I just wanted to give big props to Jason Collins right now. He became the first athlete in one of the four major sports in North America to come out as openly gay despite the fact he's still wants to play in the league. He's been in the NBA for 10 years now and would like to continue playing, but that didn't stop him from announcing to the world that he's gay.
Since this just barely happened I wrote a story for Niners Nation about it here. But the biggest thing for me is how most people don't think it's really a big deal. Sure it's a big deal an active player finally came out, but the reaction from most seems to be, so what? So he's gay, big deal. That's exactly how it should be. It shouldn't be a big deal. He's gay and that should be treated the same as someone saying they're straight. Why is it even a big deal someone is making this announcement? It shouldn't be a big deal because it's a non issue.Just so there's no confusion on where i stand on the issue here's what I wrote on goodreads.com:
Since this just barely happened I wrote a story for Niners Nation about it here. But the biggest thing for me is how most people don't think it's really a big deal. Sure it's a big deal an active player finally came out, but the reaction from most seems to be, so what? So he's gay, big deal. That's exactly how it should be. It shouldn't be a big deal. He's gay and that should be treated the same as someone saying they're straight. Why is it even a big deal someone is making this announcement? It shouldn't be a big deal because it's a non issue.Just so there's no confusion on where i stand on the issue here's what I wrote on goodreads.com:
I also think when people use words like "choice" in terms of sexuality, people are often using them in different ways. I have a choice in whom I sleep with, however I don't have a choice in whom I'm attracted to. So all this talk about gay people have a choice, no they don't, yes they do, no they don't. They have a choice in whom they sleep with, but they didn't choose to be gay. No one chooses their sexual orientation.
The position of the religious right means gays can only do one of two things:
1) Get married to someone of the opposite gender even though they're not physically attracted to them.
2) Remain celibate for the rest of their lives.
Do either one of those options sound particularly appealing to you? And to simply sluff it off like so many people do and say, "Well, everyone has temptations they have to deal with, that's just there's," is a bunch of fucking bullshit.
Human companionship is one of the most basic needs in life. People who are gay aren't unnatural. What IS unnatural is telling someone they need to deny the love they feel for another human being. Telling them that the love they feel is evil or wrong. THAT'S unnatural. THAT'S what's evil. If god is real and homosexuality is a sin, he shouldn't have made people gay. And anyone who tells someone who's gay that they need to deny this very basic human emotion and need, well they're the ones who are evil and wrong.
and
The problem is people only focus on the sex. But how much of any relationship is spent having sex? For sure it's an important part, but it's only one small part of any good relationship. How many people have married simply because the other person was good in bed? How many people have gotten divorced, especially with someone they really got along with, just because sex wasn't that great.
People have relationships and get married because they want to share their life with someone. They want someone there they can talk to and unburden themselves or have someone to lean on when times are tough. And the whole argument that marriage is to bring kids into the world doesn't hold up on closer inspection.
If you believed having kids was the main purpose of marriage than you'd be opposed to two 60 year old people getting married since they can't have kids. At the very least that 60 year old man could marry someone younger and still have kids. What about someone who, for some reason, can't have kids. Sorry, you can't marry her because she's barren, you need to find a fertile girl instead. And would you tell that girl she just needs more faith. God can do anything if you have enough faith so if you're not able to have children it's your fault because you obviously lack faith. No one would ever say that! But people say it to gay people all the time. If you just had enough faith God would change you. Are you kidding me!
Jason Collins is gay, and I'm so glad the response from most people is a shrug and a question about what else is going on because it really shouldn't matter.
I hate the media. Can we stop calling them news organizations because they're not really in the news business anymore. They're out there to make money like any other business and they do it by sensationalizing anything they think will bring traffic to their website. Do you know they can't be sued for liable for what they write in a headline as long as they tell the whole story below? But how many people actually read the story! A lot of people will only see the headline and take it at face value.
