tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post5677129944283951174..comments2024-03-18T21:33:35.309-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: All in the Family: Interior Development and the Micro-Evolution of ManGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67586950723692143472008-01-20T16:33:00.000-08:002008-01-20T16:33:00.000-08:00"Are they somehow less evolved because they are hu..."Are they somehow less evolved because they are hungry and don't live as long? That's the question now isn't it?"<BR/><BR/>No that isn't THE question, that is YOUR question.<BR/>The reason why you wouldn't live there is because for the most part, the culture they've developed SUCKS. Your chances of living a good life, slim to none and your chances of living like a dog, very good, although things are changing. And why are they changing? Because they are adopting a more "western" mode of living using capitalism to lift people out of abject poverty.<BR/>Does that mean that there isn't infinite wisdom, spiritual or otherwise, to be found there? Yes there is. But what good is that wisdom when instead of being made into McDonalds hamburgers, cows are looked upon as sacred and allowed to walk and shit wherever they wish because of a direct correlation to eastern religious dogma. You might be eating aunt Smita.<BR/>As poorly as you wish to paint this country, although imperfect, it's still the best thing you're likely to see in your lifetime. That's why you keep running your mouth but won't leave. You choose this country because of its EVOLVED standards of living which relate directly to culture and then try and look down your nose at others as if they are the bigots.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-54299824003556248642008-01-20T12:18:00.000-08:002008-01-20T12:18:00.000-08:00It's true, we don't sell our wives. We divorce th...It's true, we don't sell our wives. We divorce them.<BR/><BR/>America murders via abortion over million/year.<BR/><BR/>America imprisons at a higher per capita rate than anywhere else in the world.<BR/><BR/>We hide our violence by murdering before people are born, or incarcerating the mentally ill and drug addicted.<BR/><BR/>I agree it is tidier! <BR/><BR/>I am not suggesting it makes it worse than anywhere else, but it doesn't make it more "evolved" to hide it either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-65405419923942825862008-01-20T12:09:00.000-08:002008-01-20T12:09:00.000-08:00"It was irritating to say the least, and I sure as..."It was irritating to say the least, and I sure as hell would not want to find my self in heaven with them."<BR/><BR/>I sure as hell don't think you have to worry about that Anon.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-65610732621011795122008-01-20T09:39:00.000-08:002008-01-20T09:39:00.000-08:00Re the above discussion about different cultures: ...Re the above discussion about different cultures: just open all borders, give everyone a free airplane ticket, and see who chooses to live where. Anonymous would be very surprised at the results.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-16931258896985463412008-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:002008-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:00"It tough being a parent, Van, but tougher being a..."It tough being a parent, Van, but tougher being an infant.<BR/>John"<BR/><BR/>I can't tell you how often I said that! <BR/><BR/>I still can't handle thinking about Tristan's first year. He was colicky, wouldn't sleep; I was depressed and desparately tired and T wouldn't take a bottle or let anyone else soothe him. But at least I know he was held the whole time. <BR/><BR/>I remember wishing at the time that I could get my hands on some "calming syrup," though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63516264374479538622008-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:002008-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:00Are they somehow less evolved because they are hun...<I>Are they somehow less evolved because they are hungry and don't live as long?</I><BR/><BR/>No, they're less evolved because they sell their daughters at the wife bazaar. And they disown the daughter who's been raped and is found bloody and wandering. Did you not read Julie's post?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-56554001551617583842008-01-20T08:47:00.000-08:002008-01-20T08:47:00.000-08:00Frankly, anonymous, I don't see how I am making yo...Frankly, anonymous, I don't see how I am making your point. Of course, in the midst of all of that, one does find genuine warmth and goodness and love and compassion. They are loved as all humans are loved, and frankly the fact that we are as we are now is the real miracle. I made the point, the other day, that the issue is probably 99% circumstance; from a Darwinian evolutionary point-of-view, of course they're no different. <BR/><BR/>Have great wisdom and learning come out of India? Yes, indisputably. This doesn't change the fact that their (many, in the case of India) cultures are mired in some pretty serious problems that also hold them back. They don't think like actual herds, of course not. But when, for instance, a mother is offered an opportunity to send her daughter to school and thus, eventually to a better life, and opts instead to keep the daughter home to work as a prostitute or a laborer, this cannot <I>not</I> have an effect on how the child perceives the world. Herd mentality? Not quite, perhaps more like the lobsters who drag the escapees back into the pot.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-58191290225808863062008-01-20T07:37:00.000-08:002008-01-20T07:37:00.000-08:00Julie,You are making my point precisely.Obviously ...Julie,<BR/>You are making my point precisely.<BR/><BR/>Obviously heaven has a slightly different set of standards, than standard of living.