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Shekicromaster -> RE: Believer(s) of god are plague to this world. (10/20/2009 1:09:38 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Brain
'We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers' by Dr. Andy Thomson, AAI 2007
Dr. Andy Thomson gives a talk on the motives behind suicide terrorism at the Atheist Alliance International 2007 Conference in Washington, D.C. This video is available on DVD as part of the 'AAI 2...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpImeYCZKBk&feature=sub
it has nothing to do with religion.
People will do all sorts of things in the name of all sorts of things. Communism, an officially and often forcefully atheist regime had it's share of that too..
We as humans do not act on reason, we act on emotions, ideas, presumptions that we only afterward try to rationalize. t is in the foundation of our mental activities, we could not function at all if that was not the case. Maybe in some sectors and if we are involved with it, for example if we are scientists working in an exact field that is not the case for that particular situation. But in most cases it is. Take for example any social/ethical/political issue like abortion, social security and so on. Do people really take the time to study the subject impartially, understand every available point of view, and than understanding our on limitations and relativity of any opinion try to take the best possible position in the given circumstances as objectively as possible? And even than.. even if we decide to spend our lives studying relevant disciplines ( psychology, sociology, history, politics, ethics, theology, biology, medicine, ethnology, anthropology.. and so on) get 20 university degrees, read everything that was ever written about this subjects from every angle.. still we are bounded by available information, our own capacities of processing them and our preconditioned ideological views as this are not things that can be answered for good like in exact sciences.
And what than can we say about everyday situations, liking or disliking someone or a situation and so on?
Look how differently we act with people we like and those we don't like. When we are in love even the worst of the mankind become "perfect". When we can't stand someone's company even the smallest of things will irritate us. And of course we will always find "rational" reasons for all this. As it really is annoying that this guy always forgets his glasses on your table, that is nor irrational hate, what is enough is enough :D
So most of our choices in life are basically irrational, we just like to make it look it is not, but our argumentation is usually just a method of proving a point we already have taken before getting into a discussion, it is difficult to find someone completely free of this and ready to change his opinions based on arguments just like that..
And knowing that we must be aware we are all acting upon our... let's call it " subconscious programing" and that there is no much difference between us and those who do this terrorist attacks or whatever. There is nothing rational in it. But there is nothing rational in the response to it either. There is nothing rational in developing nationalistic feelings in order to mobilize the nation for a war. Well there probably is on the part of those who are developing it, but not form the nation itself. There is not in most cases that much rationality even in discussions I can see on forums about health care reform in the states - people usually start to affiliate themselves with a certain ideology, a certain political option or a set of values at some point in their life and everything after that is an example of selective thinking and rationalizations. You might have the same critical situation somewhere in the world for example and even the same news article describing it. The leftist might find it a proof of his ideology about the world, economy, politics and so on and the rightist will find that same article am obvious proof of his worldview - selective thinking and seeing the same situation with different eyes.
We are all subjective, we all function on presumptions, emotions, first impressions and so on because it is a fundamental aspect of human behavior as much as it is having two legs and arms. And as such we can be easily manipulated. And therefore we also have a tendency to see the world in black and white. Black and white is always an indication of an ideological approach. Because in the real world there is only gray. To see black or white one must be unable to detach from his programing and emotional reactions and to see something from different perspectives.
Suicide terrorism, Communist terrorism, eco terrorism, pentecostal churches, Hindu nationalism, Muslim terrorism, most of the wars USA engaged in after the WW2, any political elections anywhere, any social issue/debate, football fans, rock concerts... it look all the same to me. Granted some of those things have grave consequences but the mechanisms are the same, and we all function according to them, you can not possibly so simplistically blame just the religion, it is only one of the many possible tools of manipulation, and it can be used for good or for bed as anything else. People so blindly blaming it are rather narrow minded in my oppinion and one could question their intelligence and objectivity too :D
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