steve wrote:I get a specific mental image every time Matthew starts a thread:
A guy moves into a lighthouse, since it is tall (everyone wants a tall house), and inexpensive (he is cheap), and by the ocean (everyone wants a view of the ocean). After a few months living alone in the lighthouse, he gets lonely and starts making invitations to dinner among his friends so he can have some company. Unfortunately, he lives in a lighthouse, and it is difficult for anyone to visit him, so they don't. A few more months of self-imposed isolation and he goes slightly mad. He does things like set the dinner table and pace back-and-forth all night waiting for guests to "drop in," though they never do. Eventually, driven to anguish, he finds himself on the parapet screaming at the sea, "Come on, I have a lighthouse! Can't you tell how cool it is to have a lighthouse? You think you're so cool, but you're all just full of yourselves! All you guys can go to Hell!"
And still he sets the table, and still no one visits him.
This metaphor falls short. You and plenty others visit him in this lighthouse he has made for himself (do you really want to equate someone you oppose with a beacon of light?). You even sit at his table (because we all get hungry every now and then). You're just not fond of the meal he serves. It's too zesty (yes, I wrote "zesty"), but then again, you go back because the lunch pail often tastes bland.
Ah, extended metaphors, you are mainly awful!