Time to bombard jfrey
Long story short, you're advocating an anti-childlike stance where every living thing is your enemy and you must be hostile to survive. You're advocating a belief, actually, a fear-based one.
But belief is a wonderful thing, because if you feel/believe to be a strong and stable individual, you can believe ANYTHING EVER, and still not get phased by it if it turns out not to be true. You just gather knowledge along the way and grow through it while the untruth falls away by itself. So why the fuck even make a big deal out of it?
jfrey wrote:The bit about blinders. If someone believes the Sun goes around the Earth, it isn't imprisoning them to tell them they can't be teaching that to children. It would be mental child abuse. And, it isn't imprisoning to tell them that they shouldn't believe that either. It's like talking to someone that has lived in a cage their whole life, and them telling you that they like it there, why should you force them to come out, and why should you want to stop them from raising their children in the cage with them?
Yeah, this part is a big deal for sure; but the point is that fighting/being militant is only going to further enforce their/defenders belief, because that's how most people are wired; unsure about themselves and they must protect something that they believe is bigger then them, which is actually just substituting their lack of faith in themself; so you're not really helping the issue here, rather enforcing it.
You're basically advocating that the world wants to hurt you and that you need to be constantly on your toes. Even if that were true, I don't care, (nor should you) cuz I believe I'm capable enough to get through anything that comes my way.
And I won't even go into the argument of why the whole planet actually
evolved to live in harmony as a self-sustainable system and what proof we have about it
which just goes against any militant-ism except defense of life/ecosystem.
jfrey wrote:To believe something requires a person to think in a way that is not scientific, is not based on reality. I find it really troubling that a person like that is making decisions that affect the world. I'd find it troubling for them to make decisions that could affect a pet hamster, let alone a planet.
jfrey wrote:Belief in god requires proof that that belief is valid. It holds the burden of proof. On the other side, almost no atheists say that it is impossible for there to be a god. There simply isn't any evidence that there is one, no reason to suspect there might be.
These are perfect examples of beliefs mind you.
If we want to nurture a healthy strong society, we need positive role models.
It's a FAR more imposing image of a man that is open and can take everything into consideration without fear of being brainwashed; but is ultimately free from it all - then of a man who is militant about anything. Relaxation>Cramps
If you have to be militant about something means you don't really believe it to be a strong/stable/true idea, as you exclaim you do; not really compelling in any way, and not solving anything.
jfrey wrote:My main problem is with the concept of belief. The more immediate problem though is that beliefs do have real consequences. Saying live and let live or whatever is a cop out. It grants license for stupidity. It's why we have declining vaccination rates, people opposing gmo research when starvation and malnutrition are still serious problems in large portions of the world, opposition to stem cell research which could in our lifetime wipe out hundreds of debilitating conditions if allowed to.
Ok, opposition to stem cell research is bs; but if you're gonna advocate GMO's in a starving world, you have no idea about permaculture, how it works, and what it's capable of, ok? If anything is a cop-out, GMOs are one.
I encourage you to inform yourself more about permaculture, and why agriculture is bs we've been doing wrong from the start.