The Pyramid - please prove me wrong
nirrti_rachelle
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Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,302
Location: The Dirty South
I'm sorry but, the pure hatred I hear on this site towards NT people is really starting to piss me off. There are so many things in this world we can't understand, but one rule I go by is "different isn't bad, different isn't evil, different is just different".
Vivienne, I understand that you might think we're unfairly ragging on NTs here. But for many of us, it's not just "one or two" experiences that leave us wondering why we experience such a disproportionate amount of ugliness from the NT world.
The issue isn't whether we're being prejudiced toward NTs. Heck, they'll do just fine regardless of what we think of them. Greentea is giving her perceptions of what she herself has experienced. If that makes people look bad, well, is it really Greentea's fault or the fault of the people she's encountered? I know that not all people are "evil" or whatnot. But if that's the most you've encountered, that's what filter you will use to judge subsequent interactions.
Greentea, you've experienced so much hurt and betrayal throughout your life. You probably think that being part of a group must be inherently painful and you have to give up who you are and be miserable just to be accepted. However, healthy groups allow for curiosity, independence and all the things you value. Groups that don't are not only disfunctional, but toxic to the soul as well and there are, unfortunately, many like that.
Being a part of a group that's nurturing and healing is a matter of finding the right people to hang with. It may take a long, looong time to fight through the gauntlet of disfunctional relationships to find them but they do exist.
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"There is difference and there is power. And who holds the power decides the meaning of the difference." --June Jordan
I think you're more or less correct, Greentea.
Groups are nearly always hierarchies, and leaders are nearly always corrupt. In fact I can't think of even one example of a group that isn't a hierarchy, or one leader who is entirely benevolent. Most people seem to accept this situation as inevitable, but for some reason I still rail at it. I "go along" with hierarchies to some extent, because I seem to have no choice, and I protect myself from their wrath I keep quiet about a lot of my misgivings. But if I had the choice, I'd have no part of any group that had leaders. Who would work for a boss if they didn't need the money? The term "bossy" is a pejorative term for a very good reason - it's demeaning for a human being to be pushed around like that. Yet bosses still exist, and insensitive, controlling powers continue to fly above our heads. I tend to agree with the Anarchist notion that "in authority there is always hate."
But I don't know what it would be like to be neurotypical and to not have the Aspie suspicion of authority figures, to not find it scary whenever anybody else has an involvement in a task I'm trying to do. I don''t know how many of my bad experiences with the bigwigs have been caused by a mutual ignorance of my disability.
TD, I don't think being aware that you're Autistic would make your membership to a pyramid more possible. The last thing a pyramid can afford is someone who says the king is nude, for example. Or someone oblivious to and slow at understanding of the maze of hierarchies (which are not formal and therefore their nuances fluctuate and require a very high level of complex intuitive detection and adaptation). And many other traits. We can't; by definition of Autism. If we could, we wouldn't be Autistic.
_________________
So-called white lies are like fake jewelry. Adorn yourself with them if you must, but expect to look cheap to a connoisseur.
Other posters have examined this thoroughly and disagree and I have nothing to add to that but an example: Wrong Planet.
Wrong Planet is a group that everybody here has chosen to join for its support. It does follow your pyramidal structure in that at its top is its creator who has the power to shut the site down at any time, leaving people without its emotional protection. Is he evil? No. Does he have ultimate power over the group? Yes. Because it exists only as long as he continues to maintain the site. Following the pyramid structure are the moderators directly below him. They can't wink the site out of existence as he can but they can yank posts and posters. Are they evil? No. The power they wield is for the good of all to prevent Wrong Planet from turning into a hostile arena where people feel too intimidated to post.
There are rules (stated at the top of the forum) which all must abide by or made to leave the group. So that fits in with your "threat of being made to leave the group if you don't conform" model.
And yet, Wrong Planet is by all accounts a helpful, benevolent group which follows your pyramid model without devolving into evil. The rules people follow are for mutual protection of all posters and nobody (except a couple posters in some memorable threads) feels that this moderation of post content that all must abide by is a force for evil even though it is a rule system that must be followed or the member must leave the group.
Thank you all for your comments so far!! ! Looking forward to more.
I think I should clarify, thought, that what I'm trying to prove wrong is the following statement:
Almost everyone chooses to belong to a pyramid for protection against sudden misfortune in exchange for their soul.
