several partial posts make a complete one, right?

[jazzfish]

Is Executing an Innocent Man Enough?: "What I hope will emerge is death penalty advocates honest enough to admit that no system of state-sponsored execution can be infallible, because people are fallible. I want them to come out and say what's clear-- innocent people will be executed." To which one commenter responds "They won't make the argument b/c death advocates don't believe anyone is actually innocent. I've had this conversation before and the response is 'well, they must have been doing something wrong, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten caught/been in the wrong place/etc.'"

The Chains That You Refuse: I believe this story came about when someone in a chat room said "Not all combinations of person and voice will work: you can't write a story in, say, second person future," and eBear responded with "It will have been raining in Harvard Square for only half an hour when you give up hope."

---

If the Device forgets that it's supposed to be on shuffle, and instead starts playing all its songs in alphabetical order (starting at a random point), I won't realise it until I've heard two different versions of the same song twice.

Relatedly, I have an awful lot of songs that start with the letters "Si."

---

Words I am allergic to:

• Should. In the context of "I should do X," it's guilt-inducing, and negative reinforcement is nobody's friend. Better: "I want to do $thing," or (in cases where that's clearly not true, like getting out of bed so I can go to work) "I want $result, and therefore I will do its prerequisite $thing even though I don't really want to." In the context of "You should do $thing," or "Life should be like $thing," it reflects a refusal to live in the world the way it is. Either do the dishes, or don't do the dishes.
  
• But. It undercuts what I'm saying. It's a way to not have to stand behind my statements. In many situations it can be replaced with "and" to have the same effect. For example, "I'm going to $event but I don't know how long I can stay" comes across like apologising for not really going to $event. "I'm going to $event and I don't know how long I can stay" is true, and accurate, and confident.
  
• Work, in context of things that are meant to be pleasurable, such as relationships, or living my life the way I want it to be. These are things to be enjoyed, not justified through back-breaking happiness-killing labor. I recognise that there are aspects of my psyche that require both healing and self-monitoring to prevent falling into old ruts. I treat these as they come up, I try to change aspects of my life that aren't making me happy. I don't look at that as work. I look at it as an investment.

Comments

[marcmagus]

Regarding "should", my therapist reminds me, "Don't should all over yourself." It's an entertaining reminder of more or less exactly what you're saying.

[jazzfish]

ha! Yes, exactly that.

[shield-toad111.livejournal.com]

Except for the hearing the same song multiple times in a row problem, I find that alphabetical order is as generally as good a shuffle as any for my music. And also very convenient if I want to make sure that I listen to the entire playlist.

[jazzfish]

The only real problem is that there's never a time when I want to listen to, um, five versions of "Hallelujah" in a row. Other than that, though, yeah.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

i have, in fact, found myself listening to the words, "You can't take away my right to execute someone just because someone innocent might die."


Admittedly, there are long traditions of considering it better to risk punishing the innocent to keep from letting the guilty go free, but that's not how the US legal system is supposed to work.

[jazzfish]

gah. That utterly baffles me. It's a sign that the person I'm talking to inhabits a cognitive space so far from mine that the distance is best measured in astronomical units.

I mean. . . innocent people could be killed! /You/ could be killed, for not doing anything at all! How is this an acceptable outcome? nngh.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Exactly. No common ground.
My response was to decide it was time for me to go to bed.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

Lately I've picked up a bad habit of ending my conversational sentences in "or...." It sounds lame and indecisive and as if I expect people to read my mind. I also can't seem to help it. :/

[jazzfish]

That sounds familiar. I tend to end paragraphs with "so. . ." as though either my conclusion is obvious, or I don't want to have to state it and risk being contradicted.

This is exactly the kind of thing I mean when I say "stupid brain, work right." :7