Re: Frankfurt School (Re: What does an evolutionist actually believe?)


"Sylvia Knörr" <Sylvia.Knoerr_NoSpam_@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dmarjq$nv5$02$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>

>> Excuse me if I made it sound like a BAD example.
>
> No problem. It could as well be a comprehension problem on MY side. Since
> English isn't my mother tongue, I sometimes miss the subtleties.

At this point, your English is far better than my German ever was. (see
below)

> I was just making an
>> example: we tend to mate-preference those who are very similar but with a
>> bit of difference. It's good for the gene pool, which apparently has one
> end
>> that is very shallow.
>
> What does that mean, "one end that is very shallow"?

It was a pun on the word "pool" and two of its meanings, implying that the
gene pool is like a swimming pool. Most swimming pools have a shallow end
for the young, the old, the weak, and those who've not learned to swim. The
gene pool has a shallow end where genetic variety is seriously limited.

>
>> It is interesting, however, that some of the most crowded of people;
>> e.g.,
>> the Japanese, have managed to live without having serious
>> person-to-person
>> violence (aside from the occasional civil war) while less-crowded
> cultures;
>> e.g., America, have on-going problems with p2p violence. The reason, here
>> again, I think, is the underlying cultural sense that the society (the
> band,
>> the group) is more important than the individual. Thus we can see how
>> cultures can become counter-productive at a very basic level, even when
> the
>> tendency and counter-productivity can easily be seen.
>
> The Japanese are a "face" culture, for Japanese people it is very
> important
> to "save face", and the public display of aggression is one way to LOSE
> face. So maybe it is not only the group bondages which lead to the high
> degree of discipline in the Japanese society (as well as several other
> Asian
> societies).
> Japanese have tight rules of etiquette and arrangements just to avoid
> embarrassing situations. Of course, that's just ONE aspect of the full
> package of reasons why Eastern and Western societies are quite different.

Let me think about this for a day or two, please.

>
>> For which I am grateful.
>
> Thanks, I take this for a compliment! :-)

It was meant as such.


>> BTW, and apropos of nothing -- which day of the calendar is "Bitt und
>> Bett
>> Tag"?
>
> LOL. You mean "Buß- und Bettag" (literally: day of penance and prayer).
> It's
> a Protestant holiday in November (no fixed day), and it used to be a
> national holiday until the 90ies, but now it's no longer work free (except
> in Saxony). Like most holidays in November, it is a "quiet" holiday, when
> people are expected to observe meditation and spiritual purification.
> This year it was November 16th.
> P.S: "Bitt und Bett Tag" would literally mean "day of petition and bed"
> :-))

It's been some thirty years since I've written or spoken German at all. My
skills are seriously deteriorated.

Then again, if you knew my second ex-wife, you could see how "petition" and
"bed" might actually go together. ;>



.

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