Put on your thinking caps..
I am an advocate of practical skepticism based on common sense.
HAHAHAHAHA...as if there is such a thing as Common Sense!
I believe that Earthlings should formulate their Worldview or Cosmology, and everyday reasoning, on empirical evidence that has been presented by patterns of repeated Human Behavior...
call me crazy but that's just me and hey, I could be wrong.
Human Life on Earth is so indescribably fercockt because it is impossible for people to either know or agree upon WHY we even exist!
Almost every discussion between two people with differing viewpoints on Politics, Art, Sports, or Religion, becomes a Strawman Argument.
A Strawman Argument is when you make an embellished or exagerrated claim which superficially and/or not-so subliminally, resembles your opponent's actual dumbass view.
This strategy, makes their dumbass ideas, views and notions, much easier to attack, ridicule, and refute, and is used from the schoolyard to the highest courts.
Theoretically this makes your opponent a helpless, inanimate, numbskull that can't fight back..like a Scarecrow..."If I only had a brain"
The vast majority of discussions, articles, and news items concerning Religion, Art, Sports, or Politics seem to be based on this practice...
because it works...
and I know you are but what am I?
INFINITY!
This is WHY it is a tedious exercise in futility to discuss Art, Politics, Sports, OR EVEN Religion at the Dinner Table.
These so-called 'touchy subjects' are primarily based on purely speculative emotional evaluations unemcumbered by empirical evidence that people vigorously defend to the death in order to validate their Parking Tickets...
aka their Existance!
Most Earthlings cannot engage in a rational discussion about these subjects because they are very offended when their personal interpretation of WHAT THEY THINK is challenged by another Earthling.
Most Earthlings appear to be too intefrickinllectually lazy to bother examining WHY they even believe WHAT they believe!
We seem to love copying shortcuts, mental links, memes, or cheat sheets, instead of undertaking the arduous mental journey of examining all available scientific and historical data.
Pfft...Like we have time for that sh*t!
Why re-invent the wheel?
Most Earthlings presume that their Candidates, Artists, Athletes, or Cosmologies are true because they either 'got it in writing' or because 'somebody said so'.
DUH!
The term reductio ad absurdum (reduction to the absurd), or proof by contradiction, is a type of argument where one assumes a claim for the sake of argument and derives an absurd or ridiculous outcome, and then concludes that the original claim must have been wrong, as it led to a result that is WHACK!.
WHY?
Because the LAW of non-contradiction means that a statement cannot be both true and false.
Oh really?!
Somebody should forward that memo because that's how we roll.
YAY!!! First!
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of a song by a band I LOVE but are no longer together *sniff, sniff*, Oingo Boingo:
Grey Matter
They say you're stupid
That you're too young to vote
They say you'll swallow anything
That they shove down your throat
They say you can't think
That you haven't got a brain
That you're just there to listen
That you're just being trained
There's something inside your head
There's something inside your head
There's something inside your head
There's something inside your head
They say you lost the ability to even think
That your tiny little brain
Slipped down the kitchen sink
They say that you'll buy anything
That they turn your way
That you'll listen to everything
That they decide to play
Grey matter grey matter ooh . . .
Grey matter grey matter ooh . . .
Grey matter grey matter ooh . . .
Grey matter grey matter ooh . . .
I think you like it--like it
To be told what to do--isn't that true
I think you're better--better--better off
Stone cold dead--without your head
They say you're stupid
That you're too young to vote
They say you'll swallow anything
That they shove down your throat
If they say lie down, you'll do it
If they say--buy it now--you'll do it
If they say--turn around--you'll do it
If they say--hit the ground--you'll do it
If they say--bite the big weenie--you'll do it
If they say--wasn't that good--you'll do it
If they say--bend over baby--you'll do it
If they say--take it and like it--you'll do it
Most people don't use their grey matter because it's too much work. The plight of humanity. *sigh*
BTW, I tagged you on my blog. Have fun!
Can't agree with that, I mean, I don't eat squirrels, do I?
ReplyDelete(by the way it is just over two years since you made the mistake of first commenting on my blog. You have continued to strive to maintain it as the fine organ of truth that it is today. Thankyou)
Have you been spending too long reading my blog or debating with Billy?
ReplyDeleteI will and must agree 98% of the time.
ReplyDeleteI do make every effort to find out who I am and why I'm the way I am.
Fortunately for me, I was smart enough to find these things out using expertly placed footwork.
If not I'd be a pew jumping, Bible thumping, fire and brimstone southern Baptist Republican that eats nothing but bad food cooked in animal lard for breakfast, lunch & dinner.
That reminds me of a... debate? argumemnt? discussion I once had with a religious man when I was in highschool... I don't think he was actually trying to convert me, but he was certainly trying to explain the whole "God" thing and the bible to me. I was a willing participant in the discussion, genuinely curious, and kept asking questions. "Why?" and "How?" and other difficult ones like that. And it always came back to the same thing. "God's great plan, it's all in the bible..." I would ask how we knew there was such a plan, and be told it was in the bible. But how do we know the bible is true? Because it was written by the apostles. But but but... it just went around in circles, and he used the bible to justify and explain itself. It would be nice to be able to talk to that guy now, when I know a lot more about all sorts of things... I could probably shake his faith a little :)
ReplyDeleteDoes your blog ever look the same for two days in a row these days??
ReplyDeleteKeep the mental floss coming. Thanks!
I thought I came to a different blog n was abt to leave. LOL!
ReplyDeleteC'MON sense! ;-)
Keshi.
whenever i come by, my hair takes a different shade.
ReplyDeletebut i still love ya.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
ReplyDeleteYou've been reading the Bible and Koran again haven't ya........
ReplyDeleteShame! Shame! Shame!
Ripping off someone else's crap..
:-)
I've put my thinking cap on and my hair took a different colour! I am thick today! (some would say not only today, hahaha).
ReplyDeleteThe hot pre-summer, lunch and lack of sleep made me slowly go through -your far too clever for me- philosophical post 3 times... and
Fear not, I found it as interesting as always -it's just that I go slo-mo today-
I agree with you: human dialectics and disagreements are not always based on our own convictions, but on other people's authorised convictions and opinions. So we become kinda namedroppers there. Are we lacking personality or the ability of defending our points without offending other Earthlings when transcendental and often politically incorrect matters are concerned?
Humm. Tell me if I'm missing the point or I am commenting on the wrong blog's post. ;) I wouldn't be surprised, lol.
(I think I need a strong coffee now). I promise to be back fresh and wide awake next time! :))
Well admit it, I always end up winning our debates on everything. I know how to shoot holes in your theories.
ReplyDeleteThat's why you keep coming back for more.
Hmm. I think I use the strawman argument quite a bit. I never realized I did it. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate a debate about all the topics you listed. The unfortunate thing is so many people (and that would include myself on occasion - I'd assume) just don't know what they're talking about.
A perfect example is hockey. If my parents start talking about the Oilers, I just sit at the dinner table quietly, because they just don't know what the hell they're talking about. Not to toot my own horn, but I do.
Sports are a lot easier to discuss/debate than religion...I know football and baseball exist and I can point to statistics and stadia to prove it...it's a little dicier to argue the relative merits of worshipping beings that , IMO, are extremely unlikely to exist.
ReplyDeleteSo, if there is no God, who abandoned us? The tooth fairy? Huh?
ReplyDeletei know its so coz my daddy told me! a praying mantis can bite your finger right off and a crab spider will never let go if it bites you.
ReplyDeleteI know you are but what am I?
INFINITY!