THPS & Fluffy-Bunny-itis

[PrometheanSet]

Thus, concept of "Teenage High Priest/ess Syndrome" (or THPS)
It started on another forum, which deleted the thread while saving gigabytes of other useless threads...

Symptoms include:

-Believing one is the reincarnation of some great religious or "Spiritual" Historical Figure - (Crowley, Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, etc);
-Studying "massive" amounts of s**t for "their entire life" (with less frequency than once a month), but applying none of it by their current age (usually less than 1 cool ;
-Believing one is entitled to be head of the Coven/Order/Grove/Temple/etc, regardless of lack of worth, talent, or skill;
-Buying simple Pop-Wicca books, such as Silver Ravenwolf's "1001 Sex Organ Enlargement and Love Spells for Dummies" then swearing buy them as "the Tr00 Faith";
-Telling others, even in the Neopagan movement about your "Tr00 Faith", and how no one else got Paganism right;
-Actively converting other children from your High School to your faith, (reminiscent of Evangelicals);
-Attitude of "I can do no wrong", sometimes stemming from how they've been "appointed" by their deity of choice for some Grandiose, sometimes unnameable task.
-Fierce defense of how they don't need to prove anything, but you're not worthy;
-Invented their own history of Paganism, their faith, and the world in general;
-Refusal to evaluate their actions, or think critically;
-Know-it-all-ism;
-Tendency to show an ignorance about philosophy, or some other "intellectual" topic, yet pretend they're right.


Please distinguish between THPS and Fluffy-itis. Symptoms follow:

-Actively hunting for "Demons" to "destroy";
-Mistaking simple, logical phenomena / friendly entities as "Demon Gods";
-General stupidity;
-Believes there was something called "The Burning Times", and that Gerald Gardiner didn't make Wicca as a bastardized, over-simplified Thelema;
-Refusal to think critically or research;
-General gullibility;
-Belief that the Threefold-Rule is not a mid 20th century invention;
-Literal belief in Deities originally invented by a 20th century novelist.

These diseases are NOT mutually exclusive.

Treatments:

THPS:
-Administer butt-kicking.
-Administer Curse.
-Treat with Lollipop and STFU-pill.
-Real initiation/ magical confrontation.

Fluffy-Bunny-itis:
-Administer exposure to less commercialized occultism.
-Crack them open to the world around us.
-Leave them be - this world will do it for us.


Feel free to add symptoms, treatments, and disorders as you please to this thread!  

[TeaDidikai]

PrometheanSet

Thus, concept of "Teenage High Priest/ess Syndrome" (or THPS)
It started on another forum, which deleted the thread while saving gigabytes of other useless threads...

Think it might have something to do with the measures against "harassment"?

Quote:

Symptoms include:

-Believing one is the reincarnation of some great religious or "Spiritual" Historical Figure - (Crowley, Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, etc);

I can't say I'd fault them for Buddha. They are Buddha if they want to go that route.

Quote:

-Believing one is entitled to be head of the Coven/Order/Grove/Temple/etc, regardless of lack of worth, talent, or skill;

If they can form it, they're entitled apparently. That isn't the same as having others respect it after all. It isn't like any given group owns the title of coven, order, temple or grove- and while it's clear they are emulating others, since there is no central authoritative office which determines who gets to use these words- it doesn't really matter until you start talking about specific traditions.

Quote:

-Actively converting other children from your High School to your faith, (reminiscent of Evangelicals);

Care to demonstrate that there is a universal prohibition against pagans seeking converts?

EDIT:
Upon reflection- I think in light of your profile saying "Yeah, I know, how rude/mean/sadistic/misanthropic of me to share the truths I've come to, which continue to grow. Suck it up and deal.", I think another Irony trout is in order.

Quote:

-Invented their own history of Paganism, their faith, and the world in general;

You mean... like Gardner?

Quote:

-Believes there was something called "The Burning Times",

Are you suggesting that the systematic Witch Hunts never happened?

Quote:

and that Gerald Gardiner didn't make Wicca as a bastardized, over-simplified Thelema;

You get to prove that one. I'll grant you that Crowley influenced Wica, but after he was long gone, Doreen Valentine was still around and kicking.

Quote:

-Literal belief in Deities originally invented by a 20th century novelist.

I have to say- I find this rather rich coming from a self professed Chaos Magician.

