Unusually well written.
Agreed -- unusually well written. A pleasure to read a logical analysis of sociological behavior. Except for the very end, which was disappointing.
Why go out?
71–80 of 113 posts
Re: Why go out?
#72Back in high school I felt the same way. I couldn't understand why I went out. When I didn't I felt bad and as if I was doing something very unnatural. I come from a smallish town where everyone knew each other. After awhile I got to be known as the boy who didn't go out, which hurt.
After a few years I got over it. I realized I didn't dislike going out per se, the people in the small town just weren't people I liked, we never 'clicked'. You can't like everyone and as I realized this I started going out and being with friends and doing all the stuff I had missed out on.
It's not about being an extrovert or introvert, it's more about not understanding why other people and/or yourself put certain demands on yourself when you feel like something else. Nowadays I don't care about what I 'should' do or what I'm expected to do. Not doing something like going to someones birthday party has certain implications to people, but I understand where it's coming. Now I make a choice between the consequences of my actions, not because an abstract idea of having to do something.
Re: Why go out?
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slavery isn't some inevitable feature of, trade, or political systems, that one chooses or does not. I don't know if it's inevitable, but it's only been for the last couple of hundred years of human history that it was not very commonplace.
And by 'not very commonplace' do you mean 'more common than ever'? As industry has expanded, so has slavery. http://slaveryfootprint.org/
Whatever the message, design of this site is truly brilliant. Check it out.
Re: Why go out?
#74The author sounds like she suffers from crippling anxiety and possibly depression, and I am incredibly empathetic because I have lived through similar things. I can understand from personal experience how a person could come to the conclusions she does. But I hope that she manages to find the solution that frees her of this burden. Whether it's meds, lifestyle changes, or moving to a place that gets more sun, I want…
I think you are mistaking the dramatic flourishes of the essay for its true message. It's a well-written piece that has a twist ending (not entirely unexpected). "Maybe we go out in order to fall short . . . because we want to learn how to be good at being people . . . and moreover, because we want to be people." She's saying that addiction to people is not the same as addiction to cigarettes. This is a good kind of…
I agree with your assessment of the essay's conclusion. All I'm saying is that the essay's whole thought process began with the basic problem that social situations often backfire for the author in very negative ways. If these negative experiences didn't cut so deep, it might not have been necessary for her to spend 2500 words convincing herself that some socializing is better than completely cutting yourself off from the world.
I could be totally wrong about all this, and I really regret if my original comment comes off sounding at all presumptuous. My point is just that if indeed the author suffers in the way that the essay describes (which sounds totally believable to me), I have a lot of compassion, but also hope that things can be better for her.
Re: Why go out?
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an atheist, I dislike such "spiritual bents" being forced into the concept. In no way does Atheism entail a belief* in evolution. It is merely a lack of belief in any god(s). Also, your argument implies that every atheist views sex-change operation as necessarily bad, since they're a fundamental modification to "the way you're bred". This is certainly not true. I find your argument uncompelling. *Not to be confuse…
While the dictionary doesn't define atheism as holding a belief in evolution, I would suspect there is an extremely high correlation between them. It's always the religious fundamentalists that reject evolution because anyone with any kind of scientific mind would accept the mountains of evidence. If one rejects the spiritual or mythological explanation for things being the way they are, it's hard to come up with ano…
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Re: Why go out?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an atheist, I dislike such "spiritual bents" being forced into the concept. In no way does Atheism entail a belief* in evolution. It is merely a lack of belief in any god(s). Also, your argument implies that every atheist views sex-change operation as necessarily bad, since they're a fundamental modification to "the way you're bred". This is certainly not true. I find your argument uncompelling. *Not to be confuse…
While the dictionary doesn't define atheism as holding a belief in evolution, I would suspect there is an extremely high correlation between them. It's always the religious fundamentalists that reject evolution because anyone with any kind of scientific mind would accept the mountains of evidence. If one rejects the spiritual or mythological explanation for things being the way they are, it's hard to come up with ano…
Many atheists I know don't know nearly enough about evolution to have a belief in it. They mostly don't know or care who planted those bones.
The issue is that we have the tendency to consider as atheist only the people who self-identify as such, while there's a lot of atheists who don't know they are one, they just don't have a belief in god(s).
As someone who lives in an increasingly less religious place - where even the majority of self-identified Christians is pro-choice - that describes almost everyone of my age that I know of.
Re: Why go out?
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it wasn't God who created the Universe than who did? It created itself somewhere? That's where any rational mind should stop shouldn't it? We perceive the things in some way, which doesn't mean it is the right way or the only way.
I'm not sure I follow you. Or rather I follow what you're saying, but don't see how it relates to my comment in any way. I don't think a rational mind should just stop and give up trying to explain things. I believe in science, which is why I believe in evolution, or rather the evidence for it.
What I'm saying is evolution as we see it is part of a bigger picture, and the Universe can be part of something bigger. You trying to describe the elephant just looking at it's ear.
Re: Why go out?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure I follow you. Or rather I follow what you're saying, but don't see how it relates to my comment in any way. I don't think a rational mind should just stop and give up trying to explain things. I believe in science, which is why I believe in evolution, or rather the evidence for it.
What I'm saying is evolution as we see it is part of a bigger picture, and the Universe can be part of something bigger. You trying to describe the elephant just looking at it's ear.
We were talking specifically about evolution, not the big picture. Taking your analogy, parent wasn't trying to "describe the elephant", just "its ear", so it's perfectly fine to look just at it.
Re: Why go out?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
While the dictionary doesn't define atheism as holding a belief in evolution, I would suspect there is an extremely high correlation between them. It's always the religious fundamentalists that reject evolution because anyone with any kind of scientific mind would accept the mountains of evidence. If one rejects the spiritual or mythological explanation for things being the way they are, it's hard to come up with ano…
If it wasn't God who created the Universe than who did? It created itself somewhere? That's where any rational mind should stop shouldn't it? We perceive the things in some way, which doesn't mean it is the right way or the only way.
If it wasn't God who created the Universe than who did?
Define "God".
Re: Why go out?
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure I follow you. Or rather I follow what you're saying, but don't see how it relates to my comment in any way. I don't think a rational mind should just stop and give up trying to explain things. I believe in science, which is why I believe in evolution, or rather the evidence for it.
What I'm saying is evolution as we see it is part of a bigger picture, and the Universe can be part of something bigger. You trying to describe the elephant just looking at it's ear.
describe the elephant just looking at it's ear.
You might be able to clone one from an ear.