Freethinker's corner
I will not go quietly into the night!
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Human emotions are perplexing. Anger, hatred, happiness, depression, sadness are all predictors of mood, and possibly future actions.
Anger and hatred are very negative, along with depression and sadness, these emotions are very detrimental for health, mental and physical.
So why do these negative emotions exist? Why do they cause even more damage, when suppressed?
Might these emotions be considered aberrations in evolution, mutations which have no beneficial effect? Beneficial and detrimental mutations help to drive the evolution of creatures. If a physical change results in an advantage to a creature’s survival it multiplies and prospers, if not, it does not, or does not as well as it might have.
Anger has caused many acts of violence, hatred, an extension of anger, even more, in premeditated ways.
It might be considered that anger and hatred caused creatures to oppose one another which led to those less fit, to die. Are these then to be considered tools of evolution?
Then what of happiness? Maybe happiness evolved only when it was necessary for creatures to gather into groups for mutual survival. Then cooperation was facilitated by happier moods. Smiling, happiness, could be said to display the mood of satisfaction with the state of affairs at the moment.
(Human Behavior Observation: 081214)
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Yesterday, December 8, 2008 I witnessed a fine example of fused thinking, a mind already made up, and inflexible. The Host was going to have Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom from Religion Foundation on as a short term guest. Before Annie’s appearance he repeatedly lamented the sign the FFRF had posted in the Capitol building of Washington. (Washington State I presume)
How, he lamented, could someone put up such a devastating sign at this season of seasons? How could anyone so crassly denigrate someone’s belief system? How could someone be so insensitive to others? This set the tone of the interview.
Miss Gaylor did nevertheless appear, which is more than I could have done if so insulted. A very gutsy lady, indeed.
(human behavior observation: 081209)
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Yet another letter in the local paper trying to remind people of the reason for the season. Yet another idiot got it wrong. This miscreant claimed as many others in the past that this season is a christian holiday. In actuality this season was the time when people celebrated the solstice, the time when days started to become longer, and the sun was returning to it’s summer place in the sky.
If it were the celebration of the birth of a god in human form it would have to take place early in the year, not in December, or not as all, since such a birth never took place.
When I put up a "christmas tree" I will call it a "solstice tree", and it will be a celebration of life, not death, as in the christian vein.
(Human behavior observation: 081207)
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I am watching the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s battle with religious bigots with much delight.
The FFRF had installed a sign at the capitol expressing the sentiment that religion is a myth. That sign, weighing around 50 pounds, was stolen by some outraged "Christian" criminal.
Why do these bigots, and make no mistake, that is exactly what they are, fight to remove this message from public view.
The only reason that can be is that they are afraid that someone will be turned from their archaic, negativistic belief system. They remove opposing arguments because their arguments are too weak to stand scrutiny.
(human behavior observation: 081205)
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I’m praying for you, god be with you!
Translation: There is nothing I can do for you, and I really intend to do nothing to help you, but I feel I must pretend to do something.
Humans feel a need to pretend to not be helpless and yet saying I’m praying for you, is just the same as admitting just that.
Why not just say the truth: I can not do anything to alleviate or ameliorate your present state and yet I hope that things turn out ok. Even a mundane "Best Wishes" would be preferable to a lie. Of course, where humans are concerned, the truth would be an odd commodity. It would be too refreshing to hear someone admit their inability to provide assistance, or even that they simply will not provide assistance: I could help you, but I simply don’t want to, or I am simply too freakin’ lazy to help you. Or even: I hate your guts, and though I could alleviate all your suffering, I prefer to see you suffer.
Humans seem to prefer putting forth a facade rather than to display the simple truth. Perhaps some of this confusion is caused by a desire not to denigrate or upset the individual, or to deny that they are helpless, or that the situation really is that dire.
Sometimes you wish that people came with a truth button on their foreheads. You could reach out, depress the button, and receive the truth for a change.
(Human Observation: 081201)
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