Then there's the added problem of how over reactionary people are. If there's a school shooting than everyone freaks out and loses their minds running off to buy their kids bullet proof back packs, but an average of 30 people die everyday in the US from being shot. Over 50 more kill themselves everyday using a gun. That's not to say school shootings aren't tragic, but why focus on that and ignore all the other information?
After 9/11 around 10 % of Americans were actually afraid of being killed by a terrorist. What! Two thousand people died in a nation of 300 million and now there's real paranoia over being killed by a terrorist? If 2,000 people died every year from a terrorist attack that would still only put your odds at 1 in 150,000. That's a .000006% chance of being killed by a terrorist and that's only IF 2,000 people were actually killed every year in America. But getting killed while driving your car, well those odds are MUCH higher and I don't think anyone's terrified by that. Heart attack? Who cares, give me that double bacon cheeseburger. Stranger danger? Kids are 3 times more likely to get struck by lightning than they are at being kidnapped by a stranger. Humans are so irrational I don't even know what to think sometimes. And the stupid fucking media with their over sensationalized news is not helping in the least. Perspective is something everyone needs a healthy dose of.
Then there's the added problem of how over reactionary people are. If there's a school shooting than everyone freaks out and loses their minds running off to buy their kids bullet proof back packs, but an average of 30 people die everyday in the US from being shot. Over 50 more kill themselves everyday using a gun. That's not to say school shootings aren't tragic, but why focus on that and ignore all the other information?
After 9/11 around 10 % of Americans were actually afraid of being killed by a terrorist. What! Two thousand people died in a nation of 300 million and now there's real paranoia over being killed by a terrorist? If 2,000 people died every year from a terrorist attack that would still only put your odds at 1 in 150,000. That's a .000006% chance of being killed by a terrorist and that's only IF 2,000 people were actually killed every year in America. But getting killed while driving your car, well those odds are MUCH higher and I don't think anyone's terrified by that. Heart attack? Who cares, give me that double bacon cheeseburger. Stranger danger? Kids are 3 times more likely to get struck by lightning than they are at being kidnapped by a stranger. Humans are so irrational I don't even know what to think sometimes. And the stupid fucking media with their over sensationalized news is not helping in the least. Perspective is something everyone needs a healthy dose of.
I don't normally post a day after I just posted a blog but I wanted to say something on the bombings at the Boston Marathon. If there’s one thing humans are really good at, it’s being complete douchebags towards other humans. It’s like we have it down to an art form. We’ve perfected douchbaggery through countless years of evolution. But we’ve also perfected the ability to help complete strangers in their hour of need. We’re capable of heroic acts of bravery and kindness towards people we’ve never met before in our life. Both were on full display after two bombs killed 3 people and injured 170 more. It’s the duality of mankind. We have the ability to be both horrible and wonderful at the same time. I applaud all those who were heroes that day.
Ahh! Tax day! This day sucks! Or maybe it blows. Maybe it sucks and blows, kind of like a $20 lot lizard. And why do we use sexual terms to describe something negative? I'm getting fucked. I got screwed. I'm taking it up the pooper shooter. This bites, sucks, blows. Shouldn't those be mostly good things depending on what you're into? I love this day, it sucks! Wouldn't it make more sense to say, "Someone dented my car! This chafes!" or "I can't believe what a blue bally day this is. I hate it." or even "Every time I pay taxes the government is putting my balls in a vice and turning the screw." No? Too much? Or maybe you're into that kind of thing and that would have to describe something good. Too each his own I suppose.
As for taxes I think the system needs to be completely stripped down. Allow the personal exemption, and deductions for home interest and contributions to charity (not churches unless that money is specifically earmarked for charity). Churches should pay taxes but can take deductions for charitable work, and pot should be legal and taxed. Think how much money they're wasting on the drug war and how much revenue they could be earning if they just taxed pot and churches. Yes, I have oversimplified answers to almost any complicated life problem you might have. Suicidal? Stop thinking about it. Addicted to drugs? Find a way to quit. Wish you had more motivation? Stop caring.
