The certainty of permanent-transitory ideas

I'm not a fan of a particular music, TV show or movie, but then I'm not a fan of anything at all. I've always had issues with the whole concept of fandom, or fanaticism. One common thread I've noticed in a lot of communities is the lack of critical thought. A lack of criticism towards the state of being a fan in the first place. In reality, everything should be criticised, including things you like, especially them.

I understand why something might be introduced into a fandom and why there are some works that attract this fannish behaviour and some others that don't - and this have nothing to do with popularity. There are some movies or shows very competently done, but there is no fandom about them. Fandoms are a product of boredom or irritation, the products must be laughably awful. Ridiculously bad. And this characteristic is what make so many people to raise up arms in its defence. Once a work passes a certain basic level of competence, it doesn't need to relay on the defence of a fandom, because the work can defend itself. But badness inspires devotion, it becomes a matter of faith, which is a much stronger bond than mere appreciation of the quality. It drives people together, it gives them strength; the badness of the work reassures them of their belief. And so, that's why all of these groups develop an almost cult-like character.

Let's not forget that all the works have their many admirable qualities which attracted people in the first place, but there must be a reasonable limit.

How are you actually behaving, by the way?

I have little time for politeness - I like civility, which is how people should treat each other in a proper civilisation, but politeness has little to do with civilisation, as it is practiced mostly by those who don't have any genuine belief in the concept. What's the difference between the terms? Civility is showing others that you have consideration for them. Politeness, on the other hand, is telling others that you have consideration for them. It means that it's not enough for the polite individual to act merely in a civil manner. He must also accompany it by visual and verbal cues, so that the whole audience can acknowledge his refinement. As long as the form of politeness is observed, it's rarely considered necessary to back it up with actual actions - once the words have been carefully tended, the polite individual can aswell insert a dagger happily. I'm always wary of polite people, because I know how I actually am when I'm being polite myself. I'm insincere. I tend to fall back on the forms of politeness - generally only to people I dislike or I don't care for. For some, it's a hypocritical reflex - for others, it's motivated by the terror of offending someone.
To change anything, to improve anything, impoliteness is almost necessary; you'll have to offend someone(not to insult, there's a difference). But increasingly, politeness is applied as a blanket to all public discourse; people are so obsessed with the forms of politeness that they can no longer tell when the form is inappropriate. That's why I've been an admirer of sarcasm, the fine art of wounding with words, of using language as a weapon against an adversary. It doesn't aim to just cause offence, but to cause offence in a beautiful and style-ish way.

What's an unforgivable conversational sin? To be boring. In conversation, it's also forbidden to be serious. No-one listens to what you say if you say it with a straight face, as there's a tremendous pressure to be funny at all times. But some people didn't suffer from such inhibitions, they'd talk about anything. Whereas once I used to believe that we should only talk about interesting things, now I thing it's more important to just talk. In order to communicate. Because one of the biggest problems in this world, in my opinion, is that people do not communicate. When they are not doing that, they start to get suspicious of each other, to hate and fear each other. They start to get the idea that the biggest problem in the world is other people. Something must to its bit to perpetuate this idea. But they'd talk to each other more, they'd realise that Other People are not so bad. However, it is, indeed, significantly harder to get to know people when you feel that every sentence has to be a quip. So people shouls speak out without fear. Especially without fear of being boring.

The more I hear some people talk, the more I think vocal cords are a bad idea. A monumental and monstruos mistake. Who else envy animals from time to time? In a world where the favourite topics of conversation is just the love-lives of fictional people, the fictional love-lives of gloomy peeople, and blow-by-blow accounts of the previous night's alcohol consumption, it's not a difficult task to come to the conclusion that most of human conversation would be definitely better left unsaid. So how do we overcome this issue?

How do we filter out the crap and ensure the stability of only interesting and useful conversation? Let's propose a system based of simple ideals, like two main purposes of natural organisms, which are survival and procreation. These statements and their variants would form the core of the New Conversation. As they do not ensure alone the survival and continued existence of our species, we need a supplement, consisting of ideas, knowledge, wit, and anything that stimulates or entertains. This New Conversation will leave a lot of people with very little to say. But imagine if it will allow people to get to know each other much better. Conventional conversation obscures people behind mindless chatter. It is ever possible to really know someone who speaks only in cliches and small talk? The new method will allow people to bare their souls. They will no longer have to put up with the chores of tedious small talk and gossip when they meet. They can tap into each other's minds instantly, without additional useless chatter. All the bullshit and deceit will go away. People will no longer be able to lie or boast or make false claims, they will always be judged by their actions rather than words.

It's quite simple with just a few steps to take:

1. Never say anything unless it's (a)necessary, or (b)interesting - Is it relevant? If not - dump it.
2. If ever you find yourself talking waffle: either (a)become interesting, or (b)shut up.
3. Refuse to be drawn into boring conversations. Try to change the subject, or tell the boring people to shut up.
4. Avoid small talk. When we meet somebody, why can't we just cut straight to the action?