The Organizers' Dilemma - By god must be atheist

Caldwell December 26, 2022 at 19:11 1350 views 23 comments
Gregorine stepped into the bar. She spotted Roberta in their regular booth, at the far wall. Gregorine gestured the bartender to get her the usual.

The two sat there, despondent.

"Greggie, I can’t stand it much longer. I mean, I love philosophy. But we get a constant supply of new posters, who start at the same spot as the old ones did. "Is there a soul, and if yes, does it taste better than ice cream." "Is reality wrong." "Can I resist temptation, and if yes, then why not." So bored with them! These repeat topics are coming out of my ears. Like this, 38 times: "If the Earth was a breast, where would its nipple be?"

Gregorine nodded in agreement.

"My beef is the nitpickers. Or should I say knitpeckers. The guys who are so uptight that their peckers are tied in a knot. Be they men or women."

"We must rejuvenate our site, by hook or by crook."

They both stared into their drinks. Their despair was palpable.

"Hey. What if we started some literary competitions," Gregorine piped up.

"Yeah. It's worth a try," replied Roberta, and she downed her drink in one giant gulp.

Comments (23)

Vera Mont December 26, 2022 at 22:38 #766727
How come there is no 'I loved it!!' vote?
Well, then, can I like it three times?
Amity December 26, 2022 at 22:47 #766732
Quoting Caldwell
So bored with them! These repeat topics are coming out of my ears. Like this, 38 times: "If the Earth was a breast, where would its nipple be?"


Tits on tits. Another bird theme :roll:

Quoting Vera Mont
How come there is no 'I loved it!!' vote?
Well, then, can I like it three times?


Well, well, well.
Ain't that whot we already decided...in our regular booth knocking it back :lol:

Next time 3 levels.
Highest being: Love, love, love :heart: :heart: :heart:

Cheers to author :party:
Has to be @Jamal...


Quoting Caldwell
My beef is the nitpickers. Or should I say knitpeckers. The guys who are so uptight that their peckers are tied in a knot. Be they men or women."

god must be atheist December 28, 2022 at 23:05 #767235
This is funny. Jamal (?) you've outdone yourself.
Tobias December 28, 2022 at 23:26 #767245
Quoting Amity
Tits on tits. Another bird theme :roll:


There is no bird theme, neither did the other ones have bird themes. The theme is tits. What would you expect otherwise on a philosophy forum?
Amity December 29, 2022 at 08:55 #767339
Quoting Tobias
There is no bird theme, neither did the other ones have bird themes.


You are right. The theme is the eternal cycle of repeat topics in philosophy. The boredom.
The story of jaded TPF long-termers/organisers who have lost the excitement of newcomers.

It's a fun take: 'palpable despair' and how to bring new life to the scene.
In this, it shares a common theme in the contest: the circle of life; repetition.
It's amusing to note how even as they moan and down their drinks, they too are creatures of habit.

Quoting Caldwell
She spotted Roberta in their regular booth, at the far wall. Gregorine gestured the bartender to get her the usual.


An existential crisis, what!?
How to break the monotony...lift their own spirits, in more ways than one.
Sheer genius and creativity in choice; free will v acceptance of fate.

So, here we are. Talking about tits.

And birds. Not the main theme in stories but elements to move the narratives along. What are they then?
Motifs? Sometimes with symbolic significance, other times not so much.
A tit is a tit is a tit.

Just as in your own story: the hairpin. It might not have held meaning in any symbolic way.
Nevertheless, it's a recurring motif as is hair and Martita (a pattern from your last winning story).
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/13187/dream-of-the-flood-by-tobias/p1
Tobias:She unties her hair which had been held together by a silver hairpin. The pin falls to the ground. The writer thinks of picking it up, but she kicks it under the bed with a callous motion of her foot. Feel me and she guides his hands towards the flood.


It helped me identify you as the author.
It acted to hold the story together. There's a sense of it being a magical, almost iconic ornament.
Just like motifs in art...elements in the text that represent a theme. The theme is love.

But best stop there.

Jamal December 29, 2022 at 11:15 #767372
Quoting Amity
Has to be Jamal


Quoting god must be atheist
Jamal (?) you've outdone yourself


Wasn’t me.
Amity December 29, 2022 at 11:16 #767374
Reply to Jamal
OK, then it's [s]Baden or Michael or...someone taking the piss.[/s] Anyway, it's fun :cool:
But we really shouldn't be guessing at this stage, right? It's against the rules, or summat...
Quoting Caldwell
8) Comments should focus on stories, not authors, and may be moderated.


But then, the rules keep changing, so what the hell!
2) Max two submissions per member.

The above rules are not negotiable.

Hah. Now max 4 submissions... :roll:
Jamal December 29, 2022 at 11:32 #767377
Reply to Amity Caldwell changed the rules in response to feedback, not least yours. It’s worked out well. My only slight annoyance is that when it was announced that authors can submit a fourth story, it was too late for me, because I’ve been too busy to write. That TPF has been deprived of another precious ingot of pure Jamal is something we can all agree is lamentable. Otherwise, all is well.
Amity December 29, 2022 at 11:35 #767380
Reply to Jamal
Don't blame me again. I didn't want 4 submissions!
'Someone' did.

Quoting Caldwell
Everyone,

Someone wants to submit a fourth story. So, let's relax the rule -- make it 4 submissions total. (Like what Jamal had suggested before).


