#objectivity

[brinconvenient]

I’m sorry... WHAT?!

Seriously: When do you ever just sit and think about the fact that Ian Katz of the Guardian (recently boycotted for its transphobia) and the BBC (routinely protested for its transphobia) was married to Justine Roberts of Mumsnet (a primary radicalizing hub for UK transphobia) for twenty-five years? Most people don’t! I didn’t, until I heard it from the poet Roz Kaveney during an interview. It got trimmed from that piece, and I have been trying to wedge it into different pieces ever since, to no avail. Sometimes, when I talk to other trans people, I will mention that a top Guardian and/or BBC editor was married to the founder of Mumsnet; almost always, when I mention this, I will find out that they didn’t know.

Here’s something else that happens when I tell a trans person that Ian Katz (Channel 4, BBC Newsnight, the Guardian) was married to Justine Roberts (Mumsnet) for 25 years. They will, without fail, make the following noise: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Then they’ll inhale a little, and then they’ll do a controlled little exhale. Then they’ll say yeah, that explains it. Or, yeah. That makes total sense.

#transphobia #terf island #terf #transmisogyny #uk politics #uk media #bbc #journalistic malfeasance #objectivity #it's all about access folks #trans women #trans men

[thirdity]

If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.

Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

#change #perspective #subjectivity #perception #awareness #objectivity #eternal #quotes #Miller #Henry Miller #Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

[philosophybits]

There is no objective reality... there is only an illusion of consciousness, there is only an objectification of reality, which was created by the spirit. The origin of life is creativity, freedom; and the personality, subject, and spirit are the representatives of that origin, but not the nature, not the object.

Nikolai Berdyaev, Dream and Reality

#philosophy #quotes #Nikolai Berdyaev #Dream and Reality #objectivity #reality #consciousness #subjectivity #creativity #freedom #personality #spirit

[pratchettquotes]

Not for the first time, Moist deplored his own tendency to see the angles in whatever happened, good or bad.

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

#moist von lipwig #raising steam #discworld #terry pratchett #character description #angles #perspective #strategy #neutrality #objectivity #con man #psychology #self reflection #good or bad #not for the first time #oneliner

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: Hello again. I am always grateful for your responses and your knowledge. I have this topic which I want to discuss.

I realized that when making judgements and critiques I am often objective. I look from all aspects and give an objective judgement which often comes as vague. I don’t have personal internalized values and morals; I often take and adapt external moral judgments rather from my own.

In many situations I can’t decide what is right and wrong, for example with people’s behavior, I see what is supposed to be accepted and judge it that way. I ask people what would they do in certain situations, for example if someone just came and slapped you out of nowhere, and what would their reaction be and try to see what is the right response (to slap back, to get angry, to ask, to stay silent). I see the world too objectively that it may seem a bit apathetic.

I don’t know if this is a result of low self esteem where I see that my opinions don’t matter (although I really don’t have an opinion and I have no idea what I should be thinking), or a projection of fe function (I am an INFJ), or something else.

Just to add that I am not distressed by the fact that I don’t know what is right and what is wrong, I just go by certain ‘universal’ principles, which that I concretely can make judgments of (and are somewhat general). Its just that I am confused why I am like this.

----------------------

There's nothing wrong with being objective per se, in fact, it is often a good thing to be more objective when making decisions. It only becomes a problem when it's actually motivated by some unhealthy psychological issue that you're not fully aware of, which means the objectivity isn't genuine.

There are two main factors to consider, which may work separately or interact with each other:

1) Ego Development: An important stage of healthy ego development is the formation of a personal identity, which includes possessing your own beliefs, values, and ideals, among other things. Having a strong personal identity necessitates self-respect, self-expression, and asserting individuality. There are a variety of reasons why people do not get through this stage of ego development. These people generally suffer the ill-effects of having a weak sense of self. If you believe objectivity requires you to be fair and take every viewpoint into account, then why isn't yours included? For a human being to not have a viewpoint means that they are not fully exercising their intellectual faculties and not properly honoring their own personal needs/preferences, which essentially results in them being "empty" and completely vulnerable to manipulation or exploitation. This is obviously not a good way to be.

