…and yet it is irrational thinking that often leads us down this path.
Collective thoughts of suicide will always present a feigned sense of rationality to one who may seek death as a preferable alternative to communism…I mean life. Through irrational thinking, a rational mindset will develop.
And thus, we accept our suicide as a well thought out and justified act of compense.
there’s a difference between “rational” and “rationalized.”
“Rational” is good. “Rationalizing” is bad.
Also: i don’t think “all” anything is anything… except in certain cases like death, where we can literally say “all dead people are dead.” (the formula “all X is X”)
But when you enter the territory of exceptional variability, generalizations necessarily fail (“all X are Y” works in some comedic sense, but is rarely without exception).
It’s likely that some suicides have been quite irrational. It’s unlikely that ALL suicides have been rational… but my guess would be that “most” suicides have been and will be at least mostly rational, despite any flaws in any person’s rationality or reasoning.
“There is always an exception; even to this rule.” (sometimes there isn’t an exception, but often, perhaps usually, there is)
I think… there’s this… weird, sort of underlying mechanism that compels people to simplify, but the pressure is so great, and the topics so convoluted, that we often end up oversimplifying, in attempt to be profoundly concise, which results in flawed statements, such as “All X are Y.” All X can’t be Y; some Y are not X, even if most are. All suicides are most likely not rational, even if most are. So, it’s technically incorrect, despite the poetically eloquent appeal and purpose of the statement, to say that “all suicides are rational.” It might make you feel better to believe that were true, or if it actually was… but it most likely isn’t, even if it’s “close” to a relatively “fair” generalization. Exceptions not disclaimed, causes the statement to fail under scrutiny.
Poetic “tidiness” is rare in life; that’s why those poets who manage to nail down truth in such phrases, are so widely respected.
Here’s (another) one of my own:
“People are people, and will do what they do.”
This pretty much says it all, without really saying much of anything, while remaining logically valid and inscrutable.
However… do people “do what they do,” due to being people? Or are their actions sourced from some other explanation that has nothing to do with their status as human beings? Do people do, what people do, because they are people? Or for some other reason? Who knows… but i think it’s fair to attribute people’s actions to their state of being, as people, and that it all branches outward, fractally, from there. You can pretty much predict with a fair amount of accuracy, given enough valid information, what people will do, in any given scenario… but it’s rarely “tidy,” and can often produce ineffable understandings, which cannot be effectively communicated to others, even if your prediction is correct. In that case, you’re stuck with the knowledge of things to come, but often unable to utilize it in any effective way; you have to watch exactly what you expect, unfold before your eyes… knowing that “people are people, and will do what they do.”
What if someone wants to kill themselves because their dog had a long chat with them, which led to the realization that an alien infestation was controlling their actions, and suicide was the only solution? It might be logical in itself, but in reality, it’s not very rational.
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…and yet it is irrational thinking that often leads us down this path.
Collective thoughts of suicide will always present a feigned sense of rationality to one who may seek death as a preferable alternative to communism…I mean life. Through irrational thinking, a rational mindset will develop.
And thus, we accept our suicide as a well thought out and justified act of compense.
there’s a difference between “rational” and “rationalized.”
“Rational” is good. “Rationalizing” is bad.
Also: i don’t think “all” anything is anything… except in certain cases like death, where we can literally say “all dead people are dead.” (the formula “all X is X”)
But when you enter the territory of exceptional variability, generalizations necessarily fail (“all X are Y” works in some comedic sense, but is rarely without exception).
It’s likely that some suicides have been quite irrational. It’s unlikely that ALL suicides have been rational… but my guess would be that “most” suicides have been and will be at least mostly rational, despite any flaws in any person’s rationality or reasoning.
“There is always an exception; even to this rule.” (sometimes there isn’t an exception, but often, perhaps usually, there is)
I think… there’s this… weird, sort of underlying mechanism that compels people to simplify, but the pressure is so great, and the topics so convoluted, that we often end up oversimplifying, in attempt to be profoundly concise, which results in flawed statements, such as “All X are Y.” All X can’t be Y; some Y are not X, even if most are. All suicides are most likely not rational, even if most are. So, it’s technically incorrect, despite the poetically eloquent appeal and purpose of the statement, to say that “all suicides are rational.” It might make you feel better to believe that were true, or if it actually was… but it most likely isn’t, even if it’s “close” to a relatively “fair” generalization. Exceptions not disclaimed, causes the statement to fail under scrutiny.
Poetic “tidiness” is rare in life; that’s why those poets who manage to nail down truth in such phrases, are so widely respected.
Here’s (another) one of my own:
“People are people, and will do what they do.”
This pretty much says it all, without really saying much of anything, while remaining logically valid and inscrutable.
However… do people “do what they do,” due to being people? Or are their actions sourced from some other explanation that has nothing to do with their status as human beings? Do people do, what people do, because they are people? Or for some other reason? Who knows… but i think it’s fair to attribute people’s actions to their state of being, as people, and that it all branches outward, fractally, from there. You can pretty much predict with a fair amount of accuracy, given enough valid information, what people will do, in any given scenario… but it’s rarely “tidy,” and can often produce ineffable understandings, which cannot be effectively communicated to others, even if your prediction is correct. In that case, you’re stuck with the knowledge of things to come, but often unable to utilize it in any effective way; you have to watch exactly what you expect, unfold before your eyes… knowing that “people are people, and will do what they do.”
What if someone wants to kill themselves because their dog had a long chat with them, which led to the realization that an alien infestation was controlling their actions, and suicide was the only solution? It might be logical in itself, but in reality, it’s not very rational.