Atheism

@reasoning logic,

rl… I was really only commenting on how the penal system in the US is there to make a profit and these prisons can't fail... if there were no prisoners then whole communities would lose their major source of income... that can't be a healthy way to run a penal system. I also have heard that the poorest white citizens are being demonized so as to jail them (a new phenomenon) somewhat like the Chinese were after the railways were built and they were no longer needed and of course the black slaves and non-white citizens in general. This current depression doesn't need unproductive citizens so make money out of their incarceration.

I'm not exactly sure what you’re asking me but I believe that if modern society failed for some reason, then most law abiding citizens would revert back to animal-like behaviour and we have not evolved past that. We are just protected from those primal urges because society makes the need for them temporarily unnecessary. Some would not revert but out of those most would not survive. As spendi said there are many cases in war where rape takes place and also there a many paedophiles, far more I'd guess than we'd like to admit to.

It's emotions that are the key and they are the same ones now as in the past... if we don't remove the root cause of negative emotions we'll remain primitive... I don't see us evolving past them due to evolution as I don't believe those traits can be passed on genetically... I may be wrong.

1 Reply

@igm,

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rl… I was really only commenting on how the penal system in the US is there to make a profit and these prisons can't fail... if there were no prisoners then whole communities would lose their major source of income... that can't be a healthy way to run a penal system.

I think you are correct but I also see it to be sad that most people do not consider the thoughts that you do.

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I'm not exactly sure what you’re asking me but I believe that if modern society failed for some reason, then most law abiding citizens would revert back to animal-like behaviour and we have not evolved past that

It seems as a possibility that we may be going backwards

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It's emotions that are the key and they are the same ones now as in the past... if we don't remove the root cause of negative emotions we'll remain primitive

You may be correct but there is always hope.

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@reasoning logic,

The main thing, rl, is that you can't do reasoning logic and Mr Nice Guy at the same time without looking like a complete diddico.

Reasoning logic is quite a nasty business actually. Your eagerness to empathise with sentimental hand wringers is bullshit.

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@reasoning logic,

The animator/narrator could be a Buddhist explaining some of the teachings in a way that non-Buddhists would understand... so I of course agree with what he is saying. A wise person I know, frequently says, 'We are all limbs of one life.' ...

We can think in this way - with global empathy - but to help others in this way requires the right kind of society or if not then individuals and of course they have to ask to be helped either explicitly or implicitly, to see that unselfish cooperation is the key to living a life... worth living.

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@igm,

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...to see that unselfish cooperation is the key to living a life... worth living.

I'm not sure I agree with this completely; I will think it over a bit more.

BUT in a more universal approach to this notion...I suspect that the key to society in general functioning at its best will be found in "unselfish cooperation."

I've been mulling over an idea I offered in a thread where I said that I thought if we were ever able to create a Utopian society here on Earth, it might look a good deal more like the Big Brother world of 1984 than we might expect, except that it will be the people willingly giving up some rights to privacy and such in a kind of "unselfish cooperation" for the greater good of humanity and society as a whole.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Quote:
...to see that unselfish cooperation is the key to living a life... worth living.

I'm not sure I agree with this completely; I will think it over a bit more.

BUT in a more universal approach to this notion...I suspect that the key to society in general functioning at its best will be found in "unselfish cooperation."

I've been mulling over an idea I offered in a thread where I said that I thought if we were ever able to create a Utopian society here on Earth, it might look a good deal more like the Big Brother world of 1984 than we might expect, except that it will be the people willingly giving up some rights to privacy and such in a kind of "unselfish cooperation" for the greater good of humanity and society as a whole.

You could well be on the right track... but it doesn't necessarily follow from what I previously said... i.e. that's not what I was getting at.

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@Frank Apisa,

What do you envisage as the population of the world and how it is distributed in this fantasy Utopia you singularly fail to describe in anything other than absurd generalisations?

What will they eat? How will they amuse themselves? What methods of reproduction will they use? What is the "greater good"? For whom? What's your time-frame? What policies are necessary to get "there"?

Wouldn't what we have look pretty utopian to the vast bulk of human experience both now and in the past? And isn't what we have a production of Christianity? Even a utopian yearning is a product of Christianity. Where else, or when else, would you prefer to be an ordinary Joe?

Is your rejection of Christian sexual morality causing you to need to deny the achievements of Christian society and to casually imagine up out-of-sight alternatives to replace it with characterised by a few lines of caricatured lampoonery and declared "Utopian" without rhyme or reason or any further explanation and sweetly applied to an entity like "SOCIETY".

