The thinking mans guide to society

Hi how are you,
I'm good thanks

As an individual I have never been concerned with reality. I spent my first 22 years of life denying that there was any meaning in the world. I grew up in a home broken by mental illness, pillaged by television; I was left empty, with a deep hatred for everything around me. From religion, to law, to science, to government. There has been nothing sacred in my life.

There is nothing in my possession that has any value; except the one tool that we are all given. In the last semester at University I learned so much more than just the topics at hand; I learned that the world exists no matter how badly I want to deny it. I learned that people suffer for all the choices we make. I learned that even though we have so much; our people really have so little; I have watched my friends struggle with the depression and anxiety of modernity as I have too. Only I have found a path to walk that leads me away from denial and into the beauty that is truth. Every action we make has significant consequences, and we can not be willfully ignorant to them, as that is to choose to live in the anxious unfulfilling plasticity that is corporate owned reality. It is hard to believe that my life is hard, because it isn’t. Much like physics suggests that when our eyes are not watching, atoms are free to vibrate in the air; I realize that I am able to live by that too, no one is watching me; I have the freedom to do whatever I want, until I draw attention to myself. I am so privileged but I have chosen to squander that privilege because I never saw anything as worthy.

My own independent research guided by sociology has brought me new knowledge and understanding, even some wisdom. I know that the only thing that is black and white in this world is that there is people who have; and people who have not. That people suffer, some more so than others. It matters not what crimes man commits, because those crimes only exist if we recognize them. When we recognize them we try to rule them; and to try to control a problem only creates more problems. It is better to be ignorant to the lows that people need to sink too; whether for survival or because of other emotions. It matters not, what matters is making a world with less reasons to need to rely on the watchful eye, we need ignorance to ourselves, because the self is hypocritical; and to allow society to point out our flaws and offer solutions is wrong. Only we can change ourselves, no one can force us to change. We can give others the opportunity to change; we can give them the knowledge to help them into life. But we must not watch them. We must not feed them, we must not shape them, but we must and can free them.

Freedom defines truth and only when people are truly free do they see what is true. I am free of everything society holds sacred, yet I do not know what is true, except that corporations hold too much political power, and that rationality is quickly leading us into immortality. I do not believe that intelligence exists; I do not believe that gender exists; I do not believe that race exists. I believe that we are one sum of energy linked to all others to bring the total sum to 0. I know we are on a road that leads to more mistakes, advertising is a mistake. Money is a mistake. Narcissism is the biggest mistake. To believe I am above anything is the biggest mistake I can make, as it is a delusion, superiority and power is linked to delusions.

There is no man on Earth less than I, or greater. To stand on the shoulders of giants is to be lifted by none other than my brother. My equal, not my authority, not my trainer. Education is not too train workers for the machine, and I could spend my entire life being a student of the world if it didn’t surely mean my own starvation. I have been lost in a world of technology and an abundance of information; but the information was going on ignored; even when it smacks you right in the face there is this implicit denial, this will to believe that we have solved everything and that we need not worry; all we need is a job.

Statistics
Are nothing but representations of one truth; and it can never show you the whole truth. Especially if you don't understand the statistics you're looking at. Every one knows that unemployment statistics are 'fudged'; in that they only account for certain types of unemployed people (usually ones actively searching for work). There are other statistics that lie to us; there are ways to see through the lies; I shall give you one example in this thread of blatant statistical propaganda.



Alright, surely you can tell something just from looking at this graph (as if the image name doesn't hint something). Here's some important information when looking at ANY graph like this:
"In probability theory, the normal (or Gaussian) distribution is a continuous probability distribution, defined on the entire real line. It has a bell-shaped probability density function, known as the Gaussian function or informally as the bell curve:[nb 1]" -wikipedia

Notice that the white distribution is far closer to a bell curve; and that the black distribution is all over the place. The only logical conclusion one can draw from this is that people have not reached their peak in IQ; especially black people. I am not here to talk about why; merely to point out that statistics misrepresent facts very easily. Black people aren't just genetically stupid; if they were they wouldn't be capable of having 130 IQs. The distribution would be far more standard if people had achieved their peak.

"Data can be "distributed" (spread out) in different ways. It can be spread out more on the left ... or more on the right. Or it can be all jumbled up. But there are many cases where the data tends to be around a central value with no bias left or right, and it gets close to a "Normal Distribution""

There are several reasons data can be skewed (www.squidoo.com...). It could be as simple as IQ not being a valid enough measurement (because certain cultures have different ideas on intellect). It could be as simple as black people not receiving the proper education, or social constructs that guide them away from learning. It is clear that the data is skewed to the right; this could be because there wasn't a big enough sample taken; but I'm sure even if you sampled every African American's IQ there would be similar results (some black people are motivated to succeed in the system).

