Ecurb

You are the one giving a bogus, strawman explanation of my position. I don't "continually deride" my country; I don't claim it is beyond help, and I d...

One can love one's homeland and be critical of it, and object to its policies or leaders. Leaving is cowardly. The lack of "nuance" and seeing "what t...

This is what you're talking about. I never said MAGA supporters want to return to a segregated society -- I said they seem to think America was "great...

Maybe it's not so easy to move back to Africa. The boat fare costs money. Besides, just because people don't move doesn't mean they aren't oppressed. ...

Let's see: you've never heard of Marcus Garvey, but it is MY view of history that is "utter garbage"? Did I get that right? Also, you appear to think ...

Did you ever hear of Marcus Garvey (or other back to Africa movements)? Neither was the U.S., despite the rose-colored glasses through which MAGA seem...

Back before the civil war, slave owners used to claim that slaves were better off than Africans who had remained in Africa. Did that make it true? Did...

Let's see: Trump granted refugee status to white South Africans, but denied it to people of color who were far more in need. Trump wants to kick Ilhan...

I explained myself in my next post, which you quoted in part. What era do you think MAGA supporters consider "great"?

You are not emulating your namesake, Athena, who was a virgin, childless goddess and (if I remember correctly) beat up Ares in the Iliad. Men ARE men ...

I haven't looked at the stats, but back in the day husbands could beat their wives and that was not a "crime". Now that it is, that might be one reaso...

Does it? What does it add to our understanding of moral persuasion? Once again, so what? If multi-level explanations are compatible --and if physical ...

So our brains are not our "selves"? WE might as well argue that since our bodies are made up of atoms, and since atoms and atomic reactions control ev...

That's not what I "claimed", although I think both Trump and many of his MAGA supporters are racists. What I claimed was that the era many MAGA suppor...

Chickens can. Well, they can't preach. Of course all our actions are correlated to genetic and environmental factors. Our thoughts involve neurons fir...

When was the era of America/s 'greatness" to which the acronym refers? And weren't the pictures of the Obamas as apes posted on Trump's Truth Social b...

Oh, really? What about these guys: https://www.coolcatholics.org/cephalophores-6-saints-who-carried-their-own-heads/

Nothing I wrote implied that labor unions were tools of oppression, or that white men getting paid is a bad thing, although those unions that denied m...

What constitutes our "true self"? Aren't all of our interactions with others performances? If we are students, or have jobs, don't our professional ro...

Polonius did say, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Of course Polonius w...

Being "true" to others means being loyal and constant, reliable, and adhering to vows and promises. Does your own morality suggest compliance? Aren't ...

It's tougher to be true to other people than to be true to yourself.

What if your soul's integrity is to, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Then you are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Your desire for solitude is in c...

Of course our environment and experiences and biology influence our choices. How could it be otherwise? That's not what we mean by "free". "Free" mean...

If nothing else, the age of exploration exposed Europeans to cultures with which they had previously been unfamiliar -- including pre-civilization soc...

Not only were simple societies more egalitarian, but they were also healthier. Average height (a reasonable measure of health) decreased by 3-4" with ...

I disagree. A society in which 51% prosper and 49% starve does not represent a "massive achievement", nor did the U.S. of the '50s and '60s. Besides, ...

We've had this argument before. Foreknowing the outcome does not preclude free will. The sentence, "I freely chose to go to the store yesterday," is c...

Perhaps the past admired by progressives is "mythical" -- but so is the past conservatives admire. Both pick and choose. "Make America Great Again" wo...

"Progressives" often laud the pasts of indigenous peoples: matrilineal and egalitarian Native Americans, for example. Personally, I dislike the label ...

In the post to which Philosophim took umbrage, when I described Ecurb as, "Noble, kindly Ecurb (who is also brilliant and handsome)" was I presenting ...

. "Bully"? This is nonsense. I was trying to write a mildly entertaining post that was also on point. You must be thin-skinned indeed to think it cons...

Examples of situations in which "manipulative language" is clearly the only morally correct choice prove that manipulative language is not evil ipso f...

Well, we can define words however we want to, as long as we agree. I'd say that "a fact is a statement that can be proven or verified through evidence...

Wrong. The subtle distinction is that "Pluto exists" is a fact; "Pluto is a planet" was a "truth", but no longer is. The description "planet" is an in...

"Truth" and "facts" are not synonyms. Facts are objective; truth involves an interpretation of facts and is inevitably subjective. A teacher lecturing...

On the contrary. Since you don't know what constitutes "perfect love" or "perfect knowledge" you are applying your imperfect notions of love and moral...

Here in the U.S., we've become fatter.

I understand what you are arguing. I'm afraid you don't understand me (despite the clarity of my position). One additional point: omnipotent and omnis...

Fortitude is logically impossible without suffering. If the positive value of fortitude is greater than the negative value of suffering, then a benevo...

It doesn't sanctify it, but it might justify it. Fortitude (one of the seven virtues of the Medieval Church) is defined as "courage in pain or adversi...

Humans have evolved. It's just not very noticeable. Evolution is a gradual process. Everything that happens was once almost infinitely unlikely. What ...

You continually ascribe "arguments" to me which I have not made. Occasionally, suffering begets joy. or courage. Not always. There's no "false dichoto...

Let's see. All living things suffer and die. That is the "sentient condition" (those of us who prefer plain English to pretentious jargon might prefer...

Well, yes it does mean rejecting the entire condition, since suffering and death are universal portions of the human condition. Your point would be li...

Suffering and death are part of the human condition. You are contradicting yourself. If you regret being born, why do you object to dying? That makes ...

If courage is a virtue people can freely choose to eschew it, just as they can freely choose to avoid being kind, compassionate, law-abiding, and forg...

Many, if not most, cultures in the past had witchcraft taboos and killed witches. It is true that the witch-killing craze in Europe between 1520 and 1...

This is quite obviously incorrect. Although there were some societies in which women enjoyed "independence and autonomy", there were many others in wh...

I'll go along with this. Sometimes, though, there are "necessary evils". If we value courage or adventure, suffering is a necessary evil, although, of...