So, on Galatea's new blog, she posts the following haiku:
So few want the truth
I will take mine with candor
Never blanketed
To which I responded:
So few can balance
truth and sophistic critique
I’ll take flattery
Just thought I'd pretend to be highlighting Galatea's new blog, while really just showcasing my own supposed cleverness.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Pride is so unbecoming...
17 comments:
Fine.
You are so cute and clever.
And you are as divinely imperious and lovely as ever!
Thanks for giving me a much-needed (and directly requested) ego stroke. I figure, why mess around with all the pretense?
Stoke his self regard
or assuage his self pity?
Enh. Props either way.
Galatea: I linked you, if that's OK.
K
And Keifus, you're a perceptive and wise man. Undoubtedly handsome too!
Self-pity, obsessive attempts to bolster self-regard - it all amounts to the same need for constant affirmation, doesn't it?
Thanks for playing along.
He loves to hear truth
So long as it flatters him.
Aren't we all the same?
Hi Rundeep! Very nice to see your lovely, insightful self hereabouts!
I was really just trying to make a point about balance (though I'm also pleased people have responded to my shameless request for compliments). It does strike me that the people most in favor of sincere and honest feedback, at the expense of diplomacy, have an exaggerated sense of their ability to discriminate between the object of criticism and their own extra-topical biases.
A discerning eye does not necessarily make one less of an asshole, for instance, and expertise can certainly provide great cover for assholism. I read some critical commentary of someone's writing on the Fray some time ago that brought this to mind.
So, all other things being equal, who am I going to trust, you or my own eyes?
I don't think people really are necessarily in pursuit of flattery, by and large. I do think people tend to be quite sensitive to the potential for ulterior motives when others are being critical, however - middle school alone provided a host of experiences in which I learned to be a discerning consumer of the evaluations of other people. I figure one of the ways in which I might measure the intent of a person's feedback is the degree to which they take my feelings into account when they provide it.
But barring that, I'll take the flattery, thankyouverymuch. At least with flattery, I don't have to worry about a coincidental match between an inapt criticism and my own internal critic, and can disbelieve it without much risk of spurious negative impact.
I hope Galatea's not offended by my snappy comeback. I'm actually in fairly close agreement with the spirit of her sentiment. Maybe I'm just more cynical than she about ulterior motives, being in general disinclined to believe flattery anyway.
Very astute of you to notice those things, TK!
looks to slay angels,
a brain like a computer.
That's _____
(a. TenaciousK
b. lovely rundeep
c. our pal Keifus
d. Galatea
e. divine Goddess)
I find that people often engage in honesty as an excuse for assholery (and also that their perceptions don't have a wide field of view). I'm sure you know the type.
K
TenaciousK,
No not offended; always happy to instigate some good fun…and snappy comebacks!
I put it all together below to see the result…with some last words :-)
Galatea:
So few want the truth
I will take mine with candor
Never blanketed
TenaciousK:
So few can balance
truth and sophistic critique
I’ll take flattery
Keifus:
Stoke his self regard
or assuage his self pity?
Enh. Props either way.
rundeep:
He loves to hear truth
So long as it flatters him.
Aren't we all the same?
Galatea:
Philosophically
The truth has many facets
Like a diamond
Flattery feels good
Genuine is the best kind
But is it always?
Who knows who knows who
Tells the truth or placates you
Really, what feels best?
With apologies to rundeep, I suggest that we all could learn from the master.
august,
What the fuck is network feed? Please do tell. Does it mean feeding off of other blogs?
WHY are my posts to TenaciousK showing up on Wikifray???
Get me off that fucking site. I glance over there at times but I want no part of it.
I post here - not there. Please delete my comments from Wikifray.
I await your reply over here.
Thanks,
Galatea
P.S.
If you think mellech is a "master", why don't you comment to him where he posts? That would be the GRACIOUS thing for you to do. I've been complementing him on his poems for some time now and am always happy when he REAPPEARS over "there". I never see you say squat to him. Why don't you pay him a visit over there, and check out his mbtu's and give him some DIRECT positive feedback?
TenaciousK,
Sorry to explode in your space here (to august) But what does this mean...if I post here and have fun with you I am opening myself up to be reproduced on Wikifray?
~ Galatea
Galatea,
I have in fact complimented mellech on pfray in the past, and will do so again. I thought it would be nice for people interested in Haiku but not PFray regulars to see somebody really, really good at it. I was also teasing my friend rundeep, who runs a "Wisdom of the Haiku Master" column in DP fray. I'm not sure why I've caused offense, but that was not my intention.
As for comments feed, I don't know the details, but yes, if you post on my blog or the blogs of most people who participate in wikifray, the comment is also transmitted to the feed. Same with TK.
I don't know how to delete them, but they'll disappear within a day regardless.
TK, if you want this to change, you know who to talk to.
If you don't want them to show up, you can go to your blogger template, and under (advanced) site feed page in the settings, you can choose to have your comments and/or post not feed.
(I don't feed my comments anymore. It bugged one person who reads, and I expect it would have made at least one other quite livid if I pointed it out. It takes away from the nice mosaic on wikifray, but at the end of the day, I'd rather have the comments.)
K
OK, thanks. I went to blogger template, and under (advanced) site feed page in the settings, chose "none" to comments and/or post feed. So now lets see what happens..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Galatea:
Disallowing comment feeds on your blog will only disallow people from comment-feeding your blog: it won't affect the comment feed on this blog.
I am a (semi) active contributor at wikifray, and have found the cross-traffic coming through from the comment feed to be quite desirable. I'm sorry you're unhappy about your name/comments appearing there. Others who have felt that way have either been commenting anonymously, or (probably) have quit commenting. I'm not inclined to drop the feed, though I hope you'll continue to keep coming by and commenting here. The comment feed is really only a step beyond someone linking your site - while it may be impolitic in some circles, some of us commit this minor sin (cough, cough).
I am a little perplexed by the negative reaction to wikifray, though you're certainly not the first I've heard similar sentiments from.
I'm very sorry for any offense I caused. Please accept my apology.
August: Thanks for coming by and responding.
Keifus: while people might object to an association they didn't choose to make, their objection amounts to reactivity in the face of being told who they must play with. I have a similar reaction to people telling me who I mustn't play with.
I think the unidimensional nature of online interactions diminishes the plasticity of relationships in a most unfortunate way.
I may reconsider. Will be up-front about it if I do.
I like the spread-out thing too, and like I said, the comment moasaic is fascinating in an exquisite corpse sort of way. I'll find the compromise I like sooner or later.
K (and on-topic: whatever gets me more attention is fine by me)
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