tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post9057984262804771318..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: New AtheistsAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-15227434194933756172019-11-10T12:59:15.259-05:002019-11-10T12:59:15.259-05:00@ JMSmith - Great last sentence. When I reuse it ...@ JMSmith - Great last sentence. When I reuse it I am likely to capitalise Justice rather than put it in quotes, but you captured the thought clearly.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-34932496431177810412019-11-10T09:43:46.597-05:002019-11-10T09:43:46.597-05:00I think the mark of the SJW is that "social j...I think the mark of the SJW is that "social justice" is their battle cry, but that they are more interested in the battle than the cry. All good men agree that justice is a virtue, perhaps the greatest secular virtue, although they often disagree on the merit of particular persons, groups and things. I think all good men also agree on the mixed quality of persons, groups and things. If I am being just, for instance, I might say that Bob is a terrible liar but a fine musician and a loving father. I might say that group X was treated badly, but also acted badly. This mix is missing in the "social justice" of the SJW, which really comes down to a kind of inverse bigotry in which the world is divided into the children of darkness and the children of light. A chastising the children of darkness is the war in which they are engaged.<br /><br />We all recognize the bigot who hates Blacks and thinks every last one of them is a criminal. We all recognize the sexist male who thinks women belong nowhere but the kitchen and the bedroom. The real SJW has the same Manichaean mindset, only different hatreds and sympathies.<br /><br />An SJW tends to see particular cases as mere instances of a great historic cause, so that when a man and woman come into conflict, the woman is always a martyr in the feminist cause. I once sat on a disciplinary panel that tried a professor on the charge of sexual harassment. I was the only male and all of the women had a very strong prejudice against the male professor. To be honest, so did I. He was unlikable and I presumed the evidence must be strong to bring matters to that stage. It turned out that he was almost certainly innocent and the young woman made the change in retaliation for her poor grade. The evidence was so strong that the women on the panel had to acknowledge, but their rage at having to do so was palpable. They were not pleased that justice was done because "justice" had not been done.JMSmithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14502377102987849260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-40247144628111837462019-11-09T03:20:54.516-05:002019-11-09T03:20:54.516-05:00james, that's an interesting thought that athe...james, that's an interesting thought that atheism is a negative, and one I wouldn't have considered as carefully without having thought about the positive psychology post first.Donna B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16771075314473811594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-74160516092328056992019-11-08T21:11:24.562-05:002019-11-08T21:11:24.562-05:00Just finished the article. It seems plausible eno...Just finished the article. It seems plausible enough, but there's another point he missed. Atheism isn't a good stand-alone principle; it is simply negative. Christians or Hindus can each get together and talk about how good God is (or the gods are). Atheists can't, and patting yourself on the back for being so clever is pretty feeble stuff--especially since everyday experiences conspire to convince you you're _not_ that wise.<br />So the atheist needs some positive goals, preferably some that focus on what "man" can do cooperatively--hence politics.<br />I imagine the political goals might have been different in a different culture--"blood and soil" for a recent example.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-14876195884911501682019-11-08T20:34:18.636-05:002019-11-08T20:34:18.636-05:00WRT "SJW": since the phrase is meant ir...WRT "SJW": since the phrase is meant ironically, I don't think there's any confusion. You have people laboring for what they consider social justice (definitions vary--from one point of view the Tea Party was a grass roots social justice movement). Sometimes they get noisy, but that's a tool and not a goal.<br /><br />Other people scream for attention, and compete to find the smallest gnats to strain out. "Warriors" they aren't, but I think they like to be thought so.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01792036361407527304noreply@blogger.com