Stuart Sims ~ Army of One
Stuart Sims, who appears in this remarkable Facebook thread (below) is a US Army Veteran, proudly representing Bravo Company, 82nd Airborne (1/325 AIR).
His favorite philosophers are Sun Tzu and Niccolò Machiavelli.
Based on his comments and bizarre anti-social behavior in this thread, there is some reason to believe he may have been the victim and/or the perpetrator of episodes of sexual abuse in the Army or possibly earlier in childhood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sims served in the US Army from 1994 to 1998 and rose to the rank of SP4 (E4).
I'm uninterested in defending religion. However, anyone who discredits and condemns millions of people and their way of life over the actions of a few desperately needs to take a introductory course in logic 101. The tragedy in Paris is horrible and we need to do all we can do in a global effort to stop the insanity. Using this tragedy to further personal agendas is horribly disrespectful and illogical.
Christy Johnson and 23 others like this.
Dariusz Gentek Totally agree.
Yesterday at 9:39am · Like · 1
Jeffery Mercer Millions upon millions are religious and do not resort to these egregious behaviors. Millions upon millions have harsh childhood experiences and do not resort to these behaviors. In my opinion this is the result of individual and group mental malfunction.
Yesterday at 9:48am · Like · 5
Gwen Sweeny Well Said. This is not jihad. This is find the crazy people and do something with them. What? That needs to be determined by someone much smarter on the topic then me.
Anita Mathews So true
Skip Pierce Yeah, I dont ever recall our Pastor telling us to gun down those who do not follow the Catholic faith.
Eric Cahill Well said...
Stuart Sims I condemn the millions of Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere who failed to stop this radical jihad medievalism before it spread, as it now has. The tepid responces from Muslim leaders around the world to acts of naked aggression and wanton violence is what has evoked my current distaste for the Muslim culture. I am not really interested in their personal religious beliefs, only in their actions. But one aspect of the Muslim culture that seems the most troubling is this -- apparently, the only two male personality types which are shaped by their culture seems to be either cowards or psychopaths. Where are the heroic figures who step forward and lead? Where is the moral courage to stand against evil? I have not seen one example of such a personality in the Muslim culture. And that is the most troubling aspect of this whole problem, to me. The vast majority of Muslims in the world seem to be afraid, and the rest of them appear to be insane.
Gwen Sweeny I so agree with your take Stuart. I have a boy who spent a year over there. He also would agree. I cannot understand what it would be to spend all my life in war and struggles for basic survival. So I do not have a mindset that can begin to empathise Out here in the country we are taught almost from birth how to shoot. Most have more than one weapon. We are taught to be self sufficient and work with what you have. We stand up to bullies. As a disclaimer I also didn't understand why people sat in a huge auditorium peeing on them selfs in New Orleans. Or why everyone walk past the debri after the earthquake in philippines. They were the work force. Its not just foreign cultures reactions I dont understand. I also have to admit I have never been in comparative drastic circumstance to know what I really would do. I can only say what I hope I would do. As Jeff said... Crazy people. Guess that comes in degrees.
Cyrille Baudouin As a French, I feel personnally touched by this event. But my major fear now is not terrorism... It's how some people will use these crimes to enforce radical and racism politics and justify inquisitory methods here in France and worlwide.
Terrorists want to install fear in our hearths. They do not want to defend, but to "avenge". They want to divide. They want war.
I hope people will awaken to see that it's time to assemble, but I am not really optimistic...
Yesterday at 12:12pm · Edited · Like · 3
Jeffery Mercer Cyrille, i'm horribly sorry this happened in your home country and I dont say that in some light fashion...it is heart felt. I admire your thoughts and attitude. Proud to be your Facebook friend.
Cyrille Baudouin Thank you Jeffery Mercer
Stuart Sims One of the most effective social engineering tools we have at our disposal is cultural pressure. It is what makes everyone put on clothes before they leave the house in the morning, what keeps many men from raping women and molesting children, and basically manages some of our more primitive and unsavory emotional compulsions from being expressed behaviorally. In the USA, we do not normally even think about these social compulsions or feel little awareness of the power they hold over our behavior. Cyrille says she fears this event in Paris might be used to justify "radical and racial politics and justify inquisitor methods". I prefer to characterize it differently. This event may be a catalyst for applying social pressure on a cultural group which so far seems unwilling or unable to manage the insane individuals which it has produced, nurtured and sheltered. And the "innocent" Muslims might finally feel that social stigma to a degree which will finally result in some real action. Frankly, I don't care if they are racially stigmatized, at this point. Enough is enough. If the good Muslims refuse to take care of this problem, then we must do whatever it takes to compel them to take the necessary steps. It has come to that, unfortunately.
Samantha Vu I am uninterested in defending religion as well. And Skip, it's true that my pastor/priests never preach to harm a single soul, but it is also TRUE, that many many Muslim clerics openly preach to millions of obedient Muslims to smite the infidels and the gays/lesbians, to use deception to infiltrate the enemy, and death to UK, America, Israel, and other Western nations who stand up to them. There are millions of documented films out there and confessions from ex-Muslims to support this claim. I understand that many Christians do not criticize Islam for the fear of being labeled as "hypocrites", and sometimes there is a need for peaceful religions to bring people together to share hope and commonality, but Islam isn't just a religion, it is also a political regime. If Westerners fail to see this, then they obviously don't have a clue what is written in the Quran, and they are blinded by the existence of the Islamic state of Iran, and the uprising of Iraq/Syrian Islamic state. Let's remove the word "religion" (which I think will be the fallacy of mankind anyway) from these groups and call them "organizations." If any organization which promote and have acted out on these kinds of violence, we would have shut them down already, even if not all members support them. But this regime hides behind the cloak of "religion", and is pissing on our interpretation of "religious freedom". I often ask my Muslim friends here in the US why there aren't as many as crazy fanatics here and the answer will surprise you. The US is one of the hardest country to immigrate to, so most Muslims here are the cream of the crops, financiallly sound and are quite intelligent, and they seek freedom from oppression of their own religion. So....we shouldn't so quickly to judge our European friends and the issues they are facing at this time of changes.
Yesterday at 1:08pm · Edited · Like · 3
Gwen Sweeny Well Samantha my son spent a year in Iraq and a year in Afghanistan. Other then he would drop F bombs all thru that statement; you are of a like mind with him. As he has been there and seen and fought it first hand, who am I to debate the topic with him. He also suggested waterboarding is not torture in that culture. They do worse to their ladies and kids. Perspective... Not sure if he has more of it or less. But I have to bow out to his opinion as he has blood in the game.
Yesterday at 1:20pm · Like · 2
Yaniv Chen Samantha, I agree with some of what you said, but Islam is a religion. Sharia is a regime. If a Muslim who lives in a Western country abuses the democratic privileges given to him by that country by calling for Sharia, or flying to fight for Islam he should be jailed.
Muslims, of course, aren't inherently bad; it's just that hundreds of millions of them will have to soon make a very difficult decision as to whether or not they are willing to be a part of the enlightened world, which means being open to criticism, as well as fighting the extremists in their midst tooth and nail.
