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Coming from a vegetarian philosopher, I feel the answer boils down to what you think contains consciousness and what does not. Also, showing resentment to the corporations practicing industrial farming is always good. We are the consumers, we have the power for change even if the companies don’t want us to realize it.

I find a lot of value in social media for philosophical discussions and finding info I most likely would never have come across. It sucks for politics and comparing yourself to others.

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Those are good points. Particularly in the sense that we are so connected to our media fairly constantly - and honestly have been since radio and television. Even the "Post" and print were fairly ubiquitous. It brings up the question how much of our lives and personalities are actually the result of the essentially fictional or imaginary products that occupy so much of our day to day time and attention.

"We are what we consume" in a sense and since most of what we consume is media, then we are what we watch as well.

Thanks for posting. I have stepped away from all “personal” social media interactions too (I still use Reddit because I am more comfortable with anonymity), and I’ve noticed how hard it is to “be real” with my friends now. I feel like I’m giving them 100% of my attention in the moment now, but they’re able to give me back less. I’ve been trying to understand if I am just “too extra” but now I’m wondering if they’re just distracted by having to maintain their digital and and analog self.

Lolol to fight back? Why is everything voiced like its a damn battle. Ohh noo my "feelings" wel!!!! Fight back in this war of i dont know how to exit an internet tab sooo outcy outch. Lolol

Damn. That is one of the most articulate well thought out arguments I have seen in my 6 years on Reddit. I had to read it 3 times to understand it and it makes perfect sense to me as that is what’s happening around us.

But it leaves me asking why the majority of us continue to let this dictate our lives. I know it’s instinctively in us to compare but we continue to compare ourselves to lives that we know are false or not attainable.

Not sure what your taste in music is but this makes me think of a song called propaganda by Dax. There is a powerful scene in the video when he goes to check on a friend he hasn’t heard from. That friend is sitting in a recliner staring at the news on a TV in a almost comatose state. While there is a huge white beam of energy shooting in him from that TV. It goes on to say that the news ticker at the bottom of the screen is called a news feed and we are a product of what we feed our brain.

When I learned about stoicism and the fact that we have virtually no control of the things that happen around and to us only how we react to it I was able to see things differently. Comparing my life to others made less sense after internalizing that. Instead of comparing myself to others I break down each day by contrasting my actions against the virtues I believe to be important and if I took the correct steps to live my best life that day. This is not to say that I don’t find myself doing exactly what you explained at times but it helps center me when I do.

If you look at tv show or movies actor & actress are portrayed perfect physically if you look at them long enough you can begin to hate yourself at small imperfection.social media is same in that regard.

I Think In life People Should Understand You Can Never Be Perfect But You Can Be Better.

There is a complementary discussion toward the idea of "representation" in the media. Diversity and representation in media is generally very good, but at the same time, it doesn't seem to be something that can be artificially or intentionally moderated. Our arts and media - stories, in general - are reflections or imitations of life, but the focus on the necessity or importance of representation in what are essentially various forms of fictions (even the news is in part often fictionalized to present a "story" - the people in the story become characters that likely are as unrecognizable to the actual people as a actor playing them in a TV movie would be).

However, the emphasis on representation seems to imply that real life or the real people should actually model their behavior after what they see in the media - as opposed to actual "IRL" interactions with their families, friends and colleagues.

Commercial media is and has always been a horrible place for real people to live. It has unrealistic expectations and incredibly life-threatening traumatic events on a regular basis. We get immersed in stories for the exact reason that they are not our lives, but drama is something we should all want to avoid in our real lives. I don't think Aristotle really explained all of drama in his short Poetics, but I agree that it is better to leave all the bloodshed, incest and murder in the theater rather than let it spill out on the street.

Also, even more tangentially, it does concern me a little bit that the commercial media has somewhat colonized and monopolized our imaginations. That rather than the shared myths and legends of the past, copyrighted, stage managed, and corporate owned products from Star Wars to Marvel to Pixar to Netflix, etc., makes up our culture (or pseudo-culture).

They are called "I.P." or "intellectual property" and that property is really owned usually by some massive corporation rather than any particular author and certainly not by the culture at large. Yet, really, the property where these products operate is in our own imaginations. In a sense, we're not really buying these products with our money, but with pieces of our own minds.

