RE: Plato’s Cave – Why Some People Want To Remain Prisoners
Replying to your latest post here.
“Was my consumption of news helping or hurting me?”
It was apparently hurting you emotionally.
“I remove the emotional element of it to logically and rationally think it through”
OK, so having removed the emotional distress element, you thought it through and decided not to read any news because of the emotional distress element? This is where I’m getting a bit confused.
“.Because of the emotion, fear, that person has made an irrational decision.”
Is that not exactly what you just did yourself?
“someone that needs to travel might say they are going to drive that 800 miles instead because they are scared of their flight crashing.”
But you’re not just “someone” , you are someone who claims to remove the emotional aspect and thinks things through…..what’s there to be scared of?
“if you do not agree you do not have to read it.”
Do you only read things that you agree with? This would suggest a confirmation bias. Unfortunately (for you) I will read whatever has been put out there to read and if I disagree, then I will comment as to why and where I disagree – that’s how it works. As I said before, if you don’t want any critical comments then don’t post, otherwise you are indeed advertising/proselytising
for “something.”
“Only those that wish to take the time to read what I write will hear what I say.”
I took the time to read what you wrote and I have heard what you have said. Is there some hidden mystical meaning or something? Not only did I take the time to do this, but also took the time to consider your words and respond to them. If you just want to preach with unfettered access to a deferential and quiet audience, then unfortunately, I’m afraid that I’m sat in it and I’m calling you out.
“If you want a step by step guide I am sure some self-help guru will be happy to sell you a program.”
Interesting and quite telling remark. Why would you think I would want a guide from a Guru?
Look, at the end of the day, the proposition that you seem to be articulating is that “Ignorance is bliss”……the very thing that Orwell warned about and the complete anti-thesis of the “Plato’s Cave” allegory your post was about. There appear to be a number of self contradictory aspects to your posts which would suggest to me an inconsistency of reasoning/logic.
Physician……heal thyself…
I will step by step it.
1: watch news - baby died in hot car, car crash killed family of 6, Trump said this or that, crime wave hits some city you don't live in, natural disaster in some country
2: be scared/fearful that something will happen to you.
3: worry about these things that you cannot control
4: see a post that says "I was scared but then I didn't read news and it was better for me" think that fits you and is interesting so you read it and like what it says. (instead of a post that states "Newscasters are owned by the rothchilds and they bow down to them and show you only what the elites of the world want you to see in a way they want you to see it and pizzagate is the truth and you are a goddamn moron if you believe a word that the mainstream media spew from their mouths" again, this is just for example and doesn't mean I believe in that alternate title but I hope you can see the more gentle nudging in how I write to potentially awaken people to alternatives in life)
5: try watching no news
6: see that you have less worries in life and more time
7: use time to broaden your mind/skills
8: decide to see why news is like it is
9: see some form of conclusions I wrote about in my "don't watch the news post"
10: decide there is some nugget of wisdom in there and you find your own meaning towards it
11: use this rational to look deeper into other things you took for granted
12: see that everyone has an agenda - for control, for money, for power, for fame, for anything
13: live outside the cave
Ok, this is one possible example of one possible path. Note that you did not stop watching the news because you were scared in the moment - you put aside the emotion when you made the decision to not watch the news. You listed pros and cons - logically. That does not mean that emotions do not fall under one side or the other or both, it means that you do not use your current emotional state to make the decision. They can be but one pro and/or con in a list of positives and negatives.