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| Thread: little green men... | |
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Nidhgrin
Honorable
Famous Hero
baking cookies from stardust
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posted November 19, 2004 10:27 PM |
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little green men...
There once was a tribe of little green men, peacefully living inside of a beautiful valley.
The tribe grew and prospered for many years until the valley became too small to feed their growing community.
Some little green men moved to the mountains, and started a small quiet and peaceful settlement there.
Others moved onto the next valley which was equally fertile as the previous one, and flourished as they had done before.
As their numbers grew and their village expanded, they came into contact with another tribe of little green men.
Space became scarce and disagreements over land turned into little fights. The situation slowly got out of hand.
The other tribe were primitive heathen, the elders said.
The other tribe accused them to be criminal invaders, or animal like creatures much lower than little green men.
A scientist then invented the idea to pick up well shaped rocks and throw them at 'the enemy', as the other tribe was called.
The enemy moved away, and for a little while there was peace and new houses could be built. Things were good again.
But the enemies were angry and soon returned with many more rocks, they themselves now masters at the art of throwing rocks.
Lots of houses were damaged, a few even destroyed, and some little green men got seriously hurt.
Larger and larger rocks were thrown until little green men on both sides had died in battle.
A peace treaty was signed to stop the terrible fighting and no more rocks were thrown.
For safety reasons, the elders of both tribes decided to gather and store rocks,
should it ever be necessary to defend themselves again.
Years passed and meanwhile the little green men forgot the true reason for not throwing rocks.
They forgot about the great tragedy, about the little green men that had died.
They became afraid of the amount of rocks piling up on the other side,
and that became the new reason not to throw rocks.
A large wooden wall was then built between the two tribes,
but it didn't seem to make the little green men on either sides less afraid of the enemy.
The tribe then became anxious of the little green men in the mountains, the ones who had left them so many years ago.
If they would attack them in the back, their tribe would be helplessly trapped between enemies.
To prevent this, another large wooden wall was built in the lower mountains.
The mountain tribe grew more and more discontent as the wall grew taller, and wondered what they had done wrong.
Spies from the other tribe made the long voyage to the mountain tribe to tell them about the rocks,
and how they could be used to tear down the wall.
Rocks were gathered and launched at the wall from great height.
Inexperienced as they were, some of the rocks hit the builders of the wall down below, and hurt them accidentally.
The builders ran away and as the wall fell down, peace returned to the mountains for several days.
A few mornings later however, the sun gave light to a large new construction, crafted with the remains of the wooden wall.
It was called 'the catapult', an ingenious device that could throw dozens of rocks at the same time.
Everyone of the tribe agreed that it was the best way to answer the threat of the mountain tribe.
The catapult then was aimed at the mountain village, loaded with rocks, and fired...
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Asmodean
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Heroine at the weekend.
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posted November 21, 2004 01:21 AM |
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And????!!!
Don't leave me hanging here? What happened to the little green mountain men?!!!!!
What a cliffhanger!!!!
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To err is human, to arr is pirate.
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ratmonky
Famous Hero
Abu Hur Ibn Rashka
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posted November 22, 2004 09:33 AM |
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nice story, keep it going!
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted November 22, 2004 12:46 PM |
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I don't think it's supposed to be a continuation? It seems to me the Niddy has written a small allusion on the matter of arms races...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Daddy
Responsible
Supreme Hero
and why not.
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posted November 22, 2004 01:02 PM |
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I guess, Terje is right here. As I understood this well written story it is more like a complaint about human behaviour towards stranges or so.
reg
Daddy
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted November 22, 2004 01:05 PM |
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Yes I agree... theres probably a representation, like the arms races as Terje said, but it's late and I'm tired. 
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John says to live above hell.
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ratmonky
Famous Hero
Abu Hur Ibn Rashka
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posted November 23, 2004 06:16 PM |
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but still, it would be great if this story had a nice continuation
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted November 24, 2004 11:26 AM |
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It doesn't, if you ask me.
The little green men keep on carving bigger and bigger rocks and throwing them at each other, until one day a brilliant scientist thinks of how they could carve a ock so big that it'll take out all their enemies in one blow. They carve this rock, unaware that the very enemies they intend to exterminate with it, is spying on them, and so begins to carve a big rock for themselves.
And so all the little green men exterminate each others, for no better reason than that some little green men had more dirt under their feet and called it theirs than the other little green men had...
Imo, it's a very sad story... Even if it ends in a more "happy" manner.
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Daddy
Responsible
Supreme Hero
and why not.
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posted November 24, 2004 03:05 PM |
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Quote:
until one day a brilliant scientist thinks of how they could carve a ock so big that it'll take out all their enemies in one blow.
Somehow reminds me of Atom Bombs..
Quote:
Imo, it's a very sad story... Even if it ends in a more "happy" manner.
