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Would you rather: Stab a photograph of your family five times with a sharp knife Or stick your hand in a bowl of live cockroaches?
- Thread starter Jeremy
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See, this is more superstitious than actually not wanting to do it. You're assigning some kind of ethereal value to the idea of "someone's corpse was here" as opposed to the action of choosing to trample a spot where you actually know someone was buried.
The first choices are all easy OKs. Seems oddly weighted.
Stabbing a pic does nothing.
Manson's pajamas would be too small for me to wear as anything but a headband so sure.
Grinding my heels into dirt is no big.
Stabbing a pic does nothing.
Manson's pajamas would be too small for me to wear as anything but a headband so sure.
Grinding my heels into dirt is no big.
I mean, we do have control over feelings, or at least how we respond to feelings.
Fair point, live cockroaches aren't really a major threat (to my knowledge cockroaches aren't likely to be harmful to humans besides potential to spread disease). Still, I'd say the first option is lower risk of any harm to myself.
Option 1 for all. They're all "mind over matter" things that logic can easily dispel. Ain't no thing.
1,1,2
I've waited 2 hours in line for a Disney and Universal ride in the past. I can do 3 hours at the DMV.
And same answer with everyone else. Just seems a bit disrespectful to dig my heel into an unmarked grave
I've waited 2 hours in line for a Disney and Universal ride in the past. I can do 3 hours at the DMV.
And same answer with everyone else. Just seems a bit disrespectful to dig my heel into an unmarked grave
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No I'm saying there's no value at all, you do it all the time without realizing it, you didn't care when you were walking around before, why care now, shrug your shoulders and move on.
Also the first one I've certainly already fulfilled the requirements in that as a teen I've made collage out of family photos, cutting out individuals, easily 'stabbing' more than 5 times with an exacto knife in the process. There is nothing written in the questions about malice being required, I am technically correct which is the best kind of correct. Again, I'm probably not the target audience.
Yeah, there are probably graves everywhere, and I've probably inadvertently walked on my fair share, but there's a marked difference between walking over an otherwise innocuous patch of land versus specifically going out of my way to visibly deface an area that I've been informed is a grave.
Again, the issue isn't that I'm concerned about the body. It doesn't care. I'm concerned about somebody else who may value the grave, or the grave's condition. I don't want some poor family to visit grandpa or whatever and find that somebody fucked it over, or for the maintenance guy to have to patch things up. I'll take the hit and waste my own time.
Malice isn't required, but malice can be inferred by other parties, is what I'm getting at.
"You do it all the time without realizing it" is an assumption that it is walking over where someone died that is considered disrespectful and not the act of deliberately choosing to do so. Again, why is pissing on someone's grave a sign of contempt for someone? If you've ever pissed outside before, you've probably already done it! It's not that you're doing it. It's that you're choosing to do it on purpose.
Deliberate vs unknowing is a very good point. I think at some point, we start to get deep into why our morals exist, which is maybe too philosophical for the moment :P
So yeah, maybe that last question could have been clearer - or maybe the nickel thing should have been the consequence for that. I am still super curious how the questions map to other beliefs, and how other people thought of that question.
I'd almost rather stab an actual family member than stick my hand in a bowl of roaches. Especially extended family, I have a few uncles I'm not super fond of.
I do not like bugs.
I do not like bugs.
Agreed that the unmarked grave thing seems too malicious, and the alternative too dull to seem particularly off-putting. I'm unconcerned with symbolism and superstition as in the first two examples but the third causes enough of an empathetic response that I would probably just go stand in line and play on my phone for a bit
I answered 2 for the last question. I guess it's not particularly meaningful but it does feel vaguely disrespectful somehow to screw with a person's grave, and honestly waiting at a government office is an inconvenience but not actually harmful or disgusting in the way cockroaches are. (Cockroaches aren't necessarily harmful but they are definitely disgusting.)
But I also don't really get what "grinding your heels" is really supposed to mean. Like, literally plant your heel into the soil above a person's grave and rotate it to make a grinding motion? I honestly don't know what else it could be but I also can't think of a reason why anyone would ever do this.
But I also don't really get what "grinding your heels" is really supposed to mean. Like, literally plant your heel into the soil above a person's grave and rotate it to make a grinding motion? I honestly don't know what else it could be but I also can't think of a reason why anyone would ever do this.
Yeah. If it was "walk over a grave" or "lie down on a grave", I'd choose those options, 100%. Even if the grave was marked. It's just a really ill-considered question.
I'd pay you money to leave the house for 3 hours to stare at people at the DMV right now. LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
Its easy to break this down into physical vs. psychological torment, and it must feel really good to announce you'd handily stab a photo of your own family before putting your hand in the bowl of cockroaches because "its just a photo." But I don't think its that simple.
