willliam:

meltyrbrain:

willliam:

meltyrbrain:

willliam:

meltyrbrain:

mc-xc:

Never even looked at it like that. 

Yep, this is a totally valid and legit way to look at it.

…Right.

I’m pretty confident that people who believe they have two lives, one of which lasts for-fucking-ever, are at least subconciously apt to not appreciate the temporary one as much as they should.

That being said I recognize Maher is half witty political and observational humor and half smarmy disingenuous douchebag.

That’s not really true at all.  Subconsciousness has nothing to do with it.  Enjoying life and believing in an afterlife are not particularly related.

And that being said, I figure this was probably a throwaway joke that got made into an image by someone who thought it was way deep, and thus made the joke more important than it was ever meant to be.

I’ll agree that the joke was probably more of a throw away, but there is still truth to it.

As someone who witnessed a family let their daughter’s cancer go untreated until the 11th hour, which by then it was too late, I know at least some of them allow their beliefs to fuck their judgment. So I stand behind that believing in such things as a life beyond this one factors into decision making at the subconscious level.

People who believe in an afterlife may be able to enjoy life to the same extent as someone who doesn’t, but they can not look at life in realistic and finite terms. And if you are in the position of sending someone to their death, it has to be easier for your mind to rest if you’re convinced they are still alive.

You’re quote an extreme case and assuming it to be representative.  And, if you don’t believe something, you really can’t make assumptions about those who do believe it, because you, simply, can’t understand.  When the president does this, please, let me know.  Until then, they’ll be as realistic as anyone about life and death.  Plus, earth life is finite, and people who believe in an afterlife/reincarnation/rebirth/etc understand that.  Maybe we don’t see heaven in the same way, but a life after this one does not negate the span of the current one. 

When presidents send people to die, it’s not because they think the soldiers will be reborn, it’s because they don’t care.  And that’s apathy, not belief.

I never said my example was representative, only indicative of the impact the belief in a second life and an all powerful being has on “at least some” believers. And it’s cute how I simply can not understand well enough to make assumptions about the value others place upon one of the two lives they believe they have, while you on the otherhand can tell me with certitude that both sides value this one life the same.

Of course the belief in an afterlife doesn’t negate the span of this one, but it certainly robs the individual of understanding its true value.

PS. I’ll be sure to let you know when the president announces that decisions have been made which were subconsciously influenced by his belief in an afterlife.

You do that.

And you keep using all these value-laden words like ‘robs’. 

I’m saying you don’t understand it because you clearly don’t understand it. If you did, you wouldn’t be making all the points, so full of certainty, that you make.  Certainty doesn’t exist, in faith, reason, life, whatever, certainty is a gigantic joke of a lie we made up to make it seem like we actually understand things.

And the thing is, what you don’t understand is that I’m really only talking about myself. What’s cuter is your belief you can understand other people.  We can all take educated guesses, sure, but our ability to fully understand other people, particularly those we’ve never met.

But I’ll take an educated guess about this: like most columnists, commentators, and ‘comedians’, Bill Maher has very few things of worth to say, in the same way that a Jonah Goldberg, Keith Olbermann, or Bill O’reilly are pointless, in that they add nothing of value to the discussion.  At best, their ideas aren’t even their own, so you’re better off just listening to the source.  At worst (and that’s like 90% of the time) it’s literally just pointless and stupid attempts at ‘comedy’ like this.  Bill Maher hardly enlightens anyone, so really, what’s the point beyond comedy?  And he definitely considers himself more than a comedian, which might be the biggest joke about him of all.

Also, we definitely agree on more things than we disagree, we seem to always find the things to disagree about.  Funny how that works.

And one personal story of my own: I used to follow a guy on tumblr who only posted things about how bad Ron Paul would be as a president.  And see, we agreed, because Ron Paul would be an awful president, but I couldn’t stand the guy because it meant my entire dash was filled with “omg ron paul suuuuuuuuuuucks” posts, so I had to unfollow him.  It…was a good choice.

P.S. that wasn’t me threatening to unfollow you, you post red pandas and I would never forgive myself.