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Am I being a hypocrite?

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Intresca

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Eventually, you can get to the place when, seeing them at their worst, you don't get upset or irritated, but just think, "How dumb!" and walk away unaffected.

For me, occupationally speaking, this is very true. Now, I don't get to walk away, and I suppose I can get some measure of satisfaction from putting evil people behind bars. The point is, if I take it home with me, it's very destructive. I've seen some distrubing events in my line of work, not to slight anyone else's experiences, but coping with those events is a must. Otherwise it would be off to the "looney farm".

VES

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Just 5 minutes ago, I was saying almost the exact same thing to a friend of mine. The effect another person's actions have on you (with the acception of forceful ones), is ultimately YOUR choice, not theirs.

Just five hours ago, I was reading almost exactly the same thing:

"Unlike other animals, humans tell themselves various sane and crazy things. Their beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and philosopies often take the form of internalized sentences or self-talk. Consequently, they can change their self-defeating emotions and behaviors, by their clearly seeing, disputing, and acting against their interntal philosophies...

"When people say 'That makes me anxious,' or 'You made me angry,' we help them to see that 'I made myself anxious about that' and 'I angered myself about your behavior.'"

--Albert Ellis & Robert A. Harper, A Guide To Rational Living

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"When people say 'That makes me anxious,' or 'You made me angry,' we help them to see that 'I made myself anxious about that' and 'I angered myself about your behavior.'"

That's almost, but not quite, right in that it implies that you can make yourself feel feel things. In fact, Ellis often advocates deliberate evasion of facts and non-evaluation as a way of avoiding certain emotions. In a debate with Nathaniel Branden in the 1960's, he declared he refuses to judge anybody or anything as evil -- even Adolph Hitler!!

A better implementation of the idea that emotions are the result of value premises is the Cognitive Psychology of Aaron Beck.

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Reading a previous post on whether playing video games, a rather frivilous pursuit, is hypocritical for an objectivist got me to thinking about why i play video games...

My time is used, and rationally i would like to get something out of it. I don't want my hobbies/interests to be a waste of time... i don't want anything i do to be a waste of time... and that i think is where the difference lies...

I love to come home and play a nice game of manhunt, final fantasy or dynasty warriors... (to plug my fave games)... and in return for my time spent on it, i get relaxation, satisfaction, and entertainment... the same way watching a well written tv show or movie provides all those things...

now if all i did was play games, all my time was wasted doing that, i wouldn't have the same appreciation... like in atlas shrugged when rand shows us what makes us able to appreciate what we have... we EARN it... when we don't earn our relaxation time, when all we do is relax, then hypocrisy sets in...

(of course, its only hypocritical if you live a frivilous lifestyle and claim to be an objectivist... if you, like a friend of mine, claim to want to be a draw on society, well, then your not being a hypocrite... you are just being a moron...)

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I did learn english by playing video games - this true. But isn't the real issue a metaphysical one ? I mean by that that when you play video games you accept the new metaphysical world in which the caracters evolve. then you can accept that magic is possible. But the games, and that's what's making a googd game, have to explain the metaphysical elements of the new wolrd your in. The rest is just not to mix yourself with that world and reality.

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The driving thing doesn't bother me. They are just trying to stay away from parents. I was never home in HS by choice. Of course I did sports and stuff but not everyone is athletic.

As to video games I play them ( Xbox, PC ). I enjoy playing game sin my free time as opposed to watching TV because I am interacting with something and not "vegging out". I do read a lot too. Too much video games is not good. When you start neglecting things that need to be done that can be a bad thing.

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