Meaningful ideas and quotes

[Faith No More]

"If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you’ll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy." - Jack Handey

[*Deidre*]

[Astonished]

'Then they came for my Muslim friends and I said, "Not this time, motherfuckers." ' - Anon

Boru

I wish this were true of more than 10% of the American population, but I worry it may not be.  I think the reality is that if/when the Muslims are "dealt with," a tradition will have been established which will allow the guvmint to pick out whatever group it wants, demonize it, and watch the general population police and remove it for them."  First muslims, then Mexicans, then anyone brown or black, then probably the Jews again.  And all along, they'll do it on the basis that these subcultures are trying to "limit our freedoms," even though at worst they are just fighting to protect their own.

Problem is you can't trust groups that base their entire worldview around something completely irrational not to try and pull the same shit. If it was possible to reason with them then hey, brilliant. The problem is, it's not. And that's their own fucking fault.

[bennyboy]

I wish this were true of more than 10% of the American population, but I worry it may not be.  I think the reality is that if/when the Muslims are "dealt with," a tradition will have been established which will allow the guvmint to pick out whatever group it wants, demonize it, and watch the general population police and remove it for them."  First muslims, then Mexicans, then anyone brown or black, then probably the Jews again.  And all along, they'll do it on the basis that these subcultures are trying to "limit our freedoms," even though at worst they are just fighting to protect their own.

Problem is you can't trust groups that base their entire worldview around something completely irrational not to try and pull the same shit. If it was possible to reason with them then hey, brilliant. The problem is, it's not. And that's their own fucking fault.

I think about this a lot.  I'm not so sure it IS their fault.  You can say so, in the same way that we say it's a criminal's fault for being a criminal, or how it's a sexual pervert's fault for being perverted.  The problem though isn't that a bunch of individuals have happened to go wrong-- it's that humanity obviously has ingrained in it the capacity for shitty shitness.

From the perspective of the rest of us, it seems like these racist, bigoted fucks are just a cancer.  But this is clearly not a freak incident-- it's an evolved trait.  And just like so many of us end up massively overweight because we serve our instinct for eating, or end up in a pool of our own jizz every day because our brains think internet porn is sexual contact, bigotry seems to be an instinct with a reward system that leads us to bad places-- by excluding someone else, you get a flush of pleasure that says you belong, and that temporary relief from the social fears of our primate brains has a much more direct connection to the soul than our sense of fairness.

[Astonished]

Problem is you can't trust groups that base their entire worldview around something completely irrational not to try and pull the same shit. If it was possible to reason with them then hey, brilliant. The problem is, it's not. And that's their own fucking fault.

I think about this a lot.  I'm not so sure it IS their fault.  You can say so, in the same way that we say it's a criminal's fault for being a criminal, or how it's a sexual pervert's fault for being perverted.  The problem though isn't that a bunch of individuals have happened to go wrong-- it's that humanity obviously has ingrained in it the capacity for shitty shitness.

From the perspective of the rest of us, it seems like these racist, bigoted fucks are just a cancer.  But this is clearly not a freak incident-- it's an evolved trait.  And just like so many of us end up massively overweight because we serve our instinct for eating, or end up in a pool of our own jizz every day because our brains think internet porn is sexual contact, bigotry seems to be an instinct with a reward system that leads us to bad places-- by excluding someone else, you get a flush of pleasure that says you belong, and that temporary relief from the social fears of our primate brains has a much more direct connection to the soul than our sense of fairness.

Perhaps I misspoke; what I meant by 'it's their own fault' was that, their mental states won't allow them to even consider that they're wrong, and so they can't be reasoned with because their position isn't based on reason in the first place. Them adopting that sort of worldview prevents us from being able to talk them down from their crazy, and it's not our fault for lack of trying, it's theirs for their stubbornness where their beliefs are concerned no matter how absurd and how much the evidence fails to support them and supports the exact opposite. THAT part of the problem, is on them, or at least, not on us. We can offer the solution but them refusing to take it isn't a flaw in our position.

