The Doorknob Principle

Yeah.  I don't write much now.  And by now, all five (or seven) have already realized that.

So here's the doorknob principle:

When people wait at a door and no one appears to be inside, immediately, the people already waiting will tell anyone who arrives that the door is locked.  However, if they do so, the new arrivers will try to open the door.  It is the action of warning that person that triggers the opposite reaction.

However, this is not the case with greater risk.  For example, if those same people are waiting at a door and instead they tell those who arrive that the doorknob is electrified and if the people arriving have the slightest reason to believe them, a battery or spark for example, then they will not attempt to open the door.  People are more likely to value words if they are larger.

Skepticism actually applies to tiny truths rather than large lies.

Daily Critique

I'm back finally.  Here's another loser thing I do each day.  I come up with a social critique each day that does not necessarily have to change society, but make the observations necessary for progress.  As you can tell from February, these are usually angry speeches criticizing post-modern romance.  Also, my English is improving (Jajaja, for those of you who get it).

To continue my rants, I want to share a short excerpt from the film (My life is not a book.  It's more of a film) known as life.

Sputnik : Estoy enojado.  ¿Por qué?  Pour quoi?  Why does life beg me to rise and command me to fall?

Angles : Err... [shifts uneasily in seat while reaching for water bottle]

Sputnik: There are opportunities... and not the kind you're thinking of. [tries to imply something to Angles, but fails]

Angles: Okay.  I have no idea what the heck you're talking about.

Sputnik: Я–очень одинокий!  Я–свободен!  I'm lonely!  There.  I said it.

Angles: What?  Are you trying to "break" me again ?

Sputnik: No.  I'm saying that I'm tired of dangling opportunities [meaning chances to ask the unnamed girl out].

Angles: Well take those opportunities.

Sputnik: Yeah, yeah.  Carpe diem and whatnot... [Takes Angles' water bottle, but returns it after flipping it thrice]  You don't know the consequences of "opportunity".

Sounds rather pointless without proper context, but this dialogue represents an internal struggle within each member of Poly society.  While Poly should be known for offering more opportunities, in many cases outside of academics, we are depriving each individual of them with our isolation.  Each individual at Poly has become beyond self-aware in isolation.  It becomes the obsessive self-consciousness that bites away at the heart.  Why can't we be like public schools?  Asking someone out is not the bureaucratic system it is at Poly.  There should not exist the model "Become friends for 6 months, ask out, date for 2 weeks, stop because of 'the value of preexisting friendship'".  Bullshit.

Pandora's Box 10

Value is a key point of psychology.  People often misvalue certain aspects of life.  This is the modern concept of hamartia, the term used to describe the "fatal flaw" of personalities in Greek tragedy.

Some people misvalue abstract values such as "dignity".  But most people misvalue what is given.

For example, punishment is NOT given.  There's no "karma", so people take it as their own responsibility.  However, certain things, such as the basic nature of things, are fully given.  We cannot expect certain animals to not eat the smaller animals it sees.  There's nothing we can do.  Now, I suppose the same is true for death, but death must be valued as a total change, not a process.

Wow.  I am a terrible writer.  Of course, I have a really legit excuse.