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Re: So Many Themes, So Little Humor (LONG POST)-short reply

Pete wrote a buncha stuff I agree with and:

>   Chris went on to say:
>        This is a sociological reality, and batting your doubtless
>        lovely eyes innocently will not make it go away.
>   
>   Taken individually, his eyes are OK, but as a pair...  well, the
>   left one is twice the size of the right one, and it does move in
>   unison with the right one but on with a 2-3 second delay.  And
>   doesn't blink so much as it "retracts".  Seen sideways it's not so
>   bad but head on, well...  bit of a shock, really.

I'd just like to dispel this myth and say that my eyes are quite
normal.  Neither lovely, nor disproportionate.  They're a bit blind
without my contact lenses, but they're fine.  Shame on you, Pete, for
riling people up like this.  *I* would never do such a thing...;-)

>   Well, I am now.  And if Khoa is an idealistic optimist, I'm brief
>   and to the point.  FYI, I once quoted to this man a line of verse,
>   that "Hope is the thing with feathers."  He left the room and came
>   back in with his hunting rifle and asked "Where's its nest?"

And I blew away that damned nest too.  Crispy critters...

>   Then, Anon really blew the doors off the barn with this:
>   
>        Self-victimization seems to me the point at which one
>        relegates the responsibility of happiness to others.  I
>        certainly don't see how an awareness about:
>   
>        1. the interdependence between individual and group
>        identities, or
>        2.  constraints faced by a minority sub-culture against the
>        mainstream culture
>   
>        would constitute an advocacy for irresponsible behavior,
>        warranting a lable of 'victimization.'  I'd appreciate an
>        explanation from Khoa and/or anyone else.
>   
>   I'm not at all sure what Khoa meant when he used the words "victim
>   mentality."  But I'm pretty sure I've not seen anywhere any
>   advocacy for irresponsible behavior.  That might have just been a
>   misunderstanding.

Yeah, all a misunderstanding.  I'm not advocating irresponsible behavior.
Perhaps I was a bit too eager myself in using hyperboles, but what I meant
was that when you say that your identity is derived from a particular
group or community, you are disowning the freedom, responsibility, and
privilege that you have for making your "self."  And by "victim
mentality," I meant to say that it is this act of disowning that leads to
an unfortunate dependency on others to construct your life, motivations,
what have you.  If you begin by saying that "my identity--who I am--is
dependent on society," how long is it before you'll say "I did this bad
thing because society (the devil) made me do it"?  I'm a great believer in
the concept that everyone creates themselves...I hope I've made that
clearer...

-khoa (who never seems able to keep his opinions to himself, damn it)

<email>
http://www.seattleu.edu/~kwa


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