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I Have Realized, Woo Is Like Beer

Kahalachan

Illuminator
Kahalachan
Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
4,237
Many people enjoy it. The happiness it brings is false. Getting drunk doesn't solve your problems, but it feels good. Woo isn't real but it makes a lot of people happy.

I only care if an alcoholic ruins a family or a drunk driver puts my life in danger. I only care if a con artist takes all someone's money or if there are suicide bombers.


Here's my point:

If we are too strident or fanatical, we sound like some health nut that would criticize someone for having a beer or cigarette or whatever "Ewww....you're gonna put that in your mouth?!"


Here's my other point:

I would like for people to view critical thinking the way they view a healthy lifestyle. Something admirable but not always 100% for them.


In a way, we're mentally kind of like those people who live off alfalfa sprouts, tofu, and flax seeds and would never touch a beer.


I think this analogy would help the skeptical community in the right direction so we don't put people off to what is actually mentally healthy.
 
Not really. Beer is disgusting, there are many other better options.
 
Kahalachan said:
Getting drunk doesn't solve your problems
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It solves the problem of being sober.:)

Seriously though, I disagree. Beer is real. Woo isn't. As far as I'm concerned, not being real is a good enough reason to point out that something isn't real. Various differing degrees of harm and potential benefit may make some things more or less of a concern, but as long as it's all not real, it all deserves criticism.
 
But most people know that beer is bad for you but decide to go ahead and enjoy drinking it anyway.
If you know woo is false you won't bother to indulge in it just for enjoyment 'cos what would be the point? So it's not the same sort of informed choice.

And I think stuff like reading your horoscope just for laugh when you don't believe it doesn't really count as indulging in woo.
 
I think she means the feeling you get when drunk, it feels good but isnt real. However i think both are as real as you make it =]
 
Kahalachan said:
Many people enjoy it. The happiness it brings is false. Getting drunk doesn't solve your problems, but it feels good. Woo isn't real but it makes a lot of people happy.

I only care if an alcoholic ruins a family or a drunk driver puts my life in danger. I only care if a con artist takes all someone's money or if there are suicide bombers.


Here's my point:

If we are too strident or fanatical, we sound like some health nut that would criticize someone for having a beer or cigarette or whatever "Ewww....you're gonna put that in your mouth?!"


Here's my other point:

I would like for people to view critical thinking the way they view a healthy lifestyle. Something admirable but not always 100% for them.


In a way, we're mentally kind of like those people who live off alfalfa sprouts, tofu, and flax seeds and would never touch a beer.


I think this analogy would help the skeptical community in the right direction so we don't put people off to what is actually mentally healthy.
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I don't agree completely with this analogy, but I do agree that, as skeptics, we have to choose our battles carefully.
 
rorylee said:
I think she means the feeling you get when drunk, it feels good but isnt real.
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The feeling you get when drunk is exactly as real as any other feeling. Just because an emotion/feeling is partly caused by externally sourced chemicals doesn't make it any less real. This is something many people who criticise alcohol don't seem to understand.
 
Cuddles said:
The feeling you get when drunk is exactly as real as any other feeling. Just because an emotion/feeling is partly caused by externally sourced chemicals doesn't make it any less real. This is something many people who criticise alcohol don't seem to understand.
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You said it!! now use that thought pattern as a 'woo' also. (omg i said woo!!! lol)
 
I don't drink alcohol. It all tastes like crap to me. So the analogy fits perfectly to me. And yes, I'm going to criticize someone only because they drink or smoke.
 
Are there any Micro-wooeries around the Detroit area? I could go for an IPA.
 
readme.txt said:
I don't drink alcohol. It all tastes like crap to me. So the analogy fits perfectly to me. And yes, I'm going to criticize someone only because they drink or smoke.
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Really? I would tell you to ***** off.

I know alcohol isn't the best thing for me and I still use it. But I am not claiming that it really makes me smarter, sexier, a better dancer or whatever else you might come up with.

Some of it simply tastes good. Sometimes, the I enjoy the rush of it - but I will neither claim nor for a minute believe that there is anything more to it other than short-term chemical effects on the brain - possible with long-term consequences.

I know that alcohol is not a solution to my problems, unless my problem is that I want to stop glooming over something or the next few hours.

So, I am using alcohol just like somene might read the horoscope in their paper for laughs. I might occasionally spend a lot of money on a good Whiskey - but that no longer correpsonds to the same guy going and getting a 300$ phone call with their favourite psychic. (It's not going to be funnier, just more expensive. My whiskey gets better ...)
 
This isn't the best analogy but I like where you're going with it. A few beers at a barbecue is fine. A few shots of tequilla an hour before driving a school bus, not so much.

There is harmless woo - horoscopes for example. If a friend of mine tells me that she is worried because her new boyfriend is a Scorpio and she is a Cancer, I'll smile and nod. It's just social woo, no harm done. If she tells me she's using acupuncture instead of chemotherapy when she has cancer, I'll stage an intervention.
 
Rasmus said:
Really? I would tell you to ***** off.
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Bah, thinking about it, no I wouldn't, since it's their choice, as long as they are responsible with whatever they choose to do. But I'd surely try to convince them it's not good for them if they exaggerate, just like when a wooer chooses to believe in their wooness : it's their choice, but I'd try to convince them they are wrong if ever they exaggerate their wootitude.
 
Yeah I don't dig on the analogy. It falls apart here:

Woo isn't real but it makes a lot of people happy.
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Beer is real and contains exactly what it is claimed it contains and does exactly what it is claimed it does. Drunkenness is real. But whatever.

A wiser man than myself once said: To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
 
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