Yesterday at 1:48pm · Like · 3
Jeffery Mercer Stuart and Yaniv, you both call for the Muslims to police themselves. I don't disagree but how? How do you police the violent mentally ill? I wish this were a simple as a religious issue, for then you are just dealing with belief systems. In this case you are dealing with generations upon generations of culture sanctioned violence and abuse. Which, stresses the young of each family in the formative years causing life-long physiological repercussions and mental damage. As hard as changing belief systems may be trying to affect change among such a constellation change points is a horrendous task. This isn't as easy as changing the way a group of people think, which by itself is nearly impossible. I'm perpetually upbeat....but also realistic. It almost makes me laugh at the ignorance of blaming religion. Some of these leaders are using religion as a tool to manipulate, but this is sooo much more.
Yesterday at 2:40pm · Like · 1
Brad Arnold I agree that a broad brush of religion for (for instance) violence is wrong, but I also think that superstition is a luxury we can't afford in the 21st century.
Yesterday at 2:48pm · Like · 2
Gwen Sweeny Like I said, a life time of war alone without all the cultural abuse and ugly would make a guy crazy. . My son was in a training program where they took locals under their wing, as it were, and trained them. He was frustrated as the guys just didnt seem to think ahead. He could understand if he didnt know what he was getting trained to do and did not know how to plan. Winter is coming and they dont plan by getting warmer cloths. My son said it like they are so use to planning of dying today they really do not consider tomorrow. This seems to be more then the couple he trained. I have had other military tell me the same frustration. How would one combate that kinda thinkin. Im all about living in the moment, But I have my winter clothes ready come fall too. I dont think we can even begin to understand that culture to make assessments. Our democracy took years to form, We cannot expect their to change in a decade. I know I was glad my son and others held off the "bad guys" so some kids got some education. Educating the females seems the best way to change the culture. It will take generations.
Stuart Sims Jeffery, for a culture which applies such a huge weight of cultural pressure to control behavior, it is difficult for me to accept that the Muslim culture could not put an end to this problem, if they as a group really had the desire. Or the moral courage. I think there may be a deficit in both areas. Our species is at the brink of a major evolutionary paradigm shift, and if the Muslims wish to remain a part of our civilization, they MUST evolve out of their medieval mentality, or risk being relegated to the fringes of our societies. And educated people everywhere need to straighten their backbone and gather the moral courage to resoundingly condemn ALL Muslims for the perpetuation of this minority Jihadi culture. I find the necessity unpleasant, but I find the alternative orders of magnitude more unpleasant. Many academics assert that it is wrong to condemn all Muslims for the actions of a few, but I say as a practical matter, that is exactly what is necessary . We can no longer afford this ivory tower idealism, as recent events in Paris so clearly illustrate.
Jeffery Mercer Brad, again, I'm not feeling the need to defend religion...but that pic is inflammatory to some and is an unjustified blanket statement. Some of our most successful entrepreneurs, scientist, inventors, etc. have been religious.
Brad Arnold Jeffery Mercer I agree it is inflammatory to those who believe that prayer solves problems. Also, I agree that many of our successful citizens are religious. Neither, though, contradicts my point. In fact, it tends to reinforce it, because it shows how people are willing to make spacious arguments to protect their cultural baggage.
Stuart Sims Brad Arnold, I agree. That is a dumb generalization, to be perfectly blunt. Nobody teaches their children to consider prayer as a form of magic that solves all their problems.
Yesterday at 4:54pm · Edited · Like · 1
Jeffery Mercer Stuart, that's a bit of blaming the victim. Many of them are experiencing worse tha n anything we see.
Yesterday at 3:11pm · Like · 1
Brad Arnold "All generalizations are false, including this one." - Donald Rumsfeld
Yesterday at 3:12pm · Like · 1
Gwen Sweeny I am one of them, Jeff. I have run a business for 30 years. I was taught by my preacher daddy and religious upbringing to pray. I am not defending religion either. I struggle with organized religion too. My relationship with my Creator is spiritual, calming, gives me focus, creative problem solving skills and loving patience that is not natural to my personality when dealing with the public. Just saying the poster is proven wrong just in the few in this conversation. Adjustment in Hypothesis is Required.
Brad Arnold I would like to point out that the poster says "pray to solve problems." It doesn't say pray to solve all problems, nor does it say grows up to be an adult that can't solve any problems. If it said that, it would be wrong.
Gwen Sweeny Splitting Hairs Brad
Barry Kort Similarly, we probably shouldn't condemn all Republicans, all Americans, or all Christians for what a small handful of individuals did in the Bush Administration.
Jeffery Mercer Stuart, mark this on the calendar, I'm wrong to discount your proposal so quickly. The more I think about it, the more a multifaceted approach makes sense. Approaching the problem from both the inside and outside may be the most effective. I stick by my statements above in this sense. We'd have to remain sensitive to those more oppressed than we can imagine. Got a meeting. Talk to you soon,
Yesterday at 3:41pm · Like · 3
Stuart Sims You say we need to be sensitive to the oppressed, but I say that we infantilize an entire culture by NOT laying the responsibility on them to evolve with the rest of our civilization. They do not need our condescension, they need to feel our outrage and horror at the acts done in the name of Islam. They need to feel the full weight of all the cultural pressure we can summon. The alternative is outright war.
Barry Kort The oppressed, the abused, the violated, the conflicted, the impoverished, the cheated, the deceived, the bullied, the alienated, the despondent, the terrified, the dispirited, the perplexed, the bewildered, and the frustrated all deserve some respite from their suffering.
Jeffery Mercer Barry and Stuart, if we had a meeting room and whiteboard this'd be much easier. By sensitive to the oppressed I (and perhaps Barry) only mean that we not further victimize the abused. That's very different than being condescending or encouraging the victim role. That subgroup needs the tools to assume a leadership role in their own lives. Which, ironically, would likely lead to their jumping into the fray once they realized empowerment. Of course, each and everyone individual has differing needs and unique responses.
Yesterday at 5:45pm · Edited · Like · 1
Barry Kort The reason this issue troubles me is because these negative experiences tend to percolate through the culture. Any one individual who is on the receiving end of one or more of those negative experiences might react to generate and propagate one or more of the other negative experiences to a third party, setting up a kind of round-robin ping-pong game in which the "hot potato" changes color but stays in perpetual motion as it's passed along from one receiver to the next.
Jeffery Mercer Virally spread violence...
Jeffery Mercer Childhood inoculation during the first five years may be the answer. Now to define inoculation.
Barry Kort That's why we need to reckon these systemic issues from the perspective of systems analysis.
As many of my colleagues and online acquaintances...
BARRYKORT.WORDPRESS.COM
23 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Jeffery Mercer Now where have I seen those faces....
Barry Kort Probably in a Whack-a-Mole game board.
Global Peace Initiative: A Brain-Based Approach to Reducing Violence and...
GLOBALPEACEINITIATIVE.ORG|BY CRAIG RIDGLEY, SAFIRE INTERNET SOLUTIONS, HTTP://SAFIRE.NET
Jeffery Mercer Thanks for the above Valerie JanLois. Any of you guys ever look into organizations like this?
Barry Kort Not that one. But I once founded an online learning community that was non-violent.
Valerie JanLois Here's a very clear description of the same organization. Good luck spreading the word, Jeffrey. Www.permanentpeace.org
If this large body of evidence—accepted and published by mainstream scientific journals—is accurate, groups of...
PERMANENTPEACE.ORG|BY CRAIG RIDGLEY, SAFIRE INTERNET SOLUTIONS, HTTP://SAFIRE.NET
Jeffery Mercer I've not looked at this yet, but if it appears to be a money making scam, it will be put in the trash. Sorry to be so skeptical, but I'm old and seen too much of such.
