Faerillis said:
These aren't newscasts, they don't even try to be. These are editorials and opinion journalism, certainly there are some newscasts and news articles on the Escapist but Moviebob, Yahtzee, Daniel Floyd (the Extra Credits guy), Jim, Lisa Foiles, etc... most certainly aren't. Anything any of them say, that isn't actual common knowledge OR backed up by statistics they mention, is opinion. This isn't Fox where they are trying to fool people into thinking that they are news, therefore making their subjectivity out of place; these are opinions presented as opinions, perhaps some people take them as absolute truth but that is foolishness.
I appreciate you taking the time to read what I had to say and respond, that makes you the first to have much of anything reasonable to say. So with your post in mind I went back, and watched the video again. Bob, Yahtzee, and Jim (I really can't be bothered with the other videos), I am well aware of as being critics. Like I mentioned before, I found the escapist when Yahtzee and Bob came over from YouTube, so with that I knew what to expect.
Having of watched the other videos in the EC series, I found myself quite impressed in that they had a "working professional" as a contributor, and in many respects, seemed to want to 'get into' the subject matter to elevate the somewhat 'cesspool' at times, state of gaming. As I had mentioned, my personal experience and interest in gaming technology comes from a professional interest in simulation, not narrative, and in many respects it is those elements that have been addressed by EC I found the most appealing (exploration of narrative in gaming). As an aside, that is a very difficult thing to do well in a game, the media is not particularly well built for it.
You mention Fox, now, in that, so does EC. If your calling 'artistic license' or 'for effect' and not too be seen as wanting to achieve a serious discussion of subject matter, then I have been very foolish, because I did
think that was were EC was headed. It may seem overly serious but Daniel or James may one day be that guy on Fox. James is certainly swimming close to those probable circles.
What information was wrong? America was born on the gun and the gun has been by and large a symbol of freedom. Certainly some groups rail against it on their own proposed morals and fallacies but that's what happens in democratic countries. Obviously he is looking at the cultures broadly, but on broad levels both are true and it is impossible to say that culture does not impact the people within it.
If your looking for information that is wrong, that will be tough for me to do, simply because there was not all that much information to really reference. No dates, just two quotes, some words, and pictures.
What is factually incorrect, is the correlation's that are drawn in argument. Good argument proceeds as an A to B to C presentation to arrive at a D assumption. We can quite easily witness Daniel flounder with his stream of consciousness concerning Vanquish. When this occurs it is safe to assume that something, lets say the concept of Pi (internalizing the power of the gun as an expression of the gun), which is an irrational number (due to being a rather mystical assertion), is expressed as an approximation of 3.14, but then, later on, the results of the work using Pi don't come out right (he waffles). 3.14 being a rational expression, limits the irrational reality of Pi (its mystical assertion) and changes the rules from which one argues.
The bad about this is that he must prepare before doing a video, so he just did that intentionally?
Why even try to make a point if one, during the course of premeditation, determines that one is going to waffle. If it was comedy, to trip during the coup de grace, I didn't get it. This was a totally different kind of video than any of the other EC vids.
Now as you said, it is a matter of opinion, and that's great, and I agree, but he never says "this is my opinion", or "we could assume this or that", opinion statements allow for the use of approximations of information or concepts, that's the wiggle room I mention in the previous post. Your asking me to assume he is not being serious, I am insisting that based on his language use, he is, based on his previous videos, HE IS.
America floundered into existence with the gun as the weapon of choice at the time. Now if you had said the AK-47 was by and large a symbol of freedom I would of bought that, how can we assert that? It is on a national flag, many battle emblems, and has been associated with the freedom fighters and poorly equipped units for longer than I have been around.
If you think afghan 'freedom fighter' you don't think of them holding an M-16. That's the point. Like you, I am not here to discuss the ramifications of the 2nd amendment, although the colonial assertion to defend itself through militia was certainly what Thomas Paine was getting at. I could very easily dig up many an argument from the time period that portrays Paine's militant fervor as NOT being what most (great than 50 percent) of the colonist wanted.