<BR/><BR/>As Bob mentioned a few posts back, in describing his REAL neighborhood growing up, the one that he had no idea about, it is the same everywhere. In the west, it simply is HIDDEN. <BR/>We prefer, for example, the abstract violence of video games, violent movies, and carpet bombing of our enemies, rather than the more "archaic" forms of previous cultures, or third world cultures.<BR/>This somehow pacifies us into thinking we are more "civilized".<BR/>Once you actually get to know the people, in India, for example, you find out that they actually don't think like herds, and neither did their "furbears". They are thoughtful, devoted, for the most part, and genuine. I never once was treated to NASCAR or Reality TV.<BR/>Yes, in the west we have all the goodness that Freud brought. In India, they have all the goodness that Ramakrishna, Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Ghandi, etc. brought. Very different world actually.<BR/>Would I want to live there? No, but I was not born there either. Is it paradise? Far from it. Pretty nasty, actually. Are they somehow less evolved because they are hungry and don't live as long? That's the question now isn't it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89858734738797157432008-01-20T03:36:00.000-08:002008-01-20T03:36:00.000-08:00Oddly enough, O Ninnyous, I was thinking today tha...Oddly enough, O Ninnyous, I was thinking today that a lot of third and even second world countries aren't so different from how the modernized West was, and I'm not talking about iPods vs. constant prayer. <BR/><BR/>First there was <A HREF="http://www.julescrittenden.com/2008/01/18/lancet-botches-another-one/" REL="nofollow">this</A> article I saw today (via Instapundit) about malnutrition in Africa. The interesting thing about this article, to me, is that up until a couple of centuries ago that was the standard of living for virtually everyone everywhere, with the exception of the elite classes who could afford to ship home a variety of foods and spices. For everyone else, there were a couple of staple crops, some local greens, and whatever meat you could get. If the weather was temperate, you ate well that year, but if it was too hot or too cold you starved. Much of the world is still that way. The real tragedy is, it doesn't have to be.<BR/><BR/>As to India, I can't claim to have been there. But I have read accounts from those who have in recent years, and what they had to say painted a less than flattering picture. Yes, there is a lot of prayer and sacred wisdom. There is also a lot of rampant poverty, child abuse, and general human misery and suffering the likes of which we Westerners can barely comprehend. <BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/01/14/sm_deutscheborse112.xml" REL="nofollow">Here</A> for instance, we see their enlightened attitudes towards women:<BR/><BR/>"Among the girls pictured on these pages is Labhuben, who will probably be a victim of a situation that has come about through the long-term effects of this selective abortion. Namely, a shortage of brides of marriageable age and the institution of a barter system: 'I'll marry your sister if you'll marry mine.' Sheikh implies that girls like Labhuben risk ending up in the town of Mewat, 30 miles outside of Delhi, where 'what amounts to a modern slave trade operates a bride bazaar'. There, Sheikh writes, 'Women are offered for sale at a variety of prices. The price is determined by factors such as age, virginity, skin colour (the lighter the better) and the number of times a woman has been sold before.'"<BR/><BR/>"All we see of Sonali are her work-worn hands, gracefully folded on her lap. She is a 14-year-old from Bihar in eastern India. Sheikh's account describes how she was found wandering in a village near Karnal, her clothes soaked in blood after she had been raped. The experience affected her mentally. When her parents were tracked down they denied all knowledge that they had such a daughter. When Fazal photographed Sonali, she had been living in a shelter for three months."<BR/><BR/>Just a taste, anonymous. How different would you be, if that was your life?juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-21495969996935210622008-01-20T01:07:00.000-08:002008-01-20T01:07:00.000-08:00Obviously the red dye didn't take.Obviously the red dye didn't take.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-67162474900977955822008-01-20T01:04:00.000-08:002008-01-20T01:04:00.000-08:00^Another anonymous Kos bigot? ^Transparent bastige...^Another anonymous Kos bigot? ^<BR/>Transparent bastiges that they are.<BR/><BR/>On the subject of "calming syrups",<BR/>the more things change, the more they remain the same. If it's not paregoric, it's Ritalin. Not that drugs don't have their place in certain limited circumstances but my opinion is that they are over used due to the pervasive problem of lazy parenting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-57100703271398471342008-01-19T22:41:00.000-08:002008-01-19T22:41:00.000-08:00It's curious that all of Bob's descriptions about ...It's curious that all of Bob's descriptions about life between 1500 and 1800 remind me of my visit to India.<BR/><BR/>It's wierd that those people are not self-reflecting. I kept asking, why don't you stop praying all the time and reflect. Maybe have some doubt, get and ipod, and join the Republican party. Also, why do you live side by side with those damn Allah worshippers?<BR/><BR/>All they could do was dot my forehead with some silly red dye and chant mantras!<BR/>It was irritating to say the least, and I sure as hell would not want to find my self in heaven with them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42770473416978393622008-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:002008-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:00All of What Van Said™All of What Van Said™Mizz Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02325435271880036807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-19484506022732182052008-01-19T17:10:00.000-08:002008-01-19T17:10:00.000-08:00primal_john said "It tough being a parent, Van, bu...primal_john said "It tough being a parent, Van, but tougher being an infant."