They talk about Potemkin villages but the US is just one giant Potemkin country, lean too hard on anything or look at anything too closely and the facade will come crumbling down
Well, usually we diss everything about Greece here and we think that other countries have better everything but when I went to Germany I was surprised to see that subways are really gross compared to here, not to mention the US which is just horrible.
This is an average subway: https://www.athenstransport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/%CE%9D%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%9C%CE%B5%CF%84%CF%81%CF%8C.jpg
But more central ones are even nicer because they often have, like, various artworks and modern sculptures and mock antiquities (or even actual antiquities they found digging the tunnels), like this one under the acropolis: https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Acropolis_Metro_Station_1.jpg
To be fair, they were built ahead of the Olympic games while burning through the early eurozone money. But it was one of the few cool things they spent the money on.
for a second got my memories mixed up, the tunnel shape reminded me too much of London.
but just remembered I've been to Athens and in that subway, it feels like a dream.
being on the Acropolis it is one of those places and times in our life that meant so much that my memories feel elusive.
i remember walking around the temple of Hephaestus.
dissociative identity disorder is a strange thing, time and travel gets stitched together in odd patterns.
and the blurriness of who did what, and what did we understand when, it is tragic and disorienting.
i remember thinking about the Greek gods not as religion, but as superheros.
as identities that people model themselves on.
We have to sink TERF island and return stolen pieces to the Parthenon.
Believe it or not there is actually Athenians who have never been up there. It surprised me so much the first time I met someone who said that. Like, it's literally just up there, and it's pretty damn cheap if you're a kid/student, plus there is plenty of days when you can go for free...
This seems to happen everywhere, locals don't go to their own tourist destinations. Some probably just do not want to be among all those tourists.
But I wonder sometimes of the vague idea of what is there can be nicer than the reality, and people don't like to have their city defined for them as it were.
It is like driving through the rich neighborhoods, or the very poor ones; creates a kind of perspective, disilluionment, or almost a context collapse.
But really places like that can create some strong emotions; much like Paris syndrome, weltschmerz, and culture schock.
It is like looking at the moon and noticing its the same over millions of years and for billions of people.
Also is odd, but this reminded me of a quote from this recent press conference and article: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/336289033
用狮子王的辛巴比喻中国，“是在各种怀疑、责难和打击中成长和成熟起来”，让国外更理解中国；
trying out lots of translation services...
QQ: Using the Lion King's Simba as an analogy to China, "is to grow and mature in all kinds of doubts, censure and blows", so that foreign countries can understand China better.
Google: Using the Lion King's Simba as a metaphor for China, 'grows up and matures amidst all kinds of doubts, censures, and blows', making foreign countries understand China better;
Bing: Using the Lion King's Simba analogy of China, "growing up and maturing in all kinds of doubts, rebukes and blows", so that foreign countries understand China better;
Baidu: Using Simba, the lion king, as a metaphor, China "grew up and matured in a variety of doubts, censures and attacks" so that foreign countries can understand China better;
Yandex: To use the Lion King's Simba metaphor for China, " is to grow and mature in all kinds of doubt, censure and combat”, so that foreign countries better understand China;
M-translate: Using the Lion King's Simba as a metaphor for China, "grows up and matures amidst all kinds of suspicions, censures, and blows", making foreign countries understand China better;
It is just curious the way that these symbols have come to transcend so many cultures.
That it gives people at the same time common language, but also guides them into common ideology and aspirations.
And in that sense there is a certain resistance in not going, not seeing, or not reading.
It is almost like people are terrified of their own vulnerability to being changed or manipulated, but at the same time don't learn by experience to resist it.
I don't know if this is how people that don't go think, because I'm the type of person that does prefer to explore, and to live in reality.
It is an odd thing, maybe, that with dissociation there is also a desire for grounding and insight, but also compartmentalization such that illusions could be sustained if we wanted to.
Anyway, to me it always just seems obstinate and annoying when people insist on not trying the sunglasses as it were.
I'm sure this whole comment will now get mixed up with the memories I have of everything I was thinking about on the Acropolis.
I should to look up some family pictures over the holidays. I don't even remember what year that was.
Meh, long comment, but guess it takes much less time to read; perks of being "crazy" and unemployable in a welfare state is having more time to think about things.
Honestly wish everyone had this much leisure time to just think or read more.
With that I seem to have come right back to Plato.
About time maybe, since the form of Paris is so relevant.
Even as plural there is a thing called faceclaims, that represent how alters feel, or what they would look like, if they could. Like a form.
Oh I just remembered... something... ... strangest thing about living with dissociation is that over time the mind feels very mechanical.
I honestly think Plato meant the world of forms in the abstract, or even like an elaborate fantasy visualization or inner-world.
The way he writes in dialogues is very plural like, honestly. But who knows, I've not read nearly as much Plato as I would like.
I should make a :back-to-me-plato: emote, that won't piss anyone off. lol
...
I guess the idea that I want to say is that dissociation feels like the moon to me.
