and, no, unfortunately, therapy wasn't a solution, apparently:
I’m usually not one to use vulgarity, but I can say without hyperbole that psychiatry and psychology are total fucking rubbish. Before you go out and waste your money on "therapy", let me fill you in on some little-known truths.
...Narcissistic personality disorder: A personality disorder characterized by an exaggerated sense of self and an inability to experience empathy for others.
My rebuttal:
How is this a disorder? Just because I happen to have a high self esteem and I don’t give a damn about anyone else doesn’t make me "insane" (if "insanity" can even be classified as anything more than a word)...
Still, though, as an author, he had such promise. We may now never see his forthcoming oeuvre, Why I Hate Everything; we may never see the filmed version of this screenplay:
The tale is a simple one: an anthropomorphic praying mantis named Anamantis is a "cognitive insurgent" who lives shortly after the Big Bang in the early universe. Mostly, he goes around using his "cerebral fluid sword" to fight a bunch of monsters: the ultra-dimensional Darkaeons, Hera and Pegusus, and a dangerous fleet of space kittens. After teaming up with Shrodingo, Chaos and a comely lady dragon named Drakoness, he goes in search of ultimate knowledge and the 0th Dimension. Then he sort of merges with the universe, his neurons float everywhere, and he bonds his cerebral fluids with Drakoness (who responds by saying, "Whoa! Intelligence!"). There's nothing like a screenplay with stage directions like "EXT. 0th DIMENSION" or "Animantis looks into [Drakoness'] eyes. He sees a world of frolicsome neurons inside her head" or "The felines jam a needle down the tarpan's penis."
... [The Darkaeon] slashes the Universe with a blade of dark flame.
UNIVERSE: AAAAHHH!!
Who doesn't like a universe that screams "AAAAHHHHH!"? At last our hero gains control over the 0th Dimension, saves Drakoness from Chaos, and tells us the moral of the story:
You may be alive like everything else in this Ultimate Reality. But I am the only consciousness. You can’t run from me. I’m everything and I am nothing. I am the 0th dimension.
Eng concludes with a final bizarre stage direction:
Like a god amongst gods, he soars from Universe to Universe, destroying the flames that bind them. The 0th dimension ripples like an extension of his body. He is beyond omnipotent.
On the up side, at least there is one woman who can fully appreciate his splendiforousness:
32 comments:
Wow. It makes me feel less bad about all the stupid plot ideas I've concocted over the years.
It makes me feel less bad over all the plot ideas I've not concocted over the years.
wow, that makes my passing hasty remarks... next time you do that, i'm going to fork you in a non-vital organ... sound well tame.
erm no, even Anne Coulter knows to stop before she's actually swinging a literal hammer at someone. she might or might not be any less crazy, but she's savvier.
he certainly is strange. :S
Belledame22, you know (I hope) that I have a great deal of respect for you, and I don't want to raise old specters, but actually, I'm completely lying; I do want to raise old specters.
Kenneth Eng is a "Person of Colour". And, yes, he's just one arrogant nut, but his sentiment isn't at all rare. He sums up my frustration with the POC nomenclature. Regardless of our respective skin colours, Kenneth Eng is a Fascist turd - I am not.
Should we create a new acronym, perhaps NYP (non-yellow people) to unite against Asian fascists? It would be ridiculous, and need I mention highly offensive to any self-identified Asian who agrees that Eng's philosophies/delusions are reprehensible.
Steer me straight here: isn't there a better way?
From Wikipedia:
NPD is considered to result from a person’s belief that he or she is flawed in a way that makes the person fundamentally unacceptable to others [7]. This belief is held below the person’s conscious awareness; such a person would typically deny thinking such a thing if questioned. In order to protect themselves against the intolerably painful rejection and isolation they imagine would follow if others recognized their supposedly defective nature, such people make strong attempts to control others’ view of them and behavior towards them. ... To the extent that people are pathologically narcissistic, they can be controlling, blaming, self-absorbed, intolerant of others’ views, unaware of other’s needs and of the effects of their behavior on others, and insistent that others see them as they wish to be seen. ... The interpersonal relationships of patients with NPD are typically impaired due to the individual's lack of empathy, disregard for others, exploitativeness, sense of entitlement, and constant need for attention.
