Baxter Entroppe {wip}

Baxter Entroppe {wip} Jan 3, 2011 23:32:15 GMT -5

Post by phunke on Jan 3, 2011 23:32:15 GMT -5

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Kids at school used to tell me that I have very flat eyes. I would ask them to clarify, since by definition an eye is not flat - what most people perceive as a two-dimensional "eye" is actually just a section of the surface of a roughly spherical object, the eyeball. Spheres have no flat sections. They would then tell my that my eyes are dark and show no emotion. This made no sense and accordingly I would respond that my eyes are grey - or grey with a small amount of Blue in it, to be more specific - and that grey (or grey with a small amount of Blue) is not a very dark color as far as colors go. Besides, eyes are not meant to show emotion; they are a very useful anatomical device designed to take in light in the form of colors reflected off other things in the world around us, and then the light goes to a special part of the eye called the Retina, which has many small receptors that process the light and send information about it in electrical impulses through the Optic Nerve to the brain. People stopped telling me things about my eyes after I told them that. Mother said that they were Teasing, which is a common childhood (and adolescent) practice of pointing someone's flaws out to them in a way which would make them feel less confident and happy. I told Mother that that was a very crude form of teasing because not only was it poorly thought-out and delivered, it was also full of untruths (reference: earlier information about eyeballs not being flat).

Probably that is one of the reasons I have so much trouble relating to other children and teenagers. The concept of Teasing especially. Schoolchildren are prone to saying things they do not know to be true or even saying things they know to be untrue. Neither of those things makes sense and they certainly should not be taken at face value. If you know for a fact that someone does not mean the things they say, you can just not listen to them. However, I have noticed from observation that many adolescents - especially the girls - will perceive all comments directed at them to be true because these comments often come in the form of Teasing, which according to Mother is sometimes based on truth based on how hurtful the comments are meant to be.
But Teasing should not be an inherently hurtful thing. So far I have identified six basic types of teasing:

1) Teasing about your appearance using untruths
2) Teasing about your appearance using truths
3) Teasing about your personality and/or mannerisms with untruths
4) Teasing about your personality and/or mannerisms with truths
5) Teasing about your life, living situation, family, or past with untruths
6)Teasing about your life, living situation, family, or past with truths

Any intelligent person will immediately discount Teasing in forms 1, 3, and/or 5. Form 2 should not be offensive to the person being teased; a body is just a body, a vessel for the Brain, a much more magnificent and remarkable thing. Most people cannot change the outward appearance of their anatomical features, and it would be silly to try anyhow, because all humans (excluding the Weird Ones^*) have the same anatomical features only in slightly different forms. An example of this is that a person with a smallish nose might tease a person with a large nose about the size of their nose, but it is a stupid thing to tease about because both hypothetical people have noses with only a few millimeters of cartilage distinguishing them.
Being teased by Form 6, truths about one's life, is a very very bad thing because when you are not an adult you have very few ways to control your life. You might be stuck with a good lot or with a bad lot but that is no reason to inform someone else that their lot is inferior because it was not their choosing. In fact, if a person with a bad life had the ability, they would probably intend to change their life. Only they don't. But the intention counts for more than what they cannot control since the intention stems from the person and the situation stems from the environment.
The only type of Teasing that should be taken seriously is Type 4 because personality is a thing that a person should take responsibility for. So if something about your personality or mannerisms is wrong then you should change that thing so that you do not "get on people's nerves" which is in expression meaning that you annoy other people.^** Many people need to change to avoid getting on the nerves of other people. However that does not necessarily mean you should inform someone of their character flaws through Teasing; it would probably be better and more effective^*** to sit down with them and have an honest, serious talk. (I know a few people I would not mind informing about their faulty and/or annoying personality and/or mannerisms, but unfortunately conversation-starting is not a talent of mine.)

On the chance that my micro-analyzing of human characteristics and the way in which they are downtrodden by other humans does not make sense or is ambiguous, I will clarify with a Metaphor. This Metaphor is about Chemistry, not because it is the simplest thing in the world^**** but because it is relatively clear and because Chemistry is a subject I understand fairly well (which is not to say I know most of it, because there is almost an infinite amount of information if you keep looking). A person's appearance is like the outward appearance of a reactant: not very important! (For example, Barium does not look like much but is very important in a lot of reactions.) A person's personality is like a chemical reaction. It can be controlled and manipulated and it works differently under different conditions. The Surroundings, or everything in the environment which is not the chemical reaction, is like someone's life or history. It's just there regardless of what chemical reaction you are doing. It may change or affect the reaction, but if there is a problem in the reaction (also known as the personality in this Metaphor) you should not blame the surroundings, you should always first look to see if you are using the right amount and kinds of chemical reactants.
And that is why Teasing is a fruitless and petty activity, and I am relieved that it is one in which I do not feel the impulse to engage.

*Weird Ones should never be teased or talked to in depth about their flaws, because that is mean and cruel. Anyone who uses Teasing against Weird Ones is a Bitch if they are a girl and a Bastard if they are a boy. (This is one of the few times those terms should be employed in description of a fellow human being. I do not condone them in most other situations.)
**My hypothesis is that this expression stems from the idea that nerve cells in the skin act as pain receptors to the brain, thus 'getting on someone's nerves' implies that you are causing them pain. I have not confirmed this. Besides, in reality nerves are useful for many other things.
***I say "more effective" because Mother told me that though Teasing often makes people feel bad, it is rarely completely effective in permanent demoralization. An example of this is that I did not feel demoralized when I was told that my eyes are grey and flat. Thus people stopped teasing me about it, because it was so ineffective.
****If I made a Metaphor using the simplest things in the world, it is likely I would use something that barely changes, like the sun or the color of the sky at night or very small rocks. However I wanted this metaphor to be a little more complex than that. I am not sure why I would have to make a Metaphor using small rocks, although I suppose that the original subject would have to be something very mundane.