Posted by Nightwing on November 07, 1997 at 19:39:44:

In Reply to: Re: So anyway, here's what I have to say about all this fun I started... posted by Varjak on November 07, 1997 at 16:05:18:

Hey Var!

You dirty, abase shred of human garbage. Now we see your true colors. Soulless SOB!! Defiler!! Bad-stuff-sayer!! Jerk!!

The customary insults having been dispensed, I now proceed with my response to Varjak's response to my response to my initial post.

First, let me say that I believe in the unique circumstance, the absolute situation. Yes, at the most basic level life is merely a collection of specifically arranged nucleic acids. Unremarkable. Yes, computers are essentially souped-up switch boards that can endlessly combine 0 and 1 to create images on a screen. But, life, computers, and words are three unique things. What is true of one is not true of another. Viewed at its most basic level or not, life is undeniably life. And a computer is undeniably a computer. They are not subjective, they cannot be taken or left. Since they are physical and exist, they can be proven and must be accepted.

Words are different. Words, and the ideas they represent, are not physical. They are not substantive. They may be accepted or rejected at the discretion of the reader. Words do have meanings and they do convey ideas, but ideas are not absolute. They are without substance. They exist only in the mind, in the realm of the intellect, for pondering and debate if you like, or just as easily to be disregarded.

That was the major thing you seemed to disagree with about my philosophy. Words have meaning, you said. "Words are power," "words matter." To be more precise, the ideas those words represent are power, and those ideas matter. And if I agree with an idea, if I imbue it with meaning and power, then absolutely that idea matters, absolutely it holds power. A man who believe in an idea has it in his power to change the world ...

... provided the world likes his idea. You see, it ultimately rests not on the holder of the idea, but on the receivers of the idea. Yes, people are persuaded by the ideas of others, yes words can change minds, but only if those minds allow themselves to be changed. You and your words don't change my mind; I do.

You mentioned my problems with V.--oh, to hell with it: Victor. The guy's name is Victor. Anyway, you mentioned my problems with him as proof that words carry their own power and that they cannot be simply dismissed. I don't see the proof. Yes, Victor said some things that upset me. But he was dealing with a very, very, very sensitive and personal issue that I've never liked to discuss with anyone, and I simply let him get to me. That's all it was. Yes, I'm pissed at him, but I recognize my own weakness as the final cause of my getting upset. When I look back on that time but a few weeks ago now, my anger doesn't take the form of "Victor, that SOB, how could he do that", but of "[Nightwing], you stupid SOB, why'd you let him get to you like that?" He hurt me, but I let him in. I'm a fallible human being. I failed to exercise my power. As you and everyone else who I call "friend" well know, I have my shortcomings. There are things that are not within my capacity; forgiveness, for instance, has always been especially difficult for me.

One last thing before I stop typing: When I say that I no longer hold power over words that are always put out for consideration, I am not absolving myself of responsibility over my actions. Ideas and actions are two totally separate things. Actions are physical and undeniable; ideas are only of consequence if they lead to actions. I'm responsible for my actions, and for the creation and shaping of my ideas, but not for what people do with them after they've been shared. Once that's done, the power is in the reader, not the writer. It's not just true for me, you realize, but for every intelligent being in Creation.

I decide what ideas have power and what ideas do not. If I find an idea to be pleasing or to make sense by my standards, I embrace it, instill it with all the power it warrants. If I allow an idea the power to offend me, I rebuke it, but realize that it was always me to had the power, and I didn't have to get offended. Hopefully, if I find an idea to be potentially offensive, I'll be able to deny it that power. It's the power to deny ideas their power that every human being holds in his or her hands. That's all I'm saying.

Now, all that said and done ... who hasn't gone to the Edge yet? I mean ... no outer crust? First they fill it with cheese, then they get rid of it altogether? I wish they'd make their damn minds up ...

--Nightwing@prodigy.com