In 1792, Congress passed a law, which remained in effect for 111 years, requiring all males between the ages of 18 and 45 to enroll in the militia. Volunteer companies of men who would buy their own uniforms and equipment were also authorized (the citizen-soldier).
So for 111 years militia enrollment was mandatory, it wasn't until 1916 that the national guard was formed and it became 'for hire'. The oldest and only 'volunteer' units operating in the colonies were Massachusetts Bay Colony founded in 1636.
Now my point is this, the notion of the "citizen soldier, that all one needs is a gun and a cause", is not factual. The national guard, and the concept of the citizen soldier died on the vine 95 years ago. Now, one can assert as they like, 'that's not the popular notion', again I completely agree, but what is popular and what is factual are two different things.
In a military context, a volunteer army is an army whose soldiers chose to enter service, as opposed to having been conscripted. Volunteers do not work for free and are given regular pay. I give Daniel credit for mentioning the draft, but that is modern history not revolutionary history.
Daniel strikes me as implying that all you need is a gun and a cause, we have these things, they are called criminals/terrorist/freedom fighters. Mind you that was EXACTLY the concern of the revolutionary war.
The weirdness of the wording comes from determining a volunteer unit vs. a regular, i.e. a weekend warrior militia unit vs. a barracks career soldier. It is important to make a distinction because (maybe Call of Duty somewhere it may be mentioned) but, FPS games featuring a military unit, are regulars, not volunteers, there is no "citizen" concept in the majority of the FPS.
Daniel uses the image of Leonidas from the movie 300, and subverts this concept. Simply due to the fact that Leonidas gives a speech, in which he ask the 'other' unit joining up what they "did" for a living... potter, brick maker, farmer... and Leonidas ask his troopers what they do, and well... SoldieRs!
Volunteer at this point should now be a homonym as it has two very different meanings.
The SHIT unit he shames, IS the 'volunteer unit' the 'citizen soldier'.
If there is a concept of a Soldier of One, it is a concept by the end user, and that concept is a popular notion of the person who is playing, or who the marketing person "thought" would be playing. THIS is important. Because of how little 'they' think you know. And really, how nihilistic they think you are.
Going to go with a couple more of Daniel's words here...
"Not limited to training or cast"
Well, let's say I come to the United States, go through the process of immigration, but am not able to produce a high school diploma or prove competency of a GED (language barrier)? Am I able to become military personnel?
No.
This example shows that both training, at a high school level, to become trained, to function in a military branch are both factual realities. One does not simply volunteer, one interviews, for a job. As for caste? Too easy.
On February 19th 1942 Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Under the terms of the Order, some 120,000 people of Japanese descent living in the US were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese. However more than two thirds of those interned were American citizens and half of them were children. None had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. In some cases family members were separated and put in different camps. During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasian, it was not much better for the Native American's.
For giggles this is a "second class citizen". America was 'just' short of being Nazi Germany.
Again, you say "broad strokes", I say blind bullshit, or weak correlation. In fact, I said "white middle class male" to be specific, or rather the perspective that one would have. That is interesting to a degree in that arguably that is the very type of person who made the FPS. In my post on EC, I go into more details not relevant to this diatribe.
Mind you Daniel did say "belief" of this or that... I will state that a belief in Zeus don't make Zeus a reality.
Part of this wonky-ness is the video title, myth of the gun. Myth generally implies some sort of magic, or extra sensory 'thing'.
1. a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.
2. stories or matter of this kind: realm of myth.
3. any invented story, idea, or concept: His account of the event is pure myth.
Nothing about the gun, is myth. Legend sure, a symbol, no problem, there are stories about it, but not mythical. There is a shit load of fantasy and gun wank. Fantasy ain't myth. Nor is Gun Wank.
Nor is ignorance, it's just ignorance.
Swords have some myth though, excalibur, masamune, murasame... the distinction again is important, as these items have some persona of there own, excalibur rejects Arthur when he strikes in anger, masamune will not cut good/nature, murasame is evil/bad luck... this is another subversion of a trope.
Heres how I think he got there: Swords are weapons, and have myth, then guns by proxy being weapons, must also contain myth, and all guns are the same, so all guns are myth, this is a logical fallacy.
