I lol'ed

Some are easilly amused.

aaron why do you talk like a vulcan? i'm not trying to ridicule you but don't you find that talking like a robot just alienates people? and being combative and adversarial instead of trying to empathise with people's positions and find common ground can't help either.

Empathy is wonderful given freely, until it simply becomes expected. And adversariality, or more precisely, the practice of controversy, is at the very heart of all civilized accomplishment, whether you are comfortable with that salient truth or not. As for common ground, frankly I despair of finding any.

If that's true, why are you here? I'm not trying to be rude. I'm honestly curious what you hope to gain from participating in this forum.

i think you are making it difficult for people to understand what it is you want.

are you just looking for someone to debate and critique your manifesto? or are you just looking for someone with common interests?

aren't there any other slightly less highbrow interests you have that you could share with other people? it's just i don't think there are many people who come to a forum about easing loneliness that are looking for a fiercely intellectual debate and analysis of the human condition. i know it's relevant, but it's kind of outside most people's experience, and i dont think it's necessary in order to overcome loneliness.

 

I gave it my best try. Now I find myself frustrated.

I had hoped that the challenge of loneliness would be confronted far more seriously.

Are not those rwo priorities somewhat confluent?

What for? Small talk is of little help.

Then we have made progress, having arrived, at long last, to the crux of our disagreement.

ok, this was kind of interesting reading (although i guess it hasn't been added to recently).

i did have to chuckle at the comment about talking like a vulcan. i hadn't thought of that comparison while reading aaron's posts, but i guess i can kind of see the spock-connection. (sorry, i never watched any of that past the earliest of shows)

even though i think it's fine for someone to want to debate on a higher scale, it really does little good if most people can't partake in that debate, at least to the satisfaction of the one person who wants that debate.

i think most people want to talk about loneliness on a more down-to-earth level, since it's down here where so many of us are feeling all this pain.

i was actually shocked to find forums dealing with loneliness, & i'm not sure why. i mean, i've seen a number of forums dealing with depression, lack of employment, atheism, etc., but loneliness seems like so much more of a "hurt-to-the-soul" kind of admittance that i didn't think people would really want to deal with it openly. but i'm glad they do.

unfortunately it's not real easy to relate to people half your age - cuz there's so much different experience there. that's not to say i haven't seen a lot of intelligence come out of 23-yr-olds (far from it), but it's just not the same as relating to someone who's been thru years & years of these feelings. it adds up & it changes you, in ways that can't be understood at a younger age.

on a side note, i don't think posting a link to a dating site will help the situation, since most of us have probably been there & done that, & it sometimes only helps to elevate the problem.

As may perhaps befit the Vulcan way and all, I cannot venture that I find myself at all certain what sort of conversational approach will qualify for you as down to Earth. Yet I dare hope that I might recognize a real effort or a serious inquiry when I come across it.

Indeed, as to any failure of critical thinking, it may often remain ambiguous how much is merely and truly incompetent, what is willful and ideological, and how much is deluded or disheartened. But they are all in a rut!

Frankly, posters on this message board by and large scarcely seem any much better than those who so neglect them out in the world at large. They don’t really have the time for one another, and they remain ever staunchly loyal and committed to every unexamined truism that has failed them so completely and miserably in life and society. -All of which is precisely how never to progress in resolving any challenging problem. Not to mention that some, alas, seem even somewhat hostile and cliquish. But no one ever objects.