guess who definitely wouldn't be in gryffindor?
Kyle asked: Is there any issue on which you feel you have a righteous position? For which you could not abide compromise because there is no misunderstanding or ignorance on the part of the opposition?
And that's a very, very good question. The idea of having a righteous position-- especially, the idea of knowing that I have a righteous position on anything-- isn't one that has much place in the way I conceive of ethics/morality. The assumption that compromise would stem from having to work around someone else's flawed understanding is also strange to me, as if someone were doing (what I consider) wrong only out of ignorance/thoughtlessness and were willing to listen to me, I'd try to educe them over to my side or way of doing things, not negotiate or compromise with them per se. But anyway, there are situations where I would act in particular ways, without hesitation or doubt, and I would never not unless physically prevented, regardless of circumstance. Like, if I saw an adult beating a child, I would call for help, run for help, yell at them to stop, try to get between the adult and the kid or hold the adult off, or intervene in whatever ways I could as quickly as I could-- I mean, for me that wouldn't be a righteous act, and it wouldn't make me some great person; it would just be the only thing I could let myself do in that situation. I wouldn't hate the adult who was beating the child, not really. Again, that's not me being some great person, it's just that I tend to have some desire to prevent unnecessary and unjust harm, and little or no desire to see anyone punished, whether they deserve it or not. I'm not interested in hating people or fighting people unless it's purely defensive fighting and purely necessary. I'm not even a pacifist, really. It's a matter of inclination more than strong conviction.
I don't like bigotry, but I don't believe that a person who has fucked up opinions about certain groups of other people is necessarily bad, or that none of that person's opinions on anything can ever be right or valuable because of their bigotry. Does that make sense? I don't know, I really hate myself a lot of the time, so I think it's easy for me to be forgiving/compassionate in certain ways. I have opinions, but I doubt them. People are...I don't know. I don't like a lot of them, but that doesn't mean I think they're bad, and even the people I do think are bad, or who have done worse things even than most people usually do, I just...I just wish things had been different. I wish they were okay and hadn't hurt so many people. I wonder what it felt like to be them. I don't know, I keep telling you.
The funny answer is that Jewel is a terrible musician and poet; Neutral Milk Hotel and the Mountain Goats are the amazingest bands; there is no hard and fast line between "literary fiction" & "genre fiction," and there never has been; Avatar was an overrated and unoriginal movie; artichoke, BBQ sauce, and pineapple are really good pizza toppings and it totally isn't weird that I like them; Pluto is a planet, and cats aren't mean, only different from humans and dogs. If you disagree, you are categorically WRONG. I will brook no argument!
Alicia also asked me questions, and I'll answer them later. (Anybody else who wants can still ask me questions, too.)
1. Weight of the World, Tarkio
2. Romans 10:9, The Mountain Goats
3. My Dream Girl Don't Exist, Neutral Milk Hotel
4. The Water Jet Cilice, Andrew Bird
5. Sorrow, The National
6. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Russian Red (cover)
7. Naomi, Neutral Milk Hotel