2) Fe Development: Overindulgence of auxiliary Fe is characterized by overdependence on outside/objective sources when making value judgments. Value judgments include moral judgments. Usually, the underlying reason for the overdependence is a fear of taking full personal responsibility. If you hold strong personal beliefs and values, especially of the moral variety, you will feel compelled to stand up and stand out in order to defend them. Do you dare live your life constantly getting in other people's faces? Many FJs fear expressing their individuality fully because it would make them vulnerable to conflict, criticism, social reprisals, or being judged negatively as self-centered or selfish. It's easier to hide behind the mask of so-called impersonal "objectivity" when it is implied to be "unassailable". Making the choice to think in the same way as everyone else grants you social safety, does it not? It's a big reason why so many people choose conformity. But conformity is not the same as objectivity.

#infj #auxiliary fe #conformity #objectivity #sense of self #identity #ask

[windsails]

🌈 cosmic checkpoint - v1.1 🌱

this document is socially constructed

🎶 ✨ congratulations! you made it! you made it to the center of the internet. it's an open source universal checkpoint! nothing special about it. we can rename it through a defined process

this document is socially constructed

please share your feedback with others about the peace declaration checkpoint proposal, we can discuss on social media websites, there are already several of these going on i believe

please note this point transcends time and space and there are infinite numbers of identical checkpoints each with variations

think of them as atoms of saved data

remember your chemistry!

share respect for others

always try to learn from your mistakes

never give up!

keep on keeping on ✨🌻

#checkpoint #intro #hello world #welcome to my page #homepage #landing page #universality #memory #computers #computer science #physics #objectivity #neon genesis evangelion #outer wilds #subnautica #game design #philosophy #hackers #hacking #web site #web page #html #javascript #technical art

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Stephen Knight

Published: Feb 20, 2024

There was a time when you could count on the left to defend science with the sort of zeal that would make a religious fundamentalist blush. Scientific knowledge was once gleefully wielded to expose and mock the magical thinking of creationists, anti-vaxxers, Flat Earthers, astrologers and homoeopaths. However, this staunch commitment to scientific empiricism has recently begun to waver. It is now increasingly coming into conflict with the new tenets of the ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) agenda.

You can see this clearly in the Biden administration’s proposed new guidelines for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HSS). As the Washington Free Beacon reports, staff working in public-health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDA), which are overseen by the HSS, could soon be instructed to consider ‘multiple forms of evidence, such as indigenous knowledge’ when going about their duties.

Put simply, advocates of ‘indigenous knowledge’ argue that various cultures throughout history have their own ways of understanding the world. And these alternative, indigenous ‘ways of knowing’, they say, should be utilised alongside more established scientific methods in research and in policymaking.

Yes, some DEI advocates really do think that public-health bodies should seek the input of tribal elders and spiritual leaders – alongside, say, qualified physicians and epidemiologists. What’s more, they believe that racism is the only reason it has taken so long for indigenous knowledge to be utilised in this way. They argue that science is a ‘Western, colonialist structure’ that has only come to dominate our thinking thanks to white supremacy. This nefarious falsehood began in academia, with calls from activists to ‘decolonise’ science. Now it has reached the highest levels of the US government.

The Biden administration is not even the first Western government to sacrifice science to the DEI agenda. Last year, the government of New Zealand decided that science classes in schools should teach that Maori ‘ways of knowing’ have equal standing to ‘Western science’. Scientists who objected to this found themselves under investigation by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Three of them, including one of Maori descent, resigned from the society in protest.

The claim that science is ‘Western’ is absurd, of course. One of the many wonderful things about science is that it does not discriminate. Science is a universal, cross-cultural concept. It invites anyone and everyone to participate and contribute to our growing understanding of reality. Science does not care about what you look like or where you come from. All science cares about is whether your methods and conclusions are sound enough to survive scrutiny. This clearly cannot be said for indigenous knowledge.