<BR/><BR/>That may be true, but part of being a parent is trying your damndest to ensure that that isn’t true.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-26391325867157491672008-01-19T17:05:00.000-08:002008-01-19T17:05:00.000-08:00“A few readers keep insisting in the teeth of this...“A few readers keep insisting in the teeth of this evidence that "folks is folks, everywhere the same."”<BR/><BR/>Even more difficult than putting yourself in other peoples place, is realizing that you may have to leave part of you behind to do so.<BR/><BR/>For me it has been a hard idea to get around, that people haven’t always been the same and even now aren’t the same everywhere. But it seems to me, that if you understand Ideas, and how much the understanding of them deepens with your consideration of them over time, and how merely holding, as opposed to acting on those ideas can alter your understanding of them as well as your actions stemming from them – then you have to understand that in their absence… there is an absence.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-51269454656052126132008-01-19T16:50:00.001-08:002008-01-19T16:50:00.001-08:00It tough being a parent, Van, but tougher being an...It tough being a parent, Van, but tougher being an infant.<BR/>JohnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88808983847649218442008-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:002008-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:00I have heard about paregoric, and just may have ha...I have <I>heard</I> about paregoric, and just may have had a nip or two -- for I remember my mother saying to me once, "You used to be such a <I>happy</I> child!"<BR/><BR/>Hmmm-m-m.walthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388218390016612051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42320048348062612142008-01-19T16:34:00.000-08:002008-01-19T16:34:00.000-08:00I had a colicky child. Did the football carry roun...I had a colicky child. Did the football carry round and round the couch throughout the a.m., night after night.<BR/><BR/>I needed to be sedated.<BR/><BR/>Long term behavioral affects upon me include flashing baby pictures to his girlfriend... reminiscing about various diaper disasters when she is around...<BR/><BR/>It's still awful, but I'm slowly recovering... <I>he's not</I>, mores the pity.<BR/><BR/><I>BwaaahahahahahHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!</I>Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29546245223477492492008-01-19T16:18:00.000-08:002008-01-19T16:18:00.000-08:00What Walt said.What Walt said.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27706771548964105532008-01-19T16:13:00.000-08:002008-01-19T16:13:00.000-08:00Problem Child: I assume the holding in the prese...Problem Child:<BR/> I assume the holding in the present reminds you of what you needed but didn't get. You probably didn't cry it out, but rather gave up hope of getting what you needed then, so that now too much is still not enough! So very sad. Your name is legion.<BR/>JohnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35396652532164143392008-01-19T15:34:00.000-08:002008-01-19T15:34:00.000-08:00I was a colicky child in the sixties and I could h...I was a colicky child in the sixties and I could have used the paregoric. Instead, my parents put me in a separate room, closed the door, and let me "cry it out."<BR/><BR/>As a result I have some issues as an adult. I have trouble attaching to a mate. I have a pervasive sense of not getting enough love. I can be actually cradled in the arms of my mate being nuzzled and talked to, and feel like I'm not getting enough love. There is a black hole, a bottomless pit there, that I can't fill and that really sucks. Actual affection won't satisfy my need for affection. The horror.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83079643108869798852008-01-19T15:05:00.000-08:002008-01-19T15:05:00.000-08:00Julie: It was a lot less time than 100 years ag...Julie:<BR/> It was a lot less time than 100 years ago. I'm 76 and I remember in the fifties at my father's general merchandise store in Louisiana, we sold a lot of patent medicine. One item was paregoric, which was tincture of opium and was sold as a remedy for "colicky" infants. It "helped" just about any malady, I'm sure. By the sixties, paregoric was no longer available. So instead those babies might have to have been held instead of being sedated!<BR/>JohnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-27687878950069225382008-01-19T14:14:00.000-08:002008-01-19T14:14:00.000-08:00Mizze, very creepy and disheartening. Churches do ...Mizze, very creepy and disheartening. Churches do need rules, I think, but these cases sound more like an abuse of power by church administration than an effective means of dealing with the sins of the flock.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-18239806077914949552008-01-19T13:31:00.000-08:002008-01-19T13:31:00.000-08:00WSJ has a review today of the 5 essential ? books ...WSJ has a <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120070008999801641.html?mod=djem_we" REL="nofollow">review</A> today of the 5 essential ? books for understanding the history of "fanaticism".<BR/><BR/>And here's an <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120061470848399079.html?mod=most_viewed_day_slide_show" REL="nofollow">article</A> about modern day maverick <I>reverends</I> that creeps me out.Mizz Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02325435271880036807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20998170763464817412008-01-19T11:43:00.000-08:002008-01-19T11:43:00.000-08:00One of the greatest films on the horror of childho...One of the greatest films on the horror of childhood was <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000035P5R?tag=onecosmos-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B000035P5R&adid=0QFMB33T3C4NKH10W7ZA&" REL="nofollow">Night of the Hunter</A>, a surreal and nightmarish allegory that works on many psychological levels.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.com