Scientology

[prole]

...is fucking awesome!

[112]

Good article! Thanks for posting.

 

A funny video: I m a Scientologist. (Audio NSFW)

 

 

 

[akhalteke]

I was murdering dolphins with my bare hands for their delicious pancreases

[tvashtarkatena]

Who wouldn't want a few white slaves helping out around the compound these days?

[Jim]

It is no secret, especially here in America, that we live in a post-Enlightenment age in which rationality, science, evidence, logical argument and debate have lost the battle in many sectors, and perhaps even in society generally, to superstition, faith, opinion and orthodoxy. While we continue to make giant technological advances, we may be the first generation to have turned back the epochal clock — to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief. But post-Enlightenment and post-idea, while related, are not exactly the same.

 

Post-Enlightenment refers to a style of thinking that no longer deploys the techniques of rational thought. Post-idea refers to thinking that is no longer done, regardless of the style.

 

Ergo: http://news.yahoo.com/perry-says-doesnt-believe-global-warming-143259373.html

 

 

[akhalteke]

It is no secret, especially here in America, that we live in a post-Enlightenment age in which rationality, science, evidence, logical argument and debate have lost the battle in many sectors, and perhaps even in society generally, to superstition, faith, opinion and orthodoxy. While we continue to make giant technological advances, we may be the first generation to have turned back the epochal clock — to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief. But post-Enlightenment and post-idea, while related, are not exactly the same.

 

Post-Enlightenment refers to a style of thinking that no longer deploys the techniques of rational thought. Post-idea refers to thinking that is no longer done, regardless of the style.

 

Ergo: http://news.yahoo.com/perry-says-doesnt-believe-global-warming-143259373.html

 

 

1) YOUR logic has lost.

 

2) First generation to "turn back the epochal clock?" Read a fucking book. (Not Jodie Piccoult. Try a History book)

 

3) Get fucked.

[tvashtarkatena]

Gotta agree, here. Superstition (and that would be Kristianity here in America) over reason is nothing new to us. The Kristians have fought hard to maintain what made America great throughout our history: Slavery, discrimination against women, minorities, and gays, foreign invasions, the dumbing down of education to include their cult beliefs.

 

For the most part, they've lost every one of those battles: they're losing the anti-gay battle as we speak. When these dysfunctionals go to court against adults, they're soundly destroyed.

 

Take Bachmann, for example, who is in Newsweek (who roasted her) solely because of her vociferous bigotry. America loves a good train wreck, as the popularity of reality TV clearly demonstrates, but don't confuse entertainment value with the overall direction of social progress.

 

Now fiscal policy, well, that's another matter....

 

 

Edited August 19, 2011 by tvashtarkatena

[Jim]

It is no secret, especially here in America, that we live in a post-Enlightenment age in which rationality, science, evidence, logical argument and debate have lost the battle in many sectors, and perhaps even in society generally, to superstition, faith, opinion and orthodoxy. While we continue to make giant technological advances, we may be the first generation to have turned back the epochal clock — to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief. But post-Enlightenment and post-idea, while related, are not exactly the same.

 

Post-Enlightenment refers to a style of thinking that no longer deploys the techniques of rational thought. Post-idea refers to thinking that is no longer done, regardless of the style.

 

Ergo: http://news.yahoo.com/perry-says-doesnt-believe-global-warming-143259373.html

 

 

1) YOUR logic has lost.

 

2) First generation to "turn back the epochal clock?" Read a fucking book. (Not Jodie Piccoult. Try a History book)

 

3) Get fucked.

 

Well there's a thoughtful response!!

 

The right-wing, and quite frankly, the general public's lack of understanding of anything more complicated than how Weed and Feed works is a growing trend. You could make the argument that there were larger forces at other times in history that mutted thinking - but I would say the mass media of today - and particularly social networks, tweets, and such, is pushing out not just important items to think about - but thinking all together.

 

With all this overload that folks seem to what to keep abreast of - what are the Kartishans doing? What are my friends doing now, oh, and now? Assembling and reading busts of what? Reports on what I'm eating now, where I'm going - commentary on heavy matters - well, what fits into 140 characters. None of this trivial information is of any use other than making the user feel, well, informed. So yea - I do think more important things are getting crowded out and way outside the public arena. Oh wait - we have the internet to fill that void. Yea.