I think that the fact however a person defines their identity, it involves all sorts of commercial accessories to express it even in one's own imagination. It's commercial culture.

First. Good point. I used the word "science" in place of "relevant school of academic study."

Cars and swimming pools ARE regulated for public safety. You need a four foot high fence around a pool. You need to pass 2 competency tests to get a drivers' license. You are required to wear a safety belt and not be under the influence of drugs. Now, we need laws that keep the most deadly weapons away from the most deadly people. It works everywhere else.

There is no data on the health of slave owners, especially because they were just rich people. Any rich person without slaves would live as long. Safe, legal abortion is better for society by every measure. Forcing poor women to have children they don't want just increases child poverty and crime and lowers education levels and life expectancies.

I didn't say "ethnic homogeneity" - you did. I'm talking about conservative bigotry and xenophobia manifest in the GQP immigration policy of "Let them die, but don't let them in!" We need better immigration policy, but the GQP keeps blocking it. We need the labor. They need work. Why lock them out? They aren't statistically more criminal. They are often the best citizens, and near half of them vote Republican. People are all equal. Who cares if America changes languages? Or if our culture becomes more hispanic? Doesn't that mean the people with the most merit were those you wanted to keep out?

Honestly, this is way more of my valuable time than you are worth. I won't be responding to you again.

The Greeks supported slavery. Religious prosecution. Low age of sexual consent. Racism. They tried to segregate poor people from the wealthy. They had a crazy social hierarchy, where they bought people to teach their kids. The list goes on, our ethics have changed 100 fold in modern locations.

From the moment of birth we are nothing like hunter gatherers. We are in a society and are expected to conform to that society, white collar, meetings, and 1st world problems are what we face now, the average office man wouldn’t even know what to do in a fight, has no instinct of combat, and will sequel run away and call his lawyer and the police at the same time. We are far from our hardened hunter gather ancestors. Shit even Christopher Columbus or John smith was much closer to hunter gatherer instinct and mind set than my chubby office worker self. We just don’t need those skills anymore being near ferel is not going to help me on the office or win an argument with my wife before dinner. Not even going to help me in a fight cause we don’t use hands anymore

💥🔫

Regarding climate crisis:The qustion is where we have to put our sincere efforts when we have the

following two options in front of us.

Ether on 1.going for technologies to reduce the effects of man-made environmental destruction

or on 2.changing our own habits so as to reduce our consumption levels.

The first option results in an endless effort while the second one has a sure end.

But at present it appears that the second option is unmentionable.

Watching a talk from a guy named Jaron Lanier convinced me to delete my FAcebook

>Would it not be better to start with the individual as they are at a specific moment and proceed to their goals, limitations and frustrations?

Do you mean, how does an individual make moral choices, within a certain environment? I choose what I think will bring me long term thriving: physical, psychological, social, moral. But think about the people who live in Iran. If they do the right thing, they end up in jail. To bring about the best long term thriving for me, is a prudential instrumental matter. To go against one's culture to stand up for what I believe in (e.g., human rights, women's rights) can lead to my thriving being curtailed, yet I still do it. I think that for certain people, some values are sacred: of infinite value. They see these values as more important than anything else, including popularity, or personal thriving.

Sure. What's a dance and how do you interpret it? If only there was some sort of Master of a certain style of dance that could satisfy these criteria for anyone. shrug

While everyone is at it feel free to also teach me English that other humans can and will respect in any meaningful way that helps me provide for my daughter and wife. It's okay if not though, I get you're all busy with being distracted and disrespecting artists.

Ahhhh, interpretive dance? Yes!

this actually means nothing

what are the questions?

I sure wish more people were familiar with Walter Fisher's Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action.

Join the call: https://youtu.be/1C6u5Ug41zc

I say dancing should replace all spoken language, just for laughs if nothing else.

I, too, lament the lack of intelligence amongst language users. What grinds my gears even more is that the use of intelligent language is so lacking.

Stupidity be damned!

I have studied Debord for many years. While he as brilliant and had many good ideas, keep in mind that in the end he killed himself. A man's life is the test of his philosophy.

Lol in fact there’s an old saying that goes says comparison is the thief of joy

Chomsky a philosopher? Pft