As for taxes I think the system needs to be completely stripped down. Allow the personal exemption, and deductions for home interest and contributions to charity (not churches unless that money is specifically earmarked for charity). Churches should pay taxes but can take deductions for charitable work, and pot should be legal and taxed. Think how much money they're wasting on the drug war and how much revenue they could be earning if they just taxed pot and churches. Yes, I have oversimplified answers to almost any complicated life problem you might have. Suicidal? Stop thinking about it. Addicted to drugs? Find a way to quit. Wish you had more motivation? Stop caring.
I posted about Darth Packer on the ex-Mormon group, but honestly, how many people actually go to the ex-Mormon group? I think there are 3 active members right now which makes for some lively conversation:
Wow, he is not looking good. I'm putting the over/under at 9 months until the Sith Lord leaves us. Here are some of my favorite Packer quotes:
“If we’re not alert, there are those today who not
only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that will legalize
immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s
laws and nature … what good would a vote against the law of
gravity do?”
I don't know. Ask the Flying Spaghetti Monster since gravity is just a theory and it's really his noodly appendages that are keeping us on earth.
“Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what
they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and the
unnatural,” he said. “Not so. Why would our Heavenly Father do that
to anyone?”
Indeed, why would he make people preset with narrow minded pin headed views? It's one of life's great mysteries I suppose.
"We've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. The counsel has been wise. You may say again, 'Well, I know of exceptions.' I do, too, and they've been very successful marriages. I know some of them. You might even say, 'I can show you local Church leaders or perhaps even general leaders who have married out of their race.' I say, 'Yes--exceptions.' Then I would remind you of that Relief Society woman's near-scriptural statement, 'We'd like to follow the rule first, and then we'll take care of the exceptions.'"
Uhm...Yeah, I'm not even sure how to respond to this one.
"The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals."
Yes, the world was a much better place when men could treat their women like property and gays had to hide in the closet. As for the so-called scholars and intellectuals, let's go back to the dark ages when the church had total rule over everyone's life. Ah, those were the good old days.
"I have told my Brethren in that day when my funeral is held, if any of them who speak talk about me, I will raise up and correct them."
Oh please no! Sith Lord Packer was bad enough, I don't think I could handle Zombie Packer.
"Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith."
Wow, he is not looking good. I'm putting the over/under at 9 months until the Sith Lord leaves us. Here are some of my favorite Packer quotes:
“If we’re not alert, there are those today who not
only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that will legalize
immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s
laws and nature … what good would a vote against the law of
gravity do?”
I don't know. Ask the Flying Spaghetti Monster since gravity is just a theory and it's really his noodly appendages that are keeping us on earth.
“Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what
they feel are inborn tendencies toward the impure and the
unnatural,” he said. “Not so. Why would our Heavenly Father do that
to anyone?”
Indeed, why would he make people preset with narrow minded pin headed views? It's one of life's great mysteries I suppose.
"We've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. The counsel has been wise. You may say again, 'Well, I know of exceptions.' I do, too, and they've been very successful marriages. I know some of them. You might even say, 'I can show you local Church leaders or perhaps even general leaders who have married out of their race.' I say, 'Yes--exceptions.' Then I would remind you of that Relief Society woman's near-scriptural statement, 'We'd like to follow the rule first, and then we'll take care of the exceptions.'"
Uhm...Yeah, I'm not even sure how to respond to this one.
"The dangers I speak of come from the gay-lesbian movement, the feminist movement (both of which are relatively new), and the ever-present challenge from the so-called scholars or intellectuals."
Yes, the world was a much better place when men could treat their women like property and gays had to hide in the closet. As for the so-called scholars and intellectuals, let's go back to the dark ages when the church had total rule over everyone's life. Ah, those were the good old days.
"I have told my Brethren in that day when my funeral is held, if any of them who speak talk about me, I will raise up and correct them."
Oh please no! Sith Lord Packer was bad enough, I don't think I could handle Zombie Packer.
"Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith."
So I feel like I'm in a slump right now. Here's the story I wrote for Niners Nation last week but I feel like I'm forcing it. It's weird how sometimes writing can just come easily and at other times it's a real struggle. It wasn't even particularly original since I had written something similar here and here. Before you know it I'm going to turn into Family Circus:
We get it! No one wants to admit to doing anything so there must be some ghost named "not me". Yes, yes, so fucking hysterical. Meh.
On a different topic, you know you're a real drug addict when you start taking krokodil. It's a homemade drug that's so toxic it actually eats away your skin where you shoot up. 
Warning, these images are graphic:
Black dog been barkin, at my back door
Black dog been barkin, 25 times before
Took my shotgun, over the wall
Black dog aint barkin, anymore
The days turn into sand
So fuck you and your medicine man
You can turn on the light, if it make you feel alright
Don't expect me to, understand
The beetles, termites, spiders, and flies
Somethin's always crawling in and out of my eyes
Pest controler said, don't think twice
It's alright man, you're still breathing
Always lookin, keep on cookin up somethin weird
Always lookin, I keep on cookin up somethin weird
Black Dog - Alabama 3
For whatever reason you refuse to feel this space we're in,
To know it's insanity, really know it,
Whatever your particular anesthetic is, that you hold onto so desperately,
The thing I mean that makes you think you know who you are,
Whatever that thing is that you allow to keep you sane,
Your ace in your hole,
The psyche that keeps you from trying to guess what your pimp has in store for you,
Whatever keeps you from screaming out at this very moment in absolute and sheer horror,
Whatever you fuck your brain with, whatever that is,
Whatever that is,
It's a lie,
It's a lie.
Alabama 3 - Peach in the Valley
I have a new post on Niners Nation. I didn't really put a lot of effort into this one because I was in a hurry but it's gotten way more comments than I normally get. Go figure. You can read it here.
Happy belated St Patrick's Day. St Patrick is perhaps best known for comparing the three leaf clover to the Christian Trinity. It's one leaf and three leafs all at the same time. Of course the metaphor can only be taken so far since the shamrock actually is three different leafs growing out of the same stem while the Trinity is supposed to be 3 and 1 simultaneously. Kind of like an invisible pink unicorn that is both invisible and pink. It's like a mystery, or something.
However as I thought about it I don't think it's really all that mysterious. It seems to simply be a case of multiple personality disorder. There's the angry and jealous personality that commands the destruction of entire cities, including woman and children, the loving personality that tells us to turn the other cheek, and the prankster personality that gives people heart burn whenever they think about religion. I think deities suffering from multiple personalities is a severely underreported phenomenon that needs to be addressed. It would also explain why this world is so fucked up. It's the only explanation that really makes any sense when you stop to think about it.
On a different St Patrick's day note, someone asked me why people say everyone is Irish on St Patrick's day. It's a good question. We don't say everyone is Mexican on Cinco de Mayo, or everyone is Native American on Share Smallpox with Indigenous Population's day (also known as Thanksgiving), so why is everyone Irish on St Patrick's day?
To know it's insanity, really know it,
Whatever your particular anesthetic is, that you hold onto so desperately,
The thing I mean that makes you think you know who you are,
Whatever that thing is that you allow to keep you sane,
Your ace in your hole,
The psyche that keeps you from trying to guess what your pimp has in store for you,
Whatever keeps you from screaming out at this very moment in absolute and sheer horror,
Whatever you fuck your brain with, whatever that is,
Whatever that is,
It's a lie,
It's a lie.
Alabama 3 - Peach in the Valley
I have a new post on Niners Nation. I didn't really put a lot of effort into this one because I was in a hurry but it's gotten way more comments than I normally get. Go figure. You can read it here.
Happy belated St Patrick's Day. St Patrick is perhaps best known for comparing the three leaf clover to the Christian Trinity. It's one leaf and three leafs all at the same time. Of course the metaphor can only be taken so far since the shamrock actually is three different leafs growing out of the same stem while the Trinity is supposed to be 3 and 1 simultaneously. Kind of like an invisible pink unicorn that is both invisible and pink. It's like a mystery, or something.