Quote:

Treatments:

THPS:
-Administer butt-kicking.
-Administer Curse.
-Treat with Lollipop and STFU-pill.
-Real initiation/ magical confrontation.

Fluffy-Bunny-itis:
-Administer exposure to less commercialized occultism.
-Crack them open to the world around us.
-Leave them be - this world will do it for us.

Of course, conversing with them is never an option. wink Heaven forbid we use reason.  

[PrometheanSet]

TeaDidikai

PrometheanSet

Thus, concept of "Teenage High Priest/ess Syndrome" (or THPS)
It started on another forum, which deleted the thread while saving gigabytes of other useless threads...

Think it might have something to do with the measures against "harassment"?

Eh, at the time, it was originally more aimed at relating with the folks who complained about fluffies.

TeaDidikai

Quote:

Symptoms include:

-Believing one is the reincarnation of some great religious or "Spiritual" Historical Figure - (Crowley, Jesus, Buddha, Ghandi, etc);

I can't say I'd fault them for Buddha. They are Buddha if they want to go that route.

Actually, that's a special class of individual who forsook enlightenment for the sake of saving the rest of us unenlightened souls. Buddha, according to just about all of the stories, achieved true Nirvana, which exempts one from reincarnation and thus the suffering that Buddhist believe is inherent in this world.

TeaDidikai

Quote:

-Believing one is entitled to be head of the Coven/Order/Grove/Temple/etc, regardless of lack of worth, talent, or skill;

If they can form it, they're entitled apparently. That isn't the same as having others respect it after all. It isn't like any given group owns the title of coven, order, temple or grove- and while it's clear they are emulating others, since there is no central authoritative office which determines who gets to use these words- it doesn't really matter until you start talking about specific traditions.

What makes you believe that anyone can lead, or that everyone is somehow qualified to guide others along their spiritual path? All too often, we see covens sprouting up after one teenage girl picked up a Silver Ravenwolf book where they couldn't master that.

There's a lot more to spirituality than knowing the language and how to make pretty poetry out of it: there's how you conduct yourself with others, individually and as a group (I've watched child-covens die off wonderfully when they poke the hornet's nest). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The rest actually involves being initiated into a group that can actually teach you something, then evaluate if you're ready to pass it on! From there, we get into traditions' specific idiosyncrasies.

And speaking of Trads, I have to respect the Kemetic Orthodoxy - the woman who founded that holds a friggin Masters in Egyptology! Why do we not have more pagans feeling "called to the faith" through the absolute best our scholars have to offer? To do otherwise is the same as a Christian denying that the process of Redaction Criticism altered the books of the old testament from their original intent. Intellectually dishonest, don't you think?

TeaDidikai

Quote:

-Actively converting other children from your High School to your faith, (reminiscent of Evangelicals);

Care to demonstrate that there is a universal prohibition against pagans seeking converts?

Quote:

-Invented their own history of Paganism, their faith, and the world in general;

You mean... like Gardner?

Yep! Though in Gardner's day, it was somewhat understood to initiates that none of the "ancient texts" you read came from whatever grand sage who's name it touts.

TeaDidikai

Quote:

-Believes there was something called "The Burning Times",

Are you suggesting that the systematic Witch Hunts never happened?

Quote:

and that Gerald Gardiner didn't make Wicca as a bastardized, over-simplified Thelema;

You get to prove that one. I'll grant you that Crowley influenced Wica, but after he was long gone, Doreen Valentine was still around and kicking.

In Disinformation publishing's book "Book of Lies", which is a collection of articles, Tau Allen Greenfield was a Thelemic priest who was something of an expert in identifying Crowley's writing. He came across the book that is touted as "the original book of shadows" in Ripley's library. He described the book as basic Thelema scrawled in Crowley's own writing, but signed by Gardiner. In addition, Gardiner was granted a charter to start an American chapter of the OTO.

Greenfield then proceeds to call Wicca that chapter of the OTO, and then offers a welcome to and Wiccan to be initiated into the Thelemic tradition.

If you wish to contact Greenfield, he is an accessible guy, though he has left the OTO due to internal politics.
http://www.mindspring.com/~hellfire/bishop/

TeaDidikai

Quote:

-Literal belief in Deities originally invented by a 20th century novelist.

I have to say- I find this rather rich coming from a self professed Chaos Magician.

Literal belief. Chaos magicians take on beliefs as tools, but never completely abandon ourselves to them. How else would we be able to give them up and move on to try something else to see if that's more useful?

