Ground Bogo

Banned in over nine thousand countries

Conviction seems to be the most powerful deception in the world. I realise now that it is close to impossible to change another person’s mind. I have seen this so many times around me. I have seen people who would argue their point for hours after they have been shown how wrong they are. I have seen perfectly reasonable arguments being dismissed because they don’t fit one’s ideas. I have seen grossly unreasonable arguments being adopted in a similar manner. I never really spent any time thinking about this, and perhaps this is why it strikes me so much now.

First of all, a distinction between conviction and persuasion has to be made. You can persuade someone to do something, but that does not imply that you convinced that person that what he/she would do is right. All it means is that a compromise was reached, one way or another…or the argument simply became boring. I myself have never enjoyed arguments and debates, even before I realised how pointless they are. I have seemingly affirmed someone else’s opinion so many times simply to spare myself the trouble of going in the worthless discussion to follow. I know you’ve done it too, at least if you are smart.

Why is convincing someone of something seemingly impossible? People have formed their opinion one way or another, after all. Would it be that hard to change it? The answer is yes, of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this . Under normal circumstances, an opinion is swayed once at most. Either you come to a conclusion by yourself and defend your point until hell freezes over, or the first convincing argument that you hear forms your opinion and closes your mind to any counter-arguments. Perhaps people see agreeing with someone else’s opinion as a lost battle. It is, in a way, a surrender of a piece of your mind for a piece of someone else’s. However, it’s not really that simple. Self-rectification by betterment of one’s views of the world should be seen as a victory and not a defeat…well, should be. Then again, it is the resilience of an idea in a person’s mind that has allowed for so many great things to happen throughout human history…as well as so many bad ones. It is essentially one of the bases that define us as humans.

As nice as it is, the myth of conviction means that debating and arguing in any form is like playing a game of tic-tac-toe. There is only one way to win, and it is by not playing.

P.S. This blog post will not change your mind. Your mind was already made up before you came here. Hence, all things written here are pointless, and I just wasted your time. Congratulations .

We’ve all had bad moments in our lives. Not only do they occur, but they also seem to cluster and pile up at the same points in time. “When it rains, it pours,” the great minds have said. The not-so-great ones, myself included, have adopted the “shit happens” philosophy. After a sufficient amount of shit has hit the fan, a person sits down, usually on the toilet, rests his/her face in his open palms of desperation, and thinks something like “What have I done to deserve this?” Then you start going through the bad stuff you’ve done in your life, and you think to yourself “Oh shit, I probably do deserve all this. I have done so many bad things in my life.” Fact is, you’re probably an asshole/bitch. That’s the bad news. The good news is…well, so are we all. You are also very very wrong, but who am I to say that.

Karma exists…simple as that. Negativity attracts negativity. If you do shit to people, they will at least be less inclined to help you if you need it, not to mention that the ones among us who do not take the word of Jesus for granted will probably shit right back onto you as well if given the chance. The other way around is also true, but unfortunately happens much more seldom: if you are one of those do-gooders, one out of about ten thousand people might actually decide to return the favor one day. Good stuff! These are the facts of life, tested and proven on the field. No further discussion is needed on this point. Yes, I know I say “shit” a lot, deal with it.

Karma is a good ideal as well as a motivator. It gives you the illusion that if you do good things and are in general a good person, good things will happen to you. It also stops one out of ten thousand bad acts on this Earth from happening by threatening a shitstorm of bad stuff if you eat all the cookies from the fridge and don’t leave any for your friends. Imagine that, open the fridge, see the cookies, reach out…suddenly you see yourself being hit by a car and spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair. At this point, I’d think about pulling my hand backwards and closing the fucking fridge, I don’t know about you. Tomorrow I am collision-safe! Thank the Lord…

Karma does not exist…simple as that. It serves one main purpose, to provide an escape from frustration due the feeling of being powerless and not in control. The truth is that, no matter what I do today, unless I am prepping for a space-launch in a shuttle, nothing will change the likelihood of me being run over by a car tomorrow. My brain refuses to process that. I need to feel in control. I need to know that there are things I can do today so that good stuff happens to me tomorrow. Once again, it works both ways. I need to know that the politician or the corporate ass who fucks up millions of people and is in all reason untouchable by me will get what’s coming to him/her. I will not take the law into my all hands because it is improper, the law will not take the law into its own hands because the system does not allow it, and I simply refuse to accept that. I find solace in the fact that there is a brick on a ruined building that will hit the right head tomorrow…the head that deserves it. Job well done, Karma is a bitch, evil grin, what an irony!

It really doesn’t work that way. Karma is not a bitch, karma is just another prostitute that can be used by the ones that can afford it. She won’t be dancing to your tune, and she won’t be sucking your dick either. But you keep telling yourself that she will one day. It’s ok to lie to ourselves to make-believe and feel better, as long as in the end of the day we are perfectly conscious of what exactly we are doing. Nobody can take away your right to fuck with your own mind, after all…