Amicus Quixote

[ishtat]

I don't know whether any other litsters think of Amicus as the Don Quixote of Lit but I thought at least he might gain some comfort from the penultimate paragraph here.

www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/07/11/do1103.xml

 

[sr71plt]

Whoa! Of course not, Don Q. was ever optimistic and saw the best in everything. I don't see a remote similarity at all.

 

[TE999]

Whoa! Of course not, Don Q. was ever optimistic and saw the best in everything. I don't see a remote similarity at all.

He was also a few sandwiches short of a picnic lunch...wait a minute...maybe things aren't so remote...

 

[sr71plt]

He was also a few sandwiches short of a picnic lunch...wait a minute...maybe things aren't so remote...

OK, so maybe there's an area of similarity afterall.

 

[oggbashan]

If Amicus really understood UK politics, he would realise that even our Conservatives are to the left of US Democrats on many issues.

Or that UK's Labour can be hawkish. They have just ordered two full-size aircraft carriers.

Comparisons between US political parties and UK ones are very complex.

Amicus doesn't understand complexity or nuances of meaning.

Og

 

[Liar]

If Amicus really understood UK politics, he would realise that even our Conservatives are to the left of US Democrats on many issues.

Well to be fair, doesn't he refer to Europe in it's entireness as a giant Socialist clusterfuck?

From the perspective of a Randian extremist, it kind of is.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Ami's motivation is not optimism but fear. His quixotic campaign is to force the world to run the way he wants it, so that he will be comfortable. The Don wanted to do good for others.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Hey friends - it's not polite to talk like this in public about someone else.

 

[sr71plt]

Hey friends - it's not polite to talk like this in public about someone else.

No, no, it's much more civilized to do it in whispers behind their back.

 

[Liar]

Hey friends - it's not polite to talk like this in public about someone else.

I wouldn't if I didn't know Ami well enough to know he most likely gets a laugh out of it.

 

[Carnevil9]

To be fair, I think there is at least a little bit of Don Quixote in everyone. At least, I like to think so.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

No, no, it's much more civilized to do it in whispers behind their back.

That's right, it is. No, really. It's kind of an important point given another thread underway, and I've thought a bit about it.

Nobody really gets hurt by backfence gossip, but putting things up on billboards can hurt someone, a lot.

Not sure about my backfence gossip assertion? (Lit's version is PMs.) That's what I thought about, and here's what I've concluded: The only "loss" incurred by a third party from such private gossip is denominated in units of vanity.

Here's my thinking: If the person finds out, he or she thinks, "OMG, they're talking about me in private." Some vanity is punctured, and life goes on.

If the matter is "put on a billboard" - announced in public - the target really can be deeply hurt. In the real, non-internet world, the price can even be denominated in genuinely important stuff - lost careers, wrecked relationships, and more. It's a bit less dramatic in this "virtual" realm, but hopefully you can see the point.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I wouldn't if I didn't know Ami well enough to know he most likely gets a laugh out of it.

I suspect you're right but it's still impolite, and presumptuous for either of us to assume that that you're right. At the very least it's a bad habit, to be avoided.

(In light of my previous post, if anyone wants to PM someone else about what a "goody-two-shoes busybody" Roxanne is, please don't hold back! )

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

To be fair, I think there is at least a little bit of Don Quixote in everyone. At least, I like to think so.

I wish there was a little more Sancho Panza.

 

[Liar]

(In light of my previous post, if anyone wants to PM someone else about what a "goody-two-shoes busybody" Roxanne is, please don't hold back! )

How about if I PM you about it?

"Psst Rox, that damn Appleby strumpet is at it again with her civility hogwash."

 

[The_Fool]

I think this is a thread to get me to change my AV.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

How about if I PM you about it?

"Psst Rox, that damn Appleby strumpet is at it again with her civility hogwash."

Silly bint!

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I think this is a thread to get me to change my AV.

So that's what that is.

 

[The_Fool]

So that's what that is.

Dali's take on it anyway.

 

[sr71plt]

Nobody really gets hurt by backfence gossip, but putting things up on billboards can hurt someone, a lot.

Yes, I can see that same perspective running "over elsewhere" in addition to how you put it here. But, of course, the assertion is totally false. People do get hurt by backfence gossip--just as they get wounded and disillusioned when they won't let loose of the fantasy of being OK with being cruelly manipulated and scammed until their brain takes over and zaps them with the reality of what just happened to their fund of trust.

And I quite agree with you about putting things up on billboards. But in that "other" instance, the set of folks suggesting self-preservation recheck and protect and those slapping it all on billboards were mutually exclusive sets of people--as I explained "over there."

 

[oggbashan]

Where is Rosinante?

Who is Dulcinea?

Og

 

[Stella_Omega]

Hey friends - it's not polite to talk like this in public about someone else.

Amicus plus polite? An oxymoron.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Amicus plus polite? An oxymoron.

<does hair in bun, slips into school-marm dress, slides glasses down nose and looks archly over the top>
"Mr. Amicus is in charge of Mr. Amicus's manners, and Stella is in charge of Stella's."

 

[Liar]

You just had to go and channel my middle school teacher in the middle of my porn broswing, did you? Now I'm gonna have the weirdest dreams ever.

 

[Stella_Omega]

<does hair in bun, slips into school-marm dress, slides glasses down nose and looks archly over the top>

Good LORD, woman, you wanna stop my heart?

"Mr. Amicus is in charge of Mr. Amicus's manners, and Stella is in charge of Stella's."

I enjoy being rude to Ami. Like Robert Downey Junior enjoyed his drugs.

I don't enjoy being rude to most other people.