NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

[explosivecombat]

[TEXT; LOCKED TO doitrockapella]

The offer for conversation is always open, should you desire to take me up on it; I can't guarantee that I'll respond immediately, nor will it necessarily be the response you want, but I'll always respond in some way.

In the name of enlightened discourse.

Comments

[explosivecombat]

...It's fine. I'm hardly a paragon of fairness once I've been slighted either, intentional or not.

[doitrockapella]

Mm. We need to get better at this.

[explosivecombat]

You aren't the first person to tell me that, actually.

[doitrockapella]

Will I be the first person to succeed at it?

[explosivecombat]

We have no way to know that at this point, do we?

I know what I'm supposed to be working on; it's a process, that's all.

[doitrockapella]

...This is a hard exchange to grapple with when I can't tell if you're still furious or not.

Can we start with that?

[explosivecombat]

Of course not. Do I seem as though I am?

[doitrockapella]

You don't.

...That's why it's confusing.

[explosivecombat]

I don't understand. In what way?

[doitrockapella]

...Be patient with me, please, I'm the one who's going to need something spelled out carefully for me this time.

You were furious and now you're not. I've...got that much straight, to start with?

[explosivecombat]

Yes...?

[doitrockapella]

...What...caused you to stop being furious?

[explosivecombat]

[...wait, wait, is he missing something here]

...We resolved the issue, didn't we?

[doitrockapella]

...

Well...yes, but that doesn't...

[. . .]

So you were only furious as long as the issue was ongoing, but now that it's been...dealt with, you've stopped being so — having reason to be so, maybe — and are back to the status quo. Something like that?

[explosivecombat]

Well, there's not much sense in continuing to be furious if the issue isn't ongoing, is there?

[doitrockapella]

Fury tends to be an emotion that isn't traditionally governed by sense.

It...usually takes a while to come down off of it, in most people's experience. Certainly in mine.

[explosivecombat]

Yes, I've noticed that, actually. It's always struck me as incredibly strange, how that works - it's as I said, really, if there's nothing for me to be furious about, then really, I'm not furious because there's nothing fueling it anymore.

I think the only times that doesn't fully work is when I'm angry at someone and they don't do as I expect them to do; that tends to be oddly unsatisfying and I don't care for it very much. In general, though, if I don't have any argument with someone or something, then I simply don't, and the anger tends to leave quickly.

[doitrockapella]

Before we go any further, then, and in the interest of full disclosure, I'm still shaking and will be for the next several hours, probably, so if I do something irrational or...strange, that way, that's why. And I'll...try to clear up the confusion or confirm your suspicions, if you ask.

[explosivecombat]

Understood, then.

Do you have any further questions of your own? I'm assuming that's the case, but I want it verified; I don't mind them, if you do.

[doitrockapella]

I do, I just...

This isn't...easy.

[explosivecombat]

Take your time, then.

[doitrockapella]

I'm trying to find a balance between having my feelings and not...using them as leverage in some fashion. It's slow going.

If you stop being angry about something once it's resolved — naturally you don't forget about it, because you never forget. So...if it comes up again later, when you're angry again, is it...

I can think of three explanations. Either 1) you've rekindled your old anger for the thing and are now angry about it again, 2) the existence of the old thing has contributed to your current anger about the new thing, but were it not for the new thing already making you angry, you wouldn't be angry about the old, or 3) you're not angry about it at all, but it's useful to throw at someone in the heat of a fight.

Are any of those close, or am I overthinking things again?

[explosivecombat]

...It's usually either the second or the third.

[doitrockapella]

Because it helps you win.

And usually the other person is so busy reacting to it, because it's such a useful tactic, that you don't end up challenged yourself on using it in the first place.

[explosivecombat]

When it comes to the third option, that would be why I use it, yes.