TeaDidikai

Quote:

Treatments:

THPS:
-Administer butt-kicking.
-Administer Curse.
-Treat with Lollipop and STFU-pill.
-Real initiation/ magical confrontation.

Fluffy-Bunny-itis:
-Administer exposure to less commercialized occultism.
-Crack them open to the world around us.
-Leave them be - this world will do it for us.

Of course, conversing with them is never an option. wink Heaven forbid we use reason.

Yes, conversation really works with your feet on the ground when you're talking to someone who's up on their pedestal in the stratosphere.  

[Recursive Paradox]

PrometheanSet

Yes, conversation really works with your feet on the ground when you're talking to someone who's up on their pedestal in the stratosphere.

I guess some of us here must be miracle workers then as conversation is a primary and often successful tool used by the members of this guild.  

[PrometheanSet]

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.  

[Recursive Paradox]

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

I won't cry over those that don't listen but I still will attempt to educate them politely before they show me that courtesy is no longer an option with them.  

[Cyrus the Elder]

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

If people are willing to reject knowledge solely because of how it's presented, then they don't deserve to have it in the first place.  

[TeaDidikai]

PrometheanSet

Eh, at the time, it was originally more aimed at relating with the folks who complained about fluffies.

A lack of commentary from a Lurker doesn't mean they aren't there.

(I see Lurking People!)

Quote:

Actually, that's a special class of individual who forsook enlightenment for the sake of saving the rest of us unenlightened souls. Buddha, according to just about all of the stories, achieved true Nirvana, which exempts one from reincarnation and thus the suffering that Buddhist believe is inherent in this world.

You're mistakenly thinking I am talking about Bodhisattas and not "the personal Buddha nature" popularly addressed in the saying "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him".

Perhaps instead of making these assumptions- you could, I don't know, ask questions?

Quote:

What makes you believe that anyone can lead,

I don't think any such thing. I merely acknowledge that if it has already happened, if a teenager has already formed a group and started a practice that has the potential to grow into a tradition, that individual has already demonstrated that they are in fact leading. We may not like where they are leading, but that doesn't change the nature of the social dynamic- that they have assumed a role of leadership and others have assumed the roles of followers or co-leaders.

Quote:

There's a lot more to spirituality than knowing the language and how to make pretty poetry out of it: there's how you conduct yourself with others, individually and as a group (I've watched child-covens die off wonderfully when they poke the hornet's nest). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I really wish you would stop confusing leading correctly/effectively with leading in general.

Quote:

The rest actually involves being initiated into a group that can actually teach you something, then evaluate if you're ready to pass it on! From there, we get into traditions' specific idiosyncrasies.

In what universe do all groups require initiation? In what universe do all groups offer to teach or have a system of evaluation?

Stop projecting your personal ideals onto objective reality.

Quote:

And speaking of Trads, I have to respect the Kemetic Orthodoxy - the woman who founded that holds a friggin Masters in Egyptology! Why do we not have more pagans feeling "called to the faith" through the absolute best our scholars have to offer?

Why do we not have more pagans called because of quality scholarship? Let's see:
1) Basing the Statistics on the fact that this is an English Speaking forum based in the US and has a predominately American and Western European user base, I would argue it has a crap ton to do with the fact that Christendom is the popular religion of the land thus limiting the diversity of information.

2) The development of personal autonomy includes moral autonomy. Since this stage is primarily done in the teen years, when one is subject to parental authority (who are likely in theological opposition to pagan traditions based said above statistics) the resources they have to had to be able to pull from such scholars is less than ideal.

3) Not everyone who is seeking personal autonomy has a desire for accuracy. The drive to learn accurate information isn't universal.

4) Misinformation is easily accessible. One has to dig to find out accurate information on Wica and other pagan traditions. Flop however can be produced with a quick Google.

Those would be my top four reasons why the statistics are skewed away from scholarly material drawing people to paganism.

Quote:

To do otherwise is the same as a Christian denying that the process of Redaction Criticism altered the books of the old testament from their original intent. Intellectually dishonest, don't you think?

Or simply intellectually lazy and ignorant.

And you aren't going to address the assumption you made about pagans seeking converts is not universally prohibited?

Quote:

Yep! Though in Gardner's day, it was somewhat understood to initiates that none of the "ancient texts" you read came from whatever grand sage who's name it touts.

So?

