Blackfish64

I love this idea. Though I don't get to watch movies often, so likely I can't participate. One recommendation I have for the movie club is to discuss the movie, "Goodwill Hunting". I have heard that is an incredible movie and very worthy of philosophical discussion. I have to get around to seeing that one fine day soon. I have heard really great things about it. What about an FDR Writer's Club? Maybe there are some good writers on the board who would love to share some of their work and/or their skills. I am always looking for writers to work with in getting things proofread, edited, etc. I think that would be a great workshop.

It is said that writing with the dominant hand activates the non-dominant side of the brain, and that writing with the non-dominant hand activates the dominant side of the brain. If these things are true, and I think they are, then doesn't it stand to reason that writing with both hands at the same time, as on a computer keyboard (personally, my favorite way to write/journal), for example, activates both sides of the brain simultaneously?

I see a drunk girl, or a drunk man walking down the street, I steer completely clear of them. Have a nice day!

I carried a "six-shooter" forever (S&W .357 magnum-to be precise). Still own that gun. Wonderful gun. I wanted to switch to semi-auto when they started getting really popular, but the technology wasn't quite there yet. The technology caught up. Now, I carry an XD .40 and a Ruger LCP. Love' em. Wonderful weapons. Carry a gun with me literally everywhere I go. Never had to pull my gun on anyone to this day. Never shot anybody. Hope I never have to. Yes, enough. Annoying, to say the least. I'm off this thread. It's been fun. But it hasn't been real fun. The "strategic weaknesses of moral people" comment is what finally did it for me. Clue: the most potent weapon any man has at his disposal: his brains. The rest proceeds from here. "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters." Bob Dylan Have fun, y'all!

Yes, Statists say that all the time, wittingly or unwittingly. Statists want "gun control" and a monopoly on the use of violence, claiming that violence is a bad thing, and at the same time telling you that they are going to use violence to stop violence. But they have no intention on stopping violence. They intend only to stop you from being able to use violence against them while they are trying to use violence against you. In other words, they want to stack the ownership of the playing field and the rules of all the games played upon it in their favor. What they say goes. You don't stand a chance. That's what they really want. Narcissists are stupid people. Crazy. Contradictory. Psychopathic. All the time. Every time. No matter what they try to do. Do they want a monopoly on violence (and everything else, too)? Yes, of course. The question is, will we give it to them? The answer to taht question is, no.

Exactly. And if they aren't using a particular thing any longer, it means either they've replaced it with something better, or they are headed in the wrong direction altogether.

Good point. If I were to get tattooed, I wouldn't be looking forward to it as a way of solving any of my personal problems. Furthermore, I think that therapy is always ongoing. Major, intial therapy, certain breakthroughs, etc., may happen only once, but I think of therapy and coming to Web sites like these as maintenance. Therapy, to me, is like massage, exercise, things of that nature. I like doing it, and doing it regularly is good healthy maintenance for the individual. Does anybody ever do therapy and then they're done? I don't think so. Though I've avoided therapy for personal and financial reasons in the past, it is not to say that I would not use therapy in my future should the right person/therapist come along. Meantime there is a great deal one can do with journaling, reading books, chatting with others and testing ideas online, at sites like these, etc. I've tried to think of ways a tattoo might be therapeutic, but I can't think of any. So, I would never use tattoo as a therapy or maintenance. I can see it as a symbolic thing, a celebration of sorts, say, if I wanted to commemorate some important event or thing in my life; but then again I would get it where it could easily be covered up and not be a part of everything I do with the rest of my life, unless I wanted it to.