Valerie JanLois It's not a scam. Honest.
Jeffery Mercer Good morning, Valerie. I was on my cell last night and too lazy to get my laptop. There site is "sized" for a full screen. I'm going to take a peek later today. Have a wonderful morning!
Jeffery Mercer Jason, I love the video you posted. It gives good balance to the points I've been making above. My assertions are not intended to be politically correct....I despise PC for the sake of PC. I stand by my statements about not further victimizing those victimized by the radical sector. Let me say again, after rethinking Stuart 's position, only let me state it more strongly after watching this video, the moderate sector may find it healing to recover their religion and culture if given the means and support.
Jeffery Mercer Since the topic has migrated from the illogical assertions that entire groups are bad due to the actions of a few, lets move conversations specific to Muslim terrorists to today's post on my wall where I shared the video Jason Chaney posted in this thread.
Micah Blumberg yes I have now read some long arguments, and someone said a minute ago "if a cartoon threatens your faith your faith is obviously worthless" really though, it makes sense. the terror act was committed in thought a trillion times over before it was committed in person, no religion no terror
Jeffery Mercer Micah, is it your statement that if all religions were to miraculously disappear that so would all violence?
Micah Blumberg my statement refers to this particular act only, this particular act was thought a trillion times over by billions of people before a few carried it out.
Jeffery Mercer This is an interesting statement, Micah. There are seven billion (approx.) individuals globally. So most of the world's population wanted this to occur? BTW, unlike so many on social media, I'm not being a smarty. I really wish to understand your position.
Barry Kort "If your God is hurt by ridicule or interrogation... It must be a very small god indeed." ~Twitterverse
Barry Kort Vengeance, retaliation, or "getting even" is an urge that appears in both religious contexts and in secular contexts. In the secular law, we have the concept of Retributive Justice.
The two wars that GWB started in the aftermath of 9/11 were examples of retributive violence in the secular domain.
Note that the first war (in Afghanistan) was originally called "Operation Infinite Justice" but the name was quickly changed to "Enduring Freedom" when scholars pointed out that "Infinite Justice" is a central concept in Islamic Theology, and that only Allah has the power or authority to pursue "Infinite Justice."
BBC News | AMERICAS | Infinite Justice, out - Enduring Freedom, in
The United States changes the code name of its...
NEWS.BBC.CO.UK
16 hrs · Like · 1 · Remove Preview
Micah Blumberg You are only including people who are currently alive. I'm including all of human history.
Micah Blumberg You are lying also. "I'm not being a smarty. I really wish to understand your position."
Barry Kort One can find many apologists who defend the secular version of Revenge or Retributive Justice. Here, from an archive of NPR's "Talk of the Nation," we are chagrined to say that an otherwise distinguished Professor of Law at Fordham University came out in an Op-Ed to prop up the concept of Revenge as a valid legal concept.
http://www.npr.org/.../op-ed-the-nonexistent-line-between...
Law professor Thane Rosenbaum says it's time for...
NPR.ORG|BY TALK OF THE NATION
16 hrs · Like · 1 · Remove Preview
Barry Kort "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." ~Confucius, Chinese Philosopher & Reformer (551 BC - 479 BC)
"An eye for an eye, and pretty soon the whole world is blind." ~Gandhi
Micah Blumberg A brain predicts the causes (of motion). So billions of living people predict other people. When there are messages floating around that say if you make a certain picture, someone will commit a henious act of violent murder and terror, billions will think it trillions of times, and a few will carry it out. The few are like the peak of the net effect of the whole idea spread across everyone. Its not just muslims who are infected with this toxic idea, its everyone, in a distributed way the idea exists, and thats what it takes to cause a few to carry it out.
Jeffery Mercer Micah, I've been respectful to you. The above charge that I am lying to you doesn't feel respectful in return. If you have an interest, read my early December post that starts out, "we need your brain". Thank you for contributing to this conversation.
Stuart Sims hehe. I think Jeffery is being the change he wishes to see in the world. And I submit that we need individuals like Gandhi, Jesus, and Jeffery. I also submit that when the insane portion of our societies crucify Jesus, shoot Gandhi, and accuse Jeffery of lying, people like me are ready and willing to find them and put two in their chest and one in their head. Our species needs both types of people, until we find another way to stop evil from flourishing.
Jeffery Mercer Stuart, before you level your weapons, give the other half a chance first.
Stuart Sims Radical Islam has had their chances, and in my estimation, all that is left to do is find them and kill them. Micah is safe (for now). I am actually an optimist, but I have also seen some of the horrible shit people can do to one another, and in my experience people do not change. Patterns of behavior define an individuals character and tell you who they are. At some point expecting a person to change becomes naïve.
Jeffery Mercer I normally hate analogies, but any way . . . isn't that a bit like saying, I'm going to kill that virus1 with this virus2 knowing full well that virus2 will in the end spawn more of virus1? When we kill violent, "evil" people, then that breeds fear and hate in those who loved those violent people or were sympathetic toward the same belief system but not yet violent themselves. This is a generational issue that will continue to be a generational issue. Don't get me wrong, I don't promote getting rid of our defense systems in some naïve hope that the bad guys will lay down their guns . . . won't happen. I'm simply saying violence must be counteracted by something other than violence . . . when possible. We've got some really smart people in this world. We've got some kind, clever people in this world . . . they just aren't really jumping at being leaders of our crazy political systems. The brain trust must pull together or there will be another time and another time and another time. The next time may not be caused by the name of Nazi or Terrorist . . . but there will be another time. Now to do the other thing I hate . . . cliche . . . The most ignorant thing an individual or group of people can do is to keep approaching the problem the same way expecting an different result . . .
Stuart Sims Jeffery, that argument is often made by those who cringe from violence, and intellectually I can understand that position -- it does have a certain logical consistency. But I would also like to point out the absurdity of making the argument that "violence breeds violence" the premise of an argument against retaliatory violence when insane people such as the Nazis and Jihadist are gassing millions of Jews and crucifying children in front of their parents. Until we find a non-violent way to stop the perpetuation of evil, the solution to the problem is simply a numbers game. Rationally, the more evil people you kill, the less evil there is in the world. When you stop killing them, evil men do not suddenly become good men. They multiply even faster. Your argument is based on the assumption that if we don't attack them, these people will not become violent. History does not support that assertion. Islam is a culture born in blood and conquest -- it is woven into their ideaology. Until that changes, the only way to protect ourselves is to identify those individuals who choose to live by the sword and kill them all. And when these people start walking into schools and shooting and killing children, I loose all patience with your sort of philosophy. There is a time for talk and a time for action, and an individuals experiences teaches them how they can know the difference. In the context of radical Islam, the time for words is past.
Barry Kort If we (liberally) define "religion" as a set of strongly held beliefs, together with an associated set of derivative practices, then we all have our "personal religions" which may or may not closely align with some nominal "religion" (including philosophies like Taoism and Buddism, along with secular philosophies, political philosophies, and philosophies of science).
For me, Taoism and Buddhism come the closest to jibing with my Philosophy of Science. But I also find some intriguing ideas (both pro and con) in exploring the teachings of Socrates, Moses, Hillel, Jesus, Maimonides, Søren Kierkegaard, Mark Twain, Martin Buber, Isaiah Berlin, Hannah Arendt, Viktor Frankl, Mohandas Gandhi, Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Luther King, Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Harold Kushner, Thich Nhat Hanh, René Girard, and Eli Wiesel (among others).
