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Selfishness is nothing new. One reason it's getting worse could be lack of religion.
Some of the most egocentric and smug people I have ever met are religious. Fundamental Christians and Muslims are the worst. It has been my experience that religion solves nothing, and indeed often makes things worse. It has served as the Great Divider rather than the Great Uniter of Mankind.
Fundamentalist Religious folk often will tell atheists like me that I'm gonna burn in Hell if I don't believe as they do. Does that sound un-selfish and helpful to you?
You can believe that you can do the best job -- its ok if its at least possible. But not if you are fooling yourself to keep up an artificially inflated image of yourself.
But the thing is in some cases you almost have to keep up a fake image of yourself. You know that you could be the best candidate but you look like one of the worst to the employer on the surface. Employers are often going to judge you for not having much work experience. They're going to think there's something wrong with you if no one is hiring you. If you're introverted/ not sociable you have to pretend to be sociable. I mean the list just goes on and on. They pretty much judge you for anything and everything. Granted I don't know how to fake anything about myself but I wish I did. Where has being 100 percent authentic got me?
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Southpaw
Some of the most egocentric and smug people I have ever met are religious. Fundamental Christians and Muslims are the worst. It has been my experience that religion solves nothing, and indeed often makes things worse. It has served as the Great Divider rather than the Great Uniter of Mankind.
Fundamentalist Religious folk often will tell atheists like me that I'm gonna burn in Hell if I don't believe as they do. Does that sound un-selfish and helpful to you?
Nope...didn't think so.
Haha I was going to say something along those lines but I didn't know if I wanted to be that brutal. The concept of religion has been the most long standing cause of damage to our society as it has hurt all groups.
I am so special, that there isn't a single person in the world that I would change places with. That's pretty special.
But even then, I am not so vain as to believe that there is a supreme being who takes time out of his busy day to concern himself with how I am behaving, or to check up and see if I spend sufficient time worshipping his holy butt.
Nor can I believe that his holy butt is so vain that he rearranges eternity accofding to who worships him properly and who doesn't. Flawed behavior unbecoming a perfect entity.
Otherwise, some folks who lack confidence will always feel inferior, and never accomplish nor amount to anything (asking a girl out, getting a job, starting a project, etc.). For those folks, a bit of "special" works just fine for them.
... I am not so vain as to believe that there is a supreme being who takes time out of his busy day to concern himself with how I am behaving, or to check up and see if I spend sufficient time worshipping his holy butt ...
You're right. There is no supreme being taking time out of his busy day to help you. He's helping BYU, Notre Dame, and Texas Christian win football games. No time for you or me. And I dunno why, because I think we're totes special.
A lot of it is projection from parents. You are special because you are a part of *me.*
The less kids people have, the more resources they invest in each one and more messages they get that they *of course* are special!
Idk why people seem to trace this back to the 70s. I think it caught on *mainstream* in the late 80's. Maybe the upper financial classes started with this "crap" in the 70s and it took a while to catch on.
Much like medications for ADHD first started to be taken by those who had money in the 90s but didn't catch on to the masses as a means to "success" until the 2000s.
As a kid, I never heard of ADD until I "summered" in a town where half the kids were in private schools and on Ritalin.
~I am of an older generation now, so that makes me "special"
~I am A "Baby boomer", so that makes me special
~I am handicapped, so I get to park in the handicapped spaces, a "special-ness" that unfortunately makes me "special".
~I am becoming a Senior Citizen, so since we treat them "different", that makes me "special".
~I {was} redheaded as a child, and maintained a red beard as an adult, {now all turning gray} so I WAS "special"-always
~I have a very distinct deep dimple in my chin {not all men have them} so that makes me "special". There was a phrase "Dimple in chin, Devil within"
~So...in many ways, I AM "Special".
~You are "Special".
~Everyone is special in their own way...
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