Quote:

In Disinformation publishing's book "Book of Lies", which is a collection of articles, Tau Allen Greenfield was a Thelemic priest who was something of an expert in identifying Crowley's writing. He came across the book that is touted as "the original book of shadows" in Ripley's library. He described the book as basic Thelema scrawled in Crowley's own writing, but signed by Gardiner. In addition, Gardiner was granted a charter to start an American chapter of the OTO.

None of which proves that Gardner was trying to build a watered down OTO for the Masses. What it does demonstrate was that Gardner had been a Thelemite, that he had his own interests and that he may have commissioned Crowley to write rituals for his cult.

By the way, the book you loosely described as the original book of shadows was known as Ye Bok of Ye Arts Magical.

Quote:

Greenfield then proceeds to call Wicca that chapter of the OTO, and then offers a welcome to and Wiccan to be initiated into the Thelemic tradition.

Wow... what a bass-hat assumption.
So one guy calling another man's religion a chapter of the OTO suddenly makes it so! How cool!

I wonder if I can get my friends at Vortex to do something similar... ninja

Quote:

Literal belief. Chaos magicians take on beliefs as tools, but never completely abandon ourselves to them. How else would we be able to give them up and move on to try something else to see if that's more useful?

I spy with my little eye a No True Scotsman being comforted by a blanket full of false dichotomy.

Quote:

Yes, conversation really works with your feet on the ground when you're talking to someone who's up on their pedestal in the stratosphere.

Your failures do not negate our successes.  

[PrometheanSet]

TeaDidikai

PrometheanSet

Eh, at the time, it was originally more aimed at relating with the folks who complained about fluffies.

A lack of commentary from a Lurker doesn't mean they aren't there.

(I see Lurking People!)

Quote:

Actually, that's a special class of individual who forsook enlightenment for the sake of saving the rest of us unenlightened souls. Buddha, according to just about all of the stories, achieved true Nirvana, which exempts one from reincarnation and thus the suffering that Buddhist believe is inherent in this world.

You're mistakenly thinking I am talking about Bodhisattas and not "the personal Buddha nature" popularly addressed in the saying "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him".

Perhaps instead of making these assumptions- you could, I don't know, ask questions?

Quote:

What makes you believe that anyone can lead,

I don't think any such thing. I merely acknowledge that if it has already happened, if a teenager has already formed a group and started a practice that has the potential to grow into a tradition, that individual has already demonstrated that they are in fact leading. We may not like where they are leading, but that doesn't change the nature of the social dynamic- that they have assumed a role of leadership and others have assumed the roles of followers or co-leaders.

Quote:

There's a lot more to spirituality than knowing the language and how to make pretty poetry out of it: there's how you conduct yourself with others, individually and as a group (I've watched child-covens die off wonderfully when they poke the hornet's nest). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I really wish you would stop confusing leading correctly/effectively with leading in general.

Quote:

The rest actually involves being initiated into a group that can actually teach you something, then evaluate if you're ready to pass it on! From there, we get into traditions' specific idiosyncrasies.

In what universe do all groups require initiation? In what universe do all groups offer to teach or have a system of evaluation?

Stop projecting your personal ideals onto objective reality.

Quote:

And speaking of Trads, I have to respect the Kemetic Orthodoxy - the woman who founded that holds a friggin Masters in Egyptology! Why do we not have more pagans feeling "called to the faith" through the absolute best our scholars have to offer?

Why do we not have more pagans called because of quality scholarship? Let's see:
1) Basing the Statistics on the fact that this is an English Speaking forum based in the US and has a predominately American and Western European user base, I would argue it has a crap ton to do with the fact that Christendom is the popular religion of the land thus limiting the diversity of information.

2) The development of personal autonomy includes moral autonomy. Since this stage is primarily done in the teen years, when one is subject to parental authority (who are likely in theological opposition to pagan traditions based said above statistics) the resources they have to had to be able to pull from such scholars is less than ideal.

3) Not everyone who is seeking personal autonomy has a desire for accuracy. The drive to learn accurate information isn't universal.

4) Misinformation is easily accessible. One has to dig to find out accurate information on Wica and other pagan traditions. Flop however can be produced with a quick Google.

Those would be my top four reasons why the statistics are skewed away from scholarly material drawing people to paganism.

Quote:

To do otherwise is the same as a Christian denying that the process of Redaction Criticism altered the books of the old testament from their original intent. Intellectually dishonest, don't you think?

