catspajamas
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catspajamas commented on Fun With Ricky Gervais on April 11, 2009, 11:48 PM
This killed me. Seriously, I think I wet myself a tiny bit. Thank you, Mr. G., this is the best I've felt all week!
catspajamas commented on Ricky Gervais on Religion on April 11, 2009, 11:42 PM
I can completely relate. I remember saying my prayers as a little kid, in England - God bless Mummy and Daddy and Nana - and not thinking much of it. It was the thing you did after brushing your teeth at Nana's house. We never really went to church much as a family, although sometimes Nana would take me. Sometimes you'd end up in the local church hall for Pie and Pea Suppers and the like, but I never really thought a lot about religion and the concept of God. It was just kind of accepted - at a certain age you just believed in God and Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. At least there was "evidence" of the existence of the latter two: presents and sixpence under the pillow. For some reason when I was about 8 I ended up going to Sunday school for a while and I remember quite clearly one day thinking that none of it made any sense. I can't remember what the teacher had been talking about - probably something "miraculous" - loaves and fishes or burning bushes - and I thought that's just silly. And I went home and said as much to my Mom. She kind of danced around it, and I could tell she was uncomfortable and ambivalent about the whole thing - it was like she thought she should believe, because of the neighbours, or because it was the done thing. And I knew right then. Sadly I hung on to the Santa Claus thing for another year after that. He kind of made more sense to me.
catspajamas commented on The Paradox of Tolerance on April 9, 2009, 11:21 PM
HerbieP: Absolutely! And lets not forget intelligent! MM: Absolutely no offence taken at all. (This is the problem with text - tone and emotion don't come across so well. I'm going to have to start adding emoticons : P ) As Musycks said self-interest always comes up in matters of tolerance or the lack thereof. Maybe that's the genetic thing again? Africa, the cradle of civilization - and there's that whole thing about the ratio between a woman's waist and hips meaning she's more fertile - so the bigger bum thing may initially have been all about proliferating the species. As we evolved, or advanced, and the urge to procreate became less necessary, its become more of a cultural aesthetic bias? So, I certainly don't think the unattractive are less worthy of tolerance, and I suspect also that the tendency to ascribe fewer positive qualities to the less attractive is a sort of knee-jerk genetic holdover. We've all met people who aren't ... well, oil paintings ... but as we get to know them, and like them, they become ... attractive, and smarter, and so on. As for a club for the unattractive - it'd be a BIG CLUB! And eventually we'd all be in it. Except Sean Connery. Maybe that's why society is slowly trickling towards being more tolerant generally? We recognize that at some point in our lives there's a good chance we may be unattractive, or handicapped? So I guess that's self-interest coming in to play again? So, where in Africa should I be moving, exactly?
catspajamas commented on The Paradox of Tolerance on April 9, 2009, 12:58 AM
But I recognize the fact, so I guess that's something. And MM is right: I am being discriminatory. Not to excuse myself but don't we all do this? Aren't we more tolerant to the cuter baby, the prettier girl? I'm wondering if there's a genetic angle to the tolerance/discrimination thing. If that's true it may really be a "human" way to act, while at the same time being unkind or illogical. Is it strange that we tend towards to view people from other "tribes" negatively? Back when we were all living in caves other tribes might have been a real threat - competing with us for resources, dragging off the women, bringing war or disease. Maybe we still carry the vestiges of that, despite being supposedly more evolved, more knowledgeable, more enlightened. We also know from various studies that when people look at pictures of other people they tend to assume that the better-looking people - generally the ones who are younger and taller, and with more balanced and proportional features - are smarter. I suspect we're programmed that way - generally a physically impressive person suggests health and strength, and is more likely to produce strong, healthy children. The tolerance/discrimination thing can be a positive as well when it comes to the people we love? Don't we put up with things in our children that would drive us around the bend in someone else's kids? Aren't our kids always above average (despite much evidence to the contrary, as my Dad likes to say : )?
catspajamas commented on Ricky Gervais on the Death of Print Newspapers on April 20, 2009, 2:15 AM
I was initially a little concerned by this whole "death of print" thing, but honestly I don't think it'll happen during my lifetime. I'm a tail-end boomer, and we love to read. And we hate reading on the computer. I mean its the same information, often word for word, that appears in the newspaper, but its just not the same. I see more people in the book stores and libraries lately than in some years. (Its a little annoying, frankly - they all end up standing in the same aisle as I'm in.) Most Saturdays I spend some time in a coffee shop, with all the Saturday regulars, and nobody's using computers. They're all reading the paper, and sometimes a book. There's something great about the feel and smell of a newspaper, and a book - especially a new one - that you just can't replace with the computer. Like Tim says - you can cart the paper around and read bits while you're waiting for the bus, and show people parts, and tear out interesting bits for the fridge door. I get the Toronto Globe and Mail delivered every Saturday and I look forward to it. I'm thinking about getting it weekdays as well.