h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry young man but isnt it past your bedtime. The WWC is a fringhtening phenonemenon poisoning the minds of our youth.
the only butt that will be kicked is your psyche, you don't
seem to mind. But it is a dangerous embarrassment to the
people of the USA that are concerned about mental health and
the ability to read and write. Hit the books boy and not the
tube. Worlds of Love, JLC the TTP

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I just realised that you called me a bully! I'll have you know that I am anything but! I have always been on the receiving end of bully's. I could talk alot more about some of the stuff that I've been through... but I won't. Your not worth it! You know, your just someone thats trying to cause trouble. Maybe your intent was good, but baby, you should do a little research before you preach!

Hey, Slade, I just want to talk a bit about people being bad or good, deep down that is. And about the problems of the world, and so on. In your posting in effect you say that some people are basically evil, that in fact humanity itself is evil and it's not ever going to change. Now just before we start, I am not an American, I live in South Africa. Frankly I don't know what's going on up there in Canada or in the USA, I'm just speaking from my experience of what's going on over here.

Basically, I think deep down any single person is CAPABLE of being good, or bad. In my opinion there's nobody who is messed up so bad that that person cannot in some way get better and lead a constructive life. When people go "postal" as you say there is actually MANY ways in which it could have been avoided. Some people have a predisposition towards mental problems. This doesn't mean the person is born crazy and will always be crazy. If you handle him right, he'll be "less crazy" than if you handle him wrong.

But even "ordinary people" can go postal if they are simply pushed too far. The answer is, don't push people too far. Don't treat them like s**t. Some parents teach their kids like s**t, some bosses treat their workers like s**t, and sometimes you get people, they've been treated like that their whole lives, and it just keeps building up, they started out OK but finally they snap and they think f**k the world, I'm going out loud & proud and I'm taking you a*sholes with me.

From what I've seen people treat each other SO bad that it's no wonder that so many of them become twisted. I say BECOME, because really I do believe that at the beginning everything was alright and it could have ended alright but too much went wrong in between. So I don't really think that there are many EVIL people who have to be that way. Things can be different, the world can be different. Even when very large groups of people are all doing evil things together, it can reach a point where they can't get away with it any longer, and they are forced to deal with the consequences. The universe has a kind of anti-evil law built into it which says: you reap what you sow.

The way I see it things can change like THIS: there are people in the world who care, and they will reach out to the people who have problems. They'll SHOW them what respect means. A guy who's never seen respect, who's never been treated with respect, doesn't know what it means, it is difficult for him to understand it and behave that way. And now, there are shades and degrees of respect, it's not a black and white thing. But in general people have a poor understanding of respect, because they've never had it and they've never seen it. But if the people who have it start showing it, start spreading it around, it can grow, because respect is a powerful thing.

Even people in prison for murder or for rape or for violent assault, start CHANGING if they're handled a certain way. One very simple thing that I've seen is that they gave some of the guys a pet mouse or a pet bird to care for. Many of them, for the first time in their lives they found out what it meant to care for something, to be responsible for something, to have something that cares for them as well. Just a tiny little thing, a pet mouse. And some of those people who never gave a damn before actually start to have feelings, start behaving responsibly, because if they mistreat the mouse it will die. It is something very frail and sensitive and it dies very easily. And they can't be angry with it for dying if it was them who mistreated it.

So I want you to think that maybe people aren't that bad, maybe we must give people more chances to make up for the wrong things they did. Also parents can teach their kids better, maybe we must be more alert about kids being mistreated and go talk to their parents and tell them they can't do that. Maybe we should teach a course for people who are about to have children. Maybe we should look out for each other more, when people have problems go and help them, and when somebody does something wrong confront them and make them take responsibility for what they do. Maybe we can work on looking at each other differently, seeing things from another person's point of view, SHOWING people what respect means, talking things out with them, clearing up misunderstandings that happen between people. Maybe we should treat people as frail and sensitive things that can get hurt easily and that can die easily. Because basically that's the way they are.

I'm just trying to spread a bit of optimism around. I'm not naïve or blind, I've seen enough rotten stuff in my life, but also I've seen some of the ways things can get better. People aren't that bad.

Well said Pillow, you kind of hit on my own philosophy :"Treat others as you would wish to be treated", its not always easy, but if you treat people like cr*p then you have no right to complain when people treat you the same way.

