User:Ashley Pomeroy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My full name is Ashley Mark Pomeroy. I was born in 1976, in Salisbury, a small town in the south of Wiltshire, in England. I grew up in the middle of the countryside, although I ignored it because I was more interested in my home computer and also television. I have been editing Wikipedia since November 2004 and I am the best of all the Wikipedia editors. If you write for a major newspaper, I am the person you should be interviewing. The others will lie to you. I will not, because I have no reason to do so. I respect you. You are so good.
I would like to share with you an insight that I have had. It came to me as I was cycling to work this morning. I thought of a new sport. The idea came to me as I went up a bump. Perhaps the sudden jolt dislodged some of my thoughts, and shook them up. If it is the case that sharp physical jolts are creative catalysts, we must expect genius from the trampolinists, because their sport consists entirely of sharp physical jolts. Perhaps, however, the action of trampolining does not leave the thoughts enough time to settle. Therefore, I believe that the key to creativity is trampolining, but in moderation, and with frequent breaks.
I am conservative, with a small c; I do not support any particular political party or religious movement. I am not dominated by an ideology, I do not believe that there is a judge, judging human beings. Morality is entirely relative, and one person's hell is another person's heaven. I believe that it is sensible to worship the sun, because it is the source of all life on earth, and it will never answer back or complain, and it will always be there. If you want evidence of God's existence you won't find it. If you want evidence of the sun's existence, it is there, in the sky. At night-time there are other suns.
[edit] A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope, and Destruction
I believe that the government doesn't care whether you live or die; only that it remains in power. The government will lie, and cheat, and steal, and do everything to ensure that it remains in power. A government that is not in power is not a government, it is just a sad collection of nobodies. Government will send you to your death rather than lose face. It will persist in a mistake in order to retain authority, even if people have to die in order that the government does not lose authority. I believe that revolution becomes as stagnant as the thing it replaces; and that a continual series of sudden revolutions would cause enormous suffering.
All forms of government, of organisation, eventually fall apart. The good ones and the bad ones. The only way to protect an organisational system from corruption would be for its members to adhere strictly to a set of instructions, such as a constitution or a holy book. But no matter how clear or well-written the instructions, people will interpret them in different ways, because everyone has a different point of view, everyone sees things differently. If total stasis was achieved, the organisation would become adrift from time. The rest of the world would carry on, and become more advanced, and it would overwhelm the static organisation. It is impossible to preserve an idea or set of ideals for the future, unless that idea could somehow achieve global domination, but it would still fall apart from within. The only way to survive is to adapt and change, in which case exactly what is it that survives? What prevents an adaptable, changing state from assuming a tyrannical form? Nothing. But it is not a problem, because all forms mutate. The good ones, and the bad ones.
[edit] Rationalism
I believe that we eventually tend to become the things we hate, if we spend too long hating, if we hate too hard. I have seen this happen here, on Wikipedia. The idealism that characterised its early days has ossified into loathing and paranoia. There was a time when new users were welcomed, both in spirit and with a little message on their talk page. Now it is the case that new users are still welcomed with a little message, but there is an air of suspicion; are they in fact spoof accounts set up by rogue users? What is their game? They must be watched. Everone must be watched, and monitored. I believe that rational, good people can reason themselves into a state of horror and pain.
I do not believe that this is a problem. I believe that quite a lot of people enjoy causing pain, of having and abusing power over others. I do not believe in good and evil at all. Different cultures have different moral standards, and who is right? The most mighty is right, but the giants of today will not be giants forever. They were not giants in the past, and everything changes. All problems are solved by overwhelming force, but there are different kinds of force, not just military. A woman who wears a velvet glove may have as much power as a man who wields an iron fist. There are mighty ideas; societies can be made weak from despair. Nonetheless I believe that much more can be achieved with physical force, or the credible threat of physical force, than with words. This is how the real world works. It is no use to argue with a hurricane.
I have no time for ignorant fools, liars, con-men, poseurs, or bastards. I can co-exist with such people, but they cannot steal my soul. "Survival is my victory". I respect people who are good and sincere. I respect people who believe what they say, even though I might disagree with them. I can respect someone and wish them and their point of view dead at the same time. I do not need to quote Bob Dylan to bolster my viewpoint. The people you worship are vain.
I believe that you should not enter an argument with a closed mind; but there is a difference between having an open mind and being a gullible fool. Be proud of your opinions and back them up, but do so from a position of righteousness, rather than simply being a bully. People respect strength, whether it is the physical strength of a strong man or the moral strength of a wise man.
I do not believe that people should have to live in fear and misery. I believe that it is as bad to be oppressed by criminals as it is by the government. There is nothing noble in being poor or stupid. There is nothing noble about the poor and the stupid. There is nothing noble in prostrating oneself before criminals. There is no sense in upholding an insane or unpopular law. The law must come from the people, otherwise it is just a lot of words.
I believe in the right to defend oneself, one's home, and one's family. My greatest wish is to die peacefully of old age in my own bed in my own house. I do not want to die on a hospital trolley in a corridor with strangers, although I probably will. I do not believe it is noble to suffer; I believe it is stupid. I believe that some things are worth fighting for, and some things are worth fighting against.
I believe you should question people, question the people doing the questioning, question yourself. Question your questions.
