Sinfest

thewaitersitsondown · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:47 pm Post subject:

I love shakespeare with all my heart, I think he is brilliant and I've thoroughly enjoyed everything I've ever read or seen by him. Moreover, he is an important link to the past, showing us that many of the same basic drives and ways of thinking that define us now were just as important hundreds of years ago. While so many works of literature from the same time period would show us how much we've grown and changed, Shakespeare shows us what things are eternal.
I would save the human.
Shakespeare is vitally important, and there are 7 billion people on this planet. I would rather lose one person and keep Shakespeare. It would be better. But I would not let the person die. First, because I would not be capable of it--one has to see a lot of death before one is capable of allowing someone to die, and I have not. It's easy to say that you would let the person die, but it would be extremely difficult to do without being very hardened or a sociopath.
Second, I feel that caring for and helping each other is one of those eternal human qualities, and it would be cowardly and stupid of me to give up that quality for proof of that quality's importance.

cletusowns · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 496 Location: Oak Park

mouse · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 15450 Location: under the bed

well, that's just stupid. if you are going to let someone kill you, why would you want money?
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cletusowns · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 496 Location: Oak Park

mouse · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 15450 Location: under the bed

ah, but the question was saving another person, not yourself.

and i don't say money is worthless - in fact, it's almost impossible to live without it. but if i have already decided not to live, i don't need money.
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aka: neverscared!

Major Tom · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 7562

however, i could sell the book...

Lemontree · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 3297

Teh Digital Dragon · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject:

Anyone casting aspersions on Mr Shakespeare’s talent can just go and fuck themselves right now. I came to Shakespeare entirely neutral and…christ, some of his plays, they describe the human experience with such utter clarity and beauty. I’d go so far as to say I think Shakespeare’s works have saved people’s lives, and would continue to do so if I preserved the book.

So I thought about this seriously, but it has to be the human

There will be other great works, the same ideas will find form in print again, but that person will never be again, they're a one of a kind, and more importantly that person actually feels and values life, they're a person. The book is an object. I can live with destroying a beautiful creative work, I couldn't live with murder.
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"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"

Uncle Taylorbell · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 3191 Location: Northern England

Is the entire cannon of work influenced by and directly referencing or quoting Shakespeare gonna go, too? Because, after all, he's not just a great playwright, but also a cornerstone of Western psychology (no Shakespeare, no Freud, whatever your opinions on Freud it's a big loss), not to mention the English language. What about Ten Things I Hate About You? The poetry of Eliot? Rosencrantz & Guildernstern Are Dead?

Doesn't matter anyway, since all Will's good work was written by the Earl of Oxford ... (no, I don't really believe that).

Lasairfiona · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject:

The ideas would have come from somewhere else then. I firmly believe that great leaps will show up no matter what. If one person doesn't do it, another will. Perhaps it would be better of the first person started the leap but the leap will still happen.

I'd save the human.
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Before God created Las he pondered on all the aspects a woman might have, he considered which ones would look good super-inflated and which ones to leave alone.
After much deliberation he gave her a giant comfort zone. - Michael

Teh Digital Dragon · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

Asking what would happen if you removed all references to Shakespeare is like asking what would happen if you travelled back in time and killed Hitler. The changes he's made are so wide and subtle that the result would not be our world.
_________________
"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"

Uncle Taylorbell · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 3191 Location: Northern England

Teh Digital Dragon · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:46 pm Post subject:

Most hypothetical questions are complete and utter bone, but I think we all understand the principal behind the practical reality of what we’re being asked.
_________________
"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?"

Lasairfiona · Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:49 pm Post subject:

Uncle Taylorbell · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 3191 Location: Northern England