It is unusual for people to seek therapy for NPD. Subconscious fears of exposure of inadequacy are often met with defensive disdain of therapeutic processes.
To recap:
I’m usually not one to use vulgarity, but I can say without hyperbole that psychiatry and psychology are total fucking rubbish.
No, Kenneth...you couldn't possibly have NPD.
ccp: I honestly don't understand what you're trying to say.
He's a racist as well as a nut. Everyone understands that. It still doesn't mean that there is a structural domination of Asian supremacy in place, at least in this country, much as he'd undoubtedly like that (that or the dragons).
and I mean--call yourself whatever you like, but...why? dude, "people of color" as in, "as opposed to whiteness" is not something that was -invented- by y'know people of color, yeah? That particular term may have been adopted late, but...you do understand about the historical origins of "whiteness," right? That it's a -structural- thing, not just a few people who happen to be fascist nutjobs?
--hey, welcome, Jeff Fecke.
and yeah. somewhere else he explains how solipsism is...wait, i just had the quote somewhere (rummages)
right, here
"First of all, I would just like to say that solipsism proves that my philosophy is that since I am the only consciousness I'm aware of, any solipsism must be real. Therefore, since perception creates reality, in both the quantum and relativistic realms, I must be god. So the only reason why — so if there is such a thing as god, then he's me. Either worship me or, you know, forsake religion."
O-KAY!
Seriously, it's sad, too. I don't know how he got to that place of total disconnect--if it's hardwired or insufficient love (not to mention socialization) or what, but...clearly that's what he's really furious about. Isn't it always?
and ccp--there's a false assumption there: that the acronym POC automatically implies that "white"="fascist turd;" it doesn't, and I honestly don't understand why one would have that perception.
"First of all, I would just like to say that solipsism proves that my philosophy is that since I am the only consciousness I'm aware of, any solipsism must be real. Therefore, since perception creates reality, in both the quantum and relativistic realms, I must be god. So the only reason why — so if there is such a thing as god, then he's me. Either worship me or, you know, forsake religion."
This takes me back to my teen years, when I had a lot of wanky teenaged fun in theology and philosophy classes by making exactly this argument!
There is also a logical disconnect in there: nobody else is aware of his consciousness (because either they don't have an independent existence, or else they just can't prove he's conscious) therefore while he's developed a proof of himself as God, he hasn't proved it to anyone else.
Well, you'd think, wouldn't you, that if you were that confident of others -not- having an independent existence, then you wouldn't be particularly bothered by what they do or don't do...
...oh. right. I see. but, the funny little two-dimensional cutouts -don't- behave as extensions of himself, -don't- do what he wants them too -even though they should,- according to his understanding of How Things Work. which is infuriating, so...
*shudder*
also? that's gotta be kind of lonely...
...i mean right, okay, if you think of other people as being -quite literally- your good right arm, and your arm keeps not doing what you want it to -even though it's your own arm,- you know, going all Strangelove and so on, well? and even though it's a part of you, where else are you gonna unload all that anger, if there really isn't -anyone else- in existence?
and,
"if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out."
and so forth.
"you are the weakest link, goodbye--"
Yeah, I'd be worried about him and firearms as well. When did they say he's getting released from jail, again? Maybe 'swell I'm not going to NYU...
space kittens?
anything with space kittens can't be ALL bad...
and I mean--call yourself whatever you like, but...why? dude, "people of color" as in, "as opposed to whiteness" is not something that was -invented- by y'know people of color, yeah? That particular term may have been adopted late, but...you do understand about the historical origins of "whiteness," right? That it's a -structural- thing, not just a few people who happen to be fascist nutjobs? - belledame222
Lets not imagine that institutionalized racism is a "white thing". It certainly isn't. It's hard to find a country where it isn't the order of the day today, much less historically. Ironically, the countries that step the farthest away from that happen to be inhabited mostly by white people. I personally believe that's the result of one part rapid scientific development (and the perks that come with it), and one part military and political dominance rather than the result of whiteness. If the Chinese had gotten there first, they would be the ones promoting multiculturalism, not the descendants of dreaded whitey.