The stories surrounding some swords are otherworldly, and to that end, no one is able to produce excalibur, murasame, or masamune... know why? They never existed. They are stories, surrounding events, projected onto an object. May as well be Thor's hammer. Using his logic, guns don't exist either... hell he even has a picture of Gun = 0.
I can go to Wal-Mart right now, and buy a gun. It's real, and like he said, they are all the same contextually. Now if he's saying that a gun = automatic level up, or a loot drop in WoW, I would of bought that... guess what... he didn't.
You say, broad stroke, I say bullshit.
Hell, he is contradicting himself... "need to see the gun as a tool." So tools are myths now too?
Human beings and some minority of critters use and create tools, as a member of the species I have no other way to see something I make by my hand as anything other than a tool of my creation. I can't go out into the woods and pick up a gun, however, I am able to pick up a stick, and guess what, wielding a stick to do a job, makes it a tool. Mind you societies make mass produced firearms, and it was the Chinese who made black powder, and the first cannon.
Tangentially when the white man shows up bearing fire arms and a bible, the Japanese knew what they were... what they didn't know was the revised powder formula of the Portuguese, created by "magicians and alchemist". Yeah, they knew all about the Bible, which is why most of the Japanese didn't want anything to do with it. They already had there own Japanese version Amida Buddhism, and the Rinzai Buddhist (of which the majority of the Samurai belonged) were at serious political and ideological odds.
Let's see what else...
Daniel asserts that the Japanese see the gun as an extension of the self, based on some vague concept of what Tsunetomo had to say on the subject. Concerning some really vague concept of integration... integration being a western psychological concept, pioneered by the German set of analytical psychologist.
When you get into Buddhism, it will be described by practicing Buddhist as "science of mind", by a Japanese martial arts practitioner "as the way of doing things", this "way" of which is being spoken is akin to Doa, Do, such as Ken Do, i.e. Sword, Way. This distinction is VERY important. Simply, it is an approach that seeks literally to maintain a state of mind of awareness without reacting to the situation. The mountain is just a mountain, a bowel of rice, a bowel of rice. Rather than the Shinto practice of deities and kami's that actively intervene in the nature of the world. The mountain is where Hachiman lives... you get the idea. There is an old saying in Japan, born a Shinto, die a Buddhist.
This is a very practical method of martial study when you put it in context, that there had been next to no TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION in the country for a hundred years. Sword guy vs. sword guy, duel, the better man won. Gun vs. sword, changed the game.
As a tangent, this is going to sound funny, but if you want to understand the Japanese, they are the BASF of the world. They take things and make them better, this is Japanification. It has it's limits though.
Toa is a Chinese concept, it is called Taoism, and is a precursor to Confucianism. Wanna get really fun, is loosely based on Greek Platonic/ Cult of Pythagoras philosophy... wanna know why? (no, but I am going to tell you anyway) the Silk Road... the very f'ing reason Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus bothered getting into some boats.
Taoism is interesting in that it expands the philosophy of Ki, or the fire as alchemical byproduct of body and lung, to generate a spiritual force. This force aspect in the Chinese arts as well as folk stories is another point about the Japanese video game that is simply not true, as presented.
It is not Shinto, nor is it Buddhism, it's Chinese Taoism, however, I-Ching and Taoism where both often sought after learning's by the upper feudal class. Mostly due to Chinese/Foreign/Exotic things being very fashionable in Japanese culture. This Fashionable Thing, is EXTREMELY Japanese. They love foreign stuff. This is important.
Daniel states "the martial philosophy comes out of Shinto and Buddhist philosophy/spiritual attainment and mastery" as it relates to his follow up of martial artist "projection of power via the aforementioned"
Horse shit.
Yes, Japans native religion is Shinto, it imported Buddhism openly, and through a couple (and I could bore you with details of there names) a couple Taoist came into the picture. The thing is, the AESTECTIC of projection is Chinese, it is Taoism. Buddhism is accepted for 2 reasons, it's aesthetic is similar to the Shinto aesthetic, and it is practical psychological science to train fighters.
Heres why it's horse shit.
