Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

dalefvictor comments on May 30, 2022:

It just came to me that the teaching of religion tells one that if not for the fear of gods wrath all would do wrong. So we must fear, all the things you mention. Perhaps my problem is that I do not fear god, jesus, or whatever other deity I am supposed to fear. If they want me to fear them let ...

Fernapple replies on May 31, 2022:

The problem of course is, that a lot of believers do not truly fear, at least the good parts, of the god they secretly know in their hearts is not that threatening or maybe even real. Yet they still join and spend time in a subculture which teaches the fear of all other cultures, over and over again.

A member on here, recently asked. Does love exist ?

MizJ comments on May 30, 2022:

"Hugging and other forms of nonsexual touching cause your brain to release oxytocin, known as the "bonding hormone." This stimulates the release of other feel-good hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin, while reducing stress hormones, such as cortisol and norepinephrine. These neurochemical ...

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

That adds much to the post, interesting thank you.

A member on here, recently asked. Does love exist ?

anglophone comments on May 30, 2022:

I simply could not be bothered to respond to such an inane and pointless question, hence my erstwhile silence in that regard.

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

You probably have a great deal more sense than me.

A member on here, recently asked. Does love exist ?

Julie808 comments on May 30, 2022:

Yes, I think you have a point about love being an emotion or instinct that has evolved in humans and animals that care for their young. Perhaps going a bit further, that same kind of love and caring can extend to the larger community of alternate caregivers and those dependent on them, and life ...

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Exactly.

A member on here, recently asked. Does love exist ?

Diaco comments on May 30, 2022:

IMO, Our relations with everything are based on our Interests. Love means the desire to Whom or What can secure, provide and answer our needs & Interests. then A Good relationship is when both sides care about the other one's needs & Interests as well. I think any other definition is just a big ...

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Yes that is why I made my definition very broard to include just about any form of affection.

A member on here, recently asked. Does love exist ?

K9Kohle789 comments on May 30, 2022:

I believe that people believe in love whether it truly exists or not. I had a reckless parent-hating boyfriend-he died at 19 in his car. I felt we were in love but on reflection i think it was more lust than love. We were young, at an age of 'mating' and hormones were rampant. I also had a boy ...

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Yes, that is very true. My definition was of course very broard to include just about any form of affection.

I'll take 2 please...

Garban comments on May 30, 2022:

Perfect gift for @Fernapple or any gardener!

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Yes, but I bet it only works if you have a fibre optic broard band water supply.

Spirituality is emotionality.

violetfree comments on May 30, 2022:

Its much simpler. Religion is a just a way to control masses.

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

@skado Lots. Money, sexual benefits, political power, social status, social influence, military power, vanity, etc. Hello violetfree and welcome to the site.

Firearms were the leading cause of death in children in 2020, researchers say : NPR

Triphid comments on May 29, 2022:

Words are nowhere near enough to say how sad and upsetting this is, especially, since imo, almost ALL of them could have PREVENTED had the Untied States of Absurdity woken up, seen that it is suffering from a series of totally insane obsessions, the first being that of " we must be armed, ready and ...

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Well said.

Firearms were the leading cause of death in children in 2020, researchers say : NPR

Betty comments on May 29, 2022:

In my opinion... The biggest cause of division is racism, discrimination, and prejudice which is encouraged by religion, government, and big business. It protects and benefits them, everyone else is expendable. With such large groups in each demographic, the voice of reason is lost.

Fernapple replies on May 30, 2022:

Well said. There is more behind it than just gun rights.

So I have a friend, he is not on here but he is one of the most knowledgeable when it comes to ...

Fernapple comments on May 29, 2022:

Most of them have been done, but to be topical. Why not ask if religion is not in part responsible for the promotion of the fear and hate culture which seems to be afflicting the US today ? As in. Religion needs to fill pews, it does that by promoting fear, fear of chaos, fear of sin, fear of ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

@misstuffy Yes I do think that the young offer a lot of hope.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

Charles1971 comments on May 29, 2022:

I agree with you Fernapple though I don't think this is something new. I think technology (media, internet) have simply made the spread of fear and hate both easier and more obvious. Just looking back through U.S. history and there's plenty of hate and fear prior to the 21st century... ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Hopefully it will bottom out, but the bottom of the pit may not be a pleasant place sadly.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

SpikeTalon comments on May 29, 2022:

Whilst I'd readily agree that organized religion breeds a culture of promoting fear and despair, I could also say the same for secular politics, in particular politicians with an interest in promoting their own self-righteous agendas (politicians from both political extremes that is). Unfortunately ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

The two together get really frightening sadly.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

TedGresham997 comments on May 29, 2022:

I haven't read the other comments yet but here's my two-cents worth. Christianity has always been based on fear. From one end to the other preachers have preached and taught followers to fear god, be afraid they're not worthy, etc. These days, however, religious leaders can see the world changing...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

That is very true. The cornered beast may do a lot of damage in its death throws.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

MikeInBatonRouge comments on May 29, 2022:

I think you answered your own question, and I fully agree with your answer. I do think that the fact of our being founded, NOT on religious freedom as Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and a few of their compratriots hoped, but rather on belief in religious exceptionalism, the delusion that we ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

That is one hell of a set of problems.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

anglophone comments on May 29, 2022:

I think it is perhaps more complex than just religion. My half-baked guess is that a country's leaders have an influence on society. Where leaders embrace pluralism the "fear of the other" becomes less pronounced. Contrapositively, where leaders embrace exceptionalism "fear of the other" becomes ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Yes you are certainly quite correct, I was just limiting my comments to the one aspect of it, religions share.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

Alienbeing comments on May 29, 2022:

What you suspect has a degree of truth. Religion promotes separation when each religion proclaims it is the only way. That promotes the concept of tribalism.

