There are Those Who...
Mood: Deep in thought
Listening to: Nothing
Have found myself thinking lately of the things people sometimes say - "people think this about me; they want that from me; the kind of person who believes in 'x' is always a'y' sort of person." And I wonder, are they right? They sound so sure they know. How do they know? How many people do they know so well that they can come to such solid conclusions?
I read two different blog posts today (neither of them on blogs I comment on). I respected the viewpoints of both bloggers, but had certain doubts when they said "people think this" - and it just so happened I didn't. I can't be alone. Am I a wonderful, intelligent individual who is one of the very few people not thinking the things the bloggers think everybody is thinking but shouldn't think? Would love to believe it, but no!
Reading one of those blogs, I do hold a few of the theories listed as mistaken, but I'm not the kind of person they imagine thinks those things - I'm hopeful but not optimistic, let alone overly optimistic; which means I think those thoughts but don't believe them 100%. If that makes any sense.
I'm sorry if this all sounds vague - it doesn't really matter what the topics were that I was reading about today; I just came away thinking "they are nice people but they sound so sure they know what goes through the heads of others - and that's falling at the first fence. We're all 'thinking' things at each other - 'people don't understand me but I understand them.'"
Hmm.
More and more I take comfort from being able to retire into my shell, murmuring "don't mind me - I know nothing." I feel less and less that I know anything.
When I'm angry, I'm more likely to say "but this is so, and that is what they're all like." But even as I say it, I know I'm over-generalizing. I'm only saying it with such confidence because I feel the need to strike out.
We all need to strike out at times, so perhaps I stumbled across both bloggers at such moments. I should take my own advice and stop believing that the bloggers believed in their own words 100% and that they 'definitely think x, y and z'... even though they said they did. They will probably be seeing things from a different perspective tomorrow!
Moving on to other things...
I was trying to take photos of the sky in my back garden, and fired off several shots. I could see them come up on the LCD panel at the back - this one was too pale, but the next OK, and so on. Going back inside, I turned the camera off, then turned round at the door and saw one last shot I wanted. So I turned the camera back on. 'No CF card', it blinked.
I couldn't understand it at all! It's supposed to tell me that BEFORE I take any pictures. Usually it does. So why didn't it do that today? Fortunately there was still a little light left, and the clouds I liked were still somewhere in the vicinity, so I took a deep breath, fetched the CF card, and went back outside to take more pictures.
I can't decide now whether to read Gemini or Taurus horoscopes! I keep flicking back and forth between the two. My Taurus one says:
There's an entertaining fight going on between your more cautious, conservative side and your more outrageous and radical side today. The two of them will be battling it out all day, vying for dominance. But not to worry - it will be a win-win situation for you. Either way, you will enjoy a varied day full of activities and unexpected adventures. Just when you start settling down, your spontaneous side will kick in and get you back on your feet again.
My spontaneous side? My CF card, you mean. (Blows steam through her nose, and kicks up the dust).
I often can see what people are thinking. It is like reading between the lines. Actually I'm so in tune to Sephy now that I can tell when he types Hi what kind of mood he is in. But you seem to be talking more about generalizing than one single person.
Snoskred
http://snoskred.blogspot.com/
However, whilst not having the faintest idea of the examples you were looking at, I also appreciate that "those kinds of people" can be a group identified on some extremely dubious grounds. At the same time, I often notice people very keen to condemn people they disagree with as plain stupid or plain evil rather that trying to understand why the difference exists.
And how do they know what is true? And how do the people talking about *them* know this to be true if they don't even really know who *they* are?
Silly!
When he said "how did you know??" I was at a loss for words. I guess it's the fact that one doesn't just start an instant chat for no reason (unless still teenagers). "How are you doing?" isn't always a reason.
The two blog posts I had in mind were completely different and normally one wouldn't think of them in the same breath... so it leads to a slightly tangled post when you have reason to view them both in the same light. I had actually read Blog One, harrumphed, moved on, read Blog Two, thought "ha - got to write a blog post about this!" and it wasn't till I was typing the first line that I realized Blog One counted as well.
Goldfish - know just what you mean; I find myself struggling with that one as well. Funny (or not so funny, really) that you pinpointed the expression 'plain stupid' - it was used in one of the blog posts I'm thinking about.
Geosomin - I reckon the expression "they say' just means "I'm trying to sound wise but if you challenge me, I can blame it on 'them'." Well, I was probably guilty of it a lot - and still am, really. For instance, what do I know about climate change? Nothing. I only know what 'they say'.