Today I saw a quote from Terry Pratchett, "Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness."
I was horrified, because that's pretty much precisely what I think is wrong with the world. Being scared of the dark is a reason to go around hurting massive numbers of people? Really? No. Not unless you failed kindergarten and are a sucky sharer with a huge inferiority complex that makes you a terrible person.
[Um, for those of you reading at home, you should know that I tend to dislike humorous books because I totally miss the humor by thinking about it too much.]
The original was: It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. But candles are pretty rare now. A lot of apartment buildings and dorms and offices all prohibit candles. Candles leave soot in the air too. And it's a huge fire risk to have open flames. But mostly candles are kind of an expensive novelty item now, so having someone use the last rare candle because they're scared of the dark seems pretty selfish to me.
I understand that it's supposed to be akin to "Get the fuck up off your ass and flip the lightswitch if you're such a fucking pansy that you're afraid of a little darkness." But candle lighting doesn't convey that to me.
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corrvin said, via IM, "better to light your lighter and request "Freebird" than curse the darkness" and "better to boot up your laptop and post by the light of the screen than curse the darkness" [my comment was that's how flame wars get started, someone needs a backlit keyboard] and finally: "Better to buy blackout shades and thumbtacks than curse the brightness"
I'm not sure what I want people to do other than curse the darkness. Maybe people who can't stop complaining about a fact of the physics of the universe should just close their eyes and sleep until the sun comes up. And if the sun doesn't come up, maybe they should die.
But you should all feel free to jump in with stuff that's better than cursing the darkness and doesn't make you into a monstrous half-human with anger management issues.
I was horrified, because that's pretty much precisely what I think is wrong with the world. Being scared of the dark is a reason to go around hurting massive numbers of people? Really? No. Not unless you failed kindergarten and are a sucky sharer with a huge inferiority complex that makes you a terrible person.
[Um, for those of you reading at home, you should know that I tend to dislike humorous books because I totally miss the humor by thinking about it too much.]
The original was: It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. But candles are pretty rare now. A lot of apartment buildings and dorms and offices all prohibit candles. Candles leave soot in the air too. And it's a huge fire risk to have open flames. But mostly candles are kind of an expensive novelty item now, so having someone use the last rare candle because they're scared of the dark seems pretty selfish to me.
I understand that it's supposed to be akin to "Get the fuck up off your ass and flip the lightswitch if you're such a fucking pansy that you're afraid of a little darkness." But candle lighting doesn't convey that to me.
corrvin said, via IM, "better to light your lighter and request "Freebird" than curse the darkness" and "better to boot up your laptop and post by the light of the screen than curse the darkness" [my comment was that's how flame wars get started, someone needs a backlit keyboard] and finally: "Better to buy blackout shades and thumbtacks than curse the brightness"I'm not sure what I want people to do other than curse the darkness. Maybe people who can't stop complaining about a fact of the physics of the universe should just close their eyes and sleep until the sun comes up. And if the sun doesn't come up, maybe they should die.
But you should all feel free to jump in with stuff that's better than cursing the darkness and doesn't make you into a monstrous half-human with anger management issues.
