tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post2329196739884326585..comments2023-08-13T11:58:31.588-04:00Comments on Ghulf Genes: Only Hearing Those Who Sing Our SongADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-37033309307045959722010-03-16T18:17:11.926-04:002010-03-16T18:17:11.926-04:00And thus, healthy societies know to honor and resp...And thus, healthy societies know to honor and respect their elders!Moniquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10736499939969754097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-57185812065865633092010-03-16T17:29:45.620-04:002010-03-16T17:29:45.620-04:00In answer to Monique's last paragraph: yes, t...In answer to Monique's last paragraph: yes, the accumulated knowledge and experiences of one's lifetime can function as a filter, but also as, perhaps, an additional "ingredient or tool of mind" for interpreting what our senses present us. Thus these older folks’ "tool boxes of mind" often contain more than those of younger people, if for no other reason than that we may have been faced with more events that needed to be "assembled or fixed" to be understood by us.Brigittehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002034412151764344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-69666927952722101832010-03-15T18:45:36.782-04:002010-03-15T18:45:36.782-04:00Most interesting post and interesting comments too...Most interesting post and interesting comments too. I've yet to read the article on Islam and Christianity in Africa but look forward to doing so. <br /><br />Brigitte, your question is a very good one. As I was reading the post I was thinking... <i>Ah, but when one reads about how things are developing in, say, Haiti after the Earth quake, ones own life experience helps to make order of the often chaotic "news" coming at us. We have a sense of how things actually work and therefore can translate hectic or overly emotional news coverage into and idea of what must be going on.</i><br /><br />Now I see that this thought was, perhaps, exactly what you were talking about, Brigitte, that as we age we can't help but have the accumulated knowledge of our lives so far play a sort of filtering function. <br /><br />Deep topic, really.Moniquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10736499939969754097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-73961809454850570572010-03-13T14:02:05.651-05:002010-03-13T14:02:05.651-05:00Montag: Share your sense that something's goin...Montag: Share your sense that something's going on. One of my fuzzy premonitions is that the 20th and 21st will be the centuries during which the last undeveloped continent will succumb to civilization. Africans are now undergoing what Northern Europeans underwent during the days of the Roman empire. Prodigies indeed!ADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-83845081116667426472010-03-13T12:00:47.153-05:002010-03-13T12:00:47.153-05:00A good article, although it may mislead by its bre...A good article, although it may mislead by its brevity and, hence, inability to go into complexity. One of the interesting results of Christianity in Africa has been the split within the Anglican Church, the conservatives being led mostly by African clerics. <br /><br />I think this will be a very interesting story. Is the Anglican split totally based on doctrine...or is there a bit of power politics and a subtle shift from Canterbury to Lagos? And the same holds true for all the other denominations, and Islam as well.<br /><br />I sense a period of intense ferment that will bring forth prodigies that we cannot even guess at yet. If the faiths can hold off killing each other, it will be the best of times.Montaghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00017648070522030951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-6932472357151769662010-03-13T08:36:27.020-05:002010-03-13T08:36:27.020-05:00I like your analogy to "sport," here, Jo...I like your analogy to "sport," here, John. Exactly, exactly! It has very little to do with thought and everything to do with tribalism of the sort that makes me an honorary but raging fan of Manchester United!ADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06408980212433714362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-18142964883697716702010-03-12T21:11:18.519-05:002010-03-12T21:11:18.519-05:00Excellent post. One thought that occurs to me: th...Excellent post. One thought that occurs to me: the modern media as embodied by Fox News and MSNBC have nothing on the yellow journalism of the 1890s, or, for that matter on a long history of American opinion journalism.<br /><br />What has changed in my mind is the ability of people to entirely cushion themselves in a single point of view. Some part of me expects people to take advantage of the new Information Age to seek out new and different viewpoints. Some more cynical part of me isn't surprised when the additional viewpoints they seek are simply repetitions of their preconceived notions.<br /><br />And, of course, for those who simply refuse to engage in fact-based thought, disputing an overwhelming body of evidence becomes its own sport, as has been the case with evolution and global warming, among others.Patioboaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01600842825460753192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547067420689722925.post-60488767313886033072010-03-12T11:06:08.685-05:002010-03-12T11:06:08.685-05:00Objectivity becomes ever less possible as we age. ...Objectivity becomes ever less possible as we age. Facts or "what we see" are interpreted by our values. These are developed as we live our lives and <em>harden</em> along with our arteries. "Can't teach an old dog..." is a very apt observation not just for canines. But my question then arises, "How do values establish within us?" And this unavoidably also includes the dilemma I often experience: Nature v. Nurture! Can we remain open enough -- a tabula rasa of sorts -- with a capacity to absorb facts pure and without our own slant of perceiving? It's a puzzlement! And "walking on another's shoes" may hep, but can it really?Brigittehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14002034412151764344noreply@blogger.com