Σάββατο 26 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Racism, conspiracy theories and other diseases

Greek version

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The human cognition has a capability which, though of high significance by evolutionary aspect, proved to be slightly disadvantageous for humans living in advanced societies: the ability to simplify the surrounding world by discerning or forming patterns that help perceiving and understanding it or approximately describe it.

Even though the use of that cognitional Occam's razor may be helpful when it comes to aspects of everyday life, when it comes to issues of higher complexity (scientific, political, philosophical or social) it is frequently proved to be, not only unhelpful, but a sign of limited mental capabilities -stupidity, simply put. Let me elaborate.

The human species belongs to the kingdom of animalia. Even though the conditions under which it evolved  favoured the development of its' brain to a degree it has abilities no other animal brain has (i.e. verbal abilities, mathematical reasoning etc), its' cognition still shares several characteristics with the animal ones. For instance, just like an animal, human brains are able to form or discern patterns via which they perceive the world simplified -and that's not bad at all. We can, instance, simplify the image of of a leafage to a shape -a pattern- they are familiar with. Therefore, instead of seeing an intricate, unclear leaf arrangement, we see something simpler and easier to perceive.

Evolutionarily put, that was highly significant. The capability to find out patterns could save the life of an animal (or a primitive human), for the shape of a dangerous enemy forms a pattern when hidden behind a tree-trunk. Inability to find it would result to being eaten and therefore, not passing your genes to the next generation.

So, the ability to discern patterns is of crucial importance for an organism, and by an evolutionary aspect it was useful and needful for humans. But it had an unfortunate side-effect: discerning patterns that just aren't there.

Just like an animal that could simplify the image of a leafage or an arrangement of rocks to a shape or a face with which it's familiar even though it isn't there, so have humans the capability of simplifying the world to shapes and patterns that their brain can handle easier than the intricate surroundings. But this ability is not used by the brain only to perceive optical patterns as it was evolutionary supposed to, but it also used to perceive complex issues, such as life and society.

Maybe in everyday life it's helpful, for such patterns helps us bare with situations without having to think much time. And by using them we comprehend the world more easily, make predictions for our future and have an illusion of controlling our life by acting as those patterns demand.

One can, for instance, form a perceptional pattern according to which, whoever is named "Jimmy" has a bad personality and is untrustworthy. In such case, one has the illusion of controlling one's life by avoiding contact with "Jimmies", and also forms a perception of society that's easy for the brain to handle: "Jimmies" are the bad guys and the rest are the good ones.

Does it remind you of something? No? It's a ridiculous example, isn't it? It seems impossible that there are people who would consider "Jimmies" to be the bad guys, for it's an illogical pattern to be discerned by a normal person. Do you want a realer example?

How about the ones that instead of Jimmies consider blacks to be the bad guys?

All racist beliefs, i.e. that the immigrants are "criminals" and "scum", are an unfortunate result of our ability to form patterns that simplify the world. We have to perceive, somehow, society and politics besides images. Well, some of us perceive them via non-existent patterns -just like an animal's brain can detect in a leafage the pattern of a face of a dangerous enemy that isn't there.

The patterns one's brain may create to perceive a situation, are sometimes created to simplify it as much as possible -just like when you see some dots that seem to form a human face and your brain simplifies it considering it to be a face rather than a bunch of dots. When it comes to social issues, racist patterns are easier for our minds to handle than theories approaching them with economical and political terms. But choosing to explain society using them instead of reason is a proof that you are... an idiot.

A typical example of an idiot is the guy appearing in the video below:


(Unfortunately I couldn't find an equally racist video in English. He claims that he doesn't want his children to go to the same school with immigrant "scum" and "murderers", and that "Greece is for the Greeks only" and no one else should be there. He also claims that we should throw immigrants to the sea and that "there's where they're supposed to be" and "not in land", not in 'HIS' land.)

The lovely primitive apperearing on this video, even though he may aggrevate many of its' viewers (in case they understand Greek, of course), some may even laugh at how simple-minded is he and the way he speaks. The laugh will turn to rage when one realises that this life-form has the right to take decisions concerning the future of our children and that there is a relatively large percentage of people that shares the same beliefs.

Like some kind of mao-mao cannibal, like some native american talking about "his land", so the primitive of the video speaks of 'his' land as if he has bought it and has rights on it. But even more idiotic is what he claims about "scum" and "murderers" that'll go to the same school with his child -and there are people out there who actually have such beliefs. And they don't live in Greece only.