_________________
So-called white lies are like fake jewelry. Adorn yourself with them if you must, but expect to look cheap to a connoisseur.
Last edited by Greentea on 21 Jan 2010, 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
I don't think anyone could argue that pyramids DON'T EXIST--some things are definitely organized that way, including governments, churches, the Mafia...
All anyone could prove is that there are groups which are NOT pyramids, but are egalitarian and cooperative like a kibbutz or a trade union, or groups like families which may be held together by love rather than by fear.
Thanks, Ariel. I just corrected the confusion in my previous post and clarified.
I've now clarified in my OP as well.
Could everyone please answer the OP all over again now that it's correctly enunciated? Sorry for the confusion...
_________________
So-called white lies are like fake jewelry. Adorn yourself with them if you must, but expect to look cheap to a connoisseur.
Wrong Planet is a group that everybody here has chosen to join for its support. It does follow your pyramidal structure in that at its top is its creator who has the power to shut the site down at any time, leaving people without its emotional protection. Is he evil? No. Does he have ultimate power over the group? Yes. Because it exists only as long as he continues to maintain the site. Following the pyramid structure are the moderators directly below him. They can't wink the site out of existence as he can but they can yank posts and posters. Are they evil? No. The power they wield is for the good of all to prevent Wrong Planet from turning into a hostile arena where people feel too intimidated to post.
There are rules (stated at the top of the forum) which all must abide by or made to leave the group. So that fits in with your "threat of being made to leave the group if you don't conform" model.
And yet, Wrong Planet is by all accounts a helpful, benevolent group which follows your pyramid model without devolving into evil. The rules people follow are for mutual protection of all posters and nobody (except a couple posters in some memorable threads) feels that this moderation of post content that all must abide by is a force for evil even though it is a rule system that must be followed or the member must leave the group.
I'm quoting myself so I won't have to re-type. Wrong Planet itself is an example of a pyramidal group which asks for nobody's soul- only for conformity with the rules. That's all that most groups ask for- conformity to the rules. Cults are an obvious exception, but they are an exception and not the rule. If you really believed that it was selling your soul to conform to rules in order to maintain membership in the protective group, then you wouldn't be posting here. The rules are quite strict although not unreasonable and the penalty for not conforming is banning: expulsion from the group. In exchange, the Wrong Planet group offers emotional protection (to the extent that it can) for people who thought nobody could ever understand them. The rules- like many rules enforced on a group- aren't soul selling but rather in place for mutual protection of all members.
sartresue
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Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Age: 69
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,313
Location: The Castle of Shock and Awe-tism
This is how my friend the fun unconformist once appeared at school wearing pantyhose in extremely hot summer weather (she was marrying into a rich, orthodox family, her new values were only the values of the patriarch at the top, no more creative exploration, no more personal convictions or acts or logical dressing). Those were the signs your friends were being enlisted in different pyramids. It'd start showing in their new behaviors that contradicted everything they'd been till a week or two before. They'd been charmed into the idea of the easy, sheltered life of being owned.
I don't think a pyramid lifestyle or an independent one are better than the other. They both have advantages and disadvantages. When life gets rougher than usual, I long for some pyramid. But when I had one I often felt I was living a farse, I felt no motivation, and I was constantly nauseated by the things that were expected from me to serve the pyramid and the top leader.
Take the money and run like crazy topic
Some people are so security conscious that they would rather be free of economic troubles than do their own thing, and think for themselves. This is what drives people to do stupid things like sneak drugs through customs, and gamble mortgage money to win a lottery. What is even stupider is that these schemes, like the pyramind ponzi thingy, are so risky to health, mental/physical freedom. People make dumb choices, like those women you speak of who submit to religious fanaticism for silver and gold. I have a theory about such people: they are shallow anyway, and don a fanatical costume for the same reason. For example, many nazis became part of that evil regime not because so much for antisemitism (though that was a big factor) but because they wanted some financial security and saw it as a way of lining their own pockets, by theft, contracts, jobs, political posiitons and the like. Utilitarianism can be just as evil. And at the end of WWII many 'ex-nazis' (officially ex, anyway ) just went on to serve new governments in as lucrative a style as they could find, in any country that would harbour them. In other words, money can buy them. Now this is extreme, but a more common thing that people do is to tow the party line for plum jobs (this is more common in Canada than many would realize) like 'crossing the floor' of the Canadian Parliament to change political stripes for cabinet position offers from the other party. You have probably heard of this in your own country. Shallow Hals and Helens--all of them.
