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August 2001 - June 2017
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To everyone who joined these forums at some point, and got discouraged by the negativity and left after a while (or even got literally scared off): I'm sorry.
I wasn't good enough at encouraging people to be kinder, and removing people who refuse to be kind. Encouraging people is hard, and removing people creates conflict, and I hate conflict... so that's why I wasn't better at it.
I was a very, very sensitive teen. The atmosphere of this forum as it is now, if it had existed in 1996, would probably have upset me far more than it would have helped.
I can handle quite a lot of negativity and even abuse now, but that isn't the point. I want to help people. I want to help the people who need it the most, and I want to help people like the 1996 version of me.
I'm still figuring out the best way to do that, but as it is now, these forums are doing more harm than good, and I can't keep running them.
Thank you to the few people who have tried to understand my point of view so far. I really, really appreciate you guys. You are beautiful people.
Everyone else: If after everything I've said so far, you still don't understand my motivations, I think it's unlikely that you will. We're just too different. Maybe someday in the future it might make sense, but until then, there's no point in arguing about it. I don't have the time or the energy for arguing anymore. I will focus my time and energy on people who support me, and those who need help.
-SoulRiser
The forums are mostly read-only and are in a maintenance/testing phase, before being permanently archived. Please use this time to get the contact details of people you'd like to keep in touch with. My contact details are here.
Please do not make a mirror copy of the forums in their current state - things will still change, and some people have requested to be able to edit or delete some of their personal info.
This is an ancient account I have not used in a long time. My views have changed much in the intervening months and years.
Nonetheless, I refuse to clean it up. Pretending that I've held my current views since the beginning of time is what we in the industry call a lie. Asking people to do so contributes to moralistic self-loathing. "See, those people have nothing damning! I do! I'm truly vile!"
Because you can never be a good person with a single blemish on the moral record, I thought that simply entertaining some thoughts made me irredeemable. Though I don't care for his writing style, William Faulkner presents a good counterexample. He went from being a typical Southern racist to supporting the civil rights movement. These days we'd yell at him for that, probably.
People are allowed to change their views.
Nevertheless, this period of my life has informed some of how I am today. In good ways and bad ways. To purge it would be to do a disservice to history. Perhaps it will not make anyone sympathetic, but it may help someone understand.
If, after reading all this, you still decide to use the post above as evidence that I am evil today, ask yourself if you have never disagreed with the moral code you now follow. In all likelihood you did, at some point. If some questions are verboten, and the answer is "how dare you ask that," don't expect your ideological opponents to ever change their minds.
...We don't deliver.
Whoops, accidentally left the mobile ver- hey, I guess the icon thingy only shows up if you post in the mobile version of the site.
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
(This post was last modified: 09-29-2015 04:25 AM by Ky.)
He complains about how greedy his boss is, yet he acts like he's entitled to his job, where, in those rare moments he actually does put in any effort, he berates the customers as well as his coworkers. He spends his free time admiring the arts, expecting to fulfill a dream of being an artist or dancer or clarinet player, yet loses his shit whenever Krabs stops funding his frivolous lifestyle, or when the townspeople complain about his total lack of talent. He's flirted with striking, experienced unemployment, but still treats the Krusty Krab establishment like it's the problem with his life. He hates his neighbors, in part because they blissfully enjoy the status quo - despite the fact that one can't drive a boat and the other is (usually) content with the low standard of living his unemployment causes - because he can't shake the dream of living in a world where he can do whatever the hell he wants.
Other characters in the SpongeBob universe have their times of adversity, but most of them are either willing to accept their limitations or are punished for their failure to do so. SB's happy as a fry cook in a greasy spoon. Patrick's doing just fine living under a rock. Mr. Krabs is the proud owner of a restaurant, yet he can't employ unethical business practices without getting his comeuppance in one way or another. Plankton may be bitter and obsessive, but even he can distance himself from his unhappiness at times. Hell, Sandy's a land creature struggling to adapt to underwater life, but even she's inventive and chipper.
Not Squidward. He's only happy when he feels like he's in the utopia he's envisioned as his future. He only "works" in the fast food industry because he thinks his laziness will pay for his lack of talent later on. He only dreams of being useful to society as a result of his hobbies; he's opposed to the idea that the collective prefers him as a cashier. And he listens to public radio.
Honestly, Squidward is the perfect deconstruction of an ivory tower leftist.
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
09-29-2015 11:53 AM
Thanks given by:
brainiac3397
Machiavellian Amoeba
Posts: 9,823
Joined: Feb 2013
He's the opposite of Squidward in only one regard; he gets everything he wants. He shares Squidward's background (presumably well-off) as well as many of his interests, but he's followed by a posse of fish who think he's the best thing since sliced bread. Plus he has tons of money, which - if his characterization is anything to go on - was probably not earned.
Squidward's rare moments of victory are often against Squilliam, and I'd attribute this to the fact that Squilliam has it easy whereas Squidward is somewhat cognizant of his social standing - and is thus more competent - and isn't above asking the people he claims to hate to help him get an edge over his rival.
Indeed, episodes like Band Geeks show us that Squidward isn't a total failure; he demonstrates significant competence when given the proper motivation, even if things don't always work out when he does. It's just that his heart seems to be in the wrong place, and that's why he's so miserable so often on the show.
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
Sometimes I wonder if cigarette companies' new marketing strategy is to make anti-cigarette ads so annoying that people will want to smoke them out of spite.
I don't have a damn clue why this is all happening
Why am I here? Why does it seem I was made to suffer? Why am I trapped? Why was I given such an impossible dream? Why do I have to inspire hope when it's hopeless?
*punches the air*
Public Service Announcement: First world problems are still problems.
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