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Exactly.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

TomMcGiverin comments on May 29, 2022:

It's probably no accident that theocracy and capitalism go hand in hand. I think that in the US, religion is used and promoted by the capitalist ruling class to discourage the people from ever thinking of supporting socialism or revolting against the system here. It's a distraction against class ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Much of the rest of the developed world is not affraid of ideas, and so they move forward. The main fear they plant in theocracies is the fear of ideas.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

DenoPenno comments on May 29, 2022:

Also remember that religions center around their version of truth. It is knowing. If you have the right religion you know the truth. What about the other guy and his religion? He does not have the truth. This also puts those who know as much smarter than you.

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Very true.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

Matias comments on May 29, 2022:

I don't think that religion is the prime suspect of America's love affair with guns and violence. It's more the lingering frontier mentality: if you have to share the teritory you live on with other people you perceive as "hostile tribes", you learn to love your gun. And once this mentality has ...

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

There is probably a lot of truth in that, though it does not perhaps explain all of the more generalized fear and hatred.

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

BD66 comments on May 29, 2022:

It's the US Media. They generate their profits by stoking anger and hatred.

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Are not the churches part of the media ?

Reading so much on this site, I have become interested in why a culture of fear and hate seems to be...

Sofabeast comments on May 29, 2022:

Functionalists would argue that macro societies require a stable rock of knowledge and power to believe in - in essence surrendering themselves to a higher authority, even if this authority fails the scientific method.

Fernapple replies on May 29, 2022:

Yes but there can be good forms of that, and bad forms.

The Honeysuckle which grows at the end of my drive, here in the photos against my neighbor's cottage...

Lorajay comments on May 28, 2022:

I killed some of the honeysuckle that volunteered my yard because it will choke out from the shrubs if you don't.

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

Mine grows in a wild corner at the end of my drive, so it has nothing of value to choke. Fortunately.

Jordan Klepper Debunks The “Good Guy with a Gun” Argument

Fernapple comments on May 28, 2022:

Sadly it says. "Video unavailable in your country."

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

@Lorajay Good idea, but I just tried it, and it is certainly not available in the UK.

The Honeysuckle which grows at the end of my drive, here in the photos against my neighbor's cottage...

OldGoat43 comments on May 28, 2022:

My brother and I would pick a few honeysuckle flowers in my grandmother's backyard to taste the sweet nectar that the hummingbirds loved.

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

Never tried that. May have a go.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

@Matias That is very true. Though I would not perhaps use the word sophisticated, perhaps " educated beyond their understanding" would be a better term, since it seems to me that, it is really just a, school boy level, logic trick. Indeed most of theology seems to be just a school boy level logic trick perhaps.

Spirituality is emotionality.

AtheistInNC comments on May 26, 2022:

Another secret christian on the site.

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

@AtheistInNC To be fair to skado, and I am often very critical of him. He has never made a secret of his christianity, but has always plainly stated that he is a believer in the christian cultural tradition but not in the literal existence of god.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 28, 2022:

@Matias Note the fallacy of proof by definition, which is worth thinking about here. " I define god as a donkey, donkeys undoubtedly exist, therefore god exists."

Is an autistic kid more easily indoctrinated with religion?

Matias comments on May 27, 2022:

No, rather the opposite. To be religious, you need an intact Theory of Mind (which is exactly what autistic people lack), and it is also an advantage to have a very well developed associative cognition, i.e. to see connections very easily, even if objectively there are none.

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

I just posted this comment on yvilletom's other copy of this post and thought you may like to read it. It really depends on the type of scam. Autistic and Aspergers people, ( I am borderline. ) can be very bad at reading certain social signals, so that we could be caught if the scam is one based on social trust issues, such as a lonely hearts scam. On the other hand there is often an obsessive passion for fact and perfect logic, indeed one way to describe the spectrum is as just obsessive honesty, and unwillingness to accept cognitive dissonance. Illogic makes you uncomfortable at an emotional level. ( Darwin's perfect logic in his natural history, which still stands up very well today, has been ascribed to possible borderline autism. ) So there could be a much reduced risk from gambling and religion related scams.

Would it be at all possible to persuade ALL or ANY of those who simply want PROTECTION to train to ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2022:

That could cause even more deaths. Tazers can be lethal, especially to children and people with heart problems, but the common delusion that they are harmless could get them used frequently in a casual irresponsible, and even joking, way. They are best left to well trained police officers ...

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@Mcflewster Now that is a sharp point, or three round soft ones.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@Matias Yep, that is probably a better way to put what I was trying to say.

I guess changing things is not an option....priorities.......

p-nullifidian comments on May 27, 2022:

Such irony is lost on all too many. ☹️

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@Matias Yep. And it is of no use to point out to them, that their "constitutional right" was formulated in the days when "arms" meant single shot muzzel loading rifles at best. A fully automatic assualt rifle, or anything like it, was simply not what the word "arms" meant, in the eightenth century. Or that for most "real" uses, such as hunting, the sport of marksmanship, or even self protection, a single round gun is all you actually need.

I guess changing things is not an option....priorities.......

p-nullifidian comments on May 27, 2022:

Such irony is lost on all too many. ☹️

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

Especially those who most need to hear it. If most gun owners understood irony, they would see how silly they look buying the thing in the first place.

Would it be at all possible to persuade ALL or ANY of those who simply want PROTECTION to train to ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2022:

That could cause even more deaths. Tazers can be lethal, especially to children and people with heart problems, but the common delusion that they are harmless could get them used frequently in a casual irresponsible, and even joking, way. They are best left to well trained police officers ...

