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nonathlon posted:That link has lead in turn to this "Organised Psuedolegal Commercial Arguments as Magic and Ceremony", an academic paper on the arguements mounted by various sovereign citizens, Freeman on the land, etc. Real interesting: What an great read - thanks for this! I'll share this quote from that article because I think it does a nice job of describing the internet-age conspiracy theorist: Donald Netolitzky posted:Political scientist Michael Barkun argues conspiracy and politically extreme thoughts can be divided into two categories. Traditional conspiracy theory begins with an organizing theme, such as that the Catholic Church represents a secret menace, or that a secret society such as the Illuminati exert broad and concealed influence.
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May 30, 2021 01:43
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indiscriminately posted:I'm not sure about more stupid than before, but I think less humble, less secure, more invested, and more visible. Yeah I think there is a difference between knowledge and information that people largely don't respect. Knowledge is cultivated where as information is merely gathered or collected (or invented). Contemporary Americans have so much information due to high levels of basic literacy and the internet - but they aren't necessarily smarter because of that access. Just repeating "facts" you've encountered is so often tough to distinguish from knowing what you're talking about. It isn't that people are stupider; it's that they don't realize they aren't smarter.
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May 30, 2021 18:50
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Trazz posted:There's a reason for this. It's easier(and thus expected) for an atheist to "play along" with a theist, however, the theist cannot respect the atheist because the theist is unable to drop his act for even a second, or else he might have to acknowledge that it's all an act. I grew up going to church and fairly sheltered and conservative. While I'm no expert, in my experience there are quite a lot of well-meaning, sincere people. While of course they all doubt their faiths from time to time, I think for many of them they are not consciously putting on a show for the benefit of others, rather they are trying to wrestle with a philosophy and way of thinking that can be difficult to sustain. Whether that wrestling involves sticking their fingers in their ears and excluding or attacking people who think differently will depend to a large degree on the qualities of their community and leadership at the local level. If we think about these sincere believers, I think they see themselves as submitting to a greater power and a greater mystery. In their minds, the stereotypical atheist, because they only believe what can be proven to them, is seen as proud or arrogant. Other theistic groups (though heathens!) at least manifest a similar submission to the divine, and while they are seen as very wrong about its nature, revelation, ethics, and doctrine, there is a recognizable posture of devotion (instead of haughty, solipsistic, know-it-all atheism). Atheism is also defined in many Christian minds as sort of a negative theology - it is an absence of belief, rather than a different belief. Atheists are not seen as representing an organized movement or community, and so they can't really invoke "traditions" in the way that a neighboring religion could. Unless of course we count communism as an organized atheist movement, but the reaction against communism is hardly limited to (or even universal among) Christian communities. And many theists feel that they are also "playing along." I remember feeling awkward as hell as a young guy in school praying and giving thanks before my lunch at school because nobody else was doing it. Or being the only kid who couldn't watch certain TV shows or listen to certain music. I was just doing what my parents told me was right and what I believed God preferred. And what God wants is something we were told you must, at least theoretically, be willing to die for. It was my distinct feeling in those days that the atheist, agnostic, or merely non-Christian kids had no idea the stakes involved in even simple things like this! For them, a TV show was just a cool story about ninja turtles, but for me it was a step down the wrong path, a path at the end of which lay separation from God and possibly damnation. One of my best friends in middle school was a devout Muslim, and I felt comfortable with him because when he wouldn't eat food that wasn't halal, it was a recognizable expression of this same devotion and/or anxiety. Post got a little long, and I'm not trying to justify the of othering atheists or the beliefs of Chrisitans. Just sharing my experiences from the inside of that mindset in a way that doesn't just take for granted they are all self-righteous hypocrites playing pretend (although those also exist, are abundant, and usually are highly outspoken and performative).
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Aug 14, 2021 18:23
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There was an old comic strip about cavemen called "B.C." and one strip had two of the cavemen on a raft headed for the edge of the earth to prove it was round. Finding it is beyond my googling but it went basically like this: Caveman A: Well the sun is round... Caveman B: Yeah... Caveman A: And the moon is round... Caveman B: ...Yeah... (Caveman A turns the boat around) Caveman A: You're right; three out of three is pushing it.
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May 24, 2023 23:24
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