However as I thought about it I don't think it's really all that mysterious. It seems to simply be a case of multiple personality disorder. There's the angry and jealous personality that commands the destruction of entire cities, including woman and children, the loving personality that tells us to turn the other cheek, and the prankster personality that gives people heart burn whenever they think about religion. I think deities suffering from multiple personalities is a severely underreported phenomenon that needs to be addressed. It would also explain why this world is so fucked up. It's the only explanation that really makes any sense when you stop to think about it.
On a different St Patrick's day note, someone asked me why people say everyone is Irish on St Patrick's day. It's a good question. We don't say everyone is Mexican on Cinco de Mayo, or everyone is Native American on Share Smallpox with Indigenous Population's day (also known as Thanksgiving), so why is everyone Irish on St Patrick's day?
Here is my new post for Niners Nations this week here as well as the first part of the story below:
The NFL combine is now underway and the question every NFL team really wants to know isn't who's the fastest, strongest, can jump the highest, or can wonderlic the best (I'm pretty sure that's the way you say it), what every NFL team really wants to know is if Manti Te'o is gay.
You may remember Te'o as the Notre Dame football player who claimed his girlfriend died only for it to be reveled later that the she didn't die. In fact, she never even existed in the first place. So why would someone makeup a fake girlfriend who died? The popular theory is that he must be gay. Either that or he just loves the spotlight and wanted to make up a story that would garner him some extra publicity. I don't know if he's gay but the story did get him a lot of publicity and as they say, even bad publicity is good publicity unless your name is Anthony Weiner and it was discovered that you were sexting pictures of your...uhm...well, you get the idea.
In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, it talks about Big Brother watching all of the citizens of the fictional nation of Oceania. Everywhere the citizens went they had to be careful what they said or did because Big Brother was watching. Well guess what, Big Brother is watching and it's not the government. It's all of us! We're taking pictures, videos, blogging, texting, tweeting, and using just about every form of social media available to us so we can poke our big fat noses into everyone else's business before turning around to make sure everyone of our "friends" on our social networks knows all about what this person said or did. (In interest of full disclosure I first heard about this idea from Anthony Cumia.)
We've all become an army of camera phone wielding paparazzi and blogging investigative journalists who report any salacious detail we can about everyone we can. Did anyone really care that JFK and Marilyn Monroe were getting it on 60 years ago? But Weiner texts a picture of his...you know...his...(I'll let you fill in the blank) and everyone loses their mind and Weiner is forced to resign from congress.
However when it all comes down to it, who cares? Does it really matter if Te'o is gay or not? Is being tackled by a big sweaty man OK if he's straight but if he's gay that somehow becomes a bad thing? Of course the bigger issue is the locker room, but they let female reporters in the locker room and I don't think anyone's going crazy over that or asking the female reporters what their sexual identity is. And just so we're clear, I guarantee there are gay players in the NFL right now. Would any of us have known Kwame Harris was gay if he hadn't been charged with abuse after he beat up his ex-boyfriend?
One of my favorite quotes is by Friedrich Nietzsche when he said, "You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." We should spend more time worrying about ourselves and less time worrying about what people may or may not be doing in their free time. Now excuse me while I post some pictures of Michael Vick with his dog at a dog training class. Those are fucking hysterical!
The NFL combine is now underway and the question every NFL team really wants to know isn't who's the fastest, strongest, can jump the highest, or can wonderlic the best (I'm pretty sure that's the way you say it), what every NFL team really wants to know is if Manti Te'o is gay.
