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Can we all admit to this: As human beings, we want to believe that we're right, that we know what is true and what isn't. We need to feel as though we have control over the chaotic circumstances of life.
Given our situation as fragile mortal organisms with poorly-developed sentience, are we not given to egotistical rants at one another for the sake of bolstering our own sense of self-righteousness? Are we not driven by fear when we yell at one another? To what end do we call each other names from the anonymous safety of our computers, entrenched in ideologies, unwilling to give any ground to our imagined enemies?
I'll be the first to raise my hand and plead guilty to all the above. Look, over here, see? My hand is raised! Well, not while I'm typing with both of them, but, really, my hand will be raised any moment now...
First person to turn this into another opportunity to say that "the other side does it more" gets the booby prize: a one-way ticket to Somalia, where you will be greeted by an assortment of rebels who don't know which side they're fighting on. THEN you'll see the results of self-serving ideologies when elevated to tragic heights of ignorance.
We are our own worst enemies. The answers lie within each of us, not in any political party or religion or New Age gimmick. It's just this, here, now. The rest has been added by our deluded minds.
I think a lot of people feel empowered when they can set behind a computer and espouse whatever they like, criticize others, flame and degrade.
Real empowerment? Its just entertainment folks, remember that and have some fun and not at the expense of others.
Yes OP my hand is up.
I waffle between seeing this as entertainment and a pathological need to reaffirm our personal beliefs. The latter seems, at the moment, more plausible. After all, aren't there much better forms of entertainment? Well... maybe not... even with tons of channels and a DVR I still enjoy this forum more. Maybe it's time I learn how to read books again.
I waffle between seeing this as entertainment and a pathological need to reaffirm our personal beliefs. The latter seems, at the moment, more plausible. After all, aren't there much better forms of entertainment? Well... maybe not... even with tons of channels and a DVR I still enjoy this forum more. Maybe it's time I learn how to read books again.
Your original post is well put. People will pass it over because they're really in a hurry to argue about something (I'm an arguer, so I know). But I agree with it. The impulse to always receive confirmation for and reaffirm our own personal beliefs on the one hand can create solidarity, but on another can really be a blockade. I just recently got back into reading books a lot. I personally recommend that as a return to good entertainment. I started living with tv recently, after about a decade of no tv in the home and it has taken a period of real weaning to learn how to not always turn to the boob tube for entertainment. Reading is fundamental.
To me, this thread is another way of pointing out that we're far too partisan. Most people on here seem to follow Republican or Democrat ideologies as if it was their religion - or their football team. Their guys are always right in ever situation no matter what.
We have people on here expressing all kinds of decisive thoughts on very complex things like health care expenditures, the effects of fiscal stimulus, or other policies driving the finer workings of the economy - with no real understanding of how the system works. I see people on here who can't even spell basic words pointing out their partisan prescription for these super-complex issues. Really? Excuse me while I roll my eyes. It's helpful to at least have a decent sense of humility and recognize the limits of one's knowledge...
We have people on here expressing all kinds of decisive thoughts on very complex things like health care expenditures, the effects of fiscal stimulus, or other policies driving the finer workings of the economy - with no real understanding of how the system works. I see people on here who can't even spell basic words pointing out their partisan prescription for these super-complex issues. Really? Excuse me while I roll my eyes. It's helpful to at least have a decent sense of humility and recognize the limits of one's knowledge...
Indeed. Most of us are guilty of doing this at least on occasion, if not consistently. In the heat of the moment we post something based on a fuzzy memory of what someone else may have said on some radio show or was it a magazine article or a news clip oh who cares I have to post my opinion now because my voice must be heard now NOW NOW!!!
My hand is up too OP. I'm was never really much of an arguer. I really never followed politics until 2003-2004. And I just (not too long ago) started a thread that caught like wildfire. (controversial) But I do however, have a question.
Have we as humans, with conscience thought, feelings, understanding, empathy, etc., good and bad alike, lost the fundamentals of a healthy existence? Responsibility and most of all RESPECT for one another? Or is it just misplaced with hope of being found?
I do not resort to calling people names. I'm not a six year old. Haven't been for thirty-two years. Although I have used the word "ignorant" in several of my posts. That's as far as it goes. I believe that Responsibility and RESPECT goes a bit farther than just right or wrong. I believe it's the "DNA" that would/could make for a healthier existence.
Can we all admit to this: As human beings, we want to believe that we're right, that we know what is true and what isn't. We need to feel as though we have control over the chaotic circumstances of life.
Given our situation as fragile mortal organisms with poorly-developed sentience, are we not given to egotistical rants at one another for the sake of bolstering our own sense of self-righteousness? Are we not driven by fear when we yell at one another? To what end do we call each other names from the anonymous safety of our computers, entrenched in ideologies, unwilling to give any ground to our imagined enemies?
I'll be the first to raise my hand and plead guilty to all the above. Look, over here, see? My hand is raised! Well, not while I'm typing with both of them, but, really, my hand will be raised any moment now...
First person to turn this into another opportunity to say that "the other side does it more" gets the booby prize: a one-way ticket to Somalia, where you will be greeted by an assortment of rebels who don't know which side they're fighting on. THEN you'll see the results of self-serving ideologies when elevated to tragic heights of ignorance.
We are our own worst enemies. The answers lie within each of us, not in any political party or religion or New Age gimmick. It's just this, here, now. The rest has been added by our deluded minds.
People have issues. If you can't admit you're wrong when it's pointed out to you and then proven, you have issues.
A grown and mature adult knows when to admit they are wrong and work to fix the wrong. Or when the side you most disagree with (The right in my case) has a valid point and right are about a particular discussion, you admit it and give them credit. Some people will say you are wrong no matter what! Those people have issues. Not everyone is "fair" or "just". But to say no one is false. Don't put everoyone in the same camp...because we are not all the same and think as you.
Have we as humans, with conscience thought, feelings, understanding, empathy, etc., good and bad alike, lost the fundamentals of a healthy existence? Responsibility and most of all RESPECT for one another? Or is it just misplaced with hope of being found?
This is purely my opinion and I base it on my limited understanding of evolution, history and anthropology.
We have never enjoyed a Golden Age where human beings respected one another in spite of differences. Our history, back to our ancestors whom we share with the great apes, have fought for territory and divided into groups based on every kind of imaginable difference, from slightly different greetings to odors to minuscule differences in appearance.
When was this imagined time when we respected one another? I think we tend to see an illusion of such a time because history is written by the gentry, who are adept at hiding their dark side. The common high school history text makes the founding of the USA look like a gathering of the Apostles (who were, no doubt, a far more contentious lot than is depicted in the Gospels). But the highly contentious Founders expressed their differences with an eloquence that disguised their wrath. They were the antecedents of what we find on modern Web forums.
We've lost at least 60% of what used to comprise common parlance. I suspect that many people don't understand all the words I use in my posts even though I'm a half-wit compared to those who are truly skilled writers.
In the worst cases, as we see so often on forums such as this, we find posts in which garbled sentences are scarcely intelligible and fraught with misspellings the likes of which would never have been witnessed on a 6th grader's term paper 30 years ago. Blame it on technology? Yes, probably so. Too much TV, video games and text/net slang, not enough reading and writing. Language perishes along with critical thinking, leaving name-calling and simplistic jargon in their wake. But respect? Not sure it ever existed any more or less than it does today.
Yeah everyone here is a blowhard. If you're sitting here trying to be a thoughtful intellectual, then you're in the wrong spot and probably wasting your time.
That's not to say, be an obnoxious twit. Although at one point or another we're all guilty.
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others, flame and degrade.