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@HankSherman No, Mcflewster was talking about people who would carry tazzers to defend themselves, not getting criminals to use them. I said that that would probably just cause a lot of accidental deaths, since most gun deaths are actually accidental, and if people think that tazzers are less harmful than guns, which they are, they may be inclined to use them more, and the more frequent use will cancel out the less harmful effects. The big danger in tazzers is that they are wrongly perceived as not dangerous. A shop keeper for example who saw a kid steeling candy, would almost certainly not reach for a gun and shoot, but they would perhaps use a tazzer if they believed the myth that they do no real harm.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@hankster, @skado None it is my conclusion. The word was confusion, not conclusion.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 27, 2022:

@hankster I did not say around here.

Should you wonder what motivation a man can have who kills 20 little children, just like that (not ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2022:

And of course in the end they will fail even in their sick intent. Herostratus may be remembered because he was a "first" but who remembers the names of most murderers, even the really famous ones are forgot in a couple of centuries, because they are such a common dish, todays newspaper, tomorrows ...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

@Matias That is certainly true.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

@hankster No that is not likely to happen to me, but sadly there are many who are, and that is painful to observe.

Does love exist?

Matias comments on May 26, 2022:

Is this a trap, a trick question? If somebody answers Yes, although love is nothing but a feeling, you could conclude that God exists too, even if he may be nothing but a shared feeling...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

Probably. But of course that would be skado making a very stupid confusion, since religion/god are not the same thing as love or any so called spiritual emotions, but merely the cultural artifacts which are used to stimulate those emotions by fakery. If religion does stimulate love, then it has the same relationship to love that pornography does to sex. And it is potencially just as likely to misdirect and lead to the misunderstanding of love, as pornography is likely to misdirect and lead to a misunderstanding of sex.

Would it be at all possible to persuade ALL or ANY of those who simply want PROTECTION to train to ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2022:

That could cause even more deaths. Tazers can be lethal, especially to children and people with heart problems, but the common delusion that they are harmless could get them used frequently in a casual irresponsible, and even joking, way. They are best left to well trained police officers ...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

@Mcflewster They tried to make them weaker in Britain, but that just meant that they no longer worked on determined criminals. Because people are so variable, medical science long ago proved that no matter what the device, poison, radiation dose, infection, or impact, you need to make it at least strong enough to kill fifty percent of people, called the fatal dose technically, ( The fatal dose term medically means that which kills fifty percent, not a hundred. ) before the last person in the hundred will notice any effect at all. While if you make it so weak that it only kills one percent, then a large number will just brush it off. I am sorry to say that safe zappers, are likely to remain forever a sci-fi fantasy.

Spirituality is emotionality.

nogod4me comments on May 26, 2022:

Religion is a poor manager of emotions, emotions have, and will, throw religion "under the bus" whenever it "feels" like it. That is one of the reasons why religion is fickle and divergent. "Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of ...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

Yes true. Though it has to be said that the only reason people want to reject the self in the first place is because it was religion which taught them to dislike themselves. It first feeds narcissism by telling people they are special, because you are the chosen ones of, god, the great spirit, the cosmic life force, the prophets wisdom, or whatever. But then tells them that special people have to be prefect according to impossible standards, which noboby can actually attain. And once hooked on the narcissistic idea that they are special they feel guilt that can not meet those standards, so they keep coming back for more help, They are then fed more narcissistic promises, which makes them feel even more failed. And so on. The whole language of religions, especially theist religions like Christianity, is steeped in self absorption. “My revelation, My salvation, My relationship with My god, My soul, My immortality, My existential crisis,” etc. etc. The “my” and “our” words are splashed liberally through every text and speech. And that of course makes religion very useful to the charlatans who control it, for profit, prestige, political influence and sexual favours etc. Because nobody is so needy and hungry for reassurance against doubt than those who have been implanted with the vanities of narcissism. So that you will encounter, supposedly grown adults, who still confess to a childish fear of death, and have not yet achieved enough of the natural grown up nihilism, which comes to most just with age, to realize the total unimportance of their own lives, and therefore their deaths too. And who are often engaged in a endless search for so called spiritual enlightenment. Moving ever from one guru, to the next revelation and holy text, in search of the none existent, because their narcissism tells them that they so important, that they are entitled to have a special understanding of the universe not given to all others by work and education alone.

Should you wonder what motivation a man can have who kills 20 little children, just like that (not ...

Fernapple comments on May 26, 2022:

And of course in the end they will fail even in their sick intent. Herostratus may be remembered because he was a "first" but who remembers the names of most murderers, even the really famous ones are forgot in a couple of centuries, because they are such a common dish, todays newspaper, tomorrows ...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

@Matias Oh certqainly a delusion of lasting fame is the drive, But it is still a delusion. And in any case the greatest wish of the wise, is to be forgotten as quickly as possible.

Spirituality is emotionality.

KKGator comments on May 26, 2022:

Wow! I think that's all kinds of wrong.

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

It is the common religious apologist misconception/lie of equating religion with morality and wisdom. It hits the absolute lowest bottom as an argument, simply switching the labels morality and religion arround and hoping no one will notice, but it is so commonplace and taken for granted among apologists, that it is usually used mindlessly without consideration.

Spirituality is emotionality.

ToakReon comments on May 26, 2022:

Ah - one of those statements that sounds so profound, but when you actually read it and think about it, it means damn all.

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

It is the common religious apologist misconception/lie of equating religion with morality and wisdom. It hits the absolute lowest bottom as an argument, simply switching the labels morality and religion arround and hoping no one will notice, but it is so commonplace and taken for granted among apologists, that it is usually used mindlessly without consideration.