Shinto and Buddhism do not go into the concept of the Soul as being interdependent of Self or malleable like the Platonic or Taoist philosophers do. If there is no Soul, there is no Ki, if there is no Ki there is no physical projection into a physical world... the idea of fireballs coming out of surfer boy ken's ass, is Chinese all day. Renzai Buddhist say, there is no world, its Maya, illusion. No world, no fireballs, no mind... Buddhism is EXTREMELY PRAGMATIC similar to Wittgenstein, sound familiar?
Shinto is like going into Native American religion and has no bearing on this video on any level.
Why is this a big deal, well, as I have said, What he was saying is factually incorrect.
He mentions internal force and external power... there is some merit here, in a broad sense of the thing. However, the DBZ character going super sayan... is, you guessed it, Chinese folk story of the monkey king. Doing what, projecting power in a very visible way. It's been Japanified, in a weird sort'a one upmanship of Chinese stuff.
Let's see megaman, metroid, gradius...
Homerun here...
Wiki:
The influence of Casshern can be seen in various video games. Starting with the third game, Mega Man featured a robotic hero with a dog as a partner which could transform into different vehicles. Continuing in the vein of Capcom influences, Mega Man Zero of the Gameboy Advance Mega Man spin-off franchise bears a strong resemblance to Casshern (of the reboot series) himself. The entirety of the Megaman X series story is closely based on Casshern. The design and background of its main antagonist, Sigma, also closely resembles Buraiking Boss. The character M. Bison from Street Fighter II also bears a strong resemblance to Buraiking Boss. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden wears a bio-suit and fights with an sword which can discharge electric energy.
In Vanquish, developed by Platinum Games, the art style is based on Casshern. In one of the boss fights the main character drills through a robot by spinning in place at high speed, similar to Casshern. Concerning the game's development,
Director Shinji Mikami is quoted as saying: "I was inspired by Casshern, so I wanted to make a game like that. If I went ahead and made the exact game I wanted, it probably would have been like Casshern, where you punch and kick the entire way through. But obviously if it were a game with only punching and kicking, I already did that with God Hand. So, I'm done with that, something else now. So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost."[8] In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself.
This whole thing... is a manga, Cashern Robot Hunter... while we know little of mega man, we know A LOT about Casshern, and funny enough, Vanquish.
"So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost."[8] In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself."
Cashern revolves around two distinct concepts, the first is a post-eco collapse and world near unsustainability, and the second is how civilization is dealing with a post European WWII esq world. I don't even have to play Vanquish to know what it's about, I am able to deduce the plot by reading all the shit that came before it. No Innovation in Japan.
This integration to complete the self, to fix the world, is horse shit.
It is about man and his humanity in a world that is being over whelmed with technology. It is an EXTREMELY Japanese post WWII feeling, especially with the younger generation.
It is the SAD reality that Philosophy doesn't hold a candle to Technology, but in a fictional world, Philosophy trumps technology, sorta kinda, barely. Normally EXTREMELY fatalistically. Know why? It's inspired by Hamlet. Why is that? Japan loves all things FOREIGN, especially the stuff from the European renaissance.
Ever seen a Goth Japanese girl? Heck, boy for that matter, look up Malice Miser.
Now you know why.
Silent Hill/Metal Gear... those are too easy.
Silent Hill is inspired by an American PC game called Alone in the Dark... not that shit one that came out in 2008, Alone in the Dark was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, the Japanese copied it, and Japanified it.
Metal Gear, he showed the Wiiboot... the original featured box art that looked just like the guy that played Kyle Reece in terminator... and why not, it was a popular movie at the time, and it was a marketing decision, arguably the reason we were getting these games on the Nintendo was that they were SPECIFICALLY BEING MADE for a western audience based loosely on a Japaneseish interpretation of a NeoTokyo-James Bond from the future.
They made the game they thought Daniel would buy, and guess what, HE DID!
Vanquish he got right, they made the character Anglo, to help sell it to him. IT WORKED!
There is no "we see the world of the gun different", that is HIS myth. Probably got it from Last Samurai, which is a beautiful movie, but also borders on being a cultural insult, watch the opening night in Japan... the looks on the Japanese faces... priceless. On the whole Not happy. Movie is total bullshit.
