Ideas for helping to reduce and counteract the ravages of human nature

[Jim]

This is a continuation of this thread: Ideas for reducing and counteracting effects of psychological abuse

I decided to change the title because of some possibilities that I saw in it for misunderstanding.

 

[syo]

Humans behave badly when they are hurt. We should become a huge family. So people won't feel hurt.

 

[Jim]

In another thread I’ve been discussing my personal opinion about some potentially destructive kinds of behavior in Internet discussions. Some of my posts in this thread will be to respond to some questions raised in that thread without diverting attention from what I want to say in that thread. All I want to do in that thread is describe some behaviors that I personally think are morally wrong, inexcusable, harmful to all people, and part of some serious social problems that I think urgently need a lot more attention from a lot more people. My reason for starting that thread was seeing people saying in these forums that they intentionally try to hurt people, and bragging about it and making excuses for it, and getting “Like”s for that. I think that openly and boldly denouncing those kinds of behavior, without targeting people across faction lines, might be part of what will eventually help stop all kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression, online and offline, at all levels from child abuse and slavery to global violence.

One question that has come up is about morality being subjective. I’m not making any claims about an objective, absolute or universal standard of morality. What I’m saying is my personal opinion, which people are welcome to call “subjective” if they want to. I don’t think that does anything to defeat my purposes, other than possibly to divert attention from what I’m saying.

 

[Maximus]

In another thread I’ve been discussing my personal opinion about some potentially destructive kinds of behavior in Internet discussions. Some of my posts in this thread will be to respond to some questions raised in that thread without diverting attention from what I want to say in that thread. All I want to do in that thread is describe some behaviors that I personally think are morally wrong, inexcusable, harmful to all people, and part of some serious social problems that I think urgently need a lot more attention from a lot more people. My reason for starting that thread was seeing people saying in these forums that they intentionally try to hurt people, and bragging about it and making excuses for it, and getting “Like”s for that. I think that openly and boldly denouncing those kinds of behavior, without targeting people across faction lines, might be part of what will eventually help stop all kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression, online and offline, at all levels from child abuse and slavery to global violence.

One question that has come up is about morality being subjective. I’m not making any claims about an objective, absolute or universal standard of morality. What I’m saying is my personal opinion, which people are welcome to call “subjective” if they want to. I don’t think that does anything to defeat my purposes, other than possibly to divert attention from what I’m saying.

The internet is mostly a freak show. In my humble opinion, trying to make it a friendly place (short of getting rid of anonymity) is a waste of time.

 

[Jim]

I’m feeling some fatigue at this point.

I see some possible ways for anyone who wants to, to help improve the lives of all people everywhere, online and offline, and to help improve the world for future generations. One example of those ways is self-development and community service with those purposes in mind. Another is learning to be a better friend to more people. I’ve been discussing those ideas in some other threads. Some of those ideas are about helping to reduce and counteract the ravages of human nature, which I’m discussing in this thread. I’ve learned not to be bothered by most distractions, but I’m feeling a little fatigued by them now. I do try to counteract them sometimes, and that takes some time and effort.

 

[Valjean]

"Know thyself,"
Understand the urges and impulses that guide our actions and attitudes; their Pleistocene origins and original functions. Once aware of them, one can better judge whether their application would still be functional in a world entirely different from that they were designed to deal with.

Without being aware of them, it's hard to curb them when necessary.

 

[Jim]

"Know thyself,"
Understand the urges and impulses that guide our actions and attitudes; their Pleistocene origins and original functions. Once aware of them, one can better judge whether their application would still be functional in a world entirely different from that they were designed to deal with.

Without being aware of them, it's hard to curb them when necessary.

One of my ideas for learning not to use feelings and impulses in unhealthy ways, is learning to use them in healthy ways. Learning to use them in healthy ways makes it easier to recognize and avoid unhealthy ways. That works even with the most stigmatized feelings like anger, or thirst for revenge.

 

[Jim]

I want to explain some more my thinking behind my public denunciation of some kinds of behavior. I don’t think that appeals to self-interest and pragmatism will ever be enough to stop the worst kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression. I think that part of what is needed is for more people to see those behaviors as moral issues. For that purpose, I don’t see any need to debate about philosophical issues for people to agree on a standard of morality. In fact, coming from diverging standards of morality might make it more effective. All that I think is needed is for people to see it as a moral issue according to their own standards, and to learn to say so without targeting people across faction lines.

