I'll probably take flack for this but...

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of two people sharing the same body. A division of mind, two personalities with some shared memories.
I read some posts in this community & go "Yes... that sounds familiar. I'm glad I'm not alone."
I read some posts and go "Riiight... nutter, nut-ter. Notjob"
This place occasionally makes me feel sane because I read things from literate inteligent people who just happen to be sharing a body with others. Occasionally it makes me feel sane because I read posts and realise that I'm a healty sane multiple, not insane like the poster.

I'll not single out any individuals (forgive the pun) but the nut-job posts I read usually ... heck. I'm not going to give examples. I think you know which ones I'm refering to.

Comments

*eyes narrow*

[mercuryisme.livejournal.com]

Judge not lest thee be judged as well...

... or whatever the fuck that quote is.

[ex-mushroom784.livejournal.com]

i know what you mean. some people seem like they want to 'fit in' to a different sort of label, so they lie, and try to mimic things, and make up their own ... whatever. personalities, outlook, whatever may have you. weird thing to want to fit into, but what the hell, we have loser goth kids, and stoners, and emo brats. can't forget about people who are PROUD of the label 'otaku', or people who live to have the label of '1337' slapped onto them. so why not have loner kids trying to mimic us around here! :)

i probably sound so mean, but i can't always be nice.

Re: *eyes narrow*

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

I dunno, the OP has a point.

[thehumangame.livejournal.com]

lol. I used to be a lot more accepting of other people's experiences and ideas than I am now, but this place stretched my credulity until it broke and I am now a snarky, bitter old man.

(Contrary to what our recent start of activity here would suggest, we've actually been lurking for about two years. Which is more than enough to give someone permanent indigestion.)

[jenscovia.livejournal.com]

Glad that you have the whole idea of multiplicity all figured out in your head.

Bravo for close-minded people.

That was sarcasm, by the way.

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know, you are very good at it too.

I knew that this would start a fight, which was kind of my intention. No, actually to start a discussion. The problem is that people get defencive or go on the attack.

I expected responses like "You don't understand me... you are so closed minded"
No... I probably don't understand you, but it's interesting that you attacked without asking to whom oer what I was refering.

Answers on a postcard as they say...

[jenscovia.livejournal.com]

Never said you didn't understand me.

You lumped a bunch of people together and called them insane. And this starts a discussion how exactly?

The only place I see this going to is similar to school yard gossip. Which I left behind long ago.

[tigrin.livejournal.com]

I apologize that not everyone can be as perfectly sane as you are. Would you like a plaque with your names on it? I can pull one right out of my ass.

no, seriously. everyone has their own definition of what they consider sane, so it's rather pointless to pick a fight about it. it's really nice and all that you can sort people out so easily, but what's your point? does it help those people to call them a nutter and not much else? how about... gasp... actually giving a shit that someone else is having a rough time and wants some actual, intelligent assistance? especially if you are so enlightened and stable yourself that you actually have advice to give? or are you too high above the loonies?

Re: *eyes narrow*

[mercuryisme.livejournal.com]

op?

I don't think anyone here is particularly crazier than the rest... some just seem stupid.

[shatterstorm.livejournal.com]

Ever hear of hierarchical self esteem? It is a state where people need to believe themselves better or superior to others around them in order to feel good about themselves.

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Sorry... I know that was intended as shocking or insulting or something... but I had a mental image of you squatting down and trying to pull out an engraved brass plaque.

For a start, no one here is 'sane' I guess we could call each other nutter in the same way Samueal L Jackson can comfortably say "Nigger" without meaning or causing offence.

I do care about others who have problems, who are having a tough time, who are here for help. It's just that so often I see them getting help from those least qualified to give it.

"I have problem X"
"Oh... my Elf-Shaman-Starfighter-Alien-Mecha-Vampire-Jedi walk-in personality says that you need to do XYZ, and he should know, he's a wizard"
The problem is when you talk to people about the fact that they are a little 'strange in the head' they pull the 'multiple-tolerance' card and ... it's just plain annoying. it is possible to have a personality that beleives itself to be something else, another gender, another ethnicity, another age, even another species. No bones with thart. Why is it that so many I see seem to be... I don't know... I can understand it in a way, wish fufillment and all...

Or people are advised on how to get more multiple like it's some kind of competition.
"OMG! There's only 3 of us in here... how do I contact the silent ones and why do I have no inner world"
It's not a race to see who can be most multiple.

If you are multiple ... fine. Welcome to the club, there are a lot of us in here. More than you may think (I found out a friend is multiple a month back, after a couple of years of knowing them).
If you are able to cope in society, if you are a healthy multiple, great.

There are many ways to be multiple, or rather many perspectives, many ways of viewing the inside of the mind. Maybe you have a core central personality maybe not, maybe you have a system of sorts, maybe not. Maybe...

Maybe I should not have made the post and kept quiet. It's just some things that have been bugging me.

[pengke.livejournal.com]

Or maybe they've just reached the point where they look at some of the things being claimed on this community and have to call bullshit.

hierarchical self esteem

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

Yes of course.
I have the flowchart somewhere that shows who I am superior & inferior to.
I think at last count I was sadder than both published _and_ unpublished sci-fi writers but cooler than fanfic writers, and could legitimately look down on people who use 'leet' without irony, but have to kowtow to people who own their own home.

