Everything scary was invented by The Church

[Angel]

One thing that popped into my head recently that's "scary" and likely invented by "The Church": Fear of death.

Why do we have to fear death? It's an inevitable part of the human experience. No-one's getting outta here alive, so why do we have to be scared of the inevitable?

Is fear of death invented by religion?

I'd like to have a conversation with a human who hasn't had a fear of death for their entire life. Is that possible?

Once my kids are all settled with degrees and careers, and my parents are gone, and no one needs me around anymore, then I won't fear death.

There are a few old people around who are ready, who don't fear it anymore.

Who posted - either
A) God is an ### #### so no need to try for heaven
B) God is all-loving, no worries, everything will work out well for everyone.
C) Death is the end, peaceful sleep for all.

Nothing to worry about... but this life.

[alas]

I am cool with all that. I would add that the black/white dichotomy in how people think is difficult if not impossible for me to quantify or qualify. The black/white dichotomy about how people organize seems to be alarmingly extreme. Media is organized that way. Politics, college/trades, war/peace. People seem to be living in affirmation bubbles even if they don't think or agree with all the dogma and drama, they revel in it.

As for people and climate change, the credibility of people is distracting from the science and facts. Which, I am totally cool with for what it is worth. I like memes of Greta smoking cigarettes in a battery powered car in coal country. I drive an electric car but I damn sure don't think it is an environmental upgrade. I think the credibility of the arguments about these cars has made the transition a bit bumpy.

Without being vague, as I am accused, let me put it this way. I don't care much about recycling plastic and cans. I do whatever whenever it is convenient. That ain't cuz I hate the climate, it is because I have seen enough recycling centers to get the joke. I do like conservation. If people were concerned, truly, about the environment they would use the most environmentally effective cars and kitchens and tractors available - used ones or the ones they got. Replacing a car with a new one taxes the environment more than the old one. The credibility of concern for the environment, in a pro growth and pro consumption model, is shot to hell. And I ain't no saint in hell.

That idea that social media, politics and just about everything is set up to encourage us to stay in our echo chambers is why I purposely read from the far right, the moderate right, and the moderate left. My newsfeed does not carry anything beyond just slightly left leaning. And yet it is the right that fears they are censored, and my newsfeed doesn’t carry even the mid left. I can’t find a pro-socialist newspaper on my feed. And that is OK, cause I would never vote for Bernie Sanders. But, I read Fox News and joke to my Republican husband that it is so I know what the enemy is planning. But honestly, I want to know what the thinking is on all sides of an issue. I don’t want to be in an echo chamber. If I could find a good far left newspaper, I would read that too.

I voted for Bernie. Not this time around, but the last time.

Here we are talking politics again.

I said that I wouldn’t vote for him, but that wasn’t what I meant. I wouldn’t vote for him in the Dem *primary* because he is unelectable. Socialist is too much of a dirty word and he could never win in the current environment. If he was the actual candidate, I would vote for him against anybody the republicans could currently put up. But too many independents would vote against him because of that socialist label and the Dems may as well nominate the Republican. For me, it wasn’t just who I liked, but who could beat the conman Trump.

But, I am leaning more and more toward democratic socialist myself. We have to fix our medical system somehow. My brother is a doctor and is totally in favor. Probably voted for Bernie too.

[Hagoth]

I'm going to gently request that this conversation ^ should be relocated to the Coffee Shop.