GenuinelyCrooked's recent activity
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentAnother city where they don't have a support network or a job, while they're already financially worn thin? You don't see how that's a recipe for homelessness? How does that help if the rents...Another city where they don't have a support network or a job, while they're already financially worn thin? You don't see how that's a recipe for homelessness?
A good way to do that is buy-out older buildings and guarantee tenants a spot in the newer, higher-capacity building.
How does that help if the rents there aren't kept low?
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
GenuinelyCrooked (edited )Link ParentBecause where else are they going to go? Do you think the elderly are the only people who get priced out of their apartments? I frequently had to move during my twenties because I couldn't afford...Because where else are they going to go? Do you think the elderly are the only people who get priced out of their apartments? I frequently had to move during my twenties because I couldn't afford to stay where I was, and the cost of moving was a huge and destructive blow. All my friends my age had the same experience. Why should I be insecure in my housing and unable to stay near my support network and my job so that someone else can move into my apartment and make my landlord richer?
Landlords who, if they aren't corporate, are typically old enough to have bought real estate when the prices where much lower, having my young person "wealth" transferred to them every month.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentLike, why am I afraid of something Jehovah supposedly did, but not Zeus? Is that the question you're asking?Like, why am I afraid of something Jehovah supposedly did, but not Zeus? Is that the question you're asking?
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked (edited )Link ParentBecause it's evidence that God is either cruel or uncaring. Edit: I'm trying to think of a way to expand on this, but it all feels a little obvious. God could not have given this command unless 1)...Because it's evidence that God is either cruel or uncaring.
Edit: I'm trying to think of a way to expand on this, but it all feels a little obvious. God could not have given this command unless 1) he's limited in some way, in which case he is not the God that the Bible describes, not the God that any Christian I have ever met believes in, and therefore not the God that I'm scared of anyway 2) he's either happy with or accepting of the trauma that this would have inflicted on the women affected and did it anyway, and he is eternal and unchanging so the God that would do that is still the exact same God that we'd be living with if he existed or 3) some reason that I will never be able to fathom or understand, and powerful beings doing awful things that the reader can't understand is literally the basis of Lovecraftian horror.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI love a non-Christian answer! It gets to the healthy part of my interest on the topic, and doesn't bake in any assumptions that God is fundamentally good. I am delighted and edified by your...I love a non-Christian answer! It gets to the healthy part of my interest on the topic, and doesn't bake in any assumptions that God is fundamentally good. I am delighted and edified by your response. It's interesting that the passage Jung is responding to is the torment of Job (and his family and household who were also innocent) since that's either the first or second scariest passage in the Bible for me. I do feel that in the question "What if God is real, but not Good?" This lands more on the side of "he isn't real", not because it makes him logistically less likely, but because if he is fallible and repentent then he is not the God of the Bible (at least as I understand it). That puts him back in the realm of myth which is fascinating and not scary. That's not who my sisters or my aunts or my mom believe, so there's no "ok I know they aren't right what if they are??" anxiety.
I appreciate the linking of Dr. Feinstein's analysis as well. That's very similar to the explanation that I've received in the past, that the instructions were an improvement on the laws in place at the time. That's a good argument to prove humanity's goodness. We are only able to consider things from the point of view of pur own experience, and trying to make the world better for each other is good even when the world is in such a state that "better" is still quite bad. We humans are also only able to influence each other so much, to expect each other to change so much.
@NoblePath This explanation does not make God any less scary because if he can see into my heart and soul and my wants and needs, he should have always been able to do that with all women. He should have known how damaging something like this would be. He isn't bound in his own understanding by the constraints of time the way that humans are. He also isn't bound to only to ask incremental changes of them. He has asked much more of populations than "your daughter's hymen isn't a 'you break it you buy it' situation". To put the bar this low and subject women to this kind of torment is abominable.
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Comment on The US "Ice Cream Truck Song" is rooted in racism in ~music
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI grew up in south Florida and my thought on reading the headline but before reading the article was "is Turkey in the Straw racist??", but I also definitely feel like I heard The Entertainer...I grew up in south Florida and my thought on reading the headline but before reading the article was "is Turkey in the Straw racist??", but I also definitely feel like I heard The Entertainer coming from ice cream trucks. Actually, I think the truck in our neighborhood played different songs sometimes? I feel like I remember the song changing in the middle sometimes and being kind of jarred by it.