I was the proverbial deadbeat dad. Stripped of my children, my money, my dignity, and just about everything else you can think of, then labeled as a deadbeat. The money they extorted from me through the courts was never enough. The women always ask for more, more, more. It never ends. I fought it all at first. I saw a couple of my friends fighting it, getting their asses handed to them by these lawyers (yes, their ex's lawyers -- and their own lawyers)... and then I realized, there is no way to beat these people. There is no way to win. They're out to get it all. They're out to ruin men, to ruin anyone that gets in their way. And they have the courts on their sides and can do whatever they want. As an aside, happily that is beginning to change. Men are winning all the time these days. No longer will women get everything handed to them on a silver platter just because they were every bit as irresponsible as anyone else involved and squirted out an "illegitimate" child or two [italics theirs, not mine]. I backed off and out 100%. I paid what the courts ordered me to pay and nothing more and nothing less. I no longer tried to take her to court and have them all sit there grinning at each other, laughing at me while I am pleading with the court to allow me more time with my own child. When she called and said, "Come on over and pick them up for the weekend, I have something I need to do." As though it were some privilege she had decided to grant me, or some order she had decided to command me, or a crumb she decided to toss my way only for her being in a good mood for a change (of course she's pretending to be in a good mood-she wants something from me). I just told her, "No, thanks. Got other things to do. Busy this weekend. Got to work overtime to have enough money to pay my rent and my child support." "You smart-ass son-of-a-bitch! You'd better get your ass over here and pick up these kids, NOW! Or I'll have you back in court next week!" "Back in court? For what? You're already getting the maximum the law allows. What's the court going to do for you? Furthermore, if I come and get them, I would be breaking your precious court order. That would be against the law. That could get us both into big trouble." Said I, laughing, sarcastic. "Oh, fuck you! I won't say anything. I will let you take them and then you can take them to the shoe store this weekend and get them some new shoes. Come and get them!" "Let me? You will let me take custody of my own children? Let me buy them shoes? I'm sorry, but that is a bit more than I am willing to tolerate. I won't tolerate anyone talking to me like that. Least of all you. You need to learn to mind your manners. You're not letting me do anything. No, not at all, Darling. You will stay exactly where you are this weekend and take good care of your self-imposed court order. You will do as you have asked them to tell you to do. As for me, it's poolside this weekend, checkin' out the babes after work. See you next weekend." I know, it all sounds hard and mean a cruel to have to do that to yourself, to have to discipline yourself to say no to the sound of your own children, but that is how they use them against you. And when you don't do what these bitches like, you'll be guilted and shamed and wrecked for going against them, for going your own way. Anyone who is independent and uncontrollable must be brought under complete control by any means necessary. You're going to be guilted and shamed anyway, and raped for all your worth, so you might as well make a new set of ground rules for yourself, no matter how much they hurt. I turned a new twist on all of them. Instead of fighting it, which is stupid because you can never ever win, I played it their way. I did exactly what the court told me to do. Nothing more, nothing less. I asked for nothing. I got nothing. I fired my lawyer. I saved all the money I would have paid him over the years and it went into an account for my children. When they came of age, I gave them a pile of money to help them get started on their own life. I played no mental games with them. I said nothing bad about their mother in front of them. They were welcome with me wherever I was, whatever I was doing. If they wanted to go home, they were given a ride home. If they wanted to spend this holiday with me or with their mother, it was their choice. No questions asked. This all paid off in the long run. Now that they are older and out on their own in life, they understand everything much better. There are no hard feelings. No one hates anyone. As for her, well, I recorded her a lot. Now, that she's getting older, as we all do, she's got no friends and no one to turn to in her time of need or pleasure. No one wants to be around her. The children moved out and away as soon as they could. I took all the nasty telephone and video recordings I had of her, of her attempted blackmailings, her threats, her nonsense, her bullshit, my police reports, and made copies and sent them all to her one day, after the court-ordered support had ended, and my youngest left her and moved to another state after his graduation from high school. She was so embarassed and appalled that she never spoke to me again. She had no idea. And that's just fine by me. She taught me everyting I needed to know about feminism in a nutshell. It was a free education. I used to be one of those guys who opened doors for ladies and always let them go first, and all that crap. Now, I wouldn't give them the time of day even if they asked for it politely. You want "equality", sisters? You got it. I know, it sounds like I have a chip on my shoulder. Actually, I don't. Far from it. The wound is healed and the weight is lifted, thanks to me and my own efforts. I paid attention, I learned, and I got the job done. The pleasure is all mine.