This is why there aren’t any ‘indigenous’ ways of flying an airplane that supersede our scientific understanding of aerodynamics. Or why the NHS doesn’t offer exorcisms as part of its mental-health services. A blood test administered in a clinical setting will yield the same results whether it’s carried out in London or Nairobi – because science actually works anywhere you do it. It’s about the ‘how’, not the ‘who’.

If every single piece of scientific knowledge were erased tomorrow and we had to start all over again, we would eventually come to the same conclusions as we have today. This is not true of indigenous knowledge, because, unlike science, it is not underpinned by logic and reason.

We all know that treating indigenous knowledge as akin to scientific evidence is a bit silly. But I suspect that is probably the point. Like with trans-rights ideologues, today’s self-professed ‘anti-racists’ like to frame statements of the obvious as akin to acts of bigotry. It gives them enormous power over the rest of us. We are all essentially being dared to say that relying on indigenous knowledge is a terrible idea. Of course, if you do say this in the wrong circles, you will be accused of racism and you will be silenced.

With modern-day anti-racism, the goal is not to address actual inequalities or to improve the material wellbeing of oppressed minorities. The real aim is to tear down anything that is perceived to be ‘white’ or ‘Western’. And the fact that science is now being placed in the firing line, thanks to racial identity politics, should worry us all.

The suggestion that the gold standard of science is a uniquely white or Western standard is as ludicrous as it is racist. It perpetuates the deeply prejudiced idea that non-Western or non-white groups cannot grasp the basics of science, and therefore it would be unfair to expect them to. This is tantamount to claiming there is an innate quality possessed by white Westerners that makes them uniquely suited to the study and advancement of science. This notion would not seem out of place at a KKK rally, yet it is a depressingly common view among so-called anti-racists. This is the bigotry of low expectations.

The push by the White House to incorporate indigenous knowledge into public-health policy is unbelievably reckless. It arrives in a post-pandemic context when public trust in our scientific institutions is already at an all-time low. Surely, that trust will now only fall further. After all, how can we possibly trust that those tasked with looking after our health are doing so effectively, when their objectivity has been so clearly compromised?

Science often gets things wrong, of course. But unlike indigenous ways of knowing, science rewards you for catching errors. It incentivises the pursuit of truth over accepting received wisdom. There are no religious commandments or cultural dogmas dictating the scope of scientific investigation. Science simply finds out ‘what is’ – and to hell with any sacred cows that are slaughtered along the way.

Standards of objectivity are essential when it comes to science and public health. We should make no apologies for defending them from the encroachment of pseudoscience, whatever form it comes in.

Stephen Knight is host of the Godless Spellchecker podcast and the Knight Tube. Follow him on Twitter: @GSpellchecker

#Stephen Knight #ways of knowing #indigenous ways of knowing #science #indigenous knowledge #objectivity #reason #evidence #pseudoscience #antiracism #antiracism as religion #neoracism #religion is a mental illness

[creature-wizard]

Logically there has to be a truth above all others. Everything can't be true, especially the things that contradict each other.

Yeah like, we might have subjective interpretations of what's happening but ultimately like, either Elvis is alive or dead; he's not performing live concerts for some people and being six feet under for others.

#answered #truth #subjectivity #objectivity

[in-tenebris-et-in-solitudine]

See things for what they are. Not for what you want them to be.

