Have you seen "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? Sure you have. There are several iconic and completely funny parts, namely King Arthur's fight with the seemingly invincible Black Knight. No matter how many times King Arthur tries to pass (even after cutting off a limb), the Black Knight steadfastly refuses to let him be. In the end, the Black Knight is rendered completely useless but tries to save face by calling the match "a draw". It's funny and it makes you think.It makes me think of all the times someone has tried to explain how obstinate, unfeeling, thoughtless or just plain mean someone else has been yet won't admit it. I don't think it's quite pride that would get in the way (although I wouldn't rule it out) but the complete inability to accept the fragility of their situation. They are standing on lost ground and not realising it. They may go on about how they never said something or that if they did say it they never meant it. Even if sat next to and calmly spoken to, nothing gets across. It only gets worse when they drag other equally clueless people into the fray. You're watching a sinking ship of fools trying to plug a couch-sized hole with a one centimetre blob of putty and wondering why they aren't headed for the life boats.
One has to continue forward, however, because there is a holy grail to find. The Black Knight certainly won't get in your way.
Just some thoughts.
4 comments:
I guess it's only a flesh wound. Good analogy.
It does happen that people who are not particularly skilled debaters decide to participate regardless of that fact. It's one of the great things and, also, one of the flaws of the Western world and its "freedoms" that anyone can speak, in virtually any tone they choose, about any subject. That tends to include subjects in which they do not have a great information base, so that simply compounds the futility that accompanies debating them because they now lack INFORMATION and DEBATING SKILLS.
This post nicely captures how some people don't even realize it when they are getting blown out of the water in a debate. They either deny it and think it's fairly even or that they're actually winning, or they turn hostile and profane during the course of it, believing that technique overwhelms the strength of the opposing argument they didn't really have the skills/knowledge to challenge in the first place. Of course, it fails in that regard.
Counterarguments continue to be launched, sometimes accompanied by profanity, despite the fact that their assault was shooting blanks in the first place. The Emperor gradually gets to have fewer and fewer clothes on. The Black Knight gets to have fewer and fewer limbs, yet some people think they are right there kicking butt in a serious discussion when nothing could be further from the truth. I don't know how you stand them, personally, to be honest, but I guess you enjoy working on a blog.
Keep generating those goods posts!
This scene is a great one, very comical. I guess there are many life experiences that involve a Black Knight - a person who stubbornly and stupidly refuses to accept the futility of his situation. Does he even know what he is fighting for?
There is a new Monty Python type youtube site now open. Don't have the link though :(
Stf.Mk
Thanks.
It's frustrating to ask: What is the sound of one hand clapping?" and hear: "I can clap louder than you can!"
Their mothers must be proud.
For all your Monty Python needs, go here:
http://uk.youtube.com/MontyPython
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