[*Deidre*]

[bennyboy]

Perhaps I misspoke; what I meant by 'it's their own fault' was that, their mental states won't allow them to even consider that they're wrong, and so they can't be reasoned with because their position isn't based on reason in the first place. Them adopting that sort of worldview prevents us from being able to talk them down from their crazy, and it's not our fault for lack of trying, it's theirs for their stubbornness where their beliefs are concerned no matter how absurd and how much the evidence fails to support them and supports the exact opposite. THAT part of the problem, is on them, or at least, not on us. We can offer the solution but them refusing to take it isn't a flaw in our position.

I'm not criticizing you, just to be clear. Those people seriously piss me off. I just don't think they have the capacity to do otherwise.

The human condition is that we can imagine, and that imagination in its strongest form is hard to distinguish from reality. Then we have a rational mind, and a complex mechanism of instincts that revolve around feelings: love, fear, and even superstitious inclinations.

In short, humans will NEVER settle down into a peaceful, sensible community, because if we ever have the capacity to do that as a species, we won't really be human any more-- we'll be something else. The rational ones among us, for now, must just watch from the sidelines while the irrational majority fuck the world up step by step.

[Fireball]

Perhaps I misspoke; what I meant by 'it's their own fault' was that, their mental states won't allow them to even consider that they're wrong, and so they can't be reasoned with because their position isn't based on reason in the first place. Them adopting that sort of worldview prevents us from being able to talk them down from their crazy, and it's not our fault for lack of trying, it's theirs for their stubbornness where their beliefs are concerned no matter how absurd and how much the evidence fails to support them and supports the exact opposite. THAT part of the problem, is on them, or at least, not on us. We can offer the solution but them refusing to take it isn't a flaw in our position.

I'm not criticizing you, just to be clear.  Those people seriously piss me off.  I just don't think they have the capacity to do otherwise.

The human condition is that we can imagine, and that imagination in its strongest form is hard to distinguish from reality.  Then we have a rational mind, and a complex mechanism of instincts that revolve around feelings: love, fear, and even superstitious inclinations.

In short, humans will NEVER settle down into a peaceful, sensible community, because if we ever have the capacity to do that as a species, we won't really be human any more-- we'll be something else.  The rational ones among us, for now, must just watch from the sidelines while the irrational majority fuck the world up step by step.

I think that we'd still be human, in the biological sense. But hopefully evolved beyond a lot of the parts of our nature that make us so gullible. Then again, that trust of the adult that permits the young to learn so much probably interferes with that. I personally think that religion is going to be a monkey on our backs for the span of time that humans exist.

[Astonished]

I'm not criticizing you, just to be clear.  Those people seriously piss me off.  I just don't think they have the capacity to do otherwise.

The human condition is that we can imagine, and that imagination in its strongest form is hard to distinguish from reality.  Then we have a rational mind, and a complex mechanism of instincts that revolve around feelings: love, fear, and even superstitious inclinations.

In short, humans will NEVER settle down into a peaceful, sensible community, because if we ever have the capacity to do that as a species, we won't really be human any more-- we'll be something else.  The rational ones among us, for now, must just watch from the sidelines while the irrational majority fuck the world up step by step.

I think that we'd still be human, in the biological sense. But hopefully evolved beyond a lot of the parts of our nature that make us so gullible. Then again, that trust of the adult that permits the young to learn so much probably interferes with that. I personally think that religion is going to be a monkey on our backs for the span of time that humans exist.

We're capable of it, just not many of us, and were it not for wanton indoctrination, more people probably would be too. I honestly don't think we're going to be around long enough to turn into something else, let alone something capable of rising above that limitation en mass.

[bennyboy]

We're capable of it, just not many of us, and were it not for wanton indoctrination, more people probably would be too.

I don't think that's necessarily true. The idea that there's a right way to be and a wrong way is fine when you're sipping coffee in Starbucks. However, when you're stuck in some new land with nothing to aid you but the hairs sticking up on the back of your neck, instinct (even the instinct for superstitious thought) turns out to be very useful.

That's something we tend to forget. "Evolved" doesn't mean we are civilized or spiritually superior. It means we are adapted to the environmental pressures around us. Last time I checked, dumbass X-tians didn't have trouble reproducing or raising offspring to reproductive age. Ergo-- fuuuuuuucking Republicans are a thing.

I honestly don't think we're going to be around long enough to turn into something else, let alone something capable of rising above that limitation en mass.

Yeah, that's our big test, and it seems to be coming up on us now. Will we allow our instincts to sink us?