You may remember Te'o as the Notre Dame football player who claimed his girlfriend died only for it to be reveled later that the she didn't die. In fact, she never even existed in the first place. So why would someone makeup a fake girlfriend who died? The popular theory is that he must be gay. Either that or he just loves the spotlight and wanted to make up a story that would garner him some extra publicity. I don't know if he's gay but the story did get him a lot of publicity and as they say, even bad publicity is good publicity unless your name is Anthony Weiner and it was discovered that you were sexting pictures of your...uhm...well, you get the idea.
In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, it talks about Big Brother watching all of the citizens of the fictional nation of Oceania. Everywhere the citizens went they had to be careful what they said or did because Big Brother was watching. Well guess what, Big Brother is watching and it's not the government. It's all of us! We're taking pictures, videos, blogging, texting, tweeting, and using just about every form of social media available to us so we can poke our big fat noses into everyone else's business before turning around to make sure everyone of our "friends" on our social networks knows all about what this person said or did. (In interest of full disclosure I first heard about this idea from Anthony Cumia.)
We've all become an army of camera phone wielding paparazzi and blogging investigative journalists who report any salacious detail we can about everyone we can. Did anyone really care that JFK and Marilyn Monroe were getting it on 60 years ago? But Weiner texts a picture of his...you know...his...(I'll let you fill in the blank) and everyone loses their mind and Weiner is forced to resign from congress.
However when it all comes down to it, who cares? Does it really matter if Te'o is gay or not? Is being tackled by a big sweaty man OK if he's straight but if he's gay that somehow becomes a bad thing? Of course the bigger issue is the locker room, but they let female reporters in the locker room and I don't think anyone's going crazy over that or asking the female reporters what their sexual identity is. And just so we're clear, I guarantee there are gay players in the NFL right now. Would any of us have known Kwame Harris was gay if he hadn't been charged with abuse after he beat up his ex-boyfriend?
One of my favorite quotes is by Friedrich Nietzsche when he said, "You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." We should spend more time worrying about ourselves and less time worrying about what people may or may not be doing in their free time. Now excuse me while I post some pictures of Michael Vick with his dog at a dog training class. Those are fucking hysterical!
I got my story done for Niners Nation last night so anyone interested can read it here, and I know there are oh so many people who want to read it. As I write this my dog is trying to burrow behind me back. I think I may have the laziest, most codependent jack russell there is. 
One thing I've noticed about talking online is that it's not a very good form of communication. I bartend so I spend a lot of time having conversations with total strangers. I can see their body language and hear the tone of their voice. If they say, "Awesome, it snowed again" but say it in a sarcastic way I know they're really saying, "Ugh, it snowed again." However here, for the most part, it's just typed words so it can be easy to misconstrue what's being said. Although, I guess there's only one way to interpret, "OMG, I love your boobs!!!
"
Then there's the fact this is a global community. Anyone who has ever translated something from one language to another knows that sometimes there is no perfect translation, and sometimes even among people who speak the same language a word can mean different things. Being part Finnish I was raised knowing the word "Sisu" but there is no English equivalent. If I go to England and ask for "chips" they'll give my fries, and if I tell them I really wanted those thinly sliced potatoes that are cooked in oil and salted they'll tell me I should have asked for "crisps".
None of this is profoundly insightful. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote a whole book, "Philosophical Investigations", were he talks about the fluid nature of language as being the core problem for most philosophical debates. This is just more random musings and pointless observations which I seem to have a lot of.
One thing I've noticed about talking online is that it's not a very good form of communication. I bartend so I spend a lot of time having conversations with total strangers. I can see their body language and hear the tone of their voice. If they say, "Awesome, it snowed again" but say it in a sarcastic way I know they're really saying, "Ugh, it snowed again." However here, for the most part, it's just typed words so it can be easy to misconstrue what's being said. Although, I guess there's only one way to interpret, "OMG, I love your boobs!!!
"Then there's the fact this is a global community. Anyone who has ever translated something from one language to another knows that sometimes there is no perfect translation, and sometimes even among people who speak the same language a word can mean different things. Being part Finnish I was raised knowing the word "Sisu" but there is no English equivalent. If I go to England and ask for "chips" they'll give my fries, and if I tell them I really wanted those thinly sliced potatoes that are cooked in oil and salted they'll tell me I should have asked for "crisps".