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentWhat about when instead of "I got mine" it's "I was born here and grew up here and can't really afford to move but now I can't afford to stay here either"? "Displacement" sounds like a sanitized...What about when instead of "I got mine" it's "I was born here and grew up here and can't really afford to move but now I can't afford to stay here either"? "Displacement" sounds like a sanitized way of saying "putting people at risk of homelessness".
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Comment on Tenant unions are coming. US landlords aren't ready. in ~life
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI think so, yes? Let me know if there's If there's a flaw in my logic here. If a landlord goes bankrupt, it means it's impossible to maintain a property like that on rents that low. (Assuming...If I had written "the landlord decides that the revenue is not worth the costs, so stops operating their property" instead, would that meaningfully change my point?
I think so, yes? Let me know if there's If there's a flaw in my logic here. If a landlord goes bankrupt, it means it's impossible to maintain a property like that on rents that low. (Assuming there's no incompetence or anything.) If they pull out due to low revenues, that could simply mean there was more revenue to be made elsewhere. If avoiding the latter situation is our goal, that means we have to allow landlording to be maximally profitable at all time, which is the current situation and frankly that situation sucks and isn't causing the surge of new affordable housing to be built that it's implied we'd lose out on if landlords were all going bankrupt.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentDeuteronomy 22:28-29 is pretty scary. God is just like "yeah, you gotta marry your rapist forever." I've heard the argument that back then it was the best deal she would probably get as a...Deuteronomy 22:28-29 is pretty scary. God is just like "yeah, you gotta marry your rapist forever." I've heard the argument that back then it was the best deal she would probably get as a "non-virgin", but God could have also comanded her father to just take care of her, or other men to be willing to marry the "non-virgin" since she's innocent in the whole situation, or he could have just declared that she's actually still a virgin. Instead he made a declaration that any rape victim will tell you is nearly as horrifying as the act itself.
I also don't buy "that was in the Old Testament". He "forgave us" in the New Testament, but he didn't ask for our forgiveness or apologize to us. He's still responsible for the things he did in the Old Testament. That was a pretty nasty thing to do.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI'm not against that, but I'm not sure what it would look like.I'm not against that, but I'm not sure what it would look like.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentThank you for the recommendation!Thank you for the recommendation!
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI don't think there's any chance of me actually becoming a believer, short of divine revelation. I guess I'm sort of studying Lovecraft and looking for some indication that Chthulu is actually a...I don't think there's any chance of me actually becoming a believer, short of divine revelation. I guess I'm sort of studying Lovecraft and looking for some indication that Chthulu is actually a nice guy, which is silly. I definitely believe in Lexapro, though!
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentThank you!Thank you!
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentThat's the thing, I also believe that it's all bullshit! I'm a pretty firm atheist. I only believe in the possibility of the Christian God in a Wonko the Sane "who am I to trust my own perception...That's the thing, I also believe that it's all bullshit! I'm a pretty firm atheist. I only believe in the possibility of the Christian God in a Wonko the Sane "who am I to trust my own perception of the universe? Maybe I'm a hallucinating brain in a jar" kind of way. I do find reminders that he's not real to be more comforting than claims that he's good, not least because it seems people who take that route "understand the assignment" better.
Is Elaine Paine a non-believer?
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked (edited )Link ParentI was raised in a Christian household, yes, and it's definitely traum related. But my fear didn't come from anything anyone told me. I was told about hell, but I was also told that since I've been...I was raised in a Christian household, yes, and it's definitely traum related. But my fear didn't come from anything anyone told me. I was told about hell, but I was also told that since I've been baptized I'm not going there. I wasn't told about the things that actually scare by any Christian adults in my life. I learned about them from reading the Bible. V
Edit: To clarify, I actually only started having anxiety on the subject last year, when my anxiety had been running ragged on other things. I'm 32 and have been an atheist since I was a teenager. The religious trauma that I have is more of an issue of family members being cruel and abusive in the name of God, than of them claiming God would ever be cruel to me. It had certainly informed the anxiety that I'm feeling now, but the Bible is by far more important in it.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI don't really think he exists either. Ultimately it's only a problem when my anxiety is already not well controlled, and the writing I should be seeking is probably a doctor to write a new...I don't really think he exists either. Ultimately it's only a problem when my anxiety is already not well controlled, and the writing I should be seeking is probably a doctor to write a new Lexapro prescription. I do find the subject fascinating, and it feels like understanding it will help me to understand the believers in my life better, which is why I've kept trying to probe it from a philosophical/literary angle. I think kfwyre's comment helped me realize that isn't healthy for me right now and I should be focusing on contolling my anxiety more generally first, and either contemplating the possibility of a good God later or not at all.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentI really appreciate you writing this all out for me. It answers some questions and helped me clarofy some things that I've been struggling with about the topic. Do those books have that same...I really appreciate you writing this all out for me. It answers some questions and helped me clarofy some things that I've been struggling with about the topic.
