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Grantaire

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Blog Comments posted by Grantaire

  1. Well, to make you feel better I missed your comment as well. :P 

     

    Yeah, I was inspired to come back when I learned that you and Inferna had wandered back, it just took a few boring days to get me to actually return. 

     

    I saw your comics, and they look really, really good!

     

    It was a pretty awesome time. I wish I could have talked to him, but there wasn't really time for that. 

     

    He is pretty great. When he first arrived at our school he made us sing happy birthday to the bishop of Philly, whose birthday was eclipsed by, well, the pope visiting. It was a really graceful gesture, and probably my favorite moment of the entire weekend.

     

    Anyways, good to hear from you again! Not sure if you're on skype or Facebook, but if you still use AIM I should try remembering my login info there sometime.

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  2. Everyone has a moment where they look back at their past selves (easier done on Internet forums) and go, "Wow, I hate past me."

     

    (I pretty much loathe my 2008 self. Such poor writing and manners back then. *shudders*)

     

    Anyway, it seems a lot of people are poking their noses out again. Welcome back. :)

     

    -Inferna

     

    Haha, thanks. I get that feeling every few years, but glad to know I'm not the only one. Did you finish off Wings?

     

    SPIRIT: Um, nice to see you too? :P

  3. I have a very strange idea of wisdom, I suppose. To me, it's rather like the virtue that, by nature, is not passive: it requires action. If a man betray himself by not acting when he should, he contradicts his own wisdom, therefore invalidating it. My view regarding philosophy is the same as my view regarding justification: it requires the virtues founded upon a principle of action. I'm sorry if I'm getting a little religious with that comparison, but it is a very comparable idea.

     

    I didn't mean we shouldn't feel anger, sorry. I say it should never be the principle of our actions. Let the zeal that proceeds and is abetted by it be so, but making anger in and of itself the reason is, in my view, highly dangerous. A man can be convicted and passionate, and yet rational, prudent and wise. but when he operates from fury, then you have problems. Being livid and being prudently passionate are different things.

     

    Otherwise face it, what we will have in the issue of sexual morality or suchlike is two sides trying to kill each other because we both have strong beliefs that we feel the right to fight for. If we operate by fury, then co-existence and justice are impossible.

     

    Please note, as well, that I'm using prudence in the same way as one would use common sense.

     

    Speaking from personal experience, fury tends to get you more attention then being passive. For example, if someone made a racist comment to me (myself being Asian), teachers would pretend not to notice. If I get angry, then the teachers get up and send me elsewhere where I can finally tell someone how I feel. It's not always positive attention, but at least I can share my thoughts.

     

     

    I was not condemning fury and indignation in and of themselves, and I'm sorry if I misstated. What I perceived and therefore reacted against was the idea of sole fury. There's a difference between feeling fury and letting it rule your actions: one is fine, the other seems dangerous.

     

    As to your second point: yes, I understand. Human dignity is very important, whether for the helpless of various forms (the unborn, the elderly, etc) the derided etc. I will especially agree that the point of objectifying women is most certainly abhorrent, especially when it comes from people whose own beliefs condemn their actions. but i feel often like the entire issue of rights especially is a highly emotionalized and highly dangerous topic, with a billion labels, presumptions, etc. (let's just say that there's a reason I positively hate debating the subject of gay marriage: it's too much of a massive battleground, and I don't like getting caught in the melee)

     

    In the end though, a lot of people are going to disagree on certain rights and certain groups, and i really don't see a possible end.

     

    And of course I forgot where I was going with that point, and i have to go, but in short: sometimes an overfocus on one particular issue can distort the issue itself, and the people approaching it. And of course it's irksome when people can't settle on a generally agreeing moral view on certain subjects.

     

    Also, Dreazath, with no offense meant, from someone who, technically speaking is probably more or less on your side on various issues, I do have to advise you to earnestly consider the entire question of objectification. let's just say that the bit that Tyler quoted up there sounded majorly, majorly wrong.

  4. Too be honest, I'm inherently suspicious of revolts. I've always been the type to say 'reform' not 'tear down'. The problem I find with tearing things down is that, very often, there's nothing cohesive to replace it. To quote A Man for All Seasons 'I'd give the devil the benefit of the law for my own safety.' This post gave me an inherent smell of revolution, which always puts me off, despite being an ardent Les Mis fan. But then, it's just a sense: I could easily be wrong abvout this. *shrugs*

     

    Moreover, I frankly believe that one should be, simply put, a philosopher: that is what all of us, regardless of gender, race, religion or other factors are called to be. That is, we're called to pursue wisdom. Now if we pursue wisdom, whether on our own or with the aid of a religious or philosophic view, then we will start forming various views about ourselves and the world around us: in short we will have some roots to come from when addressing issues such as these.

