Oh yes, and continual repetition of patterns of thought merely reinforces them into a downward spiral.
The way to break these patterns is to catch yourself when you are doing it and…change the subject. Every time. Change the subject, think about anything else. In time, the bad thought patterns that drag you down will lose their hold. I’m not saying they’ll ever completely go away, but you can win the battle.
Never thought of it from the child’s perspective, I never reproduced cause I can’t stand kids, didn’t know I was doing anybody a favor.
Intro to philosophy? Just worked your way through some of the commentaries on Nietzsche and Sartre? Maybe a bit of Kafka?
So you’re taking your first philosophy class, I see. You’ll get over it, eventually.
Damn it, tomndebb!
OP, just remember. It’s gonna get worse. A hella lot worse.
How is this relevant to the discussion? Get over what? I have nothing painful to get over, I just don’t like the fact that horrendous pain can approach me at any time and make my entire life into a suffering mess. Yet my parents still created me while fully knowing how much pain is possible. Why did you even bother responding if you don’t plan to refute ANYTHING.
I’m studying chemistry at university, NOT philosophy.
Once again, the simple “get over it” card. I’ve noticed that a lot of issues in the world begin to get solved when exploited people, who are faced with heaps of injustice, finally rise up. How often, in history, do you see kings leading slave revolts? The king is perfectly happy with the cards he’s been dealt, it’s the slaves who have to live through the misery and the pain. My post is about morality. Do you have the right to bring someone into this world and make them prone to misery and pain? It’s like me signing you up for a risky experiment ,without your consent, that can go horribly wrong and lead to disfigurement and pain. How on earth do I have that right?
For instance, should the Negro slaves in the pre civil American War era have just accepted their fate and gotten over it? Should they just think “gee, I’m slaving away for 20 hours a day, am treated like property, and have absolutely no rights while this white man next to me has everything desireable? Gee, everything’s fine and dandy and I love life?” Give me a break. Should we accept slavery and just tell our slaves “these are the cards you’re dealt, accept it, suck it up, and work?” Are you insane?
The topic for debate is: do you have a right to gamble with someone else’s well being? Do you have a right to make someone prone to pain?
I like to believe that humans aren’t just mindless animals that merely follow their base instincts. I like to think that we have a capacity for morality and thus a responsibility to do the right thing and think rationally. If we’re such beasts, then screw the laws. Let’s have complete anarchy and run wild like animals. I’m not an accident, my parents are both lawyers who make very good money, I’m exceptionally good looking, I live in a great, peaceful country, and I attend one of the top 100 Universities in the world (according to several rankings).
It’s easy to simply say “suck it up” but I imagine a lot of posters here are healthy, privileged individuals who have not faced excruciating amounts of physical and mental pain. I haven’t either but I think your perspective would change in an instance if the sociopath locking you up thing were to come true. Would your parents not, to some degree, be morally responsible.
All I am saying is this- In life, there is colossal amounts of pain that can inflict anybody regardless of how optimistic or loving their parents are. It IS possible. I just don’t understand how people are okay with blindly taking that risk.
Once again, please elaborate and explain.
I have absolutely no problems with gambling YOUR own personal well being, property or money. If you want to bet YOUR house or YOUR life on whatever, no matter how bad the odds are, you should be 100% allowed to without it tainting your moral compass. What I have a problem with is gambling with somebody else’s well being, surely you see the difference?
It’s genetic. I come from a long line of parents.
No, they have legitimate complaints and grievances. They weren’t whining about what might go wrong in their lives- they had real problems to worry about. You’re just whining (or trying to talk about abortion in some roundabout way).
If you want to be angry at your parents, that’s your choice. If you care about your own happiness, or the happiness of others, it would be wiser to focus on the good things in your life, and try to take action to make yourself (and the world) happier and better.
I’m glad my parents had me- my life has been good, largely because of them, and I have a lot to look forward to.
What is a “real legitimate complaint.” Who defines what is painful and worth committing suicide over? Isn’t all that completely subjective and opinionated? We’re all entirely different people with different views, beliefs, priorities, and so forth. Hell, there are gorgeous, famous, rich models who end up killing themselves. Surely they underwent a LOT of mental anguish and pain to end up in that state.
