this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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askchapo
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In general, do you not think you are better, even to a small degree, than people who you consider to be wrong?
That depends on a lot of factors, with the broad example of religion I wouldn't consider myself "better" than someone who is religious or spiritual just because I don't believe but I also don't necessarily think they're "wrong" for believing in a higher power. I don't think I'm superior just because I think what I think are the right things
I would consider myself a better person than someone who uses religion to justify bigotry or oppression like an evangelical looking to control women by banning abortion, and I think they're obviously wrong for wanting to do so, but that has more to do with their desire to control people's bodily autonomy than who/what they worship.
And not to get too annoying but it depends on what you mean when you say people I consider to be wrong. For a sillier example, I think people who like pineapple on pizza are wrong but that doesn't make me a better person.
I guess to sum it up I think there are times when I would consider myself a better person than someone who I view as being wrong, but that's not the only deciding factor and there are plenty of ways someone can be wrong that I wouldn't judge them for or consider them beneath me.
No, I do not consider that way of thinking to be compatible with being a good communist
I disagree, I think I and every person on this site is a better person than say, an IOF soldier, and I don’t think that’s a stretch to say.
Do you think an IOF soldier is just "someone you consider to be wrong"? they are fascist murderers
Bizarre thing to say in the context of this conversation
I also consider myself better than a Zionist who hasn't themselves killed anyone
In general I think being right is unquestionably better than being wrong
That isn't what you said, you asked if others think themselves better than people who are wrong
Do you consider yourself better than the masses? Most of them are not marxists, so are wrong about a lot of things
Dragging the israeli nazis into this is frankly ridiculous given that this is a thread about religion and not ethno-nationalism
I'm not separate from the masses. I am a part of most politically advanced section of the masses, which is indeed better than being a part of the most backwards sections of the masses, who are fascists and reactionaries.
Thinking something is correct or good simply because the masses believe it is the crudest form of tailism.
Also, I'm not the one who brought up Israel. I was merely responding to you
Seeing as you edited this in after i disengaged I will respond to it
Where did I say anything like that? I explicitly said that the non-marxist masses are wrong about a lot of things
And again, you specifically said think yourself better than
Is this some bad faith trolling attempt?
You posted your disengagment (which I respected by the way) while I was editing my comment.
I also don't know why you would think I'm attempting to troll you, when everything I've said has been perfectly civil, if not in agreement with you.
You asked if I consider myself better than the masses because they have incorrect views. And the answer is no because I am part of the masses. How can I be above the masses while being a part of them?
But neither does being part of the masses excuse incorrect views. It is demonstrably worse to be a reactionary than not. It is in fact better to be a Marxist and a communist. Seeking to justify yourself by reference to the incorrect views of the masses, as if backwards views are not something to be combatted, which itself requires a value judgment, is tailism.
This is why I think you are trolling me
Show me where i "justified myself by reference to the incorrect views of the masses"
Or does "think yourself better than someone else" mean something different to you?
Right here
What is your point if not to say that no value judgment ("better than") can be made against those sections of the masses with backwards views ("Most of them are not marxists, so are wrong about a lot of things")? You're not better than a fascist, simply because the masses include fascists? That's tailism my friend
Ok, I see the issue, I think we see the words "consider yourself better than" differently
To me thinking yourself better than someone is less about ideology and views and more something inherent, as in "This person is lesser because they believe in the wrong god, or worship the same god wrong"
I apologize for my tone earlier
Gotcha. I definitely see where you're coming from better now. I withdraw my accusation of tailism