Quote:
Originally Posted by Undertoad
...We can't survive like this. We can't function like this. We can't live our lives believing that everybody else is a broken, sick fuck. It's not gonna work. We can't educate our children, we can't defend ourselves from enemies, we can't help the unfortunate.
...
We simply can't go on like this. It won't end well.
The people who believe differently than you are perfectly normal people. Someday, you may need to ask them for help. What will be the result? Will they help you? Someday, they may ask you for help. Will you help them?
How are we going to come together? Especially if there comes a time when we really need to?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint
...The fMRI revealed that they did not use the part of their brain that evaluates things with logic and reason. They used the parts of their brain that process emotions, conflict resolution, and moral judgment. There was also a strong activation of their pleasure/reward centers.
Edit:
This "use versus them" mentality has been nagging at me lately. I'm afraid it may be hard-wired into our brains.
At the risk of being slammed as a one-issue fanatic, I really think this is something we all need to talk about, and think about, seriously. What better place than the internet, for different people and opinions to come together? When something is on my mind, it surfaces in the form of song lyrics:
|
I will also risk the one-issue fanatic label and posit that these attitudes are an extension of prehistoric society and capitalism. The perspective is "I must win. Decisively. All others must lose." What better way to improve your chances of survival, and the continuation of your genes? When you enter any interaction with that as your goal, what else, ultimately will happen? You can come up with ALL KINDS of reasons that you should win. Sometimes the reasons aren't reasons at all - like their left half is black and their right half white, instead of the opposite,
right way. I would even put forth that the divorce rate is so high because husband and wife each feel that they *must* win.
UT: help each other? Like "from each according to his ability to each according to his need"? The predominent American attitude seems to be to take advantage of those who are need, to try figure out a way to profit from others' misery. Rebuilding New Orleans and Iraq will make millionaires out of some people. Again, it's a case of you lost, now I win.
Until people understand that they can't, shouldn't, and don't have to win, at the expense of everything else, this is the way we'll be living.
