Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Island of Conclusions

From The Phantom Tollbooth, the Island of conclusions is a place where Milo, the main character, and his compatriots end out.

Why?
"You jumped, of course," explained Canby. "That's the way most everyone gets here. It's really quite simple: every time you decide something without having a good reason, you jump to Conclusions whether you like it or not. It's such an easy trip to make that I've been here hundreds of times."


I've noticed that most people I talk to are frequent inhabitants of the Island of Conclusions. More often than not I see people jump to Conclusions when they interact with me. I'm not sure what that says for my personal character. Probably nothing flattering.

Perhaps I should start charging for the privilege, advertising "See the amazing Island of Conclusions today! Jump there with The Amazing W! For the low, low price of $5 one way!*"

I think I could make loads of money. At least if prior experience is any indication.

I find it interesting, though. Certain people may believe that I myself often jump to conclusions. While I have, on occasion, jumped to conclusion (for instance, I thought it was someone else who gave me horrible advice, when in reality it was someone that I thought wouldn't have given advice like that. Sadly I joined the throngs at the Isle of Conclusions.), as a whole, I tend to stay away. I suppose the most common reason I have for visiting Conclusions is that I do tend to make certain generalizations about girls. To be fair it must also be stated that I have had no evidence to make me reconsider my opinions, and when I do, I take a step back and see if I can reconcile or if I have to take a new stance.

But please... try to stay off the Island of Conclusions. And read The Phantom Tollbooth

"*Non-refundable. Does not guarantee return trip"

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great book. Read it a long time ago.
I get the feeling that there needs to be a sequel. One written about email, blogs, IMs and the like. Seems that we've had an expressway installed to the Island of Conclusions that has a turnpike on the Information Superhighway. Email forwards, snippets of IM conversations, poorly worded articles, etc. get bandied around in cyberspace --- and the tickets to the Island get offered up in drastic numbers. Just mention politics, war, etc. in any email discussion, a chat room or on a blog. You'll get people punching their tickets to the Island really fast.

Good thoughts man.

12:57 PM  

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