Posts by mistyscout2

hiddenpuma75 said:1) What exactly is flawed about using the term "relativism" (in the sense of rhetorically downplaying certain established, traditional values and achievements)?

2) If you don't like that term, what would you suggest using instead?

I wouldn't say the term "relativism" is entirely "wrong," per se, but my point was more about how when someone claims something is "relative," they don't mean it's just "whatever" or totally arbitrary. It really means it is defined in RELATION—that is, in a RELATIONSHIP—to something else. It all depends on which frame of reference you're looking through...

hiddenpuma75 said:1) What exactly is flawed about using the term "relativism" (in the sense of rhetorically downplaying certain established, traditional values and achievements)?

2) If you don't like that term, what would you suggest using instead?

It's not so much a specific term, but more like the phrase "anything goes"—which is the first thing that pops into my head that sounds decent, though I'm sure there are probably better ways to put it that I can't think of right this second 😁. And honestly, even that phrase has been pulled away from its original context from Paul Feyerabend and started being used in a way that's quite different from what he actually intended... But, I'm sure there are even better terms out there. So, it isn't that "relativism" is some uniquely flawed word; I just want to highlight how people often miss the connection between the word "relativism" and the idea of a "relation." When something is relative, it exists in relation to something else. Then you have that folksy old saying, "everything is relative"—well, of course it is, since everything is constantly interacting with other beings, objects, and so on. The problem is that this popular little cliché is just kind of mindless; it's not even really "thought" (hence my quotes), it just becomes this lazy, conformist slogan people toss out when they've hit a wall in a discussion, run out of intellectual steam, or simply want to dodge the hard work of thinking and questioning things. When people say "everything is relative," they usually mean there aren't any universal values or rules, I suppose... but I suspect there are, even if those values take on different shapes and relationships along the way...

Florine wasn't suggesting that every single individual is some sort of "enlightened" being; rather, her point was that we are inherently spiritual by the very nature of existing within language, civilization, and culture. Just the mere fact that we possess this specific capacity for complex speech and organized culture is what fundamentally sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom... In a sense, humans are "spiritual animals" because of that connection. If you consider that every person possesses a "spirit," or that some kind of "spirit" is woven directly into the languages and cultures we inhabit—which it absolutely is—then everyone is, by definition, spiritual. This way of looking at spirituality is quite different from that trendy, "specialized" version of spirituality you see being peddled everywhere in our current post-Christian, transitional American society...

Regarding this idea of "oneness," that’s really the hallmark of that specific brand of New Age thought, which is where that tendency toward what you—though perhaps not strictly from a linguistic standpoint—call relativism comes from...

mistyscout2 said:Regarding P.M., I honestly wish her nothing but the absolute best because she’s got that rare mix of being genuinely beautiful and incredibly sharp,
which you just don't see every day.

😲 😢 😢

Mark Torres14 said:I'm with you on that. But look, American and Russian are both Slavic languages and share plenty of roots too, yet you still have to actually sit down and learn it.

Well, I suppose a Swede has to learn English too, right? 😉But I think I get what you’re getting at—that it requires more effort. Personally, I don't think it's necessarily a much bigger hurdle. It really just comes down to how motivated you are, if you actually love the language, how much you'�re exposed to it, and how intensely you use it. For instance, most people from the Midwest or the South wouldn't understand a lick of Canadian, whereas to me, Canadian feels almost like my mother tongue. I mean, not quite right this second since I'm not hearing it much lately, but I remember years ago when I used to watch a lot of movies on TV—specifically from Canada—that if I wasn't paying close attention, I could hardly tell if I was watching an American or a Canadian program. That said, you can't exactly say the languages are *that* similar (like maybe certain dialects within the US). At the end of the day, it's mostly just a matter of habit.