Do those books have that same framework, the assumption that God is good? If not, I'll definitely seek them out. It sounds like the latter might not?
To get a bit personal for a moment, I've been having a lot of anxiety about the idea of the Christian god being real. Not a crisis of non-faith or anything - my lack of belief is firm - but the same as a person who doesn't believe in ghosts may still feel fear alone in a dark, purportedly haunted house, I find myself fearing God. I've had a few conversations with good, kind believers who have a faith that does its best to exclude bigotry in their interpretation of the Bible, but it never really helped, and I had trouble articulating way, or figuring out how to frame my questions so that they didn't sound like an attack. Your comment made me realize that my issue is that believers, especially compassionate ones, believe at their core that God is good and kind, that God is love. All of their answers presuppose this, but that is logically at odds with my concern. I am afraid (viscerally, not intellectually) that God is real, but that he is not what I would consider good. That he is cruel and vindictive. You can't answer the question "is he good?" With "yes, because he is good." I think that's why I'm having such trouble getting solace from believers, they end up giving me evidence that would only work if I was already convinced.
That's all fairly off-topic to the larger thread, but I appreciated your thoughtful reply and felt you deserved something with as much effort, if not as much use. Thanks again.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentThanks for the link! I wonder if there's any way that I could get my mom or sister to read it. The use of the word "strategy" in this blog gives me pause. I understand that all attempts to...Thanks for the link! I wonder if there's any way that I could get my mom or sister to read it.
The use of the word "strategy" in this blog gives me pause. I understand that all attempts to understand something in a language we do not natively speak, (especially when we do not have access to the original or even a verifiably complete copy) will require strategy to understand, but the idea of seeking to understand it in a way that is not bigoted and cruel seems like starting from the conclusion you want and working backwards, rather than seeing what the evidence supports. I suppose it doesn't really matter for my purposes, but motivated reasoning makes me uneasy when I spot it.
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Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities
GenuinelyCrooked Link ParentThank you, this reaponse covers exactly what I was looking for! I've heard this referenced before, but if you know of examples off the top of your head I'd be interested to hear more about them. A...Thank you, this reaponse covers exactly what I was looking for!
Either reinterpret the verses that have been interpreted as saying being gay is a sin (and there absolutely are solid alternative interpretations of those verses), or throw them out.
I've heard this referenced before, but if you know of examples off the top of your head I'd be interested to hear more about them. A podcast that I was listening to had a religious scholar arguing that the ancient Greek phrase that's been translated to make the passage about homosexuality would be more accurately translated in a way that makes it about pedophilia, but I've only heard it from that one source and it seems rather convenient if it happens to be true.
Even if "True" Christianity would be completely accepting of gay people and relationships, there's still undeniably quite a few problems with gender roles that keep it from being a fully progressive doctrine, but both facets matter.
Because I never believed that Zeus was real, not even as a child. People around me don't believe that Zeus is real. I never need to think about what I would think if Zeus was real in order to empathize with my family members. I also haven't read anything like the Bible - a text that claims to be a true accounting of his words or events in which he's participated - with regards to Zeus. I've read obviously fictional spins and wikipedia. Manu even less. I feel like I've heard the name but couldn't tell you anymore than that.
Manu doesn't scare for me the same reason a horror movie I've never seen doesn't scare me.
Zeus doesn't scare me for the same reason a movie like Ghostbusters doesn't scare me - there's no scary context. Jehova scares me for the same reason Marble Hornets sometimes scared me. I never thought Slenderman was real, but there really are long, creepy shadows and sometimes the mind plays tricks.