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In my personal position as an affably hopeful dreamer and, at the same time, a properly doubtful cynic, I find there are a few topics which seemed to be overemphasized, to the illogic or the detriment of the idea of the whole.

1) The responsible use of magic

Let's be honest, we don't know too many people who have died from a hex. But the numbers of people shot, drowned, abused, struck, hit by a vehicle, fed improperly, a disease left untreated, who have died are numberless millions. Why, then, is it such a focus on "Don't use magic that overpowers the will of others or is DARK OOOOOH NASTY NASTY YUKY EVIL"
Don't get me wrong, a pacifistic outlook on a tool is great, but when we spend so much time fighting, sniping, secretly scheming to embarrass, demean, prove wrong, and construct the ruin of those who have hurt us, (and remember, these are often the people we like), it seems to be oxymoronic that we would strike another with our hand, our heart, or words, and our negative thoughts, but we would not attempt to stretch the will out to touch them directly.

Let me make a statement: I would say, on the whole, people talk about, think of, and imagine more damage from negative magic, then actually comes to pass. If you share some of my personal views, you would agree that magic, in and of itself, is difficult, and in a splendidly preposterous way, it's often harder to do something through magic then it might be through the "mundane."

Therefore I would say not that it's okay to be small, petty, evil and hurtful with magic, but rather, no overall code of Black/White/Blue/Cyan/pumice/octarine magic should exist or be "enforced," but rather we should use common sense guidelines of normative ethics, and maybe we should be a little less negative and hurtful in our everyday lives, even. Wouldn't that be magical?

2) The knowledge that we currently possess about magic.

"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."
Socrates

Many profess their ignorance, and humbly so, but there also exists a great group of people possessing the One True Authentic Real Hidden Ancient Never Before Revealed Secret to the Universe, Magic, Truth, Power, and Popularity (tm)

We've learned what we've learned, but if Socrates was only smart enough to know nothing, what can we really say about making a dent in the ocean of the Not Known?




I'll add a few more to these, but I think it's good to flag an unorthodox opinion every once in a while.

PS If you found this offensive, or you felt you don't accurately reflect these stereotypes, that's okay. I have a lot of comfortable frustration left over from being a 14 yr old hanging with 14 yr olds doing magic, and with the exception of some other places/guilds/hangouts (Which shant be named), I would say (hopefully), we have (mostly) matured beyond this point.

This begs an important question: how is talking about, thinking of, and imagining damage from negative magic any different from it actually coming to pass, no a function level? I have sometimes heard it said that the power of curses in the old days really didn't come at all from the person doing the cursing, but the strength of the belief the cursed put into it. Their own fear, in other words, was their undoing. Being able to instill such fear or other adverse reactions in others is a sort of magic, is it not? Of course it may just as well speak of some psychological issues the victim is facing, particularly if there is no specific individual who is "attacking" them.



I usually see statements like these more as a testimony of humility - an understanding of the limitations of human knowledge or a warning to never claim you know The Truth - not so much statements of "we don't know anything."