Tag: cynicallyjaded

  • Question – Handwriting Analysis

    remorsecode:

    Picture of my handwriting, needing cynicallyjaded to interpret my handwriting for me!

    Ok, here goes nothing…again. 🙂

    There’s a few interesting characteristics in your handwriting, but unfortunately due to the blurry nature of the image, it’s difficult to note the more subtle details. So here’s a high level take on what I think your signature and handwriting says about you.

    1. The signature indicates a very resolute disposition that suggests a high level of confidence and an extroverted nature
    2. However, the signature also suggests that you may be somewhat rigid in your views, although you tend to internalise a lot of it before you actually express yourself to others, but once you’ve decided on a position or stance, you drive it through without wavering
    3. On the other hand, your handwriting suggests that you have some underlying doubts in the way in which you formulate your opinions. Even after you arrive at what you believe is a reasonable outcome, you hesitate to follow through. (Not sure if that makes sense?)
    4. Despite your confidence, you have an introverted side to your personality but you don’t let it show easily
    5. You’re still finding your ‘rhythm’ so you fluctuate in your personal communication style sometimes being measured, yet other times being impatient, but almost always with a heavy focus on detail
    6. One more thought about your signature, you switch off once you reach a point of certainty that you’ve expressed yourself sufficiently beyond which any attempts to discuss an issue further will probably not make much progress at all.

    Keen to get your feedback about this. I could be way off the mark, but either way, I’d like to gauge what may or may not be true from what I’ve stated above. 

  • Depression is a Symptom, Not A Root Cause

    imaan-daar:

    cynicallyjaded replied to your post: I have come to notice that depression remains…

    I disagree that it is an illness, but I agree that it is a very real mental state. The difference is huge, and the path towards healing is vastly different between the two perspectives. Therapy is only ever an intervention strategy, not a cure.

    I would beg to differ, I’m sorry. Depression is most definitely an illness of the mind. Certain events in life can impact a person in such a way that added stress eventually triggers a dysfunctional imbalance on the serotonin neurotransmitter that is used to promote positivity. Once serotonin levels decrease drastically, it is difficult for the brain to function well emotionally. This is thus called an illness because it then becomes something that cannot be controlled without means of medication or therapy.

    No, there is no definite cure for depression as it varies person to person and most will experience relapses regardless; however, it is confirmed that a combination of prescribed drugs and behavioral therapy can help ease the victim’s mind into a positive state of tranquility.

    Thank you for taking the time to respond. Unfortunately one of your followers made an incorrect assumption about the basis for my views, so in response, all I can say is that assuming that the symptom is in fact the root cause is what is truly blind about the approach to depression. Here’s a link to some previous posts where I shared my views on the subject, and I’d really appreciate your views on those posts as well.

    To avoid labouring the point, depression is a state of mind that is nurtured to the point of it becoming toxic. The chemical balances in our brains are influenced by our thought patterns and sometimes from the foods we eat, but not the other way around. Depression, at best, is a social illness but definitely not a physical one. I’ve shared my views in detail in the posts referred to above, so I won’t go into too much detail again in here.

    Two important points worth noting again. Firstly, neuroplasticity. Secondly, I speak from experience and not conjecture. I can absolutely guarantee you that anyone that is depressed experienced an intense betrayal at some point before the depression set in, often more than once. Depression always has a severe underlying influence of insecurity. Like I said in one of my posts before, show me a depressed baby and I’ll reconsider my views.

    When we invest our trust in those that do not wish to bear such a burden, we set ourselves up for betrayal. Once the betrayal occurs, and we continue to wish for that person to see us as significant and worthy of affection in the way in which we want it to be without those feelings being reciprocated, we slip into a depressive state because we start questioning our self-worth rather than questioning the merits of the one from whom we so desperately seek affirmation. I’m not making light of the condition in any way at all. But if we believe that it is an illness and not a damaged state of mind, we automatically become victims to the mentality rather than masters of our own thoughts.

  • Cultural Appropriation (cont.)

    coragem:

    This is for cynicallyjaded, who was interested in my views on cultural appropriation.

    I feel that the careless throwing around of the term cultural appropriation somewhat deligitimises it when it actually occurs. A non-native wearing Native American tribal headdresses and prancing around with facepaint on, or someone wearing a bindi with no regard for the meaning behind it; that is what I understand to be cultural appropriation, and when used in that context, then yes, it is a problem and it does happen.

    Cultural appropriation is so much more than someone simply wearing the clothes of another culture; or eating the food of another culture. I agree that imitation and appropriation are two completely different things; which it seems a lot of people on tumblr don’t understand.

    Now, the reason why I became annoyed with the term being thrown around, is because the things that were being said were along the lines of ‘white reverts and reverts in general feel cut off from their own cultures so they appropriate Arab culture and fetishise it.’ 

    I felt that that was offensive to reverts who are genuinely trying to follow Islam without any interference from culture. I just want people to think before they completely debase and alienate us reverts by making it out like we’re trying to steal everyone’s cultures. If you do meet a revert who you think is ‘appropriating Arab or Asian culture’, then why not speak to them about it, and give them naseeha, as opposed to making angry tumblr posts on the topic.

    If people want to take up a cause; why don’t we deal with the sheer amount of racism in the ummah? Or our Muslim brothers and sisters who are imprisoned? Or our brothers and sisters in other countries being tortured and oppressed. Just saying, there are bigger issues at hand here.

    (Anyway, cynicallyjaded, I generally agreed with the views expressed in your post.)

    I agree with your views as well. The part I missed in my post was when cultural traditions are used mockingly by others not of that culture. In that case, they’re just downright disrespectful, and again, would probably have a cultural void of their own, hence their need to legitimise their rootless stupidity by ridiculing the culture of others. 

    But if not done offensively, I find it difficult to imagine any good reason for someone to take exception to others adopting or even adapting their cultural practises to fill a need in their own life. Even cultures themselves have variations of practises and traditions within their own groups, Indians being a typical example. You have the Indian culture itself, and then you have the castes within the culture that have various permutations of how certain cultural practises are observed. 

    But for some, such variations are only allowed if you’re of the same racial or ethnic background, which is somewhat hypocritical (in my opinion), since that would tend towards racism or bigotry rather than a defence against cultural appropriation.