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Originally posted by Lira I had never really noticed the contradictions about insecurity in our culture until Insecurity (the TA) posted about the origin of his screen name. According to him, men in chat rooms usually choose flattering names conveying the impression that everyone in there was powerful, strong or dominant (which is kind of ironic, if you think about what sort of people you usually find in chat rooms). So, in order to stand out, he chose to do the exact opposite. Personally, I believe it takes a lot more confidence to label yourself as being "insecure" than the opposite, and once I did that, I've had positive results overall. We can be totally secure about anything, as Kierkegaard seems to show in his ideas about dread, so why bother pretending not to be insecure? As soon as I embraced this "insecure way of life", I instantly realised that all those around me were also insecure, from university professors to teenage girls (and I also noticed that the latter are often a lot more interesting than the former, but this is something else entirely). But, because our culture frowns upon insecurity, people seem to resort to very strange "defence mechanisms", such as being self-righteous, arrogant and judgemental. Either this makes life a lot more difficult or I'm having problems seeing the advantages of doing that. We live in a postmodern world (or, at least, influenced by it), in which metanarratives have been contested, disputed and made fun of. So, do we need this ideal "secure self"? Why do some people avoid looking insecure if that's part of the human condition?

i think our insecurities hold us back. obviously everyone has them, helping us mask them is what helps us move foward and live our lives the way we want them to.


now i dont know what type of insecurities you are talking about, or just insecurities in general.
for example:

if you are insecure about your looks, and you think they are holding you back, you might want to modify it so that it doesnt hold you back. say the way you dress, etc.

maybe im not getting the point across i am trying to say.....

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

I thought he was saying that EVERYONE is insecure, and that people who say they aren't are just "pretending" not to be.

Which is complete and total bullshit.

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Originally posted by jennypie I thought he was saying that EVERYONE is insecure, and that people who say they aren't are just "pretending" not to be. Which is complete and total bullshit.

isnt hiding our insecurities and overcoming them a good thing? i think it is necessary.

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

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Originally posted by nchs09 isnt hiding our insecurities and overcoming them a good thing? i think it is necessary.

You're missing my point. Lira is saying that everyone has insecurities, and I'm saying I don't believe that. Everyone has weaknesses, yes, but that doesn't make them insecure.

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Originally posted by jennypie You're missing my point. Lira is saying that everyone has insecurities, and I'm saying I don't believe that. Everyone has weaknesses, yes, but that doesn't make them insecure.

i think the terms are interchangable. say you have a weakness in doing math problems, you would feel insecure if you were handed difficult math problems.

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD

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Originally posted by jennypie I thought he was saying that EVERYONE is insecure, and that people who say they aren't are just "pretending" not to be. Which is complete and total bullshit.

What about human existence and it's purpose? Death? There is always something in this world everyone is insecure about. People are meant to be.

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"All revolutions are the sheerest fantasies until they happen; then they become historical inevitabilities."

Security lies in ignorance.

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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Stable social orders run on insecurity. If people weren't so busy apeing those "above" them, whatever would they do with themselves?

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Stable social orders run on insecurity. If people weren't so busy apeing those "above" them, whatever would they do with themselves?

Very much the case in the US, to the point I've sometimes felt it was a part of the countries very social structure based on a big foundation of fear. Media, gun ownership and fear of their neighbours, government which reinforces xenophobia and social decay as being every present threats that have to be fought with a war of some sort.
War against fascism, communism, drugs and terrorism in just the last 70 years alone, that's a lot of wars!
For a country that hasn't been invaded in an awful long time, they do seem to devote an awful lot of their time fighting wars. It's good for business and someone too scared of wars is hardly likely to stick their head out to get a handle on the situation, or anything else that might cause them to question.

Fear of impersonal threats affects most countries and people to some degree, on a slightly non-violent level it takes roots in materialism like little squirrels stashing away more food than they could ever eat on the off chance that tomorrow will bring lean times.
I do it to some degree as well to ensure myself of some economic security as well as a source of income and I've found myself several times in my travels where I'd be carrying a firearm or two, owning an armoured vehicle, hiring security and so on where it was personally dangerous. Sometimes those where even justified to be used but mostly it was an exception rather than the norm.

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Originally posted by paulandrews What about human existence and it's purpose? Death? There is always something in this world everyone is insecure about. People are meant to be.

Well I'm not insecure about death. So you're wrong. And I still disagree with that.

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Originally posted by nchs09 i think the terms are interchangable. say you have a weakness in doing math problems, you would feel insecure if you were handed difficult math problems.

No, I don't think so at all.

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Originally posted by jennypie No, I don't think so at all.

well fuck you then

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Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On OOKA-OOKA ME NACHOS ME PRESS KEYS ON COMPUTER GOOD