Political Crossfire Forums

Carlin · Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:45 am Post subject: An Essential Video

Yeah, I'm big on the whole youtube thing. The educational value of this video is imeasurable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ5LxocKSqI

Now if, for some reason, this gets your blood boiling, look at Scarlett Johansen in the Bob Dylan video for a few minutes. That should calm you down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNv02iE_9rU

dtwizzy2k5 · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 467

Wow. That was the most ignorant oversimplification i have ever seen in my entire life.
That video didnt make a single insightful, intellectual point whatsoever.

mojo · Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 5442 Location: Dreamland, NC

dtwizzy2k5 wrote: Wow. That was the most ignorant oversimplification i have ever seen in my entire life.
That video didnt make a single insightful, intellectual point whatsoever.

Indeed. I just wasted 3 minutes of my life watching that completly stupid video.

How are you even mildly aroused by this nihilism.

Carlin · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:37 am Post subject:

You guys should take it a little more easy on Bob Dylan. He's an old man now!

Anywho, what's the issue?

ikari · Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Posts: 6947 Location: Colorado

what was the point of the monkey video?

Carlin · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject:

Hasn't anyone found it funny? It's not meant to be a true educational piece (if anyone thought such a thing). It repititiously says "monkeys" for the sake of making someone like me laugh and pissing someone like you off. It need not piss you off, if you can bite into the crisp satire. In three minutes, the video addresses the neurosis, the biggotry, the doubt, the loneliness, the arrogance, the illusion, and the recklesness of man. In just three minutes it tears into everything many view as sacred and true, then spits it out like gum that lost its flavor. It's quite an impressive feat.

cap'n queasy · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 34968

It was retarded.

Carlin · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:54 pm Post subject:

Why was it retarded? Please don't use the term retarded, it's offensive. Say special. My President is special!

John · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:58 pm Post subject:

I think it does a fine job displaying what the fundamental of Atheistic logic is.

You are a monkey.

dtwizzy2k5 · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 467

That video just makes atheists sound stupid.
Or should i say stupider?
Just playin :wink:

mojo · Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 5442 Location: Dreamland, NC

Carlin wrote: Hasn't anyone found it funny? It's not meant to be a true educational piece (if anyone thought such a thing). It repititiously says "monkeys" for the sake of making someone like me laugh and pissing someone like you off. It need not piss you off, if you can bite into the crisp satire. In three minutes, the video addresses the neurosis, the biggotry, the doubt, the loneliness, the arrogance, the illusion, and the recklesness of man. In just three minutes it tears into everything many view as sacred and true, then spits it out like gum that lost its flavor. It's quite an impressive feat.

I only thing I found appalling about being called a monkey is the fact that you would want to be called one. An atheist wants to be an animal. He just personified everything that is wrong with atheistic thought.

There is no room for free will or humanity. They want to be anything but the responsiblity of being human.

Topside · Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 1643

John wrote: I think it does a fine job displaying what the fundamental of Atheistic logic is.

You are a monkey.

As an atheist, my only 'fundamental logic' is that I don't believe in a god. Or, rather, I believe in one less god than you do.

ieatfood · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 6289

There's a lot of truth to this video
You have to think about it.
Critical thinking is involved here believe it or not.

Many people here get offended simply because they don't like being called monkeys or because their don't like their religion being denigrated. Once someone gets offended, critical thinking is turned off. That is a shame.

The video correctly identified us as monkeys. Physiologically, we are exactly like monkeys. Are bodies are very similar. Everything from our kidneys to our brains--all very similar. And if anyone believes that the design of one's brain influences one's thinking, we can see that monkey and human brains are made of the same components. Humans just have more of those components.

The movie correctly identifies racism as an innate human trait. We are all racist to varying degrees becuase racism is simply an application of basic human heuristic programs that confer benefit to survivial in this world. For example, in the world, if we see a snake and get bit, we learn to avoid snakes, even though not all snakes bite. THis mental heuristic prevents us from getting bitten by snakes. It is the basis of all stereotying, including racism and sexism.

The movie correctly identifies the role of religion. There are many religions. No one can prove that any other person's religion is incorrect. And for no reason at all, they continue to believe that their own religion is correct and other people are wrong. ANd people fight wars over this stuff. This is all accurate.

I especially appreciated the line about trophies. Little pieces of plastic can help boost our egos and self-esteem. How shallow we all are.

John · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:56 am Post subject:

Topside wrote: John wrote: I think it does a fine job displaying what the fundamental of Atheistic logic is.

You are a monkey.

As an atheist, my only 'fundamental logic' is that I don't believe in a god. Or, rather, I believe in one less god than you do.

Which is based on you believing that you are a monkey.

John · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:59 am Post subject:

ieatfood wrote: There's a lot of truth to this video
You have to think about it.
Critical thinking is involved here believe it or not.

Many people here get offended simply because they don't like being called monkeys or because their don't like their religion being denigrated. Once someone gets offended, critical thinking is turned off. That is a shame.