It is very rare that any of us would not think a bit before giving up a so-called golden opportunity. Of course, I have never had one, but like you, I would be skeptical.
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Radiant Aspergian
Awe-Tistic Whirlwind
Phuture Phounder of the Philosophy Phactory
NOT a believer of Mystic Woo-Woo
Once I knew I had AS, I could clearly see why I couldn't meet some of my employer's demands, and when I told them of my DX, those demands were largely withdrawn. One supervisor actually said "that explains everything." I'm not saying that AS ignorance was the reason for all my woes at work, but knowledge of AS has definitely taken a lot of the stress out of the job. Still, I suspect that it hasn't been a pure case of understanding leading to tolerance and peace. More likely the management is secretly scared of a discrimination lawsuit and has cut me some slack in order to cover their backs. I think I've just played a good card in my continuing war with them rather than truly resolving anything. I still don't want to be included in their pyramid.....I thought I might lose my contempt for the job once the pressure was off, but I haven't. I feel safer, but these are not my people, and apart from a very few individuals, I can hardly wait to get away from them.
It's not the site in genera, it's just a few people. And those few people are rather easy to recognize once you realize it-- they themselves do the things that they accuse others of doing. No site is without people who want to stir up trouble. Please don't accuse the site of the hatred that you see coming from a few people.
Almost everyone chooses to belong to a pyramid for protection against sudden misfortune in exchange for their soul.
My own case doesn't disprove that......in many ways I did choose to stick with working for salary, though if I were to leave prematurely then it would be more a case of gradual, predictable hardship (as my savings slowly ran out) rather than sudden misfortune. And your phrase "in exchange for their soul" rings very true for me. Kind of ironic, because I don't believe in souls, but I feel very strongly that the job has somehow pushed me to one side of my life, which I think is much the same thing.
The last thing that THAT king might afford; you make a generalization that cannot be substantiated. I disagree - we can, albeit impaired or affected. But to dismiss what we CAN do, regardless of how differently we accomplish those things, is a worse act than hierarchical structure.
I think I should clarify, thought, that what I'm trying to prove wrong is the following statement:
Almost everyone chooses to belong to a pyramid for protection against sudden misfortune in exchange for their soul.
Your statement is unprovable in the first place... not to be rude, but the soul is not quantifiable and therefore not subject to observation on the basis of exchange or trade. Some people join such a structure for security, others for protection, others for socio-economical reasons, others still working for their own purposes while circumventing those in power. Again, it appears that you are projecting your own experience upon the canvas as the sole reason why people behave in that manner.
M.
_________________
My thanks to all the wonderful members here; I will miss the opportunity to continue to learn and work with you.
For those who seek an alternative, it is coming.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Good and Evil are concepts, which can only exist relative to something which is concerned with such rules, and as everyone has a diffrent way of measuring Good and Evil, the top of your pyramid will be diffrent for every single person on the planet. Plus the fact that Evolution is not concerned with Good and Evil, they dont really exist, except in the mind of the person who feels the need to justify their actions.
I would not want to accompany someone I knew or suspected held views of this grossly contemptuous nature about me, to the Galilee, or anywhere else for that matter.
You might want to consider that people without Aspergers Syndrome often tend to be remarkably astute when it comes to detecting contempt directed at them by others.
Sue, thanks, it's very comforting to see that someone understands what I'm talking about. I've been trying to make it as clear as possible but I see that most don't understand yet. I think as people discuss it more, it will become clearer.
miszt, of course good and evil are artificial and subjective constructs. But it's so much easier to write "evil" instead of "concerned only with self-gain, self-interest and 100% lacking in compassion" that I was tempted to use the word. But I agree, I should've used the definition rather than the epithet.
TD, the pyramid I'm talking about is about informal hierarchy and private life, so it leaves out formal workplace relating (except in feudal kind of work relationships).
Still hoping to be proven wrong, though all the nerves touched here only confirm and reconfirm the thesis so far, unfortunately...
_________________
So-called white lies are like fake jewelry. Adorn yourself with them if you must, but expect to look cheap to a connoisseur.
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