Unpopular Opinions Society

[cornsail]

Just look here.

FortyTwo deserves some credit for being the only other person here with an objectively correct opinion regarding the ending of Lost, BTW.

 

[cornsail]

Perhaps in some cases. In others I believe it's just common courtesy and the idea of not being a total dick to people.

It is, but I don't think censorship and forcing people to publicly grovel (because they fear losing their job) based on "gotcha! moments" are good ways to fight people being dicks. I don't mind people being PC for the sake of politeness, but I'm not a fan of the "PC police" these days.

 

[FortyTwo]

It is, but I don't think censorship and forcing people to publicly grovel (because they fear losing their job) based on "gotcha! moments" are good ways to fight people being dicks. I don't mind people being PC for the sake of politeness, but I'm not a fan of the "PC police" these days.

It's hard for me to agree or disagree with this. It really, really depends on specific cases to me.

 

[sequoia]

Perhaps in some cases. In others I believe it's just common courtesy and the idea of not being a total dick to people.

I agree. I have seen a few instances of political correctness being a bit over the top, but mostly it seems to be basic skills we all learned in kindergarten. Be nice, apologize when you've hurt someone, etc. If me saying something hurts or offends someone, then I simply won't say it. It doesn't hurt me to NOT say it. Words are powerful, and I don't believe in that "sticks and stones" nonsense. Words can and do hurt.

 

[Second Summer]

 

[FortyTwo]

Meh. I don't inherently hate capitalism. Everyone who has done that and tried to implement something better ends up far worse.

 

[sequoia]

I'm against capitalism, but I think that for anything else to work there needs to be a shift in the way everyone thinks. We can't go into any other form of government or economic model with the same ideals and beliefs that created the old model. People can't want to "be on top", it has to truly be for the good of everyone, which requires more empathy skills than our current population seems capable of.

 

[yakherder]

I'm against capitalism, but I think that for anything else to work there needs to be a shift in the way everyone thinks. We can't go into any other form of government or economic model with the same ideals and beliefs that created the old model. People can't want to "be on top", it has to truly be for the good of everyone, which requires more empathy skills than our current population seems capable of.

Getting people to change who don't want to because they're just as convinced that they're right as everyone else is... This always presents the biggest problem doesn't it? No matter what type of government we have, it's the traits (which I won't bother defining as weaknesses or strengths since that is debatable) of the humans who make up that government that cause it to fail. If people didn't have those traits, then the government wouldn't really be necessary in the first place. Eventually we will evolve, that is inevitable. We are obsolete as we exist today, meant for a world that ceased to exist with the discovery of things like agriculture, metal working, combustion, and a host of other advances that created an increased need for geographical control and a reduced need for compassion and cooperation. We're now stuck in lives where the actions we must take to survive disgust us because we're still judging ourselves through the eyes of a species that was intended for egalitarianism. The question, however, is will we find a way to exist in this world as people who intuitively want peace, or will we evolve based on a world of resource competition? I have my guesses based on my understanding of the way evolution works, and let's just say I hope I'm wrong

 

[sequoia]

Getting people to change who don't want to because they're just as convinced that they're right as everyone else is... This always presents the biggest problem doesn't it? No matter what type of government we have, it's the traits (which I won't bother defining as weaknesses or strengths since that is debatable) of the humans who make up that government that cause it to fail. If people didn't have those traits, then the government wouldn't really been necessary in the first place. Eventually we will evolve, that is inevitable. We are obsolete as we exist today, meant for a world that ceased to exist with the discovery of things like agriculture, metal working, combustion, and a host of other advances that created an increased need for geographical control and a reduced need for compassion and cooperation. We're now stuck in lives where the actions we must take to survive disgust us because we're still judging ourselves through the eyes of a species that was intended for egalitarianism. The question, however, is will we find a way to exist in this world as people who intuitively want peace, or will we evolve based on a world of resource competition? I have my guesses based on my understanding of the way evolution works, and let's just say I hope I'm wrong

Very well-said! I especially love the bolded part.

