Dressing the Thoughtful

Part #2 of JohlBro's 'Dressing' series. Dressing in different disposition to distribute thought provocation. Sounds neat, right? This space is home to musings deliberate, consequential, and accidental - all sincere. Thoughts that float by my mind from all methods of matter stop their journey here. My mind is an adventurous one, and whether it made you smile, made you think, or made you realise something, regardless of the magnitude, it's succeeded. Morality is the future we seek and it is our moral right to morally fight for it. Content here will be primarily word-based, offering bites of varying acidity across numerous subjects. If variety really gets you going, the following links should help you. Dressing The Ambulant. JohlBro on Facebook!

[dressingthethoughtful-blog]

Three steps.

1 - Find out what you like to do. 2 - Find out how to get paid for it. 3 - Don't do it for the money.

Three steps. That's all you need.

[dressingthethoughtful-blog]

I moved.

I moved cities.

Well, really, I relocated from a small, casual, town to a city. Grand. Given that I've spent two thirds of my human life somewhat prospering in a lovely little ecosystem, I'm genuinely surprised at how little I know about society things whenever I set my eyes on the highways.

The less I realised I knew, the more I was obviously frustrated, and it lead to quite unenviable circumstances. Things as small as new lines on the roads, which were never brought up in driving training, has shifted the entire shape of the sands I thought were comprehensible.

The bigger picture perhaps, is that I should hopefully become more active again.

I've got less than a hand's worth of followers though, so that shouldn't affect too much.

[dressingthethoughtful-blog]

Peers Over Power.

This is an analysis of an argumentative method. I promise I'm exciting sometimes.

Let's paint a picture. Let's say you're neck deep in an argument, and the opposition has a lot of peer support. I would tell you to try and avoid an argument with someone in a group anyway, based on what I'm going to impart in this article. However, let's say you haven't, and you jumped on in. Normally, jumping into an argument like this wouldn't scare you. Your vocabulary combined with your fluent tongue makes potent poison for any who dare test your water. Your attacks are clever, and can utilise wordplay, complex references, cultural and historical context from various points in time, and to top it off, you can even simplify it so that your opponent can understand you, regardless of their intellect. I'm probably making this sound a lot more dramatic than it should be, but let me remind you that DRAMA IS LIFE. To further bolster your confidence, let's imagine that this person subject to your vicious licks only knows really basic, comedic things, like jokes about your mother. Woo, Yo' Momma jokes. He fires off one of these abominable bullets, but they're a poor craft against your expertly sculpted armour. It barely manages a scratch. And then... You lose. All the peers in the circle roar some typical cry like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" and go crazy, boosting their leader's confidence to colossal levels. He smiles, and you ready your return, but because the crowd believes he has won already, he has. You could string together the best comeback in the world, but you'll be brushed off because of the mob mentality. You lost because they willed it, and there's nothing you can do. I don't have a name for this concept; I simply called it 'The Bandwagon Effect' the last time I spoke about it. Not a very catchy name and probably not a very cohesive one - but it works enough. The crowd jumps on the same wagon and you're put down. Now, why does this happen? Does it derive from something as simple as a 'safety-in-numbers' concept? Perhaps it's because such a crowd doesn't want to go against the mob mind and stand out? Such an event could have disastrous outcome in such a setting, after all. As I noted in the post before this, people need to fit in. It's not just another human desire to sate - it has always been a NEED. Arguing against a group who has this mentality locked in is almost futile. You're one person, after all. How on earth would you win by yourself? That's preposterous, go home. I can't supply a true answer, of course. A topic such as this is far too subjective and prone to flux that I just don't have the power. It makes for some great brain food though.

[dressingthethoughtful-blog]

First.

FIRST! This feels almost guilty. I've wanted to make a mundane 'first' post for such a long time. I've sometimes wanted to do it with a sense of irony, to spite those who constantly make these posts and claim that it's somehow triumphant. I've sometimes wanted to do it to be noticed, on some popular thread. The intermission is this post is on a brand new blog I'm starting up. A blog that, as will be evident after this entry, will be a blog featuring points that go into inevitable depth. I can already hear the masses crying in joy. Back on point, however, this is my first post. I made a blog and I posted in it first and I got to call the first call. I got to shout the war chant, despite my terrible war skills. It's a cheap exit (well, actually it's quite free) and it got the job done, but of course, it doesn't hush my thirst. Because it's not being noticed. It doesn't accomplish anything. Sure, the contrast of deep analysis on such a shallow concept can be amusing and it amuses ME, but this isn't going anywhere. Perhaps THAT is the true meaning of a first post?

In our current society - heck, in MOST of society - being known is a huge thing. Being famous is a popular ingredient in most dreams, even if people are unaware of the life that comes beside it. A famous person is guaranteed to undergo the same emotions as everybody else is. Maybe they won't be as intense. Maybe they'll be more intense. Those famous conditions for famous people like stress, and depression; those famous banes of famous people like Paparazzi, and gossip... Maybe they are all true. It could be quite annoying. I can think of 90% of my peers who would immediately shun that kind of attraction on 90% of their living days. The thing is, however, that they are FAMOUS. Nobody cares about all that crap, nobody reads the fine print, and nobody wants to waste time. They want to be known. The scale is far less grand, but that's likely one of the vertices outlining what it is to post a 'first'. You're becoming known. Obviously, saying a word on a thread won't land you a career in the movies but it will generate reaction. Reaction only proves that you are affecting something. If you're affecting something, your action is known by something. One of the world's more sporadic algorithms is the ease of becoming known. It only seems to get easier - hotspots like YouTube or Facebook or Tumblr (shout out!) swell sometimes exponentially over the years and undoubtedly provide the catapult for some very influential bullets. During these times though, it also feels harder to get noticed. Amidst sheer speeding traffic and against other people who got their 'lucky break', somebody else is lost and trying, and failing miserably. Not because of their lack of anything, or because of their imcompetence. They're not a bad person, and they have some good morals. It's because they're just not being noticed. That's our damn struggle. Welcome to my blog.