Despise A Slanderer
One of the Delphic Maxims…and one that I wanted to talk about because I’ve found it to be significant on a personal level.
The internet is a unique vehicle of communication in that it has a safety net of anonymity. No one knows you…no one knows your life, your job, your children, your daily routines, how you worship, etc. You can take your anger and post it on a forum board or on a blog behind a Screen Name….and things that you would never be able to say in the real world to a real person’s face can be said with relative ease on the net. There are no consequences, you won’t get your ass kicked. That seems to give some the thought that they have free reign to say whatever they want, in whatever way they want.
They can make fun of your Screen Name, they can call you things like douchebag, a syncophant, a lapdog, a parrot.
The reason *why* they slander in this way is because they have issues with their own self identity, their own self worth, their own security in what they believe and why they believe it.
What is more alarming is the mob mentality that goes along with it. They jump in with the attacker and join…probably so that they will be safe from a cyber bullying attack, or they just get a sick thrill out of ganging up on people they don’t know and agreeing with all the lousy things that have been said about them. Perhaps they are all so insecure that it is better to join up with someone who gives them a sense of value and self worth, themselves. Like attracts like.
Words have power. They have the power to hurt. Conversely, they also have the power to educate, to inform.
Despise a slanderer. Stay away from the mob with the pitchforks. Stay away from those that would hurt another with a personal attack.
Stay out of the gutter.
Be better.
Timothy Alexander
on Mar 21st, 2008
@ 6:37 pm:
It is so shameful that so very many want to claim Hellenismos as their own, but reject everything essential to the Hellenic religion, and specifically its ethical system. They talk about ecstatically experiencing the Gods, but fail in every way to live in harmony with them in their lives.
Scampian
on Mar 21st, 2008
@ 7:12 pm:
@Twinkle, I agree with all you have said, but there can be consequnces, one has the ability to find out who a person really is if they wish to.
@Tim, this is due to Abrahamic beliefs, especially christian. Where religion is divided amongst every other aspect of life. To be a faithful christian, at minimum, all one must do is go to church every sunday, worship for a few hours, ask for forgiveness for everything wrong you did during the week and then go back home and to your normal life. To the ancient greeks, religion was not seperate form their everyday life, the gods were/are everywhere, all the time, and it was synonymous to life, the abrahamic ideas have changed the way people view the gods.
Timothy Alexander
on Mar 21st, 2008
@ 7:26 pm:
Scampian, for as young as you are and how new you are to Hellenismos, you make some incredibly thoughtful insights. It is amazing sometimes how much you know about the Hellenic religion, compared to others who claim to have been studying it for ten or more years.
Scampian
on Mar 21st, 2008
@ 9:52 pm:
Tim, while years may give people great insight, a chapter a year doesn’t =), its about devotion… and who your mentors are, theres no denying that you, twinkle, and astalon were the ones who provided me with the majority of the foundations of my current beliefs =).
Timothy Alexander
on Mar 22nd, 2008
@ 3:16 pm:
Scampian, I don’t think any of us could ask for a greater compliment.
Thank you.
SilverWolf
on Mar 22nd, 2008
@ 5:20 pm:
I have to say I agree with Scampian. We couldn’t have asked for better teachers, mentors, or friends.
Twinkle
on Mar 23rd, 2008
@ 1:22 am:
Thank you guys. I mean it.
astalon
on Mar 23rd, 2008
@ 6:57 am:
Twinkle:-
Be strong, and remember the saying, “Slow but sure move the might of the Gods.”
This is not a Christian saying but one that survived from Hellenic times.
Scampian:-
Your insight at such an early stage in Hellenismos is truly remarkable.