10 Reasons Why Christianity Is Declining—and Atheism Is Growing - Soapboxie

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 25, 2022:

Joseph Cambell wrote, "Myth basically serves four functions. The first is the mystical function,... realizing what a wonder the universe is, and what a wonder you are, and experiencing awe before this mystery.... The second is a cosmological dimension, the dimension with which science is ...

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

The decline is not a decline in belief, just a replacemement of bad beliefs with better ones.

This won't work any better than outlawing abortions but it's fun to think about.

FearlessFly comments on May 25, 2022:

. . . I support Roe v Wade abortion rights. . . . in terms of Critical Thinking, this post falls into the false equivalence category : https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/False-Equivalence

Fernapple replies on May 26, 2022:

Yes, although you could say that, in this case, the false equivalence, is in one way actually understating the case, rather than exagerating the argument. Since though, buying a gun is not a statement of intent to kill a child, yet a child is so much more than a fetus.

I am not a Conservative (at least not in the American meaning of this word), but I have to ...

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2022:

That is very true to a degree, but the reverse also applies. Of what use is power if you have nothing to do with it ? ( Certainly not hedonism, since that is easy to obtain with only moderate power, and the effort required to obtain power and hold it, only wastes time if you only want hedonism, ...

Fernapple replies on May 25, 2022:

@Matias Yes that happens by default. The trick is to insure that the group people in power identify with, is the widest possible group, which is not that hard since logically we are all in the same boat aboard a very small planet.

Why do we have outbreaks of things like monkey pox?

Fernapple comments on May 24, 2022:

We did, and the putrid Putin seems to be the worst symptom so far.

Fernapple replies on May 24, 2022:

@MsKathleen The feeling is mutual.

It's not a perfect rule, but it's as close as we've gotten.

AtheistInNC comments on May 23, 2022:

SORRY ... the Satanic Temple nailed it better than all the rest: THERE ARE SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL TENETS I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason. II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over ...

Fernapple replies on May 24, 2022:

@tinkercreek No, because if you read carefully the, freedom to offend, refers to others freedom to offend you, while the other rules apply to what you do to others. So four is just an extention of one, but it certainly could be more plainly worded.

"Naturally being a migrant wanting to outdo American bullying & anarchic behaviour it follows that ...

Fernapple comments on May 19, 2022:

That is very insulting, and I am sure that any reasonable sites guidelines should preclude that level of misbehavior.

Fernapple replies on May 23, 2022:

@hankster You do not think it insulting to accuse someone of being a traitor to his country for personal gain ?

Nowadays it is fashionable to constantly pillory white people and to put Western culture in the ...

linxminx comments on May 22, 2022:

You could probably denigrate most countries and cultures of the world if you delve into their past, so I don't think we are particularly unique in throwing the west under the bus now and then.

Fernapple replies on May 22, 2022:

@linxminx It means thinking about pseudo profound things like. "Where did I come from ?" Why am I here ?" Ironically think about your navel and you will get the joke. I think it is quite a good joke , surprised you do not have it in the USA.

Shot down over Ukraine, Russian SU-34 fighter jet found with GPS taped to its dashboard ...

Druvius comments on May 21, 2022:

And some will believe this. It might even be true, but I doubt it.

Fernapple replies on May 22, 2022:

It could be true, and it could be complete fake. But another possibility is that it is something he carries with him for use on the ground, or in case he is forced down.

Is nihilism not just a natural part of growing up and maturing anyway ?

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Learning what we know about the universe is humbling. That universe is far removed from our day-to-day existence, so love, hope and sadness have no physical meaning, but become the basis for our behavior. We live in a culturally religious society, so our thinking and behaviors have become shaped ...

Fernapple replies on May 21, 2022:

God is the personal name that we give to our narcissism. We create an image of our vanity in our own likeness, and we call it religion. Without even a thought as to how that false idol would look, in the eyes of any real god, if one did exist.

Is nihilism not just a natural part of growing up and maturing anyway ?

puff comments on May 21, 2022:

Yes it is, but some just don't feel it

Fernapple replies on May 21, 2022:

Some just never grow up, I sometimes think that I am not very mature myself in many ways, but I think that I manage that one OK.

Not really gardening but related.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on May 20, 2022:

Beautiful country lane landscape. Interesting to ponder how various weeds respond to our human actions on the landscape. We seem to be the best thing ever to have happened to "weed-kind." Lol

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

They were just waiting for us to come along. Many weeds were of course originally plants of disturbed ground. Who usually had to wait for a landslide earthquake or flood to give them the bare earth they needed, so they were probably quite rare, but then we came along and started ploughing and digging everywhere.

It is the hight now of the Cow Parsley season, Anthriscus sylvestris, here in the UK.

Boomtarat03 comments on May 20, 2022:

It is a wonderful spot to squat and think about life 😆🌱🍃 I love it, the leafy surrounding. 💚💚💚

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

@Boomtarat03 It is a lovely place yes, but not me no, I do bike the lanes, but nothing like that fast.

It is the hight now of the Cow Parsley season, Anthriscus sylvestris, here in the UK.

Boomtarat03 comments on May 20, 2022:

It is a wonderful spot to squat and think about life 😆🌱🍃 I love it, the leafy surrounding. 💚💚💚

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

@Boomtarat03 Just for fun, here is a tour of the area by bike. Which is anything but relaxing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFR1zKF_3Yk

It is the hight now of the Cow Parsley season, Anthriscus sylvestris, here in the UK.

Boomtarat03 comments on May 20, 2022:

It is a wonderful spot to squat and think about life 😆🌱🍃 I love it, the leafy surrounding. 💚💚💚

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

Yes and I am lucky, it is only a mile from where I live.

It is the hight now of the Cow Parsley season, Anthriscus sylvestris, here in the UK.