What if your life had been bad and you hated existence? I mean, it’s possible right? I’m sure you can imagine a scenario where you’d rather die than be alive. What then? Wouldn’t your parents be responsible and blameworthy? If not, why not? That’s all I’m asking.
Example: Person is born. Person has a disease that causes excruciating amounts of pain, both physical and mental. Person wishes he had never been born. Person realizes his parents dragged him into this and forced existence upon him. What now?
After a miserably long recovery from surgery for a birth defect, I pulled this same stunt on my parents. I was 17, taking those college courses which lead many of us to pontificate and and wallow, and my dad said “Oh, shut up. I’m not listening to the same cop-out that every kid goes through when they take their first philosophy or psychology course. Get over yourself.”
He was right. We all pull this stunt. Including your parents. Everyone wants to think he or she is so complicated, so incredibly unique that no one else could possibly understand them. Problem is, that ain’t true. There are hundreds; thousands… maybe even millions of people who have experienced the very same moment of angst and introspection. That’s why almost no one has any sympathy to share. You aren’t alone, and there are far too many people on this rock who are geniunely suffering to indulge you. Get over yourself. It’s the best lesson you’ll learn before you turn 30.
You are none of these things. Get over it.
Non-existence or Existence. Hmmm. Without being born, a person doesn’t exist and experiences nothing. Existing, you may experience all manner of things.
Honestly, you sound like this guy I used to know, who was paralyzed with fear over the most basic choices in life because he might fail. Every time he chose not to do anything at all because it was comfortable, he failed. Choosing to fail was more comfortable for him that risking failure. Or rather, I should turn that around. Choosing to fail was more comfortable for him than risking success. And that’s what you’re sounding like. You’re too comfortable whining and crying over shit that doesn’t and never will touch you, and shit that most likely never will happen, to risk that you might fucking enjoy life.
You have chosen to live in fear and terror of ordinary life. Where is the moral “debate”? You’ve already made it abundantly clear that you’re not debating from a position that you may change if evidence is presented that contradicts your choice. The moral choice here is to surrender to despair or live a real life. You’ve chosen Despair and you’re only looking for people to reinforce it.
Good Luck With That.
It’s easy to simply say “suck it up” but I imagine a lot of posters here are healthy, privileged individuals who have not faced excruciating amounts of physical and mental pain. I haven’t either but I think your perspective would change in an instance if the sociopath locking you up thing were to come true. Would your parents not, to some degree, be morally responsible.
Not unless the parents were the sociopaths or facilitated the torture in some way.
Is the painter of a picture responsible for the subsequent theft of the picture? After all, she gambled that it would not be stolen. If a plastic surgeon builds a normal-looking face for a deformed child, is the surgeon morally culpable if the face is destroyed in a car accident?
Man, why is everyone missing the point here. I’m not pulling a stunt, I’m not EVEN REMOTELY DEPRESSED. My life is GOOD in every single way, from my looks to my health to my parents salary to the country I live in to the school I attend. I want to make it CLEAR that I ENJOY LIFE.
At what point did I say I was complicated?
Why do you not refute my statement? Even if there are a million people that experience pain far worse than I do, how is that relevant in any way? It’s like a father saying it’s alright to beat his child because there are billions of children who are living in far worse conditions. What???
Let’s take a vote:
Better analogy:
I create a baby. I throw the baby down a chute. The baby might land in a pot full of love and joy and be all happy or he might land in an aquarium full of sharks. I realize both of these are possible (please consider this fact) and I knowingly throw him down the rabbit hole. He ends up in the aquarium full of sharks and undergoes a ton of pain. Can’t he point at me and say “wtf Alex, why’d you do that? Why’d you gamble with my well being”?
Not in most cases. If the parents abused their child, then they bear part of the blame. If the parents were loving and made good efforts to provide a good home to their child, then no. If someone is violated in any way (attacked, raped, abused, tortured, murdered, etc.), then the blame lies solely with the violator.
How is it that billions of people are living in far worse conditions and are OK with that? Do they think less rationally than you?
Because of the statistics and probabilities. Throwing a child down a chute has a high probability of a bad outcome. Simply having a child does not, and having a child by a loving family with a good home has a higher chance of a happy outcome than a bad one.
Because this:
And this:
And this: https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/884593_3059821550639_1852034044_o.jpg (Boston victim/gory)
