Some people have expressed concern about how I use language on this blog. This, from Ivan, recently, got me thinking ….
I find your posts to often be … sinuous, reptilian, complex and sometimes (seemingly) self-backslapping in nature and like a property developer’s version of an unsolvable rubiks cube. People are scared to admit they don’t understand your writings for fear of appearing gauche and unintelligent …
My first thought was: Well! There’s a review for the scrapbook … or to print out and put over the mantlepiece.
Then I recalled that I’d recently also been characterised [by others] as a devious and clever ‘spinmeister’ devilishly using a multi-layered approach to … words … for malign effect.
Apparently, I’m seen by some as sooo insincere in my ‘work’ here that I twist and distort ‘the truth’ using carefully coded messages embedded in my prose to create false impressions, defend the indefensible and generally … be … mean.
They don’t actually say this next bit, but they seem to imply that I set out to stir up ‘base’ emotions: outrage, passion, anger, fear, suspicion, ridicule (oops, not an emotion) — all aimed to create havoc and heartache for good people.
Nobody really knows why I’m such a loathsome toe-rag. Or why I do it — for kicks? Because I’m ‘intimately invested’? Just plain irascibility? Or is it some idiotic naivety?
Well, as my 16 year old daughter says, ‘Cool story bro.’
If I had to offer a theory, I’d blame truth and honest opinion. (But self-backslapping runs a close second.)
– P
PS: This image is the icon for Blogsy — a clever multi-platform blogging editor I use on my iPad. (Read the message on the keys, then the fine print on the piece of paper and do what it says.)
I like @vincristine. She makes me laff:
[If the Storify iframe doesn’t appear in your browser directly below, use this link to view it at Storify.]
Update: I don’t know why Storify (not me) attached the Westboro Baptist story. It’s not my intention to draw any parallel. I’ll put this note here until I can figure out how to remove it. Update 2: I can’t see how to get rid of it. That’s intrusive.
Westboro eh .. well well well …
Vincristine …. just look at Petes eyes .. they do things you wouldnt believe … particularly on a frame by frame basis.
Reptilian … ah hah … Peter Aranyi is related to the elite …
It’s all so new to me … any pics of you eating rodents surreptitiously pete .,.
*licks lips*
Its the flicking tongue i have problems with …
Ever watched the series “V” … about reptilians invading and taking on human form … amazing scenes of swallowing rodents.
I have a property down south that could use your swallowing skills
Some people are so busy spending their lives criticizing others that they fail to look in the mirror.
I read this description the other day – “a cult member gone rogue” – in relation to the treatment of someone who was daring enough to have their own brain. I could not think of a better description for how that person was being treated, and how some people treat others that do not agree with everything they say and do.
It is quite amazing to watch. The word “cult” seems so appropriate.
I can relate to feeling a bit simple sometimes when i read your blog and think i have even told you that sometimes i don’t comment for fear of appearing stooopid. I am addicted to learning and improving myself these days though so i keep coming back.
Re your daughter’s “cool story bro” …i knew you had teenagers! There could be no other explanation for you having The Ting Tings in your Iphone! I am the same – my girls keep me – and my music taste young!
Hey! I introduced my daughter to The Ting Tings!
See?: http://www.thepaepae.com/congratulations-kimbra/19306/
re the ‘fall into line’ aspect we (I say ‘we’) sometimes seek to enforce on our friends, yeah, tragic.
Groupthink can be deadly, as can the give-a-dog-a-bad-name tribalism (‘Can any good thing come from Nazareth?’) mindset.
I am lucky that I have good mates who will, and do, pull me up. I saw first-hand a wicked ‘discipleship/shepherding’ thing sweep through a group of my Christian friends in Wellington decades ago. (I think I’ve written about it obliquely here before.) It’s really important to hold on to our own sovereignty as individuals when relating to other human beings, in my opinion. Too big a topic for a sunny morning like this … I’m off for a walk.
Thanks for reading. Comment here (or not) any time you feel comfortable doing so.
– P
I studied Groupthink and its effects in the social behaviour section of my psych class last term. Really interesting / scary stuff.
Received my final Psych grade last night. Another A under my belt!