FrayedBear comments on May 20, 2022:

What's the white bush?

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

Hawthorne ( Crataegus) one of our common hedgerow bushes.

Not really gardening but related.

Lorajay comments on May 20, 2022:

British vegetation grows in such neat mounds even when it is growing in the wild. My weeds usually have intrusive other weeds.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

There are one or two clumps of Red Champion as well. Especially in the second photo near the left hand edge, bright pink.

That's why I'm proud to be a Wiccan

Fernapple comments on May 20, 2022:

Funny how, what glorifies god, always seems to be very like what they wanted to do anyway.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

@anglophone Only in the image of very limited men. Did you ever hear the playground chant. "My big brother will get you."

But we are now civilized

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Micro-dick.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

Very small whale, used to live in our village pond, and once sank a paper boat.

But we are now civilized

Flyingsaucesir comments on May 19, 2022:

Funny that he lumps two legitimate natural sciences and a natural biological function together with supernatural nonsense. What a gibbering idiot. Sigh.

Fernapple replies on May 20, 2022:

Oh I think that is only his short list. His full list would be, basically everything not found in the only book he thinks everyone else should read. (He never bothered because he pays the preacher to read it to him. You know, reading is hard. )

I'd like to explore stoicism more in depth. Any comments regarding stoicism?

Matias comments on May 16, 2022:

Stoicism is something other than a kind of self-help program to get your feelings under better control. if you want to be a Stoic, then you have to believe in something like a hidden, cosmic order: what the Stoics called the "logos". A Stoic must bring his own life into harmony with this Logos. This...

Fernapple replies on May 17, 2022:

@Matias The problem is confusing morality with ethics. Nature "the part of objective reality that is studied by physics, chemistry and biology" is not ethical, but it is often moral, as is proved by a lot of science, that many animals across many species, especially the social animal, exhibit moral behaviour. Such as taking measures to avoid incest, supporting and helping other family members and allies, exhibiting a basic instinctive understanding of fairness, and having social status based on contribution. Where ethics emerge, is from the problems created by the first and greatest mismatch in human history, when we first started to develop culture, and we moved from living in a natural environment to a cultural one. And the cultural environment was one to which we had no natural genetic adaptions. So that anomalies soon became apparent. As in for example, people have a natural moral instinct to protect, even violently, family and friends. If therefore you could, and it was very easy, create an artificial extended family, such as a nation or tribe, using cultural tools such as arts and religion, then you could manipulate that instinct and induce people to respond in violent defence, when that fake family was supposedly attacked. ( The attack can also be a cultural fake. ) In other words you could create war. But then you start to get problems and conflicts of interest, because for example, if someone dies fighting a war for their artificial family, then they can no longer defend their genetic family from an attack by lions or bandits when they come. It was needful therefore when the problems of mismatch became apparent, to try to create a framework of ethics, codified moral rules, to try to overcome the problems. But though ethics are logical constructs , they are still powered and motivated by genetic instincts and emotions. I do not know for example without looking it up, if the Stoics had an ethical ruling against incest, but I would expect they did, since many systems of ethics do. But why would any system of ethics rule against incest ? What harm does it do ? Well the short conventional answer would of course be that, inbreeding is more likely to produce weak sick and deformed children, who often die young. But that in turn only begs the question. So what, why should we not produce as many weak sick and deformed children who often die young, if we are enjoying the sex ? The answer of course is that we prefer strong healthy children, and that the sicknesses, pains and early death of children upsets us. In other words it causes an instinctive, emotional, negative response, born out of our natural genetic programming, which at the bottom of it is why we have an ethic against incest. But if we did not have those instincts and emotions, then ...

I'd like to explore stoicism more in depth. Any comments regarding stoicism?

Matias comments on May 16, 2022:

Stoicism is something other than a kind of self-help program to get your feelings under better control. if you want to be a Stoic, then you have to believe in something like a hidden, cosmic order: what the Stoics called the "logos". A Stoic must bring his own life into harmony with this Logos. This...

Fernapple replies on May 17, 2022:

@skado No that is incorrect, the Epicureans do not say. "Do as you please and everything will work out fine." Quite the contrary, the Epicureans said that success and happiness comes from learning to curb and regulate the pleasure impulse. Since they saw misfortune as coming from uncontrolled desire. As in. If I drink too much I will get a hangover, if I have too much sex, I will get more children than I can support, whereas if I drink very moderately, I will make social bonds more easily, and moderate sex will get you a supportable family, of well provided for children, to support you in old age. The big difference with the Stoics came about, because the Stoics believed that misfortune alone was the main cause of suffering, and that morale behaviour had little effect on that, so that nihilism was needful to face the inevitable unhappiness. The misassociation of the Epicureans with hedonism, comes from early Christian propaganda, and was at least philosophically quite untrue, though of course any large scale movement is bound to have some corruption. And is ironic in at least one way, because the early Christian monastic tradition probably got a lot of its inspiration from the Epicurean communities, where the followers of Epicurus lived lives of austerity and simplicity following the teachings of the philosopher. It is little doubted by historians that most of the portrayal of Epicureanism as mere hedonism is an invention of the propagandists. Perhaps in part, because, as well as being a rival cult, the Epicureans also treated men a women as equals, which made it easy in the misogynistic mindset of many then , to portray the Epicureans as sexually immoral. It is sad that such misunderstandings and strawmanings of the movement still persist to this day, when there is no good reason not to understand the truth, but the Christian sub-culture still passes on its own version of history untouched by mainstream history, and it is very pervasive.

A thought experiment: Let's imagine a utopian society that wants to abolish all differences ...

Fernapple comments on May 16, 2022:

Yes they would, for them not to there would have to be no genetic determinism at all, and we know without any but the most technical of scientific doubt that there is a lot.