Well, Ken, we can argue and speculate about his endlessly and it won't do any good. And anyway it looks like you're getting your wish. Weapons are simply labor saving devices. So long as there's killing that has to be done, the weapons will continue to be manufactured. So long as the State has a lot of genocide to accomplish, the manufacturers will keep on making the missles and the State will keep on buying them. Actually, the constant structured warfare between European countries stagnated weapons development, as the State stagnates everything it touches. A knight, for example, was incredibly expensive to produce, incredibly cumbersome, incredibly ineffective, and was equipped only to deal with another knight. Knights were actually easily taken down by a handful of farmers with pitchforks. Whereas in the Americas, around the time of the Revolution, when rifled barrels were invented and utilized by independent artisans and craftsmen, making the weapons incredibly accurate, turning one man with a rifle into a small army unto himself, British officers began to drop like flies, as their heavy, expensive, ineffective old muskets helped to keep them from winning the conflict. When the mind was set free, finally, for the third time in human history (approximately), in the Americas, and especially around the time of the Revolution, there arose such a free energy unlike anything before seen on planet earth, which resulted in the miracles you see before you today. Even in our messed-up, declining state, we are still the biggest and the best innovators on earth. The State is merely a mooch and a loot on our goods and services. Again the State develops nothing. It is the private sector that creates all the good goodies. The State then seizes a good portion of the wealth of the free market and buys its goods for its own purposes. The State produces nothing. It gets everything it needs, steals it, from those who do produce.

Indeed, it is the reason the United States was not invaded during WWII by the Japanese. Because there would have been "a rifle behind every blade of grass." The Japanese did not want to be caught up in that "quicksand." It is the reason Hitler did not invade Switzerland. His army would have been ripped to shreds by privately owned firearms. "The Great Object is, that every man be armed." -- Patrick Henry Absolutely positutely. ;-) Ken Cotton, on 09 Nov 2014 - 03:11 AM, said: Yikes.

quote name="Ken Cotton" post="389355" timestamp="1415925972"] North American aboriginals are a pretty good example of what can happen to a stateless society when a state crashes into it. If a non-aggressive society separated from aggressive society right now, I'm not sure they'd be able to maintain their edge. The main problem of putting down weapons in a stand off is that you're never 100% sure that you aren't going to get shot on the spot. It takes an incredibly brave person to be willing to put their life in the hands of someone else. In a stateless society advancing weapon technologies seems like it wouldn't be very profitable and wouldn't be pursued. Other states by contrast would continue investing in weapons technologies simply because they can derive a profit from win/lose arrangements. Actually, it isn't a good example at all. Not even close. The native north american aboriginals were quite simply overpowered, overwhelmed, wiped out and controlled with various unknown diseases they knew nothing about, in addition to their own greed, their powerful desire to have the things, the technologies, the europeans brought to their continent. In other words, State or no State, they didn't stand a chance against the juggernaut that was launched against them. Their only choice was to join with the invaders or die. It was the equivalent of an earthworm being crushed by a steamroller. What happened to them was inevitable. There was absolutely nothing they could do about it. There was nothing anyone could do to stop it. In a Stateless society, the weapons would be more sophisticated, lighter, less messy, and more effective to the purpose. People would be in charge of their own security and safety (of which, in reality, they already are anyway), as opposed to the sloppiness and ineffectiveness of the State, which leaves them helpless against both criminals and the State (they are one and the same), like they are now. It's the same in medicine, for example, why you see all these Americans and Western Europeans flocking to Asia and India to get certain medical treatments, e.g., hip replacements, facelifts, cancer treatments, etc. The doctors and scientists do not have the State telling them what to do, so they are free to be doctors and scientists, to use the latest technologies, and to get people well, which they do. A dear friend of mine went to India for hip replacement surgery. She got the latest technology, the best surgeon, and a mandatory month off to lie on the beach and recover. The whole deal cost her less than fifteen thousand dollars, paid for in cash out of her pocket, and she could not be happier with her results. Had she done this in America, well, she would not have done it in America, to be sure; for one thing she could not afford it, but even so, she would have been kicked out of the hospital in only a couple of days after surgery, and sent back to work after only a few days recovery. Things are always messy and complicated, unkind, and stupid like this, thanks to the State. The State is foolery, nonsense, and stupidity. It is a waste of time and materials, along with everything else, including lives, that it wastes. And it's all for absolutely nothing. Furthermore, it is the private, stateless society of contract from which the State gets all its weapons in the first place. So its quite the other way around from your reasoning. The private sector creates all the weapons and other products the police and military use. The police and military, that is to say, the State, buys everything it has from the private sector. The State creates nothing. The State is an agent of expropriation and confiscation. The State couldn't find its ass with both hands.

