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[dolphinops]

Emotion vs Reason: I still don't understand why these are considered two different things. False dichotomy. More to the point, why has it been argued so often that one is better than the other? Love hate joy sorrow fill in the fucking blanks. Emotions are not random, there are _reasons_ for them. When you're happy, why are you happy? Well, probably

Comments

[rachiestar]

I'm a big fan of calling the distinction between reason and emotion bullshit.

[katranna]

I don't know. I don't see where hate could ever be useful. Understandable? Sure. But useful?

If someone stabs you with a fork, caution is useful--ie, avoiding that person from then on, or keeping a fork-blocker on you, etc. Revenge might be "useful" if you think that stabbing them back will prevent them from trying something like that in the future.

But hatred? It seems like it just takes up mental energy and causes you to waste time on actions meant to hurt that other person that have very little practical purpose.

[dolphinops]

I didn't say anything about violence, I said hate. I agree revenge is generally pointless, but at least in my case, WHEN I HATE something/someone I usually just avoid them. And it WOULD be useful to stab somebody back if their assholeness wasn't limited to just stabbing you once and could possibly do it again (now or later). I'm not talking about becoming enraged and killing someone and all their descendents or anything, that has do to with how someone deals with their hatred.

[katranna]

Yeah, but when you hate someone, don't you also have that seethy-angry feeling, and brood about them? It just seems like avoiding them/stabbing them back without wasting the energy on feeling anything about them would work just as well.

But I think we may be working with different definitions here. To me, violence can possibly be productive, anger can be useful, but hatred's rather pointless.

[dolphinops]

different definitions, i guess

I don't see how you can be angry about something(at someone) without hating it(them/what they're doing).

[flamingtiki]

hate as an emotion is understandable and justifiable, but hate as an act is not. therefore, even if i may experience emotions that can be classified as hatred, i never act on them. (or i try not to anyway)

[dolphinops]

Acting on hatred _can_ by justified(though rarely, imo). Self-defense being the obvious example. Note that you don't have to hate the person, just the action.

[dolphinops]

Also, don't confuse what I'm saying with revenge.