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#LOCKE4GOD

No problem, I'm very glad you like it! I thought you might like the green flames!
Don't worry about using it right away, it's for you so use it when you like!

I don't care about money. I care about being able to live independently and being able to do the things you enjoy. Money is important. But not because 'it is money'.
And being rich would be nice. But I wouldn't buy excentric stuff. Maybe art.
But for the most part I'd spend it on charities and doing things. Travelling etc.

But something is pretty much art, the moment someone pulls it out of its context and says it's art. Which is stupid in a way, but it also proves what a diverse term it is. Which is why it's art..

Readymades and stuff. That shit has been pretty popular in the modern age.

I guess what I meant was that you should be sceptic. Rethinking your own ideologies, theowing them away to then find them again is one step closer to being right. But being too sceptical can be exhausting though.

And that's what I meant with the drinking cup. It's not art when there's not at least an incentive to make something arty. It's like those old Coca-Cola posters. They're widely popular now. But it's not art. It's just a product being sold because it appeals to people.

It's on the thread, I put it there a while ago. You didn't see it?
Ah, I forgot gender doesn't show up on the profile! I'm a girl, so that would be sis then. ^^

Hm, yeah, I think you're right. Although sometimes it's also losing if you back off. There are many people who back off when they see that they're wrong. So they just shut up and think that they've won. Like for example when someone says that.. hmm... Judas didn't betray Jesus. Bad example, I know, but you can't win against proof. ^^ There are quite a few people who back off when they're at fault and think that they're intelligent doing so. xD"
The only situation I can imagine that's a full win is when you let yourself be convinced by something true. But that's hard, because you have to accept that the other person is right. (My thoughts are getting complicated now... O.o)

I'm glad you don't see me as a freak just because I like maths. But I must admit that I'm more into analysis than statistics. Actually, I didn't like it. xD" It was pure logic and I know it, yet sometimes it seemed so unlogical... Like, I'm sure you read, the issue of switching doors. It took me a few hours I think to completely understand why you had to switch doors.

I know exactly what you mean... When I play RPGs I also have to have enough time. For example, throughout the week I won't play any FF, just because I don't have enough time. Currently I'm just levelling up my characters, but nevertheless I want to take enough time for that. So I only play at weekends.

Nope, I'm not from Canada. :3 Although I'd like to be. Then perhaps my French would be WAY better.

I'll question when I feel like it.

Sometimes I think 'what if I'm wrong?'. What if being conservative and not open-minded is the right way to go?
Then I realise, the fact that I'm doubting myself, makes me right. How can conservatives live in this society when they're not even willing to evaluate their own ideologies etc. Or at least a big part of them.

Can advertising be art. Hmmm.

I'd have to say no, but it depends on the context. If it is used for arty purposes, definitely. But just a commercial shown on tv, nah, that's not art. I think art is only art when it's meant to be art.

Like when we look at medieval drinking cups with gems in them and put them in museums and say how beautiful it is. But it's not art. They were just fancy drinking cups in their time...

And 'beauty' is both extremely subjective and diverse. Social/political impact is often what makes photographs 'art'. Ugliness can be beauty too. Just like silence can be a great soundtrack.

That's what I often do. I just don't say anymore when I think that the only thing coming out of my mouth will be insulting comments. Most people think that this means that I give up, though. Or that I'm tired of discussion and don't know what to say next.
I hope you didn't get me wrong: Aggression is not the key to a good discussion, but sometimes it's useful. ^^

I think you're right. A person who's actually individual doesn't care about the group, because that persons... kind of lives in his/her own world.

I know what you mean. I'm often called a freak because I also like to study. But I'm kind of.. strange about that, too. I don't like to study everything, not even everything that interests me. (Then I would've started to learn Latin XD") I'm totally into learning everything about maths. I was also quite good at school in maths and now I'm going to study maths at the university. That's why I'm a freak. xD
And I don't like going to parties, drinking alcohol or watching TV either. I think the last time I watched TV was a few weeks ago... Perhaps at the end of July. ^^" I just use my TV to play FF, to be honest. xD

"Christian" is indeed misleading, if we're talking about Protestants only. I think "Christian" is the term for all religions which believe in Jesus Christ. (It has to be, actually.) So it's not only Protestants, but also Catholics. Most of the time I just differentiate between those two. (Because I seldom meet someone who's a Baptist or Orthodox or something else. I only know one Baptist, to be honest. ^^")
I'm not American, either, to be honest. And I have to admit that I find it quite amusing that you're guessing where I come from. If you get tired of it, I'll tell you.

