un: xspire

[synthsized]

At what point does something get the right to be called a person? What do they need to do to deserve that?

Has anyone ever thought about it?

Comments

[imitationsoul]

Something tells me you have a very narrow definition of sadomasochism.

People strive for pain all the time. Hurting themselves with unwise life choices, hurting others to get ahead... Desires aren't compatible with other desires and pain is inevitable.

[synthsized]

I have the best definition of sadomasochism.

If you decide to not pursue pain any more, if you make the conscious decision to change your life, are you no longer a person? Or do the hurts you've suffered change you for good?

[imitationsoul]

Making a decision to repress an impulse does not eradicate the impulse itself. We select against our innate desire for pain all the time, that's a lot of why society hasn't collapsed yet. But the desire remains ever-present.

[synthsized]

It's very edgy of you to say that.

But I suppose I can see where you're coming from.

[imitationsoul]

Maybe it is. The edge is just a part of the experience of living after all. Zeroing in on it is just not comfortable to most.

[synthsized]

Can't say I relate. Guess you enjoy making people uncomfortable, though?

[imitationsoul]

I can't say i dislike it.

Discomfort makes people reflect on matters.

[synthsized]

I think it mostly just makes people think you're not worth talking to.

[imitationsoul]

That's certainly not my loss.

[synthsized]

As long as you're okay with it who cares, right?

[imitationsoul]

[ Just a thumbs-up emoji.]

un: talonted

[medaling]

good to see there are some people that know how things really work
it was seeming much too naive around here

[imitationsoul]

Around here and anywhere else, isn't it? Naivety is an inbuilt feature of social expectations.

[medaling]

a bit less so in many daemonic cultures.
definitely not to this extent.
were it not for adaptability and desire, humans would have been wiped out long ago for this soft mentality...

[imitationsoul]

That's certainly true. In the Outlands, some simply ritualize the pain or 'outsource' it to other species. Their societies may work not because they select against the desire for pain but because they place the burden of it on those different from them.

In its morbid way, it's smart.

[medaling]

does accepting one's way of life have to be seen as morbid? as you said, there are clear merits to it on an evolutionary level, and it means desires, for pain or otherwise, aren't looked down on as weaknesses or something perverse. greed is a natural part of being alive, and pursuit of it can lead to satisfaction. is that not better than repressing it and causing it to grow out of control?

[imitationsoul]

It is morbid when you're speaking from the pain-receiving end.

But that's the paradox any society can only dream of solving. For one person to live freely, they must harm another. Letting everyone live safely means suppression, inevitably. And then it is as you said - though I think it is a lot more common for it to suffocate its bearer rather than to make them rampage.

[medaling]

that all sounds like not my problem, really.

un: xspire

[synthsized]

You're right and you should say it.

[medaling]

[...]

I...did?

[synthsized]

[..................


sighs.]

Never mind.

[imitationsoul]

That's the right attitude to have.