South Africa if a fantastic place, so much beutey so much potential, look after it.

I agree fully with you Pillow. I agree with everything that you said. I really think that Respect is very powerful. It would be able to change alot of things in the world, but alas, there is just no respect. You will find the odd person up here that is very respectful, to them selves, and to others. I am very respectful to others... that is, those that deserve my respect. What that means, is that someone doesn't show me respect, then I won't show them any. It's sorta like your philosophy happydude, but reversed. "Treat others as they treat you." Yah I know it may not be nice but that is the way I have seen the world work. I will show respect to anybody, but if they will not show me respect in return or will not show respect in the first place, well... then they don't deserve any respect from me.

But I also think that there are lots of people out there which are evil, and I believe that the human race in itself is evil... or one of those shaded parts. I'm not really very optimistic about humans... the things that I have experienced and have been exposed to while growing up has probably molded that.

So, you live in South Africa eh? What's it like there? I haven't really been exposed to Africa before. I've always wanted to visit though! (probably from all of those cartoons I watched when I was little that had these great magnificent lions strolling around the savanah's ) Yah, I live up in northern B.C., Canada. Do you guys get lots of snow?? Practcally we get 8 months of winter and heavy snow. But I like it! (most of the people hate it!) Happydude, I tought I read on your page that you were from Britian. Where abouts?

Alrighty, well I gota take off. Ciao!

~Tyler

Pillow is in S.A., I'm in U.K. I visited S.A. once a fantastic place, if if ever get the chance go.

Now to get to point of this posting

Human's evil? No, on the whole they are not. They are capable of great evil and great good, your basic human is not so much evil or good but selfish, a lot of what is done as apparant good/evil is done out of self intrest, the great challenge in life is to rise above this level, by treating others as you would wish to be treated you can make a start on raising yourself to a higher level.

Try reading Nelson Mandela's Biog (you might learn something).

Be happy

Hey, Slade, just to let you know - I have never seen snow in my life! I'm tenty eight years old by the way. I don't know what snow feels like, I don't know how cold it is, if it feels dry or wet or sticky. If I had to live in Canada I would die. This winter it went five degrees below freezing and I tell ya for me it was tough. But in the summer it goes up to 40 degrees or more (that's over 105 Fahrenheit) and when the sun is shining high from noon to three o' clock it's so hot you can't do anything and the sun is so bright it looks as if everything's on fire. I live in a cooler part of the country; a bit further north it gets so hot people say that if you stay there too long you'll commit suicide.

A little exaggerated, but heat pretty much goes with the territory. And dust. If you ever come here, come in the winter. Unfortunately it'll be very dry and dusty then, but at least there are less bugs.

All kidding aside, this is a great place. There aren't many lions left over, sad to say. There are some in our two biggest national parks, the Kruger and the Kalahari Gemsbok. But there are rhinos in a reserve a coupla miles outside my town, and there are lots of giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and so on.

Happy to know you like snow. Otherwise I can't imagine how you would be able to endure it over there. I shiver at the mere thought!

Tyler, just try to give people a little more room to deserve your respect, how about that?

May the force be with you. - Case

That oughta be "twenty", not "tenty".

It's ok none of us ca tipe os psell.

Sweet! I love Rhino's! 40 degrees though... thats boiling! The hotest it ever gets up here is around 30 maybe 32, the coldest is also around 30, well minus 30! LOL! Right now we are just hovering above zero. The average temperature during winter up here is around -25. I'm really used to it so I don't mind. Like I walk to school which is a good 15 minute walk during the middle of winter in jeans a t-shirt and my jacket. Whenever it gets up around zero during winter it's purely t-shirt wheather! I go down south to vancouver sometimes, and the coldest it gets there is -5 and even thats rare. But I go down there and evryone is all bundled up in parkas and 20 sweaters, and I am walking around in shorts and a shirt! The looks I get are hilarious! ! Snow is really cold and it comes in 2 types (well 3 actually! lol!) There is wet snow when it's warm out which is perfect for snowballs and snowforts! It's verypackable. And then there is dry snow, which is really cold, and can't be packed at all. It's a real pain to shovel! lol! I couldn't imagine it being that hot out though! I've been to florida in the US before but it only got up to around 96 degrees farenhiet (i don't know what it is in celsius) and even that put me on the sidline! All I did was stay indoors all day!

