Are we DESTROYING society through a false sense of SELF-ESTEEM

by Terry 84 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  How do you equate "cripples and blind" with "ignorant"?

  I hope you realize that your reaction has been conditioned into you.

  I'm not "equating".

  I'm pointing out separate categories that have been placed off-limits to regular discourse. The terminology is forced.

  When you tamper with language you force outcomes.

  A particularly weird example of this is as follows.

  Terrorism.

  Searching people at airports.

  Because of Political Correctness--white-haired old ladies from Minnesota MUST BE regarded as just as likely threats as Middle Eastern men with a uni-brow.

  That's like going rattlesnake hunting and having to start by examining wasp nests.

  It isn't only impractical--it is irrational.

  Things only have identity when they stand out as essentially different.
• 

  Terry

  Which can only be relatively speaking. A persons sense of self esteem is at times based on his/her own relevancy and contribution to the task at hand regardless of how others might judge it. A lack of self esteem can just as equally be the result of those same 'others' judging people based only on their own abilities/capabilities/morals etc not taking into account the limitations of the individual.

  Meaning only derrives from context.

  Knowledge is useless to us unless we seek context so that we can integrate what we know with the particular.

  Self-esteem has context.

  Ever watch American Idol try-outs? Awful singing by over confident people without a clue how bad they are.

  Tragic and comedic! Why? Warped sense of ABILITY from inaccurate self-esteem!

  People who have been made to feel PERFECTLY ABLE to do what they cannot do OVERESTIMATE their worth. Worth in the "absolute" sense?

  No.

  In the particular sense of singing talent! That is the context. Singing ability or inability.

  It isn't just opinion they cannot sing. It is reality they cannot sing. This is a false sense of self-esteem.

  Their rational mind has ceased functioning on the level of SELF-ESTIMATION! So, they are the laughing stock.

  They cannot even accept the judge's appraisal as having any merit when they are told they cannot sing!

  This is real learning disability!! Crippled consciousness from wrong self-esteem.

  This is what this topic is all about: the destruction of society through FALSE sense of self-esteem.

  False how? Vis a Vis the context of ability FOR something.

  I'm not talking about personal worth or deserving to live or any such Nazi claptrap.
• 

  Terry

  Terry, from the wording of your post, I kind of took the same response to other readers who thought that you were classifying all kinds of people who do not fit the mold of 'normal' or who are impaired (or different) in some way, as if we could do away with them.

  I'm astonished you could get that sense out of my question. And yet....I'm not.

  This isn't about NORMAL. It is about my estimate of my own ability to DO this or that. Your estimate to do this or that.

  What is esteem but the ability to estimate, to evaluate according to standard.

  Am I a good singer? Am I good at math? Can I perform brain surgery? Am I a good driver? Am I a good judge of character?

  We license mechanics who work on our cars and surgeons who cut us open BECAUSE we can't take their own word for it! They must pass an objective exam first----adhere to a STANDARD.

  To answer the above questions about MYSELF I have to have some objective standards.

  If I am raised to believe I'M WONDERFUL no matter what others think-----I disconnect from the reality---the context---the objective PROOF which answers those questions.

  When we crave an equal society and an empowerment for those who are "less fortunate" that is one thing. But, when we try to make it happen by damaging our cognitive ability to think in the process---that is another thing. A very damaging thing.
• 

  Terry

  So you are in favor of barriers? I have a (hopefully temporary) arthritis flare-up that is so serious, I need a handicapped parking spot. Heck it's hard enough for me to get by even with those spots.

  Barriers?

  Missing the point, aren't we?

  This thread is about how we estimate our ability to something. It is about forcing society to become deliberately "blind" to differences and to pretend that one person is equal to another by fiat.

  Example: Who would you want perfoming eye-surgery on you, honestly? The doctor who finished 1st in his studies or the guy who was graded on a curve and came in dead last but was graduated anyway?

  Honest answer, please.
• 

  Terry

  I think the same principle exists when people with vastly different intelligence levels communicate. If done tactfully, the less intelligent person never realizes they were being spoken down to. That's a great "social survival skill," and not necessarily bad. Well, I've rambled incoherently for long enough. I need to get ready for work.

  Three things.

  1.If you play chess with people with a higher rating than you the result is that you lose. But, your game improves because you are driven to know what they know.

  2.If you give your kids dumbed down reading material their cognitive skills will dull and they won't know the difference between wonderfully written and lousy prose.

  3.Society is sick with the rot of pretense, phoniness, superficiality, image-driven status and celebrity consciousness. It all starts with the loss of perception as to what has true value, depth, profundity and benefit---as opposed to---mere flash, bang, wallop!

