What the hell happened to common sense?

Common sense will continue to fail, never prevail, in creatures that are largely driven by their emotions.

There always has been violence and there always will be violence. We're the masters of our own demise.

a reply to: SLAYER69

"Civilians are not simply Collateral Damage"

or

"Killing civilians in the crossfire has to stop"

That is something we can all agree on,

I feel ashamed sitting here debating such things while people starve and die and suffer, I feel helpless,

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

I feel ashamed sitting here debating such things while people starve and die and suffer, I feel helpless,

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.

The first step to solving problems is awareness.

The fact you have the awareness, compassion and ability to speak out is more than we can say for majority of the people in charge.

It is hard enough keeping our own boats a float in this madness, but if enough people have the awareness you have things would change quickly.

One thing more of us should be doing, which all of us certainly can be doing, is choosing where to spend our money, or more importantly, where not to spend our money. We could eliminate a lot of evil industry just by refusing to surrender our hard earned dollars in certain places. Personally, I'd sooner set myself on fire than take up arms against brown people in some distant arid mountains, who never did anything to me, and are in no way a real threat to the U.S. constitution or my freedom (which doesn't exist in the first place, btw.)

originally posted by: sdmk9
Common sense will continue to fail, never prevail, in creatures that are largely driven by their emotions.

There always has been violence and there always will be violence. We're the masters of our own demise.

That's how we roll all those deep rooted instincts to survive.

Love and hate, fear.

How can love conquer evil, that is the question, when we can't even get along on the forum.

Then there is the desire to control, the fear of being wrong, we all play the control dramas on ATS.

a reply to: Realtruth

The problem is that there is a well funded, well organized campaign being perpetrated against awareness. Even some of the toxins we are exposed to may be responsible for physically diminishing our capacity for awareness. Our brains are terribly sensitive instruments, you know.

originally posted by: centhwevir1979
One thing more of us should be doing, which all of us certainly can be doing, is choosing where to spend our money, or more importantly, where not to spend our money. We could eliminate a lot of evil industry just by refusing to surrender our hard earned dollars in certain places. Personally, I'd sooner set myself on fire than take up arms against brown people in some distant arid mountains, who never did anything to me, and are in no way a real threat to the U.S. constitution or my freedom (which doesn't exist in the first place, btw.)

This is a good point, but instead of money, time would be a better choice.

As long as money is involved it can be used to manipulate everyone's time. Example: Hourly wage's as opposed to people at the top taking billions, for only the same time as others have.

Excellent post Slayer, there is quite a shortage of common sense these days.

Also was just curious as to why the mods have allowed gore in your post, which is clearly against the T & C, and took down all the beheading videos? Adding a warning before the pics doesn't matter. Just saying we can't have double standards, we have to use our common sense right? Cheers!

a reply to: SLAYER69

originally posted by: Lolliek
a reply to: SonoftheSun

You could also add this:

Every human being on this planet, In their own minds, are right.

We all have opinions that we just KNOW are right. This leaves very little room for common sense, because you actually have to get rid of the ego. Very hard to do.

Surely there is a middle ground there. I always tell my daughter (and strive myself to do this, as well), don't sacrifice your personal relationships over being right.

Part of keeping an open mind, surely, is also KNOWING that you could be wrong. When we are presented with that and understand it, with a certain issue, it's called learning.

The ego is necessary for humanity. People neglect to see that. Our interpretation and perceptions of things is tied to ego and how we see ourselves, prompting empathy and sympathy, as well as the negative.
tetra

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

Einstein

a reply to: Realtruth

Hell yes. That's why I encourage all my friends to try to earn their money under the table, grow as much of their own food as possible, and to say a big F YOU to anybody trying to persuade them into something immoral, even at the risk of their own life. I encourage them to always be honest, to go out of their way to be kind and generous to strangers, to exercise and to be a living example of human potential. To feel proud when something good has been done, to feel ashamed when we fail to do what we know is the right thing. Live free or die hard!

a reply to: Specimen

Far be it for me to argue against the likes of Einstein, if wanting the killing of civilians to stop then by all means, Call me prejudice.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
"Common Sense is dead or never existed" ?


So, the human race is hopeless.

Reaches for his hot cup of coffee, there was a time not too long ago when I would have reached for something much stronger but those days are gone and I have recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body...

We have the capacity for greatness. We have the capacity for common sense. We have the capacity for love and forgiveness and kindness.

Free will is a bitch, sometimes.

What happened to common sense?

Hmm I think common sense has been hijacked by the entitlement generation.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
a reply to: Specimen

Far be it for me to argue against the likes of Einstein, if wanting the killing of civilians to stop then by all means, Call me prejudice.

For some odd reason we as human beings judge.

If it's not one type of judgment it's another. Fat, skinny, smart, stupid, white, black, rich, poor, religious, non-religious. Within this type of judgment exists the means to separate and define smaller factions, or clan mentalities.

Once a clan mentality has been established, then de-humanization can easily be fabricated with a set dogma.

This is what sets the stage for the loss of any and all "Common Sense".

We've already lost the war, Slayer.

Judgement day is approaching...

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: SLAYER69
"Common Sense is dead or never existed" ?


So, the human race is hopeless.

Reaches for his hot cup of coffee, there was a time not too long ago when I would have reached for something much stronger but those days are gone and I have recovered from a hopeless state of mind and body...

We have the capacity for greatness. We have the capacity for common sense. We have the capacity for love and forgiveness and kindness.

Free will is a bitch, sometimes.

This was point above in my last post about ego. Those capacities are produced from ego, as well. And I agree completely with you.
tetra

One avenue, used alongside some others, is to re-write our cultural story. Something which most don't seem to even know exists despite the fact it is one of the primary influences in how we perceive the world, as well as how we act/react to it.

Working together allows us to build incredible and amazing things. This process has been corrupted and compartmentalized for the profit of a few. These few are acting out a very long-term plan, but they are just as programmed by this cultural story as anyone else.

I would guess it all began long, long ago when one group of people took from another and realized it was an easy way to increase quality of life for themselves. The focus started to shift to exploiting others for personal gain, and the main narrative for our current cultural story was born. The characters have changed many times, as well as the locations and events. But, the main story remains the same.

I guess no one ever thought that everyone taking from each other keeps all of us back equally. A culture based on working together to advance would not only enable us to reach heights never possible with our current cultural story, it will keep us from encountering the mass deaths and massacres that are innate to our 'modern' society.

We traded in our common cents for dollar bills. Something that has nothing to back it.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Sadly, a lot of these prejudices and rivalries go back some ways. And in some cases, common sense got achieved by the age of five. Although, I can see how some older stories had Rules to War, like stating "We are going to War", where as others would try to make a first strike attempt. Much like how Japan is viewed by America, due to Pearl Harbour.

Where as no harming of woman or children, even prisoners of war however, I think that was just chivalry, class, or BS.

"Do not scorn a weak cub. He may become the brutal tiger" (Mongolian proverb).