But you guy's are right. There are good people and there are bad people. But I am really respectful to anyone I meet, there are just a few people out there which I really dispise and I geuss I was taking it out on my fellow man! lol! But I won't go out of my way to b disrespectful to those people either.

Is it just me or has common curtosey and chivalry gone the way of the dinosaur? Like, I am one of the only people I know that will open doors for other people. Most people in my town don't say please or thank you, even after I just held the door open for them and 20 other people. Like, i'll go out to a restaurant with my friends and i'll be the only one saying "may I please have the (whatever dish) ma'am/sir? Thank you." I'll always say thanks and be polite, but everyone else just will order there food like "i'll have the (dish)." that's it! But hey, as long as there are people out there that do say "your welcome" or "thank you" when I hold the door open, or whatever, then it's all worthwhile! lol! But does this stuff happen where you guys live?

~Tyler

The trick is to live by your own standards not other peoples, don't be surpised if other people stick with the crowd, just keep your eye open for like minded souls, hopfuly H2G2 has shown you ther are a few out there somewhere even if not in your home town. Here in London with 20 million plus people you would have to be a fool to expect everybody to be polite all the time.

You have more than 20 million people in London?!?! WOW! Another 20 million more and you've got the population of Canada! LOL!

Tyler

The UK is overcrowded Population the size of France in a country the size of Norway.

In South Africa we are really polite. At least in my town. We have about 100 000 people here in Pietersburg, the vast majority are black, northern Sotho or Bapedi. Politeness is part of African custom. The customary way with the Sotho is this. When you meet, you have to say: "How are you going? I'm fine, and you? Yes, I'm fine too. Thank you!" and you say that even if you meet a stranger or when you go into a shop. And then when you part again, you have to say "go well" or "stay well". And you indicate respect towards older people or people with high ranks, and in a conversation you indicate appreciation for what someone else is saying by saying "thobêla!" which means "I acknowledge" or "I agree" or "thank you". All of this in Sotho of course. But we do the same kind of thing in the other languages, mainly English and Afrikaans. About everybody here can speak at least two languages, the black people can often speak three.

In this country, there has been and still is a lot of racism so most people try to go out of their way to be courteous towards each other. I mean things were so messy there seemed to be no future. It's just not nice to pass by people on the street giving you looks like they want to kill you, getting insulted and threatened just for having a skin of a certain colour (either it is too light or too dark). And by ADULTS, not by silly little kids. And the law is not able to protect you. On all sides people were killing and getting killed, and basically it was all unnecessary. We just totally misunderstood each other. There was so much bitterness, suspicion, fear and anger it was like the very air became poisoned. Many people in the country who now want to look forward to a better time make a POINT of trying to find out what the other side thinks and feels like, to clear up misconceptions and distrust, and try to meet people more than halfway.

I'm glad to hear you're courteous in restaurants. I understand why people often aren't very polite, because people tend to be under stress and irritated. It's the same everywhere, and I think it is because the modern lifestyle is too hurried and competitive. But it is still possible to be polite even though you're irritated. But I also think people must be encouraged to relax more, have different priorities, see a bigger picture. Their day to day little problems aren't really that important. I mean we have this wonderful world and all these terrific things that we can do, and our lifetimes are enough time for plenty of different kinds of enjoyment, but most people miss it because they just rush forward and stare straight ahead. And before they know it they're dead, and they find out that that is the big destination towards which they were speeding so anxiously. And they've missed all the good and beautiful and interesting and valuable things in life that are on the little paths off the main highway.

There in Canada, are people very social - do they go and visit each other, do things together? When you do parties, do people talk to each other or just drink and crack jokes and do silly things?

Take care. - Case

People where I live are very social. There are around 5,000 poeple in Chetwynd, and 1000 of those are either teenagers or young adults. I hang out with my friends all of the time, one of my favorite things to do with my friends is talk. We talk about all sorts of things, the usual things like school and relationships, bu then we sometimes talk about the good stuff (LOL) like RELATIONSHIPS ! and Politics and philosphy and life. I've never been to a party before, mainly because my understanding is that around here, all they are is a chanch to get stoned, drunk, and laid; and I'm not into that stuff so i've never gone. The little "parties" I usually have mainly consists of a couple of friends watching a movie or playing games and just having a fun time with each other.

