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Consider pornography. Most people watch it, but they're scared to admit to it, let alone have discussions about it, even as semi-anonymous posters. Why's that?
It could be because they're ashamed of it, so they'd rather not talk about it. It could be that people think that if they openly talk about it, that would mean that they've fully given in to their addiction, and accepted it as a part of themselves. They might think people who talk about it are degenerates without shame, who have given up the fight against their shadow.
So why do they still watch pornography, despite being ashamed of it? Why not just stop watching it? Maybe they're just addicted.
Or maybe it's nothing to be ashamed of. So, then, why not discuss it?
Most likely, I would predict that most people are afraid to discuss it because they fear that it will get back to them in some way, and then other people will judge them for being such a degenerate (even though those people likely indulge in the same things). Here we have a group of pretenders, all indulging in the same vices, but hiding them from one another. If one of them admitted to a vice, the rest would pounce on him and expel him from the group. No one person in this group is more virtuous than the other, but they all pretend to be.
Some people keep the same username across sites, so they are afraid of being rejected by one group of hypocritical "friends" for something they say on another site. Some even have their username tied to their real name, so this is even worse.
Others, though, who make new usernames or even post anonymously without tying their comments to a username, have no excuse.
I think people forget that the internet is not "real life". You don't have to be polite. You don't have to talk as though you're speaking to a co-worker and saying the wrong thing will get you fired. You can talk about taboo subjects without repercussion if you're anonymous. You don't have to use your real name.
So if you say to me "Houseman, your topics are in bad taste, this wouldn't fly in a real life discussion with a co-worker", you're right, that's why we're having this conversating using aliases, where our co-workers can't find us. That's the point of having this conversation here, and not there.
That doesn't mean that you have to engage in discussions that you don't want to engage in. By all means, just don't engage. But if all you have to say is a condemnation of the topic, and you refuse to discuss the topic further, I can only assume that one or more of the following is true:
It could be because they're ashamed of it, so they'd rather not talk about it. It could be that people think that if they openly talk about it, that would mean that they've fully given in to their addiction, and accepted it as a part of themselves. They might think people who talk about it are degenerates without shame, who have given up the fight against their shadow.
So why do they still watch pornography, despite being ashamed of it? Why not just stop watching it? Maybe they're just addicted.
Or maybe it's nothing to be ashamed of. So, then, why not discuss it?
Most likely, I would predict that most people are afraid to discuss it because they fear that it will get back to them in some way, and then other people will judge them for being such a degenerate (even though those people likely indulge in the same things). Here we have a group of pretenders, all indulging in the same vices, but hiding them from one another. If one of them admitted to a vice, the rest would pounce on him and expel him from the group. No one person in this group is more virtuous than the other, but they all pretend to be.
Some people keep the same username across sites, so they are afraid of being rejected by one group of hypocritical "friends" for something they say on another site. Some even have their username tied to their real name, so this is even worse.
Others, though, who make new usernames or even post anonymously without tying their comments to a username, have no excuse.
I think people forget that the internet is not "real life". You don't have to be polite. You don't have to talk as though you're speaking to a co-worker and saying the wrong thing will get you fired. You can talk about taboo subjects without repercussion if you're anonymous. You don't have to use your real name.
So if you say to me "Houseman, your topics are in bad taste, this wouldn't fly in a real life discussion with a co-worker", you're right, that's why we're having this conversating using aliases, where our co-workers can't find us. That's the point of having this conversation here, and not there.
That doesn't mean that you have to engage in discussions that you don't want to engage in. By all means, just don't engage. But if all you have to say is a condemnation of the topic, and you refuse to discuss the topic further, I can only assume that one or more of the following is true:
- You have your real name tied to your username, and you're afraid of being rejected by your friends irl.
- You have your username tied to another platform and you're afraid of being rejected by your friends over there.
- You're deeply ashamed, and you think that openly discussing it would mean embracing your shadow.
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