 

[Valjean]

I want to explain some more my thinking behind my public denunciation of some kinds of behavior. I don’t think that appeals to self-interest and pragmatism will ever be enough to stop the worst kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression. I think that part of what is needed is for more people to see those behaviors as moral issues. For that purpose, I don’t see any need to debate about philosophical questions. All that is needed is for people to see it as a moral issue, and to learn to say so without targeting people across faction lines.

But these are philosophical issues, and philosophical discussion is a way to change attitudes and convince people to alter behaviors, no?

 

[Jim]

But these are philosophical issues, and philosophical discussion is a way to change attitudes and convince people to alter behaviors, no?

I changed that in my post.

Someone started a distracting de-bait (short for derail bait) about morality being subjective, in the thread where I’m denouncing some kinds of behavior. I don’t see any need to debate about that, for my purposes. My response was to say that I’m not making any claims about the objectivity of any standards, that what I’m saying is my personal opinion, and that people are welcome to call it “subjective” if they want to.

 

[Jim]

I’ve learned that threads like this help me clarify my thinking for what I say in all the threads where I post.

 

[Jim]

But these are philosophical issues, and philosophical discussion is a way to change attitudes and convince people to alter behaviors, no?

The best way I know to alter attitudes and behaviors is to attract people into a fellowship where the attitudes and behaviors that you’re promoting are popular.

 

[Jim]

Every time that I’ve seen people convert from one ideology to another, I haven’t seen any improvement in their attitudes and behavior. The only changes that I’ve seen are in the targets of their animosities and hostilities, and their excuses for them. In fact, in every example that I’m remembering now, five times that I’ve seen people convert from one ideology to another, their attitudes and behavior became worse.

 

[Jim]

That might be part of the moral vacuum that I’m seeing, where any excuse will do for people to indulge their worst impulses. Maybe the reason people change ideologies most often is to have more excuses to indulge their worst impuses.

 

[Jim]

I’ve been seeing a need here for people to be more aware of psychological damage and have a better understanding of it. That was my reason for starting my first thread on this topic. I was planning to link to some websites and discuss what I was learning from them, but I had second thoughts because I think that a lot of it is corrupted by faction and career interests that add to the damage, and help perpetuate it and magnify its effects. I think now that I will leave it to anyone who’s interested to do their own searching. I’ll continue to study what I’ve found and discuss what I’m learning from it, but without linking to it or quoting from it.

 

[Jim]

Information sources about emotional abuse talk about oppressive psychological techniques that people use sometimes, consciously or unconsciously, to take control of a person’s life. Now I’m thinking of that as being like slavery in some ways, imposed more by psychological techniques than physical restraints and threats. Maybe I’ll describe some issues that I want to discuss as psychological damage from cruelty and psychologically induced servitude.

 

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Not being a condescending, smug, judgemental **** would be a good start.

 

[Jim]

Now I’m thinking of what I want to discuss here as being about psychological damage from human behavior including cruelty, subjugation and popular stereotyping. It’s about helping to reduce and counteract that damage. I’ll be studying some materials on websites about bullying, abuse and domestic violence, and posting some of my thoughts from that here. I think that more awareness and better understanding about those issues might help with reducing and counteracting cruelty, personal attacks and other toxic behavior in Internet discussions. I think that might be part of what will help reduce all kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression, online and offline, at all levels from child abuse to global violence.

 

[Jim]

Before I post thoughts about the web pages I’m studying, I want to try to explain my current thoughts about helping to reduce and counteract psychological damage from the ravages of human nature. What I’m thinking of when I say “psychological damage” Is not about people feeling hurt or offended. I object to people using hurt feelings and being offended as excuses for cruelty and vandalism, to intimidate and subjugate people, and for political leverage. What I’m thinking of when I say “psychological damage” is long term mental and emotional disabilities that appear to be consequences of some experiences in a person’s life. Those experiences could be some things that some other people do. There may or may not be some kinds of damage that can only be from what people do.

I’m thinking that part of helping to reduce and counteract the damage will be practicing and promoting more healthy friendships and community life for more people, especially people who need it the most. Part of it will be training from the time a person is born or even before, that will reduce the psychological damage that can be done to a person. Part of it is and will be special services for people who have been damaged or who are in immediate danger of being damaged. Part of it will be changes in human behavior and in society that will reduce the damage that people do.

 

[icehorse]

This is a continuation of this thread: Ideas for reducing and counteracting effects of psychological abuse

I decided to change the title because of some possibilities that I saw in it for misunderstanding.

I think that really paying attention to Maslow's hierarchy would be a great start. If people felt physically secure, had enough to eat, and received a decent education, a LOT of problems would go away.