Monday, April 2, 2012

“It’s not a perfect Universe.”

Babylon 5 has an interesting take on the future. Not only does the chief of security assemble a Kawasaki Ninja, but aliens also ponder about old children’s songs and yell “I’ve let the computer analyse it repeatedly, it makes no sense!”. Not to mention space station caught in a flux, causing time dilation. The usual stuff.

“It’s a Russian thing. When we are about to do something stupid, we want to catalogue the full extent of our stupidity for future reference.”

"I am not of this time. If you take me, Zarthros die. If I stay, Zarthros die. Either way, it is bad for Zarthros."

“We are the grey. We stand between darkness and the light.”

You know, I might start enjoying quoting that thing, I already know a quote I’ll bring in for the next philosophical ramble. It’s about ants and gods. And it is a good one.

 

Today I conversed with a friend of mine (let’s not name any names) about the intentional use of alternate image. By this I mean maintaining an artificial impression that everything is fine. This can be accomplished by means of purchasing a fancy vehicle when money is tight or merely concealing one’s mental breakdowns and hard times. Sure, keeping one’s private life and public life separate is surely a common sight, but the problem lies in the question whether it is a problem or not.

Quite frankly, I don’t see a problem with having a multiplicity of lives (I do not agree with the quote “Leading a second life means giving up half of your first.”, I rather prefer the quote by House: “I have a drug addiction but I do not have a problem with it.”), since it is a natural side effect of trying to accomplish something greater. Nobody is perfect, but many of us can look quite near it. And maintaining a good image is a great boost to one’s career, just look at politics and their cover-ups. It helps strive towards greater goals, it helps succeed.

However, keeping one’s personal life secret does have its drawbacks and I do have to admit that. Hiding one’s problems can easily become a huge problem for not only the person, but his close ones as well. A problem that could be avoided by not hiding it. Mounting debts, nervous breakdowns, home violence, all hidden behind a facade of merriness. Problems that perhaps should not be faced alone, but with assistance. And this is the dark side of leading a double life.

So, in conclusion, while there are good and bad sides to being a hypocrite, it is only a matter of personal opinion if the trend of everyone being a hypocrite is a problem or rather a normal state of society. As always, you are more than welcome to keep the discussion going in the comments, I am prepared to defend both sides.

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