Fernapple replies on May 17, 2022:

@Matias If we do not have intuitive access to it, then why would it exist ? Natural sellection does not create things which do not do anything.

I'd like to explore stoicism more in depth. Any comments regarding stoicism?

Matias comments on May 16, 2022:

Stoicism is something other than a kind of self-help program to get your feelings under better control. if you want to be a Stoic, then you have to believe in something like a hidden, cosmic order: what the Stoics called the "logos". A Stoic must bring his own life into harmony with this Logos. This...

Fernapple replies on May 16, 2022:

@Matias No that is completly wrong, ethics exist in nature, and our ethics emerge for nature, for the simple reason that there is nothing but nature for them to come from.

The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular

Julie808 comments on May 15, 2022:

Perhaps that goes to show that people relying on their own ingenuity and sense of kindness and fairness get along just fine toward attaining happiness.

Fernapple replies on May 16, 2022:

They also perhaps, expect more of their government, employers and fellow citizens if the church is not there to tell them that the only good things come though us.

The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular

skado comments on May 16, 2022:

Spinmeister Phil strikes again.

Fernapple replies on May 16, 2022:

I did not know that your real name was Phil, what have you been up to now ?

The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular

NostraDumbass comments on May 15, 2022:

An interestingly different interpretation of the data goes like this: The more strife and inequity there is in a society, the more likely people are to be attracted to religion as a coping mechanism. Conversely, when social problems are reduced and freedoms,prosperity, equality and education ...

Fernapple replies on May 16, 2022:

Also compare with this. https://rsf.org/en/index?year some may be moving forward in all ways

As we move towards summer the spring garden certainly has hit some flower power this week.

MikeInBatonRouge comments on May 15, 2022:

Beautiful! The cornflower, in particular, is a nostalgia trigger for me. I never see quite the same kind here in southern Louisiana. Not sure, but I suspect the heat would be too much for them. However, in my early childhood, until we moved when I was 8, our nextdoor neighbor, "Cham," a retired ...

Fernapple replies on May 16, 2022:

Yes they do look very exotic don't they. Though with me they are almost too happy and invasive. I don't grow Stokesia asters though, perhaps I should give thaem a try, even upside down they look great.

The happiest nations on Earth are strongly secular

NostraDumbass comments on May 15, 2022:

An interestingly different interpretation of the data goes like this: The more strife and inequity there is in a society, the more likely people are to be attracted to religion as a coping mechanism. Conversely, when social problems are reduced and freedoms,prosperity, equality and education ...

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2022:

Yes, That could be true, that societal health causes a decline in religion, not a decline in religion causing societal health. Though of course there can be a third situation, which I would put my money on, where "A" does not cause "B" nor "B" cause "A" , but that the two cause one another in a complexity of feed back loops.

Who says that America & its sycophant Britain do not interfere in other country's citizens ...

Fernapple comments on May 15, 2022:

Yes, but the world moves on and what was bad in the sixties, is truly horrible now.

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2022:

@LenHazell53 Exactly.

As we move towards summer the spring garden certainly has hit some flower power this week.

FrayedBear comments on May 15, 2022:

Last to flower in our summer \ autumn are these little imported beauties:

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2022:

Wow. They never get to that size in the UK.

As we move towards summer the spring garden certainly has hit some flower power this week.

Redheadedgammy comments on May 15, 2022:

Gorgeous! Here are a few from my garden.

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2022:

What a wonderful garden you must have.

Truth

ChestRockfield comments on May 14, 2022:

There's a hot chick at work that said the coming ruling makes her want to have as many abortions as she can before it's illegal. I told her I'd do whatever I could to help. 😝

Fernapple replies on May 15, 2022:

Bet she would love you to pay for a week in a private clinic. LOL

Is this the real reason the number 13 is thought to be unlucky by men?

nogod4me comments on May 14, 2022:

Superstitious beliefs are just as bad as religious beliefs. How many idiots have stayed on the thirteenth floor of a building and convinced themselves it was the fourteenth floor because of superstition? So stupid.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

A little stat. World wide the most common house number incorporating a letter in the address, is twelve 'A'.

Do you agree that religious morality "comes down from savage ages" like Bertrand Russell said in ...

TheMiddleWay comments on May 14, 2022:

There are two fallacies I see here: 1) one, that because we have many examples of religious thinking causing harm, and purportedly few examples of secular thinking causing harm, then secular thinking should be embraced. But the fallacy here is that is nothing more than claiming that because white...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

Secular thinking is better in at least one way, if it is good secular thinking at least. And that is that there is an intrinsic honesty not found in religious thinking. Which is that when an idea in secular thinking has to be supported by a belief, or beliefs, then it has to be plainly stated that it is supported by that one belief or set of beliefs. Whereas religious thinking makes the claim that all beliefs are dependent upon each other, and that therefore dismissing one means dismissing all beliefs. As in. If I make the secular claim that I do not think it is good to promote gambling, then I may make a justification, giving the idea that gambling can be addictive and destructive to happiness. ( All morals must depend ultimately upon a belief, which I term a prerequisite, since it is not possible to derive them just by logic alone. )The belief supporting which idea is, my belief that it is better to live in a world which is more happy. While if a religious person makes the same claim that, they do not think it is good to promote gambling, then make a justification, giving the idea that gambling can be addictive and destructive to happiness. The belief supporting which is, their belief that it is better to live in a world which is more happy. There then follows, that creating a more happy world is not just a personal choice of belief, but is supported by their god, and their belief in that god, and is justified by, holy scripture and tradition etc. Meaning that a whole set of fake authorities must be rejected along with it, if you reject the first belief. And that is fine, if you are dealing with what would generally be thought of as a good idea, such as not advertising gambling to children say. But what if the idea is a bad one, such as racism, that blue people are vastly better and more valuable humans than green ones say. This is why religion is so beloved of those who would promote bad ideas, because they have no need to expose the basic belief behind the conclusion to scrutiny, but can claim the whole belief system, and that rejecting one part is rejecting all morality completely.

