Sunday, June 09, 2019

What do we mean by "society?"

"Society" is a hypostasized abstract noun. I often wonder sometimes if it refers to anything.Is there such a thing as "society" or are there just socieities?

28 comments:

Starhopper said...

Victor, I do not consider myself (no matter what others may think) as stupid, but I must admit that I have no idea what you are talking about here. Could you perhaps restate your OP?

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

I can what he might mean. Do I live in the same society as people in Boston? Our communities are very different. In one sense I do because we are in the same nation state. In another sense I'm in my own little society among my friends, another in my own community and so on.

My little circle of friends are all people who seek to enhance the life of the mind,thus in Texas we are a separate society.

Kevin said...

We do have small societies of bigots who love to lecture on bigotry.

One Brow said...

The further you get from individual people, the more you have to strip away from the trappings of a society or culture to keep it a common entity.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

Legion of Logic said...
We do have small societies of bigots who love to lecture on bigotry.

Yes it's called the Republican party

Kevin said...

No, Joe, that would be you and people like you, who go around trashing conservatives and Southerners with the exact same contempt and hate in your hearts as the racists you complain about. As nasty as your behavior is toward us, you are more a bigot than pretty much anyone I know.

Victor Reppert said...

People throw the word "society" around as if they knew what it refers to, as if there is a thing in existence we can call "society." It would be good for "society" to do X. What does this mean?

One Brow said...

To me, "good for society" means "good for humans as a population".

oozzielionel said...

When people use the term, it should be defined. There are larger and smaller social groupings that could be referenced. There are societies within societies.

There is also a danger in conflating the beliefs and actions of individuals with the beliefs and actions of groups. Individuals act, sometimes in coordinated groups, but society is never monolithic.

StardustyPsyche said...

Legion of Logic said...
" who go around trashing conservatives and Southerners with the exact same contempt and hate in your hearts as the racists you complain about. As nasty as your behavior is toward us,"

Ok, so you are a resident of the Southern US and a conservative.

Yes, well, the South is a big place, there are islands of modernity such as Austin, Houston, Huntsville, Atlanta, Orlando, and many others. There are large areas in states like Mississippi and Alabama that vote strongly Democratic, populated by the decedents of slaves who in some counties even at that time outnumbered their white masters.

Then there is the broad swath of the bible belt, the hick belt, the cracker belt, like the decedents of slaves, the decedents of slave owners and ordinary rebels, people locked in a hideous alternate time zone of biblical superstitious scientific ignorance, wistful for the glory days of the Confederacy, still holding the killers for slavery in reverence with their statues and battle flags oblivious that it is like waving the swastika proudly in the faces of Jews every day.

Ignorant people, huge numbers, millions upon millions, full of superstition and bigotry and ripe for the plucking of a lying demagogue. Enter Trump.

Now, just because you voted for Trump does not make you a racist, but Trump knew all the dog whistles to blow so he got the racist vote.
Just because you voted for Trump does not make you an ignorant knuckle dragging spittle dripping cracker, but he got that vote, he got all of that vote.

What really cracks me up is to listen to some conservative talking bullshit about welfare and liberals, all the while his state is on welfare paid by the liberals. That is perhaps the great irony, that we in the blue states, the productive states, the educated states, the modern states, the forward thinking states pay your bills, because our ways are so much more productive and successful we pay into the federal government the money the red states suck out of the federal government.

So, it has come to pass, that the locus of American electoral ignorance, the keepers of the glorification of our historical sin, the welfare recipients of the federal government, have a presidential voting power far greater per capita than the productive and educated keepers of the glory of emancipation, lest we enter your holy bastion and force you to take down your battle flags of hate and despotism from your seats of government.

An ignorant minority allowed themselves to be duped by a criminal con, foisting his sickening deceitfulness, destructiveness, incompetence, bankruptonomics, and criminality upon the majority and indeed upon the world.

I am not with the hand wringing liberals who think Hillary lost because we spoke too meanly to red state folks. Just the opposite, to make sure you don't get fooled again we need to be way more up front and adamant, if you land up with a few bruised feelings that is an undesirable but somewhat unavoidable necessity for correcting the horrible wrong you have foisted upon the majority.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

Legion of Logic said...
No, Joe, that would be you and people like you, who go around trashing conservatives and Southerners with the exact same contempt and hate in your hearts as the racists you complain about. As nasty as your behavior is toward us, you are more a bigot than pretty much anyone I know.

I don't trash conservatives like a lot of right wingers you are always under siege because you are threatened by anything you can't control,

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

Blogger StardustyPsyche said...

What really cracks me up is to listen to some conservative talking bullshit about welfare and liberals, all the while his state is on welfare paid by the liberals. That is perhaps the great irony, that we in the blue states, the productive states, the educated states, the modern states, the forward thinking states pay your bills, because our ways are so much more productive and successful we pay into the federal government the money the red states suck out of the federal government.

ROTF ;-)

Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kevin said...

Stardusty, your post was irrelevant to my point.

Joe, you trash Stardusty over almost everything he says, yet you laugh when he insults conservatives. Point proven, bigot.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

Stardusty, your post was irrelevant to my point.

Joe, you trash Stardusty over almost everything he says, yet you laugh when he insults conservatives. Point proven, bigot.

