In the many years of experience I’ve had with Drich, I’ve come to believe he is someone who is incapable of empathy. I mean that literally, not that he chooses to ignore it. He doesn’t even understand the concept. He’s not capable of behaving any better, is what I’m saying; nor of having any desire to. That’s just how he is, for whatever reason, and it’s not his fault.

I say this because anger and disgust at the things he says, while totally understandable, are mismatched reactions (in my opinion). I’m not defending anything he actually says, of course. It’s just a coping mechanism I’m suggesting for any of our new members who decide to keep interacting with him.

(October 11, 2018 at 2:21 am)robvalue Wrote: In the many years of experience I’ve had with Drich, I’ve come to believe he is someone who is incapable of empathy. I mean that literally, not that he chooses to ignore it. He doesn’t even understand the concept. He’s not capable of behaving any better, is what I’m saying; nor of having any desire to. That’s just how he is, for whatever reason, and it’s not his fault.

That was my conclusion as well. He doesn't even understand the concept of empathy although of course he thinks that he does.

He'll probably now reply to me and / or you and demonstrate this to everyone. Either by arguing why it isn't needed or isn't relevant, or claiming that something else is empathy.

(October 11, 2018 at 2:21 am)robvalue Wrote: In the many years of experience I’ve had with Drich, I’ve come to believe he is someone who is incapable of empathy. I mean that literally, not that he chooses to ignore it. He doesn’t even understand the concept. He’s not capable of behaving any better, is what I’m saying; nor of having any desire to. That’s just how he is, for whatever reason, and it’s not his fault.

I say this because anger and disgust at the things he says, while totally understandable, are mismatched reactions (in my opinion). I’m not defending anything he actually says, of course. It’s just a coping mechanism I’m suggesting for any of our new members who decide to keep interacting with him.

QFT. A lot of them are deficient in the empathy category. Which may inform an answer for the OP.

It’s probably best just to ignore as most of us do.

Maybe people lacking empathy are naturally drawn to religion more, because they don’t have the hardware for making moral frameworks. Of course, just being told what to do is never the same thing, but morality and commandments are often conflated in religion.

(October 11, 2018 at 2:41 am)robvalue Wrote: Maybe people lacking empathy are naturally drawn to religion more, because they don’t have the hardware for making moral frameworks. Of course, just being told what to do is never the same thing, but morality and commandments are often conflated in religion.

Or naturally drawn to the religion or branch of Xtianity that matches their empathy deficient morality. After all, how many Xtians have we seen on here talking about objective morality and universal moral rules. They don't understand why morality exists.

Because some people do become Xtian for the whole turning the other cheek, loving thy neighbour approach. But they don't join the evangelical churches of American Wahhabism that we see on this forum. My best friend for example is now a Quaker and she has lots of empathy and is the very opposite of a bigot. I knew her before she joined. I have a lot of respect for Quakers. I always have. They really do practice what they preach and they really are pacifists. For example, during the first world war when men were enlisted they resisted despite great personal cost. Or they would help foreigners who were being interned and a popular focus of hate.

But then I think the Quaker movement in some form would exist even if Xtianity didn't. It would just use a different mythos retold in a different way.

Sometimes I wonder if Xtianity really does exist except as a franchise that religions adopt rather than establish their own brand.

(October 10, 2018 at 9:54 pm)Thoreauvian Wrote:

(October 10, 2018 at 5:18 pm)Thoreauvian Wrote: (How do you place someone on ignore in this forum?)

I found it.

Enjoy it.

Drich is against abortion but defends a book where children have their brains dashed out again rocks because an imaginary being commands it.

He will also do whatever it takes to make sure that his children are also Xtians. And when you ask him whether that means physically beating them he'll just respond with 'whatever it takes'.

(October 11, 2018 at 3:00 am)Mathilda Wrote:

(October 11, 2018 at 2:41 am)robvalue Wrote: Maybe people lacking empathy are naturally drawn to religion more, because they don’t have the hardware for making moral frameworks. Of course, just being told what to do is never the same thing, but morality and commandments are often conflated in religion.

Or naturally drawn to the religion or branch of Xtianity that matches their empathy deficient morality. After all, how many Xtians have we seen on here talking about objective morality and universal moral rules. They don't understand why morality exists.

Because some people do become Xtian for the whole turning the other cheek, loving thy neighbour approach. But they don't join the evangelical churches of American Wahhabism that we see on this forum. My best friend for example is now a Quaker and she has lots of empathy and is the very opposite of a bigot. I knew her before she joined. I have a lot of respect for Quakers. I always have. They really do practice what they preach and they really are pacifists. For example, during the first world war when men were enlisted they resisted despite great personal cost. Or they would help foreigners who were being interned and a popular focus of hate.

But then I think the Quaker movement in some form would exist even if Xtianity didn't. It would just use a different mythos retold in a different way.

Sometimes I wonder if Xtianity really does exist except as a franchise that religions adopt rather than establish their own brand.

I think you’re right there, regarding people joining a religion/sect they weren’t born into. We know Drich migrated to Calvinism (he doesn’t call it that, but that’s what it is). Religion ultimately becomes a mirror. A talking one. Creepy, right?

(October 10, 2018 at 9:54 pm)Thoreauvian Wrote:

(October 10, 2018 at 5:18 pm)Thoreauvian Wrote: (How do you place someone on ignore in this forum?)

I found it.

Where ? I think it might be wise for me to use it on this occasion too.

(October 11, 2018 at 3:00 am)Mathilda Wrote: Because some people do become Xtian for the whole turning the other cheek, loving thy neighbour approach. But they don't join the evangelical churches of American Wahhabism that we see on this forum. My best friend for example is now a Quaker and she has lots of empathy and is the very opposite of a bigot. I knew her before she joined. I have a lot of respect for Quakers. I always have. They really do practice what they preach and they really are pacifists. For example, during the first world war when men were enlisted they resisted despite great personal cost. Or they would help foreigners who were being interned and a popular focus of hate.

In the six years between when I abandoned Sufi studies (2000) and when my God-concept fell apart and I became an atheist (2006), I mostly avoided even thinking about religious or mystical ideas. I was semi-depressed and struggling during the first several years. I read murder mysteries and watched a lot of golf on TV to divert my attention and calm myself down.

However, around 2004 I returned to my Thoreauvian roots to reassess and reinterpret them, since they had misled me into my study of mysticism. At the same time, I briefly considered Quakers as an alternative belief system and bought a few books on the subject. I similarly found the Friends attractive for a handful of reasons, including the fact that they are still quite active in the Philadelphia area. But I had dropped Christianity when I was still a teen, and no longer felt at home with even its basic assumptions.

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(October 11, 2018 at 6:07 am)adey67 Wrote:

(October 10, 2018 at 9:54 pm)Thoreauvian Wrote: I found it.

Where ? I think it might be wise for me to use it on this occasion too.

Just click on the username of whoever you want to ignore, and the ignore button is at the bottom of the profile.