The sad thing imo is that this story is so close to our world in the peeps interactions, if u get what I wanna say but lack the words^^
reg
Daddy
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Nidhgrin
Honorable
Famous Hero
baking cookies from stardust
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posted November 26, 2004 10:03 PM |
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I didn't intend the story to have an end. Though there are a couple of thousands of different possible endings, they're all black so I left it open for the reason Terje mentioned.
This story is meant to be a mould. Picture a recent or past armed conflict in this setting and it should fit more or less... there you have a possible end to the story already. Atom bombs are actually a very nice example of what I meant to say. These arms are so devastatingly powerful or dreadful they're never actually used. They're used in a threatening manner, to inspire fear.
And this is the point of the story, the point of this thread as such. All weapons are shackles of fear. Fear inspires people to arm themselves and give themselves a false sense of safety or liberty. In my opinion truly free people need no weapons at all.
It would be naive to think that if weapon manufacturing organizations became illegal humans would stop killing other humans. What would happen though is a dramatic decrease of the magnitude of effect. Compare a kitchen knife to a semi automatic, to carpet bombardments or atom bombs...
Is it the fear of the unknown that makes us want to arm ourselves? Would the world not be a much safer (and saner) place if there weren't so many households with guns around? And what do you think about this statement, it's sort of a summary of what I tried to say:
Ideas don't kill people, guns do.
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted November 27, 2004 09:39 AM |
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I wonder...
If the giant rock were to be fired at the mountain village. Suppose this were to cause a landslide of some sort, destroying the other village?
Now, doesn't that remind you of the Armed Races and M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction)?
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John says to live above hell.
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Aron
Known Hero
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posted November 28, 2004 12:21 AM |
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Great story
Great story.
Can I ask for premission to add it to other forums and maybe make some changes to it?
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Svarog
Honorable
Supreme Hero
statue-loving necrophiliac
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posted November 29, 2004 01:36 AM |
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Quote:
Ideas don't kill people, guns do.
But ideas pull the trigger.
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The meek shall inherit the earth, but NOT its mineral rights.
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted November 29, 2004 12:59 PM |
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More accurately, Svarog, ideas control the mind that makes the finger pull the trigger.
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Nidhgrin
Honorable
Famous Hero
baking cookies from stardust
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posted December 04, 2004 12:02 PM |
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Quote:
Quote:
Ideas don't kill people, guns do.
But ideas pull the trigger.
Hmm... No, someone's finger pulls the trigger. Nobody ever got hurt of something I thought, nobody ever died or got physically injured by anything I said or wrote.
I don't think I am responsible of what other people do with my ideas, or think the same counts for the ideas of writers and philosophers and people who would use their ideas.
People with an agressive nature, lack of self control and low ethical values might be tempted to the use of physical violence - but I don't think it really matters what (if any) idea they are inspired by. They pull the trigger if they use a gun, not the idea they've made their own.
EDIT: @Aron: Sure use it if you wish. If you don't mind I'd like to know what part would you like to make some changes to though
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Svarog
Honorable
Supreme Hero
statue-loving necrophiliac
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posted December 05, 2004 02:39 AM |
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Quote:
I don't think I am responsible of what other people do with my ideas, or think the same counts for the ideas of writers and philosophers and people who would use their ideas.
Hitler never did pull the trigger. All he did was write and speak.
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The meek shall inherit the earth, but NOT its mineral rights.
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 05, 2004 12:14 PM |
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In fear of looking like some kind of egocentric...
Quote:
More accurately, Svarog, ideas control the mind that makes the finger pull the trigger.
I still think this one's pretty accurate...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Nidhgrin
Honorable
Famous Hero
baking cookies from stardust
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posted December 05, 2004 03:46 PM |
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Quote:
Hitler never did pull the trigger. All he did was write and speak.
Not quite in my opinion. It was hitler as head of the NSDAP who took power over Germany, who stood at the base of the creation of organs such as the SS and Gestapo and who stood behind the execution of the enlosung. That's not just writing and speaking, or have I missed your point completely?
Quote:
More accurately, Svarog, ideas control the mind that makes the finger pull the trigger.
All I meant to say is an idea on its own is harmless. Even though I resent hitler's ideas and xenophobic thoughts in general I think people should have the right to write or say what they want.
I do believe an idea - any idea - can potentially be dangerous in the hands of a person with low moral values. If I told you that white males with long white hair and bright blue eyes were evil, and should be locked away deep underground you'd probably smile and make a joke about it. You evaluate the idea and probably decide it's absurd and even a tempered version of it would still collide with your beliefs.
As far as I know this analysis, this evaluation, always takes place and this is one of the few things that we have, and animals don't. Is the idea about locking up the white males evil?
As a sidenote I know this is slippery terrain, most people would rather label an idea to be good or bad. I refuse to do so. I think even the best of all possible ideas can turn bad when the intentions behind the person executing the idea are sick.
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