Jeffery Mercer Stuart, I had an "anger issue" as a teenager for which I was going to be removed from the public school transit system which caused me to be sent to a different high school. I'm very grateful to have the resource between my ears to grab myself by the back of the neck (figuratively) and will myself to be different. Later I worked in the juvenile justice system as a clinical director . . . violence was seemingly a daily event for these trouble youth and so was a daily event for we the caretakers. I sincerely hope I never stop "cringing from violence". I'm a bit surprised after reading everything in this conversation thread, that you'd assume that I'd want to "talk" when people were dying. As it happens, I'm not in a position to order military action and so, I'm left only with the option to talk. Positive change takes many forms and we need to each of us do our part. I try to live what I talk and I try to talk in an intelligent, logical fashion that has a chance of influencing a person or two in a rational direction. Having said that, there is no doubt that when people are being abused and dying, we must step in and do what we can. Anything less would be immoral. You say above, "Until we find a non-violent way to stop the perpetuation of evil." How can we do such without putting our heads together and talking about it? It isn't logical to say that if we do so then we will be paralyzed into inaction. We can do both . . .yes?
Jeffery Mercer George Hoggarth Barry Kort Tim Higley and I are beyond the age for joining the military. These three guys (and many others that are my FB friends), bring rational thought processes to what is often chaotic conversations on a daily basis. They are doing their part. I intend to do mine. You've demonstrated that you do yours in spite of your penchant toward . . . shall we say . . . action. You stress action is needed . . . I agree we must protect. I say people like you guys are needed just as desperately to bring a little sanity to the chaos.
Stuart Sims You know my position on how evil is defined, and the most empirically valid method for stopping the perpetuation of evil. It is all about the environment in which our children are conditioned. Remove the environments in which evil people are created, you greatly reduce the hate and violence in the world. I did what I could as a younger man by joining the army, and I am doing what I can now by studying to be a psychiatrist.
Jeffery Mercer I agree concerning our children's environment. That's what I describe above as "inoculation" against violence for our children during formative years. That's probably not the best word for it but that's what came out of my fingertips at the time. George, has a very good description in another post about what violence does to children during formative years. I can't provide a description. George?
Stuart Sims Violence against children is of course an extreme example of environments which condition evil adults, but the real challenge is not stopping violence against children, in my estimation. The challenge is in creating a culture in which effective parenting is seen as the first and best fortification against the creation of evil in the world. When children only experience positive emotional affects during the first 3 years of life, according to my parenting model they are conditioned to become almost incapable of becoming violent, hateful individuals as adults. Parents must be indoctrinated with this information, and every day they must work to promote positive affects (CARE, SEEKING, and PLAY) in their children between the ages of 0-3yo, and remove all environments which illicit negative emotional affects (FEAR, RAGE, and PANIC). That is the where the fight against evil begins.
Jeffery Mercer Agreed. Another challenge is to do so while simultaneously encouraging mental toughness (opposite of playing the victim),
Gwen Sweeny Stuart I agree. Some people cannot be reasoned with. I have live being a mom waiting for the big black cars with shiny shoes stepping out to give me the dreaded news. So have other mothers have, for over a decade. I am still living watching my sons mind trying to come to terms with what he saw over there. Seems we are back where we started. This is war. War is not pretty. We have to decide if we mean to win or not. Daddy also said "Be Careful the fights you pick. Make sure it worth your losing your knees and be prepared to take theirs. Don't get in a fight you are not ready to do whatever it takes to win". We cannot fight a war nicely. We didn't pick the fight. They did. We seem to have lost our resolve to win the fight. That frightens me more than radicles. Not sure what it will take for people to get fed up and understand the concept of war. The sooner we do what is necessary to win it, the sooner it will be over. The longer we try to play war games nice the more kids will be like my and other mothers sons. Im not against fly by, Seems those countries could use a few more holes for lakes. Understand I am not a violent person. I do not have a temper, I didnt even beat up my little sister growing up. I do not think fighting is the usual answer to a problem. There is a time one can do little else then punch the other guy square in the nose and make sure he dont get back up for seconds. Radical Islam are those guys. (Thank you-- Rant over)
Stuart Sims Jeffery -- You see, that is the most common parenting mistake I encounter -- people who think these two aspects must be "balanced". But by understanding the stages of neurological development, we can avoid any such conflicts. "Mental toughness" is a natural result of a well established and positive subcortical emotional system, which is developed from ages 0-3yo. After 3yo, the entire parenting game changes. At that point, it is no longer neccisary to aggressively shelter your children from experiencing negative emotional affects -- their subcortical emotional systes have been fully developed and established as the foundation of the mind. During ages 3-6yo, allowing your children to experiencing negative emotions is actually useful -- during that stage of development, the child is learning how to respond behaviorally to negative emotions, and so allowing them to experiencing those emotions, and teaching them how they should behave in response to those emotions is a huge part of effective parenting.
Jeffery Mercer Not promoting any other than what you just stated. I know and agree with it by my training and by clinical experiences and by my 25 years of parenting....one child to go.
Gwen Sweeny Age appropriate teachable moments. I wanted to walk thru as much as I could with my kids so when they were men on their own they would have been there done that once. I was not raising kids I was raising men. Experience does so much more than moms warnings. No education just 20 years working in all kinds of capacities with kids in school and church and raising mine and a crap load of their friends for almost 29 Don't have fancy names for stuff, but I know it when I see it.
Stuart Sims Gwen -- As to the correct conduction of War, I think the definitive work on the subject was written by a fellow who lived in the 16th century named Niccolò Machiavelli. The man had an extraordinary clarity of thinking on the subject, and I admire his reasoning and many (but not all) of his conclusions. “People should either be caressed or crushed. If you do them minor damage they will get their revenge; but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do. If you need to injure someone, do it in such a way that you do not have to fear their vengeance. There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.” --The Prince.
Barry Kort I award Machiavelli an 'F' in mathematics. He has made an egregious (and costly) error in reasoning. Indeed it is arguably the oldest and most insidious and devastating error in logic that any human has ever made since the dawn of civilization itself.
Stuart Sims (laughing) Yes Barry, and before Machiavelli, War was conducted in a much more civilized fashion. Machiavelli understood that War and violence were a part of the natural order, and so he asseted that if these things must be done, there is a smart way to do them, and a dumb, animalistic way to do them. He outlined how an intelligent ruler wages war to minimize suffering and maximize the effectiveness of the conflict. I admire his ruthlessness, although its necessity is lamentable (obviously).
Barry Kort Machiavelli was one of the biggest idiots who ever lived, prior to GWB.
Stuart Sims Well, there is always Sun Tzu, if you don't care for Machiavelli. But both men are in general agreement on how to conduct and win at War, but Sun Tzu's language is far less offensive to some.
Stuart Sims But I agree that GWB is and was an idiot.
Stuart Sims "The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected." • Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Gwen Sweeny If the leaders of the warring countries were in the front lines with their swords drawn, I would have more confidence in their motives and strategies.
Barry Kort By the way, Machiavelli is one-third of the Dark Triad (a blend of Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism). The Dark Triad is the epitome of Evil.
From Wikipedia:
The dark triad is a group of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Use of the term "dark" implies that these traits have malevolent qualities:
• Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
• Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others; a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception.
• Psychopathy is characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.