I was never tangled up in the life to begin with. Dad is a womanizer, woman-beater, gambler, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, alcoholic, incredibly anti-social individual. I did none of the above. I have no desire. I understood that Dad was a whack-job from the git-go. I did everything I could to cut myself free of him at every turn. He and I were always opposites, always at odds. Him and his unions, the State, the military, the collectivism. Yikes. Idiot. Artificial nonsense. I fell into the trade simply because I needed a job. I moved to Las Vegas in 2001. I took a job in computers and didn't like it. I needed a new job and went to blackjack school and auditioned at a break-in house as a blackjack dealer. I didn't like that job either. But the hotel was very busy and very short-handed at the time, so they told me not to quit, that I could take any entry level position I so desired and keep on working. I picked a security position, outdoors, riding bikes, carrying guns, keeping the peace, having fun all day and night. There was nothing like it. Fit me like a glove. All hands on. I'd always had poor boundaries, was kind and compassionate (until I was forced to be otherwise), naive and trusting, and self-sacrificing. The trade, the hotel business made it very clear how and where to draw boundaries, who to trust, who not to trust, etc. If you're going to gamble, you get on the right side of the tables and the slot machines. You will win every single day. Dad could never figure that out and has always been a loser, degenerate gambler. I took an entry level position and was soon making fifty grand a year, easy money, no problem. If you're going to gamble, be the house. The players don't stand a chance. You can't beat us. No way. I do not withhold violence. Never have, never will. For me, violence will always be forthcoming. It has been a part of me since childhood. I embrace violence. Violence is an integral part of my self. I love violence and practice it daily. I get on the mats with a reaction partner or operant fighter and rip out eyeballs, snap spines, pull limbs from their sockets, break hips, crack jaws, and wreck everyone I can get my hands on. I am a master of violence on my own terms, happy to say. Human demolition all the way, forever. Violence, as I have said, is an implement, a tool, and it is in my toolbox. Like a hammer, a pair of pliers, a saw, a chisel, or a level, I take it out and use as needed. I keep my implement rust free, well oiled, maintained, and clean. Coincidentally, learning the science of violence is some of the very best therapy I have ever had. Yes, there are good people in the police and military, people who understand the job. Unfortunately their good efforts are overshadowed by the bad ones. A classic example of the bad apples spoiling it for the whole barrel. I don't know that I learned empathy. It has just always been there. What I had to learn was when to put it aside and do the right thing... Or, should I say, do the wrong thing for all the right reasons. You have empathy, too. If for no one else, you have it for your better self, or you wouldn't be here. That's a start. I'd work on that, if I were you. All this State nonsense will go nowhere. It all ends up in the same place. In the shit can. They build 'em up, they run 'em into the ground. Their greed and insidiousness always gets the better of them and they wreck everything. That's the only way it can ever be with the State. It's 100% pure foolery. I've never understood how intelligent people can fall for the State crap. Empathy isn't everything it's cracked up to be. That, too, must be put in a proper context, so I have learned. I have empathized with victims, particularly women who have been thumped on by abusive boyfriends and husbands, only to see them walking down the sidewalk holding hands with them the next day, sneering at me. It was then that I realized empathy isn't everything. Everything has its proper time and place.

You will do what you train. Keep out of self-defense classes. Defense wounds are found on corpses.

Your honesty is appreciated. In this, your post, your lack of empathy is laid bare. Cops, military, government are always looking to recruit people with your peculiar abilities, or lack of ability, if you prefer. I grew up in violence and, like dsayers, I have worked in incredibly violent occupations. I worked for many years in one of the most notorious neighborhoods in Las Vegas. I've arrested hundreds of people. Been in dozens of fights and skirmishes, two of which were potentially lethal, i.e., asocial violence, where someone was trying to kill me and I had to put a stop to it. Fortunately, I was armed in both instances with the most potent weapon in man's possession: my brains. I survived. My point is, having grown up in violence, I was already "conditioned", if you will, for this particular environment. I fell right into it, admittedly by accident at first, but I blended in quite well. It was a perfect place for me. I knew when to dish it out and when to take it. Most importantly, I understood the use of violence as an implement, as a tool. My use of violence did not go beyond the stopping of the violence that was being done to myself or to someone else. I've been reprimanded for not pulling my gun and using it when others thought I should have. I didn't care. Reprimand away. I will not kill someone if it is not necessary. I don't want it on my conscience. It would only be yet another interruption in my life I would have to deal with. The broken arms, busted heads, unconscious persons I have rendered, well, that will all heal nicely. And we all live to fight another day-or, should I say, we all have another chance to learn that fighting isn't going to help us any. It's a waste of time. There are three kinds of people in the world when it comes to violence: there are wolves, sheepdogs, and sheep. It's that simple. I'm a sheepdog. I'm a peacekeeper. Now, when it comes to survival, I do what I have to do. We all do. We all will. It is part of our nature, our psychological makeup.