To summarize; statistics have agendas too. If you ever want to base your opinion on statistics make sure you know what those statistics mean. The last thing the world needs is validation for their ignorance.

Originally posted by thoughtfuldeliquent

Statistics
Are nothing but representations of one truth...

Not really, statistics are seen as true until they conflict with what you WANT them to say, then they are "racist" or "flawed". The white vs black IQ test is an excellent example of this. It is often seen as a white test made by white men to make blacks look bad but it is ignored that in these tests Asians are tested and they routinely score higher than both whites and blacks. But that does not conform to the agenda of "the racist white man" so that is left out.

Rationality

I wrote my paper on Max Weber's theory of rationality last semester, and it is a glorious one. Here's my favourite quote from Weber:
"men act as they do because of belief in authority, enforcement by staffs, a calculus of self-interest, and a good dose of habit" - WEBER, M. 1978. Economy and society, University of California Press.

That says about everything you need to know about the world. For Weber rationality was the construction of a cage that would destroy us all; and a lot of people are starting to see it.

www.science20.com...
"Global Suicide: No Singularity, Just Evolution Of Deadly Rationality".

People will have different theories about where rationality is going to lead us; but I think it's a pretty safe bet to see that we are heading towards a mechanized society (and mechanized man). So rationality brings us to immortality; but are we sacrificing the last vestiges of our humanity?

When you study rationality you realize how powerful it becomes in the hands of someone like a corporation; it enables them to consider only its bottom line; as it is your job. Your job is not to think but to do as you are told by the boss or by the piece of paper that outlines your responsibilities and for the most part even the exact procedure of accomplishing those responsibilities.

Any one who has ever had a more modern job (like wal-mart or fast-food) can tell you that you are instructed in every little detail. I worked at KFC for a time, and there was even a procedure for how long and how many movements should be made when the chicken is sitting in a tub of flour. I purposely strayed from this procedure several times and received no complaints; hell I've dropped chicken on the floor (which is soaked in chemicals daily), and put it back on the tray. Not even one complaint! In fact I've received compliments on my 'cooking' (organizing chicken into a tin shell just so then dropping it in a massive vat of oil and waiting for the timer to alert me of my next task).

We are born into an existing set of principles, these values are perpetuated by the culture and power of the day, which in turn is held up to high standards by the people who are unable to free themselves from dominant thought. An example of this would be Nationalism; or patriotism, one does not choose where they are born and raised; however according to system justification theory, upholding its norms may be where one spends most of their days. Did actors rationally weigh up the values of its society against the values of other societies? Or was their preference simply determined by where they were raised and the experiences they had there?

There are four manifestations of a rationalized society in Weber’s theory of rationalization. Practical rationality found in the mundane day to day activities. Theoretical rationality which involves logical deduction, meanings of symbols, among other things. Substantive rationality a means to end rationale weighing up norms, ethics and values. Lastly formal rationality decision-making of means-to-ends based on universally applied rules and laws, this type of rationality is institutionalized by modern law, bureaucracy and capitalism, the means to ends choice is controlled by these structures. RITZER, G. 1998. The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the McDonaldization of Contemporary Society. Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited, 37-61.

In short, beware your own mind. Question EVERYTHING. My world has been completely shattered; before I was paralyzed by boredom and apathy. Now I seek meaning and truth for everyone else, because rationally I have no need to do anything.

reply to post by Superhans


Yeah sorry, I perhaps should've fleshed out that statement a bit more. I don't mean that the numbers themselves are telling us lies; but the people using those numbers can easily misrepresent their meaning or even purposely not report certain numbers in order to make the numbers show a certain truth.

Originally posted by thoughtfuldeliquent
Notice that the white distribution is far closer to a bell curve; and that the black distribution is all over the place. The only logical conclusion one can draw from this is that people have not reached their peak in IQ;

No, actually the more "granular" form for Black indicates a smaller sample size than White.

Edit - this page is an introduction to the NLSY97 data that generated the graph.
As suspected, only about half the number of Black subjects as the White ones.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by thoughtfuldeliquent
Notice that the white distribution is far closer to a bell curve; and that the black distribution is all over the place. The only logical conclusion one can draw from this is that people have not reached their peak in IQ;

No, actually the more "granular" form for Black indicates a smaller sample size than White.

I did mention that; but there's no way to confirm that unless someone has a graph that shows a mass sample of black IQ's, but for me it wasn't important whether or not there are fair representations of black IQs; merely that bad representations exist and are used by people to justify certain beliefs.

reply to post by thoughtfuldeliquent


Welcome brother...