{"id":5187,"date":"2021-05-02T10:07:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T15:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doxaweb.blog\/?p=5187"},"modified":"2021-05-02T10:07:51","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T15:07:51","slug":"oxymorons-and-the-science-of-being-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doxaweb.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/02\/oxymorons-and-the-science-of-being-human\/","title":{"rendered":"oxymorons and the science of being human"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This past year has been the Year of the Oxymoron:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flattening the Curve.
Social Distancing.
The New Normal.
Fake News.
Social Media.
Artificial Intelligence.
Political Discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in all seriosity: One of these oxymorons deserves special attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We asked people to engage in disengagement, coining the oxymoronic phrase\u00a0social distancing<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compliance has been remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure why we are surprised by the destruction of other people\u2019s property, violent speech, and other threatening and egocentric behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the appeals to science were appeals to technology, and very little attention was paid to the science of human behavior.\u00a0We are social creatures<\/strong><\/a>, and we were being asked to violate our nature in the pursuit of some greater good (putting aside the question of whether science suggested that the good in question was achievable or even beneficial). I\u2019m not sure why we expected that to come off without some serious repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To quote C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, \u201cWe castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know there were appeals to altruism in the lockdown (\u201cdo it for your neighbor\u201d or \u201cwe\u2019re all in this together\u201d or even \u201cyou\u2019re not pro-life if you don\u2019t comply\u201d). Instead of appealing to people\u2019s reason, however, or their better instincts, in many situations a play was made to activate a sense of shame in those who asked for a rational discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Bret Weinstein recently observed, we tend to punish people who introduce nuance into the conversation, excluding such people from our tribe as though they were spreading a moral contagion<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that\u2019s a trend that, if not put in check, does not bode well for the future of social change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a great temptation to say, \u2018But there is so much suffering in the world! \u2014 let\u2019s suspend the question of truth for a while. First let\u2019s get on with the great social tasks of liberation; then, one day, we will indulge in the luxury of the question of truth.\u2019 In fact, however, if we postpone the question of truth and declare it to be unimportant, we are emasculating man, depriving him of the very core of his human dignity. If there is no truth, everything is a matter of indifference. Then social order swiftly becomes compulsion, and participation becomes violation.\u201d (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,\u00a0Behold the Pierced One<\/em><\/a><\/strong>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past year has been the Year of the Oxymoron: Flattening the Curve.Social Distancing.The New Normal.Fake News.Social Media.Artificial Intelligence.Political Discourse. But in all seriosity: One of these oxymorons deserves special attention. We asked people to engage in disengagement, coining the oxymoronic phrase\u00a0social distancing. The compliance has been remarkable. I\u2019m not sure why we are surprised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,26,33,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-cs-lewis","category-human-life","category-moral-life","category-pope-benedict-xvi"],"yoast_head":"\noxymorons and the science of being human – doxaweb blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/doxaweb.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/02\/oxymorons-and-the-science-of-being-human\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"oxymorons and the science of being human – doxaweb blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past year has been the Year of the Oxymoron: Flattening the Curve.Social Distancing.The New Normal.Fake News.Social Media.Artificial Intelligence.Political Discourse. 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