A photo of your family is special (provided you actually like your family) because the bond of family is sacred and worth something. Charles Manson's pajamas are a symbol of an insane man who did something evil. An unmarked grave is a symbol of the sacred peace which comes with death, which we all eventually deserve.
Each of the column A options are symbols of something we use to underpin the fabric of a polite, cooperative society. They might be the "easy" or "irrational" choices, but it is our respect for sometimes choosing the harder path and actually believing in something beyond ourselves which makes us distinctly human and not, say, Liberatarians. (Also I need to go to the DMV soon anyway, so might as well multitask.)
A photo of your family is special (provided you actually like your family) because the bond of family is sacred and worth something. Charles Manson's pajamas are a symbol of an insane man who did something evil. An unmarked grave is a symbol of the sacred peace which comes with death, which we all eventually deserve.
Each of the column A options are symbols of something we use to underpin the fabric of a polite, cooperative society. They might be the "easy" or "irrational" choices, but it is our respect for sometimes choosing the harder path and actually believing in something beyond ourselves which makes us distinctly human and not, say, Liberatarians. (Also I need to go to the DMV soon anyway, so might as well multitask.)
I think some of you are overthinking this. Sure, the grave one could be disrespectful (although, there are many graves in london that are in complete disrepair, abandoned, overgown... you grinding your heel would be insignificant), but the other two? There is no respect in taking the "harder path" there, they are just material things (unless the photo cannot be replaced, pre-digital and is cherished). The symbolism of them is only what you project on to them yourself.
I get the point the political scientist is trying to make, but it sure reinforces my reductive take that whether or not someone is susceptible to conspiracy theories depends on whether or not they're a dumbass. Like, yeah, a dumbass would consider all the first acts with a "high symbolic cost" as risky. Because they're a dumbass
LOL. My state's DMV offices are closed due to COVID. Well, it's appointment only, but they're booked solid, it's impossible to get in. I need to go there at some point soon to get a designation added to my driver's license. When I'm finally allowed to go, I'd be happy to accept donations for doing so.
1, 1, 1 or 1, 1, 2 depending on my mood tbh.
Plus the third option is one where I wouldn't necessarily blame people for judging me.
Plus the third option is one where I wouldn't necessarily blame people for judging me.
I'm simply making a case for why symbols are important, and while its mad easy (and probably a necessary skill) to switch off the part of your brain responsible for acknowledging them, cultural symbols are still an important part of our collective human experience that no one should feel shame in holding reverence for.
I was just watching a WWII documentary about how the Nazis brought out the same railcar—"Compiègne Wagon"—used to sign the 1918 Armistice again for the 1940 Armistice, where the roles were completely reversed. If you were a French citizen at the time you could tell yourself it was just a projected symbolism, but the emotional trigger there is palpable and raw.
If you get an emotional boost from not stabbing a photo of your own kin, well, irrational or not the reaction is real and its pretty human.
and pick up the nickel with the bowl, spit on it, leave it at the DMV line for 3 hours then take a photo of your hand
Roaches, even a for a family of strangers. Unless that family the strangers from the movie the strangers.
1 1 2
Doesn't feel right fucking around with a grave like that, I can catch up with my Netflix queue at the dmv, so no biggie
Doesn't feel right fucking around with a grave like that, I can catch up with my Netflix queue at the dmv, so no biggie
1, 2, 1
I put a nickel into my mouth as a child, I'm still alive. Stabby stab stab that photo and I'm sure the unmarked grave ghost will be fine with the disrespect if they heard the alternative was waiting 3 hrs in line.
I put a nickel into my mouth as a child, I'm still alive. Stabby stab stab that photo and I'm sure the unmarked grave ghost will be fine with the disrespect if they heard the alternative was waiting 3 hrs in line.
I'd do 1 or 2 for the first and third, maybe just 2 for the third, because big whoop waiting in line, but I'm not putting a floor coin in my mouth (ignoring the fact the floor is probably one of the cleanest places that coin has been).
i almost feel the grave is the worst answer.
the photo - whatever, it's your family.
the pyjamas - whatever, it's your body.
but to desecrate the grave of a stranger, in a highly suspicious manner, potentially causing heartache to the surviving family, all because you didn't want to line up for 3 hours? you might not be susceptible to conspiracy theory but you might be a fuckin psychopath.
the photo - whatever, it's your family.
the pyjamas - whatever, it's your body.
but to desecrate the grave of a stranger, in a highly suspicious manner, potentially causing heartache to the surviving family, all because you didn't want to line up for 3 hours? you might not be susceptible to conspiracy theory but you might be a fuckin psychopath.
Am I the only one who interpreted "grind my heels into an unmarked grave" as some metaphor for dying young for a stubborn reason?