Elitists, Fags and Corruption (Let's get serious.)
The following rant contains larger amounts of seriousness than usual, and thus less amounts of funny. Serious issues, etc.
Soooo, I was in Austria for a week in connection with my studies, learning all-mountain skiing, a discipline of sports that I couldn't possibly be less educated in if I was born on a snowless, very flat island in the middle of the Pacific. I came close to pissing my pants on several occasions while taking the lift up for my first ride, and I'm pretty sure I spent the first entire day plowing the shit out of the slopes in fear of speed biting my ass and making me blindside the nearest snowboarder (which I managed to do anyways).
In any case, I mastered the art of rocketing down an icy hill on two glass-fibre planks pretty fast , and after the second day I'd even taught myself how to steer and brake. Suddenly I was the king of the mountain, carving, skidding and jumping my way down what allegedly was the Atomic test-track. It would have been the experience of a lifetime, had it not been for ten thousand other morons being in the way. Believe me when I say that when you're racing down a steep hill in 50 mph, the old man and his wife slowly cruising down in front of you suddenly become A BIG FUCKING NUISANCE! And then there's the noobs, oh, the noobs! You can't tell when they are gonna turn left or right, hell they probably don't know themselves, so it's pretty fucking hard to dodge them when they're wavering around the slope like stoned jellyfishes.
This was pretty much my exact thoughts one day, and they were followed by the sudden realization that, hey, this could've been me during my first days. They're just a couple of steps behind. Why should I be acting condescending towards them? That's just a major act of hypocrisy.
Believe it or not, but I'm actually going somewhere with this in regards to the community. I'm speaking to all you elitists, all you oldfag swine that seem to think that just because you've been here for a few more months than the other guy, you have the right to treat them like garbage. Your time here doesn't count for shit. I have met several people that have been around for only days that act better than the dickheads that have been around for years. Bad influence through time? Possibly.
Please. Don't.
It's a breeze to act like a big man on the internet, and it's surprisingly effective, even if smart people easily spot the insecurity in your tough-guy facade. Though, people aren't doing it because it's easy to do, they genuinely feel that they gain something out of it. In most cases we're talking about purebred ego-inflation. If you can't get respect through actually working for it, why not try the fear-method? Respect through fear is simple, quick and...well, very, very flawed.
Because what the majority here seems to miss by a mile is the fact that fear is not respect. Ah, sure, people still pretty much follow your words, but it will come back to haunt you eventually. Fall from grace with nobody to support you? Check, because most people hate your guts anyways so they're not gonna lift a finger to help you.
To avoid said scenario, some, slightly more intellectual people (that are still too lazy to conduct anything else but the fear-method) suck up to the people worth sucking up to. With powerful friends, you can do pretty much whatever you want to around here. There are few things I hate more than people being two-faced whenever it suits their cause, treating superiors and otherwise people they deem to be worth knowing with respect, and disrespecting everyone else in order to feed their own, twisted egos.
You're a truly great person when you manage to treat everyone with equality. Try putting yourself in different situations. For instance: A community member has done something that most other members would deem offensive. This is your best friend in Toribash. How do you handle it? How would you handle it if it was, say, a guy that you've had a few quarrels with?
Bottom line: Stop. Being. Bigger. Because you're not. You're making a fool out of yourself. People hate you for it. If only we could learn from the newbs and start being happy and nice instead of letting our alpha-instincts take over, this community and, particularly it's IRC-network, would be a better place.
And remember: You get what you give.
Sincerely,
~CMon