What has happened to common sense?

Wow - haven't visited A2K for a week or something, so this is the first time I've read this thread.

Unbelievable.

All my life I thought common sense was simply something that guided you toward the obvious answer/action toward a situation.

Like: Don't stick your penis in an electric pencil sharpener to see if it's turned on. (That's from some old National Lampoon article entitled "10 stupid things to do with your penis"

Maybe I'm just in a mood today, but there sure seems to be a lot of hot air blowing around out there.

I'm with CJ in his initial post about overcomplicating things. That where people screw up.

Weird, a while ago, I posted in a thread from some ding-bat sounding (my opinion) chick who was looking for advise on whether she should have a kid with this married (or at least attached) guy, who already has 3 kids, and kept changing his mind about wanting more with her.

Christ almighty, this guy sounded like a real loser.
So I let fly with my personal opinion that maybe she should be checking out other stuff on her love of her life. Like does have a job, is he a crack head, etc, etc.

Oh, but I LOVE him.

Anyway, what really surprised me was the fact the only post after that was some whimpy post about How did he treat his children?
DUH - of course that's important - but only someone with no common sense would zero in only on that. this guy couldn't seem to decide who to sleep with that night.
Really sounds like someone she should get pregnant by.

Let's not overcomplicate common sense - It's simplicity is what makes it so wonderful.
Common sense is listening to your gut - it really is telling you something.

jeez I'm in a snippy mood - just not in the mood for all the blah blah blah.
I will now retire and sooth my spirit.

Why am I laughing?

Did you use common sense to come up with this drivel? You seem like a very angry, angry person.

If you attack Canada, you attack me.

Common sense would indicate that you have absolutely no control of who takes back anyone and who sends anyone along.

Did you start this thread for your rants, or did you start it to stimulate and exchange of ideas?

I'm outta here . . . CJ, that attack on Canada and Intrepid was completely unwarranted. Although i'm certain it means nothing to you, i've lost respect for you over that one.

Have a nice life, be sure not to write . . .

Overreaction is a sure sign of a lack of common sense.

I started it to point out how little common sense most people have. What's hilarious is how many of you jumped in here to prove my point.

Yup, they proved your point by attempting to have any rational conversation with you. Like Setanta, I am out of here. Common sense dictates that. Make of that what you will.

To those who have supported me here, thanks to you and your good sense.

Don't you prefer uncommon sense to common sense? Someone once said of common sense that it's too damn common.

JL, I think there are internecine things going on here of which we are not privy.

How common is that, anyway?

Chai Tea




Yes, we may call it common sense. Or better, good sense.

But there other good examples of common sense: the sun moves around the earth. Everybody sees it. It is so obvious.
Then, some fellows who liked to complicate things appeared and started to say that everybody was wrong, it is the earth that moves around the sun. Can you imagine people so stupid! Everybody sees the contrary! It is just a matter of common sense!

Yes, Osso, that's obviously so. I still havn't read the thread, but I looked at the first two posts. In response to Chjs (?) challenge BoGoWo gave an expected BoGoWosian response (with which I totally agree--as usual):

"sorry cj, but 'common sense' has finally been put to rest in the big dumpster where everything 'common', 'popular', 'traditional', or 'standard' belongs (i wish!)."

"Common sense" to me can mean "the empirically obvious," but it can also refer to social prejudices and stereotypes, i.e., Mexicans are lazy (this is said only by those who have spent little or no time in Mexico), Jews are avaricious (I can't tell you how many artistic and intellectual jews I know who care very llttle about material wealth), black men want to seduce white women. What's' the point of that (assuming it's true)? so do many whites. And many white men want to seduce black women).

I do think that "common sense" has more to do with (cultural) interpretations than with the empirically obvious facts of life, such as "the sun rises in the east and sets in the west."
For example, the Aztecs held as a matter of "common sense" that the sun, a.k.a., the god, Huitzilopochtli, rose in the east each morning because human sacrifices of blood (by the Aztecs of their neighboring tribes) provided Huitzilopochtli the strength to fight off the stars at night in order to rise to the occasion of warming the humans' earth.

JLNobody




It seems Aztecs did a very good job. It still rises every morning.

Yeah, Val. That's what they thought. The priests used to also blow on their conch shells to assist, somehow, the Sun in its rise each morning. I wonder if we were to ask them to experimentally test their theological assumption of the need for conch music, by not playing their shells some morning (or putting a moratorium on human sacrifices for a period of time) what they would say. It would probably be something like: "Are you CRAZY?" And then swiftly sacrifice me.

We need dogs to protect our home and children. Pitbulls! Yes, we need pitbulls! Continue.

Actually, I would like to see pitbulls sterilized into extinction--they wouldn't mind--if only for the protection of our children.