- Rational thinking will lead to a more enriched life.
- Religion is a bane of society.
- Those that cannot handle the heat of a debate and relies upon insults need not associate with me.
- 99.9% of all species on earth have died. We are but animals struggling to survive, with urges to reproduce. All attraction, love, etc are simply byproducts. The faster you accept the chaotic, un-designed world, the better.
- There is no such thing as “luck”. That’s an idiot’s way at working with statistics.
- Don’t judge a gay person and don’t judge a crossdresser.
- People should learn how to cook.
- Don’t ignore somebody’s feelings. Who cares if they look unattractive to you? Do their looks diminish the authenticity of their feelings? No. Don’t be a dick.
- There’s no such thing as “gently” breaking the news. It’s like a band-aid. Rip it off quickly. Prevent further scarring.
- Don’t lie.
- Sometimes I look at the past. Sometimes the past is forgotten because of my memories. Faces fade. Things disappear. But once in a while, a song or some other trigger would remind me of the past, of the circumstances back then. Then I look at how I played my life so far, and how I really should have acted.
- Somebody recently called me a bitter person. Maybe I am.
- Don’t shit me with your 1000 Facebook friends. They’re not your friends.
- I’ve been told I possess good intelligence. But I tell you, it means nothing. Frankly, intelligence can be gained, as can knowledge. What matters is how you utilize what you have – the drive you have. The greatest did not achieve what they did without insane work ethic. This is why if I ever note my intellect, it’s not to establish superiority – the exact opposite, and the most ironic thing may occur. That is, you end up more successful than me, because I am lazy and undisciplined.
- Listen to whatever you like. Quit cussing those that listen to other bands.
- Don’t confine yourself to gender roles. Gender is an artificial and social construct.
- Stop saying you don’t judge. You do. The faster you realize this, the better. You can’t fix it if you can’t recognize it. What’s worse is denial.
- Stop saying you are yourself. We are all influenced by society and evolution.
- Time heals all wounds, but it leaves a scar and renders one unfeeling. A few get infected and die, but most survive. Not stronger, just more cautious.
- Omniscience is the ideal state of being,
Every year I list down what has changed in the past 365 days, I answer a 150 question questionarre, and then I list some points about my thoughts. This is 2013's. :-)
"Time heals all wounds, but it leaves a scar and renders one unfeeling. A few get infected and die, but most survive. Not stronger, just more cautious." hahaha
ReplyDelete"Gender is an artificial and social construct." But it is a biological reality, and society is also an evolutionary construct which influences biology through natural selection.
"That is, you end up more successful than me, because I am lazy and undisciplined." You make an excellent point. Well said! I'm still not entirely sure whether a person can overcome innate laziness...given that they are too lazy to bother! Discipline, however, can be cultivated, especially through positive environmental factors.
"Stop saying you don’t judge. You do. The faster you realize this, the better. You can’t fix it if you can’t recognize it. What’s worse is denial." Our society is struggling stupidly with the guilty notion that discrimination & judgement must be eliminated from our psyches! But discrimination is key to survival! Judgement is necessary to personal development! There are even rational aspects of apparent racism (granted, there are obviously many terrible aspects of it, too) - i.e. if the vestige of past racism in a culture is that many people of an ethnicity are subject to lowered socioeconomic status, that means that those same people are more prone to criminal behavior for 1) their own survival, 2) the violent environment of social discontent, 3) deep-seated and sometimes manifest resentment toward their 'reformed' oppressors. It is entirely reasonable, entirely human, for even a 'formerly' persecuted minority to behave this way. Yet, it's entirely foolish not to bear these problems in mind as an elevated threat to one's individual survival. One doesn't go stumbling around naively in the Tenderloin after a certain time of day, and that isn't the result of racism (the thought that one ethnicity is superior to another) so much as it is common sense (knowledge that the cast-offs of society don't take kindly to being cast off & desperation makes of a person what it chooses). (Btw, the last part is a paraphrased quote from "Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day")
"Then I look at how I played my life so far, and how I really should have acted." And then it makes you more sympathetic to present-day idiots? Because they're living your yesteryear like Groundhog's Day? And eventually, most of them will be less idiotic. And so will we, the 'elevated' scoffers, looking back on our blind still frames of ignorance and blushing at each painful moment up to the present.
Lastly, you made a lot of good points & your blog is lovely.
'But it is a biological reality, and society is also an evolutionary construct which influences biology through natural selection.'
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point. But our ideas of how a male or female typically act feature many things which change depending on culture. Now in general yes we can say, that the men tend to be more aggressive, females more cultivating, that kind of stuff. But we have ideas about how women should act in a social setting; what types of clothing are acceptable for a female in what occasion; If we look at the nuclear family I think we'll see that the mother fills in almost a cookie-cutter mold which isn't solely tied to evolution. And things like pink is girlish, blah blah. Silly aS it sounds, it really does affect our perceptions of people when they defy these concepts we already have.
The top 20 is a very brief list of things I've come to think about in the past year; it's not designed to be very comprehensive. Some judgements are good, some generalizations are good. I was talking about the bad type. Possibly it links to the paragraph just above this, that would be an example; that for example, we find a crossdresser, that defies our norm and we judge. We look at them funny. If it were a guy ( because it's worse for guys ), we might think the person is gay. Or some pedophile. Or something.
The point I wanted to make is, some people I know are convinced they are totally open to anything proper, to different thinkers, that their general approach to things in life is strictly and solely non judgemental. It was this that led me to type out that specific line; that yes, we do judge. That can be good or bad depending on what it is.
Regarding final paragraph: The specific memory I was thinking of when I typed that, was more due to inexperience and ignorance, not stupidity. I actually analyzed it the best I could but just thinking can only get somebody so far. On a bit unrelated note, I remember when I was 13. I was a little bit like the average 13 year old. I started my own forum after being disliked in some forum I was in... I remember feeling happy that the forum actually succeeded and I got complimented that I was "mature for my age". But lol. That type of experience reminds me when I'm dealing with younger people to take it with a grain of salt... 10 years later they'll probably be lolling at their past and what they did.
One important point and this will probably be in 2014's Top 20: Just because we know more and think more than we did in the past does not render us immune to bouts of stupidity and contradictions in our beliefs. We need to be ever-vigilant in warding off unjustified opinions and atheists are not immune to defending points on issues partially based on emotions.
Thanks, I have not updated the blog in a while :o .
If we're not willing to admit we do judge and generalize on occasion, won't it be a step harder to critically analyze other issues? it shows a reluctance to acknowledge we are all modified by culture, evolution, personal agendas, emotions, bias, etc. None of us are perfect logic machines. Once we establish we can be judgemental in a negative way like other people is, then we can begin analyzing our feelings and stances on different subjects. Calling yourself super open minded to anything and everything when (you are not) is not only self-deception, I'd argue it'll help lead one to be the exact opposite of their delusion.
ReplyDeleteTangent: "we'll see that the mother fills in almost a cookie-cutter mold which isn't solely tied to evolution. And things like pink is girlish, blah blah." True - that's an excellent point. I think these types of social constructs are mostly due to marketing (which is why I gave that speech on gender-based marketing). What we are persuaded to believe we want affects not only our self-impressions & finances, but also how we view each other, and the way our culture forms biases. This persuasion can be undertaken to create positive changes in society, but it needs funding, the majority of funding is geared to make us feel worse so we buy more. But probably a lot of our narrow-minded social constructs could be resolved if civilization finds a way to change this.
ReplyDelete"One important point and this will probably be in 2014's Top 20: Just because we know more and think more than we did in the past does not render us immune to bouts of stupidity and contradictions in our beliefs. We need to be ever-vigilant in warding off unjustified opinions and atheists are not immune to defending points on issues partially based on emotions." That's a great one! :)