Screen Junkies And The Pioneer Spirit.

by hillary_step 5 Replies latest jw friends

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  hillary_step

  Hello,

  I have to say that I am often surprised at the speed with which arguments and opinions on this Board often become a conflagration worthy of the Russian Parliament.

  Randy Watters made the interesting point on another post recently, that this behavior was the nature of these types of Boards and I have to begrudgingly agree with him. I wish it were not so, as like Voltaire I tend to think that ‘weakness on both sides, is, as we know, the trait of all quarrels.’ Many of the quarrels that take place on the board I have noticed have little to do with differing viewpoint, or developing debates, but more to do with hurt feelings, misuse of words, deliberate provocation, and often downright mischief.

  Many of us have become ‘screen junkies’, having developed our habit through such sites as these. They are hard to avoid as those who quit and return on a repeated basis will attest to, and one thing is certain, the future will see a massive growth in on-line digital relationships. We are on the first rungs of this digital ladder. Perhaps we are the Pioneers of the discussion boards, God knows we all get our 'time in'!

  There are certain things that can be done I believe to minimize the amount of personal upsets that take place here. In my chosen industry, the music world, I belong to a discussion group made up of long term professional musician’s, quite often bitter enemies,. Some have lost wives or business contracts to others ( most of them would view the latter as more important! ) but I have yet to watch a conversation descend to the level of spitefulness and vulgarity that ours often do. Why not?

  I have my own ideas, but why do you think this is so?

  Best to you all - HS

  Harlequin came at night,
  bound to the ghosts in Freedom Square...' PFM

  edited for repeeted spelinn mastaykes.
• 

  Makena1

  Hillary I do not have a quick answer to your very good question - yet - still thinking. However, since you brought up that you are a musician, I am curious about what you play, type of music etc.

  I have played keyboards since I was 6 (played at KH's, circuit and district assemblies, weddings etc.), taught myself guitar, clarinet and violin over the past 20 years. Not proficient at any of them, but truly love music. My 15 year old son seems to have inherited some of this ability too - taught HIMSELF the drums, and is a decent guitar player. My problem is that all of the folks I used to jam with are still in the borg!

  Anyone ex-JW musicians in the Seattle area want to jam?

  Peace,
  Makena
• 

  SixofNine

  I've been spending some time around musicians lately, and my reasoned opinion about your question, "why do you think this is so?", is, marijuana.

  This reminds me, I need to apprise you of my friends music. I'll e-mail you about their lack of progress. Who knew band politics and raw emotions could hold talented people back so effectively?
• 

  hillary_step

  Makena1,

  Nice to hear from you. I was a passable guitarist/lyricist once. These days I am more involved with studio, promotion, CD reviews ( mainly jazz ), though even that is being pushed aside as the industry has changed so much that it is only of marginal interest to me. I have never spent more than ten seconds in the world of 'rap' for example, ( who dropped the 'c' anyway? ). Hunter Thompson just about nailed it :

  The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs.There's also a negative side.

  Many first class musicians also teach, take one or two lessons, mention your 'jamming' desire - it should move from there. Seattle is home to some fine ex SF musicians. I will atempt a link for you if you so wish.

  Six,

  lol - Welcome to Songland. The only way to succeed is get yourself a first rate bully of a manager who has absolutely no interest in music but has good contacts and is greedy and proud. He will thrash the Band into submission. Most bands fail through internal disorder, not musical abilities. Just look at the Gallagher boys. Weld the brains of the whole band together you come up with the village idiot. Marcus Russell did the welding, not the Glory Boys - 'yer know what I mean... I mean..'yer know what I mean'.

  I remember one succesful manager telling some years ago that he was not satisfied with a recording session until each member of the band had called him a 'f***** bastard' at least three times. He knew then that it would roll.

  Best to you - HS
• 

  hillary_step

  Bringing this up for air - this time with a begging bowl in its hand!

  HS
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  ballistic

  There are many excellent writtings on internet chat and it's idiosyncracies?
  Several points to mention are the mix of people often from various international sites - my cold English tounge in cheek humour is missed 9 times out of 10.
  Another is the lack of eye to eye contact and BODY LANGUAGE which makes up 80% of face to face communication as opposed to words alone.
  Another one is simple mis understandings and mis-spelings which is exagerated by the fact that there is often too much info to read all of it; people may read just the first line of a post, jump to a conclusion and post a scorning reply (I have been guilty of this myself).
  And finally, on a board such as this, there are a constant flow of antagonists or trolls who's intention it is to create havok to either seek attention or even bring down the whole level of the board for there own purposes.