Comments for a card.

[NotLettingItGo]

A bloke I know has just been diagnosed with lung cancer, and very thoughtfully one of the lovely ladies we know has purchased for him a get well soon card... cause she's a woman I suppose... notoriously stupid and thoughtless and all that... anyway it gets better, she's got loads of people to sign this card for him... and all the women have written sentiments such as "get well soon" inside of the card... cause like it's only lung cancer innit.

I went with "I hope it's not a too painful and nasty death for you"... was I too harsh? My wife thinks I was

[megabyteme]

I can only hope you receive the same kind of "thoughtfulness" when your testicles rot off and your asshole fills with tumors.

Hope is something one should never take from another- sometimes, it's all someone has left. Even if that hope is fantasy (isn't it often?) why hurt someone in a weakened state (like Texas, for example...)?


As for the women, they could have at least offered to blow him. Or included naked pics of themselves- or of a more attractive friend. You know...make themselves of some use.


As those kinds of cards go, I typically just sign my name. I imagine it is better to know people are thinking of you than to receive an empty card.

[NotLettingItGo]

Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it.
- Ronald Spiers

Although I look forward in hope that the women who sign any such card for me take your advice.

[megabyteme]

In order:

I don't think Hallmark has a Nietzsche section.

I doubt your co-worker is gearing up to go fight the Afghans.


I hear some of 'em can cook, too.

[Quarterquack]

Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

I've gone around for years telling people about this awesome quote. Telling them about the negativity of hope. Telling them about books they can read about concentration camps in WWII that do nothing to refute the concept of hope.
But never, not in all my years of holding on to this opinion, have I heard someone else quote that specific Nietzsche quote. Good on you.

[megabyteme]

But never, not in all my years of holding on to this opinion, have I heard someone else quote that specific Nietzsche quote.

That's probably since it's a boneheaded quote.

[Quarterquack]

But never, not in all my years of holding on to this opinion, have I heard someone else quote that specific Nietzsche quote.

That's probably since it's a boneheaded quote.

Not really. Psychologically hope is a very, very twisted thing to hold on to.
There's a difference between hopes and wishes. Hopes drive people insane. Wishes drive people to do great things.

[megabyteme]

Not really. Psychologically hope is a very, very twisted thing to hold on to.
There's a difference between hopes and wishes. Hopes drive people insane. Wishes drive people to do great things.

The concentration camps were closed one-by-one when the Allied Forces arrived, and liberated the areas. While many before them had hopes which failed them, the last set of people did have those hopes realized. Word of coming Allies had to raise the spirits of those in the camps. Ever sit in a room with depressed people? How did that help your day? How about a group of people looking forward to good things coming? There is a HUGE difference. Ever take a group of down-trodden, and fire them up? Their spirits improved because you gave them hope for something better.

What "great things" do you think can be achieved in a concentration camp through wishes? Don't blame hope, blame Nazis or cancer for the evils occurring.

You aren't going to remove human emotions from people. It's just part of the equation, and a huge one at that.

[Quarterquack]

People who hung on to hopes in concentration camps, and kept setting dates for which they hoped to be saved by, to hope for the war to end went crazy. Many of them suicided.
People who expected the worst in the same camps, but still knew they'd be saved were the ones who made it out. The books you read and the stories you hear aren't very depressing just because those camps were an awful place. They're also depressing because the narrative is sourced from people who accepted death, hoped for it to be swift, but still wished that it weren't so and that the allies would pull them out.

Removing emotions wasn't the concept that Reject/Myself/Nietzsche recommend. It's like saying remove hatred or sadness because they're useless emotions. What I'm suggesting is completely different: Equate hope with those two emotions, and despise it the same.

[Quarterquack]

Just the same in this case. Hoping for remission is going to destroy whatever other possible space for positive reinforcement is left in that man. Once he abandons it and accepts his fate, he'll realize he hung on to the wrong emotion for too long. It would be far more sensible to hang on to love, humor, and being content than using the flip-side of the desperation coin.