All three traits have been associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad
The dark triad is a group of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.[1][2][3] Use of the term "dark" implies that these traits have malevolent qualities:[4][5][6][7]
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
12 hrs · Like · 1 · Remove Preview
Barry Kort In other words, Dick Cheney.
Stuart Sims Like all philosophers in history, from Jesus to Martin Luther, evil men have pointed to their philosophies to justify their own misdeeds. That in no way detracts from the substance of their philosophies.
Barry Kort There is a great deal of substance to Evil. There is also a great deal of substance to cyanide. However, I don't advise ingesting either.
Stuart Sims Well Barry, let me challenge your position. Do you agree with the assertion that War is sometimes necessary to protect good people from evil people?
Barry Kort It's only necessary if one is too dumb to figure out how to solve problems peaceably. Most people are, in fact, too dumb to solve problems peaceably.
War is arguably one of the greatest evils ever foisted on humankind.
There are much better methods of resolving conflicts. Alas, most people are too learning disabled to learn them.
Stuart Sims And some people are so dumb they wait until the enemy has a knife at their throat before they realize they are dumb. At that point, it is often too late to gain that wisdom.
Stuart Sims But I will take your looping response as an affirmative response to my question.
Barry Kort One of the reasons I was born at all was because my great grandparents had with wisdom and foresight to get the hell out Eastern Europe while the getting was good.
Stuart Sims So if War is sometimes necessary, where should an intelligent person look to educate themselves on how to best conduct War?
Barry Kort No place. Learn to solve problem with ideas, not with weapons of war.
Stuart Sims Oh, and so when war becomes necessary, as you just admitted it sometimes is, then those lovers of peace should just learn as they go? Reinvent the wheel? If the men who founded this country had followed that advice, their would have been no place for your grandparents to run.
Stuart Sims Your argument is not reflective of reality. It is reflective of reality as you wish it to be.
Barry Kort Reality is that the organic brain is theoretically capable of learning, but we have crafted a culture that tends to disable that faculty. I propose to re-enable that faculity.
Stuart Sims And while you are working on that, evil men are chopping off the heads of children and raping women. You think we can reason with these Jihadist?
Jeffery Mercer You are both right. It's a matter of short term and long term responses to the problem.
Stuart Sims I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. -- John Adams
Gwen Sweeny I agree most conflicts where people want resolution communication and creative problem solving is the answer. In a situation where one party does not want resolution but domination then to save your freedom you must stand up and fight until the one who want to dominate is to weak to continue the battle. It would be wise to make sure they never have the ability to fight again so as not to repeat the process.
Barry Kort Stuart are you admitting that you are too learning disabled to learn the art of peacemaking, and therefore you propose to learn the art of war instead? I will grant you that it takes a lot less brains to learn the art of war than to learn the art of peacemaking. If that is your plight and your choice, who am I to deny you the ecstasy of your fervently chosen religious beliefs?
Stuart Sims Like I said, we need both sorts of people. Barry and me both want the same thing. It is his tendency towards absolutism to which I take exception.
Stuart Sims Sometimes the art of peace is created through the art of War. It is part of the duality of Man.
Barry Kort OK. I propose that you be the idiot who goes to the battlefield. And I'll study the art of peacemaking. Deal?
Stuart Sims Yes. Upon that much we can agree. I would not want to share a foxhole with you Barry. I would end up doing all the digging
Barry Kort Be sure to leave instructions on how you would like to have your body disposed of when the war is over.
Jeffery Mercer Do I sense a bit of tension in the room? C'mon now. Let's not take our discussion about violence into verbal violence! LOL
Barry Kort Where have all the nasturtiums gone, long time passing?
Stuart Sims I'm not tense.
Stuart Sims I enjoy these sorts of discussions
Barry Kort I hypothesize you enjoy a Dopamine Thrill from them.
Jeffery Mercer I enjoy these discussion too, until someone puts a helmet on . . .
Barry Kort The tin foil helmet is to keep unwanted ideas from finding their way into the well-defended skull.
Jeffery Mercer now, where'd my roll of tin foil go . ..
Stuart Sims And I hypothesize that you have spent your entire life justifying physical cowardice by vilifying physical bravery as being a quality of "stupid" people. That is a very common fortification erected by fragile egos, in my experience.
Jeffery Mercer OK . . . where'd my referee whistle go . . .
Jeffery Mercer Gwen, did you take my whistle?
Barry Kort You have just demonstrated (to me at least, since I happen to be a subject matter expert on my own frame of mind) that you suck at scientific reasoning and hypothesis construction in the field of Theories of Mind.
Stuart Sims Jeffery -- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Jeffery Mercer LOL . . . I've been called worse!
Barry Kort So now, let me have a "shot" at your (hopefully not too feeble) brain. How did you falsify the Null Hypothesis in connection with your most recently posited Working Hypothesis?
Jeffery Mercer *sigh* this is going to be a very long conversation thread . . .
Gwen Sweeny Well I guess as a quote from the old movie... "You know how to whistle dont ya... Put your lips together and blow"
Gwen Sweeny When my boys were in school there was a boy who was a bully. he wanted to fight and pick on everyone. Teacher, parents other students tried all kinds of things to get him to stop. One of my kids was one of his favorite to pick on. I started trying to tell my son not to fight. After a couple years of watching all that happened with this kid. I told my son to punch him in the nose. Pick up a stick what ever he needed to do to ensure the kid not get back up. The kid picked on other and not my son. One sometimes cannot reason with a person who is determined to be a prick. Sometimes you have to say NO not me anymore. Playgrounds and battlefields seen the same in many ways. its the size of the stick is different
Stuart Sims And Barry further retreats into abstractions when the discusions turns to particle matters of flesh and bone.
Barry Kort Wait, don't you want to attend to a diagnosis of Stuart's faculties at employing the Protocols of the Scientific Method whilst constructing and evaluation hypotheses?
Barry Kort Stand and be numbered, you intellectual coward! Show your work. How did you falsify the Null Hypothesis, pray tell?
Stuart Sims You are saying your physical cowardice has no relationship to your perception of physical bravery as being a quality of stupid people? I would submit you need to reevaluate that relationship.
Gwen Sweeny ya Jess Start a new question in a new thread... These two are in their own heads now.
Stuart Sims You are falsifying it right now, by becoming so animated. It is correlative evidence, of course. But its validity will increase as you further deny the existence of any such relationship.
Barry Kort There you go again, positing a haphazard Theory of Mind for which you have not exhibited a shred of scientific reasoning to illustrate how you falsified the Null Hypothesis. Shame on you! I award you an 'F' in Scientific Methods of Theory Construction and Analysis.
Jeffery Mercer Gwen, now I'm literally laughing out loud. I know them both well enough to enjoy this. They''re both able minded adults. Box on . . .
Barry Kort What is your evidence and reasoning to support your newest Theory of Mind regarding my affective emotional state? And once, again, how did you falsify the Null Hypothesis this time?
Stuart Sims Thankfully, it is not by you that I will be judged. I am my own judge, as should be all grown men.
Barry Kort See! Jeffery gets it. He knows a Rollicking Comic Opera when he sees one.
Stuart Sims Give me the contention of finely honed minds over physical altercations any day, for there is actual value in such intellectual combat.
Barry Kort I now have a proposed working hypothesis of my own to lay on the table.
Working Hypothesis: Stuart is self-deluded.
Null Hypothesis: Stuart's beliefs are entirely accurate.
