Why are Most People Cowards?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOJLGpfnX34
zOJLGpfnX34
Why are Most People Cowards?
Why are Most People Cowards?
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Im curious when the alleged golden age of non cowards was.
ultracrepidarian
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Before "snowflakes" were a generation
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
I doubt that human nature has changed much since the start of recorded history.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Nonc Hilaire
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”
Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Some do. Others "Hope" things will get better.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
What is new is "participation certificates" in Juvenal sports IE no winners and losers. Plus video games where 30 years olds sit in their mother's basement and play them.
"I fancied myself as some kind of god....It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” -- George Soros
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Miss_Faucie_Fishtits
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
not sure I understand this.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
ultracrepidarian
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Nonc Hilaire
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Bravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 amnot sure I understand this.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”
Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
that I understand.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:14 amBravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 amnot sure I understand this.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
Im at my bravest when Im at my most jaded and I dont care what the outcome is, give me something to lose, something to worry about and perceptions are vastly different.
ultracrepidarian
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Nonc Hilaire
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Not sure I understand it myself. Everyone is both hero and coward depending on sympathetic nervous system response.noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:39 amthat I understand.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:14 amBravery and suicide are similar. Cowards think they can escape suffering/anxiety.noddy wrote: ↑Sun Jan 30, 2022 8:04 amnot sure I understand this.Nonc Hilaire wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 8:36 pm One aspect of cowardice is that people generally prefer death over suffering.
Im at my bravest when Im at my most jaded and I dont care what the outcome is, give me something to lose, something to worry about and perceptions are vastly different.
“Christ has no body now but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks among His people to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses His creation.”
Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila
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NapLajoieonSteroids
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
It's its association with cruelty. Exaggerated examples found countless in military history really highlight how some of the most courageous people can be both incredibly brave and monstrously cruel from moment to moment.
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
most people are cowards because they wont take my politics as seriously as I want them to.
ultracrepidarian
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Miss_Faucie_Fishtits
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Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
Coward - be aware of your Jungian Monster and take it seriously......
Bravery - can be consumed by your monster to the point you merge with it.........
Bravery - can be consumed by your monster to the point you merge with it.........
She irons her jeans, she's evil.........
Re: Why are Most People Cowards?
“Cowardice” is not a constituent of anyone’s character, but instead is only a pejorative applied to those whom we believe do not have the “will” to act or respond in a manner that we, from our own frames and biases, consider “courageous.”
I prefer the Aristotelian term “Akrasia” or “weakness of the will” to our customary pejorative. In Plato's Protagoras, Socrates denies that there is any such thing as knowing what is wrong but doing it anyway since alleged cases of this are in fact instances in which the agent mistakenly supposes that she is doing what is best. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics VII, he defends the Protagoras' position that the akratic (i.e., “cowardly”) agent acts in ignorance. So, essentially, people act in a particular situation based on their understanding at the time.
As David Hume pointed out; reason is “slave to the passions” so our understandings are distorted by our sentiments. While reason can help guide action, actions can only be initiated by our passions or inclinations. So how does one train the mind in body to develop a will that is effective and focused in dangerous or passion provoking situations?
Consider performing surgery. The prospect of taking a scalpel and slicing into a living human body would provoke apprehension and likely a degree of revulsion in most normal people. Is that because of cowardice? No, it is just a lack of knowledge and training.
While gaining knowledge to properly order the mind to the task is essential, substantial training and practice are also necessary to be able to perform in spite of our natural fears and revulsions, our body's accustomed sympathetic arousal responses. The Greeks had it right that overcoming ignorance with knowledge is necessary to correct apparent "akrasia" when faced with dangerous situations, but it is hardly sufficient. I suspect Socrates understood this since he served in the Athenian army with distinction during the Peloponnesian war.
I prefer the Aristotelian term “Akrasia” or “weakness of the will” to our customary pejorative. In Plato's Protagoras, Socrates denies that there is any such thing as knowing what is wrong but doing it anyway since alleged cases of this are in fact instances in which the agent mistakenly supposes that she is doing what is best. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics VII, he defends the Protagoras' position that the akratic (i.e., “cowardly”) agent acts in ignorance. So, essentially, people act in a particular situation based on their understanding at the time.
As David Hume pointed out; reason is “slave to the passions” so our understandings are distorted by our sentiments. While reason can help guide action, actions can only be initiated by our passions or inclinations. So how does one train the mind in body to develop a will that is effective and focused in dangerous or passion provoking situations?
Consider performing surgery. The prospect of taking a scalpel and slicing into a living human body would provoke apprehension and likely a degree of revulsion in most normal people. Is that because of cowardice? No, it is just a lack of knowledge and training.
While gaining knowledge to properly order the mind to the task is essential, substantial training and practice are also necessary to be able to perform in spite of our natural fears and revulsions, our body's accustomed sympathetic arousal responses. The Greeks had it right that overcoming ignorance with knowledge is necessary to correct apparent "akrasia" when faced with dangerous situations, but it is hardly sufficient. I suspect Socrates understood this since he served in the Athenian army with distinction during the Peloponnesian war.