The video correctly identified us as monkeys. Physiologically, we are exactly like monkeys. Are bodies are very similar. Everything from our kidneys to our brains--all very similar. And if anyone believes that the design of one's brain influences one's thinking, we can see that monkey and human brains are made of the same components. Humans just have more of those components.

The movie correctly identifies racism as an innate human trait. We are all racist to varying degrees becuase racism is simply an application of basic human heuristic programs that confer benefit to survivial in this world. For example, in the world, if we see a snake and get bit, we learn to avoid snakes, even though not all snakes bite. THis mental heuristic prevents us from getting bitten by snakes. It is the basis of all stereotying, including racism and sexism.

The movie correctly identifies the role of religion. There are many religions. No one can prove that any other person's religion is incorrect. And for no reason at all, they continue to believe that their own religion is correct and other people are wrong. ANd people fight wars over this stuff. This is all accurate.

I especially appreciated the line about trophies. Little pieces of plastic can help boost our egos and self-esteem. How shallow we all are.

Critical thinking is involved in seeing past the BS this video is spoon feeding you.

If we are monkeys...then were do monkeys come from and so on. The only true logical conclusion is that God exists...and that we are more than monkeys.

Carlin · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:02 am Post subject:

This video is a humorous look at human follies. That is all. You don't have to like it or believe it (even if it's true), but it was intelligently designed for laughs. I don't feel the video barrages us with straight up nihilism, rather it throws at us all the things people do that hurt other people, with the aspiration somebody will take it to heart. There is no rationality behind racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, religious intolerance, because all those are merely cultural inventions to establish order.

Yes, we are evolved animals. We are a species. We don't look at ourselves as animals because we already have direct associations with what animals are in our minds. There is no measurment for just how evolved we are, as this is the only planet with life in the known universe. I can put it this way: when I watched MEERKAT MANOR with my girlfriend, I could draw parallels with how those animals structured their hierarchy with how we structure ours. The show often reminded me of the pressures of working in an office, as well as the "clicks" people form at work or at school. If you walk into a high school cafeteria, we see the clicks, those groups of people sitting at every table, each one representing popularity and importance. The kids at the less popular tables are desperate for the kids at the popular table to accept and like them. They wish to join the prominent, sufficient pack so they don't have to scurry alone.

As far as religion goes: I understand that it is something sacred to people and whenever anybody mocks or questions it, the immediate reaction is to get offended and question the morality of the questioner. With that said, even if there was a God (as unlikely as that is), there is not a chance any one religion is right and the others are wrong. Religions are cultural manifestations to construct a social order. Each religion a person abides by is usually in direct proportion to their geographical location. In other words, it's what's hot at that time and in that place. Mostly, religion is used as a crutch for some to fall on when times get tough. Others view it as an ultimate truth everybody should believe and if they don't, then they are damned or (in the most extreme case) should be killed. People love to think they have the truth on this. It gives them the excuse to condemn and scorn others; to tell everybody else they're wrong. The irrational beliefs people cling to, can cause harm and death to others. It is important to grasp the innerworkings of the social world, to see where suffering is needlessly perpetrated on one group because of some concoction in the minds of another.

And that's all the video was saying.

John · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:46 am Post subject:

Quote: This video is a humorous look at human follies. That is all. You don't have to like it or believe it (even if it's true), but it was intelligently designed for laughs. I don't feel the video barrages us with straight up nihilism, rather it throws at us all the things people do that hurt other people, with the aspiration somebody will take it to heart. There is no rationality behind racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, religious intolerance, because all those are merely cultural inventions to establish order.

What the video fails to present....is the obvious conclusion that IF we really are just monkeys....then it really doesn't matter if racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, religious intolerance exist.....because in the end...it's all for naught.

Who gives a flying flip what monkeys on an inevitable path to being dirt do?

John · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:50 am Post subject:

Quote: s far as religion goes: I understand that it is something sacred to people and whenever anybody mocks or questions it, the immediate reaction is to get offended and question the morality of the questioner.

I wasn't offended by the video. I was entertained actually. I just don't think it was thought out to a level that I would consider to be truth. It just wasn't very deep or profound....it's the kinda stuff I would have thought was intellegent when I was in sixth grade.

slitedeviance · Joined: 02 Sep 2006 Posts: 1507

John wrote: The only true logical conclusion is that God exists...and that we are more than monkeys.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That's no more logical than the egyptians not understanding where the stars came from and decided it was a Goddess spreading herself like a blanket over the world. Just because we don't have all the answers does not mean we never will, and to assume divine interference because we don't have all the answers is an extreme response to it.

John · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:02 am Post subject:

slitedeviance wrote: John wrote: The only true logical conclusion is that God exists...and that we are more than monkeys.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

That's no more logical than the egyptians not understanding where the stars came from and decided it was a Goddess spreading herself like a blanket over the world. Just because we don't have all the answers does not mean we never will, and to assume divine interference because we don't have all the answers is an extreme response to it.

So you believe that we will one day learn how something can come from nothing...and intelligence from non-intelligence?

I guess you do believe in faith then. :wink: