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Going to the Dark Side, Vol. III

LFTKBS

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Aug 9, 2003
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So we're watching TV this weekend, and it's one of those awful E! shows about assistants to "the stars" or something, and there's this feng shui consultant who charges $250USD/hour, with a two hour minimum.

Now I know I've been saved by the other posters before, but come on.

If you have two hundred and fifty bones to waste - wait, five hundred - and you're willing to spend them on feng shui, how can one resist being a part of this exciting field?

Good gravy.
 
That's a really hard one to resist the lure of the dark side. Feng Shui is really just interior decorating with a little woo-woo thrown in for good measure. No one gets hurt. I've been looking for a job I can do while my kids are in school.
 
Just write

Feng Shui Bu Hau

On the side of everything... :D

There are other idioms that are more common, don't have a dictionary handy at the minute.
 
Without offending anyone I think being a whore is more reputable. After all you're honest about what you do, and provide a service. No trickery involved.

I seriously don't know how some of those people sleep at night, I really don't.

If one is going to go to the dark side though, why not jump in with both feet. If I ever lose all sense of personal morality, I'm starting a cult.

There will be free kool-aid.
 
Lisa Simpson said:
That's a really hard one to resist the lure of the dark side. Feng Shui is really just interior decorating with a little woo-woo thrown in for good measure. No one gets hurt. I've been looking for a job I can do while my kids are in school.
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Here's the best part: it's not even that!

I've seen the before and after pics of feng shui'd places, and sometimes the after just look awful and stupid. Like, hey, I like your tacky little fountain run by electricity just as they had it in ancient China.

Oh, and moving the couch to the exact west of the room really lets the energy in. But now you can't watch TV.

I mean, do the practicioners really believe this stuff?
 
Marian said:
Without offending anyone I think being a whore is more reputable.
*snip*
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Thanks Marian! You made my Monday with that line....
 
Well, being a whore might be somewhat *more* respectable in that they don't fake it *every* time, but I imagine that every once in a while. . . (Ahem.)

I have asked some of my friends in the orient about this one. They do it, obviously. Whole buildings are designed and arranged by these "ancient principals". But I have not been able to get a clear understanding of the cultural significance of these "principals". Is this truly a religious kind of furniture arrangement that people do for spiritual reasons? Or is this just the way they arrange their furniture 'cause that's the way they have always done it and it kinda' looks funny if they don't? There are language barriers, here, can I cannot quite make myself clear to them, or them to me. Or something. But one thing they are clear on: we're doing it all wrong, over here. Once again, I am not quite sure why, but the implication is clear. Their feng shui is correct. And ours is wrong. Therefore, the feng shui people you can hire on America are obviously fakes who cannot be trusted.
 
KAW143 said:
I have asked some of my friends in the orient about this one. They do it, obviously. Whole buildings are designed and arranged by these "ancient principals". But I have not been able to get a clear understanding of the cultural significance of these "principals". ...
Click to expand...

Well, to be fair, some of the principles seem to be things like "don't built your house in a swamp", and "don't set the door up where it lets in all the bugs", although stated as an arcane set of rules, rather than as a cause-effect relationship invovling things like disease and insects.

On the other hand, there's a lot of "because" in there, too, that seems to convey the idea that you do it because somebody said so once.

My speculation, and this is solely a speculation, is that it started as a set of pre-scientific rules in how to place buildings, furniture, etc, in order to keep the inhabitants healthy, and that the "rules" come about from a great deal of empirical observation, some of it justified, most of it not, like most things that arise from pure, untested empiricism.

While science is empirical, there are limits, I mean there was the day that somebody dropped the liquid-nitrogen-frozen superball from the 5th floor landing...
 
Okay, I'm cool again. Temptation passed. Thanks all. See you for Going to the Dark Side Vol IV when I learn how much pet psychics make.
 
Marian said:
Without offending anyone I think being a whore is more reputable. After all you're honest about what you do, and provide a service. No trickery involved.

I seriously don't know how some of those people sleep at night, I really don't.

If one is going to go to the dark side though, why not jump in with both feet. If I ever lose all sense of personal morality, I'm starting a cult.
Click to expand...

"Reputable" is relative. Advertising is at least as sleazy as someone selling snake oil. Advertising often IS selling snake oil of some sort or another.

I've known some folks in advertising, and they viewed it as just a kind of game. In my view, it was a pretty sleazy icky game. But for the most part they were honest straight and decent folks whose jobs were, shall we say, to stretch the truth.

On a somewhat related note, several years ago, I was asked to make some musical instruments for a charity bazaar, including some flutes made from PVC pipe. Several people came by and asked if they were "feng shui flutes". I'd never realized that feng shui adherents needed a special flute. After the third or so query, I felt quite compelled to reply, "Sure, they're Fung Shui flutes". After all, who am I to say they aren't? :p

For better or worse, I remained completely honest and remained a little poorer than I could have been at the end of the day.
 
shecky said:

Several people came by and asked if they were "feng shui lutes". I'd never realized that feng shui adherents needed a special flute. After the third or so query, I felt quite compelled to reply, "Sure, they're Fung Shui flutes". After all, who am I to say they aren't? :p

For better or worse, I remained completely honest and remained a little poorer than I could have been at the end of the day.
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Sheky, you need to be more creative! You could have been honest and pocketed the cash.

"I can assure you that when I made these flutes, I took into account every single aspect of Feng Shui I know!"

Completely honest! :D And then you can add "And that's why they cost a little extra...."

Adam
 
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