One of the things that I do all of the time is go out of my way to greet people and strangers. I will always ask them "How are you doing?" they will reply maybe by saying good (or whatever) and then asking me how I am doing, i'll then go "Just fine, thank you." And if it's the other way around i'll reply to thier greet by going "Just fine, thanks, and you?" I find it funny that our greetings are so similar with the exception of going and doing. When ever I talk to my brother, we always do this, and afterwards we always laugh because this all started (that way of greeting people) when we moved to live with our dad. He would always say it, and we thought it was so funny, and now, I do it subconciously!

It's terrible what's happening there. Is it still going on? I can't stand racism, or any other thing like that (like sexism or homophobicism) it really disgusts me. I just don't understand how people can be so cruel and mean. We have the KKK down in the states and jeez, those people are screwed up. The are anti-everything. And I thought they were bad.

I really liked your 3rd paragraph! It is so true. People are too anxious to get on with their life, and to speed to wards whatever their destination is. Me, I like to take the scenic route (my mom always took those, jeez i hated them at the time ) I want to experience as much as I can. I want to just soak in knowledge, like seriously, I don't know anything! I don't know how a car works, how a t.v works, I don't know whats in the rest of the world, I don't know everything! LOL! But i've always wanted to know more, and get involved in the process. That's my main gripe about our school system, they teachers have so little time to teach you a bunch of stuff so you just learn from a textbook, you don't go and DO anything, especially in physics. I took Physics 12 last year and we only did 2 experiments! We never applied the stuff we learned to the real world! And all of the stuff we did do was just a simplified process of how things work in the world. So when I want to be more involved and to make things more interesting, I can't because the school system doesn't care about the students. They care about giving the students the minimum requirements for them to move on in life. I geuss what i'm trying to say is that I want to know everything about everything! LOL! I know it's immposible, but i'm only 17, there is a heck of a lot of life left in me!

What is your and your countries favorite sport?

Ciao!

Here is a fish for yah Pengy: !

Why thank you Tyler!

Bet its Cricket ?

I bet it's football! (or as wierd north americans say "soccer") (wait a second... I live in N. America!!!) lol!

Is my warning alert thingy popping up when you guys enter my main page? I did it just like you said Happy, but it doesn't show up for me. Speaking about my page, I've made a brand new intro, and I've got a picture of me up.

~Ty

Just where in Canada is Chetwynd? You're lucky to have many people of your age around you in a small community. In my town almost everybody is either much younger or much older than me. The guys around my age move to big cities to work. Because I work on my own (I sketch and paint, write and cultivate trees) I never needed to move. Anyways my friends here in Pietersburg are all much older or much younger than me, but I keep in touch with a few of my school buddies.

There are many kinds of parties down here. Teenagers here have been influenced by what they see in American movies, so they also tend to do the drinking, the drugs, the gang-banging and so on. They're just kids, they're naïve, they think they're really cool. In the USA and probably in Canada, there's a well-structured society. So if a kid becomes an alcoholic, or a drug addict, there are clinics and the AAA and support groups to help them. If young girls get pregnant, again there are support systems, an adoption system, counselling, abortion clinics. And if she gets a STD she can get treatment, there's a solid health care system. They don't tell the kids that in the movies. Here there aren't many support systems, people can't get help if they land themselves in trouble. If a kid becomes an alcoholic, or a drug addict, or gets pregnant, or gets an STD, they have to deal with it themselves. Usually they don't do a very good job of dealing with it.

A more traditional way of partying is what we call a "braai". We get together in somebody's back yard and grill some meat, and while we're doing that we chat about anything and everything. In the evening we eat, and often chat on into the night. Personally I like to just go visit someone and spend time talking. What's also nice is to go on a backpack-hike with a group of people, sightseeing and climbing mountains and sleeping in tents.

