calling it ~griekspoor ------------------------------------------------------------------ I was sitting back there, minding my own business. ~tadpole and ~dryac and ~inquiry were going on about this and that and making my head hurt. There used to be this voice that would tell me to leave it alone and mind my own business. Actually, it was the voice of my 3rd grade teacher Miss Chancey. My dad had a vocabulary that she didn't approve of, and he taught it to me without trying or knowing or caring. Sometimes it would come out in class when other students would shoot off what I called bullshit. Miss Chancey didn't like the ruler, so she whipped with her eyes and made me miss recess. She never tried to convince me that I was wrong because she agreed with me, but she did convince me to shut up and leave it alone. She really was quite a woman, the kind you don't appreciate nearly enough, but that you can't stop loving as long as you live. Anyway, you three and your bullshit have got me thinking that since she ain't around, maybe I can spout off and get away with it. Gather around and crack your knuckles, I'm not stopping until I'm through. Maybe I can't get away with it and maybe I'll regret it, but I'm not in the business of no regrets. Miss Chancey never taught me that, and so it can't have been important. ~tadpole is fleeing the country, whatever that means. Don't even know what country you're talking about. Pump enough whiskey into a fellow and he won't know what continent he's on so why are you talking like that in a pub? Be specific, dammit! Where are you at and fleeing to and why? Don't you think we care about humans fleeing? I can think of a dozen countries in this moment, half that I've spent too much time in, that would be worth fleeing. What miserable hole are you escaping? Sitting back there listening to you ramble on without context is almost too much to bear. You want compassion, give us something to work with. Or did you want something else? ~dryac, my head swam pleasantly as you spoke, and I almost liked it. I lifted my glass to toast, but no one was looking. Escaping the mainstream and liminal web. It feels good to let the words slip through my fingertips. Getting things done and off-grid living advice. I shed a tear, but that was the whiskey again. That bit about the power to enact potential sounded out of place, I spilled half a glass as I reeled and guffawed. But I was dizzy and maybe I saw more than was in that bit. I have trust problems sometimes. Now what was that about this place being divisive? I got up and started walking over when I heard that. Bullshit! Show me four humans who aren't divisive. Why? And why not? Why should that make you not welcome, especially in a pub of all places. You're welcome, sit down and shut up. Or just keep on talking instead because divisive or not, I like it. Are you the gatekeeper of division, the police of the last bastion of freedom and difference, liminal pubs on the forgotten internet? You think an off-grid world full of aligned people could last, that they wouldn't find something new to separate themselves with? Tilting at windmills and grasping at idioms of every shape and shadow. Man, I was enjoying your words, but what is this? ~inquiry, I think tadpole and ~dryac might be talking about you sometimes, except I don't care because that would mean their ideas are so banal they're not worth the neural electricity needed to keep those lights on. What's more banal than whining about division? Talking about political division! Good job ~inquiry, you outdid ~dryac. And I'm outdoing you both. Seriously, it's bullshit. Trump won the election, the US of A swings yet again through wild gyrations that represent nothing because the people in power stay in power and always will. Who cares? Remember when the reds took everything over with big promises and then didn't keep any of those promises? Remember when the blues did the same? Remember when Obama got the peace prize for some thing he was going to do in the future but hadn't done yet? Quiet down and wait, you'll see. Politicians will give you what they want, not what you want. And politicians are always on the same team no matter the act they put on. Just watch the cycles repeat and prove themselves. And ~dryac, this ain't division. I don't care who you voted for, or what delusions help you sleep at night, there's no reason to hate your brother. And you, chances are that you have no reason to flee your country, ~tadpole, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Wake up! You're all wrong. I'm all wrong, but not about this. These problems are in your head and will travel with you unless you get them out. You can't flee humanity, you can't flee your own thoughts, and you can't force everyone to think and act and be the same. Look at this pub and tell me you could make something more pure, and that it would be better.