Bet the 'someone' is @Benkei. He's already submitted 3 in round 1.
Astronauts. Rage. Derivative (ChatGPT).
Can we get a limit on stories not written by humans, please :pray:
Or is that one more 'Organizers' Dilemma'?
0 thru 9 December 29, 2022 at 15:20 #767426
Made me laugh. Nice joke and story, and a welcome change of pace! :up:

And @Amity’s in-depth literary criticism is as entertaining as the stories. Keep up the good work everyone! :clap:
Amity December 29, 2022 at 15:34 #767429
Quoting 0 thru 9
And Amity’s in-depth literary criticism is as entertaining as the stories

Thank you but really, no! That's OTT. I only respond to the texts/stories as I would in any discussion.
I read, listen and respond as best I can, all the better to understand. I have fun and learn from it. Glad I haven't sent anyone spinning into an existential crisis. Or none that I've noticed anyway :wink:

I'm signing off now to recover for the New Year. Everyone, have a Happy One! :sparkle:

Hanover December 29, 2022 at 21:56 #767509
Assuming it's @Baden, C minus.

Otherwise, good job!
Caldwell December 30, 2022 at 02:42 #767592
Reply to Hanover :grin:
I can only guess that you either think highly or lowly of Baden, and nothing in between.
0 thru 9 December 30, 2022 at 16:27 #767735
Reply to Hanover
I’m afraid, Sir Hanover, that you are merely covering your tracks. This story has your fingerprints all over it. Watson... arrest this man for attempted literature! :nerd:
Tobias December 30, 2022 at 17:54 #767749
Quoting Amity
You are right. The theme is the eternal cycle of repeat topics in philosophy.


Nietzsche's eternal recurrence of the same. Philosophy is a cyclical affair that is in the end self contained. That is, it questions questioning, it thinks about thinking. There is no breaking out of the cycle to see what is beyond. That differentiates it from science in which we look at something other than ourselves. Maybe that is why philosophers love birds, birds are a motif, a motif of freedom, of flying away.

Quoting Amity
So, here we are. Talking about tits.


Yes finally.

Quoting Amity
Just as in your own story: the hairpin. It might not have held meaning in any symbolic way. Nevertheless, it's a recurring motif as is hair and Martita (a pattern from your last winning story). https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/13187/dream-of-the-flood-by-tobias/p1


Yes, it was a motif, the tie that binds. Martita is a motif as well. Who is she? Someone I met and now is a figure with me. Hair is beautiful don't you think. It deserves a place in stories. By the way, did you figure out what my second submission was?

Quoting Amity
There's a sense of it being a magical, almost iconic ornament.
Just like motifs in art...elements in the text that represent a theme. The theme is love.


Yes, to me it was a magical ornament. It represented love. In my earlier story Martita kicked it away. In this one she placed in on her dressoir. In the first story Martita is lust, in the second she is loving. Philosophy is love of wisdom, but also lust for truth. Its language is eternal and recurring, its object is itself', but its desire is for the other. Philosophy and sexuality are similar entrances to love. The first is cerebral the second physical but they are in fact the same.

BC December 30, 2022 at 18:06 #767751
Quoting Amity
Tits on tits. Another bird theme


Tits for tats.
Amity December 30, 2022 at 18:22 #767757
Quoting Tobias
By the way, did you figure out what my second submission was?


I didn't know you submitted twice. Maybe more?
Given your intellectual carnality, I'd hazard a guess at G2G.
Benkei December 30, 2022 at 19:19 #767768
Reply to Amity Not enough tits for it to be Tobias.
Amity December 30, 2022 at 19:36 #767771
Reply to Benkei :grin:
Well, there's heap plenty tits in this one. Oh...wait... :chin:
Tobias December 30, 2022 at 20:39 #767793
Quoting Amity
Given your intellectual carnality, I'd hazard a guess at G2G.


Nahhh, I think I have an answer to that dilemma so I would not bring it forward. Se betrays her lover, he starts feeling guilty about it... Well done on her part, but I would be less forgiving.

About Face, that is yours isn't it @Benkei?

edtit: in this story I wonder about the names Grigorine and Roberta... I think there is some reference in there somehow but haven't spotted it...
god must be atheist January 01, 2023 at 17:19 #768281
Thanks to all you guys who put in some words.

In retrospect I must admit, because if I did not then I'd burn in hell forever, that I stole the 'if the Earth was a tit" line. It was from my one-time best friend, Paul A. S., who had an infinitely funny sense of humour. Dry as hell, sarcastic, self-deprecating, but always a bull's eye in social commentary.

One day I was trying to drive out of a busy parking lot around a shopping mall. Paul was riding with me. We saw two pre-teens or early teen-age boys, on bicycles, derelict-looking, weaving in-and-out of traffic between the parked and the moving cars. Paul said, "I guess they have sense of the worthlessness of their own lives." It was irony of the ultimate paradox in human nature that he stated in such a poetic and superbly funny way.
180 Proof January 02, 2023 at 08:49 #768568
Reply to god must be atheist I like the magic mirror held up to this "place". Gave me good chuckle. Sorry to read you so late but I'm only now get around ro reading through all of entries. Anyway, good stuff, gmba! :up:
god must be atheist January 02, 2023 at 10:21 #768582
Reply to 180 Proof :joke:
Maybe you'll like the other two funny ones as well. Esp. The Cuttingthecraps: A Family Novel.