This is part 1 of a 2-part post. The second half is here.
Disclaimer: Controversy rating: 8/10. This post contains unconventional views. Some readers may be upset. Some may unsubscribe. Que sera sera.
There is a famous quotation that most people seem to love, which I dislike. In fact, I find it quite worrisome, because of how quickly even reasonable people seem to jump behind it.
I am a staunch defender of ideas, and people’s rights to express them, even if I disagree. I don’t think ideas themselves can be harmful; any harm comes only from the actions they inspire. For example, I do not believe in laws against ‘hate’ speech; but I do support laws against deliberately inciting violence. It isn’t the speech that’s dangerous, it’s the actions. As far as I’m concerned, when a hateful person is allowed to speak his mind, he only reveals himself as petty and foolish. I think that’s a good thing. Let idiocy shine a light on itself, that’s what I say. If you tape its mouth shut, we might not recognize it.
But there is one idea, encapsulated in a well-loved quotation, that I think is at the root of every institution of war and genocide. Of course it does not always lead to those dark places, but it contains a fallacy that can delude even a good-hearted person into committing atrocities. And I want to expose its insanity. Read More
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David on April 18, 2009
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, raspy-voiced, chainsmoking high school student for showing me where the sheet metal shop was on my first day of junior high shops. I was lost and frightened.
Thank you Mr Isaacs, for pulling me out of class and chewing me out for quitting basketball. It was so thoughtful of you.
Thank you Ms Shawcross, for phoning me years later and telling me you shared my old short story with your new class. I’m glad they liked it.
Thank you Nadia, Lisis, Roger, Michael, Sherri, Gwynn, Ian, Jay and Alison for welcoming me with open arms into the blogging world.
Thank you, kind readers, for finding my words worthwhile. I appreciate it more than you know. Read More
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David on April 16, 2009
“Hell is other people.”
~Sartre
Whether it’s the rude throng of last-minute Christmas shoppers, or the drunken fratboys slithering up to you at a concert, or the old man in the restaurant booth behind you who clears his decrepit throat every forty seconds, everyone finds themselves feeling a general aversion to people now and then. For those with any level of social anxiety, there is always at least a hum of this derision in the background, sometimes a full-on shout. Even for those without it, repeated ugly experiences can inspire a familiar distaste for people that may never completely disappear. Unless, of course, the people do.
Sometimes the feeling is disdain for their behavior, other times it’s a fear of it. Think of the last time you got upset. Chances are, the actions of another person had something to do with it. Other people seem to trigger the most unpleasant emotions in us. Self-consciousness, intimidation, embarrassment, anger, vulnerability and humiliation tend to characterize our most painful experiences and our most unsettling memories.
When people are present, suddenly there arises a certain tension in the body and mind, however subtle. Our senses are very keen to the spectrum of threats other human beings can present to us. This physical and emotional reaction to people could almost be described as an allergy; an involuntary reaction to the introduction of a certain element to the environment. This offending element is humanity. Read More
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David on April 10, 2009
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
~ Ernest Hemingway
For a long time I didn’t feel like I had a lot of people to relate to. Being shy, I didn’t find myself in a lot of conversations with people I didn’t know, and when I did, I was uncomfortable. Bonds did form, deep ones sometimes, but it was always a product of circumstance. I made friends with people I was in class with or worked with, because some interaction is bound to happen in those places. But to actually form a relationship without the help of circumstances was something I had never experienced.
I’ve shed much of my shyness through deliberately speaking up more and other forms of comfort-zone-pushing, but I eventually made a discovery that really opened the floodgates for me. I see the potential for connection in just about everyone now; I no longer feel bound by differences of age, interests, cultures, or opinions.
The secret to connecting with people is Read More
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David on April 5, 2009
Recently I was surfing an online forum, and I came across something that almost made me cry. Somebody had dug up an old, old post of mine and replied to it. Sometimes new users on a forum don’t look at the date on a old post, and they respond to it as if it were still relevant, so the post goes to the top of the first page in the list, even if it’s years old.
Those of you who read online forums have seen this happen many times, I’m sure, and so had I. But this one gave me an instant lump in the throat.
The post was called, “My Struggle.”
The desperate tone of the post stunned me. I couldn’t believe it was me.
In it, I had spilled my guts to everyone who would listen, over my dissatisfaction with myself and my life. I hated how I never finished anything, never got on a roll, never got good at what I wanted to be good at. I was not able to accept myself, because to accept myself meant that what I was doing (and failing to do) was fine. Read More
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David on March 23, 2009
I'm David and Raptitude is a street-level look at the human experience -- what makes human beings do what they do, and what that means in real life.
I write about how to make sense of the earth's most ridiculous animal, how to get better at being one of them, and how only those two things can save the world. 
Wow, this was so inspiring, David! Thank you!