writetoknow

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Posts by writetoknow

• 
  59

  NON-THEISTIC belief systems REQUIRE LOTS of FAITH (e.g. people from FISH)

  by hooberus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i once saw dawkins refer to his views as a "belief system".

  indeed, persons who subscribe to a non-theistic belief system* have been generally forced to hold to the following beliefs:.

  that life came from non-life.. that people came from fish (fish are in mans actual ancestry in evolutionary phylogenetic trees).

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  writetoknow

  My point exactly it all depends on what you "choose" to believe or put faith in.
• 
  59

  NON-THEISTIC belief systems REQUIRE LOTS of FAITH (e.g. people from FISH)

  by hooberus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i once saw dawkins refer to his views as a "belief system".

  indeed, persons who subscribe to a non-theistic belief system* have been generally forced to hold to the following beliefs:.

  that life came from non-life.. that people came from fish (fish are in mans actual ancestry in evolutionary phylogenetic trees).

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  writetoknow

  Science theroies and facts change as new discoveries are made. Science is a progress of information being defined and redefined. Thus, to suggest a 1000-years from now the views of scientist will not alter is an act of faith. To believe that what is known about science today is some how a holy grill is an act of faith.

  Furthermore, when any group defends a set of known facts it becomes or requires faith in the information or the founder of that information. To state a person can go back billions of years and accurately known the facts is an act of faith.

  1000 years from now science may prove there is a God. On the other hand, they may come up with further proof there isn't a God. Nonetheless, it will always be a theory promoted by belief in the word of the scientist or science as fact to that person or persons depending on their agenda.
• 
  9

  Is Bigotry A Mental Illness?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with so much hatred in society on all levels against most groups from religion to politics - is this a sign that society has an mental illness or something else?.

  is bigotry a mental illness?

  ronald pies, md .

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  writetoknow

  With so much hatred in society on all levels against most groups from religion to politics - is this a sign that society has an mental illness or something else?
  
  
  
  
  
  Ronald Pies, MD
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  But what about those persons—like my old nemesis, Robin Hicks—who are apparently neither suffering nor incapacitated as a direct result of their bigoted beliefs? Are they, nevertheless, sick or diseased? My personal response is, "Not in any sense that is relevant to the practice of clinical psychiatry." It is true that psychiatrists are sometimes asked—usually by the legal system—to deal with persons who have committed antisocial acts but who do not seem in any way bothered or incapacitated by their behaviors (eg, sexual predators whose pedophilia is completely ego-syntonic). These sociopathic persons represent a medicolegal dilemma, and I have no easy answer as to how our profession should deal with them. However, I would argue that they do not represent persons with disease.
  
  
  Even if we agree that pathological bigotry accompanied by suffering and incapacity represents disease in a generic sense, we must still ask if it represents a specific disease that might warrant inclusion in DSM-IV.
  
  Here, I believe, psychiatry must draw on the history of general medicine. Historically, physicians usually begin the conceptual-empirical march toward disease by first identifying a syndrome; that is, a specific set of signs and symptoms that we observe with great consistency and regularity. Such a syndrome—for example, central obesity, muscle weakness, hypertension, and amenorrhea—may ultimately be understood as a specific disease when one or more of the following criteria are met.
  
  
  A pattern of genetic transmission is discovered, sometimes leading to the identification of a specific genetic locus.
  
  The syndrome's pathophysiology and/or pathological anatomy becomes reasonably well understood.
  
  The syndrome's course, prognosis, and response to treatment are seen to be relatively predictable and uniform across many populations.
  
  Indeed, when the features of Cushing's syndrome were traced to pituitary dysfunction, that particular condition became known as Cushing's disease.
  
  Of course, there have been innumerable debates as to whether classic psychiatric disorders or diseases, such as schizophrenia, fully meet any of the 3 criteria described.4-6 Whatever one's view of such controversies, it seems to me that the construct of pathological bigotry has not yet reached even the syndromal level, much less the status of a specific disease.Nonetheless, our present diagnostic schema would allow us to treat such patients under a number of existing diagnostic categories, depending on the nature and severity of their pathology.
  
  
  That said, there are some preliminary but intriguing data emerging from the work of Professor Edward Dunbar, of the University of California, Los Angeles, that may someday form the foundation for a pathological bias syndrome. Dunbar has developed the Outgroup Hostility Scale (OHS) for measuring the dimensions of pathological bias; for example, experiencing panic and anxiety in response to benign contact with persons of a racial or ethnic group. In a study of psychotherapy outpatients who sought treatment for problems unrelated to such bias, Dunbar found that OHS scores correlated with measures of hypomania, hostility, panic symptoms, and lower scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning (E. Dunbar, unpublished data, 2007). A history of psychological trauma was also a factor in some pathologically biased patients. Earlier work by Dunbar found that high ratings of "outgroup bias" were significantly associated with axis II criteria for paranoid, borderline, and antisocial personality disorders.7
  
  
  Nonetheless, Dunbar stopped short of concluding that pathological bias should be considered a stand-alone disorder. As he noted, "the identification of specific symptoms of such a diagnostic category would need to demonstrate, via clinical research, an independence from other recognized diagnostic categories, and to . . . [confer] serious impairment to the individual such as to warrant mental health treatment" [italics added] (E. Dunbar, unpublished data, 2007). Moreover, Dunbar acknowledged that, as yet, "there are no established practice guidelines for the treatment of pathologically biased patients."
  
