Dysfnctnl85

So could control be a gun?



Is the ability to kill a form of control?



From RATM: "There's the right to obey, and there's the right to kill."

SpecialT

No, look at the gun.

Will it fire correctly? Will the bullet kill the intended victim?

Will the target move?

All of these factors have to be in your favor.

Will they? So many questions. . . no control over the answer.

UniqueTII

If I kill you, what am I controlling? I change your status to deceased, but then all kinds of things happen to your family, your friends, me, my family, my friends, my lawyer, etc... that I'm not in control of.



I was also gonna say what Trice said, but she wins.

Dysfnctnl85

Okay so let me go broader here...if you had the ability to kill (which we all do) would you be considered to have control over another person, simply because you have this ability?

UniqueTII

Control over another person is not the ability to make them dead, it's the ability to make them think and act the way you want them to.

SpecialT

No, because we all have this control over eachother.

So it makes it a pretty even playing field.

Again, the variables here are so great in number you'll never be in control.

twstdmtl

There are too many variables in even the most mundane situation to ever really have total control. The desire for this "total" control is not only impossible but a person seeking such control is consciously over simplifying the world around them. They tend to ignore or refuse to admit that which they cannot control.





It is the ultimate weakeness and the greatest strength.



Think about where the most primal survival instinct comes from... The desire to change whatever threatens us to extend our existense or merely to prevent what we would call an un-timely demise. To survive is to control... but inevitably we are faced with what we cannot control.





The balance.



To balance we must control what we are able to (survive) and accept the winds and currents that we cannot control. Total control is not possible nor is total submision. Refusing to make a decision is still a decision, and it carries it's own unique set of consequnces and ramifications.





By definition we have an element of control. Self control, manipulative control, even environmental control. But for every detail we can harness and control there are exponentially more things we cannot control or even fathom. I am not talking about control being an illusion. That is something that has been argued for hundreds of years before us and will no doubtably be argued hundreds of years after us. Total control is an impossibility that is pursued like gold (wealth) and the fountain of youth (longevity, glory days, yester-years, etc. etc.) Man tries to control his condition to protect his offspring or himself, either way it is an attempt to extend his genetics/heritage/bloodline what ever you want to call it... It is a feeble attempt at immortality. Either first hand, by surving for as long as possible; or vicariously, our offspring surving as long as possible.

Dysfnctnl85

Thanks for all of the input, the presentation went great this morning.

defprun

You were all talking metephorically...how the hell can he present that to his class? LOL!



"It's like trying to make people believe your god!"

treceb

so far so good....although im not pass the "saying out loud in front of a mirror" part.