WTH... and Other Things · 12:27am Nov 26th, 2014
.... I've done fucked it up.
I'm on my third re-write, but thankfully, it's sticking. Honestly, that blow kinda scared me. I haven't done this much rewrite since I did my first serious fanfic, the one that I wanted people to like and not be too stupid. I know myself too well that I haven't done yet something people would praise as the greatest literature in the history of fanfics. Nor I doubt I'd be able to. If I could, I'd write my own fiction, and get lambasted by a different market altogether.
But then again, life has a way of surprising me.
I remembered a time when I posted something about killing and evil. Someone pointed out to me that our view of this action is a little skewed because we are primarily a culture that uses a lot of values from Roman Catholicisms. He also pointed out that one of the few things that makes the Bible off is there are so many translations that misinterpretations were bound to happen.
For example, "Suffer not a witch to live" may have been mistranslated in context. Instead of a woman practicing magic, the original wording may have meant a person who practices harmful magic. Makes me wonder how that context applies with the whole Light and Dark magic in a lot of fannons, like Harry Potter.
For my example, one of the Ten Commandments state that "Thou Shall Not Kill". I don't know if this is the original wording, but the translation should have said, "Thou Shall Not Murder", which makes a whole lot more sense. In fact, it makes more sense than any modern view. We live in a world that one being takes from another. Plants take water and energy from the sun to form sugar/carbohydrates/whatever. Prey animals take plants and eat them. Predator animals eat other animals, prey or not (though mostly humans just stay with Prey because it gives the most energy). Killing is part of the natural order.
Murder itself lends to context. Best I could come up with is indiscriminate or unnecessary killing. Then again, indiscriminate or unnecessary tends to be also in the grey area up to individual bias.
In short, this whole thing is a complicated business that has no reason to keep it simple as "Do not kill".
Humans (or more generally, sapients) have it hard. We have to actually think about our actions. Animals would just do it because they are hungry, or as more evidence points out, do it for fun. Sorry, Harry Dresden, your view of humans being fucked may be somewhat accurate, but painting animals as innocent ignorant beings is off the mark. Everyone is as fucked as another. 
Humans are just able to philosophize about it.
I just watched Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Surprisingly, I liked it way more than the original movie. It makes no point in hiding that it's a (darker) superhero flick, with interesting cuts and shots, while taking advantage of Nicolas Cage's rather more weird bouts of trying to act insane that fits the character here better than the first one. Again, no tacked on romance flicks. It's a straight up "Kid was kidnapped, go rescue him" with some twist (most of the twist is "Blow shit up").
It reminds me very much of Punisher: Warzone. You know, the one without Thomas Jane.
I also recommend [REC] to anyone who likes Horror. I know Hollywood created a remake called Quarantine, but [REC] was far more superior. I loved [REC], and liked the sequel as well, [REC]2. And I'm about to watch [REC]3, but skimming through it, I don't think it'll be good. I watched the trailer of [REC]4, and I'm hoping it's going to be good despite departing from it's "First-Person" style of shooting.
Another film I'll be watching soon is Jagten, or The Hunt in English. It stars Mads Mikkelsen, the bad guy from Casino Royale. The synopsis is a little vague, but a friend said it's an intense story that will have me screaming for the injustice being done. That got my interest, other than Mads. I mean, really. He's a solid actor, and his first name is Mads. I mean, yeah, there are odd names in the world. But when a name reminds me so much of a fictional character (Madmartigan from Willow), then it piques my interest a lot.
So, that's all for now. Back to writing.
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It will come soon....
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Well, it's kinda coming in now. I'm confident I'll be able to get my betas to check on it soon.
Keep us informed.
For the "Thou shall not kill thing" It does indeed make more sense for it to say "not murder". Also I know for a fact in the Bible there are exceptions to the rule. Too lazy to look up where they are but it says that you may take the life of another in 4 instances.
1: Self defense.
2: The defense of another who would have been harmed had you not done what you did.
3: Capital Punishment. (the executioner.)
4: During Wartime (so long as you don't shed the blood of the innocent)
Edit: ALso, take your time. There is no rush on the stories. Do what you have to, relax and let the magic flow.
2616628 I'm in, if you want that extra pair of eyes...
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Well, here's my update.
[REC]3 is not a favorite of mine. It is so far off tangent, I wondered who the hell got paid to keep the title [REC]3.
As for Jagten... it is an awesome piece of thinking cinema. Mads Mikkelsen is awesome, as always, but the rest of the cast surprised me. International films are getting better and better at entertaining without going the Hollywood route. Too bad what decides something to be repeated is how much money it earned, and not by its contents.
Hypocritical of me, I know, especially when I'm only writing on stories that people like (basically, an fanfiction equivalent of Box Office).
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4 is something that cannot be avoided right now, no matter how advanced our technology becomes. As much as I appreciate how the USMC conquered Iraq in a few weeks (or was it days?) considering how the geographical location makes it hard to bring in heavy weaponry (sandstorms, quagmire), I also know it wasn't without cost. They killed a lot of civilians. A lot had to do with faulty intelligence, and a lot also because the jihadists who used neutral towns to use artillery, while a lot also dressed in civilians that also had the ROE change a lot. And of course, incompetent commanders, but that's pretty much natural in the Corps.