Certainly, you're not trying to say that white people invented racial prejudice? Much of the world was actively pursuing racially biased policies when white people were still living in caves.
POC may make some sense in the United States, but it instantly falls apart once you step outside the country (nothing makes me laugh more than Americans telling me I'm privileged - ya right), and certainly falls apart once you go back in time. But what's more important, I think, is that the term accomplishes nothing except to ally non-whites against whites. This is the foundation of institutionalized racism, not the answer to it.
Clearly, by the way those who call themselves POC talk about whites (not all, but many), it's gone beyond the reclaiming of a phrase (which, I don't think is such a great idea anyway), and straight into a racist movement. The same way feminism has become a sexist movement. There's a point when people forget that a term is ironic, and take up it's concrete meaning in earnest.
This is the foundation of institutionalized racism, not the answer to it.
Oh and you've said the Cliche of the Day! "Non-white people organising against existing white supremacy is the Real True Racism"
Here's you complimentary chasingmoksha beanie baby, don't let the door hit you on the way out!
If the Chinese had gotten there first, they would be the ones promoting multiculturalism, not the descendants of dreaded whitey.
No doubt, and if my aunt had testicles, it'd make her gynocology appointments a lot more interesting, but--they didn't. If you're trying to make the argument that no one group is inherently more moral than anyone else, you're arguing with the wrong people. No one is making that argument.
But I mean, again, go ahead and call yourself whatever it was, see what kind of people that attracts. I'll be over here.
Which is to say: WE DID THIS ALREADY, we are in fact always diding this alreadies ffs.
I am sick of the clownz.
Therefore, since perception creates reality, in both the quantum and relativistic realms
This is the most ass backwards conception of either relativities or quantum mechanics, spec relativity says that your velocity and your perspective of such changes your perception of reality, but that the universe doesn't fucking care what you see, because the results are the same either way.
General then goes on to point out that YOU CAN'T HANDLE TO TRUTH PUNY MORTALS! because you have to look along those non-euclidean geodesics we all live on but are unable to perceive.
QED says simply that if you fling quantum mechanical systems at a wall hard enough, they get so confuddled that they actually finally pick a specific classic state from their previous superpositioned existence, until they go superpositioned again for lack of interest.
but that how hard you fling them at the wall doesn't actually affect what they choose, because they don't care any more than the geodesics do.
In short, all three theories say "shut the fuck up noob! No body cares asswipe."
and by the way, if you're going to put something in scare quotes like "all the power in the world," that tends to imply that someone y'know actually -said that-, when as far as I can see, that was nobody -here.-
meanwhile, back to the curiousness that is Kenneth Eng: some juicy bits from a former classmate
He was in a friend's life drawing class, for example, and at one point the teacher asked everyone what they first looked for when drawing a figure. Everyone gave sane answers - "I look for an action line" or "I look for an interesting feature" - but then Ken said, "first, I imagine the subject as a lycanthrope." And then, lo and behold, everyone cranes their necks to look at Ken's work, and indeed, he's drawn a shitty bevy of lycanthropes for his assignments.
At another point, in a screenwriting class with maybe six people in it, he would constantly make his classmates read his writing in class and then take back the scripts so that no one would steal his ideas. One script centered around some sort of Lara Croft-esque babe who was participating in a rather dangerous game indeed: a bounty hunt to kill everyone with an IQ below 110. At one point in the script, a nuclear device was about to hit China, but then in a heroic moment, it was rerouted to, I believe, a stadium of black people in Detroit. Asked why this had happened, why it was a victory that the Asians were spared for the blacks, he proudly responded that "there has never been, nor will there ever be, a black genius."
Needless to say, that script is currently in production and is going to be a huge success, bearing the title Pirates Of The Caribbean 3.