  Competitive pressure is what produces the best of anything.

  But, honestly, we have to start out knowing what is worth competing for in the first place (and what our ability is vs what it could be with more determination.)
• 

  jaguarbass

  You make a good post with valid points.

  What I think killed america is greed, selfishness, imports, exporting jobs. And brain dead republicans and their bible thumping followers.

  Frank Zappa said “Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say that there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”

  “There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.”

  Thats whats killing America,
• 

  Terry

  Because people in our pathetic society are driven by appearances I don't really see an end to this trend.

  Progress begins with an accurate estimate.

  Atlas Shrugged is about the people of talent, ability and genius--the productive members of society--going on strike and letting the incompetent and the ineffectual wallow in the resulting chaos and deterioration.

  A false sense of self-esteem leads people to waste their efforts because they cannot produce and then demand others produce for them.

  By "waste their efforts", I mean--not recognize what they CAN do and make THAT the productive outlet instead of pretending they have automatic value because of their inability or disability.

  If you can't see the difference you'll not understand this thread.
• 

  Terry

  I'm sorry but I'm having a bit of a problem with that sentence up there. I'll try not to take it personally.

  My youngest son (age 4) had been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (a kind of blanket term that means "we don't really know what it wrong with your kid but something is"), my doctor thinks he might have Fragile X Syndrome but we have to get the blood test done to confirm it (not looking forward to it). My son is in a early childhood program with our school district that is geared towards children like him. The program is there to help these kids get to the level of being ready for kindergarten, they will not move on to kindergarten unless they are ready to do so. My kid has been in the program for the last 2 years and he one more to go. The progress has been amazing. He can read, write words, put together very detailed puzzles, he's talking more, asking for things, saying niceties like "excuse me" and "thank you". He's coming along. I don't want him placed in kindergarten if he's not ready and I'm sure the school district doesn't want this either.

  Josie

  Josie, thank you for not taking it personally.

  I have a son with a form of autism myself. He just graduated from High School after herculean efforts on the part of a special school for kids with special learning problems. It was a constant effort that wore us down. My marriage ended. But, we stayed united on finding my son's strengths and letting those be his light at the end of the tunnel. What he could not do or did poorly we identified and he was made aware.

  The worst of times was when his mother had insisted on placing him in a "regular" school. It almost destroyed him!!

  She had to face reality and it is was (and is) the hardest thing she's ever had to face.

  My thread is very much conscious of the sore spot families have for "different" children. The worst case scenario is being called cruel names. But, truthfully---another sore spot is being treated as though you DON'T have special problems when you do.

  Somewhere in all the wrong-headedness in society their is a best way.

  My view is that it starts by recognizing what IS and treating it with honest language and politics.
• 

  Terry

  Part of what you state in your original topic post denigrates intuition and what you call "mystical" thinkers putting them in a dichotomous position

  to clear communicators and thinkers. I think this is wrong. They are not necessarily polar opposites like the other comparisons you list. As a matter

  of fact, my own studies give me a strong indication that rather than classifying some of these difficult areas as nonsensical or inappropriate, the

  true scientist, the seeker, will allow him/herself to expand their frame of reference that enables one to examine without bias the evolutionary ramifications of

  intuition, conscious intention, and multisensory experiences.

  How much of what is produced in technology by science is the result of "mystical" experiences and such I would venture to guess is vanishingly small. Accurate measurements and logic seem to work magnficiently.

  If Science and the Paranormal were equivalents they wouldn't have separate names for them.

  This thread is all about destroying society by a false sense of what IS or isn't.

  You know my views on the mystical. It is allright with me if you embrace it as long as neither of us uses the same vocabulary to describe it by doing violence to normative meaning.

  "Energy" "spirit", etc. are fuzzy-wuzzy gossamere strands of mere speculation without ostensible referents. But, the mystic uses them as though it were the very bedrock of fact.

  I don't want to hijack my own thread on this. So, I'll stop here.
• 

  milligal

  Terry-when you stated that people habe to see where they are in essence that your son should not have gone to 'normal' school because of his challenges- I think you are right on that one. If you read my last post you'll see that I also have an asperger's child. My ex husband's parents were told while he was in grade school to take him to a psychologist, his behavior was way out of control. They refused, and pampered him instead. They raised a monster who believes that the entire world must revolve around him. Our asperger's son most likely inherited biologically from his father-but I have raised him much differently-to know himself and understand that the majority of people do not think the way he does. he has blossomed after 9 months of therapy, and medication, he is able to go to public schools. No disrespect meant to anyone else here, I just see your point about letting people see what they are-and growing from there.