21–28 of 28 posts
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_pagans_in_the_l...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis#Final_destru...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It probably has little-to-no effect on the decline in popularity of the name (especially looking at the time lines), but ‘A Gary’ has been a pejorative term for a bad skier for at least 20 years, if not longer.
I ski, but I’ve never heard of “a Gary”. Can I ask whereabouts you live?
> The man who committed the act was said to be , and the ancients attempted to wipe his name away from history. Right, so maybe stop spreading it around? I mean, it's the only way to defeat him.
Herostratus Herostratus Herostratus Censorship of history should be resisted, and the chance that this was his actual name is slim. And there were no doubt a great many other Herostratus' who didn't appreciate having to suddenly be embarrassed about their names. The name "Gary" is disappearing for similar reasons. One criminal by the stagename Gary Glitter and suddenly a perfectly respectable real name is forgotten.…
If you really want to talk “infamous” names, you should pick the two classic examples: Adolf and Benito.
> The man who committed the act was said to be , and the ancients attempted to wipe his name away from history. Right, so maybe stop spreading it around? I mean, it's the only way to defeat him.
Young people generally have this idea that their name allows them to live forever if it is somehow preserved by repetition. It doesn’t. I had a dialectic materialist for a history teacher one term, and these notions are greatly muted when individual stories cease to be the center of all historical narratives. Cue Fight Club: “you are not special...”
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.
3rd RULE: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, taps out the fight is over.
4th RULE: Only two guys to a fight.
5th RULE: One fight at a time.
6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes.
7th RULE: Fights will go on as long as they have to.
8th RULE: If this is your first night at FIGHT CLUB, you HAVE to fight.
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That seems a strange generalization. I haven't seen any idea that 'young people generally have this idea' at all. What I -have- seen, and experienced personally, is coming of age and realizing exactly what you say, that they aren't special, that they don't matter . And whereas boomers tended to indulge in wanton hedonism, or pursuit of commercial gain to try and feel a sense of purpose (think midlife crisis, "the one…
Impact is everything, anymore. Whenever I think about what a good legacy is, or might be, I'm always stymied by the fact that nearly every figure in America's pantheon has been a victim of the cultural iconoclasm our society is undertaking. Whatever else they may have done, they're above all else, now racists. In ten years, given the rate of social change, everything I do today will likely be considered outmoded, bac…
Cue Kevin Tillman: "He's not with god; he's ..."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Impact is everything, anymore. Whenever I think about what a good legacy is, or might be, I'm always stymied by the fact that nearly every figure in America's pantheon has been a victim of the cultural iconoclasm our society is undertaking. Whatever else they may have done, they're above all else, now racists. In ten years, given the rate of social change, everything I do today will likely be considered outmoded, bac…
Well yes; you are correct. But, it's also meaningless. When I was 19, my girlfriend's 8-year-old brother killed himself on Father's day to get back at his dad. Almost all kids believe in some fairy tale about the afterlife, almost glamorizing it. So far, we have no evidence of anything like this. You can't be famous after you're dead because you don't exist at all. You'll never see the newspaper article, and frankly…
Yet that rarely stops anyone from pursuing purpose or meaning, and for the ambitious, a legacy of any sort is the closest they'll ever be to reaching immortality, or relevance beyond their immediate sphere of influence. If you're purposeless, why shouldn't your decisions echo throughout history, and make you moderately less so on a less cosmic scale?
Nihilism is an outgrowth of atheistic convictions, when adopted without a supplemental normative framemework that prescribes and justifies a system of values, or when adopted by the depressed or otherwise mentally ailing.
I've seen no coherent argument that life should be considered sacred in the face of a universe devoid of meaning or purpose, whether one's own or that of others. The concept is hardly a cure for nihilism. Offering it as a more legitimate alternative simply because it's more comfortable or reassuring to many people occupying a nihilistic space.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well yes; you are correct. But, it's also meaningless. When I was 19, my girlfriend's 8-year-old brother killed himself on Father's day to get back at his dad. Almost all kids believe in some fairy tale about the afterlife, almost glamorizing it. So far, we have no evidence of anything like this. You can't be famous after you're dead because you don't exist at all. You'll never see the newspaper article, and frankly…
At any scale, or with any perspective, all things become meaningless. You live, you die, others do the same. Yet that rarely stops anyone from pursuing purpose or meaning, and for the ambitious, a legacy of any sort is the closest they'll ever be to reaching immortality, or relevance beyond their immediate sphere of influence. If you're purposeless, why shouldn't your decisions echo throughout history, and make you m…
I should also mention that this guy, with everything taken from him, made to feel completely insignificant, was able to save maybe a few lives, and he'll never know about it.