Prince Myshkin

Have you ever walked up an elevator that isn't working before? You feel like you are constantly gonna fall over. Pfft, I have a phobia that I'll be bouncing on a trampoline naked and someone will take a photograph of me as I fall whilst gravity asserts itself on my genitals and it appears what is actually a flaccid penis is in fact a small erection. Then they use said picture to discredit my genitals and the whole world laughs. Nah, only kidding, yours is weirder.

Fake your own death.

That's blond hair. And I doubt they were, they sound too cool.

Might as well bump one of my threads. Today I learned that the opposite of extinct is extant.

I've never paid for one. Mary J on the other hand... It's a good thinking tool used correctly.

Still counts haha.

I see this forum was gripped by the Rovers Burnley game the other day...

Ahh cool. Some of my threads are still going.

I'll PM you haha.

It's good you can rise above it!

I'm talking like I'm about 40. I'm not.

Never been out in Darwen. Had a crush on a girl from there back in the day so always wanted to go. But that was quite a few years ago now and she doesn't even live there any more. And I have a girlfriend so wouldn't be bothered about going out there for the reason of bumping into that girl anyway.

I do feel cool when I have a cigarette in my mouth whilst drunk though. But then I feel generally cooler when drunk. I'm not, however, on both counts.

I can understanding smoking weed, but not cigarettes. I've tried them quite often when drunk and they've done nothing for me either (apart from make me look ridiculously cool, obviously... or not) but when sober they really seem like an awful idea.

I'm Greg. Hello. I don't think I could go 8 hours without food outside of sleep. You should buy some interesting books! I've not been to a mexican in aaaaages.

Yeah not far off. Blackburn used to be a bit better when Cellar Bar was around (but not in its later years). Now I'm not even sure it has a night life. I know there used to be Liquid but if there's only one place you're going to get all the idiots there so isn't worth it.

I only know Trinity as I worked there. Was a nice school. Don't know an awful lot more about the place as I tend to head closer to Accrington when it comes to socialising (few friends there, not because Accy is nice).

So you will be eating alone or drinking alone? I recommend taking a book.

I've worked in Darwen before at Holy Trinity Primary School (when I was training to be a teacher before I dropped out). I live in a town not far from Blackburn but I don't really wanna give away too much info online so don't know why I brought it up haha. My Dad also lived in Darwen as a child.

A pub you go to regularly?

I've just got back from the pub. It was OK. I wasn't drinking though, as I was driving.

Yep. I live very close.

I think everybody in Darwen smokes, don't they?

Been working on it since I was 18. It's easy to work on. You don't have to do much. Just have hair. I think my uncle got me the boxing gloves. He then told me to punch him. I didn't want to but he made me. I punched him and bust his nose. Other than that and once in self defence when I was about 13, I've never thrown a punch.

Back to the topic, I feel homophobia (and prejudice generally) stems from a combination of fear of the unknown, a lack of empathy and a lack of exposure to different people (all of which goes hand in hand really). These things are perpetuated by several factors such as a lack of education, vested interests of people who can make money or power out of people influencing them by continuing these stereotypes, people who are not comfortable in their own opinions and so need to strengthen them by disparaging others and inherited wisdom on the topic which sets up things like homosexuality as a taboo subject (especially considering this specifically covers not only a minority group but also what understandably to many is a very controversial subject - sex). Such is the way that the media (not all) and society (not all) is set up, it appears that difference is not in itself celebrated and a lot of focus goes into looking at these differences as a problem. Providing these differences don't harm others physically or mentally then of course it is fine. But too often you can see in things like marketing that we should all want this product and then we can ultimately be happy. Or you have newspapers targeting certain types of people and singling them out as a problem to society, whether it is people of a certain nationality 'taking our jobs' or members of society without a job 'stealing from the rest of us', when in fact there are so many different factors to everything. When people don't have the time to fully comprehend what they are taking in, and when what they are taking in is biased and very limited, it becomes easy to form very basic opinion of something that you don't fully understand and take that standpoint as you feel it is better than not having a stand point at all. It becomes easier to blame others for your problems when there are times when it is not the case, as it is not easy to criticise oneself. This is not to say that the media are always wrong of course, but it is the responsibility of the people to try and find out all the information first, to try and better understand things. It is supposed to be the media's responsibility to report things without bias, but of course many media outlets fail on that front. I think the thing to think of is that there are around 7 billion people. There will be differences. Look at how many differences there are in your own set of friends, people you surround yourself with because they are similar. Then look at the differences within your society. People are affected and base their opinions on a number of things; age, sex, wealth, nationality, culture, heritage, religion, etc. Had you been born somewhere else you would likely have different opinions. The circumstance you were born into shaped you. The decisions you are now making and the circumstances you are finding yourself in because of them is shaping you further still. And whilst everybody goes on their own journeys, there are going to be a multitude of differing results. The key is to accept and celebrate that diversity - providing it doesn't encroach on somebody else. There's my twisting and turning rant, anyway. Edit: by the way I didn't reread that so some bits might not make sense.