The Psych Ward

[Okeefenokee]

That made me think of something. I've been working on calculus for days. I took some of my work to show my wife earlier, but she hates it when I try to talk math with her. I mean, seriously, she is not open to it at all. Her degree is in English. I tried to show her that e^ix=-1 and she got mad. Somewhere along the way she mentioned Hawthorn, and we got into a discussion about him and his history, and I talked about the tale of Merrymount that I just read. We talked about colonialism, Hawthorn, and Puritans for a good ten minutes.

After which I said, "but I can't talk about math." She paused for a second to think, and burst into laughter.

I won that one.

[DrYouth]

That made me think of something. I've been working on calculus for days. I took some of my work to show my wife earlier, but she hates it when I try to talk math with her. I mean, seriously, she is not open to it at all. Her degree is in English. I tried to show her that e^ix=-1 and she got mad. Somewhere along the way she mentioned Hawthorn, and we got into a discussion about him and his history, and I talked about the tale of Merrymount that I just read. We talked about colonialism, Hawthorn, and Puritans for a good ten minutes.

After which I said, "but I can't talk about math." She paused for a second to think, and burst into laughter.

I won that one.

You want to talk about math with your wife...

That's adorable!

Your relationship sounds bullet proof. :goldstar:

[DrYouth]

I don't need any counseling really though. I know what my problems are I just need to figure out what my next move is and I've never been good at that. Probably going to go to trade school tbh. I'll feel better once I'm doing something to turn things around but I kind of put myself in a holding pattern financing this used van with high mileage. No real loss though, I can do it all over again out of a back pack yet again if I have to.

Making a new move can be paralyzing...

Biggest fear is usually "What if I make the wrong choice?"...

Best way to look at is, there are many right choices... not just one.

You will learn something no matter which choice you make as long as you give yourself permission to learn...
Biggest challenge is when people believe they should know everything already.
Go in with beginner mindset... it's a new start -> can't know everything from the outset.

[TheReal_ND]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtPP ... L5C8fcI1Fv

The Power of Nightmares (2004) by Adam Curtis
Adam Curtis Documentary
The film compares the rise of the neoconservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, drawing comparisons between their origins, and remarking on similarities between the two groups.

[DrYouth]

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtPP ... L5C8fcI1Fv

The Power of Nightmares (2004) by Adam Curtis
Adam Curtis Documentary
The film compares the rise of the neoconservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, drawing comparisons between their origins, and remarking on similarities between the two groups.

That's 3 hours of media you just posted there Nuke...

Maybe throw out a summary for discussion....

How Neocons parallel radical Islamists?

A lot to unpack there.

Really, that is not a straightforward parallel... the two groups are in many ways opposites, analogous only in the fervour of their assertions.

Neocons are extreme liberals in many ways... they believe in the liberal story of the western world and believe they are liberating the "backwards barbarians" bringing them freedom.

They believe in "free markets" and "liberty"... imposed perhaps in coercive ways... but this is the peoples own good, and they will thank us later.

Islamists are of course conservative in their view of strict Islam, Liberty is nowhere in their world view. They advocate complete submission to the teachings of Islam and to the cultural institutions of Islam as they imagine them.

Whatever similarities there are - they are perhaps in the conviction with which the beliefs are held. The willingness to go to war for ones beliefs. THe feeling that the ends justify the means... But the average radical Islamist is certainly farther along this spectrum than all but the most fanatical neocon.

[TheReal_ND]

It was recommended to me. He's the same guy that did Century of the Self. Haven't watched it yet.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Fascists are fascists. Fear monkeys are fear monkeys. Doesn't matter which hemisphere they're in, or whether they wear suits or robes.

We're all fucked because we're all still ruled by fear and anger.

[Okeefenokee]

Ok, I'm in the couch. So, I had a dream that Obama tried twice to kill Trump using bombs. The second happened on something like a Caribbean victory cruise, and all it resulted in was a couple thousand people crawling out of the ocean onto a beach, unable to stand we were laughing so hard.