A new member, hoadao3493 just seems to have joined, for the sole purpose of posting adverts for ...

anglophone comments on May 14, 2022:

I reported for him for spam, and I haven't seen him since, though he is obviously appearing for other members.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

I am still not sure how you report someone, so I posted it here, in the hopes someone would or had done so. Thanks.

If Facebook is for faces, what is Buttbook for?

Fernapple comments on May 14, 2022:

Pedants, there should only be one T, But-book.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

@anglophone Well stick it between two slices of bread of course.

Do you agree that religious morality "comes down from savage ages" like Bertrand Russell said in ...

skado comments on May 14, 2022:

“Savage Ages” is a term no scientist or historian would use today. It’s considered offensive. It’s more of a value judgement than a descriptive term, and that value judgement may be far from historically accurate. Everything we have, religion and science alike, is built on what came ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

The idea of "savage ages", certainly is now considered politically incorrect, and would not be used today. But it would also be a very strange idea to think that morality was the only field of human life, in which there has been no progress or advancement in thousands of years. That would be to take a view much further towards the opposite extreme, and probably far more doubtful one than the one that I am sure Russell intended. While to critic a person in a different age, merely for using the language of his own age, is a very extreme ad hom indeed.

I have a question that no Christian I have ever asked can answer.

Fernapple comments on May 14, 2022:

In the middle ages it was considered a mater of importance, if Adam and Eve had belly buttons. So much so that the theology often changed with the administration, so artists were forced to use fig leaves etc to cover the area, in fear of being charged with a crime if they got it wrong, or a new ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

@Julie808 My Fig leaf was perhaps intended a little light heartedly, since yes, in more recent time it was used to cover the genitailia, but there was a tendency in early times to avoid showing the centre of the belly.

Do you agree that religious morality "comes down from savage ages" like Bertrand Russell said in ...

skado comments on May 14, 2022:

“Savage Ages” is a term no scientist or historian would use today. It’s considered offensive. It’s more of a value judgement than a descriptive term, and that value judgement may be far from historically accurate. Everything we have, religion and science alike, is built on what came ...

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

If you set up fake sources of authority, such as scriptures, tradition, or even the supernatural, they will always be open to abuse by the criminally inclined. In part because they are bound to become degraded over time, and therefore mixed up to the extent that they will stand any interpretation you wish to place on them. And in part, because any fake authority is only needed by the criminally inclined, since good morality can, and does, find its own justifications. If you want to be an ultra conservative, or promote views based on a prejudice so bad that you can not find rational arguments, then your last resort is God. Whose mixed up scriptures and revelations degraded over time, are easily mined to support any view you wish. It is moreover a bad mistake to assume that "scripture" and inherited religion, were made in the first place only by the morally most advanced and thoughtful people of their time, any time. Just as much of the scripture would have been written in the past by those with less than prefect intentions, as is written into the media today, by political propagandists and prejudiced hacks. The bible which is a very bloody book, spends far more time promoting crimes such as, genocide, theft by force, rape , racism, and zenophobia than it does moral codes such as "Don’t kill. Don’t steal. Don’t lie." being a perfect example. Religious reform is a never ending maintenance task yes, and the foremost form of religious reform, is to abandon the old long corrupted forms of religion, like theist religions, which are now only of interest to religious imposters, in favour of improved and yet to be corrupted religions, such as human rights, environmentalism and democracy, for just three examples of many, ( Which do exist and are to some degree religious), continuing to give excessive respect to the old, merely because it is old, only sharpens the weapons of the criminal for them, and downgrades the moral debate of the current age. And I am sorry but Russell does not make. "the same mistake here so many smart people do - the assumption that if I can think my way through complicated moral and emotional challenges, then everyone one else can too." Humans do not vary greatly in basic levels of intelligence, however much snobs may like to think they do. And the basic priciples of morality are not complicated, not rocket science, indeed they are not even, anything like as difficult as the maths of long division, which most people manage at school. The basics of morality are very simple, what makes them complicated and difficult, is trying to teach many conflicting moralities derived from many different sources, like biblical, all at the same time, instead of teaching basic principles and encouraging the asking of basic questions. Which ...

Infusing Youthful Brain Juice Restores Older Mice’s Memories! [technologynetworks.com]

Garban comments on May 13, 2022:

Make mine a double.

Fernapple replies on May 14, 2022:

In some cases, is it not better to forget.

This is a BBC post about six strange animals you may never have heard of.

Garban comments on May 13, 2022:

Those eyes!

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2022:

Yes. I often look at a collie dog, and think. If human females had eyes like that ? But then human males get into enough trouble already, so perhaps not.

In the "greatest democracy", USA, it is reported that genocide occurred between 1819 &1969 against ...

Fernapple comments on May 13, 2022:

Almost all countries in the past have committed genocide and other atrocities, and that is nothing to be proud of. But yes you may have a limited and very reasonable pride in your country, if its culture has grown up enough to admit and acknowledge it past fully, since that is a real achievement and...

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2022:

@LenHazell53 True to a degree. But Tasmania, Argentina, and one or two others occur, just off the top of my head.

He figured a long time ago but Texas is yet to...

BD66 comments on May 12, 2022:

He just has the most up close and personal relationship with Christianity. There are plenty of other bloody and absurd religions that he was unfamiliar with.

