Controversial Subjects

“All this talk of truth and beliefs. A man has to believe in something and the truth is, I believe that I'll have another beer.

CRACK

SLURP

BURP”

“"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs."”

“Is there an absolute Truth?
- I think so.

Is there a chance I'll be able to comprehend more than a tiny sliver of it?
- No

Does that mean I should just give up and stop trying?
- I don't think I could if I wanted too.”

“rehab is for quitters!”

“The sentences may appear self refuting to M Silver, but the vast majority of them are not self refuting.
A few could be called self refuting, but only because they over generalize. For example:

"The world is nothing but a pallet of shades of grey" is a black and white statement. But the sentence goes on to qualify the preemptive over-generalization, by saying "very little is black and white."

M.Silver is confusing several different ideas, and by using a blanket slogans about ideas that are "is inconsistent, contradictory and self-refuting," avoids rather than offers a thoughtful examination of the ideas involved.

What ideas are confused here: 1) humble perspectivism (the idea that I, personally, can not claim to know the entire truth) with 2) absolute relativism, the idea that there is no truth or reality. One can have a humble perpspectivism which says that "being human and fallible, I know my understandings of the world is flawed and imperfect. I could be wrong about anything, even this" and still beleive that "there is a divine reality and order to the world."

Even theologically people who believe in the truth of the Bible can show humility in believing that they may not have the one correct interpretation of the Bible. A professor of mine met with an archbishop in South America (I wish I could remember his name) who won the (Nobel, I think) Peace Prize. The Cardinal told him: "I do not own the truth, but I try to serve the truth."

From where I sit, Bin Laden is a man who believes that he owns the truth and that anyone else who thinks different is very seriously mistaken, misguided or evil. To me those people are dangerous.

To me, most of the statements M Silver quoted showed maturity. But then again, I could be wrong.”

“Does everyone really have such an easy time saying, "I could be wrong"? I say it, but I don't mean it. Honestly, if I thought I could be wrong I would think some more on it until I thought I was right! Isn't that normal? Everyone seems to be so willing to accept that "they could be wrong". On everything? Or only BIG things?”

“Look out into the night sky and see just a very small part of the universe to get a sense of scale. Compare that to the size of your brain. Reflect on how very little you can actually perceive directly with your senses. Do you really think you could possibly know it all?”

“Should we let running girl in on the secret now? OK?

You're just a brain in a box and everything you've ever experienced has been transmitted via electrical impulses from a computer.

Sorry. We should have told you earlier.”

“Good example violin. I like to think of it as trying to look at the night sky while looking through a tube. You?ll never see the whole sky until you get rid of the tube.


"The world is nothing but a pallet of shades of grey" is a black and white statement."

Kind of like when Getty Lee said, ?If you choose not to decide you have still made a choice.?? I knew Rush has all the answers!”

“In high school we used to call people who liked Rush bandfags.”

“Bandfags? LOL! I only liked them in the older "Working Man" days when they were righteous, not in the "Power Windows" days.”

“I don't propose that I know everything--or that I am ALWAYS right. I know very little about what goes on in politics, what happens when we die, how big the universe is. And I'll probably never realy know just exactly how olive loaf is made. But you gotta be sure about some things or you would always be second guessing yourself. JUST AS AN EXAMPLE: If you have religious convictions you almost GOTTA believe that they are right. Right? Even if you respect other religions and belief systems--don't you think most people believe their way is the right way? (I have a hard time believing that there is only ONE way, but that is another story). Yes, Violin, I've lived long enough to realize that I have a small brain. But sometimes there are somethings that you just gotta be sure of.”

“Running girl, do you have to be sure of "some things"? Or is enough that you can "accept" some things as being true?”

“Well, yeah, that would be "faith", right? Yes, it would. I am sure of it. hehe”

“So that's where the expresion 'thinking outside the box' comes from!

Go watch the end of "2001" and you won't know WHAT the hell is going on.

P.S. Pilsner Urquell comes from Plzen, Czech Republic, and it IS the piss of the gods.

eeeew.”

“This is how I imagine conversations would go if everyone were so uncertain:

"Gee, this Spam Omelet tastes deee-lish. I could be wrong, though"

"It is so hot here in this particular circle of hell. I could be wrong, though"

"This backpack sure is heavy. I could be wrong, though"

"It is a really beautiful day here in Richmond. I could be wrong, though".

You know?”

“oohhh, i keep meaning to watch 2001! i've heard the end of it'll rock your world :-)

and don't you mean "Pee S."?”

“You know when you say something that is a universal truth because no one disputes it..either that or they have completely tuned you out and are thinking about other things. Ü

Argument for the sake of excercising ones vocal chords (or in this case fingers) is pointless.”

“It does make for stronger fingers and vocal chords.”

“Everyone could be in complete agreement on a point and be completely wrong.

Am I right?”

“Oh, and running girl, I have proof:



Can you prove me wrong?”

“If running girl were french, she'd be....

Running Away Girl”

“Can you buy a brain in a box? I would love to have a spare.”

“OOPS! Maybe I should worry about the one I have.”

“No Baume66, we need to give it to folks that don't have one, like Spock and Gear Slut.”

“We meant for you to do that running girl/baume66.”

“Looks like BB is in the running for #1 on TT's most Stupid Poster Poll as well. It'll be stiff competition with LH being at #1 for so long though.”

“null”

“*”

“Whadafu*”

“Running Girl, it doesn't surprise me that you say:

""I could be wrong"? I say it, but I don't mean it."

Almost every girlfriend I've ever known has a difficult time with this concept too. Is never being wrong part of female genetic makeup or something?

BOY HOWDY! Talk about controversial!”