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Tenderlysharp

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Everything posted by Tenderlysharp

  1. It seems rational to get restless with repetition of the same arguments... It looks like humans digest and move past their trauma with words and stories, so each person tries to vent their frustration in a place where they can feel heard and understood. It can be productive to get critical feedback from various sources to have more to add with personal intimate conversations. It can be like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hose, or as though someone is hammering a point into your head over and over again. I have watched many agnostic family members who give sincere deference to Christianity, Astrology, Buddhism and any other ideology that offers relief, become more vigorous in using irrational platitudes in the last couple years. It seems to be, in part, an attempt to swing the teeter totter back after tragic losses of friends, family, freedom, and physical contact. It seems irrational doctrines thrive when there are so many conflicting ways humans play with the truth. I wonder what unifying principles are helping the stronger religions herd their flock through hard times?
  2. My kind of people... the tender, thoughtful, meaningful, creative empaths are committing suicide. Perhaps the self esteem that Objectivism bolsters is a kind of emotional inoculation, but I think America is losing a lot of the artists and musicians that are a source of the wealth of my consciousness. Music concerts were my Sistine Chapel, they were better than church for most Americans. It isn't hard to make a correlation that religious leaders were eager to shut concerts down out of jealousy.
  3. "To exist is to be something, as distinguished from the nothing of non-existence, it is to be an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes. Centuries ago, the man who was—no matter what his errors—the greatest of your philosophers, has stated the formula defining the concept of existence and the rule of all knowledge: A is A. A thing is itself. You have never grasped the meaning of his statement. I am here to complete it: Existence is Identity, Consciousness is Identification." Is the mask part of your identity as a human consciousness?
  4. Jonathan Haidt links plumeting teen mental health to social media
  5. I love objectivism, yet feel ill equipped to keep up with the tremendous amount of words there are to sift through, I appreciate each of you who invest your time and attention to respond. I read this forum for hours, without posting my loosely organized thoughts and responses, then put it down for a few weeks. The majority of my mental real estate is dedicated to visual infomation. Here is one of my tumblrs I have used as catharsis and energy, I have posted more than 7000 masks from all the cultures and times I can find. I hope some of you find value if you take the time to scroll through. I recommend zooming into the images, I use 'COMMAND+++' on my mac to see the tumbnails more closely. https://submittothemask.tumblr.com/archive
  6. I definately see the effects in my 14 year old son, I wont use him as a pawn to fight the school directly, so I work to help him adapt. Humans have been using masks and plague scares as part of dogma leverage for thousands of years, the individual always has to develop a set of tools that help return to your values and priorities. I have an almost supernatural belief in the ability of an individual consciousness to transcend the collective.
  7. A rational explanation for irrationality... Why did I laugh when Ayn Rand said she liked the phrase "god bless you" even though she didn't literally believe in a god, she liked what the phrase means. When Ayn Rand said she never met her match in a debate, it seems like she was talking about the olympian exercise of developing her entire body of work. The Galt speeches are her conscious human identity grappling with the parts of herself and the collective she had to push back to become more fully human.
  8. People use a volitional spirit to play with things that scare them, like halloween. Mammals need to feel safe and in control. The virus makes us feel like we are out of control. If you can't control the virus you might try to control other people as an attempt to alleviate anxiety. People are irrational in predictable ways, whether you are for or against the mask, you can find an avalanche of 'evidence' online to support what you want to believe. The anxiety the virus causes one person doesn't affect another the same depending on how many people you know personally who died from it. The anxiety of being told what to do by other people can be just as painful, especially if you have suffered personal abuse, institutional abuse, or malpractice. Some people have a very strong physiological disgust mechanism that makes them germ phobic, while plumbers are elbow deep in human waste on a daily basis for years. and the executioners face is always well hidden
  9. I moved to Wyoming for a few years, back in Kearns now. It seems like there are a lot of loud obnoxious angry kids gripped by irrational political ideology in the Utah Atheists group on Facebook.
  10. Innovators actively seek critical feedback, how does copy/pasting add to the discussion of metaphysics, epistemology, identity or volition?
  11. Thats why the quality of your consciousness is not a copy paste auto response if it wants to have real impact on deep thinkers...
  12. Thinking more about this. If oppressive governments are pouring billions of dollars into "Anti-Human" social media ad campaigns to polarize all sides of the American political spectrum... are they getting their moneys worth? Their approach works on their own people who are crushed by more than 50,000 years of slave mentality. What do they seem to be gaining as they vicariously dabble with the concept of free speech in America? How do you get good at spotting the clever tricks of oppressors who think they can push the "empathy button" without actually feeling it? The empathy center in your brain expands in proportion to the freedom of volition in your surrounding area. This is why the difficulty and solitude of colder climates produce a greater percentage of independent, resilient, and benevolent individuals. Native Americans had 10,000 years of much greater volition to spread out. Early slave traders were perplexed at how impossible it is to violate a Native American's volition. In each oppressed person there is an oppressor who believes that accepting subversion will make them part of something stronger. Americans seem to love the underdog as a celebration of volition. How do you temper your empathy to free the oppressed with understanding that the responsibility of freedom is overwhelmingly horrifying to those who have been punished their whole lives for any attempt to think for themselves?
  13. How is it that a year ago it was much more common to feel derision toward germaphobes and hypochondriacs? Humans die without contact, I wouldn't trade anything for my 4 year old niece jumping my lap and giving me a kiss on the cheek with her booger face. I get a tissue, clean up her face and tell her she is adorable. A germ or virus is nothing compared to human consciousness. Why teach children to feel overwhelming helplessness in the face of something you absolutely have the intelligence to adapt to?
  14. The 'Do no harm, take no crap' approach is interesting. Last year YouTube was repeatedly recommending a hostage negotiation masterclass, looking into it I discovered a... language within the language... that I have been spending the year learning. It has absolutely evolved the way I approach conflict and difficult conversations. I am starting to actually look forward to challenges. I am kind of feeling like the 'shit head whisperer'. I watch a group called Utah Atheists who seem to be dominated by marxists shouting down every awkward individual who is newly questioning their faith in the conservative state. The curious semi-atheist tries to see if its worth it to take a lonely jump from one community to another. After seeing hundreds of posts in support of twitters freedom by people who constantly post threads taxing the life out of business owners... I started a thread about freedom of speech separate from the Trump debate and got a hundred people telling me to shut up and go away. Understanding history is my incentive to engage. The thought came that the aggression is a manifestation of volition, and not to take it personally. If they want to use their freedom of speech to try to shame me into conceding on deeply meaningful issues, it won't work. They have obviously never contemplated in depth. Why let it take me for a ride? I remember Ayn Rand saying the rats will scatter at the first sound of a human step. I could have handled some of my reaction better, my patience seems to have paid off, the group is loosening some restrictions. If my words inspire a person who is uncomfortable but can't explain why, then I feel like I am not standing idly by letting my home be overrun with stupidity. What does this have to do with wearing masks.... to negotiate with a hostage taker, you spend the beginning of the conversation listening, mirroring, using tactical empathy, calibrated questions, to let the control freak feel like he is in control. These skills are awkward at first and might feel like wearing a mask, but they can become integrated into your personality as an evolutionary approach. A human will irrationally defend volition, letting him have it changes his brain chemistry and brings his higher reasoning online.
  15. Look around your home. Is there anything there that gives you energy? Validates your consciousness? Reminds you of the unique manifestations of your identity? Any song, book, film, tactile object that resonates with the possibility of a goal worth aiming toward? Is there something you could put on your wall that will add a spring to your step, or release the tense confusion of a recent argument because it resonates with a problem solving mindset? As one works toward building a solid foundation in reality, aesthetics is where humanity has a chance to evolve creatively through the contribution of each individual. It takes a great deal of personal resilience to create something that is true, to the epic depths of your mind, regardless of whether another person might recognize some universal appeal.
  16. This has been on my mind a lot lately. It seems each person struggles in this dream state to a certain degree. It looks like contact with reality takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, and the evolutionary advantage of a developed frontal cortex. How do I describe the dawning I encountered when Ayn Rand gave me my first real taste of what reality might be... after spending thirty years of doing the best I could with the primitive tools I had. What "identity"... identity as a man, as a romantic, as a fertile animal, as a brother, as a friend, as an internet acquaintance. Man seems especially hungry for a hero of consciousness to access a path or foundation with resilience to weather the storm. Plague scares are not uncommon throughout history, what kind of mind has gotten through with more benevolence and freedom intact? one of em has eyes as big as jolly ranchers. I've been focusing on neural science and psychology lately. Carl Jung's thoughts are interesting. The ancient use of masks in culture to get a grip on negative emotion... Halloween is our yearly tradition dressing up as our favorite boogie man to make fun of insecurities it seems.
  17. It seems freedom twinkles around the edges... these moments where a person has the consciousness to show the rare benevolence that is still cherished in America. It was difficult worrying for my son when he had Covid last February. I compare that initial worry with wondering if he was going to get it all year, and appreciate how we got it over with. Our family has also been missing the usual get togethers, luckily my brother is building a large patio so we can catch up this spring. Mutual respect is crucial for relationships, its good to see someone doing what they can with a difficult situation.
  18. How many masks do you wear? I chose to present and ponder this topic as a Metaphysical and Epistemologcal exploration of identity. This thread is not so much to argue the benefits and safety of the mask. Another thread seems to do a thorough job in favor of the mask: https://forum.objectivismonline.com/index.php?/topic/34048-rebloggedit-is-not-self-interest-to-take-illness-lightly/&tab=comments#comment-368272 I wear the mask every day, I had Covid in February, never been more sick in my life... I definitely don’t want my three grandmothers in their 90’s to die from it, and I miss hugging them terribly. I've been seriously trying to figure out how I might be able to quarantine for two weeks just to have the privilege of being in the same room with each of them. You can submit to the mask and still hate it and still speak out against how dehumanizing it can be. As well as give careful attention to the ways opportunistic power struggle groups seize upon fear. The Chinese Congress spent $2 Billion for covid in the U.S. That is $40M in each state… Money from China is slave labor money. The money seems to be spent on social media ad campaigns promoting their agenda. You can spot the underlying theme in a deluge of memes that try to alienate, belittle, polarize, dehumanize, take for granted, and intellectually cripple America for respecting freedom and success. If you are faceless, what identity do you have?
  19. Intelligence tests were first designed to comb through people in poverty, identify those with potential and invest in their education. Some contributing factors of intelligence having upward mobility are basic nutrition, stable emotional environment, caring family members, not being shot at, willingness to take on responsibility, negotiation skills, writing/speaking skills, openness, autonomy... Part of the flag waving American Pride is the implication that humans seem to have gotten a lot smarter in the last 200 years in proportion to their freedom and value for individual independence.
  20. I agree. I've been on a Jordan Peterson youtube marathon the last couple weeks, as I do with many people who interest me. His lectures are packed so full of information. He reads a book a day, and says the more you know the more you realize how much more you don't know. I've sensed his limits on a few issues, wouldn't it be nice to have a couple hundred more years to take things in and put them together in useful ways.
  21. In this image, the space in the center (the mean) shows the average IQ scores for the vast majority are the same, and the real differences arise in the small gaps at the edges which are the outliers.
  22. The people I care about matter to me in many different ways, their intelligence being one aspect. In prison drug use has probably diminished the IQ's that many had when they were younger. There are also some very intelligent bastards in prison. This got me thinking about another statistic Jordan Peterson was talking about. That 10% of Americans, the outliers, do not have a high enough IQ to be allowed into the military. They are not smart enough to be shot at, yet they still need to be kept occupied with something productive to do so they don't run around tearing the world up. One can have very low IQ and very high trait conscientiousness and still do a simple repetitive job much better than a robot can.
  23. Yeah, no I don't think I have ever thought that when meeting someone. If I think about the truth I always have a sense that I have something to learn from each person I talk to. They might be dumb as a box of rocks and funny as hell.
  24. Thank you DavidOdden for taking time to consider and express your thoughts on this subject. The context for alternative I am pondering is a model that reflects the amazing technological advances we have seen over the last thirty years. By 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school. These schools were designed to meet the masses of farmers moving into cities for industrial work. The industrial model of children flowing through school like a conveyor belt hasn't changed much in the last hundred years. Some ideas. Bringing together specialists, in many fields, who are learning about how the brain works. Optimizing windows that open at certain periods of development where the acquiring of specific skills are accelerated. Flexibility to foster students to move forward more quickly with what they like and are good at. Skills at sifting through massive amounts of information in order to quickly identify, organize, prioritize information that is useful. Yes, this has been on my mind a lot. My son is eleven years old. He loves learning and hates school. Something is terribly wrong with that. I haven't found an online school that seems like a better option. He has friends he really likes in school. I would be happy to join or help build a system that has half or a quarter of in-person education while also seeing him much more dynamically engaged in an online education that plays more like a video game than the repetitive drudgery he keeps bringing home for homework. In the last six years we have only had one teacher who put real thought into her job. I've watched hundreds of You-Tube videos about creativity and education. Many in-person schools seem amazing, but I don't have the money for tuition, and moving expenses. I am currently working on setting clear goals to figure out how to move into a better life situation, which takes time. The online resources I am finding are incredibly helpful, while at the same time I am feeling frustrated that this information wasn't available to me in school twenty years ago.
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