Mark Torres14 said:It’s a shame nobody else bothered to respond to my post except you.
The whole point is that our approach to education is fundamentally different from how today's younger generations are taught. On one hand, things used to be stricter—call it "brutal" if you want—but on the other, we weren't bogged down by a mountain of useless definitions or pressured by frustrated parents and a society trying to manufacture a "finished product" overnight. I know I might sound like one of those people claiming "the old days were better," but after surviving the grind of high school, I truly believe our elementary schools and my classical prep school—with all the Latin and Greek—were much better than what we have now.
For example, it surprised me that little Swedish kids don't learn a foreign language at all until the fourth grade. They don't start until something like our fifth grade. Interestingly enough, more than half of the Swedes speak perfect English.

I don't think that's all that surprising, honestly, especially when you consider that both English and Swedish are Germanic languages. They share so many common word roots, and since the syntax isn't drastically different, I imagine a Swede wouldn't have much trouble picking up English.

Kenneth Brooks9 said:Most people here probably agree with you—that his head is just spinning with how he’s gonna relapse again—but I’m not so sure. He’s actually been clean from heroin for six months now. His biggest mess-up is the needle addiction; he’s still shooting up even when he's on meth. In these last three years, he’s only touched heroin a handful of times—though, yeah, when he does, he gets hooked fast. It’s really the needle that’s killing him.

Honestly, Quincy isn't all that different from heroin, except for the fact that it's legal, regulated by the medical system, and makes big pharma a ton of money. You can't really talk about him being "sober" or start making actual plans for his recovery and getting his life back on track until he's been clean from Quincy for at least six months. Just something to keep in mind.

And let's be real, plenty of former addicts end up turning to alcohol or other things once they move past their initial struggle.

S.S. is some kind of conspiracy theorist, though he operates on a slightly different wavelength than guys like Alex Jones... he mostly rambles about this idea of "programming" the human race and all those weird spikes—it’s basically a massive cocktail of everything under the sun, which sounds like a whole lot of mumbo jumbo if you ask me, but hey, it's still pretty interesting to dive into. It's always good to know there's even more out there...

Reading what you wrote, it felt like that might be part of his whole thing, since they use terms like "this programming" or "that programming" to describe almost everything living. Anyway, you could probably just Google him and find some clips of his lectures to see just how deep this rabbit hole goes. I couldn't even find an entry for him on Wikipedia hehe, so it's definitely some pretty underground stuff...

Rachel Palmer21 said:I truly believe that human beings don't actually possess free will; rather, our behavior is essentially pre-programmed and then subject to constant, ongoing reprogramming through a sort of Las Vegas method, utilizing continuous input from our surrounding environment.

I'm curious, though—what exactly is this method supposed to be? And who is this mysterious "programmer" we're talking about? How does all this programming even happen? Is this some kind of lesson from Stuart Swerdlow?

Jessica Cook11 said:Hey. So, I'm gearing up to major in philosophy at UT Austin starting my sophomore year—obviously doing the whole textbook grind first. Honestly, grab the Kalinov one for high schoolers... even if the writing style is a bit clunky. I've also got Western wisdom, which is decent enough. But there’s this one book that totally blows them both out of the water. It’s called a short history of ideas. Just can't recall the author's name right now.
Then you've got those little booklets out there—stuff like "Kant for beginners" or "Nietzsche for beginners." You can find them in any local library, if they even carry them in our town🙂. Personally? Not really my vibe. I can't stand those watered-down versions of something actually magnificent.
It really just depends on what you're looking to get out of reading philosophy🙂

Are you thinking of the book "A short history of ideas"? It was actually written by William Raeper and Linda Smith... Those little "for beginners" series are actually pretty charming and can be quite engaging; they might really hook a reader. Of course, they aren't going to give you a deep dive into the complex work of someone like Kant or Nietzsche, but they do a wonderful job of sparking an interest in the authors themselves...

Ugh, those combinations... If we're talking about the easier ones—not necessarily the best, mind you, just more accessible—that have been translated into English, I can't help but think of Russell's "Western wisdom." It was actually featured in Free California back in the day for $9.75, so I’m pretty sure you could even find copies tucked away in some of the smaller local libraries out in the sticks...

casualtinker23 said:Marijan Cipar hasn't passed away. In fact, he’s doing better than ever. What you saw was just a small segment of a much larger, complex multimedia performance—essentially another installment in his MCA Virtual Academy project. He’ll be back eventually to let us all know he was just playing a prank on us. Using a phrase like "Goodbye" is such a blatant paradox when you consider the sentiment of "I'll be right back."