I'm hoping it there will be a day when civilian or noncombatant casualties will be zero in any type of war. Unfortunately, as much as we try to minimize it, there will always be circumstances when it happens. A horrible and hard truth.
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Sure.
2616820 Sad but true. But I think it means more Purposefully killing the innocent.
Its wartime, accidents, faulty intel and the enemy just using human shields happens a lot. That cant be avoided and sometimes there is just nothing you can do. That's forgivable, they didn't know.
But just raising your weapon and killing women and kids because you can is not. That is why we have the ROE, rules of engagement. ITs just a sad fact of war that there will always be innocents caught in the crossfire.
War is humanity at its absolute lowest and worst. And no matter who wins, both sides have lost something in the end.
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I only wish we had more of that here. We just get all that Hollywood tripe. Movies by rote. Of course there are epic flubs. 'Kull' comes to mind.
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I'm a little ambivalent about war. In a way, it's the clash of ideals in it's purest forms. It's the ultimate sacrifice and service. Yet it's horrible to remind us that this isn't something we should engage regularly.
Hopefully, the whole war scenario in MGS4 won't ever come to pass.
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<.<
>.>
We don't get that in the Philippines either.
Though I'm pretty sure my Blu-Ray movie seller can order them up. I love you Blu-Ray.
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All I can seriously recall about Kull is I spent a bunch of money just to hear Fuck. Honestly it was a two hour Hercules episode.
2616842 *nods* mhm. Sad truth of life.
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... To be honest, I just found the bear adorable.
I'm afraid religion - Christianity in particular - is all kinds of messed up in the department of translation mishaps and general solidarity. I mean, it literally says in the old testament, don't eat these animals because they are unclean (like piggies). Then in the new testament, some guy is like 'I don't wanna eat that pig,' then god says 'just eat whatever you want dude.' Like... seriously? That's like... so shamefully and obviously a revision to part of Judiasm by the newfounded Christian church.
At least the Jews and the Muslims had the foresight to keep their religions in one language, and told everyone 'fuck you, learn the language.' Christians are just like 'nah, just translate it, we're lazy.'
One thing I really respect about Islam is that very early on, they had a lot of people go through and verify everything the prophet said. And verify the credibility of anyone who said he said something. So the Quran is, theoretically, way more accurate to the original version than the Bible is.
2616873 I find that picture unbearable.
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Actually... the fact that we have the capacity to philosophize it is the entire point of Dresden's stance on the subject. A coyote can't choose a vegan diet or fast for forty years to express views on the world.
Innocence is not necessarily the inability to harm others, or the lack of having done it before, it's a lack of malice or other moral stances on the subject of death.
To an animal, it's 'this is food' and 'this is food that's still moving'.
there are some animals showing signs of having breached the line, like dolphins, chimpanzees, and a couple others, but it's still a valid viewpoint.
2617571 To expand on the point, a human can rationalize if they harm another or not. We can create codes of conduct and pass those on to other humans. That is unique(mostly, though there have been primate studies) to humans.
On the enjoying inflicting harm and killing thing... I am a cat owner and I've always lived around them; cats will maim and kill things for fun(or spite), as well as spare them and just play. I can say the same about dogs as well. animal behavior studies and simple personal observation show that most higher animals can do/feel things mostly ascribed to only humans by (outdated) bits of 'commonsense'*. So cruelty being uniquely human is pretty much false. Hypocrisy, well that seems to be unique to humanity.
*really that's acceptable as a compound word? Huh.
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Considering the Quran is one of the youngest made religious texts, it's not really a surprise. Accuracy comes down the longer the text has been written.
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It's not when it became a generalization. Dresden's point was: Animals don't do this, humans do. Animals don't kill for fun, but humans do. And etc. and etc.
That's not true. More and more evidence points out that we're not the only bastards on this world. There's also evidence pointing out that we're actually kinder than the rest. Is the viewpoint valid? In certain circumstances. But that can be said about anything. As a generalization? Definitely nope.
Well, at least not in the real world. Maybe the humans in Dresdenverse are as bad as he says. I think he's just a cynic, which is understandable considering his unusual circumstances.
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I'd say hypocrisy is inherently a sapient trait. Any self-aware being who have their own moral codes or rules of behavior will always have an option not to follow them. But then again, I can't prove it until we meet another being who can communicate with us.
2619170 Oh, no argument about hypocrisy most likely being a species trait of sapient, language users. I only related it to humans in specific because(as also implied by your reply) we are the only current working example.
As a side note: I am surprised by the number of people still holding onto out of date 'facts' about animal behavior and psychology. It's not the 1800s or the early 20th century anymore, we know better.
2619170 True, but you don't usuallty hear any complaint about the Torah. Maybe the Jews just keep quiet about it lol.