"Aggression is never outright, especially when one is trying to form a convincing argument."
I'd say it depends on WHO you want to convince. There are people who are so stucked with their own opinion that they don't accept other opinions. So you have to be at least a BIT aggressive to get the attention of such a person. I don't say that you should shout at people, but you should find a way to be aggressive and nice at the same time. When I'm aggressive, I tend to be write matter-of-factly. This is my personal way of showing my aggression.

"(...) we are kind of obsessed with the individual, and forget the community."
That's soo~ right. I have noticed that many people tend to want to be an individual so badly that they distance themselves from the community. Like religions: I've seen many people - especially in the last few years - who said that they didn't want to believe in God just because the majority does. They don't listen to the music they think (!) everyone listens to. And even in those communities they try to seperate themselves from all the others. I've noticed that strongly when it comes to music. Some who listen to the same music as I do say that my music "isn't good", although it's based on the same genre. It's the same with everything else. This is a trend I really don't understand. :/

By the way, I think it's great that you're that interested in such things. I wouldn't have thought that young people can be that dedicated to something. Most of the people in my age I know are a bit... lazy, let's say lazy. xD" They just aren't interested in anything other than watching TV or going to parties to drink alcohol.

Hm, I must admit I don't know how many people actually use "Protestant" and I haven't used it only a few years ago, either. ^^" I heard it from a classmate about... four years ago. Before that, I've always said that I was "evangelic". (I only used the adjective, I didn't know a noun, so I began to use "Protestant" as a noun. ^^)
I searched on wikipedia but I haven't found out where they use this term. I always thought they used it everywhere... but no, I'm not British.

And by art being beautiful for whatever reason I didn't mean whatever the motivation behind it is.

In this culture, everything is mostly subjective. What is art to one authority in the field, may be crap to another.

Too ready?

I don't think so. Most of those things have been thought through by a lot of smart people before us. so...

aha!! thanks, I thought it was pretty cool :]

I tried to rep your journal, but it got too long, so:

TFF is like that - before long you know where everyone who speaks up stands. I don't really bother anymore. I sent Sasquatch a VM the other day asking how America was more free than the UK; he hasn't replied, and to be honest I wasn't expecting anything else. We've both been here for years, and have argued many times. The only thing we agree on is that, whatever the starting topic may be, we always end up spouting the same points. I would go so far as to say that I think his outlook is prejudiced and wrong, and I'm fairly sure he thinks the same of me. I respect that in him, but I'm not sure he respects it in me. Oh well. Anyway, I don't imagine that other forums are wildly different - you might find that, as a sort of natural progression, your time on the forums will decrease. It happened to me, and many others, after a little while.

Sleep - I'd recommend picking up a book called I Am A Cat by Soseki Natsume. 'I am a cat. As yet I have no name.' Basically it's this nameless cat narrating the lives and dramas of his master and neighbours in late 1800's Tokyo. There isn't really a plot, though there is a bit of philosophical wandering in parts. Regardless, the translation by Aito Iko and Graeme Wilson makes the cat's voice so gentle and nice that it always sends me off to sleep in a happy mood. I dread finishing it; I've been reading a few pages before sleep for months now, and the cat and his humans feel like old friends. Better than sleeping pills, anyway. I used to suffer from thoughts keeping me from sleep, but it stopped when I was about 19. Jeezo, I am old.

I haven't read the latest posts of the religion thread, so I haven't seen any aggression yet. Discussing for me IS aggressive. When you state your opinion, you can't do it without saying that another opinion is kind of wrong. Perhaps I learned it in a wrong way, but my definition of discussion is that you argue about opinions. The only thing I don't like about discussions is when you start to insult people. ^^"

We are the only members online. -_-