Stuart Sims We are all self-deluded. It is a question of degree
Barry Kort Does anyone here want to nominate evidence to support or refute either of those two hypotheses?
Stuart Sims AT least my self-delusion is evolutionarily viable. Yours is more compatible to a well pampered house pet. You would not survive in the wild
Barry Kort Aha! Stuart confesses to being self-deluded (at least to some degree which has not yet been quantified).
Jeffery Mercer I have tears rolling down my face . . .
Barry Kort Whoops. Now Stuart has posited a third random hypothesis. Or is it the fourth one now? I'm losing count.
Stuart Sims You do not admit to being self-deluded? You believe your rational mind to be free of all subjective biases? Impressive.
Barry Kort Tears of joy, I hope.
Jeffery Mercer Tears of laughter. Worthy opponents, indeed. Come out of your corners . . .
Barry Kort I admit to being a conscientious adherent to the protocols of the scientific method. So I subject my hypotheses to rigorous examination before acting as if they were the ground truth.
Barry Kort So you now have something like three or four unexamined hypotheses that you are adopting as if they were the ground truth, and I have but one working hypothesis that I am seeking evidence to either affirm or refute.
Barry Kort But I must say, the odds are leaning toward the diagnosis that Stuart is ungifted at sorting out his fabulous working hypotheses.
Stuart Sims Yet you deny the existence of the frailty of your own primitive emotional self, and so those primitive forces wrok in the shadows, building up powerful momentum, slowly driving you insane. I can almost smell the nuttiness on your breath through my computer screen.
Barry Kort Stuart, did you perchance read my thesis on analyzing my own emotional self? If not, I can give you the URLs so that you may do your homework in a more diligent manner.
Stuart Sims Before we continue this discussion, it may be wise for you to reveal all the prescription medication which allows you to function normally. Any SSRI inhibitors in the bunch?
Stuart Sims I will read anything you want. I like reading
Barry Kort What page of DSM-5 do you place me on, Dr. Sims?
Stuart Sims The DSM is for dumbasses.
Jeffery Mercer The song "Slip Sliding Away" is playing in my mind . . .
Barry Kort Well, you can start here, if your goal is to gain some insight into my emotional self:
I spent the better part of the past 15 or 20 years battling low-grade clinical depression. But my preference was...
MOULTONLAVA.BLOGSPOT.COM
11 hrs · Edited · Like · Remove Preview
Barry Kort And then, you can dive into this NSF-funded thesis:
11 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Barry Kort I'll go heat up a bowl of chicken noodle soup while you're noodling your way through that material.
Jeffery Mercer is there a bit of plumage preening going on here?
Stuart Sims Ivory tower idealist are often deeply troubled by the real world, which consists of "Conflict, Violence, Oppression, Injustice, Corruption, Poverty, Ignorance, Alienation, Suffering, and Terrorism."
Jeffery Mercer Oh OH, that was low . . .
Jeffery Mercer Stay above the belt
Barry Kort Are you copacetic with Conflict, Violence, Oppression, Injustice, Corruption, Poverty, Ignorance, Alienation, Suffering, and Terrorism?
If so, please feel free to enjoy those Gifts of Western Civilization to your heart's content.
Jeffery Mercer And Kort circles Sims looking for an opening . . .
Jeffery Mercer Sims is keeping his hands up and chin down . . .
Stuart Sims I've read that one previously. Social constructivist philosophy, greatly lacking in empirically valid substantiation. But I enjoyed reading it - very entertaining. https://sites.google.com/.../cognition-affect-and-learning
Stuart Sims I actually boxed in the Army, Jeffery, so your comments have some added irony.
Jeffery Mercer Sims steps in with a short left jab . . . then becomes distracted by the referee . . .
Jeffery Mercer Kort still looking for an opening . . .
Barry Kort Which one are your referring to? The NSF-funded one, or my list of the Twelve Plagues?
Stuart Sims Kort retreats to his corner to make soup.
Stuart Sims Reload your page, Barry.
Barry Kort Which page?
Stuart Sims just hit refresh. on this page
Jeffery Mercer The referee has to go prepare for a meeting in a half hour . . . or he won't be able to pay the girls who carry the signs around the ring.
Stuart Sims hehe
Barry Kort If you read my blog, you will note that I declined the Nepenthe Option.
Barry Kort My therapy is twofold:
1) Research
2) Writing atrocious song parodies.
Barry Kort So let's see if Stuart has done his homework yet.
Stuart, what is the name of my most common baseline emotion?
Jeffery Mercer Sims can't respond, he's looking at the lady . . .
Jeffery Mercer Later you two. Don't hurt each other.
Barry Kort Narcissistic Wounding at 20 Baud?
Stuart Sims Barry, I don't know you, so I could not make such an assessment. Gotta go too. Later
Barry Kort Odd how, admitting that he doesn't know me, he has published four or five haphazard Theories of Mind. Golly. What a performance that was.
Shall we nominate Stuart for an Academy Award?
Stuart Sims Barry, if you are really interested, you could always self assess. I would be interested in the results. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article...
Stuart Sims I would speculate that FEAR is your dominate subcortical emotional process, but that is just an educated guess.
Gwen Sweeny It might just be me.... Im not as "educated" as others Jeff plays with. Definition of Irony, out right face book argument over proving peace over war? HMMMMM? Just sayin.
Barry Kort Wheeeee!
https://sites.google.com/site/barrykort/home/dr-strangepaine
Random pages from Barry Kort.
SITES.GOOGLE.COM
10 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Gwen Sweeny Im going back to watch Marco Polo... I like the fight scenes.
Barry Kort I'm afraid to say I'm obliged to award you another 'F' in psychologizing, Stuart. But what really perplexes me is how you could be so oblivious, given that it's not that hard to do your homework to discover the correct empathic model. Methinks you need more education and less guesswork.
Barry Kort Given your level of enthrallment with Machiavelli, permit me to invite you to take the quick self-test featured today on the BBC World Service program, "Business Daily."
There, you will find a 17-minute segment on the question of whether business success depends on manifesting at least some of the character traits of a psychopath.
The segment begins with a short self-scoring questionnaire that measures your degree of psychopathy (on a sliding scale of 0 to 33).
(My score closely matched that of the host, Manuela Saragosa.)
Do let us know your score, Stuart.
Psychopathy: A Necessary Business Skill?, Business Daily - BBC World Service
Does it help to have psychopathic traits when trying to...
BBC.CO.UK
9 hrs · Edited · Like · Remove Preview
Stuart Sims Interesting deflection, Barry. You feel as if you are being attacked, so you respond by attempting to discredit your perceived attacker. But why would you perceive my observations as attacks unless you know them to hold unpleasant truths? The correlative evidence continues to increase in validity.
Barry Kort I am astonished at your fabulous imagination for estimating how your correspondents are feeling. Has it ever occurred to you that you might get farther in life if you operated from more accurate working hypotheses rather than relying on haphazard flights of fancy?
Stuart Sims The likelihood of one person being right increases in direct proportion to the intensity of the other person(s) who are trying to prove him wrong. That is axiomatic dude.