Or simply intellectually lazy and ignorant.

And you aren't going to address the assumption you made about pagans seeking converts is not universally prohibited?

Quote:

Yep! Though in Gardner's day, it was somewhat understood to initiates that none of the "ancient texts" you read came from whatever grand sage who's name it touts.

So?

Quote:

In Disinformation publishing's book "Book of Lies", which is a collection of articles, Tau Allen Greenfield was a Thelemic priest who was something of an expert in identifying Crowley's writing. He came across the book that is touted as "the original book of shadows" in Ripley's library. He described the book as basic Thelema scrawled in Crowley's own writing, but signed by Gardiner. In addition, Gardiner was granted a charter to start an American chapter of the OTO.

None of which proves that Gardner was trying to build a watered down OTO for the Masses. What it does demonstrate was that Gardner had been a Thelemite, that he had his own interests and that he may have commissioned Crowley to write rituals for his cult.

By the way, the book you loosely described as the original book of shadows was known as Ye Bok of Ye Arts Magical.

Quote:

Greenfield then proceeds to call Wicca that chapter of the OTO, and then offers a welcome to and Wiccan to be initiated into the Thelemic tradition.

Wow... what a bass-hat assumption.
So one guy calling another man's religion a chapter of the OTO suddenly makes it so! How cool!

I wonder if I can get my friends at Vortex to do something similar... ninja

Quote:

Literal belief. Chaos magicians take on beliefs as tools, but never completely abandon ourselves to them. How else would we be able to give them up and move on to try something else to see if that's more useful?

I spy with my little eye a No True Scotsman being comforted by a blanket full of false dichotomy.

Quote:

Yes, conversation really works with your feet on the ground when you're talking to someone who's up on their pedestal in the stratosphere.

Your failures do not negate our successes.

You've obviously lost the context of what we're talking about.

Just as one example: talking about folks claiming to be the reincarnated Buddha has nothing to do with the Buddha nature you claim to be talking about.  

[PrometheanSet]

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

If people are willing to reject knowledge solely because of how it's presented, then they don't deserve to have it in the first place.

Recursive Paradox

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

I won't cry over those that don't listen but I still will attempt to educate them politely before they show me that courtesy is no longer an option with them.

Either way, having been around the therapeutic community, I can attest the rehabilitation isn't usually so brutal; while there is an attempt to educate, brutalizing the patients into submission neither works, nor is it legal there.

You're already making it a stretch for someone to come in here and come out as a fluffy. Why would they want to invite this sort of nonsense into their lives? I should be able to share what resources I have, see if anyone else can show major problems with those, pick up some new ones, and be allowed to learn as I please.  

[Cyrus the Elder]

PrometheanSet

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

If people are willing to reject knowledge solely because of how it's presented, then they don't deserve to have it in the first place.

Recursive Paradox

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

I won't cry over those that don't listen but I still will attempt to educate them politely before they show me that courtesy is no longer an option with them.

Either way, having been around the therapeutic community, I can attest the rehabilitation isn't usually so brutal; while there is an attempt to educate, brutalizing the patients into submission neither works, nor is it legal there.

You're already making it a stretch for someone to come in here and come out as a fluffy. Why would they want to invite this sort of nonsense into their lives? I should be able to share what resources I have, see if anyone else can show major problems with those, pick up some new ones, and be allowed to learn as I please.

Edit: I'd say, considering the amount of fluffies I've seen be "rehabilitated" via blunt "brutalization", it works pretty bloody well. I can only remember seeing soft-touch work once, most times it ends in "I'll believe what I believe, you go away and believe what you want to believe".

You seem to not quite get something here. You're free to post anything you want, post ******** Silver Ravenwolf if you feel that way inclined. That, however, does not mean that it has to be given a free pass, unscrutinized by those in the forum. Some of us are blunt, some of us aren't, but the general rule is, if you post something that has holes in it, someone will inevitably point them out.

Think of it as peer review. And those things are ******** horrendous, they rip you apart, my brother came out of his last peer review shaking like a leaf with mixed anger and annoyance.  

[PrometheanSet]

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

If people are willing to reject knowledge solely because of how it's presented, then they don't deserve to have it in the first place.

Recursive Paradox

PrometheanSet

Nevermind the folks chased away; be they knowledgeable or otherwise.

I won't cry over those that don't listen but I still will attempt to educate them politely before they show me that courtesy is no longer an option with them.