#perspective #mindfulness #objectivity #reality #honesty #truth #introspection #reflection #pragmatism #discernment

[haggishlyhagging]

Perhaps the greatest harm patriarchy has done to us is to stifle, coopt, and deform our powers of imagination. Moralisms, dualistic dogmas, repressive prohibitions block our imagination at its source, which is the fusion of sexual and spiritual energies. Patriarchal religions keep this fusion from happening, imagination dies, and is replaced by mechanical-linear thought patterns, i.e., indoctrination. Human beings crippled in our imaginations, or no longer able to live in the terrain of dreams, are human beings undergoing indoctrination, exploitation, colonization. Soon the only way to get there anymore is via drugs, drunkenness, madness. Or vicariously, through the art and entertainment media. Patriarchy is an anti-evolutionary and an antimagic force; by cutting us off from our long evolutionary history, and in particular by dishonestly teaching us that our prepatriarchal ancestors were "immoral savages" or stupid unrealized beings whose lives were only “nasty, brutish, and short”, it blocks our access to our own blood-history—it cuts us off from millions of years of creative evolutionary energy stored up in our genes, our genetic memories, the powerhouses of imagination. It lies to us about who we are by telling us lies about who we were; it changes us from "magical" to "sinful," in order to make us believe we need patriarchy to "save" us from our own selves. By cutting us off from magic as a natural property of earth, as a conscious form of biological energy, patriarchy further tries to make us dependent upon its mechanical systems and definitions as the only modes of life that work. In its denial of magic, patriarchy creates "objectivity" as the only legitimate mode of knowledge. Objectivity, as we've said, is a spectator sport based upon the illusion that the observer is outside the phenomenon being observed; the "objective observer" denies his participation in the observed phenomenon by virtually killing it, by making it into a dead thing. Thus all "objective information" is analogous to autopsy studies done on a corpse. Patriarchy has tried to render and redefine the entire earth and all its creatures as dead things, in order to sustain its pretense of possessing "objective information" about all of us. "Objective information," as Foucault has also shown, is merely a tool of control and exploitation; it is one of the modes of illegitimate power, otherwise known as profit.

-Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor. The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering The Religion of the Earth.

#monica sjöö #Barbara mor #objectivity #imagination #patriarchy #magic

[philosophybitmaps]

#philosophy #quotes #Bertrand Russell #The ABC of Relativity #Russell #subjectivity #objectivity #prejudice #expectations

[thirdity]

Nothing in our everyday experience gives us any reason for supposing that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen; and yet when we subject water to to certain rather drastic treatments, the nature of its constituent elements becomes manifest. Similarly, nothing in our everyday experience gives us much reason for supposing that the mind of the average sensual man has, as one of its constituents, something resembling, or identical with, the Reality substantial to the manifold world; and yet, when that mind is subjected to certain rather drastic treatments, the divine element, of which it is in part at least composed, becomes manifest, not only to the mind itself, but also, by its reflection in external behaviour, to other minds.

Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

#experience #perception #subjectivity #objectivity #self #world #mind #body #quotes #Huxley #Aldous Huxley #The Perennial Philosophy

[philosophybits]

An intelligent man is not one who can merely reason correctly, but one whose mind is open to perceiving objective contents, who is able to receive the impact of their essential structures and to render it in human language...

Max Horkheimer, Eclipse of Reason

#philosophy #quotes #Max Horkheimer #Eclipse of Reason #reason #rationality #perception #objectivity #language

[salamanderinspace]

At some point it is important to challenge the assertion that the way people engage with art reveals some deep truth about their values or even their conventions because it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Like I get being scared that the popularity of a movie or book is Revealing Something about the rest of the human race but it is not really revealing anything, certainly nothing unified. There's no way of guessing why people give their attention to Things. Even they themselves do not know.

#media criticism #objectivity #subjectivity #like this is what the woke mind virus crazies are scared of #that a story with gays signals a cultural consensus about how to live #it doesnt #it doesnt even signal real acceptance

[wayti-blog]

Dogmas of every kind put assertion in the place of reason and give rise to more contention, bitterness, and want of charity than any other influence in human affairs.

Arthur Conan Doyle

#arthur conan doyle #quotes #dogmatism #thinking #open mind #truthseeking #question #observation #experience #research #critical thinking #assertion #opinion #subjectivity #objectivity #conflict #polarization #society #humanity

[thoughtportal]

#tweet #tweets #twitter #journalism #objectivism #objectivity #police violence #police brutality