George Hoggarth I've Just read through all the posts and sort of think its a good reflection of the reasons no one appears to know how to address terrorism. Generally I feel there is little good in religion and thing that they are all more than happy to use violence, lies and murder to enforce their views. In this instance I have to say I don't believe that religion is a major issue. You only have to look at who the people who are killed by the Islamists actually are, overwhelmingly the victims are Muslim. Neither does culture explain things, many terrorists in the west are "Home Grown" and westerners go to fight for the cause in countries quite alien to them. I think in reality we simply have no idea what's going on, is there in fact any rational aim or goal to their behaviour. Is it really to start a holy war? I doubt it, they wouldn't stand a chance in a conventional conflict. I think there are times that war is Justified, Hitler planned for it and prepared his people, he had no intention of negotiating peace. In the UK politicians who tried all sorts of things to try and keep the peace were eventually vilified for leaving the country unprepared. Maybe rather than consider war as Evil perhaps the evil is in what causes it, I think few people would want war its the position of last resort.
Barry Kort It's not up to me to prove you wrong. It is your ethical duty as a conscientious scientist to try like the dickens to falsify each and every one of your fabulous working hypotheses (including the Null Hypothesis).
Or have I erred in characterizing you as a conscientious scientist who ethically employs the protocols of the scientific method?
Perhaps that is an unsupportable Null Hypothesis of mine.
Stuart Sims Barry, my off handed observations were not by any metric "scientific", as you are well aware. But your continued insistence on characterizing them as such only further validates their accuracy. Draft dodgers often feel some degree of survivors guilt. Maybe that is the source of your agitation. Or maybe it is just the general accusation of cowardice to which you have a sensitivity. Hmmm
Barry Kort It's clear you're not doing anything remotely resembling science. So what does that leave?
One obvious hypothesis is that you are knowingly and intentionally trolling me, just for the Dopamine Lulz. Would you care to either admit or deny that theory?
By the way, are you aware that I was drafted during the escalation of the Vietnam War? I received my "Greetings" the week I was taking my mid-terms in grad school at Stanford.
So what perplexes me is whether you genuinely believe what you're postulating (in which case you are seriously self-deluded) or whether you are knowingly and intentionally trolling me (in which case you are manifesting one of the indicators of the Dark Triad).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_triad#Internet_trolls
The dark triad is a group of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.[1][2][3] Use of the term "dark" implies that these traits have malevolent qualities:[4][5][6][7]
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
9 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Stuart Sims No, you have pretty much openly admitted to being a coward. I am simply responding to that admission. I never said anything negative about cowards. I actually stated (several times) that the world needs both cowards and heroes. The duality of man, I believe I called it. Some of my best friends are physical cowards. But they are also intellectual heroes, which I find to be just as worthwhile as physical heroism.
Stuart Sims The fact that you took my observations so negatively without me actually attaching any negative connotations to the concept of cowardis demonstrates your own insecurities. You reveal too much, perhaps?
Barry Kort Let's summarize what we have learned, in terms of the working hypotheses on the table:
Null Hypothesis: Stuart is an ethical and conscientious scientist who constructs accurate beliefs. Probability < 5%
Working Hypothesis #1: Stuart is engaged in Internet trolling. Probability ~ 50%
Working Hypothesis #2: Stuart is self-deluded. Probability ~ 30%
Working Hypothesis #3: Something else. Probability ~ 15%
Barry Kort How did you come out on the Psychopathy Self-Test on the BBC site?
Stuart Sims And we have lost Barry. He has retreated to his fortress of statistical solitude, there to fortify himself behind a wall of meaningless abstractions. Fare thee well, old chum.
Barry Kort Are you afraid to engage in the intellectual exercise of Socratic self-examination? Are you fleeing from my questions?
Stuart Sims Take this test twice before bed and call me in the morning, dear fellow. http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/autism-quiz.htm
RAADS-14-Screen, developed by JM Eriksson, LM Andersen & S Bejerot is an abridged version of Ritvo...
PSYCHCENTRAL.COM
Barry Kort I took Simon Baron-Cohen's Eyes Test Instrument several times. I score exactly midway between Aspergers Syndrome and NeuroTypical.
Stuart Sims That makes sense. I suspected you of Aspergers. But you are very high functioning, obviously.
Barry Kort I have a Ph.D. from Stanford in Systems Theory. I'm a systems thinker. You don't have to suspect it. It's on my profile.
Barry Kort What's unclear to me, Stuart, is what (if anything) you are seeking to learn from these jejune games.
Stuart Sims Well, I am a people person, Barry. So I am seeking to learn about people. In this case, "people" is you. It is not a game, although learning about people does give me some degree of pleasure. You are only moderately interesting, which is more than I can say for most "people". So my pleasure is only moderate in degree. In this instance. In the future, who knows? You may become more interesting. Stranger things have happened.
Barry Kort By the way, my Autism Score on that instrument is 5. What's yours?
Stuart Sims 3, which is what you get when you don't change the presets. I am not on the spectrum.
Barry Kort What makes you think you can learn about people by concocting ridiculously haphazard theories of mind and propounding them as if they were your deepest insight? It just makes you look like a jerk or an idiot.
Barry Kort I would not be interesting to you unless you had an interest in academic subjects and a deep thirst for learning, especially in the STEM disciplines.
Stuart Sims It evokes an emotional response, which can often lend insight into an individuals psychology. In this case, I was just making a seemingly obvious and harmless observation, but your reaction told me a great deal about you and your perception of yourself. But as I said, it was only moderately interesting. "jerk" is a subjective term, and I am obviously not an idiot. So I am unconcerned
Barry Kort I conclude that you are probably not terribly interested in learning much of anything from me, least of all what my values, beliefs, interests, desires, concerns, or intentions are.
Stuart Sims That is your conclusion? Not really supported by the evidence. (The evidence being, I just stated I was interested in learning about people, and classified you as "people")
Barry Kort Since you have demonstrated your utter obliviousness of my affective emotional state, I'll just tell you straight away: You perplex me.
Barry Kort You have demonstrated less than zero interest in the concepts that I might be in a functional position to illuminate for you.
Stuart Sims You are perplexed by obliviousness? I find obliviousness to be very common. You must live in a state of constant and persistent perplexity.
Barry Kort I just told you. I am a system scientist. We live in a state of perplexity because we attend (as a matter of our profession) to perplexing unsolved problems. And it doesn't surprise me that you are familiar with obliviousness. There's a lot of that going around.
Barry Kort What perplexes me is why people prefer obliviousness (and even self-delusion) to insight and awareness.
Stuart Sims Barry, are you aware that since I called you a coward, about 90% of your posts have included some degree of personal insult directed towards myself? You do not find that fact has some diagnostic validity?
Barry Kort Do you feel insulted?
Barry Kort How would I know how you feel? You haven't disclosed diddly squat about your true mindset, other than to spout more baloney than Oscar Meyer manufactures in a week.
Stuart Sims Not at all. I don't know you, and more relevant, you don't know me, so any personal opinion you may hold about myself is limited by that fact. So I feel almost no emotional reaction to such insults.
Barry Kort So tell me the ground truth, Stuart. What, pray tell, is the true name of your affective emotional state?
Barry Kort Are you saying you have flat affect?
Stuart Sims No, I am saying strangers on the Internet illicit almost zero emotional affect. I have a very rich social life, with a great weight of fulfilling social intimacies, which includes a wife and children. I reserve most of my emotional affects for them. My interest in most other people is limited to academic interest
Barry Kort But you demonstrate no academic interest commensurate with the iconic scientist in your avatar photo.
Darwin was a red-headed systems thinker (like me). He rigorously employed the protocols of the scientific method, and he was deeply interested in existential issues (of the sort one attends to with the faculties of the Ninth Intelligence). I don't see any evidence that you subscribe to his ideals or practices.
