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The problem with...
Feb. 27th, 2003 01:27 amI've recently been mulling over the topics of ... people in general, and intolerance, and hatred, and public relations. Not really topics that nobody's ever thought about before, but that's what's been rolling around in my head. I've been recalling Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell, which everybody should read. The first part of the book is really excellent -- he shows people as people, thinking of themselves as more or less reasonable, of their lives and motivations as about as valid as a human life is or can be, and as their misfortunes as unfortunate, and how nobody really /likes/ living in squallor and poverty. That part's really good, but it's not where I'm going -- it's just that you should read Road to Wigan Pier. Where I'm really going with this is the second part, where he talks about Socialism. I'm not talking about Socialism in specific, but he was, see. A large part of his argument is that the main thing wrong with Socialism is Socialists. He was talking to me, decades into the future -- the main thing wrong with Socialism is the large contingency of Socialists who scare away the more normal, generally reasonable sort of people. He points out, particularly, the pre-hippie vegetarian (check) sorts who have beards (check), wear sandals (check), drink a lot of fruit juice instead of alcohol (check), and the intellectual sorts who speak mostly in Marxist jargon (and... check). His argument (not necessarily mine) is essentially that anybody who really sits and thinks about it for a while could probably come up with the idea that some sort of socialism is a Good Thing, that we do in fact want to get everybody fed and taken care of -- it's just that the needlessly weird and the extremist Socialists scare away the rest of the human population.
This generalizes rather well -- there's a group formed around an idea, and the group members think the idea is good for the rest of the population, so they try to recruit-advocate-proselytize. And maybe it is, in fact, a good idea... it's just that at a certain point, those who identify strongly with the group membership stop being able to relate to the rest of the world, and they frighten real people.
I think the problem is worse/more accute in Christianity. The problem with Christianity is the Christians. (... and the problem with Computer Science is the Computer Scientists, and the problem with Mathematics is the Mathematicians, and ... by induction, the problem with Humanity is the Human beings, so to fix all of these problems, we just get rid of people, but... eh.) This might be because, in my world, there are more people who think of themselves as Christians than who think of themselves as Socialists or Mathematicians. Hrm. Or maybe just there aren't that many people who think of themselves. Anyway... here we have an idea that people probably wouldn't come up with on their own, or at least is very counterintuitive, in a lot of cases. Combine this with the fact that a lot of people who claim to subscribe to the same idea have very different conceptions or interpretations of just what it is, or how it should be carried out, or who's a member of the group... and then combine that with the state of things, in which a lot of very well-meaning Christians are thoroughly frightening human beings, and a lot of thoroughly frightening human beings use "Christianity" as an excuse/basis for really unsavory sorts of activities that are probably more driven by personal xenophobia, ignorance, hatred, and general misanthropy... and it's really hard to draw a line between these last two states. Perhaps it's a continuum.
This sort of thing really destructive, and it's a huge problem, and I don't know what to do about it. I was speaking with Marty about it earlier... our own particular topic of conversation is this organization Chick Publications, which we both (morbidly) find really fascinating... I don't know what to do about this. It'd be wonderful if we could get the world to just ignore this sort of thing, then it would gracefully just snuff out, just die... but it's people, rather a lot of them, it would seem, and they have this worldview in which rock music is inherently a Tool of the Devil, as are Catholicism, Socialism, people who question/protest against the state, roleplayers (who are All Members of Satanic Cults)... ah yes. And the Catholic Church is directly run by Satan, and worldwide, Communists are in cahoots with the Pope. Evolution is a silly mistake -- nobody with a shred of scientific integrity or theological understanding could possibly believe that! The world is n-thousand years old for some small value of n, and ...
So there are people who think like this, and often, they're the most visible proponents of an idea very near and dear to my heart. It must be thoroughly unpleasant to live with a mind that thinks like this. Do I just sit and quietly wish for Chick Publications and like-minded folks to go away or change their minds? Do I write letters to them and explain that musicians who play guitars, Gary Gygax, and theoretical physicists do not, in fact, pose grave dangers to my immortal soul? That's probably what they'd like -- they'd write back, I would imagine, thinking "ah, another chance to reach a well-meaning but misled soul".
Essentially, what this comes down to, is that I can't stand people who think differently from how I think. No, that's not it, really ... I think I'm right. Other people think they're right. *laughs* ... the thing is... I'm /really/ right. Eh. Ranting about how much I hate a particular group of extreme-right fundamentalists was not what I set out to do with this entry.
Where I was really going with this... is that people who take stances that are Clearly Wrong and claim that it's Christianity they're purporting (instead of the idea that evolution is just a theory, and a horribly mistaken one at that), or who manage to scare off the rest of the population... are doing more harm than good. It's the question of figuring out how to present a good, if difficult, idea to people such that the people bearing the idea don't freak out the message reciptients. It's the plot of Shaolin Soccer, which is a really excellent film. I know Shaolin Kung Fu, and I want to bring my message to the world. How do I do it? Through offering up tattered business cards? Through singing and dancing in a night club?
That's what we're working on, I suppose...
This generalizes rather well -- there's a group formed around an idea, and the group members think the idea is good for the rest of the population, so they try to recruit-advocate-proselytize. And maybe it is, in fact, a good idea... it's just that at a certain point, those who identify strongly with the group membership stop being able to relate to the rest of the world, and they frighten real people.
I think the problem is worse/more accute in Christianity. The problem with Christianity is the Christians. (... and the problem with Computer Science is the Computer Scientists, and the problem with Mathematics is the Mathematicians, and ... by induction, the problem with Humanity is the Human beings, so to fix all of these problems, we just get rid of people, but... eh.) This might be because, in my world, there are more people who think of themselves as Christians than who think of themselves as Socialists or Mathematicians. Hrm. Or maybe just there aren't that many people who think of themselves. Anyway... here we have an idea that people probably wouldn't come up with on their own, or at least is very counterintuitive, in a lot of cases. Combine this with the fact that a lot of people who claim to subscribe to the same idea have very different conceptions or interpretations of just what it is, or how it should be carried out, or who's a member of the group... and then combine that with the state of things, in which a lot of very well-meaning Christians are thoroughly frightening human beings, and a lot of thoroughly frightening human beings use "Christianity" as an excuse/basis for really unsavory sorts of activities that are probably more driven by personal xenophobia, ignorance, hatred, and general misanthropy... and it's really hard to draw a line between these last two states. Perhaps it's a continuum.
This sort of thing really destructive, and it's a huge problem, and I don't know what to do about it. I was speaking with Marty about it earlier... our own particular topic of conversation is this organization Chick Publications, which we both (morbidly) find really fascinating... I don't know what to do about this. It'd be wonderful if we could get the world to just ignore this sort of thing, then it would gracefully just snuff out, just die... but it's people, rather a lot of them, it would seem, and they have this worldview in which rock music is inherently a Tool of the Devil, as are Catholicism, Socialism, people who question/protest against the state, roleplayers (who are All Members of Satanic Cults)... ah yes. And the Catholic Church is directly run by Satan, and worldwide, Communists are in cahoots with the Pope. Evolution is a silly mistake -- nobody with a shred of scientific integrity or theological understanding could possibly believe that! The world is n-thousand years old for some small value of n, and ...
So there are people who think like this, and often, they're the most visible proponents of an idea very near and dear to my heart. It must be thoroughly unpleasant to live with a mind that thinks like this. Do I just sit and quietly wish for Chick Publications and like-minded folks to go away or change their minds? Do I write letters to them and explain that musicians who play guitars, Gary Gygax, and theoretical physicists do not, in fact, pose grave dangers to my immortal soul? That's probably what they'd like -- they'd write back, I would imagine, thinking "ah, another chance to reach a well-meaning but misled soul".
Essentially, what this comes down to, is that I can't stand people who think differently from how I think. No, that's not it, really ... I think I'm right. Other people think they're right. *laughs* ... the thing is... I'm /really/ right. Eh. Ranting about how much I hate a particular group of extreme-right fundamentalists was not what I set out to do with this entry.
Where I was really going with this... is that people who take stances that are Clearly Wrong and claim that it's Christianity they're purporting (instead of the idea that evolution is just a theory, and a horribly mistaken one at that), or who manage to scare off the rest of the population... are doing more harm than good. It's the question of figuring out how to present a good, if difficult, idea to people such that the people bearing the idea don't freak out the message reciptients. It's the plot of Shaolin Soccer, which is a really excellent film. I know Shaolin Kung Fu, and I want to bring my message to the world. How do I do it? Through offering up tattered business cards? Through singing and dancing in a night club?
That's what we're working on, I suppose...
