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Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

nytimes.com

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Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#231

Post by wolfgke »

pmyjavec wrote: post #218
blfr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ignoring risks. It's like being the richest you've ever been in 2007. True but not reassuring. We have nukes, very worrying demographic trends in the west with massive migrations, and a declining hegemon. We're comfortable but fragile. What I want to say is that Taleb seems to have a better handle on things than Pinker.

This is the truth, we've come a long way from a technological and materialistic standpoint, but we've also heavily, heavily stolen from the future, we've stolen from others. People are losing their homes and livelihoods to deforestation, islands are being inundated with rising sea levels, fracking is polluting water tables and mass animal extinctions are a thing. At some point the debt needs to be paid off, or we're…

> Looking for a purpose? Give back to the natural world and I'm sure some happiness will come out of it!

The problem is the population growth makes it hard to implement that.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#232

Post by legodt »

FreedomToCreate wrote: post #211
legodt wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but that wasn't the immigrant's fault. Quite the opposite actually. Ruling white people are a major source of the history of violence.

Do you even read what you write. I see comments like this all over the internet and it amazes me how the irony of your statement completely eludes you. You basic argument is that immigrant culture has no effect on violence but the culture of another group(the white people) does. Ok, so in that case, nations completely ruled by the culture the immigrants comes from, must inherently be free of major violence. Hmmm does…

I was replying to specifically the last 200 years in America. As you right as you are it has nothing to do with what the comment was about. Also how is pointing out that the ruling class/race is responsible for violence "singling" them out? White people aren't some specific out-group here. Who fought to keep slaves? White people. Who only wanted to free the slaves to put moral pressure on other countries during they eqyptian cotton crisis? White people. Who roamed the country side after slaves were free to Lynch free men for the color of their skin. White people. Who imported crack to the inner cities? Who started the devastating war on drugs? Who defunded public welfare and health programs for the poor? Us every time.

This goes on too. Concentration camps for asian-americans, constant abuses of Native American populations, the constant harassment of immigrant cultures- none of this was imported with immigrants, it's the product of a society they desperately wants to remain homogenous

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#233

Post by legodt »

welanes wrote: post #220
legodt wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the cultural norms that make our communities excellent places to live" In case anybody didn't know already, this is what dog whistle racism looks like

As someone who originated from a developing country and now resides in a developed one, there's much truth and not a lot of racism in that sentence. It's not about race, it's about values, i.e. culture. Speak to an immigrant, they'd tell you this. My Aunts say it all the time - "I do miss home but we have such bad leaders....yes the food is terrible but life is so much simpler here.....people here are so trusting and…

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics

Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#234

Post by welanes »

legodt wrote: post #233
welanes wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who originated from a developing country and now resides in a developed one, there's much truth and not a lot of racism in that sentence. It's not about race, it's about values, i.e. culture. Speak to an immigrant, they'd tell you this. My Aunts say it all the time - "I do miss home but we have such bad leaders....yes the food is terrible but life is so much simpler here.....people here are so trusting and…

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

I don't see it. I think you may be projecting your own interpretation on to the parent comment.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#235

Post by [deleted] »

legodt wrote: post #233
welanes wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who originated from a developing country and now resides in a developed one, there's much truth and not a lot of racism in that sentence. It's not about race, it's about values, i.e. culture. Speak to an immigrant, they'd tell you this. My Aunts say it all the time - "I do miss home but we have such bad leaders....yes the food is terrible but life is so much simpler here.....people here are so trusting and…

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

[deleted]

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#236

Post by zo1 »

varjag wrote: post #171
imaginology wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. Tell that to Mother Earth, who is about to show us all who is boss. Climate change is much worse than most people realise. You may also be unaware of what is going on in Syria, and the fact that NATO has ordered the deployment of thousands of troops to Eastern Europe to put pressure on Russia, a nuclear-armed country.

NATO put the troops in NATO member countries, at request of those NATO countries. I'm sure that's all was just to irritate Russia for no possible reason at all. After all, it's not like Russia, a nuclear armed country has been undergoing moral and intellectual meltdown last couple of years?

Do you think a small pittance of airbases and troops from NATO would do anything meaningful against a Russian assault or invasion? Let's be honest, it's nothing more than political posturing and pandering to the west so they can get access to the dangling trade-cookies that only "western friendly" nations get to have.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#237

Post by legodt »

welanes wrote: post #234
legodt wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

I don't see it. I think you may be projecting your own interpretation on to the parent comment.

Okay I'm going to spell out a major factor then. What this poster was implying that they are against immigrants because they believe immigrants are inherently prone to corruption based on their country of origin. This ignores centuries of confounding factors such as possible imperial rule, internal resources collapse, or failed economic experiments and makes it purely about nationality. Somewhat importantly, op only listed PoC's nationalities. Dog whistle racism, or coded racism, is all about subtext

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#238

Post by [deleted] »

welanes wrote: post #234
legodt wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

I don't see it. I think you may be projecting your own interpretation on to the parent comment.

[deleted]

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#239

Post by [deleted] »

welanes wrote: post #234
legodt wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you missed it, let me help you out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics Parent comment was using a series of phrases that are repeated to reinforce the idea of importance of cultural homogeneity and keeping out groups out in the name of traditionalism and "values."

I don't see it. I think you may be projecting your own interpretation on to the parent comment.

[deleted]

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#240

Post by humanrebar »

It's odd to see this sort of philosophy/theology posted on here, but since the subject was broached, from the article:

> Virtually all the world’s major religions teach that diligent work in the service of others is our highest nature and thus lies at the center of a happy life.

Actually, Ecclesiastes (great read for all philosophy geeks) is a long discourse of happiness, the point of life, etc. Its final conclusion was:

> Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

The core of Judeo-Christian theology is the supremacy of God and trust that following His instructions is the best way to live the best possible life. Of course there is a lot of teaching about how to care for others, and there's a lot of teaching against selfishness, but that is the result of following a good God, not the point in itself.

Ecclesiastes actually brings up charity as wise, but falls far short of saying it's the point of life. It points out that there's limits to human knowledge. In my wording, help people, because that could be you tomorrow, but the person you save from a fire today could drown tomorrow. You'd need to be able to see the future to utterly help someone, and only God has that kind of foresight. So if you trust that God exists and is good, you should obey His teachings.

> Indeed, what unites the two of us in friendship and collaboration is not shared politics or the same religion. It is something simpler: a shared belief in compassion, in human dignity, in the intrinsic usefulness of every person to contribute positively for a better and more meaningful world.

I'm eager to collaborate productively with everyone. But if you're interested in being my friend, you need to understand where I come from. I value human life because mankind was made in the image of God (imagao dei). My eagerness to give human compassion, dignity, and usefulness another shot grows out of my trust in God and his teachings that say to do just that. But I do that in spite of the track record of humanity, not because I have faith in what humans will do in the future. Who knows the future?

There's a bit of an "all religions are the same" meme out there, and it's important to correct it, especially when respectable people repeat it.

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