...He would also do things like, when profs would show clips from Casablanca or The Godfather in class, raise his hand and whine aloud that there was no point in watching crappy old movies when his own dialog was so much better.
Besides everything else: ccp, then you turn around and say "non-white." - belledame222
I know, it's a ridiculous way to divide up people... that's sort of my point. Or do you not see the problem with that?
My criticism is that the POC perspective arbitrarily assigns people white and non-white status, and then takes the extra idiotic step of assigning traits and experiences based on that arbitrary division. It's ludicrous, and it's hard for me to talk about it without using terms equally as ridiculous as POC.
And for fuck's sake, China and India--have you -heard- of colonialism? - belledame222
So, you're saying that China and India are colonies of the white conspiracy? Yeah, gee, what was I thinking?
Next you'll tell me that Imperial Japan was cuddly, or the Mongols were particularly open-minded, or Islamic nations are rational. Yeah, those nasty white people, with their pesky human rights, and democracy, and United Nations, and yeah, multiculturalism too. Come on. Give me a break.
The problem is that YOU live in the United States where people are seriously mentally ill about race, and about a century behind the rest of the western world when it comes to sorting it out (and most other social issues as well). You have my sympathies for that. But you need to check your American privilege, and start to realize that the world is a much bigger place. And maybe, read a few non-American books about colonialism too.
Here's an easy quiz: By what strategic policy did the British Empire maintain control over India?
I tell you right now, the answer certainly doesn't portray the British as particularly racist. Not that they weren't. They just had lots and lots of company.
i live in a city that stratles the state line, and although we have a city identity and one that has sports teams... there are some very real differences... in funding the stadiums.
the metro area is considered all kansas city, yet the sports teams are on the missouri side. however, one of the more affluent areas is on the kansas side.
so every once and a while an interesting debate gets thrown into local politics. when repairs or additions are needed to one of the stadiums a local campaign gets under way called "One" as in unity for the area, if we want to be successful we have to be competitive and every one has to do their part, no side of the state line is better than the other.... and that means a bi-state tax.
yet, because the city of KCMO actually owns and leases the stadiums, that means that they profit, and having 2 major league teams benefits KCMO directly at an unfair advantage financially and the residents of that county have ticket priority, when the residents on the Kansas side point this out... they are being divisive there can't be that much unity because, well of course we are in another state.
but, hey we are all kansas citians why do we have to acknowledge our differences, right? it's the kansans who are creating this whole separate "cities" business, it does nothing but hurt their cause and by voting against such taxes they are punishing MO for having sports teams, something that they benefit from!!!! can you imagine the stupidity? going around creating the difference between missorians and kansans, it's just an arbitrary line for ma's sake. i personally don't see licence plates, in fact my best friend lives in kansas and i just don't understand what all of the fuss is about. i mean, sure gas is more expensive on that side and yeah, the bars close earlier too, but that doesn't matter. i just don't understand why some of the people from kansas want to make it such a big deal, in fact one of "them" just told me the other day that for a person who lives in missouri i'm incredibly open-minded about kansas and they understand why i wouldn't want to live there. see it's just a few of those kansans making trouble for the rest of us kansas citians.
CCP: you know what, what trin said. No. Just: no.
And you know what else: what the fuck are you telling -me- this for? Go find some POC, then--or whatever -your- name for them is, which I'm sure anyone would be thrilled to accept-- and explain your theories to them. But not in here.
Most of the world lives in India and China, and they are not under the yoke of white supremacy.
Except for the massive market for skin whitening products in asia, sold to the entire friggin continent by the american/european owned "beauty product" business and the use of asia as a cheap source of labor by white american/european manufacturers and business men, even as other asians are used as a cheap source of product testing for american/european pharmacuetical industry, you're absolutely right!
Apart from the whole globalisation thing, and the whole colonialism thing and in fact, apart from ever bit of evidence that disproves your point, you're absolutely right!
And you know what else: what the fuck are you telling -me- this for? Go find some POC, then--or whatever -your- name for them is, which I'm sure anyone would be thrilled to accept-- and explain your theories to them. But not in here.