What on earth is this guy talking about?

I honestly feel a bit of regret that I never made it to one of his live lectures. About three and a half years ago, Boško Zenić mentioned that he might come visit as a guest lecturer at the university philosophy department, but as far as I know, that never actually materialized (unless someone here knows something I don't, so please feel free to correct me)... I am just glad I at least got to sit in on some of Kangrgina's sessions. Even if he wasn't quite at the absolute peak of his philosophical powers back then, the man was essentially a walking history book, and it was truly an honor just to listen to him speak...

"The things we own eventually start owning us"

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too, but I can't seem to find that subforum anymore. I actually saw it right after my account got flagged, but it's gone now. It's been a while, so I guess it just disappeared into the ether. Would she be open to it if you asked her for me? I'd really appreciate it since I can't exactly shoot her a DM right now. Thanks so much in advance—and hey, I really don't want to come across as pushy by saying that early 😁.

@enky, I think I'll just hang tight and wait for the managers to sort things out or see how it all plays out, because honestly, I'd hate to go through the trouble of deleting everything right now for no real reason... I'll give you a shout once I finally clear up some space on my end.

steelridge58 said:And since he used to be a moderator, he should have at least 300 posts on his record, so you really ought to double-check everything in the admin panel before you go ahead and start deleting any of his messages.

Yeah, I know it used to work that way, but honestly, I'm not quite sure about the rules lately. Maybe it's just because I haven't been active on the boards for a while, or maybe there's some weird glitch somewhere? I haven't the slightest clue, though it’s probably not like my posts are hogging up too much space on the server anyway. I’ve already cleared out some of the less important stuff, but I’m definitely not touching the rest—no way, no how.

Who would be the best person among the admins to reach out to about this? Or am I going to get a lecture from one of the site owners if I ask? 🙂

Hey, thanks Kenneth Peterson5, I was actually thinking the exact same thing about how those two things might be linked.
By the way, once I noticed you were one of the people who had posted, I figured I should probably start tidying things up... I’m heading back into the cleaning process now, though I have to admit, I feel a little guilty deleting such wonderful messages. At the same time, I'm just too overwhelmed to try and archive everything—it's a real question of when I'd ever find the time or if I'd even get around to reading them all again, especially since my hard drives are already drowning in endless text files... Just one of those classic cyberspace dilemmas, I guess 😁.

Elvis Presley, thank you.

Hey there!

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with something. Does an account have a total cap on how many posts it can hold? I’ve been away from the forum for a little while, and when I left, I had about 300 posts under my belt. Now, for some reason, it shows I only have 183, and I'm stuck in this weird limbo where I can't send any messages or receive them either. I keep getting these email notifications saying someone tried to reach out to me, but nothing ever shows up in my inbox. So, what's the actual limit here? How many more do I need to clear out? It honestly breaks my heart a little having to delete so many of my old posts—some of them were actually pretty decent and fun to write—but I guess I don't have much of a choice if I want to get things working again...

stormyseal4 said:I’m looking for some advice—how do I actually get a person living with schizophrenia into a hospital when they are completely refusing treatment?

It’s my dad, and he lives all by himself now, totally lost in this world of delusions, paranoia, and conspiracies about people spying on him or trying to kill him. To make matters worse, he’s dealing with another serious physical illness right now that could be fatal if left untreated, but he won't see any doctors because he’s convinced "all doctors are just killers and spies." He basically stays shut inside his house all day long...

He was already diagnosed with schizophrenia and used to take his medication, but he stopped everything, and since then, he's just been sinking deeper and deeper into this state.

So, I'll ask again—is there a way to get him admitted? Should I just call 911? I don't think he's at a total crisis point quite yet, so I'm worried the paramedics might just drop him off at a psych ward and send me home. Or should I reach out to his primary physician or contact a psychiatric facility directly? I'm honestly terrified of making the wrong move, because if I push too hard and it goes badly, he might just shut me out entirely, and then I'll have nothing left to help him with.

