New topic:

What do you guys think of this cartoon? I saw it on 9gag and would like to hear other peoples' opinion on it.

Original Poster's title: Intelligent People Will Understand



Question: Does intelligence really bring sadness? Why?

I don't think that the picture shows who's intelligent and who is not. But rather shows the people who have access to intelligence and the people who don't. Certain facts may make a person realise what the actual problems are, and they may be shocked or feel uncomfortable because he or she now knows what’s actually going on around them. While on the other hand, the people who don't know about certain facts, for instance those who don't catch up with the news and therefore the current issues are usually not that informed and therefore not affected by the facts, and continue living their happy lives in total darkness.

Pretty much no other way to put it, and in some aspect, I can sort of relate to it.
We all know people or someone who acts and talks like they're oblivious to everything and everyone around them, and seem like they don't care what anyone else thinks of them, or as if it doesn't affect others, but when it comes to yourself, you can't imagine yourself doing the same. The cartoon also seems to bring a hint of insecurity to it.

But isn't it irrational to be sad over things we can't control? Even if you have the knowledge of all things that are evil, is it not possible for someone to still be happy and do the best they can with what they currently have?

I don't think the cartoon directly implies sadness. It implies that people who are intelligent are often misunderstood by others, thusly having trouble making friends etc. Loneliness could lead to sadness over time. This cartoon sort of represents my life, although I don't mind the loneliness that much. Internet OP. ^_^

@Gotkicks2: First of all, original poster's title is bullshit. By which he/she means that his/her particular definition of "intelligent" people are the kind of people who would draw the same conclusions from viewing that particular picture. So basically if you don't "understand" the picture the same way that he/she does you're not intelligent. And since he/she capitalized every single word in that sentence, I fear that's not the tragedy OP believes it to be. This kind of behavior is all over the net though, so nothing surprising. "Only <insert people who have something in common here > will understand" and all that. If you belong to that particular group of people, congratulations, you "get it" and should probably pat yourself on the back. If not, well, "u are teh stoopid lulz". Aaaaaaanyway.

I take it the picture is trying to illustrate that the smarter you are, the more difficult it is to be happy. Of course it can also mean that people who wear dull-colored clothing have brains while those who wear orange do not. Anyway, I'm taking the former point of view into account here.

I'd agree, in a way. But I'd switch knowledge with awareness. I once saw a picture which illustrated things in a visually meaningful way, but I couldn't find it. Therefore, I made my own crappy MS Paint version of it, and it's located in the spoiler below.



Being more aware means that you take more things into consideration. You could draw parallels with the senses if you'd like. A person who can see, hear, talk, smell and have a sense of touch will arguably be able to experience more than one who does not.

As illustrated by the chart, the more you know, the more you realize there are things that you don't know and could possibly never know. It is very easy to attain a nihilistic point of view if you constantly look at things on a universal scale. You being just one of many billions of currently alive humans on a planet on which 99.9% of the species that ever lived are now extinct. You being on just one planet revolving around just one sun in just one galaxy, whereas hundreds of billions of galaxies exist(one billion being 1,000,000,000). You being so insignificant on the cosmic scale that it isn't even funny. However, it's not necessary to reach that conclusion. A lot of people rely on religion in order to feel as if their life has at least some meaning. A lot of people are fully content with the worldview that everything is ultimately meaningless. I agree with nihilism for the most part, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy my life. The decision whether or not something matters is entirely mine to make. I recently saw a quote that resonated very well with me, I'll share it here. It deals with the subject very well.





TL ; DR: Intelligence brings awareness, awareness can result in a very bleak outlook of the past/present/future unless you yourself(or something you believe in) give meaning to your life.

So in order to somewhat alleviate the silence, I'll ask a question this time.

How much poetry do you guys read? Does it interest you? If so, which themes, types of poetry, etc.? Do you write any poetry? And so on...

Anyways, I do read a bit of poetry, mainly haikus and epics. But Walt Whitman's free verse is quite good as well. Obviously, poetry interests me a lot. I do write a fair bit of poetry and have started uploading it to tumblr and Twitter...

Also, I find it ironic how Fanty is the Grammar Nazi here and yet he doesn't use proper capitalisation in his forum name.

I read them sometimes, they're interesting. I read the poems of a scary and simple sort. have you read those?

lol just checked if I was on the ally list. Yup... Since I was Undead21 Rawr, miss you guys, at least some of you lol

HEY.


I EXIST.

Nice avatar