[Jim]

For the most part, they've lost every one of those battles: they're losing the anti-gay battle as we speak. When these dysfunctionals go to court against adults, they're soundly destroyed.

 

Losing? I agree with you if you mean the distasteful gay bashing and other bottom-of-the-barrel social items are not being swallowed (except that abortion thing in the mid-west). But having the wackos cover the right wing and a lack of any organized opposition makes the "center" of the GOP's proposal seem almost reasonable.

 

"Let's not eliminate Social Security altogether - just cut it into small pieces while spending 48% of the world's military budget". Yea, that's reasonable.

[tvashtarkatena]

There is no question that a large percentage of America is fantastically stupid. The question is whether or not it has always been that way.

 

It has, IMO.

 

To your point, however, America is embracing White Trash Fuck You culture - one the Right champions implicitly if not explicitly. Idiocracy has come 500 years early. On the other hand, crime rates have dropped dramatically. What's actually going on in the aggregate?

 

It's interesting to look at efficacy of the Right's approach regarding specific examples. Take the drug industry, which is rapidly imploding due to...wait for it...NO NEW DRUGS! What happened? The Harvard "share holder value" folks took over about 15 years ago and, as they are want to do, R&D was the first to go. Couple that with a drain on publicly funded R&D (championed by the very same Best and Brightest), which produced a raft of cooked book private studies that produced shite results, and voila! Collapsed industry.

 

You can go industry by industry and the same story unfolds. Short term versus long term.

 

America's vastly reduced attention span ("um...my address is in the original email...on line 1") might be a more widespread version of an overall shortening of our timescales. Hey, not thinking ahead is easier...at first, anyway. You wind up with a train wreck to deal with in the end, but in this era of overpopulated depletion, open corruption, and lost legitimacy, perhaps the "git while the gittin's good" philosophy (no taxing the rich!), necessarily a short term one, has taken hold of our thinking. That's a natural result when survival is threatened.

 

Even if that threat is entirely of our own making.

Edited August 19, 2011 by tvashtarkatena

[Jim]

There is no question that a large percentage of America is fantastically stupid. The question is whether or not it has always been that way.

 

It has, IMO.

 

You can go industry by industry and the same story unfolds. Short term versus long term.

 

America's vastly reduced attention span ("um...my address is in the original email...on line 1") might be a more widespread version of an overall shortening of our timescales. Hey, not thinking ahead is easier...at first, anyway. You wind up with a train wreck to deal with in the end, but in this era of overpopulated depletion, open corruption, and lost legitimacy, perhaps the "git while the gittin's good" philosophy (no taxing the rich!), necessarily a short term one, has taken hold of our thinking. That's a natural result when survival is threatened.

 

Even if that threat is entirely of our own making.

 

You're depressing me again.

[tvashtarkatena]

For the most part, they've lost every one of those battles: they're losing the anti-gay battle as we speak. When these dysfunctionals go to court against adults, they're soundly destroyed.

 

Losing? I agree with you if you mean the distasteful gay bashing and other bottom-of-the-barrel social items are not being swallowed (except that abortion thing in the mid-west). But having the wackos cover the right wing and a lack of any organized opposition makes the "center" of the GOP's proposal seem almost reasonable.

 

"Let's not eliminate Social Security altogether - just cut it into small pieces while spending 48% of the world's military budget". Yea, that's reasonable.

 

Fiscal policies come and go. I'm referring to social justice, which moves more slowly, more deliberately, and more assuredly in one direction. It rarely takes a large step backward, despite the failed efforts of millions of evangelical kooks who want those good ole Dark Ages back...as long as shopping remains cheap and convenient.

[tvashtarkatena]

There is no question that a large percentage of America is fantastically stupid. The question is whether or not it has always been that way.

 

It has, IMO.

 

You can go industry by industry and the same story unfolds. Short term versus long term.

 

America's vastly reduced attention span ("um...my address is in the original email...on line 1") might be a more widespread version of an overall shortening of our timescales. Hey, not thinking ahead is easier...at first, anyway. You wind up with a train wreck to deal with in the end, but in this era of overpopulated depletion, open corruption, and lost legitimacy, perhaps the "git while the gittin's good" philosophy (no taxing the rich!), necessarily a short term one, has taken hold of our thinking. That's a natural result when survival is threatened.

 

Even if that threat is entirely of our own making.

 

You're depressing me again.

 

Dysfunctional behavior usually has its roots in functional behavior misapplied.