There's still racism in this country. It's just a small minority of people that are REALLY filled with hate, but they mess up everything. So you get a very small group of whites who believe they are God's chosen righteous people, that blacks are the spawn of Satan and must be wiped out. One of them goes and shoots a bunch of black people, just ordinary folk minding their own business. Then he brags about it and releases a religious-sounding statement to the newspapers about how he did his duty, how he did the will of God, and he calls upon all his "white brethren" to follow his example. Because of that act some black people then vow that all whites are the scum of the earth and must be kicked out of Africa, or better yet killed. Then one or two of them go and murder a couple of old white people living alone on their farm. Then the leader of some small political party says that an act of war has been declared against the whites, and that we must retaliate or lose all that we have been fighting for on this continent. And one nutcase actually decides to act on that advice. And so it goes on, back and forth ... It's just so sad. In truth the majority of people get along just fine, but everytime something bad happens it's in all the papers and of course every politician then has something to say about it, and they just polarise people even more and stir up their anger against each other. In fact it's a wonder that we have enjoyed so much peace and stability so far. It really is true that in most places black and white have friendly relations with each other. And at least now we are talking to each other - there are political forums where all groups can get together and say their say and listen to what the others have to say. Many unbelievable things have come to light, but what is encouraging is that people are actually able to talk publicly and come to terms with it. I hope that this can help improve things in the future.

Just a note, it is actually very complicated, there are more than two races in this country, in fact a great variety of ethnic groups, no absolute majority and numerous minorities. We have had a tumultuous history and as a result there are mix-ups, misunderstandings, inequalities, totally inefficient institutions - our society is a tangled mess. We can't solve our problems just by saying "everybody must get along"; there are practical matters that we must work out that will require very hard thinking, much mutual discussion, tough decisions and WORK. We need to rebuild almost from scratch.

If you want to know about the world, use a library. Does your town have one? Here in Pietersburg we have a good library, it caters a lot to students because we have a big university not far from here. I have actually been able to find out just about anything I wanted to know from that library - there are books on even the obscurest of subjects. If the library does not have enough books about a certain specialised subject, I go out and buy me some - between us me and my dad (he's also a writer) probably have more than 10 000 books. I never trusted the school system to give me a good education, I went out and got one on my own. I did some studying at various universities, and I think you'll find that much more satisfying than school. At university level it's really about the practice, about knowing and understanding the subject, about using your own sense of judgement, you're very independent and you are treated like an adult. I studied physics at university, we did lots of experiments but I really sucked at it, I enjoyed the theoretical part more . I learnt most "practical" stuff from the exploratorium - that's a kind of "exhibition-laboratory" where many simple experiments are already set up and you can repeat them with a few simple manipulations and see the outcome. Anyways, "real-world" physics are almost completely out of touch with "reality". By that I mean that physicists do experiments just out of curiosity, or because they have a "gut feeling" that a certain phenomenon needs to be investigated. Nobody has the slightest clue if any practical value would ever come out of it. The great thing about science is, that usually it turns out that the experiments DO have great practical value, but it is only years after the first experiments that they discover just what the application is. That's how it worked with electricity, with transistors and computers and just about anything else.

Of course you can also use the internet to find things out. Use the "Google" search engine (there's a link to it from h2g2) and it'll put you in touch with hundreds of web pages about any subject you can dream up.

But despite the convenience of the internet I still use books a lot. Less strain on the eyes, no electricity or phone bills, you can read them while lying flat on your back in bed, flipping paper pages is still faster than switching between web-pages.

My "country" is a bit divided about sports. Most black people enjoy soccer the most. Among white people, English speakers like cricket best, and most Afrikaans speakers are nuts about rugby. In general, that is: many black people also like cricket and rugby, many Afrikaans people also like cricket, soccer is popular among both groups as well. My own favourite sport? Well, the sport I watch most is tennis. The sport I like watching most is weightlifting, but they NEVER show it on TV and there aren't many weightlifters in this country. I also like powerlifting but I don't like the amount of anabolic steroids and other drugs in the sport. At least the weightlifters are tested, even though many of them are users but manage to beat the tests. But it's the same for track and field athletes or just about any other high-level sport for that matter.
In truth I am a bit put off by professional sports because it's often either about money or about prestige; I think sport works better at an amateur level, where it's about cameraderie, enjoyment and the stimulation of vigorous physical activity. For instance many people play action cricket or raquetball, or do martial arts, or play golf, or run marathons, without worrying about ever reaching the "big league". Yeah, there probably have to be "stars" at the top of every sport, and people like to watch the "best of the best" battling it out. I'm just not much of a spectator, I'd rather be involved myself. So I lift weights, I haven't the slightest intention of ever doing it at a competitive level, I just like the activity and the atmosphere of the gym and working to improve my own personal bests.

How about that for a lengthy post?

Lotsa good wishes. - Case