What did they do to you for you to wish this weirdo on them?
Wiat a second... Spacekittens?
His screenplay, the 0th Dimension, apparently contains spacekittens. possibly not the fun kind. Also anthropomorphic cyborg dragons, talking universes ("AAHHHHHHH!") and -brilliantly- bad dialogue. He's like Ed Wood Goes Postal, or something.
the use of asia as a cheap source of labor by white american/european manufacturers and business men
Every successful country begins as a source of cheap labor. The Netherlands became the center of world commerce that way. So did Britain and the USA. The US needed tariffs to protect its local industry, but China' keeping its currency artifically deflated fulfills the same purpose.
The Western ownership of many factories in China is a novelty, but so much of the actual entrepreneurial work, including the management, is done by Chinese people that Chinese people acquire the skills just the same. So the effect on the national economy is the same as this of Japan's late 19th century modernization, rather than as this of many third world countries' failed attempts to develop by attracting foreign investment.
The skin whitening thing is basically an imperial anthropic principle: whoever you are, you're likely to be the descendant of imperialists. If you're not, like Belledame and I aren't, then you're likely to be assimilated into the imperialists' culture.
It's not even the first time it happens in China. When the Manchus conquered it and replaced the existing dynasty, the hair style in vogue in China changed to what was popular in Manchuria. Wearing one's hair the old Chinese way was even considered an act of resistance to the government.
And likewise, India has its own preference for whiteness, which predates Western civilization by either centuries or millennia, depending on when you place the beginning of the West. Dark skin was associated with spending time working in the fields, i.e. doing manual labor, i.e. performing lower-class work.
To some extent, it goes both ways. Western interest in Japanese culture started about the same time Japan's economy started outperforming this of the United States. Then American schools suddenly started to offer Japanese as a foreign language, American businesses started to copy Japanese business culture, and Westerners started to watch anime and read manga.
The skin whitening thing is basically an imperial anthropic principle: whoever you are, you're likely to be the descendant of imperialists. If you're not, like Belledame and I aren't, then you're likely to be assimilated into the imperialists' culture.
Umm... if you're jewish (and I assume that you and belle are also ultra pure blooded semitic jews, otherwise we get into the whole rampant inability of any emigrated or dysporiaed group's to keep it's legs crossed and it's pants zipped for any amount of time) then I hate to point out that you are the descendents of imperialists - not recent imperialists, but yeah, it's there.
After all, 18th and 19th century american slavers didn't just make up the archaic jewish laws they cited to justify slavery, the theological contortions that went with it were made up, but they were christians, so it's sort of normal.
Every successful country begins as a source of cheap labor.
Only as long as that allows the country to become a major self-owned manufacturing base, and only as long as that in turn coincides with the country being heavily invested - which then allows the country to build it's economy up so that it can become successful in other business arenas, for instance post-war japan started as a manufacturing base, with japanese owned companies, which then moved into R&D, which made the country into a good place for foreign businesses to invest (which is the only really important thing, economically) and so and so forth until the paper dragon fell over.
If the country's manufacturing base isn't owned by local companies, then it won't neccesarily lead to the country being invested in, which leaves the country high and dry if there's a cheaper source of manual labor in another country that the companies who are using your labor can readily exploit.
See the American South or the british North for an example of this, all successful imperialists started at home, and moved outward, and imperialists have in turn been successful enough that they have in turn defined what makes a country "successful" - so that success is defined by how good an imperialist you are.
China's getting there, as is india, but only because they've both started to become a safe investment for foreign companies, as well as being a cheap source of readily exploitable labor and other commodities for said companies.
And anyway, even investment capital doesn't preclude exploitation, any more than you can call the South economically successful.
and Westerners started to watch anime and read manga.
Actually the exporting of manga and anime to america started in the early 60's, people who grew up on things like Astroboy and Starblazers, then grew up and became the first wave of american fansubbers, as well as the plagarising western film makers of the period, which happened to coincide with the rise of the paper dragon - there would have been that cross pollination without the economic rise of japan, I've yet to see any evidence that cultures ever fail to cross pollinate like that once they're able to come into contact, and kinda have to cross pollinate when they are forced through occupations or anything else, into close interactions like the occupation of japan did.
