Comments on: A widespread American epidemic: intellectual brain freeze

By: xiaogou

xiaogou — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:27:06 +0000

Thank you all for your words of encouragement. I am sorry for posting at such a late date, but I have been busy and had no time to write a long post. I do have a strange sense of reality, as I tend towards idealism than practicality. Unfortunately, this has caused the conservative crowd to frown on my ideas and I have been told on occasions that I am not welcomed for my ideas. Ben if you have any problems understanding my reality I would be more than happy to discuss it with you. You do not have to agree with me, but at least understand what I am trying to say. I agree Vicki that each of us has a certain number of scripts that serve us and filters our views. It is as someone wrote, “If you don’t understand the man, don’t call him crazy. Ask him to explain himself.” Erich I do realize that people lose it from time to time. I do it too, except some of my friends can’t tell if it is really me or just one of my mock ups acting out. I do like posting here as it gives my brain or at least some of them an outlet. Thank you for allowing me to post.

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:28:19 +0000

I agree, Xiagou. Don’t be discouraged by Erich’s comments. I have to deal with his voice in my head all day long and he often oversteps his bounds!

By: Vicki Baker

Vicki Baker — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:56:57 +0000

Xiangou, don’t be discouraged by Erich’s comment.
Jesus is certainly as real a character as “Socrates” or “Shakespeare”, Yet probably no one here would fault you for saying “Shakespeare writes…” though his works are almost as much of a communal effort as the Gospels. Just remember Erich and I and pretty much everyone has to view reality through a prism of various competing narratives, the more powerful the less we are aware of them. As the Boddhisattva vow states “Delusions rise inexhaustibly.”

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:58:10 +0000

Mr. Xiaogou,

Good to meet you. I think Erich is honored and interested to have your input, I certainly am. (Btw, I have never read the bible, please forgive me, oh lord)

I must admit that I sometimes get lost in your (longer) posts, Mr. Xiaogou. You seem to have an excellent sense of morality, but I sense a certain disconnect with reality. At least *my reality*. I will not be offended if you feel the same about me and my posts, and their reflection on *your* reality. To get to the heart of the issue… God does not exist for me.

Please don’t equate this with censorship, though.

By: Xiaogou

Xiaogou — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:42:30 +0000

I do appreciate the people in this site. You say diversity of this audience yet, in the same breath to censor someone who has a view radical to what others think because I seem support Jesus and the Bible is rather contrary to what you just wrote. I believe because of my radical views you don’t appreciate what I post because it causes others to think and maybe realize what they are angry about are not Jesus and the Bible, but people being human.
And for the record, I do believe Jesus lived as a human being and had a great influence on people and was died for what he believed in. I am not going to as far as to convince you that he was the son of God or that God himself exists. That will be up to you to decide for yourself. The Bible is not accurate in any way as historical events go, but it does have wisdom and merit as a book to learn from. But, it is also misunderstood and misused by people who believe and do not believe in God. Just as all great religious books do.
I present the views I do because I believe that no one else will speak up for the Bible because it is highly and I emphasize highly hated by some in this audience. I hope that what I post would get people to be curious about what I am talking about and read the Bible. Unfortunately, this makes me probably highly hated by some and I am sorry that they are angry. If you want a forum that covers a diversity of views please do not censor my posts. But if you want a one sided forum for hate against something that has been maligned just ask and I will stop posting.
Finally, I am very curious about the world and I have things to say about bicycles and eating animals as well if you give me a chance. I was not able to post to those since my computer has been down for a long time.

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 06:02:10 +0000

xiaogou: I certainly don’t speak for everyone on this site; many types of people visit this blog. I’m concerned, however, that you don’t seem to appreciate the diversity of this audience–you write as though everyone else is convinced that 1) Jesus existed and 2) The Bible is an accurate record of historical events.

For you, the Bible is an unquestionable starting point for discussion. You have thus unwittingly become an illustration of the main point of this post. You appear to be curious only to the point where it becomes inconvenient to continue being curious.

By: xiaogou

xiaogou — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:35:42 +0000

I wonder if any of these “Christians” that say “I do it because the Bible says it” realize that Jesus was put on the cross by the very same people that said “I do it because the Bible says it.” Jesus was about thinking and doing what is right not what is necessarily written in the holy scriptures. The people of the time were locked into a fixed scripture thinking and being mislead by the religious leaders.
The kicker to it all was whenever these religious leaders tried to trip Jesus up with scripture he retorted with wisdom and made the religious leaders look like a bunch of idiots.

By: Niklaus Pfirsig

Niklaus Pfirsig — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:10:43 +0000

I call it brain-laziness. Oddly enough, many who point the finger at the religious right/neo-cons are themselves just as bad.

For those among us that recall the sitcom “All in the Family”, an often missed point in the show was that the character of Michael Stivic was just as hard-headed, prejudiced, and un-thinking as Archie was.

While the Bible-thumpers are (mis-)quoting the bible as proof of their argument, quite often the ultra-liberals that oppose them spew forth political dogma about environmental or pseudo-activist nonsense that they may not understand but beleive because a politician wrote in a book about how “scientists believe” something is.

I, for one, am not content to take the word of any politician as the truth, however convenient or inconvenient that may be.

So.. What is the consensus here? How many people really know what a consensus is? Who has looked the word up in their Funk and Wagnall’s.. A show of hands, please.

Intelligence is not about being able to regurgitate thousands of facts. That is basic knowledge. Intelligence is about being able and willing to apply that knowledge. Intellignce enables us to spot the lies. But only if we question what we want to believe as well as what we don’t want to believe.

Be vigilant.
Be aware.
Question everything, never stop learning, and
When presented with a new idea, ask “Does this make sense?”

By: Skblllzzzz

Skblllzzzz — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:04:32 +0000

Ed Brayton coined the term Virulent Ignorance: “The systematic accretion in one’s mind of a collection of myths, half-truths and outright falsehoods that gives one the illusion of knowledge.”