A Crisis of Faith?

[Cjohnson1701]

Hello fellow trekkies,

You probably know me through my two small contributions to the forum, mainly my fanart, of the USS Pike and the in progress of my take on the "Federation Class", and some of you maybe wondering why I haven't updated in a while. Well, needless to say, I've lost steam, due to many factors in my life.

To be honest, I think I've just grown tired of life in general, or that I've lost any sort of optimism. A while ago, I could call myself a good man, and a staunch supporter of good causes. Then I got a "wake up" call.

If you know what's going on the internet right now then you'll know what I'm talking about. Gamergate. Normally I stay above all this but I was working at a small company, and a friend of mine was working at the company too. Long story short, he got let go. Now this guy is a good guy, and he did good work. So it came as a real shock to me. So the next thing I did, was to look into all of this to see what was going on, because this does concern my industry.

What did I see? It was the bloody episode from TNG, The Drumhead. You got the censorship, the witch hunts, people abusing their power for absolute control all while saying it's for the greater good. Except there is no Picard to save the day.

I have always identified as a left leaning individual, to bring the vision of Roddenberry's future to life. Now, well, I don't know anymore. All I see now is crap, and hate, and I can't do a thing to stop it from tearing up a place that I love. I can't trust the media anymore, politics have entered my former workplace, and people in my circles that used to get along, don't. I might have lost my best friend to this shit, and I don't know If I can fix it, or if I should fix it.

Either way, I am incredibly confused on how to feel, or think on this recent turn of events in my life. Not on Gamergate, I know where I stand on that (as in far away as possible) now. It's more of, "What do I stand for? Where do I go from here? Have I been doing the right thing?"

And to be perfectly clear, I don't think I'll get any answers anytime soon from people in my life, so I'm turning to you. Because when shit looked bleak, I always looked up to Trek to help me out, to help me find an answer.

Either way feel free to ignore this if you want, I just want to talk to somebody like minded and have maybe dealt with this kind of stuff before.

Thanks for reading a confused young mans post.

 

[Melakon]

"What do I stand for? Where do I go from here? Have I been doing the right thing?"

The only person who can answer these questions for you is yourself, and it may take a bit of time for you to find those answers. If you've been working in the industry for a good length of time, were working in good faith, and enjoying it, I don't think you have anything to be ashamed of.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The question is not, "What do I stand for?" but "What do I want to stand for?" What matters to you? What kind of world do you want to see? What kind of person do you want to be?

 

[abeardall]

An old boss of mine once shared some fine words of wisdom that I have tried to pass on to others to help them understand the world.

"You can be rich or poor, educated or dumb, Christian or Jewish or Muslim or atheist, black or white or a anything else, democrat or republican, man or woman, big or small, old or young...and still be a jackass."

Just remember, there are decent people out there and lots of us try real hard to be one of them

Andrew

 

[Relayer1]

I firmly believe that the world's a pretty crappy place, mainly due to human nature.

That doesn't mean you have to be miserable or that there aren't a lot of good people out there.

If your worldview has been rocked, take it as a wake up call, but don't assume your life will suck because of it.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Completely agree about Human Nature. Many politicians, when they start out as Civil Servants, or lawyers, or whatever, really do idealistically believe that they are going to do the most good, when they're in office. Soon, though, they find out that if they want anything done in politics, they have to play the game. And by the time they get to The Big League, they ARE the game. The end result is unsurprising to us, yes, but they do often begin with high hopes of changing government for the better. So, even though the abuse of power is in our nature, it doesn't follow that we start out with the intention to do so. That is the paradox. And in that, there is hope. But before anything can improve, or be done, the situation must be accepted. Just simply accepted. Once that is done, everything will become clear.

 

[Captrek]

I've always thought that the ability to question one's own goodness is a sign of goodness.

Many of the most wicked people in the world believe that their own political or religious values are beyond question, and therefore that anything can be justified in the name of fighting against those who disagree. I don't think Adolf Hitler ever doubted his own goodness.

I don't know you, so my opinion probably doesn't count for a lot, but my impression is that you're probably a good person who has done some bad things. Questions of right and wrong are often complex and difficult, and odds are you've made the wrong call from time to time, and so has everyone else. The ability to recognize this and grow from unfortunate experience is a key ingredient of goodness.

 

[Mudang Harada]

I firmly believe that the world's a pretty crappy place, mainly due to human nature.

That doesn't mean you have to be miserable or that there aren't a lot of good people out there.

If your worldview has been rocked, take it as a wake up call, but don't assume your life will suck because of it.

Crappy? Compoared to what? Compared to a 100 years ago it's friggin awesome and every minute should be enjoyed.

 

[Cjohnson1701]

Hey guys,

You've given me a lot to think about, so...thanks for all the advice. I'll start posting again in the fan art section again soon, once I get my bearings back. Again, you all have my thanks.

See you soon,

CJ