Drama, why look?

[tattuchu]

It's a wonderful overlooked gem in the Yes catalogue.

[Exi5tentialist]

I've left quite a lot of forums, usually because my freedom of expression was violated in some outrageous way. The internet is still young, it's only now we're seeing 2nd generation forums whose founders were wronged by an earlier forum and therefore have an awareness of the kind of behaviour they don't want to see repeated. It takes a few years commitment to establish a forum's reputation.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well to a 3rd gen forum, then.

[Exi5tentialist]

Well to a 3rd gen forum, then.

You're not trying to manufacture a drama by any chance are you?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well to a 3rd gen forum, then.

You're not trying to manufacture a drama by any chance are you?

Cool your jets. Check out the history of the folks that started this forum.

[Exi5tentialist]

Cool your jets. Check out the history of the folks that started this forum.

Already have done, I know the background, 2nd generation is fine by me.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Cool your jets. Check out the history of the folks that started this forum.

Already have done, I know the background, 2nd generation is fine by me.

Okay then.

[Don't Panic]

Cool your jets. Check out the history of the folks that started this forum.

Already have done, I know the background, 2nd generation is fine by me.

Rdf->Taf->Rationalia

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Cool your jets. Check out the history of the folks that started this forum.

Already have done, I know the background, 2nd generation is fine by me.

Rdf->Taf->Rationalia

Rdf->Taf->Rationalia
         \---HOC

[mistermack]

Because we evolved.
We are social creatures, and have an instinct to work out a pecking order. This involves constant testing of others, and being aware of the status of each individual.
As younger members of a group get bigger and stronger, they have to bicker and fight to improve their status, and if a higher ranked individual shows signs of weakness, you have to grab the chance to put them down, or possibly help them out and cash in on status when they recover.
If you study Chimpanzees, you'll encounter endless drama.
It made us what we are.

I don't see us as trapped by our origins as all that.

Sometimes we're compassionate and egalitarian because we like being that way. It feels warm and comforting, not unlike like pooping one's pants or gratuitously using double negatives.

In one fellowship I belonged to, a piece of one of the mantras read "...to place principles above personalities. It's a good idea if you have good principles.

Bringing it back to the chimps: We humans do sometimes put abstract ideas instead of fellow primates in the Alpha and Omega positions. We've had JHVH1, Freedom of Speech, The Common Good, Capitalism, Communism, The Family, etc for the Alpha and for the Omega we've had Satan, Communism, Capitalism, Censorship, The Jersey Shore, etc.

I think as long as we don't take all that too seriously when things start to get absurd looking, we do rather well.

I wouldn't say we are trapped either. But definitely influenced.
we have the power of logical thought, but it starts from and sits on top of our evolved tendencies.
So I think we are a mixture. And the tendency towards altruism is an inherited trait too.
It's perfectly in line with evolution that we can have opposing tendencies in the same individual.
People can turn them on and off when they need to.

[drl2]

I don't even know which thread is the drama thread, just heard rumors of drama in other threads. If I haven't clicked on it by now, I probably won't.

[Ronja]

Mistermack - what about bonobos? They are as close relatives as chimps are to us. So why choose only the chimp metaphor?

[mistermack]

Mistermack - what about bonobos? They are as close relatives as chimps are to us. So why choose only the chimp metaphor?

No overwhelming reason. Force of habit more than anything else. Plus I suppose that some people might still not know what a Bonobo is, but everyone knows what a Chimp is. From a point of view of this thread, maybe Chimps are a better example anyway, as there seems to be slightly more friction and drama in Chimp society than that of Bonobos.

[Ronja]

From a point of view of this thread, more bonobo-like people might be drawn to drama simply due to the (subconsciously registered) chance of comforting/calming/conciliatory sex afterwards...

More seriously: I think the reasons why it would feel difficult (or, at times, easy) not to look vary a lot, also for the same person, depending on the context. Most examples that people have given here seem plausible in one way or another, IMO.

[mistermack]

More seriously: I think the reasons why it would feel difficult (or, at times, easy) not to look vary a lot, also for the same person, depending on the context.

Can I have a job as a proof reader? It must be dead easy, if that got through !!