DiscussMormonism.com

In an effort to do my part for humanity and to counteract the endless stream of right side nonsense flooding my faceplant airways, I was thinking about posting this to the feed:

Similar to how Thomas Nagel writes that it is impossible to know what it's like to be a bat. - We can imagine, but can never actually know... I can't know what it's like to be stupid. I can imagine, but can't seem to summon up any type of felt sense of what it would be like to be not self evaluating or open to opposing opinions and theories. So, therefore I've decided that I should probably give Trump supporters a little more leeway than I do.

I mean, seriously, is it really fair of me to make fun of someone for being an idiot any more than it would be to ridicule them for having say, a big nose or hairy knuckles.

Anyway, since posting this on Facebook would be counter-productive and idiotic, I'll just post it here. Cause I can.

How long did you take to plan this out? Lol

Here's a fun one that may help answer the question about what-its-like.

I'm a fan of UFOs and I try to stay somewhat informed about what's going on in the UFO world. Some may have heard of Luis Elizondo, who is former AATIP director. He comes across to me as an unhinged conspiracy theorist, and he hasn't increased my hopes that UFOs are real. I was listening to a podcast the other day where Lou was trying to calm his fan base down over a recent event. Apparently, an insider who knew details about the crash retrieval program had committed suicide. People were going nuts. Sure it was a suicide! I kid you not: in order to keep people calm, he carefully walked through a similar situation that was going on at the same time and saying, "let's not be like these people." Lou explained it had just been learned that the arrest warrant for Donald Trump contained boilerplate language about lethal force. He seemed to know a bit about it, and went on about how this is standard procedure, how Trump was raided carefully, and how there is no possible way a scenario could have arisen where lethal force was used against Trump. He then went on to explain how this tiny little thing had exploded into a plot to murder Donald Trump. You know democracy is about to fall when in a room with Republican leaders, UFO conspiracy theorists are forced to be the adults.

If you want to know what it's like, find some small thing and blow it out of proportion and then email it to a friend, when it circles back, blow whatever it has transformed into out of proportion and send again.

Imwashingmypirate wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:37 pm

How long did you take to plan this out? Lol

Yes, I can see how one might think I came up with this ten mins prior. Actually though I'd been pondering on it for some time now. Kinda like how Einstein was obsessed with trying to figure out the nature of light... I'm just trying to figure out the nature of stupid.

Example: 30 year acquaintance of mine, Larry. Retired dentist, my long time dentist, cattle rancher, land baron. One of the smartest guys I've ever known. He has a brother who is a nuclear physicist and is one of the inspectors sent into Iran (or was it Iraq) years ago. How do I know that fact? Larry likes to talk about himself. Any subject brought up by anybody and everybody is turned into a Larry story within two sentences.

How is it possible that someone so smart can also be so unaware of his own self absorption? I don't know. But I'd like to.

I don't think it's possible for someone who isn't like this to know what it's like to be like this. Maybe Dean Robbers does?

dantana wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:18 am

Imwashingmypirate wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:37 pm

How long did you take to plan this out? Lol

Yes, I can see how one might think I came up with this ten mins prior. Actually though I'd been pondering on it for some time now. Kinda like how Einstein was obsessed with trying to figure out the nature of light... I'm just trying to figure out the nature of stupid.

Example: 30 year acquaintance of mine, Larry. Retired dentist, my long time dentist, cattle rancher, land baron. One of the smartest guys I've ever known. He has a brother who is a nuclear physicist and is one of the inspectors sent into Iran (or was it Iraq) years ago. How do I know that fact? Larry likes to talk about himself. Any subject brought up by anybody and everybody is turned into a Larry story within two sentences.

How is it possible that someone so smart can also be so unaware of his own self absorption? I don't know. But I'd like to.

I don't think it's possible for someone who isn't like this to know what it's like to be like this. Maybe Dean Robbers does?

I think you misunderstood me. I asked because it felt like something that might have been considered for some time.

I don't think intelligence and self awareness necessarily correlate. You can have autistic people who are intelligent but don't communicate well. I often will talk about myself when people are talking about them in a sort of, sharing my own experiences that are relevant to what the other person has said. I discovered recently that some people don't like this and so I try not to do it so much. I had thought that was normal in conversation and that it is a sign of understanding and comparison but apparently not.

Does Larry irritate you?

Gadianton wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 01, 2024 11:40 pm

If you want to know what it's like, find some small thing and blow it out of proportion and then email it to a friend, when it circles back, blow whatever it has transformed into out of proportion and send again.

I'm sure this is what happens between my brothers and why they are always falling out with each other. The share out of context information with the other about the other and then they get upset about it and for some reason they get more upset than one of them has talked about them to the other than anything else even though they all do it. (I have 3 brothers). Glad I'm in a different country and I can keep out of it.

Imwashingmypirate wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:43 am

I think you misunderstood me. I asked because it felt like something that might have been considered for some time.

I don't think intelligence and self awareness necessarily correlate. You can have autistic people who are intelligent but don't communicate well. I often will talk about myself when people are talking about them in a sort of, sharing my own experiences that are relevant to what the other person has said. I discovered recently that some people don't like this and so I try not to do it so much. I had thought that was normal in conversation and that it is a sign of understanding and comparison but apparently not.

Does Larry irritate you?

Generally, that type of personality is irritating and is usually coupled with plenty of know-it-all disorder. Larry though for some reason doesn't have the know-it-all problem. So that's good. I have a sister though that has it all. Maybe she's related to one of your brothers.

dantana wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 02, 2024 2:26 am

Imwashingmypirate wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:43 am

I think you misunderstood me. I asked because it felt like something that might have been considered for some time.

I don't think intelligence and self awareness necessarily correlate. You can have autistic people who are intelligent but don't communicate well. I often will talk about myself when people are talking about them in a sort of, sharing my own experiences that are relevant to what the other person has said. I discovered recently that some people don't like this and so I try not to do it so much. I had thought that was normal in conversation and that it is a sign of understanding and comparison but apparently not.

Does Larry irritate you?

Generally, that type of personality is irritating and is usually coupled with plenty of know-it-all disorder. Larry though for some reason doesn't have the know-it-all problem. So that's good. I have a sister though that has it all. Maybe she's related to one of your brothers.

I'm definitely not a know it all. Lol. I know very little. One of my brothers, actually two of them are know it alls but in a different way. One thinks he can predict the future and likes to tell people how they should be living their lives and how they are doing it all wrong. The other thinks he knows everything because he grew up being told he was a child protégé and he was special at school so he didn't need to work hard. I was told I was a retard and like a table with 3 legs (literally). I went to uni with the mindset that I needed to prove everyone wrong but half way through I stopped caring about proving people wrong. Anyway, my brother would argue black was white and you'd start to believe him. He has kind of humbled in the past few years though. My little brother takes on the personality of the brother he is hanging out with at the time.