Life is good. Wish i had known how satisfying success and education were 20 years ago. Not much can ruin – or compare to – the happiness that getting those As causes.
Congratulations on your grades. Good for you.
I loved psychology. Lurved it. (Although my politics professors did look at me sideways when I switched to a double major.)
Really enjoyed this post, Peter! One question – did any of the above critiques come from individuals using their own names?
Cheers Graeme.
To answer your question: a few, but overwhelmingly pseudo/anonymous.
But you know, I really meant it when I said I empathise with some of those who are now publicly or privately attacking my integrity.
I said in my ‘sign off’ note to one of my more vociferous critics recently:
I’m sincere in that, and judging by appearances, I think he’s starting to understand that I’m not the devil or one of his assistants.*
I recall saying this, last year in a post called ‘Declaring where you’re coming from’ http://www.thepaepae.com/declaring-where-youre-coming-from/24628/
… and that’s true. I have empathy for all ‘sides’ of this.
I’m aware (I talk about it enough here) how pervasive the ‘us and them’, ‘with us or agin us’ mentality can be.
Cheers, P
* Which reminds me I meant to quote a brilliant line from David Bowie’s new album, the title track: The Next Day: http://www.songlyrics.com/david-bowie/the-next-day-lyrics/
Gee. Gulp.
And a great album ‘The Next Day’ is indeed! The old man certainly still had something musically and lyrically to say that was worth saying. (Which is more than one can say for Rod Stewart and his new album. Just stop, Rod, please…)
Re ‘Us’ and ‘them’, I remember reading somewhere (don’t ask me where – it was long ago and far away) that the human brain is a dichotomising machine. It understands the world by splitting people and objects into categories, with those categories then splitting down into further sub and sub-sub etc categories, and then drawing conclusions based on whatever categories said person/object fits into.
For instance:
Is Jay male or female? Jay is male.
Is Jay a liberal or a conservative? Jay is a liberal.
Is Jay a David Bowie fan or not? Jay is a David Bowie fan.
But does Jay like Bowie’s trilogy of 80s pop-rock albums or not? Jay thinks those three albums were largely rubbish.
Based on the categories I have placed Jay in, I think Jay sounds pretty awesome, and I’d like to have a beer with him?
Although, wait a second – does Jay like to drink beer or not? Jay likes to drink beer.
Phew.
Of course, this works fairly well when we’ve got enough data to look at many different categories that a person/object could belong in – we can make informed decisions about what we think of someone/something. Things start going wrong though when the analysis doesn’t run very deep.
For instance:
Is [x] black or white? [x] is black. Therefore, I do not like [x] and think (s)he should be strung up.
or
Does [y] seem to support my side in terms of their commentary on [z] judgment of the Court? No, [y] does not. Therefore, I do not like [y] and think I should write many nasty and anonymous comments about him.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this topic Jay.
By a strange coincidence, your pal (/sarc) Ian Wishart featured in my last post about David Bowie …
http://www.thepaepae.com/david-bowies-influence-on-acceptance-of-gay-lifestyle/29562/
Yeah, I agree. ‘The Next Day’ is a gooood album. Better than we deserved to expect.
I was driving my daughter and bunch of her pals to a fund-raising quiz night (I was the only adult on the team) a few weeks ago and played them Rebel Rebel from the ‘David Live’ album (1974) on the car stereo which they all recognised … and then a couple of tracks (as much as they could stand) from ‘The Next Day’.
I made the point (which made me feel OLD) that there was 39 years between the release dates of those albums. Gulp. And I bought them both. (Teenagers don’t buy albums, even on iTunes.)
—
re the ‘dichotomizing’ brain: Yessir, that’s how it works.
We’re just a bundle of neural shortcuts and paradigms — quick to exclude ‘the other’ as inferior merely because it is unfamiliar — or NOT US. Tragic.
I struggle to keep an open mind (I fail sometimes: see my dismissal of Ian Wishart’s hold-back-the-social-tide objections) and *try* to allow for ‘alternative’ points of view having value … until I perceive I’m dealing with a bigot.
Then a ball falls off the edge of a table and I make decisions about how to respond.