In Howard Gardner's catalog of Multiple Intelligences, the Ninth Intelligence is the rarest of them all. Monument to...
BARRYKORT.WORDPRESS.COM
8 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Stuart Sims Really? Some problem with your long term memory, I would suggest, since our discussions in previous threads focussed almost exclusively on the existential. If you need to refresh your memory, you could always review those past posts.
Barry Kort Dull people generally don't leave much of a lasting impression on me. I tend to remember people who have interesting and insightful things to say.
Gwen Sweeny No way... Your both shrinks... LOL Now thats funny.
Barry Kort I mostly do character modeling, in the sense of dramaturgy.
Stuart Sims Well, you appear to have a laser type memory of me calling you a coward, so by your own characterization, you must find that a very interesting and insightful comment. Your mouth says no, but your fingers say yes. why not quit while you feel as if you are ahead? Here, I'll help. You are smart, I am dumb, your the best, I am the worst, you are a handsome man, I am not very attractive . . . . zzzzzzzzz (oops, sorry. Nodded off).
Barry Kort Nope. I found it puerile, jejune, and boorish. I find your online character here to be a tiresome dimwitted troll, devoid of any accurate, useful, meaningful, relevant or interesting information. Dunno what you're like in real life to your family, but the synthetic character you portray here is a doofus.
Stuart Sims Ok, that is twice you called me jejune. I feel like I am being sexually harassed. And not in a good way
Barry Kort I recommend letting out a good ear-splitting primal scream.
Stuart Sims Primal scream? The idea of your engorged nerd penis does not inspire a primal scream. Get over yourself. At most, it would inspire a slightly startled exclamation of revulsion.
Barry Kort Far be it from me to usufruct such tumid balderdash.
Barry Kort I wish I were so gifted at illustrating my own occasional flights of fancy.
Stuart Sims Let me help
Stuart Sims There. take THAT
Stuart Sims And one to grow on . . .
Barry Kort "I think in reality we simply have no idea what's going on, is there in fact any rational aim or goal to their behaviour." ~George Hoggarth
What's going on is indeed quite perplexing.
There are some interesting insights, however, that are emerging that might shed some light on the intractability of the problem of pervasive and recurring violence in the culture.
There is a fascinating episode of PBS Nova that tells the story of recently published studies of Einstein's brain. The short version is that Einstein (and small percentage of the general population) have a lobe that is responsible for high-level abstract reasoning, but this lobe is typically not found in the brains of the general population. (See the brief portion with David Pogue and Dean Falk at the 10-18 minute segment of the PBS Nova program.)
So what does it mean if one either has or does not have a brain equipped with a lobe capable of supporting high-level abstract reasoning (including mathematical reasoning and model-based reasoning)?
The simplest hypothesis is that those equipped with this lobe develop the associated faculty of high-level abstract reasoning and employ it to think through high level (systems level) issues and arrive at corresponding insights, ideas, and associated derivative practices, while those without this lobe lack the faculty of independently replicating or reifying such analyses on their own. Most people in the general public rely on subject matter experts in arcane disciplines to think through the issues in their areas of academic specialization, and they either accept them on faith, or reject them as the case may be.
Among those who reject systems theoretic contributions to studies in the sustainability of human culture and human civilization, I reckon there will be a handful who manifest traits of the Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism), and who are responsible for both non-state acts of political terrorism and state-sponsored violence under the color of law.
The challenge, as I see it, is to find ways to diminish the influence of such individuals, especially when they occupy the highest levels of government and military infrastructure of the most powerful nations on the planet.
See inside Einstein's brain, learn how to boost your memory, meet people who became savants after an...
PBS.ORG
7 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Mark Edward Niblack Barry, while we diminish the influence of the imperialist in Islamic leaders, how can we build some kind of social progress that will allow the co constructing of more equality to all, say in Iran, given the back and forth cause and effect histories between groups in tension with one another?....Sunnis-Shias, conservatives--students, men--women, artists--filmmakers--censors. The problem is more than jihadi violence. It's also systemic oppression, a system that rejects modern values.
Stuart Sims The solution is not complicated. Islam must have a reformation. It must evolve. The problem is the tenets of that religion are designed to prevent any such changes. On the bright side, recently a prominent Muslim leader stepped forward and publically urged such a reformation. I predict that man will be dead within the year. http://www.wjla.com/.../egyptian-president-calls-for...
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's president opened the new year...
WJLA.COM|BY WJLA | WJLA.COM
Stuart Sims Muhammad did his work well. Like a talented lawyer, he designed a document with no loopholes. He declared himself the last prophet, with the final message from God. Then he died and left an ironclad system of rules that can not be altered, and worded in such a way that any reinterpretation becomes almost impossible. And given that the vast majority of Islamic leaders flatly oppose any such reinterpretation, it is difficult to be optimistic about an internal theological revolution within Islam.
Stuart Sims And addressing comments made by Jeffery's "new friend": Liberals appear to be afraid of being perceived as Islamophobic? I say if you have not developed some degree of Isamophobia, you have not been paying attention to world events. There are irrational phobias, then there are phobias that develop that are evolutionarily viable. I will not do business with Muslims, be friends with Muslims, or believe anything I am told by a Muslim (since the tenets of their religion allow them, even encourage them to lie and deceive the infidel). I understand that 75% of Muslims are just normal people who are not dangerous, but how can I tell the difference? Because they say they are not radical Islamists? I have a family to protect, a life I must attempt to keep insolated from insane religious fanatics, and if that means I am forced to profile all Muslims, then that is what I will do. If you think this an unreasonable condition, consider this: The shoe Bomber was a Muslim.
Stuart Sims There is prejudice based on ignorance, then there is prejudice based on reality. And I will under no circumstances allow political correctness to distort my perception of reality to such an extent that I endanger myself or my family. I hold a prejudice against all Muslims, and it is a prejudice that is well deserved, and I do not see that changing any time soon. A significant portion of their population are fanatical about destroying my entire way of life. I would ask these Liberals, where is your sense of self preservation? I am all for being open minded, but apparently there is a point that intelligent people reach where they become dumb, and common sense becomes less common.
Barry Kort Mark Edward Niblack ~ Systemic oppression has been a feature of human culture since the dawn of civilization (along with a dozen other interlocking systemic problems. My short list of (seemingly intractable) systemic problems includes these top dozen plagues of modern times:
Conflict, Violence, Oppression, Injustice, Corruption, Poverty, Ignorance, Alienation, Abuse, Despair, Suffering, and Terrorism.
So why do these characteristic features our culture persist, and how can we extinguish them?
They persist and recur because the dominant driver of human behavior is Mimesis, meaning that people tend to adopt the dominant practices that are most prominent and ubiquitous in the culture without regard to the wisdom of perpetuating those practices into the indefinite future. This process is called Contagion and obeys a classic model credited to René Girard, Emeritus Professor of Humanities at Stanford.
To attenuate and extinguish these unwanted features of our culture, those in a leadership position must become role models for dialing back these toxic practices, much the same way that the medical profession seeks to minimize the spread of any disease that spreads by contagion and mimesis.
Here is René Girard’s Model of Contagion ...
Contagion (or mimesis) is an insightful sociological model attributed to René Girard, Emeritus of Stanford University. Girard crafted his model after studying the dynamics of the dysfunctional society caricatured in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels.
BARRYKORT.WORDPRESS.COM
16 mins · Edited · Like · Remove Preview