Reason Rally (Introduction)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Wednesday, April 04, 2012, 17:22 (4617 days ago) @ xeno6696


> Homer's take on the Gods and Goddesses was taken as Canon by most. A few philosophers, notably Diogenes, and earlier, my 'nymsake Xenophanes were stark critics of the prevailing Homeric personifications. But their popularity was ultimately dwarfed by Plato and Homer. 
> -So even people who were closer contemporaries saw the stories as overly dramatic. To me, our view of the Greek pantheon is akin to future archaeologist finding a copy of The Lord of the Rings and trying to ascertain our belief system based on it. Consider the poularity of the books, the films, the merchandising, and how widespread the phenomena is, if they knew very little about us but what we read or wrote, what would they think of our culture and beliefs?
> 
> Actually no... it wouldn't prove anything at all. Buddhists will be able to claim that yet again, we were simply chasing delusions. Atheists will view it as a sign that the universe itself is eternal, and yes, Theists will claim as you do. 
> 
> If its ammo for everyone, its ammo for no one. 
> -Well, for any hardened skeptic they would practically need to be physically slapped by the hand of god(sorry for the personification there) in order to believe in something they can't experiment on. -> 
> We developed the bomb because of Hitler. Not because of the Japanese. I told you that Pinker's book has "shocked" me out of a machiavellan stance, but that said, I would have made the same decision as Truman, even now. When it comes to foreign policy I'm not one to be nice to enemies. Pinker's talking me off that ledge, however. 
> -Your argument about WWII is full of a lot of holes. We weren't even going to get involved until Japan attacked us, so attributing anything we did to Hitler when we were quite happy to let him march across Europe as long as he didn't attack us is foolish. To make it worse, there are speculations that the attack on pearl harbor could have been avoided altogether, but that it was allowed to happen. War, and especially war in the U.S., is a money machine. That is one the many reasons we have been at war with someone almost continuously since WWII. Germany was not America's enemy until America got involved, Japan was. And, as you hinted at, Truman was not nice to his enemy, Japan. If we dropped the bomb because of Hitler, wouldn't it have made more sense to drop it ON Hitler. At least ONE of them? But no, both were dropped on Japan. -> You're right about Rome especially when dealing with Parthia and Anatolia, but Rome had actually advanced morality beyond the Greeks. Except in that precious case of Carthage. You're missing the forest for the trees.
> 
> The moral values we have now, towards our animals, towards other men, is radically different. I hold, because we're learning from our past mistakes. 
> 
> For once. 
> 
> Read the book "Gates of Fire" some time. Great novel, excellently researched. Life for the average human during the time of Athens and Sparta, was short, brutal, and you always lived in fear. Our generation truly lacks that fear. -I have not said, and did not mean to imply that the Spartans, Greeks, or Romans were morally superior. I have often stated that I think Ancient Civilizations were more advanced than we give them credit for, but that is not a morality statement. What I was saying in regards to this thread, is that morally, we are no better than they were. Different, sure, but not better. You can judge the spartan practice of infanticide, but apparently they were getting an inkling of genetically inheritable problems and dealt with it coldly and efficiently. They saw it as their enemy and acted accordingly. In return, they were particularly strong physically. The morality of that action, and others like it is a topic for another thread. -We can only guess and speculate what life was like back then. We were not there, so we could be dead wrong. I really hate it when historians look at old civilizations through 20th century tinted glasses. It distorts what they see. On another note, I would say that our country may lack some of that fear, but not our generation. The rest of the world is not like the U.S. I've been around enough to know that plenty of people in our generation know that kind of fear, and I have seen enough first hand to know that we are every bit as brutal as our ancestors. --Ironically, this was foretold(muwahahahaha):
(1 Thes 5:3) While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.