If it is thought to be your brilliant, disinterested objectivity I think we can rule that out after your performance with the photograph. You don't even know that what was written on the placard is what was on it when the picture was taken. It might have said "Hello Mums". Or "Up All Your Arses!!" The technology for that trick is a piece of cake.

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@spendius,

Have you ever been in the back streets of Leeds?

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@spendius,

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Is your rejection of Christian sexual morality causing you to need to deny the achievements of Christian society

What is Christian sexual morality?

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

What do you envisage as the population of the world and how it is distributed in this fantasy Utopia you singularly fail to describe in anything other than absurd generalisations?

What will they eat? How will they amuse themselves? What methods of reproduction will they use? What is the "greater good"? For whom? What's your time-frame? What policies are necessary to get "there"?

Wouldn't what we have look pretty utopian to the vast bulk of human experience both now and in the past? And isn't what we have a production of Christianity? Even a utopian yearning is a product of Christianity. Where else, or when else, would you prefer to be an ordinary Joe?

Is your rejection of Christian sexual morality causing you to need to deny the achievements of Christian society and to casually imagine up out-of-sight alternatives to replace it with characterised by a few lines of caricatured lampoonery and declared "Utopian" without rhyme or reason or any further explanation and sweetly applied to an entity like "SOCIETY".

If it is thought to be your brilliant, disinterested objectivity I think we can rule that out after your performance with the photograph. You don't even know that what was written on the placard is what was on it when the picture was taken. It might have said "Hello Mums". Or "Up All Your Arses!!" The technology for that trick is a piece of cake.

Yes!

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Have you ever been in the back streets of Leeds?

I've been on the streets of Leeds many times--back in the 50's. Not sure what you consider the back streets...but more than likely I have.

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@reasoning logic,

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What is Christian sexual morality?

You could say, to borrow Mr Apisa's words with a pinch of salt added, that it is the people willingly giving up some rights to privacy and self-indulgent pleasures and doing so in a kind of "unselfish cooperation" for the greater good of humanity and society as a whole.

The confessional gives up privacy, and the perjury law demands it when other people's interests are involved, and pleasure is a sin, or an error, or a danger or something to be wary of, or not to be taken too seriously, or, at least, something to be vaguely ashamed of. The Seven Deadliest being pride, wrath, greed, sloth, lust, envy, and gluttony. Pride being the most risky.

They are known as The Seven Deadly sins because all other sins are said to originate in them. Possibly they derive from a study of the rot at the centre of the Roman Empire.

Will that do?

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@spendius,

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The Seven Deadliest being pride, wrath, greed, sloth, lust, envy, and gluttony. Pride being the most risky.

They are known as The Seven Deadly sins because all other sins are said to originate in them.

I can see problems with these but what makes you think that Frank has included these behaviors into what he thinks is sexual morality?

Many people have different sexual desires than me or you but as long as they are not causing harm to themselves or others I say let them be.

Do you think that even Jesus might have had different sexual desires than me or you?

Maybe it is time for you to come clean spendius?

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@reasoning logic,

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Do you think that even Jesus might have had different sexual desires than me or you?

If you think that Jesus having different sexual desires than you or me invalidates his teachings then I assume you think anybody with such different desires has nothing of value to say.

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@spendius,

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If you think that Jesus having different sexual desires than you or me invalidates his teachings then I assume you think anybody with such different desires has nothing of value to say.

Is this something that you thought up on your own or is this your way of saying that you agree with the similar statement that was shared in the video and your way of approving the video? Cool

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@reasoning logic,

I don't watch your bloody silly videos rl. I'll make a video of anything you want. That gimp's mush was sufficient evidence for me. I can tell by looking that I'm unlikely to agree with anything he says on his chosen topic.

I sometimes think up how to open the door. The point is just as obvious and requires a similar level of thinking up.

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@spendius,

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I'll make a video of anything you want.

spendius are you telling me the truth?

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@reasoning logic,

reasoning logic wrote:

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I'll make a video of anything you want.

spendius are you telling me the truth?

Christ, I hope so. I am dying to see the request if he is! Wink

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@igm,

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The animator/narrator could be a Buddhist explaining some of the teachings in a way that non-Buddhists would understand... so I of course agree with what he is saying. A wise person I know, frequently says, 'We are all limbs of one life.' ...

Yes he could be a Buddhists and to be honest I have seen many creative ideas shared by people who have different beliefs or understandings than I but still I learn things from them such as the speaker in this video who is Catholic if I am not mistaking who is talking about the DNA of humans compared tho apes. Very Happy

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@reasoning logic,

You are learning from many others but what is your primary purpose for doing so? Death is certain and the time of death is uncertain so we need to make the most of the time we have... I have a primary purpose which makes me selective about who I learn from and what I attempt to understand... do you?

1 Reply

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