  
  Carl Bell, MD, a psychiatrist who has written extensively in this area, rightly argued, "racism most likely has biological, psychological, and sociological origins." He added, however, that racism is "mainly a product of learned behavior" and that a "majority of explicitly racist persons do not have any psychopathology."8
  
  In my view, it is at best premature to create a new diagnostic category for racism or bigotry. Still, to the extent that subgroups of those with pathological bias may have comorbid psychopathology—and to the extent that these persons are willing to undergo diagnosis and treatment—psychiatrists should remain actively interested and involved.
  
  
  
  
  
  1. Vedantam S. Psychiatry ponders whether extreme bias can be an illness. Washington Post. December 10, 2005: A1. Available at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/09/
  
  AR2005120901938.html. Accessed February 28, 2007.
  
  2. Pies R. On myths and countermyths: more on Szaszian fallacies. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36:139-144.
  
  3. Wittgenstein L. The Blue and Brown Books: Preliminary Studies for the "Philosphical Investigations," New York: Harper Colophon Books; 1958.
  
  4. Pies R. Moving beyond the "myth" of mental illness. In: Schaler JA, ed. Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics. Chicago: Open Court; 2004: 327-353.
  
  5. Szasz T. Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry. New York: Basic Books; 1976.
  
  6. Schramme T. The legacy of antipsychiatry. In: Schramme T, Thome J, eds. Philosophy and Psychiatry. New York: De Gruyter; 2004:94-119.
  
  7. Dunbar E. The relationship of DSM diagnostic criteria and Gough's Prejudice Scale: exploring the clinical manifestations of the prejudiced personality. Cult Divers Ment Health. 1997;3:247-257.
  
  8. Bell C. Racism: a mental illness? Psychiatr Serv. 2004; 55:1343.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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• 
  9

  Hating Religion Is It Bigotry?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?.

  the term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.

  bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.. .

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  writetoknow

  It is true when an individual takes a characteristic and applies it adversely to a group when it is unreasonable to believe that all members of the group have that characteristic.

  A paradigm example of bigotry is found in applying the property of ‘criminal’ to those who are black. Another example involves applying the property ‘stupid’ to those who are blonde. We also see bigotry in those who apply the property ‘without morals’ to ‘atheists.’
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  9

  Hating Religion Is It Bigotry?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?.

  the term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.

  bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.. .

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  writetoknow

  Can't that be said of any group do to the human nature?
• 
  9

  Hating Religion Is It Bigotry?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?.

  the term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.

  bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.. .

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  writetoknow

  Agreed, but does that mean "all" religion is abusive?
• 
  9

  Hating Religion Is It Bigotry?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?.

  the term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.

  bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.. .

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  writetoknow

  Does that mean that everyone in religion is abusives?
• 
  9

  Hating Religion Is It Bigotry?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?.

  the term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.

  bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  writetoknow

  Does the term "bigotry" apply only to religious people or can a person be a bigot when they hate religion or religious people?

  The term bigot means to be willingly ignorant or intolerant of another person's beliefs or opinions.
  
  Bigotry is an accusation, which is often used by liberal and marxist types to condemn those people who are not of the same "tolerant" or "open minded" attitude as themselves.
  
  By using this term they create what I call an infinite loop of intolerance.
  
  If someone is accused of bigotry then the accusing party must also be intolerant of the accused persons intolerance; therefore, it is self evident that the term bigot in a sense, can not actually exist in a free society or open debate because of it's self-destructive, self-imploding and hypocritical nature.

  We must put an end to bigotry by criminalizing any dissenting point of view.
  
  Real life application of this "anti-bigotry" includes hate laws, which are no more than Orwellian type "thought crimes".
• 
  67

  Advocating Destruction of Religion Hate Speech?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  introduction.

  in 1942, the supreme court sustained the conviction of a jehovah's witness who addressed a police officer as a "god dammed racketeer" and "a damned facist" (chaplinksy v. new hampshire).

  the court's opinion in the case stated that there was a category of face-to-face epithets, or "fighting words," that was wholly outside of the protection of the first amendment: those words "which by their very utterance inflict injury" and which "are no essential part of any exposition of ideas.".

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  writetoknow

  I don't know what world you live in unless your trying to defend people on this forum? I think you need to start reading you news paper and watching the history channel. I know it hard to admit that people hate in religion and when religion it not involved people still hate, but it is a fact of the human nature.
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  67

  Advocating Destruction of Religion Hate Speech?

  by writetoknow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  introduction.

  in 1942, the supreme court sustained the conviction of a jehovah's witness who addressed a police officer as a "god dammed racketeer" and "a damned facist" (chaplinksy v. new hampshire).

  the court's opinion in the case stated that there was a category of face-to-face epithets, or "fighting words," that was wholly outside of the protection of the first amendment: those words "which by their very utterance inflict injury" and which "are no essential part of any exposition of ideas.".

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  writetoknow

  My second post states the purpose and my third post states it again. So lets state it one more time do you think people that advocated the destruction of all religion are practicing hate speech? Or better put where is the line between hate speech and adding ideas to the discussion of advocating the destruction of all religion?