[Ask the Gulch] Why would human beings opt to be Governed by Force? Sanity seems in short supply. "Change" is coming!
Posted by DeanStriker 9 years, 7 months ago to Ask the Gulch
While we're very happy to have you in the Gulch and appreciate your wanting to fully engage, some things in the Gulch (e.g. voting, links in comments) are a privilege, not a right. To get you up to speed as quickly as possible, we've provided two options for earning these privileges.
"Opting" was Never the case. It all begins with our forebears, who made all our choices for us. Opting was never part of any scheme.
Posters spend all day, every day, seeking to "fix" things, all to no avail.
However, rationalization itself is the most common thing we do "on automatic." Anytime you stop paying attention, it happens. And nobody can pay attention all the time.
The lesson, for me at least, is don't assume something I believe is grounded in reason just because I already believe it. A lot of times, I already believe things because of laziness. So everything should be open to reexamination.
Faith (whether religious or not) gets one into the bad habit of assuming some beliefs should never be reexamined. But it's not the only way to get there.
First, I agree with you and am entirely convinced that life spontaneously started on Earth (and elsewhere?) and evolved all the way up to the humans.
I believe that every time I am tempted to come up with an excuse for an action, I am aware of that temptation and always consciously know if my action is based on reason or on a subconscious impulse, or on untruth. In shortage of time, we know that we are pressed to take action without an objective evaluation. We make a gamble (pro versus amateur?) and certainly know that we are doing it. When we knowingly pretend that there is a rational explanation justifying an action that should not have been taken, in my opinion, we are being unethical.
My main objection goes to the excuse: "Devil made me do it!" In my mind that comes from twin roots of fear and irrational faith.
Fear makes people stop thinking. I think that most instinctive fear-inspired actions are to protect self and closest of kin. I think that those come directly from the most fundamental attributes of life: procreation, replication and self-preservation. But these impulses do not cause initiation of force. They are defensive.
The irrational faith, I think, comes from a rational desire to quickly explain the unknown. In some way the irrational faith is an ultimate rationalization: "to convince oneself or others that something is true or justified when it has no such basis" (see ewv above).
I am having real trouble with substituting "Devil made me do it!" excuse with the one that sounds more or less: " That is the way I am built!"
Finally, I think that our reason must control our actions. I have met many people who "decide" and then still do nothing.
Yes, I do assert that rationalizations, the way ewv and you define them are unethical efforts.
EDIT: separated paragraphs.
I was on my way to talk at a discussion group primarily composed of libs. It was the quietest group ever. Usually I would get at least 5 or 6 questions. Didn't get one. Got home early.
You might consider elaborating your thoughts on my website, as to "confusing or ambiguous". and perhaps reading more there to clarify.
At this point, I truly believe that altruism and blind faith are so huge in bringing us to collapse which will result in abandoning government as a not-viable and immoral pathway for mankind.
My take is it would require a massive tune up on the mind set and would still involve separating wheat from chaff.
Chief among the changes is some way to control definitions without being too controlling so I thought of a self controlling system.
If I may I'll use language as a way of expressing that.
a. English is the major language
b. Spanish is secondary
put another way the Eastern Hemisphere has well over a hundred in Europe the same in Asia and 100 in China alone. Africa not quite as bad.
Western Hemisphere three that are important.
1. Spanish
2. English
3 Brazileno Portuguese
Two target audiences. Those who are here and speak only rudimentary English Those who are arriving.
Side trip. people pick up bottles and cans if there is a refund of deposit. In Singapore they do it or face a fine then a lashing.
Carrot and stick
For people in the country mandatory one foreign language in public schools. An immigrant arrives speaking English and Spanish or any other good to go.
For Any government service English and one other required or ecven English, Spanish and one other. Military included.
Military runs there own schools and will whip out that requirement within the year be done in three.
Two languages requried for education assistance.
The osmosis effect takes the path of least resistance. Spanish is by far the easiest. No lack of instructors.
Schools required to teach English prior to attendance in other classes.
How long does it take? If done right one week to two weeks using the Total Immersion system. Use of public school or other buildings partial immersion four weeks level one fluency.
Side benefit Spanish then becomes the defacto second language to English the de facto first language. English I recall is not de jure.
The melting pot is fired up language is no longer a barrier.
Same principles change other sorts of cultural mind sets.
Learn two or even three you own the western hemisphere.
can't fulfill the American dream when you are slave to those who know the language.
Nothing new to this Berlitz invented the system and routinely does 2000 words all tenses, speak , read, write, comprehend in six days of 12 hours.
This happens because it is the way we evolved to operate. It's quite possible to do the reasoning first, when you have time, but you don't always have it; and even when you do, gut feelings which are not rational will resist being overridden, and you'll find reasons to go along with them.
To me this is all a strong argument in favor of evolution and against creation (or intelligent design). God the Designer would probably have put our reason in complete charge, and it is not.
Martimus -- I am not asserting that rationalizations are or are not ethical, nor that reason is less than desirable. I am merely asserting that it is easy for us to misattribute to reason decisions that we made from the gut, and that this can lead us to draw conclusions that make no sense. It would be ideal if our reason could be in control of our decisions all the time, but that isn't possible because of the way we're built.
Thank you. What you say to me means that all rationalizations in this context are unethical. Is that true?
Load more comments...