Look, my racist friend. You are definitely not responsible for being an idiot the propaganda that professional fascists filled your head with. But you gotta learn that an immigrant criminal is just a criminal, and a criminal from your country is also just a criminal. Being a criminal has nothing to do with where you come from -there are criminals all over the world. The immigrants tend to have a larger percentage of them compared to non-immigrants, because they are poorer and ill educated. Criminality is caused by poorness, not racial origin. If it was so, all blacks would be criminals and no white would be in jail.

Furthermore, my dear racist friend, immigrants are NOT responsible for your country's situation -it's the capitalists and loansharks that fucked everything up. And they did what they did with the help of your nation's politicians which got elected by your people. Your compatriots are more responsible for whatever may be happening in your country than immigrants. Why don't you demand their deportation...?

Think, dear racist: if you lived like an animal in a country far away from your home and got bullied by the nationalists living there, while having to stay in an apartment with about 10 compatriots of yours, wouldn't you seriously think of becoming a mafia-goon if the local mafia-bosses gave you money to sell their drugs to buy your own department? No?? Then, you are a fucking liar, for that's what you'd do. It's not a coincidence that in most cases the leaders of criminal organizations exploit immigrants: they are more likely to commit crimes, for they are in a huge need of money.

The racist beliefs that claim immigrants are "scum" and "criminals" are simplifications like the ones we mentioned above, because approaching social issues using economic or social-science terms is harder than approaching them with all that mental defecation about "races". But since we don't bare with optical images in such cases, when one's brain chooses to simplify them by creating such non-existing patterns, well, that's a sign that one is an idiot.

Same with conspiracy theories. Whoever is too dumb to comprehend politics blames everything on the Jews, the illuminati or the flying spaghetti-monster.

OK dude, we know you don't like the Jews. The killed your lord and saviour, Jesus, they kill all those poor Arab children (even though they are "scum" when coming to your country) and have big noses. But that does not mean that they are responsible for whatever the fuck happens on this planet. All these conspiracy theories that want them to try to dominate economically the whole planet, based on the origins of some bankers, are as accurate as the claim that Greeks conspire to dominate the sea because some shipowners are of Greek origin. Doesn't it sound funny? Even if most bankers are of Jewish origin, the vast majority of the Jews is no different than the vast majority of non-Jews in terms of wealth.

In this case, our lovely primitive friends' brains have formed a pattern according to which a single nation is responsible for everything.

Some beliefs are unreasonable, damn it. Not all claims are logically valid. It is definitely easier to perceive the world that simplified but that doesn't mean that it's correct. If one sees a bunch of dots the centre of which seems to form a human face then, yes, it's inevitable and logical to perceive it as such. But that does not apply to hyper-simplifications of political, philosophical, social or scientific issues -if your mind makes them in those cases you are just a dumbfuck.

Sometimes racist beliefs seem to make sense. I've read, for instance, an article mentioning a research according to which most rapists in nordic countries are of middle-eastern or African origins. That was interpreted via the hate towards women in those parts of the world, and the social-acceptability of rape. The simplified -racist- belief the article was trying to spread was that the Muslims and blacks are possible rapists. A more realistic belief would be that not all immigrants are responsible for what a minority of them does and that maybe most of them are NOT rapists, nor they perceive rape as something normal. After all, even if the research was not total garbage, then the responsible for those rapes would be their beliefs and not their racial origins or the property of being an immigrant.

All this shit about inferior races and dangerous immigrants is the mental vomitus of primitive-minded dumbfucks that blame everything on immigrants because they are unable to find out who is responsible for what's going on in their countries.

If someone wants them to leave because the country's economy can't bare them or because their beliefs and way of thinking are sickening, well, yeah, that's a reasonable and acceptable opinion that can be treated as such. But wanting them to leave because you consider them to be "scum", "inferior" and "criminals"? One has to be a total dumbass to actually have such beliefs. Racist beliefs, just like conspiracy theories, are the result of the innate paranoia of our kind and the ability to simplify the world by forming non-existent patterns. But it's not the immigrants' or the Zionists' fault if someone is paranoid or simple-minded.

What's an undeniable fact is that racism and believing absurd conspiracy theories have a common denominator -being uneducated. Or, in many cases, just dumb as a box of rocks. I'm not saying that there aren't conspiracies or differences between nations and groups of them -I'm just saying that seeing everywhere a conspiracy or blaming everything to the immigrants is a sign of stupidity. What's funny, is that the ones believing such slush consider themselves to be smart. They think that their gibberish is reasonable and can be treated as an opinion, and not as mere slush.

Next time you'll hear a primitive blaming passionately everything on the blacks, immigrants or the Jews, break the first chair you'll see there around on his head. Basically, no, even that is pointless -and it's a pity for the chair to be broken on an empty head.

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