alanschu

I agree with many of your points. And people still act surprised when pretty much every RPG game is so combat intensive.

See! It's all perspective! Getting that rabbits foot unfortunately put the rabbit population at a critical mass, to the point where they can no longer reproduce sufficiently (talking about rabbits...hah, yeah right this would happen) and will go extinct. As a result, carrot populations will explode, and chaos will ensue.

Quite frequently actually. Especially if we played on a map where it was relatively easy to prevent them from finding my base (and doing the all too common helicopter rush). IIRC it was me building a power plant, and all pre-reqs for the heavy weapons factory. I built a second one (for speed purposes), would sell my CYARD (which was also interesting if they tried an engineer rush, as they would often drive around looking for my CYARD), and then finally I would sell my second weapons factory. This would give me a large number of medium tanks, that was pretty much impossible to stop. I was very vulernable to helicopter attacks, as well as engineers. I remember winning once against a helicopter rusher, but he was too slow. So I already had a handful of medium tanks, and after I took out his helipads, he tried to win by boring me to death by just flying around so I couldn't kill him and would just disconnect. Unfortunately for him, I was much more patient.

Yes, stupid violent punks that have no beef filming a friend of theirs getting decked in the face, without any concern that perhaps they might be next, to the point where I have no problem letting the other guy show a video of myself getting humiliated all over the internet.

Then explain yourself. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Read your long post. The elitism presented was so tangible it could probably actually be physically touched. (EDIT: As well as your edit also indicates) But nooo, society has had nothing to do with it at all. Which would certainly explain why many preschools still have their kids listen to classical music under the hope that there is something to the Mozart Effect. Also interesting, is that you claim that there is no societal influence to the interpretation of classical music, though moments earlier you point out the current "myth." You claim that there is a much deeper quality and complexity to classical music. But discount the effects that society has indeed placed upon you (you cannot deny it...it IS there....unless you wish to completely toss out all of the large scale media exposure to things such as the Mozart Effect [among others], which ironically are studies that support your claim). Social roles and expectations play a huge part. I mean, what lead you to classical music in the first place? Was it because of high cultures verbal bashing of it, writing it off as trashy nonsense? The point is accented when, in your previous articles, you have already ascribed levels of intelligence to people that do like NSync (or whatever). To the point where you infer that a fan of NSync is actually incapable of appreciating the music (nooooooo, no elitism there at all). Social categorization plays a huge role, whether or not you are willing to admit it. You label people as being incapable of appreciating classical music if they like NSync (which is also a problem, given Labeling Theory...in other words you're not doing much to make things any better). All without actually knowing the person. Heck, the fact that they are a visible fan of the music enables you to make no assumption as to their ability to appreciate classical music. Heck, social categorization is a huge part of why I am arguing with you about this, over someone else. You have already demonstrated elitist tendencies in threads that were brought up about Japanese art. In this thread, you've done nothing but reinforce that impression. Social pressures exist everywhere. And you've already conceded the prevalence (you called it a myth) about intellectuals and their love of classical music. Stephen Hawkings stated in an interview that he does indeed enjoy the likes of Wagner (one piece of his, being well liked in pop culture thanks to Apocolypse Now, is of course Ride of the Valkyries), Brahms and so on, but also that he likes pop music. Holy ****! How is THAT possible!? I wonder what you'd think if you found him listening to NSync... All I can say is....why not? I first fell in love with classical music when I first heard the opening to Toccata and Fugue in D Minor as the start music in a video game Dark Castle (the sequel, Beyond Dark Castle, also featured a different part of it for the start screen music). I'm certainly not bold enough to claim that my intellectual capabilities were even anywhere close to that of a typical NSync fan, as I would have been five at the time (as compared to a teenager). Unless you're alleging that it's even more inherent than intellectual capabilities (which is not static, as it grows with a person's experience). Are people born with an inherent like or dislike of classical music? Or, god forbid, it couldn't possibly be because many classical music fans are elitist, and have helped perpetuate the gap between classical music and pop music. Keeping them separate allows them to remain distinct from the pop music fans, while at the same time creating a rift between each group by perpetuating the "myth." Ergo, the groups continue to be distinct, and the "intellectual" elite continue to have a way to rationalize their supposed superiority. On a final note: I think this says quite a bit. I agree with this.

The impression i got is that he thinks classical music doesn't have any deeper quality or higher complexity per-se, it's just marketed that way. That effectively means he thinks there is no deeper quality or higher complexity in the likes of Beethoven, or am i wrong? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You are wrong.

But you

I remember making a tank rush that was so aggressive it involved selling my construction yard.

*ding* *ding*

Thanks for proving my point. If you cannot understand the perpetuation of elitism through music, then you are an idiot, plain and simple. I'm a bit busy at work at the moment. But I'll perform a dissection of some of your points a bit later.

I agree. It seems somewhat paradoxical for someone to say they do not believe in luck (to the point where they claim they'd still say it even with a gun pointed at their head), yet still holds on to things because they are "lucky."

I think it's staged simply because the two (assumed) friends had this plan, it backfired and one of them gets dropped, and the other one still keeps the camera recording, AND circulates it?

AD&D purists are turning in their skin now.

Congrats. Even more importantly, both the Canucks and Leafs aren't in the playoffs! )

Sounds like it's done a good job of perpetuating its status of it then. You say straight up that as far back as ancient Greece, classical music was for the selected elite. This just sounds typical of elitists not liking something that's new. Society projects an aura of sophistication about liking "high arts" such as the Opera and whatnot. Not surprisingly, being a fan of high culture tends to be more expensive than pop culture. Society's elite has been using it as a way to separate themselves from the "general population" for generations. People are so quick to say that the only reason why Britney Spears is so popular is not because of her talent, but because of the executives that have marketted her so well. It couldn't possibly be that the state of classical music and high culture is also effectively marketted, and has been for quite some time.

I never had the idea that that's what this thread was about. I do think that some people are "luckier" than others. But that's only with just dumb luck (and often hard work).

Err, isn't that exactly what luck is? If I win 40 consecutive rounds of blackjack, I'd say I was pretty lucky.

I'm going to take a slightly different approach, and feel that the conception that smarter people appreciate jazz and classical over pop because society has placed that expectation to.

What are incidents of good fortune then? And why did you say you were really lucky at little things? Why do you not believe in luck?

I saw V for Vendetta and Thank You for Smoking. Both very entertaining movies.

Oh noes!

When it rains it pours. But you don't believe in luck

Exactly. Given the fact that you weren't hurt or anything, the focus goes to the car. Had your neck been broken, I doubt you'd be too concerned about the shape your car is in. Ironically, this even relates a bit to happiness as measured by wealth

I am curious if a good chunk of the population explosion could be attributed to the lack of clerics, rather than just the powerful nature of the cleric. I remember making a priest in WoW, smiply because on the server I was on there wasn't very many.