Hear! Hear! Hear what this wise and eloquent speaker has to say!

There is nothing to be learned from empathizing with victims. Rape is not moral not only because it destroys the victim. It destroys the rapist, too. Violence destroys everyone. Violence destroys you when you're doing it, violence destroys you when it's done to you. In those incredibly rare times when violence is the answer, unfortunately it is the only answer. Give up violence and you are ruined. Take up violence and you are ruined. Violence is good for one thing only: self defense, self protection. Nothing else. But even using violence only in the act of self protection there is a price to be paid.

You did the right thing. Stay out of philosophical conversations with your boss. What you think and what you project can and will be used against you. And if you and your boss agree, likely you will become pals who will use what other people say and project against them. I think that talking philosophy, with the exception of among friends and certain circles in the workplace who can handle the intellectual differences, is out of the question. I've been a manager for a long, long time. The last thing I want to hear is an employee, or a boss, start with me about some philosophy or childhood trauma. I don't care. I sympathize, empathize 100%, yes, but this is not the time nor the place for it. If there are services and/or benefits forthcoming from the workplace we can offer you, I will refer them to that. If not, I recommend they find help elsewhere and keep it out of the workplace. I know what it is to be a lover of philosophy. I know what it is to be traumatized. But I also know what it is to be a boss. It's not easy. People who are traumatized and argumentative and who can't handle the fact that others are different cause a lot of problems in the workplace. They can even endanger others, innocents. There is a time and a place for philosophy and therapy, and the workplace isn't one of them.

This has been done already on two continents, North and South America, and is done all over the world on a daily basis. We've been doing it in the middle east for nearly a century now to protect oil riches for ourselves. No, the use of force is not acceptable, which is why the native inhabitants fight back. We simply give them no choice but to do things our way or die. You're sane and socialized, so to speak. Everyone thinks they are. If another such place as you describe were found, it would be the same thing all over again. We would invent some "reason", "philosophy" or plain excuse to go in there and get the goods-whether or not we need them. So, the initiation of the use of force, while clearly not "acceptable", is absolutely inevitable. We will find the excuse we need to go in there and lay everyone low, kick their heads in with boot heels and bullets and take everything they had. Guaranteed. When there's free loot lying around for the taking, philosophy goes out the window and the looting begins. This is not to say that no one will have the power to resist the looting, but that most will not. Again, the use of force is good for one thing and one thing only: self-protection.

Christopher Hitchens "God Is Not Great." Penn Jillette "God No!" And "Every Day Is An Atheist Holiday." I've found that being atheist isn't enough. I am rabid antitheist. Let me put it this way: not only is god not great, but its been extremely bad for careless humanity to take on such a ridiculous idea and perpetuate it. God is simply a blank check on anything goes. God is a cartoon character and all of its authors write their own reflection in the scripts. God is very bad news.

All of the above. And then some. Freewriting rules! Go for it!

While your head is still all wrapped up in the old way of thinking, you will struggle. Cut yourself lots of slack and keep the right info coming in. You'll be fine. As a boy, I was always at odds with god. I mean, all these starving children, wars, violence, and other nonsense about... why doesn't he get his lazy arse down here and do something about it? What's he waiting for? God sure is one lazy, worthless, son-of-a-bitch. If I had all the power, I'd feed the kids. Of course. What a morose, stupid, cruel, insane, sadistic bastard we have for a god. I could do a better job than this freak any day of the week. Well, as you can see, he's never showed up, never lifted a finger to anything. I was so wrapped up in this nonsense for so long that the thought of god not even existing never occurred to me. And when I finally realized that is the case, I went, 'Oh, what a relief. I can just go ahead and do things my way, after all (I always did anyway, but now the fear and guilt was lifted off me and I was finally SAVED!). God and all the godsters can go hang.' I raged against god my whole life, even when I believed in him. Always wanted to kill that bastard. In a sense, I did just that. I won the war, as I always knew I would.

