This is an ironically anti-intellectual way to engage with it. Magic isnt real, but knowledge on the natural world and medicine has been maintained through cultural practices like “witchcraft” in the past. Even beyond that, there’s knowledge gained for young women in a patriarchal society when they develop relationships with other women and identify with a group that is explicitly counter-cultural on the basis of women empowerment.
Knowledge isn’t just facts, it’s skills and introspection. Belief in something “bullshit” is often necessary to learn something that is not “bullshit.” We teach kids scientifically inaccurate information when they are young because they dont have a basis of knowledge that would enable more nuanced and accurate understandings. They “believe” in something like three states of matter and two genders/sexes because we judge that as a necessary belief to foster the skills that will enable them to learn the reality of these things later.
If they gained self - understanding and empowerment through this phase, then it isn’t bullshit. You should challenge this doomerism.
Belief in something “bullshit” is often necessary to learn something that is not “bullshit.”
I fundamentally disagree.
I actually don’t think we should teach bullshit and call it “foundational”. I don’t think that’s helpful at all. If you are teaching kids states of matter, they can count higher than three, and understand that the class wont cover every kind of matter.
If one’s “foundational” education ends up directly contradicting advanced education, it ends up being a way to cement simplified and conservative views of the world. A la “there are two genders” shit that you mention from conservatives and TERFs. If your education system is fostering that kind of mentality its a reflection of that education system’s failure.
Even beyond that, there’s knowledge gained for young women in a patriarchal society when they develop relationships with other women and identify with a group that is explicitly counter-cultural on the basis of women empowerment.
I’d rather women get together based on a shared love of science and engineering.
If they’d rather dress up and act as witches they should get into theater or become goths. Or just celebrate Halloween year round.
If they gained self - understanding and empowerment through this phase, then it isn’t bullshit.
But they didn’t. They obtained a new form of constructed collective delusion & superstition. They’re forming just another arbitrary aesthetics-based in-group to sneer at out-groups from.
I’m going you ask you how you would explain fermionic condensates to a child who does not even know what the states of matter are let alone subatomic particles and quantum states; what quantum means even. (Do you know what it is?) I think it’s obvious to all of us why we simplify things for them even if it’s inaccurate for professionals.
Also, you entirely ignored any reality around the preservation of natural knowledge through these cultural practices, which I mentioned to encourage you to also consider how wildly racist this stance is. Countless cultures accurately record their histories and knowledge through practices that dont necessarily conform to the Euro-settler-colonial imagination of knowledge or evidence.
Education systems in liberal states don’t prime children to subscribe to distortions because they simplify things, they do that through obscuring the skills to develop that knowledge and through the systemic enforcement of industrious teaching pedagogies that objectifies the students as labour. Yes, that fails to educate students adequately to grow into intellectual adults, but that isn’t the purpose of those systems. To conflate necessary elements of growth and education with politically motivated education systems is once again ironically anti-intellectual.
Most of your comment is obviously unreasonable, and I think it’s safe to give you the grace to assume that you understand this as well. No, women who get into a witch phase aren’t guaranteed to be anti-intellectual or believe in magic as they get older and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it does besides your vibes. I called you a doomer because this is a doomer narrative where alternative ways of knowing are not only discarded, but actively constructed as pathological. I’ve used “ironically” more in these few comments than I have anywhere else in the past year; but this way of thinking is ironically superstitious.
Understand that I’m arguing in good faith, but I am both annoyed and intrigued in equal measure by you. I used to debate in a dedicated invite-only political forum and there was an anarcho primitivist that was frustratingly low activity (though perhaps for understandable reasons…), I place you in a similar category. Maybe you can bring about some understanding in me of your thinking, but I doubt it.
I’m going you ask you how you would explain fermionic condensates to a child who does not even know what the states of matter are let alone subatomic particles and quantum states; what quantum means even. (Do you know what it is?) I think it’s obvious to all of us why we simplify things for them even if it’s inaccurate for professionals.
Irritating reading comprehension. I specifically stated that you can teach kids there are many states of matter but that you are only going to be learning about some of them.
Also, you entirely ignored any reality around the preservation of natural knowledge through these cultural practices, which I mentioned to encourage you to also consider how wildly racist this stance is.
Cultural preservation can be done in many ways. That said, if cultural preservation encourages the belief in woo, its harmful, full stop. I apply this logic to all cultural preservation, including my own or my ancestors. This stance is not a nationalist, or tribal, or ethnocentric. What stance exactly is racist here and how?
Understand that I do want to preserve cultural information, but in an archivist’s way.
Countless cultures accurately record their histories and knowledge through practices that dont necessarily conform to the Euro-settler-colonial imagination of knowledge or evidence.