 

[FortyTwo]

We've already seen that any ideology is doomed to fail. Technically, they all already have...

 

[sequoia]

Well 42, that's because no one has yet to try my method. I will be kind, yet just.

 

[FortyTwo]

Well 42, that's because no one has yet to try my method. I will be kind, yet just.

I'm just trying to warn of the dangers of Ingsoc.

And Neo-Bolshevism.

And Death-Worship (though it would be better represented as "Destroying of Self").

ETA: I hope people get what the hell I'm talking about, or else I probably sound like a nutjob.

 

[cornsail]

I think biological/genetic/cybernetic improvement of the species might be necessary to stop all of the violence over power and resources. Gaining a half-decent understand of the brain might need to be the first step and then the possibilities should really start to open up. Of course the danger is the elite using this type of power to further increase their own power rather than for the good of the world society as a whole. It could be taken in a positive or negative direction.

 

[ledboots]

I think biological/genetic/cybernetic improvement of the species might be necessary to stop all of the violence over power and resources. Gaining a half-decent understand of the brain might need to be the first step and then the possibilities should really start to open up. Of course the danger is the elite using this type of power to further increase their own power rather than for the good of the world society as a whole. It could be taken in a positive or negative direction.

They would rather make the perfect soldier.

 

[sequoia]

I think biological/genetic/cybernetic improvement of the species might be necessary to stop all of the violence over power and resources. Gaining a half-decent understand of the brain might need to be the first step and then the possibilities should really start to open up. Of course the danger is the elite using this type of power to further increase their own power rather than for the good of the world society as a whole. It could be taken in a positive or negative direction.

How do you know about The Project?

 

[sequoia]

I'm just trying to warn of the dangers of Ingsoc.

And Neo-Bolshevism.

And Death-Worship (though it would be better represented as "Destroying of Self").

ETA: I hope people get what the hell I'm talking about, or else I probably sound like a nutjob.

Oh honey, you're going to sound like a nutjob regardless of whether or not we get what you're talking about.

 

[Blobbenstein]

I used to think that Primal Therapy was the answer. Everyone should have primal therapy, and then the world would no longer be driven to try to fulfil unmet childhood needs, like the need to feel loved, the need to feel safe, which get transmogrified into attempts to gain power and money and other symbolic acting out.

Now I have serious doubts about primal therapy, so I don't really know what the answer is, although I still seem to believe in some of the primal therapy theory, just not the therapy itself.

We might be stuck with a certain level of neurosis, which may always act like a cancer in society....maybe if people ended up with less stress, in life, then future children will have better childhoods, and neurosis may gradually disappear....but there is also the danger, in an advanced technological world, where people don't have to work much, that we will become decadent, and decadence plus neurosis might lead to a nightmare world.

 

[Alice-Bee]

So glad I moved away from the Goth Scene. Reading the posts on the WGW facebook page is making me cringe. Why are people so hung up on what is goth...so **** someone asked the DJ to play a little Metallica or whatever...if you dont like Bauhaus, or the original Dracula or dont wear your New Rocks 24/7 it seems youre not allowed to use the word Goth.

Urgh.

 

[Cerebellion]

So glad I moved away from the Goth Scene. Reading the posts on the WGW facebook page is making me cringe. Why are people so hung up on what is goth...so **** someone asked the DJ to play a little Metallica or whatever...if you dont like Bauhaus, or the original Dracula or dont wear your New Rocks 24/7 it seems youre not allowed to use the word Goth.

Urgh.

Reminds me of why I don't associate with the word 'nerd' or 'geek' or any of the scenes anymore. I never was a huge fan of the scene police telling me what is acceptable and what isn't. The old saying '**** the Police' holds true in social scenes, too.

 

[Alice-Bee]

I think they fail to see the irony that is they are setting rules to follow to be an outsider.

'I tried to be an outsider...but I didnt really fit in'