Pacifism

[infoterror]

To enjoy? No ----

but to perpetuate?

Good points all. I detest bigotry, but race is important, and as Demiurge said, it's the only thing that centers a population around a positivity-based values system. It is therefore the ultimate anti-modern-society belief.

that and cosmic idealism of course

 

[Kenneth R.]

Let me explain why I care. I think to center a person's behavior, it's integral for him to be able to identify with nation of relative homogeneity. We need a shared culture to not feel dislocated. The absence of this leads to a lot of modern difficulties. There is less calling for the average person to act "ethically" because there's less reason to care about surrounding people. I mean, they might as well be in another country, so who cares?

if this is the case you are making, then the nation i associate with is the nation of Christianity. its people are everywhere, its claims the souls of humanity, without borders and government. its flag is the symbol upon which the ultimate sacrifice took place. in that way, i would agree.

as for the nations of man, i couldn't disagree more. i despise my country, i despise most of the world governments, and all that they do to try and maintain their lines in the sand. i feel no less ethical despite my distate for america, no less caring about people despite my disassociation with my fellow americans' patriotism.

 

[Demiurge]

What you do has little to do with a sweeping social phenomenon.

 

[Kenneth R.]

the american public is quite nationalist, though unaware of that, since they instead call it "patriotism". that does not make their sweeping social phenomenon any less stupid.

 

[Demiurge]

Jeez, you live in another world if you don't think america is riddled with ethnic dissension and feuding.

 

[Kenneth R.]

and what nation is not? how do you justify nationalism as a solution? not everyone is going to behave more ethically because they are among peers of similar belief. not everyone even cares what their peers think of them, nor care for their peers, regardless of their stance on nationalism.

 

[Demiurge]

Do you even read these topics? Do you try to irritate me by constructing strawmen?

Here's what you like to do: enter a topic, take a practical suggestion and analyze its merits based on literally universal success. You are a space cadet.

 

[Kenneth R.]

the suggestion was only practical from your perspective, and that is why i thought i would post my disagreement.

 

[Demiurge]

I will not be engaged by your typical tactics. Your repeated, histrionic misconstruals grow increasingly tiresome.

Your disagreement doesn't bother me much. What does is that you do what I described in my prior post, seemingly without the ability to distinguish between an absolute postulation and a practical proposal acknowledged to work on some agents. I'm not striving to reduce every human to an automaton, which seems to be the criterion for you to assent on anything. Such an effort would be utterly futile. That's basically what you do: cry "we must dismiss this-or-that because it will not work on every, single human." It's ridiculous.

 

[Kenneth R.]

then you might rephrase your statements so that they do not appear to include all people.

 

[Demiurge]

It's transparent to everyone but you. This is because whenever there exists the remote possibility for a misinterpretation, you seize it.

 

[Kenneth R.]

and why shouldn't i? instead of simply assuming what you mean. better to avoid misunderstandings. there is no reason why i should not question generalizing statements

 

[Demiurge]

In every post, there is nearly always a possibility for a misinterpretation. This doesn't mean it was unclear per se, rather its reader is putting a lot of effort into misconstruing it. Additionally, you don't openly ask for a clarification, which we could settle in the exchange of a few polite sentences. Instead, you take your odd, erroneous misunderstanding and begin debating on its basis.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I'm not going to comment, only say that I would like a clarification of what SS asked in post #26 by Demiurge. Basically carry on the discussion before the bickering.