There is a Japan that is interpreting the box office of the United States, and manufacturing products they think THOSE people may find appealing and purchase (white middle class disposable income guy).
Japan, built aircraft carriers, fighter planes, tanks, and damn near steam rolled the entire pacific rim, some of the worst fighting in the ENTIRTY OF THE WAR, was between US Marines and Japanese Infantry. It was bloody, it was fierce, brutal, and many atrocities were committed on both sides. Some of the most psychologically scared men I have talked too came out of that fighting. Japanese and Americans SAW the GUN EQUALLY.
Daniel frustrated me with his very poor interpretation of things. He has reduced a people to a caricature of some book he picked up, and reduced the United States to some propaganda poster or three doors down video.
Wanna know the Extra Credit? He shit on two cultures in one lazy video.
Doom II, introduces multiplayer, hell Doom inspired the Survival Horror Remix post Alone in the Dark. Doom multiplayer code is still in use today. Doom aesthetics could arguably be the influence of Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
You got a burning need to kiss someone's ass, go find John Carmack. He's the reason you have a video game industry.
People as enemies in the early games? Same reason you didn't have people die in anime and cartoons in the United States till way later... censorship, same reason you have to mod in to play as terrorist... censorship. No you can't play as the Nazi in Wolfenstien, that's not the point of Wolfenstien. It would of been banned if you had tried.
So does Daniel answer his own question...
"The fundamental question, why did we invent the first person shooter in the first place?"
No. He gives us an answer, sure, it's plausible, in a Daniel world where robot cyborg boys right the wrongs in the world once they have integrated external bobbles to be internally whole, but in the real world... NO.
(the joke is external crap to become internally whole is contrary to Buddhist thought, sounds more like Maslow's hierarchy of needs).
Again, factually wrong.
No the reason is sort of sad really, the Japanese constitution is written by an American, in that constitution they do not have the right to bear arms, it is very difficult to own a proper sword in Japan. I know, from experience. They are a conquered people, and host foreign military bases on their soil.
You have NO experience with news articles about a Japanese marine abusing some American girl do you? No I didn't think so, BUT THEY DO.
They have had issues with a foreign military on their soil, they have had problems with the education system being "crafted" for them, they are being culturally disenfranchised by HORSE SHIT, like the Last Samurai. They are the Native American, on there own island.
Akira Kurasawa when he made Samurai Seven, BASED it off what he had seen of the spaghetti westerns (Remeber: Japan likes foreign stuff) for a couple reasons, one, there was a film board with white folks, and that was what was popular so he figured a safe bet... he made a wonderful film.
BUT he SAID, it was not exactly what he wanted to make. The film board wanted to see a Japanese cultural film, that glorified the POSITIVE aspects of Samurai... he changed because he had too, or no movie, he was censured. Japan has no freedom of speech, not like you got it.
It was copied and turned into Magnificent Seven, and there we go, instantly, pop culture jumps on and says, Samurai and Cowboys are =. You know why they are =. America made em =, cause Akira HAD TO DO IT OR DID NOT GET TO MAKE A FILM.
Now there are two cultures in Japan, youth culture and the old guard... to make it short, the youth culture is a lot like the youth culture of the America's in the 60's and 70's. So your seeing a sort of renaissance revival, but I promise you, the average man on the street in Japan, knows as much about Shinto or Buddhism as the average American knows about the Bible... zero. The old guard is beaten down by it... they are nationalist with no nation, no power, no military.
What they do know, is an aesthetic, same way you know its Christmas, or Easter, they know holidays... but as far as history, and practice, and the philosophy? You have to be kidding, because that's the stupidest shit I have ever heard.
They know as much as you know, some dumb ass shit in a movie or comic, inspired by some wonky shit from some other source.
Milton's paradise lost is what people know, not bible stuff. It's not intentional believe me. They have traditions, and they are traditional, but progressive people, are the youth culture, not the old guard. They are as ignorant to how there religions work as you are of how to prognosticate your future using the stars and a sextant. I'm speaking in generalities, but less than... 5 percent population.
