Re: virus: Manipulation 101

Tadeusz Niwinski (tad@teta.ai)
Fri, 21 Feb 1997 17:21:43 -0800


Prof. Tim wrote:
>Wow. Um, I know everyone /else/ will jump on me for this, but...
>Tad, you THINK too, too much.

Darling, I did not mean to jump on you. Feel my heart... See?...

Wait a second, what did YOU have to do with it?

The example used in Lessons #1 and #2 was taken from Richard's clever trick
"Hey, pal, we need more people like you who are not on my side!" he played
on Reed. Are you trying to be Reed or Richard now?

And, yes, I do THINK a lot. It gives me the buzz! I love it. Unlike other
philosophers on this list, I don't think it may hurt. Here is a good joke
about TA, posted by Bill Godby 9 months ago (before I got pregnant with
Level-3):

>> Hi, my name is jon, and I am a thinkaholic (though not the author of this):
>>
>>
>> It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then
>> to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I
>> was more than just a social thinker.
>>
>> I began to think alone -"to relax," I told myself - but I knew it wasn't
>> true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was
>> thinking all the time.
>>
>> I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix,
>>
>> but I couldn't stop myself.
>>
>> I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.
>> I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it
>> exactly we are doing here?"
>>
>> Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off
>> the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night
>> at her mother's.
>>
>> I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in.
>> He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking
>>
>> has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll
>> have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about.
>>
>> I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I
>> confessed, "I've been thinking..."
>>
>> "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"
>>
>> "But Honey, surely it's not that serious."
>>
>> "It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college
>>
>> professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on
>> thinking we won't have any money!"
>>
>> "That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I'd
>> had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the
>> door.
>>
>> I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a PBS station
>>
>> on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass
>> doors...they didn't open. The library was closed.
>>
>> To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that
>> night.
>>
>> As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for
>> Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining
>> your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the
>> standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.
>>
>> Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA
>> meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it
>> was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking
>> since the last meeting.
>>
>> I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just
>> seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

Regards, Tadeusz (Tad) Niwinski from planet TeTa
tad@teta.ai http://www.teta.ai (604) 985-4159