Simulation by Negation

Some examples in italics first. Pay particular attention to the first part of the sentence and the inconsistency of the later parts in relation to what was said in the first part.

“It’s not that I want to gossip, but do you know who she’s been seen with ever since she got those implants and the botox injections that must have been paid for by that man who dresses like a 70s pimp with the daughter who never waxes her facial hair ever since she’s been dumped by that wife-battering singer who must still be on mescaline when he was caught for bestiality with that bitch that looks Alsatian that is always licking ……”

“Of course I did it out of sincerity and expect absolutely nothing in return, but he could have at least remembered what i did and donated his kidney for me to sell when I was broke. It’s not like I was asking for anything in return.”

“You know I’m not the sort to poke my nose into other people’s business, but how much are you bringing back from work after taxes including bonuses and overtime, and what kind of rebates do you get?”

“I can’t stand people who stab others in the back like that brazen hussy who told me yesterday she’ll flatly refuse if you ever ask her to be your mistress because she knows you will ask by the way you look at her.”

“I never like to copy other people’s design but why must he use those curves cos I don’t know how to draw that form into my building.”

Isn’t it amazing how folks declare out how they are not of certain traits or behaviour, then in the same breath without batting an eye, proceed to show clear indications of that very same trait in themselves? It’s as if they know it’s wrong to be that way so they say it out loud first as if declaring it establishes that they are not like that; so when they actually do it after it’ll be okay because they know that they’re not like that -cos they just said they’re not.

It’s the impression of having an attribute or a virtue without actually having it, but by simulation of it on declaring not hosting or being capable of the adverse of said attribute or virtue.

How delusional can you be?

Well, from experience, very – cos the people i know who do it have absolutely no idea they do it. And the times I’ve pointed it out to them, they vehemently deny it. It’s probably because when they say out loud what they’re not, they are just saying the words and unwittingly picturing the concepts of those words, but the act that comes next are detached from that mental picture. The only way to elaborate this further would need using one of the examples.

Take the first one. When declaring that she doesn’t gossip, the person has an instantaneous image of others whom she’s experienced as gossipers and she decides not to be like them. As she cannot see herself, she has never seen herself doing like those whom she pictures gossiping; in other words, she can’t know what she looks like when she gossips. Which means when she pictures people gossiping, she is not included in the picture. So after declaring out loud she doesn’t gossip and picturing those who do -which does not include her-, she proceeds to do it cos she can’t see herself doing it. It was the words with pictures that stuck with her, not the concept behind it. Could this be another example of hurrying a form to understand an abstract notion instead of understanding the notion in the abstract? – the form in this case are the mental images of people gossiping and the abstract notion is what the act of gossiping is really about.

So be cautioned. Since the simulation can create such delusions, what those examples did could also easily be done by you.

In the words of the 70s philosopher Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself