House of Eratosthenes

The primary social problem in our society is that we are too emotionally engaged with the productions of journalists and political activists. These two groups, more than any other media producers have captured the attention of many Americans and are compensated by those things that spark ‘debate’.

This is not a consequence of social media…
:
In the news today is the story of a boy who threw an egg at an Australian senator, who was making remarks about a mass murder in New Zealand. So today, emotionally involved Americans are yelling at each other as if we need, every day, to demonstrate that murder is bad. Who has convinced us that there is a spectrum of positions on murder which are worthy of public debate? Journalists and political activists.

I had been meaning to write something about this. “Conservatism” versus “liberalism” explains much of what separates my opinions from the opinions people who are, well, you know…wrong…much, but not all. There is dark matter there, in the void. A lot of this has to do with emotional investment.

Palin Was Right Remaining emotionally detached so you can think like a grown-up, is not always easy. It can present some daunting challenges. But it’s never impossible. I think we all fail in this effort at one point or another, but I’ve seen how when people disagree with me about things, one of the things that separates us is that I at least try. If the disagreement becomes heated, I see it’s almost always because of an underlying disagreement, obscured by the other one more visible, about whether or not there should be a discussion at all. Emotionally invested people often play the game of “I want to win the argument without doing any actual arguing.” So they have these tricks. I’m pulling rank, or the “experts” are on my side, or I don’t wanna talk about it, or, or, or…

If they’re the only one paying the price for being wrong, it’s pretty easy to resolve. Just do what they want, disappear into the void and wish them the best on your way to oblivion. The eventual results will educate one side, or the other.

In politics, things are difficult because they’re not the only ones paying the price for being wrong.

Another fascinating thing I’ve picked up about overly-emotionally-invested people, is they get that way by way of laboring under the mistaken impression they personally know the people involved. I saw this awhile ago with the “Sarah Palin is a stupid idiot” song-and-dance from a decade ago. My own opinion wasn’t so much that was was or was not a stupid idiot, nor did I take the position she was some kind of egghead genius — she did seem to win a lot more often than people remember — but rather, that thing that is the beginning of all learning. I DON’T KNOW. I disagreed with people about Palin’s lack of intellect…and also, subsequently, about Barack Obama’s abundance of it…

Because I kept in mind that I didn’t personally know these people. And Mitt Romney, and Joe Biden, and Donald Trump, and Mike Pence. I don’t know these people. Palin might be stupid, heck she could be retarded. Maybe Barack and Michelle are geniuses. I know approximately how much I’d bet on such things, but it really doesn’t matter. The lack of certainty is what matters. Or to be more precise about it, the lack of doubt is what matters.

Emotionally invested people tend to confuse their politics with their soap opera viewing. They “feel” like they know all these people. The disease spreads when we’re talking about level of intellect, because it’s hard to remember that dumb people can be right about things and smart people can be wrong about things — both of those actually happen, quite often. So he/she is stupid/smart, really doesn’t matter at all.

How it connects back with the above: I think by the time you become part of the problem, you’re no longer discussing principles like “murder is wrong.” People who add more heat to these discussions than light, have crossed a Rubicon where they’re buttressing narratives about attributes of these characters, like they’re writing a screenplay. They’re talking about people and no longer talking about ideas.

I have crossed that Rubicon. I see Christchurch now has 50 less murderers to kill Christians and Jews, and cannot find anything bad about that.
- MarkMatis | 03/18/2019 @ 05:10
“Who has convinced us that there is a spectrum of positions on murder which are worthy of public debate?”
Wait! That’s RACISM, XENOPHOBIA, and SEXISM…nay..GENOCIDE, MISOGYNIST and CHAUVINIST!!!!!!!

I know its true. Oh so true, ’cause I saw it on Tee Vee.”- Prine
Investment:
If you owe someone a little money, they own you.
If you owe them a LOT of money, you own THEM!

Now excuse me, Little Orphan Annie is coming on the radio, and I just CAN’T risk missing the next few bits
of the secret coded message , from ANNIE HERSELF. It’s only for those of us that were…you know ….”WOKE” to sent in enough Ovaltine proof of purchase labels to get the secret decoder…. delivered BY OFFICIAL, UNIFORMED, U.S. MAIL!
Folks might be ASTONISHED at the impeccable logic that drug/alcohol addicts can present, in defense of the the next dose that they just can’t live without, and why WE should just GIVE it to them.
- CaptDMO | 03/18/2019 @ 05:37
*crap* “…the impeccable logic that ~~(eg)~~ drug/alcohol addicts….”
- CaptDMO | 03/18/2019 @ 05:41
*crap* “ s=/= strong, OR bold
…the impeccable logic that (eg) drug/alcohol addicts….”
- CaptDMO | 03/18/2019 @ 05:44

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On the Emotional InvestmentSunday, March 17th, 2019

On the Emotional Investment
Sunday, March 17th, 2019