Could be. There's some evidence that "magic" was once defined as "those other people's weirdass way of doing things". It's interesting to me that it always seems to have had the connotation of something exotic.
I have found that the definition of "cult" depends on discourse, which is just a fancy way of saying who you're talking to...when people are talking about old religions, especially preChristian ones, it doesn't have the same pejorative connotation as when they're talking about Heaven's Gate or David Koresh or something.
Yeah, I guess I should just sit there while people mock me for having faith in something. After all I deserve it for the way I go around forcing my beliefs on others and calling people who believe differently crazy...
Ok, maybe Scientologists. But I really fucking hate Scientology...
I don't think anyone was mocking you, in particular. If it's okay for some people to believe that they are right and everyone else is going to hell, I don't see why it is so bad for others to believe that those who have faith in unlikely things are a bit crazy.
People at all times and on all continents have had shared belief systems. Their belief system is based on the known facts at that time in history, compromising with the shared values of that society. Until very recently, the shared knowledge was very limited compared to the shared values, and under these conditions the traditional religions arose. In most of the world, the religions have been gradually upgraded as new knowledge was added to society, the only notable exceptions in recent time being some Muslim countries and much of the USA. Would it not be more productive to try to figure out WHY the values associated with scientific knowledge are considered so abhorrent that people choose instead to fall back on value systems associated with early iron age knowledge (or lack thereof)?
So are you saying that it is a kind of sexual selection, like the colorful tail of the peacock, the extravagant horns of the moose or the large penis of the human? That women in the USA and the Middle East select the men who are publicly ignorant and still survive, instinctively understanding that they must have some other strength that compensates for this drawback?
It is a fascinating idea, but I still suspect that they are simply averse to some values that you (and quite possibly even I) think of as good.
I wasn't honestly thinking of religion as a congenital condition, though that certainly is an interesting way to put it.. I was trying to reconcile why science is so mistrusted by the general populace while religion is embraced.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 04:48 am (UTC)You know I don't go around mocking athiests...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:02 am (UTC)(as for this one - how does it go? "A cult" is defined as "someone else's religion"?)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:15 am (UTC)I have found that the definition of "cult" depends on discourse, which is just a fancy way of saying who you're talking to...when people are talking about old religions, especially preChristian ones, it doesn't have the same pejorative connotation as when they're talking about Heaven's Gate or David Koresh or something.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:17 am (UTC)Ok, maybe Scientologists. But I really fucking hate Scientology...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 03:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 03:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 03:43 pm (UTC)People at all times and on all continents have had shared belief systems. Their belief system is based on the known facts at that time in history, compromising with the shared values of that society. Until very recently, the shared knowledge was very limited compared to the shared values, and under these conditions the traditional religions arose. In most of the world, the religions have been gradually upgraded as new knowledge was added to society, the only notable exceptions in recent time being some Muslim countries and much of the USA. Would it not be more productive to try to figure out WHY the values associated with scientific knowledge are considered so abhorrent that people choose instead to fall back on value systems associated with early iron age knowledge (or lack thereof)?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 06:16 pm (UTC)It is a fascinating idea, but I still suspect that they are simply averse to some values that you (and quite possibly even I) think of as good.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-12 06:34 pm (UTC)