This is an amazing article on dissecting culture and finding the things that are “taboo” now, but will probably be laughed at in the future.
If everything you believe is something you’re supposed to believe, could that possibly be a coincidence? Odds are it isn’t. Odds are you just think whatever you’re told.
…
If you believe everything you’re supposed to now, how can you be sure you wouldn’t also have believed everything you were supposed to if you had grown up among the plantation owners of the pre-Civil War South, or in Germany in the 1930s– or among the Mongols in 1200, for that matter? Odds are you would have.
Not surprisingly, I know some people like this. Some of you are in that group, too.
When a politician says his opponent is mistaken, that’s a straightforward criticism, but when he attacks a statement as “divisive” or “racially insensitive” instead of arguing that it’s false, we should start paying attention.
I couldn’t agree more. This kind of thing is all over the world of politics. Another interesting notion is this one:
Most adults, likewise, deliberately give kids a misleading view of the world. One of the most obvious examples is Santa Claus. We think it’s cute for little kids to believe in Santa Claus. I myself think it’s cute for little kids to believe in Santa Claus. But one wonders, do we tell them this stuff for their sake, or for ours?
This, too, is a great quote:
A good scientist, in other words, does not merely ignore conventional wisdom, but makes a special effort to break it. Scientists go looking for trouble. This should be the m.o. of any scholar, but scientists seem much more willing to look under rocks.
Why? It could be that the scientists are simply smarter; most physicists could, if necessary, make it through a PhD program in French literature, but few professors of French literature could make it through a PhD program in physics. Or it could be because it’s clearer in the sciences whether theories are true or false, and this makes scientists bolder. (Or it could be that, because it’s clearer in the sciences whether theories are true or false, you have to be smart to get jobs as a scientist, rather than just a good politician.)
Oh screw it, just go read the whole thing. Yes, I know it’s long, but it’s good for you. Especially those of you who have well rooted beliefs that you can’t defend logically.
The Santa Claus thing always gets me, and the Tooth fairy, and the Easter Bunny, etc etc..it bothers me that we tell these kids these things, they believe them for 7-8 years of their lives until one kid at school ruins it for them and says, \”No, so-and-so said he\’d not real!\” The kid breaks down crying, then the children come home to their parents, and are ticked off at their parents for lying to them for the last 8 years that there\’s this imaginary being. Meanwhile, psychologists try and get us to break children of their \”imaginary friends\” habits, because who knows, it might lead to schitzophrenia. Isn\’t this a bit too contradictory?!?!
Hmmm… but the spirit of St. Nicholas is a spirit of giving… not getting. If only we taught things to children right… from day one… it would work out better in the long term? (yeah this is rather idealistic… whatever.)