I don't believe you

[Piney]

18 minutes ago, danydandan said:

Just so people are aware. @Piney and I are just taking the p*** out of each other. 

Good looking out! Remember when Jay got all bent! 

[+Desertrat56]

1 hour ago, Aquila King said:

I'd love to see some statistics and/or studies to prove most of mankind to be better than our base instincts, cause sometimes it's hard to believe such a simple notion to be true...

Everyone is better than their base instincts sometimes and worse sometimes. 

[Aquila King]

2 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

Everyone is better than their base instincts sometimes and worse sometimes. 

True. Nuance is often the key to finding the truth on nearly any topic...

[danydandan]

24 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

You're right Dany. We're all just a single celled organism that build a better body. 

Some people are more single celled than others lol.

[danydandan]

11 minutes ago, Piney said:

Good looking out! Remember when Jay got all bent! 

Yeah that was funny. Poor Jay.

Sorry @jaylemurph we are talking about you behind your back.

[jaylemurph]

6 minutes ago, danydandan said:

Yeah that was funny. Poor Jay.

Sorry @jaylemurph we are talking about you behind your back.

If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong. 

—Jaylemurph 

[+Hammerclaw]

39 minutes ago, Liquid Gardens said:

"Why so butthurt all the time?"

"It's an opinion, you can accept it or reject it"

"You're fair dinkum, digger, so lighten up"

et...cetera...

I rejected it--don't you think?

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

2 hours ago, Hammerclaw said:

Who cares? Politics suck. The fact that people on both sides, the loudest and most vocal few, demonize one-another as you are doing, makes sensible dialogue impossible. You are oblivious to the fact that almost all Trump supporters aren't like that at all, just as they are every bit as sure the Left is pretty much made up of people who hate anyone who doesn't agree with them. 

Why is there a picture of Obama there ? 

[Piney]

4 minutes ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

Why is there a picture of Obama there ? 

  Just noticed that!!!! 

[XenoFish]

36 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong. 

—Jaylemurph 

Unless you're into that sort of thing.

[Duke Wellington]

2 hours ago, danydandan said:

 

I will have to disagree.

Maslow`s Hierarchy of Needs lists them if you are interested.

[Jodie.Lynne]

10 hours ago, Sherapy said:

Skell’s?

"Skell" is a term used by LEO's in NYC, I don't know about other departments, it basically means a vagrant, panhandler, druggies, hookers,and other less savory types.

Although Xeno's link was informative, the term is actually an abbreviation of "Rathskeller', and the usage began to be used to describe the bowery bums who would scrap up a few dollars for cheap beer in the local bars.

[+Hammerclaw]

2 hours ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said:

Why is there a picture of Obama there ? 

The woman chewing him out is a Republican Politician, Jan Brewer, former governor of Arizona.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Hammerclaw

[+Hammerclaw]

33 minutes ago, Jodie.Lynne said:

"Skell" is a term used by LEO's in NYC, I don't know about other departments, it basically means a vagrant, panhandler, druggies, hookers,and other less savory types.

Although Xeno's link was informative, the term is actually an abbreviation of "Rathskeller', and the usage began to be used to describe the bowery bums who would scrap up a few dollars for cheap beer in the local bars.

The ragged people.

[Jodie.Lynne]

2 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

The ragged people.

yep. And usually the very petty criminals.

It kind of became a catch-all phrase for lowlifes

[+Hammerclaw]

3 minutes ago, Jodie.Lynne said:

yep. And usually the very petty criminals.

It kind of became a catch-all phrase for lowlifes

Muff garbage.

[Jodie.Lynne]

5 hours ago, Aquila King said:

I'd love to see some statistics and/or studies to prove most of mankind to be better than our base instincts, cause sometimes it's hard to believe such a simple notion to be true...

I don't think you will find such a statistical study.

But when you read about people (everyday citizens) who risk their lives to help others in need. People who give their time & their money to charities. People who are trying to help others, then I think that demonstrates that we can be better than our base instincts.

[Mr Walker]

On 15/05/2019 at 2:43 PM, danydandan said:

You're still arguing against a point I'm not making. Well done. 

Next time why don't you just post your own premise to argue against. Stop wasting your breath on what you have no comprehension of. 

I explained the link as i see it. if you don't see the same link then there is a resewn for that. 

[Aquila King]

2 hours ago, Jodie.Lynne said:

I don't think you will find such a statistical study.

But when you read about people (everyday citizens) who risk their lives to help others in need. People who give their time & their money to charities. People who are trying to help others, then I think that demonstrates that we can be better than our base instincts.

True. So many of the people I see online can simply make me more cynical if viewed in large quantities. Always nice to remind oneself of those positive aspects of humanity every once in a while. 

[Guyver]

Lol.  This thread has been pretty funny in the last page.  Y’all some clever folks.  That’s refreshing.  Sigh. I’ve been debating Christians.  I think that says enough.

[Guyver]

On 5/12/2019 at 7:54 PM, onlookerofmayhem said:

There is nothing inherently right, wrong, perfect or imperfect about the universe. 

It all depends on what perspective you are looking from.

If you think the universe is perfect, I would highly disagree with you. Seriously. There are loads of terrible things about the universe. 

Is child rape part of this perfection you see?

No....the evil actions are far from perfect.  But the universe that allowed those pondscums to survive is.  IMHO.

