Fuck Inspiration Porn

[Nekojin]

I understand that everyone is different. I've been saying that all along. I've been repeating ad nauseum that everything comes down to how you as an individual choose to interpret something.

Once again, you're overstating people's ability to voluntarily choose to be happy. AmbrosiaWriter said it very well a few pages back, but I'll summarize what she said: When you're clinically depressed, it is exceedingly common for you lack the awareness, energy, and willpower to make that conscious decision.

And just to be crystal clear, we're not talking about being a little mopey here.

[siead_lietrathua]

I understand that everyone is different. I've been saying that all along. I've been repeating ad nauseum that everything comes down to how you as an individual choose to interpret something.

the only thing i've seen you say over and over is "weak-minded people". not that people are diffrent, and it would help some and not others. not that it may not of helped you but it could help others. not any examples of someone that's been helped by inspiration porn.
only, and constantly, that "weak minded" people won't change.

edit:

see, from rereading the thread, we are both saying the same thing. but where i'm saying "inspiration porn won't help everyone, so we shouldnt shove it in people's faces", you come across as saying "inspiration porn won't help everyone, but...

I will post these signs and slogans everywhere around them.

edit:

what's more likely to actually inspire someone? an image with "no excuse" slapped on it like
http://www.artmagz.info/wp-content/u.../no-excuse.jpg

or something showing the people behind the disability?
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010...abled-artists/

[crashhelmet]

every person has something different, and only they know what it is. as you said, yourself, it was one person taking time out of their day to be nice to you. for someone else it could be someone on a suicide support line, or a family member, etc.
i'm saying everyone is different. what part of that is hard to understand?
if someone is going to be inspired by the stories of others, they probably seek out those types of stories, just how you would have looked up to see if that woman would still say hello. but forcing it on them is not going to necessarily help.

this thread isn't about supporting people, even stories, or anything else except fr images like this:
http://stonecoldcoffee.files.wordpre...1498852_n1.jpg

that's what the thread is about. stop making it about how people are too weak to heal themselves when we are talking about things that can derail healing.

I understand that everyone is different. I've been saying that all along. I've been repeating ad nauseum that everything comes down to how you as an individual choose to interpret something.

Your argument seems to be that only negative interpretations are acceptable for this thread. That everyone must agree with you, Eisa, and everyone else on your side that these things are evil incarnate and only cause more harm.

And I'm telling you that there are people that benefit from them. I am one of them. Read my posts and you'll see that there were 2 levels to my depression. I wasn't magically healed once I got out of the "I'm a useless burden" stage.

Shit... even the National Organization on Disability says "It's ability, not disability, that counts."

But fuck them. They don't know your pain. They don't know how you feel. They don't know what you are going though.

[Andara Bledin]

Instead, the most important realization most of these ppl need to make is how they feel is utterly unimportant. Reality, like honey badger, doesn't give a...

Wow. That's the sort of anti-social drivel I'd expect to hear from a sociopath.

And, based on actual medicine, how a person feels makes a shit-ton of difference.

So, not only do you come off as an uncaring jerk, but you're also factually wrong.

^-.-^

[siead_lietrathua]

@fire: ugh, you really don't get it? messing with the head of someone with a mental disability is like kicking someone in a wheelchair to the ground and telling them to get up, they just ain't trying hard enough. it has little to do with feelings and more to do with being a decent human being.
then again, if not kicking people when they are down makes me some overly-emotional hippy freak, well.....
peace and love, groovy dudes.

@hyena. i know that those are often handed to people that don't have any issue. but i also know people with mental disabilities that have had photos like that sent to them. and it set them off. so i tend to give a shit when it comes to shoving them in other people's faces.

[Fire_on_High]

Ah Crash, you've irked the Cult of Victimhood, those who insistently believe we aren't free willed beings who can still make the choice not to respond to how we feel, but instead do what we need to do, or promised to do, or otherwise have commitments that actually matter more than feeeeeeeeeeeeelings.

You're not going to win this fight because everyone younger than 30, and possibly older than that, has been brainwashed that the only thing that matters is how you feel, if you're happy, etc.

Instead, the most important realization most of these ppl need to make is how they feel is utterly unimportant. Reality, like honey badger, doesn't give a...

[Hyena Dandy]

I think there's a difference between, 'depression' and what I always took those for.

I always took those as a response to people who are totally healthy and in a good situation who make excuses not to try something.

Depression is serious, and it's a disability the same way that injuries are disabilities. I see no reason to think someone can snap their fingers and 'get over it.'

On the other hand, there's a difference between something like depression, and more minor excuse-making, which is what I always see those as addressing.

[Nekojin]

every person has something different, and only they know what it is.

Most of the time, even they don't know what it is. If they did, they'd use it.

[siead_lietrathua]

every person has something different, and only they know what it is. as you said, yourself, it was one person taking time out of their day to be nice to you. for someone else it could be someone on a suicide support line, or a family member, etc.
i'm saying everyone is different. what part of that is hard to understand?
if someone is going to be inspired by the stories of others, they probably seek out those types of stories, just how you would have looked up to see if that woman would still say hello. but forcing it on them is not going to necessarily help.

this thread isn't about supporting people, even stories, or anything else except fr images like this:
http://stonecoldcoffee.files.wordpre...1498852_n1.jpg

that's what the thread is about. stop making it about how people are too weak to heal themselves when we are talking about things that can derail healing.

[crashhelmet]

taking these two points. before your eyes were opened, if someone came up to you and spouted that second line, would it have done anything? would you have taken it as a positive challenge, or would it have made things worse, or had no effect at all. when you eyes were closed, would any inspirational quotes have mattered?