What is your point here?
Education systems in liberal states don’t prime children to subscribe to distortions because they simplify things, they do that through obscuring the skills to develop that knowledge and through the systemic enforcement of industrious teaching pedagogies that objectifies the students as labour.
They wouldn’t even teach culture or history at all if that were true. Our education also has a history of teaching nationalist myths and lies. And some of the teaching is just lacking due to poor prioritization of funds to pay teachers and provide resources from short term thinking. I work in a community center with an after school program and we are next door to a charter school. The charter school is egregiously terrible at teaching their kids absolutely anything and its boast about its “alternative” teaching styles. Alternatives are not always superior, even if the main methods are lacking or failing.
Do capitalists want education to be completely stripped down to “Teach them to be good little workers”? Absolutely, but they’ve not done that yet… though they’re certainly working on it. Though TBH, if the charter school next door is any indication they wont even be taught how to be a good laborer.
Yes, that fails to educate students adequately to grow into intellectual adults, but that isn’t the purpose of those systems. To conflate necessary elements of growth and education with politically motivated education systems is once again ironically anti-intellectual.
Teaching incorrect things to later correct is not necessary. How am I wrong here?
Most of your comment is obviously unreasonable, and I think it’s safe to give you the grace to assume that you understand this as well. No, women who get into a witch phase aren’t guaranteed to be anti-intellectual or believe in magic as they get older and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it does besides your vibes.
My comment is impatient perhaps. I’ve already argued in-person about this sort of thing multiple times through out my life and even if I remain civil usually the other side starts getting unpleasant and defensive and my patience for this shit is very low at this point. So you’ll have to excuse me if I seem rude now but its born of learned experiences.
If some even minority percentage of people who get into astrology start believing the stars actually dictate personalities for instance than I have no patience for that either. Witchcraft stuff for me is just another example of that, only perhaps more “advanced”.
That said, I’m not some authoritarian. If someone wants to waste their time on that gibberish that’s their prerogative. I also however will look down on them, avoid them, and generally not trust them. I don’t owe woo-believers the time of day. You don’t owe me any either.
I called you a doomer because this is a doomer narrative where alternative ways of knowing are not only discarded, but actively constructed as pathological. I’ve used “ironically” more in these few comments than I have anywhere else in the past year; but this way of thinking is ironically superstitious.
“Alternative ways of knowing” Are you anti-empiricist?
Okay, that’s fine you’ve been in “debates” in internet forums, I’m actually an academic who writes about cultural and social norms, and knowledge production professionally.
I’m not going to engage with anything here because its obvious you aren’t a serious person but very much want to be recognised as one without the work. Nothing here is honest and you’ve chosen to argue that I’m just stupid; both good signs that you are very dedicated to your anti-intellectualism.
This has not been a “debate,” this was me explaining a useful skill to you. Some honest advice: stop feeling satisfied with yourself just because you feel smart on the internet. You’re an adult and nobody is going to force you to grow into something better.
No its not. Belief in bullshit has negative consequences for the individual, their friends and family, and society as a whole.
Now, is it comparatively less harmful than some other things they could believe in? Absolutely but its still bad.
This is an ironically anti-intellectual way to engage with it. Magic isnt real, but knowledge on the natural world and medicine has been maintained through cultural practices like “witchcraft” in the past. Even beyond that, there’s knowledge gained for young women in a patriarchal society when they develop relationships with other women and identify with a group that is explicitly counter-cultural on the basis of women empowerment.
Knowledge isn’t just facts, it’s skills and introspection. Belief in something “bullshit” is often necessary to learn something that is not “bullshit.” We teach kids scientifically inaccurate information when they are young because they dont have a basis of knowledge that would enable more nuanced and accurate understandings. They “believe” in something like three states of matter and two genders/sexes because we judge that as a necessary belief to foster the skills that will enable them to learn the reality of these things later.
If they gained self - understanding and empowerment through this phase, then it isn’t bullshit. You should challenge this doomerism.
I fundamentally disagree.
I actually don’t think we should teach bullshit and call it “foundational”. I don’t think that’s helpful at all. If you are teaching kids states of matter, they can count higher than three, and understand that the class wont cover every kind of matter.
If one’s “foundational” education ends up directly contradicting advanced education, it ends up being a way to cement simplified and conservative views of the world. A la “there are two genders” shit that you mention from conservatives and TERFs. If your education system is fostering that kind of mentality its a reflection of that education system’s failure.
I’d rather women get together based on a shared love of science and engineering.
If they’d rather dress up and act as witches they should get into theater or become goths. Or just celebrate Halloween year round.