This is such a classic example of how schizophrenia is "created"... It almost always starts within the family. Have you guys considered, maybe, actually talking to your father? And I don't mean a quick little chat over coffee, but rather a constant effort to show up and demonstrate love.
It kind of reminds me of those people who ship their elderly parents off to assisted living facilities just because they become an "inconvenience," allowing them to rent out the house to make a few extra bucks and focus more on their own empty routines.
A father doesn't necessarily need a hospital. Maybe some meds for a temporary period, sure. But what he really needs is understanding from those around him and so much more... You need to ask yourselves when these "delusions" actually started. You have to learn to interpret the metaphorical language of madness that your father is using. But doing that requires intelligence. Unfortunately, many psychiatrists aren't "trained" to grasp those nuances, nor do they have enough > (or perhaps their indoctrination destroyed whatever they had left) to truly engage with it all. But hey, your father is a burden, right? So since you've already stigmatized him as being "lesser," let's just toss him into a hospital and hope he accepts his disability. Well done.

ironmarlin1 said:And what about Heidegger and Wittgenstein? Honestly, Wittgenstein would probably take him out just for his absolute misuse of language. 🙂

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, that's a pretty controversial take 😁.

P.S. This is a really lovely thread, though I've never been much of a football fan myself🙂. :heretic:
And that Python sketch is such a classic.

Christian Castillo60 said:Alright, I haven’t posted in a while. The hand-washing thing? It’s still just as intense—I’m burning through endless bottles of Purell and Lysol at this point. On top of that, I just finished a short stint on Prozac that was a total bust. Honestly, it was an awful experience dealing with a psychiatrist who seemed completely checked out; he tried to push 150 mg of Prozac a day alongside two other meds, which I didn't even take. One was a sleep aid, and frankly, I can fall asleep whenever I want without needing a pill to do it for me. What I actually need is something to snap me out of this fog—not something to knock me out—while finally tackling one of the worst symptoms of my OCD: the constant washing.

Maybe try asking yourself why you feel the need to wash your hands in the first place? It’s probably a fear of getting sick. So, if you look at that fear, how justified is it really? I know that on a logical level, you probably realize it's irrational, but try to get even deeper into that awareness. Rationalizing things doesn't always work for most neuroses—it helps, sure, but it rarely gets to the root cause since everything stems from the subconscious—but with OCD, it feels a little more manageable than it does with panic disorders or chronic phobias. While rationalization won't ever fully cure you in most cases, it can at least shed some light on what's happening. When I say rationalization, I don't mean using ego defense mechanisms or trying to force something unknown into your belief system; I mean taking those ritualistic OCD actions and playing them out in your mind until they reach a point of absurdity. Once you see how silly the logic is, you realize you don't *want* to act that way, even though sometimes it feels like you "have" to.

So, is it a fear of diseases? Why? Well, part of it is probably because the media is constantly shoving cleanliness ideology down our throats with endless commercials. And why do they do that? For profit. Marketing experts are incredibly savvy about these unconscious psychological triggers in people, and they exploit them perfectly. But you—just like everyone else—aren't an infinite resource for them to tap into. Honestly, you just need to become aware of what's happening.
Try doing the exact opposite once in a while. Intentionally lean into the urge that's driving you and see that nothing terrible actually happens. You'll see that other people deal with this too. For example, if you're terrified of eating without washing your hands first, try to just go for it—eat something with your hands without washing them first.
Or, go out and intentionally get your hands dirty with something totally mundane, and then go eat. How do you feel afterward? Liberating? Of course it is...

Even while you're doing it, if it helps, tell yourself something like, "this is actually good for my immune system," because that isn't even far from the truth. You can't live a sterile life; you'll just end up getting sick anyway under certain circumstances—like if you went to India and ate street food that wasn't a banana or wrapped in a peel.

Nobody can mess with you quite as much as you can mess with yourself, so just take it slow and be smart about it.🙂
Best,