A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
This thread certainly is full of interesting takes.
"People who get called stupid are just the result of the luck of the draw"
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NOOOO I WANNA CALL PEOPLE STUPID HOW DARE YOU BAN WORDS PEOPLE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE ASSHOLES"
Oh look another war on words, surely there is nothing else to focus attention on
If one values the well-being of people, and if one has time and resources to be on Lemmy, I'd say reflecting upon one's conduct in the world is a fine place to put attention in.
If one values the well-being of people
Yes, of course they stay, because there are stupid, lazy, crazy idiots. need words for them too.
You don't believe in free will, OP? Just curious.
No.
Why not, if I may ask?
So far as I have been shown:
People ask not to be born.
People ask not to be born to the parents they are blessed or cursed with.
People ask not for the environment within which their formative formative years occur.
So far as I have been shown, no angel descents from the heavens to bestow upon everyone equally the magical gift of just knowing right from wrong. Indeed, the very idea of right and wrong are wholly dependent on the circumstance of one's birth. Did their mother whisper them tales of evil men who would lay with another, or did a kindly neighbor teach them the value of kindness and friendship? Or were they beset by men addled by inherited hatred and were they taught to wield a gun before they even knew love? 'Tis true most people will know pain from pleasure, but even what you perceive as pain and what as pleasure depends upon how you formed before you set eyes on the world. As we share most other features that make us human, we can assume what hurts you will hurt another, what pleases you will please another - but there is ever an exception to every rule. It is but a human tendency to associate most pleasure with good, and most pain as evil. Useful one to be sure, if one values the well-being of one's kin. But an universal truth it is not.
If you say some people turn to evil no matter how they were taught: how then could they choose to be different? If you say some people turn kind regardless of any suffering they had to endure: how then could they have chosen otherwise?
Furthermore, you yourself do not even know the nature of the next thought before it has already revealed itself. Think now of an animal.
Did you know what animal would manifest in your mind before it already found purchase within it?
If you say you may deliberate a thought before a choice is made, how did the choice to deliberate come about? You do not know if you will ponder a choice for an eternity before you have already done so. You may say "I'll think about it" but you do not know if you have thought about it, before you have thought about it. You did not choose the tendency. And if you say, you chose to learn: how did you know you were going to choose to learn, before you were learning it?
No, I do not believe in free will. It is but an artifact of ideologies that cater to our more base desire of being utterly beyond reproach of other women and men. It pleases the zealot in our hearts who wants to think of itself as the paragon of virtue. For if there is no absolute good or evil, and no inherent ability to choose one from the other, how would it partake in the joy of judging others to be lesser than it? It could not. It would have to see itself as no better than the most heinous of criminals, but for the circumstances of its life. This is the bitterest of pills to swallow, and thus even those of us most conscious to these realities gag when faced with that which truly offends us. Which is why this is no mere lever you pull in your brain and have it be set once and for all. No, it takes lifelong vigilance, facing the zealot every time it reaches for the gavel and fixing it with your unrelenting attention, until it recedes back into the darkest corner of your heart. There is may merely be an advisor to your desire to do good in the world, but no more.
Now then, you're only upset about this because you were programmed to be. Those people calling other aren't bad for calling someone stupid or lazy if they don't have free will.
If you assume free will doesn't exist, evil or good doesn't either. Murder or curing cancer, it's like the sun shining, and inavoidable, neutral fact. Of course you may dismiss this as rambling idiocy, but I won't hold it against a clockwork automaton.
Those people calling other aren’t bad for calling someone stupid or lazy if they don’t have free will.
You have grasped it.
If you assume free will doesn’t exist, evil or good doesn’t either.
Correct.
Murder or curing cancer, it’s like the sun shining, and inavoidable, neutral fact.
Correct.
Of course you may dismiss this as rambling idiocy, but I won’t hold it against a clockwork automaton.
No, you have grasped exactly what I said, at least on the level of the intellect. I realize of course you resist as it goes against what you merely WISH to be true. This I cannot do anything about, as you said. But you have understood perfectly. Well done!
Well, this conversation is really pointless then. Kind of embarrassing that the universe compelled you to post this drivel regarding a fight against nothing, but it can't be helped.
I wonder why you insist on a language of agency if it isn't what you believe.