The old guard is loosing money hand over fist, cause all the talent is walking out the door.
That guy that made mega man, he quit.
That guy that did Final Fantasy 7, he quit some time ago... been going down the tubes ever since.
I got quotes from both of em complaining openly, about having NO INNOVATION in the Japanese marketplace.
Now on that word "aesthetic", you know how many times Daniel says that word in his video... if you lost count, I'll help you... zero.
That bewilders the hell out of me, cause he has a video talking ABOUT AESTHETICS.
He either forgot, or he doesn't know, which is why I said James wasn't around to hold his hand.
What your saying is "cultures broadly", he did not say Asian Aesthetic, he said Japanese Philosophy Specifically Shinto and Buddhist. I say HORSE SHIT, factually impossible.
Now if what I mean to think your saying is that there is something Japanese about sushi, sure, and that there is something Japanese about there games... kinda... but so what, it has NOTHING to do with the religion, and has everything to do with them being Japanese post WWII, 2 nukes, occupied for 50 years, total generational wipe out, systematic genocide of a culture.
He may as well said, America likes guns, Japanese like fighting, Japanese gun games are martial... which is so horse shit... cause thats Chinese too... Hard boiled? C'mon Remember, Japanese like all things foreign!!!! It comes from being an ISLAND post WWII.
Ever look up a Japanese web site? Know why you can't?
Censured.
Same for them. That's why they like foreign shit...
Ever see wings on a Final Fantasy character? Japanified!!!!!!!!! They have NO ANGEL MOTIF in there religion, they COPIED IT!
They would of copied the gun games too, but A, its illegal to do, and B, they are at least 2 years behind the US in programming technology at any given time. Why the hell do you think they come the America to study computer science?
What would be the point to play battlefield in Japan? the IP are blocked and Japan Window OS won't load it... CENSURED.
The fun part is, Daniel has NEVER played a Japanese game for a Japanese ONLY audience, I would bet money on it! He's clueless. Everything he has EVER played was designed for a world market, EVERYTHING!
I fail to see how it is Orientalist, perhaps you've come to see 'spirituality' as a "Liberal" word for good; it's not. Look up what spirituality means and you won't see that it is a codeword for good, perhaps to spiritual people it is, but on its own it is not. Spirituality can as easily be seen (by people like me) as a way of pretending life is rainbows and butterflies instead of addressing the world as it can be seen as a path to enlightenment. Spirituality is a concept, it is just a matter of how you view it.
Wow bud, you'd think with that powerful a knee-jerk reaction you would've been taken off your high horse; kudos on your balance.
Face Palm...
Orientalism is a 19th century academic term to describe aesthetic themes of art and culture. I am educating you to debate you. Which is a lecture not a debate. You simply do not know enough about this subject.
Exactly what I would have to do with Daniel, which is why I said he didn't know what the f'ck he was talking about.
I am not even going to justify your attempt to call into question my knowledge of religions or my practice or non practice of them. Including spirituality or the INCREDIBLE FALICY of relating European post romantic "age of enlightenment" to Buddhist enlightenment. Any attempt would take the conversation to concepts and references that are very taboo in the west.
They are not the same, to spite the fact they are homonyms.
And you are right this is viewpoint question, I am asserting that his viewpoint is wrong, and your defense, while justified, is meaningless in the context of his VAST FACTUAL ERRORS.
See that is just it, a viewpoint is not a fact. It's an opinion. Everyone has them, however, facts DO exist, and quality work builds cases on facts, not opinions, and as I said, his effort was shit. He either knew it or didn't care, or doesn't know it and blew bullshit. Either way, shit sandwich or giant douche, you have options.
He asserts that America has gun games, Japan has other... but I didn't NEED him to tell me that. Neither did you, it's obvious. America is patriotic and Japan is Samurai... that's playing it safe, appeal to bandwagon/popular opinion.
Popular Opinion is not FACT.
What he fails to do is present facts to make a case, he simply pawned off opinion with some tag lines, and bullshitted it as truthiness.
It would of been easier if I had made the video myself, rather than dicking about explaining why he's a fool.
