Hey Dalektek…is this your brother?
Just when I think I have a perfect post nobody can argue with, somebody comes up with some half-baked response to contradict me.
quote:
Originally posted by Aleck:
[b]Any interpretation that does not have a firm foundation in the text is worthless.[/b]
I completely agree. My arguments are based on the text [b]and nothing else[/b]. I define “text” as events depicted onscreen and lines spoken onscreen in the [i]Lexx[/i]/[i]Tales from a Parallel Universe[/i] movies and [i]Lexx[/i]: The Series. Until you can find a contradiction of my statements with the text or any of my theories that is not based on the logical interpretation of the text [b]you[/b] have no argument.
quote:
[b]In the HDS thread, you ascribed feelings and emotions (and a complete back-story) to HDS that was never presented in the series.[/b]
Once again, you are mistaken. If you watched the episode [i]Mantrid[/i], there was a lengthly monolog at the beginning that established the back story I have used:
Many years ago the humans defeated us in the Great Insect Wars. They thought that they destroyed all of us, but they did not kill me, as I live on. I hid myself by burrowing deep into a small planetoid. There, I waited.
I survived by passed my essence, my thoughts, my intelligence, my…everything to a human host. As the last surviving Insect I knew that I would never be able to defeat the humans. But, if I possessed a human body I could make them defeat themselves.
I became His Divine Shadow, the most powerful ruler in the two universes. My power grew as I passed my essence down from generation to generation. My Insect body also grew in strength, fed by the flesh of 20,000 worlds unknowingly enslaved to their enemy.
But my reign was ended by Kai, the last of the Brunnen-G, and my prematurely reborn body was destroyed by the Lexx, the most powerful weapon ever built. Kai crushed the brain of my last human host, but he did not kill me, as I live on. But, Kai does not know that I live through him.
I see no reason to doubt this. Unless you can give me something [b]from the show[/b] that discredits His Divine Shadow’s account of his own history, I consider it to be wholly valid.
quote:
[b]Your argument (that HDS was a sympathetic character) was based on an assumption (that HDS had particular thoughts, feelings and reasons behind his actions) not based in the text (HDS was never shown to have these), but on the basis of another assumption (a back story that you invented).[/b]
I don’t assume anything. It’s against my philosophy.
And I didn’t “invent” the back story, it was conceived by Donovan, Gigeroff, and Hirschfield. If you don’t like the way the direction the character went in [i]Mantrid[/i] that’s fine, just don’t blame me for it.
quote:
[b]And anyway, this is a *discussion board.* This is not an academic discussion group in which debates must be made to conform to Lincoln-Douglas standards. Like much of the world outside of academic circles, those standards are not conformed to in everyday discussion, which means that you probably take everything that is said to you as a “personal attack.”[/b]
I post in the same manner as others at this forum. I post the way I talk. [b]You[/b] were the one who forced me to bring up Lincoln-Douglas. And there has to be [b]some[/b] format for discussion in order to debate my (or anyone else’s) points. It’s like when Galileo said “How am I to show you the moons of Jupiter when you won’t look through my telescope?”
quote:
[b]And, for the record, your frustration about “personal attacks” is not based so much on *everyone else* refusing to conform to L.D. standards of debate, it’s based on your complete refusal or inability to participate in “real world” discussion. [/b]
What I describe as “personal attacks” are when people say what amounts to “you’re stupid” and never address my actual argument.
quote:
Originally posted by Annoyed Squishy:
[b]Dalektek, whether or not I understand the type of dialect you are using is irrelevant, none of us here are interested in discussing matters in this way.[/b]
It’s not “dialect” it’s “dialectic,” or “dialektik” if you prefer the Classical spelling. I dialect is a type of speech pattern. A dialectic is any scholarly discussion of opposing viewpoints. And I never said I was committed to any [b]type[/b] of dialectic, just the practice itself.
quote:
[b]The fact is nobody is impressed or likes this way of writing, and it doesn’t impress anyone in the real world either, if you came up to me in the street and spoke to me in this manner, I’d either think poof or think you’re a bit strange.[/b]
I don’t expect people to be impressed, I expect only for them to [b]understand[/b].
quote:
[b]I get the feeling that you think that this style of writing enforces your views, well it doesn’t, it just aggravates even more.[/b]
Yes, it does. Most people like my intellectual and witty style. People wouldn’t take me seriously if I wrote like semi-literate white trash, now would they?
quote:
[b]If you actually speak in this manner as well, then you won’t be acheiving anything in real life (girl’s will find you weird and blokes will think you are from another planet).[/b]
It’s funny you should mention that, Squish, ’cause I once assembled a Lincoln-Douglas style persuasive argument to try to convince a girl to go out with me. I didn’t get a chance to use it, which is a shame, because I had some really good points. But that’s not pertinent to this line of discussion.
quote:
[b]Just for once try talking or writing like a normal person. [/b]
I am.
quote:
Originally posted by Annoyed Squishy:
[b]Like I have said, practice this elsewhere, somewhere where it is used in abundance, on here we just want people to have a laff and discuss Lexx light-heartedly, we don’t want to go into raging debate’s that end’s up giving everyone a blinding headache.[/b]
This was a light-hearted discussion of [i]Lexx[/i], until Aleck turned it into a heated argument. The topic was “His Divine Shadow.” I started it because there were a lot of people posting things about His Shadow under several topics, and I wanted to condense it all into one thread where everyone could share their personal thoughts and speculations on [i]Lexx[/i]’s most complex and intriguing character. But Aleck, without provocation, decided to contradict my opinions and theories. So it turned into a debate. I suggested the format of a friendly dialectic, but he wouldn’t stand for it. Then he said I should “define my argument,” so I did in L.D. style, but he never really responded to that.
Essentially, the whole thread became like the Scopes Trial, with him (William Jennings Bryan) defending his personal mindsets, and me (Thomas Henry Huxley) showing the actual evidence to back up my claims. He got the last word in but I “won” in that my side was organized, logical, and fact-based. If you don’t understand the historical reference in that last paragraph, just don’t worry about it.
Aleck’s dogmatism and Squish’s anti-intellectualism do not threaten me.
——————
“Exterminate!” -Dalek warrior, [i]The Daleks[/i]: Episode 4-[i]The Ambush[/i]
“Feel the power of the dark Crystal!” -skekTek the Scientist, [i]The Dark Crystal[/i]
“I will love you forever!” -drone #790, [i]Lexx 1.1: I Worship His Shadow[/i]
[This message has been edited by DalekTek790 (edited August 19, 2001).]