[DrYouth]

Ok, I'm in the couch. So, I had a dream that Obama tried twice to kill Trump using bombs. The second happened on something like a Caribbean victory cruise, and all it resulted in was a couple thousand people crawling out of the ocean onto a beach, unable to stand we were laughing so hard.

So Obama tried to castrate you while you were on a big boat...

But your cojones learned to swim.

MmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmHmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

:Freud smiley:

[Dand]

I'm going to shamelessly repost my post about Jordan Peterson from the SJW thread here because I wrote this post about a psychologist's book that I'm reading and I'd really appreciate any critiques of what I posted. I'm not well read in psychology so while I listen to this one person's views it is easy to accept them but I need feedback. I also admit I might not have included many psychological details because I guess I don't grasp them as clearly.

snip

snip

Worth a watch if you've got the time. He tears SJW's a new asshole.

Lookin forward to listening to this. Here's another good interview with him on the Rubin Report... a bit shorter than Rogan's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n8zn-R10qM

Wow, he got very emotional in the last three minutes when describing Geppetto's wish (Could be thinking of his own child(ren)?). I think you can really see from that video that this guy is sincere about his convictions, even if it would be very easy to dismiss him and say it's hyperbole when he says that he'd go to jail for his "hate speech" of refusing to obey compelled speech.

I bought Jordan Peterson's book, Maps of Meaning, about a month ago after seeing the video where students shout him down and refuse to listen to him. I haven't finished reading it yet but I have read the summaries of each section and the first half thoroughly while watching the lectures from his psychology class on youtube. The book was published in 1999 so it precedes the term "SJW" and is definitely not focused on political correctness or SJW's. It tries to address why people from various parts of the world have mythologies and stories that share common themes and to potentially explain them in a psychological context.

That interview on the Rubin Report must be the 3rd time I've heard him talk about the Disney Pinocchio and seeing it this time I'm thinking it made a strong emotional connection with him. I do think it is one of his clearest examples but he also makes a good argument for the parallels between it and other stories, like the Egyptian mythology of Osiris/Set/Isis/Horus. If I can attempt to summarize/tease some of what Peterson takes hundreds of pages and hours of lectures to say it's this:

-The world can be described/defined as both a "place of things" and a "stage for action". Science can tell us what the "things" are while some other discipline is required (philosophy? I don't quite know) to answer "What actions should we take?". Whether we like it or not, we hold some beliefs because we choose to do some things and not to do others.

-Many myths follow this rough 3-part base structure: Feminine chaos and the unknown (Isis, Tiamat, Mother Nature), Masculine societal order and tyranny (Osiris, The Patriarchy, Geppetto), and Heroic exploration and rejuvenation (Horus, Christ, Pinocchio).
- The Hero confronts the unknown, is typically injured/scarred, descends to the underworld, and revives his "dead"(or captured and doomed, like Geppetto) father. This is a model for people to strive towards and in human terms it means that we live in a society built by our dead fathers (ancestors). In order to improve and sustain society we need to explore the unknown and integrate what we learn there with what we know from the past.
- An "evil twin" of the hero is "Satan" (various manifestations) that can be defined by three characteristics; strict adherence to ideology, reliance on lies as a means of adaptation, and the inevitable development of a hatred of the self and the world.

-These myths can be explained from a Darwinian persepective as evolved ways of understanding society or the world that result in a better chance of having children and surviving. The myths show the value of order and maybe even an early version of a "social contract" that is part of a stronger society.

-I believe that Peterson views at least part of his own work as "descending to the underworld" and reviving some (he explicitly dismisses other parts) of Jung's work.

That's the best I can do, for now, of pinpointing some of his arguments. In less concrete terms, I can say that from reading and listening that he seems to be a supporter of Western Civilization and a fervent anti-Totalitarian. He makes an argument that the results of Chinese and Russian Communism can be defined as evil and that with that starting point you can determine the opposite of evil. He says that the correct way to act is a way that would not allow one to become a cog in a Nazi/Stalinist/etc machine and would not allow "I was just following orders" to be an excuse. In the 1999 book, he says he believes that "speaking the truth" is the most effective way to prevent/dismantle/destroy totalitarianism and that looks like the impetus of his current, public anti-compelled-speech argument.