Indian and south west asian culture mixed with british culture even before sizable immigration started hitting british isles - that sort of cross pollination just occurs, irregardless of how hard the conservatives wish it didn't, pour two polar liquids together and you tend to have to do some seriously funky things to unmix them, and there's nothing you can do stop them mixing in the first place except keep the two liquids totally isolated from each other - and I don't think they've invented a cultural centrifuge yet.
My point is that the cultural cross pollination didn't have a great deal to do with japan's economic status (though the opening up of japanese clases all over the place was a result of people trying to be canny futurists and cry out "I for one welcome out coming japanese overlords!" so they were ahead of the projected game, which was fine until that pesky bubble burst) any more than the southwestern asia/britain intermixing was the result of the punjab being a highly successful source of manufacturing capital - things occur for more than one reason, and things also occur for more than one reason at the same time as other things occur for yet other reasons.
And the truly modern expansion of the manga/anime market in the west was a 90's thing actually, things like Akira and Fist of the North Star preceding the eventual Tokyopopping of the medium after the great Pokemon boom of the early naughties, before that japanese media was very very underground in the west.
In fact, hong kong media in the form of kung fu flics was far more mainstream by the 80's than japanese stuff was.
And likewise, India has its own preference for whiteness, which predates Western civilization by either centuries or millennia, depending on when you place the beginning of the West. Dark skin was associated with spending time working in the fields, i.e. doing manual labor, i.e. performing lower-class work.
Well yes, but in it's modern form it's more a product of asia and africa being ex-colonies more than anything - it also, it must be pointed out, was a product in the olden days of "india" always being a colonial country - more specifically, northern india invaded and took over the darker southern asia and spread itself out to a limited extent to australasia, something clearly visible by the way hinduism and buddhism was already there and mixed in with local shamanistic traditions when islam took over the region and itself got mixed into the local beliefs, which in turn preceded western capitalism repeating the cycle all over again.
sassywho: *snort*
If the country's manufacturing base isn't owned by local companies, then it won't neccesarily lead to the country being invested in, which leaves the country high and dry if there's a cheaper source of manual labor in another country that the companies who are using your labor can readily exploit.
Yeah, I know. My contention is that because in China so much of the investment and especially the entrepreneurship is done by locals, it has the same effect as Japanese- or Taiwanese-style industrialization, wherein locals own the entire chain of production.
The main problem with the IMF model of development is that it relies on transplants. The factories GM is putting up in Mexico can be put anywhere in the world; they're independent of any local network of suppliers that exists in Mexican cities, so they never help this local network grow. This is the opposite of how American auto manufacturing began: Ford had other manufacturers in Detroit make car parts, and used his factory only to assemble them.
Now, in China, there does appear to be a network of local suppliers. Although it's become a popular target for offshored factories, much of its early industrialization was Chinese-owned, with Deng permitting local capitalist development in a few cities. Then some enterprising government officials elsewhere started to violate socialist laws; whenever those violations led to development, the central government forgave them. So there was time for a network of suppliers to sprout in Guangzhou and Shenzhen and Shanghai and Beijing.
China has other problems - aside from a few ill-thought reforms under Mao, it's never shaken off the bureaucratic system that made it turn from the world's most developed country in 1450 into the great powers' dumping grounds by 1850.
India is something else entirely, of course, but that's another story.
Well yes, but in it's modern form it's more a product of asia and africa being ex-colonies more than anything - it also, it must be pointed out, was a product in the olden days of "india" always being a colonial country - more specifically, northern india invaded and took over the darker southern asia and spread itself out to a limited extent to australasia, something clearly visible by the way hinduism and buddhism was already there and mixed in with local shamanistic traditions when islam took over the region and itself got mixed into the local beliefs, which in turn preceded western capitalism repeating the cycle all over again.
Oh, word. I can't (and don't) argue with that.
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