Fernapple replies on May 13, 2022:

That is very true. Although as an educated eighteenth century European, he would at least have been very well informed about the polytheisms of ancient Greece and Rome. Well enough at least, to make a valid comparison, though I was probably overstating his case for humourous effect.

How long can a debacle the size of Putin's Ukraine adventure be kept under wraps?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2022:

Don't worry, all those oligarchs, generals, and corrupt officials around Putin will only wait a little while longer. After all, they did not set him up to fail in the first place, for no reason you know.

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2022:

@Flyingsaucesir No, she "said" she thought that. She is in politics.

How long can a debacle the size of Putin's Ukraine adventure be kept under wraps?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2022:

Don't worry, all those oligarchs, generals, and corrupt officials around Putin will only wait a little while longer. After all, they did not set him up to fail in the first place, for no reason you know.

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2022:

@Flyingsaucesir Sorry, it was a long time ago in one of the English newspapers, a respectable one like the Gaurdian I think, not the rubbish press, but it was a long time ago.

How long can a debacle the size of Putin's Ukraine adventure be kept under wraps?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2022:

Don't worry, all those oligarchs, generals, and corrupt officials around Putin will only wait a little while longer. After all, they did not set him up to fail in the first place, for no reason you know.

Fernapple replies on May 12, 2022:

@Flyingsaucesir Yes, but you have to remember that with regard to the languages for example, he has been caught trying to pretend that he does not speak English, even though the secret is well out. That is a silly childish trick, that he no doubt inherited from his KGB days, and even then it was a silly game to play. ( Either he or his trainers had been reading too many spy novels. ) No, I think that we are dealing with a very limited mind, even if one experienced and determined and perhaps in a shallow way, smarter than the average politician. And even if he was highly intelligent, his cold war delutions would still give those around him an easy handle with which to manipulate him.

How long can a debacle the size of Putin's Ukraine adventure be kept under wraps?

Fernapple comments on May 11, 2022:

Don't worry, all those oligarchs, generals, and corrupt officials around Putin will only wait a little while longer. After all, they did not set him up to fail in the first place, for no reason you know.

Fernapple replies on May 11, 2022:

@Flyingsaucesir Yes but remember. Putin according to reports, does not look at the internet, read any newspapers or have any real knowledge of history. In short the only information he has, comes from his sycophants.

New research uncovers stereotype differences between agnostics and atheists

Fernapple comments on May 10, 2022:

Interesting but not exactly ground breaking, fairly predictable results.

Fernapple replies on May 10, 2022:

@waitingforgodo The paper was not really about agnostics and atheists, but about peoples, mainly theists, attitudes towards them. My point being that those prejudices are fairly well known already.

Ah... he was a son of the Pope

Scott321 comments on May 9, 2022:

Painted *by* Cesare Borgia? I’ve found that it has been alleged Jesus was modeled on Borgia but that seems debunked: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jesus-modeled-on-borgia/

Fernapple replies on May 9, 2022:

C.B. certainly did not do any painting.

It has just been put to me that people are truly puzzled as to why I think Russia has any reason to ...

Alienbeing comments on May 9, 2022:

You continue to try to justify Russia's invasion of another country by saying "so what, other countries invaded a neighboring country in the past". That is the worst justification one can imagine. It is exactly like saying "murder is OK because others have been murdered".

Fernapple replies on May 9, 2022:

@FrayedBear Yes but the bottom line is. "The crimes of others do not justify mine." The only logical possition is to oppose and both American and Russian violence, which make you humane, or support both which makes you a fascist, or argue about details and justifications, which makes you foolish.

Nazi Russia

Matias comments on May 9, 2022:

Hitler was motivated by ideology and racism. Putin has no ideology, he is just motivated by lust for power and glory

Fernapple replies on May 9, 2022:

Probably true. although Putin did declare, perhaps not genuinely, that one of his goals, was, uniting the Slavic peoples. So he does play some lip service to racism, even if he does not believe it.

Its the hight of the tree blossom season here now.

Killtheskyfairy comments on May 7, 2022:

So, bumper crop of apples expected?

Fernapple replies on May 8, 2022:

If they set, and the trees don't drop them, which they often do when there is a two heavy crop, but last year the crop was poor, so after taking a rest the trees may be ready for a good year.

Fetus and baby - what is the ethical difference?

Fernapple comments on May 4, 2022:

The ancient Greeks and Romans were not just subjective in their choice, they actually set the age at which killing an infant became murder, at two years. Because that was they age at which they thought you first became aware of your self as a person, and with that your own mortality. Which while I ...

Fernapple replies on May 5, 2022:

@Matias That is correct. Children were the property of the parents until thirty, so if the baby was born to under thirties the grandfather made the choice, after that the parents did.

Anyone who's been on friendster or myspace is laughing at the desperate attempts to "save" Facebook ...

Redheadedgammy comments on May 2, 2022:

I personally would love to see Fakebook and twiddler go down.

Fernapple replies on May 3, 2022:

@Redheadedgammy I know what you mean, I have to be on it because of business, but I retire next year, and then its gone for good. Although I am told that it is quite hard to delete an account, and that they still keep pestering you.

We are now moving into the garden visiting season, and despite it not yet being very warm, we went ...

JackPedigo comments on May 3, 2022:

Love the greenhouse, Gazebo and cat/bird on the entrance way.

Fernapple replies on May 3, 2022:

Me too.

We are now moving into the garden visiting season, and despite it not yet being very warm, we went ...

Lavergne comments on May 3, 2022:

Beautiful!! The waves of color have begun up here in the plateau.....

Fernapple replies on May 3, 2022:

You seem to be at about the same stage we are here in the UK. Great colour.