgive me.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
RE: "Maybe I should end my own life? "

Get help for this if you really feel this way.

Don't do this to me man, don't do this to me!

Ok...let's go back to your previous reply then.

There are actually at least 4 sides to every story. One side is the version of the narrator, the second side is the version of the person who interacted with first person. The third side is what you decide after hearing both of them tell you what happened. The forth, and unknowable side, is the version representing the objective truth of what happened.

"Black people have smaller brains" is not a statement even Jessie Jackson should find offensive. Firstly, how does this person know or think black people have smaller brains? Second, why would having a physically smaller brain make you inferior? That shows a complete lack of understanding in how intelligence (I assume this what the moron who uttered that phrase probably meant?) and brain structure relate to each other. Thirdly, if the original statement were true and could then be linked to the false reasoning reasoning that bigger "brain=more intelligent", how could you determine somebody's intelligence by looking at them? You can see the size of somebody's head but not their actual brain size. It is a preposterous display of human stupidity to even think such a statement warrants offence.

"Political Correctness" is an example of an inherently good word (Correctness) being tainted by an unnecessary modifier (Political). How can you discuss the level of Political Correctness when the level of the word Correctness is all you need to see if ANYTHING is correct? If everything is correct, one should not need to look into politics to find the correctness for which they seek.

That is all I have to say about that.

As for your last reply, I feel obligated to encourage you to repeat your last sentence to the guy who made the "black people have smaller brains" statement. But I am hesitant, I cannot decide whether he should be held responsible for your decision to bring it up in this thread after reading my opening post.

Any suggestions?

originally posted by: dfnj2015
One man's trolling is another man's point of view. Being labeled a troll is like being labeled a "liberal". It's really funny how people are obsessed with labeling each other. I don't like to label people because I feel if I do I may miss something important they might be saying.

I believe our omnipotent God uses his omnipotent powers of forgiveness to have mercy on everyone's soul regardless of our earthly sins. So I am pretty confident God is powerful enough to be able to forgive me.

Oh dear, did I just troll myself into thinking I had been trolled by somebody else who just implied they were not trolling me? Very confused now...

Let us start a fresh, my new friend.

In serious mode now (only because my conscience won't allow me to do otherwise): are you aware that the bulk of the opening post, especially all the text between the bolded tags was satire and not supposed to be taken seriously? I admit the last couple of lines might have made it a little more confusing, but yes everything I said in the tags (even the question about suicide) was satire. It's unfortunate you didn't pick that up. I'll try harder next time to make it more obvious.

I don't like labels either. Which is why I implied at the end of the opening post I would not even consider having the "disorder" mentioned to anybody not reading this thread. Labels only need to be used if there is a reason to use them. They shouldn't be used to silence another person because you disagree with them or feel they have no right to speak.

What does God need to forgive you for? Misinterpreting the tone of a poorly-expressed online thread which was not intended to be taking seriously for 90% of its content? Don't worry about the thread. Don't worry about me. Don't even worry about yourself. Worry about your belief in a God who sees your online posts as a justified reason to be glad he can forgive?

Just do that last thing and everyone wins.