[Mr Walker]

On 15/05/2019 at 4:02 PM, Sherapy said:

I did not believe that you gave away millions on a teachers salary.

This do isn'tncome families and single mothers for a reduced rent .Due to tax policies again this also gave us a tax free income of arounf 15 mean you are a liar, it means the math doesn’t  add up.

 

We've covered this, and I have  proved that the maths does add up. This is just another thing you refuse to believe, not something which can't be true.

It only required giving way about 25 % of our income over 40 plus years, (which we could manage very comfortably)  and then giving away the quite large tax rebates we got for giving to charity. Eg (figures hypothetical) if i gave away 10,000 dollars i would get back about 3000 dollars next year in tax. By giving that away, also, i gained another 1000 dollars return, the next year.

 Thus every dollar donated is multiplied considerably, due to the nature of our tax system and the rebates given for donations to charities.

  We alos gave awy large sums from monies  that we received in inheritances, and from some insurance payouts.  Finally, for about 20 years we owned an investment [property which we rented out to low income families and single mothers who otherwise struggled to get a home to rent  Due to tax policies, again, this gave us 15000 dollars extra income every yea r which we could also give awy That alone raised 300,000 of the million dollars 

Even today, on the age pension, we give away about  20 % of that  (roughly $7000,) although we can no longer claim tax concessions as we don't pay taxes on the pension.    

[Aquila King]

3 minutes ago, Guyver said:

No....the evil actions are far from perfect.  But the universe that allowed those pondscums to survive is.  IMHO.

Define "perfect."

[Mr Walker]

On 15/05/2019 at 5:01 PM, eight bits said:

There is an eerie similarity between being a Trump supporter and being a believer in other "UM type" topics. Some of it literally - there is a segment of his base that applauds moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem because they think that that will hasten Armageddon (and they may be right about that, too).

Anyway, the only path up for Carson in 2020 would be if Trump didn't run again, which is possible, but there is no sign of it. So for Carson, it's probably 2024, if that's the direction he still wants to go. As @Sherapy points out, he really got clobbered in 2016. His campaign had a few good weeks, but it's a marathon, and he was out of it almost as soon as anybody began paying attention to him.

On to our regularly scheduled program, @Mr Walker.

We are in agreement that people need coping mechanisms, life is hard and psyches are fragile. We are in agreement that faith, whether in God, alien amazons or in Making Australia Great Again, is available as a coping mechanism. Of course, it doesn't follow that people need faith, particularly among the available coping mechanisms, although it's been a popular option for ages.

If I wasn't clear when I described coping mecahnisms as barren, then let me try again. Let's pick one, like projection (attributing to somebody else something that is true of oneself, while being unaware that it is true of oneself and unaware of projecting). It's just a particular kind of mistake, one that has the side effect of shoring up the ego.

Mistakes in and of themselves are barren. However, all mistakes offer the potential for improvement - you can recognize the mistake for what it is, and stop making that mistake. In that process, maybe you also learn something about how your mind works, what its strengths and weaknesses are. The mistake is barren, correcting the mistake can be fruitful. Ooops - I lose the beneficial side-effect of a coping mechanism? Well, there are others, plus maybe now that I can see the real problems more clearly, I might opt for a solving mechanism instead.

Historically, correcting the mistake of projection has given us some insight into how the psyche is structured, and insight into unconscious cognitive processing, which turns out to be very rich even thougn by definition we don't observe its richness directly. This is all good. Faith has that potential, too (actually, it's a lot like projection - except with projection, the target actually exists prior to the projection, while with faith, it doesn't matter whether the "target" is real or not).

Nevertheless, in and of itself, faith is an unreliable guide to truth, useful only for its psychological side-effect which can be achieved in other ways and for the potential learning when faith is seen for the indulgent fantasy which it is, and therefore left behind.

 

Ah I see You think of coping mechanisms as unthinking/subconscious.  i see them as quite deliberate constructs (because for me the y are ) In general you are right; most don't realise what the y are doing. However, i wouldn't say projection is the best example of a coping mechanism.   I was thinking of the mental techniques we learn and use to cope with the knowledge we possess ,such as avoidance    

But to take projection. IF it shores up an otherwise fragile ego, then it has done its task, and is a positive thing, not a barren one 

Why correct it, unless it is also doing some overt harm? 

I agree that faith has nothing to do with truth. That is not it's purpose. It fulfils another equally important purpose, to the skill of discerning truth You don't need to know how a plane flies, to have faith that it will.

You don't have to know that you will wake up the next morning, to have faith that you will.  

I don't know any human beings who live without any faith.

Those who lose all faith tend to die, either from suicide or giving up hope. 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Mr Walker

[Guyver]

4 minutes ago, Aquila King said:

Define "perfect."

Beyond definition? Lol.  JK.  

Perfect is without flaw or highly functional in a precise way in one sense.  It’s like the Earth.  We all know it will end one day, because everything with a beginning has an ending.  But, what’s happened in between?  Like our skin - the largest organ in our body- it constantly renews itself.  But these are time periods long beyond us and our ability to observe.  The universe keeps remaking itself.  Star die and bring forth other stars and planets, and even some of the elements in our own bodies.  This happens everywhere all the time in an expanse so enormous we can’t even understand it.  I think that’s perfect.  

If you or anyone else happens to think I’m missing something, feel free to share.  I listen.