     

    Now it must be granted that if a person's mind is screwed up enough, or if the ideal they go by it twisted enough, their philosophic outlook is undoubtedly wrong: one must view this carefully however, as it could be that the judger's viewpoint is off. But that's a side tangent. My main reflection on this article was simply this: pursue wisdom and everything else falls into place.

     

    The only point in your article I can disagree with is the idea of fury. I do not support fury in anything. From personal experience, I hate it: I feel it often whenever I read about or hear about injustice, whether it be of people, religions or any other actions I find abhorrent.

     

    I don't like it. It tries to rob me of all prudence, and I don't think it's a good idea.

     

    However, I will allow that you could mean more zeal than fury, which would make sense: we have to have a fire burning in our bones for what is right, rather like Jeremiah, but we also need to keep prudence in our sight at all times or, well, rationality kind of dies.

     

    Also, to make one last point: people are hurt every day, regardless of race, gender or any other factor. If we only focus on particular groups, we lose the big picture: it's like sending spiritual and physical aid to third world countries while ignoring the physical and spiritual poverty of our own countries.

  5. Name:
    Gender: Male.
    Species: Toa.

    Affiliation: City Law Enforcers.

    Trapped:
    Appearance: Standard height, slim and wiry under his armor, Zarayna is covered from head to toe in plate armor of tempered steel, skillfully and ornately made. It offers excellent protection, and good range of movement. He wears a helmet of protosteel, the faceplate of which is his Matatu.
    Kanohi: Matatu, shaped like a noble although it is in fact a great Matatu.
    Powers: Control over sonics, the level of a veteran toa. He has developed a way, both from training his ears and via a sound dampening field, to make his hearing about the same as a normal person's. If he loses all elemental power, however, his hearing becomes very sensitive. He can however manipulate the dampening field at will in order to hear a whispered conversation.
    Abilities: Zarayna has good mastery over the many weapons he has used over the years, from the longsword to the crossbow to the rifle to the knife, but his chief weapon and therefore greatest skill lies with the longsword.
    Weapons and equipment: The only thing he carried with him from the outside world, Zarayna’s longsword is his most prized possession. The beautifully crafted Protosteel sword comes up to the center of his chest, and can cleave into standard armor with a single blow: on exceptional occasions it has even sliced through. Slung on his back is a round shield, two feet in diameter and crude looking compared to his blade. At his side is a flanged mace and a dirk a sympathetic Toa of Iron crafted for him.
    Personality: Zarayna is

     

    has a tendency for being quiet, especially when not relaxed. When relaxed, he talks much like a normal person. However, when not at ease, he talks and acts analytically, often using his power over sound to detect emotions in words. He is a skilled warrior, in fact enjoying his trade greatly. Honorable and fierce, he regards his loyalty to any person he calls a friend greater than any authority.
    History: Once, long ago, Zarayna began his long history of migration when he was banished from his village on the southern continent. Never popular in the first place, being gifted with a Toa Stone was his demise. A newly made Toa, Zarayna found himself unarmed and homeless. With only a staff for a weapon, Zarayna was forced to develop his control over sound and telekinesis fast. Eventually he settled down in another village, hoping for once in his life for peace, weary of the grating fight for survival. As the years passed, his longing for fighting came back, and became his undoing. Too often he was absent form the village, hunting rahi incessantly. When he returned one day, he found the village under attack... By rahkshi. He had thrown himself into the thick of the fray, but although he slew many, he was forced to flee, unarmed and wounded. The rahkshi left, but the village was destroyed, and the inhabitants dead or vanished. Once again without a purpose, Zarayna took to wandering. He served as a bodyguard once, but his employer had the bad luck to let Zarayna know just what he did. The next minute, there was one less warlord living on Stelt. Rather agast, Zarayna had the brains to loot as much as he could before escaping. The money was swiftly funneled into a full suite of armor and a protosteel longsword. After that, he left Stelt, again wandering.

    At this point the second half of his life commenced. Bewitched into the map, he was initially at complete loss: he wandered the map aimlessly, undecided as to what to do. His abilities as a warrior landed him a job as an Enforcer, and he's worked there ever since. The Worshippers disgust him, but he keeps his views to himself with great difficulty. Twice he almost defected to the Disruptors, stopped only by the somewhat more level-headed advice of his companion Oryan.
    Weakness: Due to his amount of armor and weapons, and also his dependance on them, Zarayna is vulnerable to iron and magnetism. He also has no mental defense, therefore making him vulnerable to telepaths.

  6. I will admit, Toy Story three got me slightly at the very end. Les Mis came close. About the only things that really make me cry are things that personally effect me: i can feel grieved and pierced to the heart by a tragic story, but not to tears... Strangeness.

     

    I wonder how long it'll take for me to read that book... Before Major Seminary, I promise!

     

    Well, sorta promise. Procrastination may kick in.

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