In my situation, my friend didn't force me to open my eyes. She didn't do anything to force me out of my depression. Like the others, she probably didn't even know I was going through it. She was, for lack of a better term, living "Inspirational Porn." I don't remember what my thought process was, as this was about 21 years ago, but I remember one day just thinking about her taking time out for me and it just kind of hit like a moment of clarity.

I honestly don't know how I would've reacted if someone had been forceful with me. I'm someone that normally feeds off of criticism, often times being my own worst critic. I probably would've argued with them until they convinced me I was not a burden or useless, or they got frustrated and gave up. As I said before, the ONLY thing that kept me from killing myself was my Catholic faith. That's how low I was.

because that's what i was talking about. people with their eyes closed, ears closed, trying so hard to make it day by day and that havent had anyone come into their life that could help open their eyes. and how telling them it's all up to them, in their head, they need to get over it, or they aren't trying hard enough is damaging.

What, in your opinion, does it take to get a person like this to open their eyes? Show them love or support, and they may see pity and feel worse. Show them strength and they may feel weaker. Once they've given up, no amount of anything will help them until they choose for themselves to continue fighting again.

[siead_lietrathua]

But Once my eyes opened there, they started opening in other places...

Success or failure is entirely up to you....

taking these two points. before your eyes were opened, if someone came up to you and spouted that second line, would it have done anything? would you have taken it as a positive challenge, or would it have made things worse, or had no effect at all. when you eyes were closed, would any inspirational quotes have mattered?
because that's what i was talking about. people with their eyes closed, ears closed, trying so hard to make it day by day and that havent had anyone come into their life that could help open their eyes. and how telling them it's all up to them, in their head, they need to get over it, or they aren't trying hard enough is damaging.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

The only way one can choose to interpret something is when one is critically thinking about the thing they are "choosing to interpret."

People don't think critically 100% of the time. Actually, thinking critical can't occur unless something consciously decides to think critically. Analytical thinking is not a mode our brain likes to work in, and so we must actively do such a thing.

All other times, responses and "interpretations" aren't based on "logic" or "critical thinking." They're based on pure emotion.

Someone who is depressed is not going to be thinking logically or critically. Personally, when I was at my lowest I didn't have the energy to even begin to think past what came at me upfront. So all face value was taken at value, and my twisted perception could do all it wanted with what information came at me.

Rational thinking was not even in the deck of cards my brain had at that time, and I only managed to draw it because of my family.

Humans are not vulcans. We cannot detach our emotions from our thinking, choices, or perceptions. To say that everyone can do that, and therefore can think rationally about every single stimulus in life, is very cold. It is also completely unrealistic.

Perception and perceptual gaps shape us, fuel us, and dominate our lives. There are hundreds, if not thousands of ways that two different people can differently fill a perceptual gap they both share. It's different based on their experiences, personality, and fears.

For example;

Two people waiting for their crush to call them. Crush doesn't call.

The person who has never had a significant other, who has always been made fun of, and is introverted will probably cry and and believe that the crush was just stringing them along the entire time on purpose, and is probably laughing at them.

The person who has had plenty of boy/girlfriends and is very extroverted will probably think the crush got swamped with work and will call later.

Same perceptual gap, two completely different ways that it was filled.

It's the same with people who are depressed or disabled, only their perceptions are much stronger and hardlined, and much harder to change without a lot of work, a lot of support, and a lot of UNDERSTANDING from those around them.

[Eisa]

I'm saying the only difference between taking a statement as positive or negative is how you choose to interpret it.

Just because this stuck out at me.

Statement: "I hope you fucking die, you worthless waste of space."

.....There is not a way to actually positively interpret that.

And I realize that's an extreme example. But no, your "choice of interpretation" is not the only difference.

[Andara Bledin]

Please explain and use evidence from my own posts that supports this, rather than throw out a blanket argument.

If I had time (or there was anyone else on your side of the equation posting), I'd do just that.

However, since you seem to be the only voice for your side, I'm just going to stop bothering with debating against you until you present something new and not just another rewording of the same broken argument, which I've already rebutted sufficiently.

^-.-^

[crashhelmet]

Agreed, but that positive thinking is far easier to accomplish before the event than after. You've told us that once you chose to not give up you found sources of inspiration uplifting, but I don't think you ever told us just what made you finally make that choice. You say you had a friend, but even you admit it's still up to you to "go through the door."

What would you say or do to someone else who was struggling like you did that would teach them to overcome their struggles, knowing that inspirational stories and uplifting messages is only half of the puzzle?

Seeing her everyday take that moment, as brief as it was, to take time away from her fans, pop her head up above them, and say hi to me as I passed her made me feel like I mattered to someone. That I had some importance, instead of being the burden I saw myself as. All I saw before was people moving out of my way, struggling to try and help me with doors when I was on crutches, teachers inconvenienced because I was late or not ready when they were. My mom having to drive me to and from school because I couldn't get on and off the bus easily. I saw pity and spite instead of sympathy and understanding.

But Once my eyes opened there, they started opening in other places. I started thinking consciously. I started seeing the inspiration around me. I had my moment of clarity.

What would I say? Pretty much what I've said all along here.

Success or failure is entirely up to you. I'll be here for you to vent and listen to your struggles. I'll be here to offer advice when you ask for it. If there's anything I can do for you that you can't, I'll gladly do it. But you have to move forward.

I can help you learn how to ride a bike or how to swim, but if you don't pedal or kick your feet, you're not going to go anywhere. You're going to fall over or sink. It's the same here.

I know it's hard. You might crash a few times in the process, but the important thing is to get back up and keep going. Tell yourself that you can do it and you will. Tell yourself that you can't, and you won't.