I wholeheardtedly agree with the use, practice, and spread of violence. 100%. Thank you for this post. I have studied violence my entire life and have learned only too well what it is and the one and only thing it is good for: self-protection. And nothing else. Please, do not start in with the martial arts and all the broken people in that field who think they are some kind of expert on violence. They're not. They know nothing about the subject and will continue to do nothing but confirm their ignorance. Violence is either an implement that saves lives or it's a criminal act. Except in the case of suicide. A man has every right, privilege, and property to do as he wishes with himself, i.e., commit violence against himself. Contrary to popular bullshit, violence is easy to learn, effective, and, when practiced properly, does not in fact make a person more violent or vigilant or alert or anything of the kind, but quite the other way around. Violence, when properly learned, achieves peace, calm, cool collectedness in the individual. It does not in fact twist him, but rather untwists him. Vilolence is not "random" or "senseless" or anytihng of the kind. It is a perfectly logical, reasonable human property that we could not live without. That challenge is to master it and put it in its proper context and keep it there. Talk about a perfect argument.

I am liking this podcast for a lot of reasons. One thought in particular that immediately comes to mind is of when I was around eight years old and Mom was pushing the whole Catholic thing down my throat. I had no problem beliveing in god, and I did, but when it came to all that gibberish about Original Sin, religion, and etc., I jumped off the boat. I handed the Bible Mom gave to me back to her and told her, "You know, if you were looking for a way to control a lot of people, this would be a good way to do it." Then I prayed to god, telling him that he could send me to hell, or whatever he wished, but I would never accept Original Sin in a million years. I've never accepted this garbage. I didn't become a-theist until I was thirty three. I became anti-theist a short while later. I came to the realization that nothing is wrong with me but thinking that something is wrong with me many years ago. But it is a lot easier said than done. I struggle with it sometimes. When you have people around you who try to beat you back and tell you that you are wrong all the time, it bores the hell out of you eventually. Then you have to fight your way back. Welcome to the real world. This is what I mean when I say that I am broken. Sometimes I can't help getting into situations that aren't good for me and it gets me down. At work, for example, when you can't avoid some new asshole boss. I try to reason with him, but he will have none of it. Then I have to decide whether I wast to take him on, stand my ground, or go find a new job. Or when you realize after many years that your wife is a narcissistic idiot, and I have to decide whether to walk away-or-based on the new knowledge of finding that she's an NPD, to tussle with the decision of staying with her and trying to work things out. Going through a lot of bullshit right now. Broken. Everything all messed up. That's what I mean. That's all it is.

Listening to the "You Are Not Broken" podcast. Thanks for the tip. Yes, I realize he wasn't my friend. But I also realize that he was one of the healthy people I mentioned above who has no frame of reference. The idea that a parent could do terrible tings to a child, his own child, was just out of the question for him. It was bullshit. I must be lying, trying to set him up to put him in my pocket. He never had anything like that in his life. A lot of these therapists have no frame of reference, too. They have been brought up in wealth and happiness, never suffered a day in their lives, and they think they have all the answers to the problems of the world. It's just not so. Stupid. I can't trust people like these.

Back stateside I have a three ring binder, a couple of them, actually, that I use to do just what you are talking about. It works. I know a woman who has a different journal for all the different areas and aspects of her life. She has a tall stack of bound books with numbered pages she uses as her journal. She has to rifle through the stack every time she wants to write, to find the correct journal for the subject. She has quite a collection. It's bizarre, and she's hilarious, but it works for her. That's all that matters. Make it work for you. I would advise against sharing what you have written. I guard my journal with my life, so to speak. No one reads it but I. On the other hand, if you are in therapy, or journaling with others, working together, etc., you can pick excerpts from your work to share and discuss with others. That's how I do it. Take the excerpt and write an essay or treatise on the matter, or make a solid mental note of the subject matter you wish to discuss and share only that. The trouble with sharing is that some of your thoughts are incomplete, macabre, deeply personal, etc. Letting someone run willy-nilly reading your goods can only lead to trouble. I found this out the hard way with some of my journals way back in the early 1990s. It was a girl I went with who I let read them for a time. I didn't know any better and saw no harm in it. Turns out, everything I wrote was later used against me, misconstrued, lied about, misunderstood, and basically thrown back in my face. Not a good idea to share your journals. They are raw, very revealing, and you might not even remember something you carelessly wrote one day that could land you in the proverbial hot water. Keep your goods to yourself. That's my advice.