(Humor... the defuser of ire)

[pengke.livejournal.com]

*burp*

Ahem. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Re: *eyes narrow*

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

Well said. We are all equally nuts. Some are just nuttier than most, like a snickers bar.

Amazingly enough

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

I don't know which one's you're talking about. This is because different people have different views on what comprizes sane behavior. My boundaries for acceptable behavior, are not the same as others.

For example, I have issues with people when they make posts of this sort, not because it's wrong per se, to have boundaries, but because more often than not, it's an attempt to avoid really looking at one's own behavior. Hence, this is why I am wary when someone declares themselves "sane" multiples, while simultaneously declaring others insane. I hope that's not the case here.

My personal preference, at current, is to offer advice when I think it's really needed, or asked for. Other than that, I don't know them from a hole in the wall. What I see, isn't actually what's going on. It's definately going to be colored by their ability to communicate clearly, and how receptive I feel to their communication.

Let's assume for a moment however that what I see, is actually what is going on. How likely am I to change their life? *shrugs* I'll make my opinions known, but honestly, what point is there in just calling someone crazy, instead of trying to explain why I don't think their method of handling the situation is the ideal one?

Then again, I'm not interested in the sanity badge, except for when necessary to protect my freedom. So perhaps the reason I don't see a point, is because I don't have an interest in proving that I am sane.

--Me

*shrugs*

[spookshow-girl.livejournal.com]

Like you did recently? *grinz* How's that thread coming along by the way? ;)

Anyway, there are ways to do it which are likely to cause change in the behavior, and there are ways to do it which show the person in more interested in validating themselves than effect actual change. *shrugs* Seems to be it's own sort of bullshit.

--Me

[tigrin.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* I understand.

I don't think anyone here is particularly qualified to give professional help (besides perhaps some of the psychologists, and even still..). People try to help in the best way they can, which is more often than not, just saying how it is for them.

I think it's one thing to seek advice on how to get in better contact with your system if there's some problem with communication, and another thing to try and force something that isn't there just to feel special. so you don't have an inner world or thousands of elves in your head. who cares. I do understand it's frustrating when more often than not, people seem to just want to fit in or seem interesting. especially if it's with a subject that's personal to you. I know that's one of the reasons a lot of people reject soulbonding.

the drawback of the Internet is it's impossible to tell if someone is being sincere or making things up for attention. but it's really not much different from "real life" in that sense. I've been lead around by a pathological liar before without ever touching the Internet. it ultimately comes down to how cynical and trusting you want to be. myself, I tend to think the better of someone before I think the worst. benefit of the doubt, I guess. I know how it feels to be treated like I'm just a nutjob looking for attention, and it's a crappy feeling when you're trying to be sincere and look for help.

Re: Amazingly enough

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

There is a sanity badge? This I must get.
Which colours does it come in? Will it go with my straight jacket?

I get your point... sanity is a label, not a state. It's just... arguing about sanity is like arguing about truth.

Re: *shrugs*

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

I don't think the people who infuriate me will be changed by anything I could ever write. I keep meaning to leave this Lj comunity but then a poster like yourself comes along & makes sence.

This comunity is like a cake, both friut & nuts, all mixed in. I pick out the bits I can stomach & leave the nuttier bits on the side of the plate. Occasionally I find a sixpence.

Them's fightin' words!

[pengke.livejournal.com]

There's nothing sad about scifi or fanfiction. Well, sometimes there is but it's the same thing that's sad about any bad writing.

To spare yet another post, I don't think it's a matter of being crazy, insane, or nutters. There's a sort of insular permisiveness to this community where people aren't allowed to question anyone else. This means that people are free to make anything up without fear of someone calling them on it. Then you have to factor in what we call sheepism. It's human nature to mimic (or at least claim to mimic) other people's behaviors which again no one can question so it just spreads.

There's also the fact that people in this community place more importance on their explanation for an experience than their experiences themselves. Sometimes the explanations make sense and other times they seem like mind-boggling leaps of logic. Take walk-ins. Really, they're just people in a system that came with a personal history that has nothing to do with the body. Someone, usually that person or someone in their system, then decides that this personal history means that the person somehow traveled to the body from some other world/universe/dimension/lifetime and they fork this explanation onto you.

Re: *shrugs*

[pengke.livejournal.com]

I said my piece. We have enough people putting words in our mouth in this community that sometimes it's better to just drop the topic. Especially since we weren't talking to you in the first place and plenty was said for you to get your answer.

Re: Them's fightin' words!

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

I really do have to find the link to that flowchart...

Yes, walk-ins. It is in all likelyhood not an alien/your great great grandfather from the civil war/elvis... heck, it may be. But it's not.

Re: Them's fightin' words!

[pengke.livejournal.com]

http://www.brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html

But you see what I mean? Sometimes it's easier to tolerate what the more extreme people are saying if you break things down to just the underlying experiences.

Re: Them's fightin' words!

[annabellelaw.livejournal.com]

Yes... that's the chart. I really must get that "I'm somebody's fetish t-shirts as well"

I kind of see what you mean... kind of. Could you explain in more detail please?