Hey look man I was high school debater a college debater for all four years and coached debate in workshops and judged at tournaments for years after that. argumet is a large part of my life. I sometimes forget it;s harder for non debaters to separate the person from the argument. I do not attack people I attack ideas. I'm sorry if I get overly enthusiastic,

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

I don;t think I'm Trashing Stardust I think I'm opposing his arguments, that is not connected to him as a man.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

btw my ROTF comment to Starduty above was supporting his idea I was not laughing at him but at his humor.

StardustyPsyche said...

"I was not laughing at him but at his humor."
What makes you think I was joking?

Kevin said...

Joe,

Talking about "right-wingers" is talking about the people, not the ideas. You ascribe to us outlandishly negative motivations often enough that I have no real reason to believe you don't hold conservatives (the people) in utter contempt.

But my point in all this was not to say you are a bigot (something I view about as evil as someone being a jerk in any other way), but rather to point out that the things you criticize others for when the target is a demographic favored by the left, you openly enjoy when the targets are your political opponents. The same hate/contempt/whatever is in your heart as the people you condemn.

Basically, I'm saying that what you consider them to be, is what you are. How the left does not perceive this hypocrisy, I will never understand.

bmiller said...

Legion,

Remember Joe was a debate coach and probably a really good one. He's given you one of the best examples ever of how not to argue. 😉

One Brow said...

Legion of Logic said...
The same hate/contempt/whatever is in your heart as the people you condemn.

Basically, I'm saying that what you consider them to be, is what you are. How the left does not perceive this hypocrisy, I will never understand.


I know lots of leftists who hold Metacrock in disdain. I remember his stint on SAB.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...


I know lots of leftists who hold Metacrock in disdain. I remember his stint on SAB.

that is total bull shit.If you knew anything about real left wing politics you would know they all hate each other. Moreover only a handful of people know who I am.even a smaller handhold know who metacrock is/

Now a lot of atheists hate Metacrock if that is who you are talking about I knew that, I welcome their hatred,


what is SAB?

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

bmiller said...
Legion,

Remember Joe was a debate coach and probably a really good one. He's given you one of the best examples ever of how not to argue. 😉

none of you can argue your way out of a paper bag. I tried to reach out. you are too threatened by anyone not brainwashed loke you.

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

LL

Talking about "right-wingers" is talking about the people, not the ideas. You ascribe to us outlandishly negative motivations often enough that I have no real reason to believe you don't hold conservatives (the people) in utter contempt.

you tried to make me feel small, unwanted,out of it,alien,wired from the very first post. You did it because you are afraid. Of course after years of being treated this way and falling more and more into animosity with everything I say. because you can't understand anything, I just let down and start fighting back and quit caring who who I offend. You are suing my behavior at the end of the process I;m not supposed to notice not supposed to fight back.

But my point in all this was not to say you are a bigot (something I view about as evil as someone being a jerk in any other way), but rather to point out that the things you criticize others for when the target is a demographic favored by the left, you openly enjoy when the targets are your political opponents. The same hate/contempt/whatever is in your heart as the people you condemn.

Extremely bull shit statement,I do not criticize people based upon demography. Part of your demonetization is to interpret the opponent's feelings."you enjoy' You have no idea what I enjoy. Obviously you are the one rescinding it all to a clash of demographics, Yo can;t me a single example,


the truth is you are one creating a whining defends of your own bigoted victim hood by demonizing the left then rearing into everything I say all that your ideological hate tells you is true of those who dare not to think like you.

Basically, I'm saying that what you consider them to be, is what you are. How the left does not perceive this hypocrisy, I will never understand.


You pretend to know what I think of serious types of people that's because you do all your thinking based upon fear of those who are note like you, your hatred of those who differ fro, yourself you imagine that they all hate you because that's your ideology tells uou. you are brainwhased by an ideology of fearing people not like yousrelf,.

One Brow said...

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

that is total bull shit.If you knew anything about real left wing politics you would know they all hate each other.

What a fun board. We get an atheist who has decided he knows what it means to be a true Muslim or a true Christian, and a centrist who tells leftists what we are like.

Now a lot of atheists hate Metacrock if that is who you are talking about I knew that, I welcome their hatred,

When did you become worth hating? That's too much emotional investment for you.

what is SAB?

Skeptic's Annotated Bible.

bmiller said...

Joe,

none of you can argue your way out of a paper bag. I tried to reach out. you are too threatened by anyone not brainwashed loke you.

You have not made a single rational, dispassionate argument in this entire topic. You still haven't.

I'd rather hear the reasons you have for your positions, not the emotional attachments you have for them. But if the only thing you can do is launch ad hominem rants, then expect to be made fun of.

Kevin said...

Afraid, brainwashed, afraid, brainwashed, afraid, brainwashed, to infinity and beyond.

Just imagine Joe's outrage if his hateful blanket statements about conservatives were applied to Muslims or Black Lives Matter or any other approved group.

One Brow said...

Legion of Logic said...
Afraid, brainwashed, afraid, brainwashed, afraid, brainwashed, to infinity and beyond.

Just imagine Joe's outrage if his hateful blanket statements about conservatives were applied to Muslims or Black Lives Matter or any other approved group.


e have StardustyPsyche for that.