(May 22, 2016 at 2:09 pm)Cato Wrote:(May 22, 2016 at 1:47 pm)ApeNotKillApe Wrote: We are the same creatures that once enjoyed the sight of burning people. The difference between deploring violence and loving it is a difference in programming.
The programming you refer to is uniquely human and progress compared to our more primitive selves. The fact that some of us still display barbaric traits is not sufficient reason to denigrate the entire species.
Chimps are also naturally violent. The 'programming', as you call it, is the improvement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPznMbNcfO8
Cato, I was just about to go look for an example of exactly that phenomenon, when I read far enough to see you had already done so. Kudos.
Every time I see the things being complained about by the OP, all I can think is "damnit, we're still just chimps". We must use our evolved big brains to distinguish ourselves from them! And we are, as Pinker and others have pointed out. But our instincts still rule us, far too often.
The question is whether or not our more-chimplike hierarchical thinkers, our violence-against-what-is-feared types, will continue to try to rule all others... and whether or not success at this point in history will leave our planet a radioactive cinder.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
