There are soccer fans, we have football, hockey, basketball and baseball
fans. Fan, as I'm sure you're aware, is simply short for fanatic. My oldest
son is fanatic about a game called "Star Wars Galaxies". I'm a fanatic when
it comes to hunting and firearms safety and also about caring for veterans
and their families. My friends are fanatic about their Harleys.
A fanatic is simply a person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning
enthusiasm, as for a cause. There is no judgment of the cause, as to whether
it is good or bad.
NEWS: Words have what we call connotations! Connotations are nuances in
meaning or association that are:
1. Not in the dictionary.
2. Culturally assigned (usually).
3. Not universally accepted.
Have you considered that the connotation(s) you assign to the word may, not
be implied by others using it?
Do you think that because you infer some meaning about what I said that I
implied it?
Inference does NOT prove implication, and assuming so has generated many
arguments among men.
Many of us, me included (but apparently not you), have an extreme,
unreasoning enthusiasm, for things Pentax. Think about it the next time you
see references to other brands such as N**** and C****, etc. Nothing bad,
evil or unusual is implied.
Regards,
Bob...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose
as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers
with the smallest possible amount of hissing."
- Jean-Baptiste Colbert,
minister of finance to French King Louis XIV
From: "Graywolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
My only problem with your post is your misunderstanding of the word
"fanatic". Used referring to enthusiasts like us on this list it is pure
hyperbole.
Fanaticism can be short term (mobs), or long term. It probably was a
survival mechanism in hunter/gatherer societies. In industrial societies
it is a source of unreasoned violence extraordinaire. All terrorists are
fanatics, all fanatics are potential terrorists. The psychological
mechanism is simple: "I believe in something" => "Death to unbelievers".
It unfortunately seems to be an inate psychological mechanism in the human
species. It does seem to apply to groups more than individuals. I wonder
if there has been any research done on the minimum size of group needed to
trigger it?
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Bob Blakely wrote:
No one really knows for sure, but current thought is that sociopaths are
born that way. Fanatics don't bother me. We're a list of fanatics after
all.
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