But they didn’t. They obtained a new form of constructed collective delusion & superstition. They’re forming just another arbitrary aesthetics-based in-group to sneer at out-groups from.
Did you read my profile or something?
I’m going you ask you how you would explain fermionic condensates to a child who does not even know what the states of matter are let alone subatomic particles and quantum states; what quantum means even. (Do you know what it is?) I think it’s obvious to all of us why we simplify things for them even if it’s inaccurate for professionals.
Also, you entirely ignored any reality around the preservation of natural knowledge through these cultural practices, which I mentioned to encourage you to also consider how wildly racist this stance is. Countless cultures accurately record their histories and knowledge through practices that dont necessarily conform to the Euro-settler-colonial imagination of knowledge or evidence.
Education systems in liberal states don’t prime children to subscribe to distortions because they simplify things, they do that through obscuring the skills to develop that knowledge and through the systemic enforcement of industrious teaching pedagogies that objectifies the students as labour. Yes, that fails to educate students adequately to grow into intellectual adults, but that isn’t the purpose of those systems. To conflate necessary elements of growth and education with politically motivated education systems is once again ironically anti-intellectual.
Most of your comment is obviously unreasonable, and I think it’s safe to give you the grace to assume that you understand this as well. No, women who get into a witch phase aren’t guaranteed to be anti-intellectual or believe in magic as they get older and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that it does besides your vibes. I called you a doomer because this is a doomer narrative where alternative ways of knowing are not only discarded, but actively constructed as pathological. I’ve used “ironically” more in these few comments than I have anywhere else in the past year; but this way of thinking is ironically superstitious.
Understand that I’m arguing in good faith, but I am both annoyed and intrigued in equal measure by you. I used to debate in a dedicated invite-only political forum and there was an anarcho primitivist that was frustratingly low activity (though perhaps for understandable reasons…), I place you in a similar category. Maybe you can bring about some understanding in me of your thinking, but I doubt it.
Irritating reading comprehension. I specifically stated that you can teach kids there are many states of matter but that you are only going to be learning about some of them.
Cultural preservation can be done in many ways. That said, if cultural preservation encourages the belief in woo, its harmful, full stop. I apply this logic to all cultural preservation, including my own or my ancestors. This stance is not a nationalist, or tribal, or ethnocentric. What stance exactly is racist here and how?
Understand that I do want to preserve cultural information, but in an archivist’s way.
What is your point here?
They wouldn’t even teach culture or history at all if that were true. Our education also has a history of teaching nationalist myths and lies. And some of the teaching is just lacking due to poor prioritization of funds to pay teachers and provide resources from short term thinking. I work in a community center with an after school program and we are next door to a charter school. The charter school is egregiously terrible at teaching their kids absolutely anything and its boast about its “alternative” teaching styles. Alternatives are not always superior, even if the main methods are lacking or failing.
Do capitalists want education to be completely stripped down to “Teach them to be good little workers”? Absolutely, but they’ve not done that yet… though they’re certainly working on it. Though TBH, if the charter school next door is any indication they wont even be taught how to be a good laborer.
Teaching incorrect things to later correct is not necessary. How am I wrong here?
My comment is impatient perhaps. I’ve already argued in-person about this sort of thing multiple times through out my life and even if I remain civil usually the other side starts getting unpleasant and defensive and my patience for this shit is very low at this point. So you’ll have to excuse me if I seem rude now but its born of learned experiences.
If some even minority percentage of people who get into astrology start believing the stars actually dictate personalities for instance than I have no patience for that either. Witchcraft stuff for me is just another example of that, only perhaps more “advanced”.
That said, I’m not some authoritarian. If someone wants to waste their time on that gibberish that’s their prerogative. I also however will look down on them, avoid them, and generally not trust them. I don’t owe woo-believers the time of day. You don’t owe me any either.
“Alternative ways of knowing” Are you anti-empiricist?
Okay, that’s fine you’ve been in “debates” in internet forums, I’m actually an academic who writes about cultural and social norms, and knowledge production professionally.
I’m not going to engage with anything here because its obvious you aren’t a serious person but very much want to be recognised as one without the work. Nothing here is honest and you’ve chosen to argue that I’m just stupid; both good signs that you are very dedicated to your anti-intellectualism.
This has not been a “debate,” this was me explaining a useful skill to you. Some honest advice: stop feeling satisfied with yourself just because you feel smart on the internet. You’re an adult and nobody is going to force you to grow into something better.
You’re a coward.
See, if you said it was grade A+ nonsense, then I’d be hurt.
Thank. You.
I was tryin to have good grace here
Best grace would not be to say something that makes the problem worse