What's Your Electric Blanket?

[zimok]

This is a movie from 1981, it's only gotten more relevant with age.

Watch from 0:00 to 4:33.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzngIv6R400"]My Dinner with Andre 9/14 - YouTube[/ame]

tl;dw:
Some of the main points to kick off the post..

What comforts of life are you using to mend an issue without applying yourself to the actual underlying cause?

Which trance(s) are you going into daily? Can they be considered positive to your life, or are they unconscious and directionless motions of habit?

How are you rationalizing this cell you're in? Does it scare you a bit how pathetic your excuse is? Then you might be on to something, keep thinking.

Reflect on your life with honesty, act accordingly.

 

[Fiver]

First of all, excellent film.

Which trance(s) are you going into daily?

If you're allowing yourself to be put into a trance, you're trying to avoid conflict.

Avoiding conflict now comes in the form of agreeing to things others say even when you may not believe in them yourself.

Those who have unpopular opinions, whether they be politically incorrect or whatever choose to represss their feelings on things to keep from bringing on conflict with others who don't share their view. And some are even being lulled to sleep because they are indoctrinated to believe what the herd does.

For instance, let's take America's involvement with the war.

Let's say a table full of people are talking about how they "support the troops." But one person at the table doesn't think we should be at war and is totally against it. However, saying something will only bring discomfort to the group and subsequently to themselves for upsetting the group so they end up biting their tongue and saying nothing.

My point is, people these days don't debate things like they used to. They seek comfort with others and try to agree with the group/herd to bring more comfort to themselves.

Those are my thoughts on the subject.

 

[gbmack]

There's nothing wrong with avoiding conflict. I agree that it's necessary to experience conflict with others humans in order to grow individually, but you only have to experience conflict to the extent that afterwards, you've learned enough resourcefulness and tolerance which allow you not to experience conflict anymore.

For example, after having so much conflict with people who have differing opinions from yours, you finally learn to shutup and keep your beliefs to yourself so that you don't have to argue with fools.

 

[microphone head]

I avoid conflict by paying lawyers to deal with it for me. Usually works well.

 

[GimpSpack]

There's nothing wrong with avoiding conflict. I agree that it's necessary to experience conflict with others humans in order to grow individually, but you only have to experience conflict to the extent that afterwards, you've learned enough resourcefulness and tolerance which allow you not to experience conflict anymore.

For example, after having so much conflict with people who have differing opinions from yours, you finally learn to shutup and keep your beliefs to yourself so that you don't have to argue with fools.

Truth. As someone who likes to debate frequently, I've recently found myself keeping my mouth shut.

There are people who like to debate to hear themselves talk.
There are people who like to debate to stroke their own ego (that feeling of being intellectually "superior" gets them off).

And finally, there are people who like to debate to
1) Find truth.
Or
2) Educate someone.

A small percentage of people will actually embrace potential conflict in the search for truth or enlightenment. These people are rare and I no longer take them for granted. Ever.

Trying to debate indoctrinated statists/patriots on issues of war, the morality of violence, and the sanctimonious worship of soldiers is pointless. You won't even plant seeds.

They aren't looking for truth. They might think they have it, but they've built their identities around borrowed (and shitty) ideals they use as anchors. They will defend it with their life, and rationality is no much for frenzied emotions.

I guess choose your battles wisely. In the meantime, it can be fun to temporarily "suspend" your beliefs/logic and play along with their bullshit.

Sometimes, a passively satirical approach does wonders

 

[GimpSpack]

What comforts of life are you using to mend an issue without applying yourself to the actual underlying cause?

Smoking cigarettes, mindlessly caving into people pulling me to time-wasting parties or drug-fueled gatherings, lowering my standards with women instead of just saying "NO!", and occasionally over eating. Also, caving into religious impulses, despite the fact I'm not religious anymore. Religious indoctrination since childhood is a bitch.

Other than that, I'm doing awesome. Working out more and making a conscious effort to pull myself out of social comfort zones and network (the struggle of any loner). Same with marketing (and a few other intellectual pursuits). I'm trying to study the things that scare me the most.

Which trance(s) are you going into daily? Can they be considered positive to your life, or are they unconscious and directionless motions of habit?

Posting here. I've definitely cut back, but typing thoughts is a huge distraction from dealing with the source of most of my misery: Working a job.

Also, reading/listening to philosophers, talk show hosts, and watching documentaries that only confirm my perception of reality. I don't question people I'm inclined to agree with enough. I give into confirmation bias too frequently. Intellectual laziness. If my issue is trying to find the truth of things, I need to be more diligent in my critical analysis of what others present.

The trance of ideological confirmation is thick.

How are you rationalizing this cell you're in? Does it scare you a bit how pathetic your excuse is? Then you might be on to something, keep thinking.

I'm slowly breaking out the the cell.

However, I'm scared I'll lose the momentum of self-development and fall back into heavily self-destructive behavior.

Reflect on your life with honesty, act accordingly.

I've actually been making a conscious effort to avoid too much self-reflection. I set stupid high standards for myself, so there's always a danger of introspection leading to self-loathing. Instead, I try to notice patterns of behavior (from past to present) and either
A) Break the cycle and switch things up if they aren't taking me anywhere positive
C) Continue and improve upon behavior that benefits my life.

Good thread, and awesome movie! Someone recommended it a few weeks/months ago on WF, and I watched the whole fuckin thing. Reminds me of a few convos I've had with friends.

 

[maybenot]

Everyone has to draw a line at some point.

Ok, your electric blanket means you lost touch with all those who are suffering in the cold. Well then, how about you strip the roof of your fucking house to regain touch with all those who don't have a roof. And how about you get a water supply that isn't safe to drink so you regain touch with all those who have to fight everyday for water. Where do you stop?

On the other hand, 10 minutes of 2 guys talking held my attention infinitely better than the utter shit in cinemas now, from multi-million dollar explosion fests to 'comedies' like The Internship.