The Power of Witchcraft 8 November 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, media, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology, witchcraft.Tags: witchcraft
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John Stossel, a reporter for the show 20/20, did a great 1 hour documentary on the power of belief. Essentially, his point was that people’s desire to believe in things, even if they are not real, had incredible power. This is essentially circular reasoning with a conscious avoidance of critical thinking. I would like to take it one step further, specifically in the areas of witchcraft and satanism. Even if these are not real forces (I am not suggesting they are or are not), the belief alone is sufficient for these tradecrafts to have some effect. As a great example, see this video. This video is also a great example of another current trend – media sensationalism. The show makes a big build up claiming that something incredible happened to this scientist that changed his mind, when nothing REAL happened at all.
On John Hughes 8 August 2009
Posted by Lao Tzu in arts, entertainment, evolution, media, movies, philosophy, sociology.Tags: john hughes, maslot hierarchy of needs, maslot's pyramid, the breakfast club
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Courtesy MSN Online
The movie writer, director, producer John Hughes passed away recently (06 Aug 2009). For those that don’t know, Mr. Hughes did not only make movies about culture in the 1980s, the culture of the 1980s were built around his movies. His movies helped make the 80s what they were – deep, happy, and highly artistic. His movies demonstrated how Maslot’s pyramid can be applied to an entire society, not just a single individual. We were at a point, partly thanks to the cold war, where we were not in a real war, the economy was positive, and as a whole, this country had little concerns (except the threat of total global nuclear war) – allowing, I feel, for this country to self-actualize. It appears that DEVO might have been right, and we were at a point where we could only devolve from there.
His most recent movie is Drillbit Taylor. If you have not seen, “The Breakfast Club”, I cannot recommend it highly enough – one of my top 10 movies of all time. It is a timeless summary of life in high school at a depth not accomplished in other attempts. We won’t forget about you.
Offensiphobia 10 August 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in law, media, philosophy, politics, sociology.Tags: offensiphobia, offensive, politically correct
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There is a new fear amongst us. It affects the media, politicians, and is starting to infect the scientific community. It is the fear of offending someone. Someone living with offensiphobia may exhibit the following symptoms:
- Having someone else prepare / review their speech
- Restating bad truths into good lies
- Addressing the audience in a condesending manner of comradery
- Apologizing for every statement made the day after it is made
- Not acknowledging they are human capable of poorly worded statements in haste
- Easily convinced by others that what they said was somehow offensive, even when it may not be
- Overestimating the importance or legitimacy of small or strange special interest groups
This fear is a powerful force in politics and the media these days. If untreated, it often results in politicians making incredibly bad decisions and science misinforming the public.
Racism Detection 24 July 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, media, philosophy, politics, psychology, sociology.Tags: bad science, ethic food, national children's bureau, racism, racist toddlers, young children and racial justice
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Ah, I found a case in point of raciphobia.
I heard this news story about a week ago, and I honestly thought it was a joke because it is so insane, but today I found another blog talking about it at detecting racism in your toddlers. The original news article can be found here (it may take some time to load).
Apparently, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) in the UK wrote a guide (over 300 pages) for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice. It contains some very outlandish concepts for identifying racism in young children, and recommendations for how to react.
Every now and then, something so ridiculous comes along that you just don’t know where to begin.
First, not liking certain ethnic foods cannot be an indicator for racism (even in people old enough to like everything you put in front of them). Despite the fact that toddlers are picky eaters ANYWAY, food is a CULTURAL artifact, and not a by product of any race. If you don’t know the difference between culture and race (and how they have absolutely nothing to do with each other), then you are too stupid to be talking about the subject at all. The recommendations are not even based on science. The fact that it urges child care facilities to REPORT and DISCIPLINE this so called “racist” behavior is quite disturbing.
Second, children are learning about the world. Racism is a structured concept (that does not mean it is something to be proud of, I just mean it relies on a multi-level propositional network, albeit a flawed one) that preschoolers are not yet equipped to formulate. This begs me to write a post on the definition of racism.
Third, it is quite normal for a young child to be apprehensive towards people that are different from them. They usaully grow out of this after learning how alike we all are and that skin color is just skin color. Racists are adults that don’t reach that level of cognitive development.
Finally, it always disturbs me when we are harder on our children than we are on adults. I can’t imagine what people would say if you “punished” an adult in a restaurant that didn’t like an ethic dish. Would people call them racist?
Hmmm, so if I didn’t like Taco Bell, since it is not authetice Mexican food, would I be a racist towards fake Mexicans. Oh wait, Mexican is not a race…
Race and Intelligence, Once Again 2 June 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology.Tags: crick, dna, intelligence, race, watson
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Apparently there is renewed discussion on the correlation between race (genetics) and intelligence, and the nature vs. nurture debate (I prefer to call the seed vs. soil debate). This time the discussion is based on some alleged comments by the famous Dr. Watson of the great Watson and Crick duo that discovered DNA. The concept that we are a product of our genetics and our envrionment is explained in most BIO 101 classes; however, this concept seems to be forgotten, or at least downplayed, when someone wants to propose a controversial theory on the subject. To my knowledge (and I am not up on the latest news on this topic), no one has derived the proportions of these 2 factors. So I would like to take a shot based on deductive reasoning.
First, in most cases, without significant physical or mental disabilities, we have great latitude in our range of possiblilities, capabilities, and accomplishments from both. This typical case is a product of our genetics. While these genetics strictly dictate our hair color, eye color, or even more complex traits, they also grant most of us with the trait of accomplishment – the ability to be many different things at a wide range of levels of ability. Hence, it is most likely, if not obvious, that the variance within a life is greater than the variance between racial groups.
Second, it should not be a surprise at all that if we don’t spend time thinking about certain topics or performing certain skills (essentially training) that we will not excel in those domains (hence, the basketball argument). But, it is not just what we think about, but also how we think. If your most complex thought of the day is how to get a ball in a circle, then you are not exercising your brain as much as you are your body.
Hence, I argue that one’s environment most likely plays a much larger role in intelligence than genetics. But do not forget that culture is part of environment. Many people, surprisingly, still think culture is genetic.
Wisdom with Age 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in philosophy, psychology.Tags: intelligence, wisdom
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Many cultures throughout history have believed that we grow wiser with age. I am starting to believe the opposite is true. Or at least there is a certain facet of intelligence that decreases with age – one that peaks around 12 or 13 years old. I can think of several illustrative examples, but I would rather hear from others.
Here’s a statement that might help get things started: I’ll put a 12 year old opinion against a supreme court judge any day.
Purpose of Religion 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in philosophy, religion.Tags: evil, sacrifice
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If a religion does not help you to live a better life, then there is no need for it. In other words, if your religion includes the doctrine of sacrificing lives (e.g., war) in its name, then it is an evil religion by definition, and a detriment to mankind.
One God, Many Cultures 13 April 2008
Posted by Lao Tzu in anthropology, philosophy, religion.Tags: cultural relativism, god, one god
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As another case in point to the fact that many people only think in binary, it appears to be very diffifult to accept the concept that there could be one God, with many cultural manifestations / interpretations. The proximal cause, of course, is the different doctrines in which our religions have been founded, but is there more at work here? Is it because cultural competition is inherent in us, and the brain seeks rationale for the feeling of competition when it comes to religion? Or is it because our thinking of God is limited to our simplified thinking of the world and the political and cultural boundaries we grew up with?