...
It doesn't come across when I write these comments, but half the time I don't know where I'm going, but then the pieces fall together.
Hopefully at least some of that was possible to follow.
On the other hand, the volume of people going through a subway station in a metropolitan area of 1 million (600k in Helsinki+ 400k in the cities of Espoo and Vantaa it borders) versus a gigantic city of 8 million probably differs slightly
Man, and here I thought some of the accumulated pigeon shit on some of Helsinki's metro stations looked grody. Here's a pic of one (sans pigeon poop)
They talk about Potemkin villages but the US is just one giant Potemkin country, lean too hard on anything or look at anything too closely and the facade will come crumbling down
Well, usually we diss everything about Greece here and we think that other countries have better everything but when I went to Germany I was surprised to see that subways are really gross compared to here, not to mention the US which is just horrible.
This is an average subway: https://www.athenstransport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/%CE%9D%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%9C%CE%B5%CF%84%CF%81%CF%8C.jpg
But more central ones are even nicer because they often have, like, various artworks and modern sculptures and mock antiquities (or even actual antiquities they found digging the tunnels), like this one under the acropolis: https://www.athenswalkingtours.gr/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Acropolis_Metro_Station_1.jpg
To be fair, they were built ahead of the Olympic games while burning through the early eurozone money. But it was one of the few cool things they spent the money on.
for a second got my memories mixed up, the tunnel shape reminded me too much of London.
but just remembered I've been to Athens and in that subway, it feels like a dream.
being on the Acropolis it is one of those places and times in our life that meant so much that my memories feel elusive.
i remember walking around the temple of Hephaestus.
dissociative identity disorder is a strange thing, time and travel gets stitched together in odd patterns.
and the blurriness of who did what, and what did we understand when, it is tragic and disorienting.
i remember thinking about the Greek gods not as religion, but as superheros.
as identities that people model themselves on.
We have to sink TERF island and return stolen pieces to the Parthenon.
Believe it or not there is actually Athenians who have never been up there. It surprised me so much the first time I met someone who said that. Like, it's literally just up there, and it's pretty damn cheap if you're a kid/student, plus there is plenty of days when you can go for free...
This seems to happen everywhere, locals don't go to their own tourist destinations. Some probably just do not want to be among all those tourists.
But I wonder sometimes of the vague idea of what is there can be nicer than the reality, and people don't like to have their city defined for them as it were.
It is like driving through the rich neighborhoods, or the very poor ones; creates a kind of perspective, disilluionment, or almost a context collapse.
But really places like that can create some strong emotions; much like Paris syndrome, weltschmerz, and culture schock.
It is like looking at the moon and noticing its the same over millions of years and for billions of people.
Also is odd, but this reminded me of a quote from this recent press conference and article: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/336289033
trying out lots of translation services...
It is just curious the way that these symbols have come to transcend so many cultures.
That it gives people at the same time common language, but also guides them into common ideology and aspirations.
And in that sense there is a certain resistance in not going, not seeing, or not reading.
It is almost like people are terrified of their own vulnerability to being changed or manipulated, but at the same time don't learn by experience to resist it.
I don't know if this is how people that don't go think, because I'm the type of person that does prefer to explore, and to live in reality.
It is an odd thing, maybe, that with dissociation there is also a desire for grounding and insight, but also compartmentalization such that illusions could be sustained if we wanted to.
Anyway, to me it always just seems obstinate and annoying when people insist on not trying the sunglasses as it were.
I'm sure this whole comment will now get mixed up with the memories I have of everything I was thinking about on the Acropolis.
I should to look up some family pictures over the holidays. I don't even remember what year that was.
Meh, long comment, but guess it takes much less time to read; perks of being "crazy" and unemployable in a welfare state is having more time to think about things.
Honestly wish everyone had this much leisure time to just think or read more.
With that I seem to have come right back to Plato.
About time maybe, since the form of Paris is so relevant.
Even as plural there is a thing called faceclaims, that represent how alters feel, or what they would look like, if they could. Like a form.
Oh I just remembered... something... ... strangest thing about living with dissociation is that over time the mind feels very mechanical.
I honestly think Plato meant the world of forms in the abstract, or even like an elaborate fantasy visualization or inner-world.
The way he writes in dialogues is very plural like, honestly. But who knows, I've not read nearly as much Plato as I would like.
I should make a :back-to-me-plato: emote, that won't piss anyone off. lol
...
I guess the idea that I want to say is that dissociation feels like the moon to me.
...
It doesn't come across when I write these comments, but half the time I don't know where I'm going, but then the pieces fall together.
Hopefully at least some of that was possible to follow.
lol compared to nyc, it looks like you could eat off the floor
On the other hand, the volume of people going through a subway station in a metropolitan area of 1 million (600k in Helsinki+ 400k in the cities of Espoo and Vantaa it borders) versus a gigantic city of 8 million probably differs slightly
Lol that station is better than 9/10 of the ones here easily