But yeah, in my view it’s best to delay ascribing motives — because I recognise the near-impossibilty of doing that successfully. As a result I *try* to focus on actions, statements and claims.
But I slip.
– P
PS As it happens, I like to drink beer too! (Let’s do that sometime soon. I’ll drop you a line.)
Ha, a strange coincidence indeed, Peter! [Cue the Twightlight Zone theme tune]
I must admit that ‘David Live’ is one of the few Bowie albums I don’t have. My vinyl copy of ‘Stage’ has always been my live Bowie weapon of choice (especially the largely instrumental side of disc two – beautifully creepy in places!). Mind you, the DVD of his ‘Reality’ tour blew me away too – loved some of the re-workings of classic tunes.
Amazing to play Bowie’s albums chronologically and chart the musical progressions over time. Psychedelic pop to folk rock to heavy metal to unhinged piano rock to glam rock to… Well, whatever mood one’s in, there’s a Bowie album to suit! Sometimes one even feels in the mood for a guilty slice of Tin Machine…
–
Yes, I too tend to crash and burn in my attempts to keep an open mind. Generally when I’m confronted with the closed mindedness of others…
You’re utterly right about it being best to delay ascribing motives. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt in my profession, it’s that people generally aren’t evil; just sometimes stupid and unthinking…
We all slip…
Good to hear that you too enjoy beer! Enjoying one together in the near future sounds like an excellent idea!
Never called you insincere .. and never really said i was criticising you …your alter ego graeme and yourself are on the wrong track entirely.
People are afraid (only in my opinion) to admit they dont understand much that is written in your posts. I think thats because you try to cover too many bases and please too many people .. then you get pissed off eventually and waste some poor unsuspecting anonymous commenter (and graeme comes in behind like some semi anonymous bum boy massaging your ego… or thats how it may possibly seem to some … poor graeme i say)
Anonymity has absolutely nothing to do with it … after all … who is “graeme” … can we have their name, occupation address etc etc .. or really who really cares … he is just … graeme .. its what he says or types that matters .. that is the person. Who really wants to know more about him her or it for that matter.
Pete .. you have this clever thingie about you … that implies secret knowledge.
Now come on Pete … you are a freemason, you participate in secret journalistic rituals … you and graeme probably ride the same goat together and exchange secret handshakes … and you understand your own posts.
Does graeme clean the carpet afterwards??
Heh heh, nice one, Ivan. [Update: Hey, Ivan, I know YOU don’t accuse me of dishonesty.] (Oh, so you’re not criticizing?)
But this …
People are afraid […] to admit they don’t understand much that is written in your posts.”
Oh, now you’re hurting my feelings.
“I think that’s because you try to cover too many bases and please too many people .. “
That’s a distinct possibility … (the first bit)
“… then you get pissed off eventually and waste some poor unsuspecting anonymous commenter “
Like who? 🙂
“(and Graeme comes in behind like some semi anonymous bum boy massaging your ego… “
Yik!
Freemason, am I now, Ivan? I thought I was an “oppressive elitist baron of the moneyed/property-owning aristocracy”??
Damn, I can’t keep up.
-P
Shit Pete .. will you and Graeme let up on me for just one micro second in my obsessive attempts to paint you as a paid lackey of the moneyed elite … and am i really responsible for Graemes particular peccadilloes and practices (ref… “yik”)
I think what you do and say has value .. i just think you need to remember like the romans required of those celebrating a triumph …
“remember thou art mortal…” from the lowly servant whispering in their ear in the triumphal chariot (and none of them had bloody iphones thank god ..)
And Graeme needs to stop doing things that could possibly be misconstrued or he could be targetted by the GCSB or the youth wing of the National Party.
You really are annoyingly erudite … and communicative…
Truth and honest opinion …
The second one is believable … the first is somewhat in question ..
Self backslapping is far more believable.
And i dont have any tongue in my cheek either …
You thrive on the attention …
Admit it …
[…] guitarist/collaborator on The Next Day, Bowie’s excellent album released in 2013 (discussed here and here: Bowie ‘Lost is Love’ remix) as well as on Bowie’s albums Heathen & Reality […]