DmB, John said to dmb: > Whatever we personally accept is the only real criterion for anything > anymore. Truth is relative, ideas are dime and dozen and if you don't like > the religious outlook you were raised in, well there's about a billion more > to choose from. It's all personal preference anyway, with no real meaning to > any of it. > > dmb says: > So then your personal preference is to view life as cynical, sad, and > meaningless? The only real criterion is personal preference and THAT is your > choice? Jeez. If your taste in food is anything like your taste in > philosophy I'm gonna have to decline all future dinner invitations. > > Sorry David B. My bad. I think I need some sort of "pml" Philosophy Markup Language so I can put <irony></irony> tags around my writing so you'll get when I'm being highly facetious.
I was being facetious because you stated your preferences without any sort of argumentation or reason - as if the fact that you don't really care about by which method you are entertained or informed and this completely obviates any carefully made point on my part about analyzing tv as a philosophy of rhetoric. I could make sweeping and moving arguments, but in the face of "preference as king" they all come to naught. > > John said: > > Well Dave, I'm sure it's fashionable in some circles to praise Marx, just > as in other circles it's the fashion to sneer at him. But I'm in favor of > evaluating ideas on their merit rather than dismissing or affirming just > because it's "marxist". > > > > dmb says: > > Did I say we ought to affirm or dismiss Postman? No, of course not. And, if > fact, I already stated by own view which was neither an affirmation nor a > dismissal. (It's not a crazy idea but it's overplayed and out of proportion, > I'd said.) But don't you think that your ability to evaluate his ideas would > only be improved and enhanced by also understanding the background and > context of those ideas? Yes, of course it will. But instead of saying > "thanks, dave", you just seem to resent it. I don't get that. > > Well, to be honest, it comes off as more than a little dismissive, the way you do it. You don't analyze, you categorize. You don't engage the actual ideas or logic of an assertion, you seek your memory banks for some way to attach it to a discarded or discardable "school of thought". It's rather the defining characteristic of a supercilious philosophologist that assumes slavering devotion over every little tidbit of knowledge bequeathed upon us students. I know you're a teacher Dave. Just try and remember that I'm not your student and such confusions will be all cleared up. But if it makes you happy, <irony>Thanks Dave !</irony> I think you're just angry at me because you're an anti-intellectual theist > while I am an anti-theistic intellectual. (This only refers to my point of > view, not my intelligence, status or achievements.) I'm everything you hate, > huh? The case against theism ruffles your feathers big time, doesn't it? > That's okay. It's only natural. I'd probably feel the same way if the > situation were reversed. > I'm a pretty bitter anti-religionist myself. We could probably find more in common than you'd guess. And I don't despise intellectuals. Heck, I am one, even though it might not seem like it to you - I love doing metaphysics even more than getting drunk or picking up bar ladies. I do tend to skewer the academic world, but that's just to keep 'em on their toes. If there is any hope for humanity, it lies in the true church of reason - the last bastion of the typographic mind. Ya'll do your job and you won't have criticism from me. I gotta admit you rub me the wrong way, usually. And your knee-jerk antitheism gets my goat. But then, so do the smug, theistically arrogant preachers and priests who think they got god all defined and in their pockets. I get prickly at arrogance. I get prickly at knee-jerk reactions. And you and I have a dark history that goes back further than you even realize. So yeah, all that. > > Generally speaking, I like to think that anger is just the initial reaction > but later, when things calm down and we have a chance to do some pondering, > we might actually change our views as a result of such challenges. That's > how it works for me, anyway. Takes time to change your mind. It's a process. > And I suppose a lot of the time this process never gets off the ground > because the challenged beliefs are just too central, too firmly entrenched > so that an alteration in them is very expensive. Altering such a central > belief is too costly in the sense that it supports a whole series of other > beliefs in such a way that they would come tumbling down too. Sometimes this > is so dramatic that one's whole world seems to be threatened. "No pain, no > gain" is a slogan that applies to more than just muscles, you know? A change > of perspective is often experienced as a crisis when you're in the middle of > it but later, when you can look back at it you can see that it was all quite > worthwhile > . You've probably heard people say things like, "Getting fired from my job > was the best thing that every happened to me". Times like that have a way of > forcing us to hit the reset button, changes who we think we are and sends > life in a new direction. > I agree with you and what you say is one reason to keep an open mind and do the honest work of thinking through ideas and reasoning and argumentation without jumping straight to pre-formed opinions gleaned from studies. > > I'm not saying this describes your situation. I'm not saying that you're > more challenged by me than I am by you. This is about anybody and everybody. > But I do get the sense that you're mighty pissed and that your new > personality won't allow you to properly vent about it, so it's sort of > leaking out from the cracks. I'm afraid you're gonna blow a gasket or > something. Go ahead and vent. Let me have it. It's alright. I'll get over it > eventually. Besides, in cyberspace no one can hear me cry. John smiles) I agree completely, and I think I just did. 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