Oh if only humanity did have an universally agreed upon meaning and point, so much strife could be avoided. Alas, such a thing does not exist in reality, but only in the minds of people. Those ever malleable and shifting minds.
I do as I do because because I am compelled, indeed! Because I wish to see less cruelty in the world. It is simplicity itself. And if I spoke in full truth, I would never say anything at all.
Cruelty implies a choice. It doesn't exist in a world without free will. So you've succeeded, seeing the world is free of cruelty. What is next for you?
Cruelty is merely a label we put upon an action we find harmful. Like every word, it is made up.
No word is the thing it points to. Except perhaps the word, "word" itself. Every word I have written is a small lie.
One does not go around licking recipes in order to taste the dish.
Well, then use the words you mean. Cruelty was clearly an incorrect one. We can't exchange ideas effectively of you refuse to use words with their assigned meaning.
Please feel free to get familiar with semantics.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semantics
Now if you have an actual argument for why free will exists, please do argue that. Else, I have said as much as needed.
I didn't ever claim free will existed. Just congratulated you on your success.
Now if you want a world free of strife, that's more of a task even in a pre-determined universe.
Could this comment then maybe affect the chain of your future thoughts, and result in you seeking a psychologist?
You suggest I see a psychologist, yet psychology confirms my point: we are the products of our neurobiology and our environments.
If you believe there is a part of the human mind that exists outside of cause and effect, I’d love to see the clinical study that located it.
That makes sense.
I get what you're saying, but it's quite difficult when people are constantly doing so many stupid, stupid things.
Yeah exactly, the mentioned words like 'stupid' or 'lazy' aren't exclusive to describing neurodivergency at all. In fact I'd argue that's a tiny minority of their use.
I think in most cases people are using stupid to describe the action or thing a person is doing and not the person themselves, people are doing stupid stuff all the time, it's both bad and good of course, because often times the stupid things can be delightful as well. I guess it's just a part of being human but it's so very frustrating that we rely on some of those people to vote when they have chose to not take life seriously or think about the consequences for other people.
You can be autistic, ADHD, have some horrible upbringing, have some other genetic thing.. you can have any of those things, but you're still accountable for your actions.
Knowing that someone has those things absolutely helps increase empathy and understanding and assist them with those things.
But a killer is still a killer, even if they did it while suffering with other issues.
Accountability? Yes, accountability is good. It’s proper and necessary to address harmful actions and ensure steps are taken to prevent recurrence. This is entirely possible, and likely more effective, without resorting to insult.
Insults are just punitive justice in a social context: a counterproductive way to discharge outrage rather than foster change. It is to temporarily soothe the egoic zealot lurking within the hearts of all. The research is clear: whether in criminal justice or interpersonal conflict, rehabilitative approaches (clear boundaries, restorative dialogue, support) reduce harm more effectively than punishment alone.
To believe that hate may be remedied with further hate is to mistake fire for water.
Ah, first world boredom.
Stupid, idiot, crazy, and lazy(?) have not been used for mental health long enough that their meaning has diverged significantly enough that they are no longer comparable to words like retard.
It seems like every single person these days is neurodivergent so I just treat them normal. I guess thats normalising it.
When we call people stupid/lazy we aren't describing them as a person its usually describing their behaviour or actions in the moment. If an "normal" person doesnt want to get out of bed thats lazy. If an adhd person doesnt want to get out of bed thats still lazy.
I still suffer from the Dunning Kruger Effect...
I'm not one to call people names with the intention of hurting their feelings, and I don't even believe in free will to begin with. But if I were to call someone an idiot, it wouldn't come from the assumption that they actively choose to be one or that they could choose otherwise. No, they're helplessly an idiot - and I'm just making a factual statement about the world.
Add to the list:
Asshole, cretin, piece of shit, maniac, psychopath, pedophile, pervert, jerk, narcissist, self-centered prick, dickhead, douchebag, and incel.
There's probably some history behind why people act the way they do. Maybe they were molested as a child, so that's why they find sex with kids appealing.
Edit: I just remembered I made a similar comment in an Ask Lemmy thread recently.
This is why I try to be mindful of using those words. They're really stuck in there but I understand that it would be hypocritical of me to call for understanding towards mental health and cognitive issues and then fault people for not having the cognitive capacity I think they "should" have.
I definitely fail frequently because I get angry when people spout total nonsense, even hateful stuff. I try not to let that get the better of me though.