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tuesday

280 posts

Why are we here?

Aug 26, 2007, 10:32

I ask this in the spirit of Rockartwolf's "What do we do for a living?" because certain recent threads (and my own irritation with some posts / posters) have made me ask the question of myself and I'm curious about others motivations.

The two things I'm interested in are the databse of sites (amazing) and a greater understanding of the prehistoric mind / imagination - through folklore, conjecture, theoretical cultural speculation. I tend to scan threads for the latter and sometimes get frustratedly dragged into debates I should avoid.

My interest is pretty much the same now as when a child - it was the symbolic, mysterious, aesthetic, poetic aspects of sites which got me in. That's why I tend to be (probably unfairly) bored by discussions about chalk and English Heritage and more intrigued by contributions by Tombo, Paulus, Rhiannon, Jane etc.. That is not to undervalue the work of others - particularly those like the megalithomaniacs and the mothomaniacs who have contributed such an extraordinary amount of sites - I mean, where do they get the time?

I enjoy the intrusion of rogue elements with mad theories (as long as their proponents don't demand I accept their truth uncritically) and it's a shame to see how they are often discouraged - even undermined. Who was it who said that truth is always" first ridiculed, then violently resisted before being accepted as self-evident"? (perhaps there's a case for a distinct 'theoretical' thread category)

A pet hate by the way (which I imagine I have been guilty of) is taking threads off topic by highlighting and reacting to one unrepresentative element or easy target, so don't you dare..

Topic Outline:

Why are we here? – tuesday, Aug 26, 2007, 10:32


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