None of this is profoundly insightful. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote a whole book, "Philosophical Investigations", were he talks about the fluid nature of language as being the core problem for most philosophical debates. This is just more random musings and pointless observations which I seem to have a lot of.
So I've started wondering why some things elicit a strong emotional response while with others we feel strangely apathetic. When the school shooting in Connecticut happened that resulted in the death of 20 people, there was a strong outpouring of grief and rage from all over the country. I felt just as outraged as so many others did, but at the same time kids die all around the world every day. An average of 4,000 kids die EVERY DAY because of diseases they got from contaminated water. That's nearly 2 million every year. TWO MILLION!!
On a logical level I understand how horrible that is but it doesn't bring about that strong emotional reaction the same way the school shooting did. Why is that? Around 4 thousand kids died the same day as the Connecticut shooting yet I only felt strong emotions over the twenty.
The philosopher Peter Singer once came up with a dilemma to demonstrate this very thing. He would ask people if they would be willing to jump into a lake to save a drowning child even if it would ruin their $200 shoes. Most people would be outraged he even asked. Of course they would save the child over their shoes. He would then ask them if they'd be willing to write a check for $200 to a reputable charity if they knew it could save a child's life. Suddenly they would become a little more hesitant. What makes someone willing to ruin their $200 shoes to save a child more reluctant to write a check for the same purpose?
My own thought is it has to do with the way our brains have evolved. Through much of human history we lived in small social groups. There had to be a balance between selfishness and charity. Those who thought nothing of themselves and would give everything to others wouldn't live long since they had to look out for themselves at least a little. Conversely, those who were 100% selfish would get ostracized from the group for being unsocial and would also die since it would be so much harder to live on your own. Either way their genes wouldn't get passed on. Evolution favored those who had a good balance between the two. In other words, basic human morality isn't taught but is hardwired into a genes.
So in the situation where the child is drowning we feel an emotional tug to do something because they're right there in front of us. They're part of our group or tribe and we feel more of a sense of duty to protecting our own tribe. Kids dying halfway around the world that we can't see don't feel as important to us. We can logically say that's absurd they're equally important but our subconscious minds are what give us those emotions that give us a strong sense of duty. That's my own thought anyways, but what the hell do I know.
On a logical level I understand how horrible that is but it doesn't bring about that strong emotional reaction the same way the school shooting did. Why is that? Around 4 thousand kids died the same day as the Connecticut shooting yet I only felt strong emotions over the twenty.
The philosopher Peter Singer once came up with a dilemma to demonstrate this very thing. He would ask people if they would be willing to jump into a lake to save a drowning child even if it would ruin their $200 shoes. Most people would be outraged he even asked. Of course they would save the child over their shoes. He would then ask them if they'd be willing to write a check for $200 to a reputable charity if they knew it could save a child's life. Suddenly they would become a little more hesitant. What makes someone willing to ruin their $200 shoes to save a child more reluctant to write a check for the same purpose?
My own thought is it has to do with the way our brains have evolved. Through much of human history we lived in small social groups. There had to be a balance between selfishness and charity. Those who thought nothing of themselves and would give everything to others wouldn't live long since they had to look out for themselves at least a little. Conversely, those who were 100% selfish would get ostracized from the group for being unsocial and would also die since it would be so much harder to live on your own. Either way their genes wouldn't get passed on. Evolution favored those who had a good balance between the two. In other words, basic human morality isn't taught but is hardwired into a genes.
So in the situation where the child is drowning we feel an emotional tug to do something because they're right there in front of us. They're part of our group or tribe and we feel more of a sense of duty to protecting our own tribe. Kids dying halfway around the world that we can't see don't feel as important to us. We can logically say that's absurd they're equally important but our subconscious minds are what give us those emotions that give us a strong sense of duty. That's my own thought anyways, but what the hell do I know.
