Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Facepalm of the Day

It's something I found funny, but at the same time, it really makes me worry for the state of imagination in the world, or at least in some people. 

Over on a forum disscussion, I was giving my opinion on something and I off-hand said (typed) "I usually just lurk here anymore, but today decided to come to the Comments box where angels fear to tread." 

Today I was checking the topic and I saw the response from someone saying "Yeah, as if ficticious entities have anything to fear." 

Is it just me or does the attempt at snark fail when it's nitpicking out a common cultural expression?  I'm sorry, guy, your attempt to make me feel stupid had the polar opposite effect, as in I don't want to come to your "side" or be like you if it means killing the poetry in my soul.  Some people are so literal these days, aren't they?  Too literal and not literary. I mean, the way I (and most people) use the phrase "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" has nothing to do with the actual existance or non-existance of angels, it's about going somewhere or doing something that you know is foolish. 

As another expression goes, one that my guy is fond of using; "I knew the job was dangerous when I took it."  

What I didn't know was the extent of raging dumb I'd run into on it. It's always the ones that are certainn they're smart, too (otherwise they wouldn't attempt fail-snark). 

3 comments:

  1. Some people will just seize on every conceivable opportunity to be a raging b-hole. The internet, while it is a wonderful and glorious thing that I love, seems to exacerbate this tendency of human nature.

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  2. In fairness, this is something atheists go through and you're more collateral damage than anything else.

    Once an atheist realizes just how much of the language is affected by Christianity, and how much of it they can't even stop themselves from using, it gets annoying to see/hear other people use these phrases.

    It's like being on a diet and seeing people eat the foods you are forbidden. It's nothing personal on either end, you just totally hate those people.

    We get over it eventually.

    (That's ignoring the issue of people on the asperger's end of the autism spectrum, who can be very frustrating to deal with online, as they will pick up on the smallest things and perseverate about them endlessly. It's not their fault, though.)

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  3. I've heard the joke that "Athiesm will never catch on because shouting 'Oh, random fluctuations in the space time continum-dammit!' doesn't quite cut it when one stubs one's toe."

    However, I'm pretty sure the guy was just being a jerk, waiting for a chance to "zing" me because I was talking about angels - except I wasn't, I was talking about my own foolishness. He thought he had to opportunity to put someone down and feel all smart and above them, and the target just rolls her eyes. Well, I was annoyed enough to write this journal entry, but it was more the bleeding dumb. When people zing me in an intelligent way, I actually sit and think.

    People being too literal and being too obessessed with common symbolism isn't just an athiest trait, though. I remember when I used to watch TV preachers, some of their paranoia about the "Peace" sign. I remember some preacher ranting about how parents shouldn't let their kids wear them because they supposedly had origins in some anti-Christian symbol from Roman times.

    I read somewhere that it actually had its origins in semiphore (?) - maritime flag-symbols and from the get-go only ever meant "peace." Even if it was an anti-Christian symbol originally, no one thinks of it as that anymore - the only meaning anyone ever takes from it is "Peace" and possibly "Hippies." So why worry about it? It's a neutral-positive symbol and just part of the culture.

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