Either way, having been around the therapeutic community, I can attest the rehabilitation isn't usually so brutal; while there is an attempt to educate, brutalizing the patients into submission neither works, nor is it legal there.

You're already making it a stretch for someone to come in here and come out as a fluffy. Why would they want to invite this sort of nonsense into their lives? I should be able to share what resources I have, see if anyone else can show major problems with those, pick up some new ones, and be allowed to learn as I please.

Edit: I'd say, considering the amount of fluffies I've seen be "rehabilitated" via blunt "brutalization", it works pretty bloody well. I can only remember seeing soft-touch work once, most times it ends in "I'll believe what I believe, you go away and believe what you want to believe".

You seem to not quite get something here. You're free to post anything you want, post ******** Silver Ravenwolf if you feel that way inclined. That, however, does not mean that it has to be given a free pass, unscrutinized by those in the forum. Some of us are blunt, some of us aren't, but the general rule is, if you post something that has holes in it, someone will inevitably point them out.

Think of it as peer review. And those things are ******** horrendous, they rip you apart, my brother came out of his last peer review shaking like a leaf with mixed anger and annoyance.

Don't you know how to fan their curiousity??!!!! It's already sparked, or they wouldn't be here!  

[Cyrus the Elder]

PrometheanSet

Don't you know how to fan their curiousity??!!!!

Yes, I do. However, there comes a point when such tactics don't work. It's a case-by-case deal. Some people have willful ignorance so burned into them that they don't even want to hear opposing views to the point where you have to verbally beat the living s**t out of their current willfully ignorant views.  

[PrometheanSet]

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Don't you know how to fan their curiousity??!!!!

Yes, I do. However, there comes a point when such tactics don't work. It's a case-by-case deal. Some people have willful ignorance so burned into them that they don't even want to hear opposing views to the point where you have to verbally beat the living s**t out of their current willfully ignorant views.

But they're already HERE! Other than coming in knowing they're fluffies, and just wanting to have a flame war about it, or the occasional troll, there isn't much else that can motivate them.

Or, as this thread suggests, Teenage High Priest/ess Syndrome, where they think practically think they ARE gods themselves, and come to "spread the word".

And that's why I tried to set this in a somewhat humorous way. You know, break the ice, even with those folks? Because even the worst case of THPS I'd seen complained about even worse cases having the same problem.  

[Cyrus the Elder]

PrometheanSet

Cyrus the Elder

PrometheanSet

Don't you know how to fan their curiousity??!!!!

Yes, I do. However, there comes a point when such tactics don't work. It's a case-by-case deal. Some people have willful ignorance so burned into them that they don't even want to hear opposing views to the point where you have to verbally beat the living s**t out of their current willfully ignorant views.

But they're already HERE! Other than coming in knowing they're fluffies, and just wanting to have a flame war about it, or the occasional troll, there isn't much else that can motivate them.

Both of those have happened in the past.

But honestly, I'd say that you haven't really even been hit that bluntly, at least not until you started belittling people.

Hell, Tea wasn't even being that blunt ffs. Maybe a hint of sarcasm here and there at most, then you started with your pedestals crap, which, whether you accept it or not, is insulting to those who are honestly trying to teach and learn.

And at which point I'd say, if people honestly think that we're standing on pedestals over them, then they could probably do with a dose of scathing criticism. Methinks you seem to be misunderstanding the opening of a discussion on a subject as some form of attack, whereas, in reality, it's just an attempt at discussion.

And I must say, you really could carry yourself better, to be blunt, you're rather new to the forum, and already parading around calling the regulars "children". That wouldn't even be acceptable behavior from the regulars themselves.

Edit:

Quote:

Or, as this thread suggests, Teenage High Priest/ess Syndrome, where they think practically think they ARE gods themselves, and come to "spread the word".

And that's why I tried to set this in a somewhat humorous way. You know, break the ice, even with those folks? Because even the worst case of THPS I'd seen complained about even worse cases having the same problem.

That's all well and good, but honestly, if there are flaws in your reasoning, you're gonna get picked up on it, no matter your intent. There have been several flaws which have been pointed out, and are being debated over as we speak, if the points are strong and there are no holes, they'll stand of their own merit, otherwise they'll collapse, at which point you'll have the opportunity to restructure them in a manner that will make them stronger.

See it as an opportunity to improve, not as some form of attack on you or others.