I read an article in the NYT today (we get it, you want to post the "stopped here" response and get a bunch of blue stars - wrong board) about the advantages of using hope instead of fear to motivate people to get vaccinated. FEAR basically concludes that vaccinated people should still wear masks, because if they don't, then unvaccinated people will think it's okay to unmask too. HOPE basically concludes that if the unvaccinated see the vaxxed people going maskless, they'll get vaccinated too.
No surprise here - hope appears to be working better, as vaccination rates seem to be ticking up as more people demonstrate what normal looks like.
BUT - here's what disturbed me...in all of the discussion, there was this false dichotomy between Hope and Fear. Not once was there a discussion of TRUTH. I know it's just a sign of the times (even all times), but it's still sad to think that most of our leaders - yes, even the ones you like - don't care for truth at all; they only care about getting you to do what they want.
Years ago when I was writing a book, I came across Erich Fromm's foreword to 1984. Fromm, an atheist, challenged the idea that we are all governed by our genetics or our upbringing, essentially saying that "nature vs nurture" is a false dichotomy. Humans are also subject to FREE WILL. As a religious person (Christian) myself, I've always loved that thought from Fromm, because it showed that Free Will - and I would add Truth - are not purely the domain of theologians; Pontius Pilate and the NYT had best respect them as well, because they still matter for all of us.
Truth may be dead as a philosophy, but it exists nonetheless, and we are free to choose it.
No surprise here - hope appears to be working better, as vaccination rates seem to be ticking up as more people demonstrate what normal looks like.
BUT - here's what disturbed me...in all of the discussion, there was this false dichotomy between Hope and Fear. Not once was there a discussion of TRUTH. I know it's just a sign of the times (even all times), but it's still sad to think that most of our leaders - yes, even the ones you like - don't care for truth at all; they only care about getting you to do what they want.
Years ago when I was writing a book, I came across Erich Fromm's foreword to 1984. Fromm, an atheist, challenged the idea that we are all governed by our genetics or our upbringing, essentially saying that "nature vs nurture" is a false dichotomy. Humans are also subject to FREE WILL. As a religious person (Christian) myself, I've always loved that thought from Fromm, because it showed that Free Will - and I would add Truth - are not purely the domain of theologians; Pontius Pilate and the NYT had best respect them as well, because they still matter for all of us.
Truth may be dead as a philosophy, but it exists nonetheless, and we are free to choose it.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
