Too soon?

But I have been thinking about Meletus lately. In hindsight, I feel he was very earnest at times when I thought he was just arguing without any real commitmen. Most posters are serious about something - religion, writing, politics, or even being unserious (MFP), etc. I'm not quite sure what Meletus was serious about. It seems pretty clear he was trying to get somewhere (various contrasts about), but I didn't pay much attention. I also don't understand his attitude towards Fritz. Was his behaviour an expression of something central or an infatuation?

I suppose I still feel he was very confused, and whereas at the time I took him to be insincere (I'd prefer people to be playing when I think they're confused), I not take him to be very sincere. But seeing his behaviour as confused is a cop-out, in the sense that it explains any behaviour but offers no predictive power. So, I'm curious what people think, if they think.

az:

This will be the 2nd time in which I have spoken to you. Very confused or not az, who cares? I would prefer to have him here, to read his words again, and to discuss those topics rather than not have him here at all. Not being a public figure, a better question might be:

Is it polite to dissect the dead's past lives when they no longer can defend themselves?

your treatment of me as justification of his treatment of me - which he thought was the same treatment of me, but wasn't.

Can't comment on his views of Fritz, but the thing he took the most seriously was himself.

This will not be the 2nd time in which you have spoken to me. We have spoken on well over a dozen occasions over the years, assuming you are the same run75441. But you would be right if you said that this will be the 2nd time you have spoen to me in the last year (an interestingly asymmetrical way of phrasing it). You have always written like you have some form of brain damage and I wonder if that is relevant here.

Your last question makes its point badly, which is unsurprising. Try not to answer in the form of a question.

Yes, I recall the first part.

I agree he took himself seriously, but make a topic possessive and it turns from making the topic the point of seriousness to (more accurately) some aspect of one's beliefs. That is, locdog didn't take religion seriously, but he took his religion seriously. Ryerson doesn't take politics seriously, but he takes his politics seriously. Dawn doesn't take gender issues seriously, but she takes her gender issues seriously. I agree that Meletus took something about himself very seriously (which I didn't take seriously at the time), but I think it wasn't everything about himself. I'd like to be more specific.

I've commented on the past on things I take seriously, and specifically what I think I take seriously on the fray, and though almost no one persists from that time, I don't feel obligated to repeat myself.

I never liked Meletus but he seemed to be a nice guy and I'm sorry he's gone.

Jack

of taking their respective X's seriously. The other, I think, just doesn't always know how.* (Trying to add to the thought.) All three enjoyed attempting play with what they took seriously. But on occasions there wasn't always self-awareness that they were playing.

* I'm not sure if anyone always knows how, mind you.

Meletus interacted with people seemingly very conscious of how his mere interaction with those people reflected on him. I was, in his eyes, a wannabe - begging to be recognized by the elite, of which he was a member. He was careful to not flip me a quarter and made sure to periodically put me in my place.

His death presented me the opportunity to not speak my mind.

"Meletus interacted with people seemingly very conscious of how his mere interaction with those people reflected on him."

I never bothered being too coherent in my thinking about Meletus, but I think that's what I thought some of the time. I'm now asking whether I was wrong, I guess, or if that was the most characteristic feature. If someone's interests diverge very strongly from yours, it's easy to see their argument as purely social. That is, I really do find it difficult to remember that anyone is serious about religion and so it's easy for me to think an argument on the topic has no real content and is just social posturing. Likewise, I wonder if Meletus was after something I wouldn't easily see (or would just see as confusion).

az:

Still the arrogant a**?

The frequency of contact may be correct; but then, if you have assumed a different name each time, I would not have recognized you as az. I remember two contacts and now three. The importance of it is not that critical, even though I brought it up. If you do not mind, I prefer to answer you in the manner I choose and not conform to your dictates.

hearing absolute happiness in his words, if certain others appeared in a thread of his. So I have my personal interactions on the one hand, and rememberances of his immediately after responses to certain others at the same time.

He'd do well in a society where there were squires, knights, lords, dukes, and earls.

All of this impression, though, might be explained by my willingness to see him in a bad light due to his treatment of me.

He sometimes top posted as if he were giving a public display of something he happened to be musing about. Musing at a salon. What could be more "social" than that?

Calling me a dilettante is so three years ago.

!! Good for you.

!!! Well, at least she doesn't use your Fraynick as chum / bait in her Top Posts. I'm considering charging her a fee if it keeps up. Btw, I agree with you totally & find this Top Post to be in quite poor taste. Am I surprised? Are you? meletus / sgras was a fine young man & does not deserve to be used in this way. "Imho, of course..."

You take me as you hope to find me.

But you are going to very great lengths to tell me how you "feel" about me. Again, and again, and again, and again. And in between your display of feelings toward me, you spend time conversing with me.

Really, that's all I need to know.