how to communicate

[Ignoramus]

The start of the propaganda campaign leading to the massacre in Iraq, startled me. I looked around and it seemed as though everyone had suddenly become a lot stupider. Since then I have had to continually adjust my expectations of what I think the majority of people's reasoning abilities are, downward.

Oddly, I've noticed stupefication in some of my relatives who were previously interested in philosophical discussion. It's almost as if everyone has mad cow or something.

So, for the moment, it seems that the people that need to be communicated with in order to postpone human extinction operate on the level of argument by assertion. The biggest problem is probably "the Christian Taliban".

If the people we have to communicate with are anti-thought, what can we do to communicate? I assume we can just continue to try and hope that something penetrates somehow, but is there a fundamentally different approach?

I think maybe getting more attentive to our spirituality can communicate some. It certainly will help me cope with what's going on. I don't think trying to find quotes in their doctrine to convince them of things from the perspective of their dogma is very likely to be beneficial.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I've had the feeling

that we need to give our spiritual practices a boost. Other friends also on a spiritual/mystical path have said the same thing. I do know that one's atmosphere can effect people; perhaps by finding peace within, we can generate a bit of peace for those around us. I do know that realizing that others are doing spiritual practices of whatever nature can help with one's own. After all, we are all interconnected.

[madison2000]

2. I think people operate with conflicting sets of mental furniture

and it takes a high level of denial to maintain those kind of beliefs. People who say they care about children, for example, should care about social security, the deficit, and the environment. The policies of this administration push more children into poverty and create a bleaker future.

I don't think fundamentalists are anti-thought because its a highly rationalized system of belief. But I do think they are anti-fact and this is the real problem.