Emotions vs Feelings

As I have talked about before, our society has entered an age where feelings are valued more than emotions.

Nowadays, things like sadness, happiness, and anger, are in the realm of acceptable behaviors.

Emotions on the other hand, have been betrayed.

Our society stigmatizes Sorrow, Rage, Fear, Desperation, Pride, Envy, and Regret.

While certain emotions have been encouraged, such as Love, they have been heavily regulated in their usage.

The rejection of emotion is an assault on our humanity. The attempt to systematically condition society into no longer having emotions, is darkening our spirit and the quality of our lives.

Within the realm of conformed expectations, the only experiences allowed are sensory and short term. What we have is both disgraceful and unnatural.

Whatever happened to the embrace of the troubled soul?

Crow: Society has never embraced troubled souls. This is your fantasy. Some of the earliest texts in human history stigmatized those things.

admin: Examples?

The tragic hero was the foundation of drama and epics. In an epic, the hero has a full life, a great story, and a captivating end.

So what is your actual input on the rejection of emotions for short-lived feelings? Do you also reject what makes us human?

Crow: What happened is too complex to describe in a few words, plus I don't want to get labeled as a conspiracy theorist my first few days on this site, although I'm sure I will eventually.

Our society also stigmatizes contentment and joy from any source that isn't related to the consumption of manufactured goods or satisfaction that comes from anything other than achievement of some kind of prestige.

JoMomma: Not a conspiracy theory.

That is an observable reality. The state conditions productivity.

The only thing our masters care about, is that we continue running through the maze trying to find the cheese at the end.

Crow: Humans are not defined by emotions either. Plenty of animals experience all kinds of emotions.

The thing is that those myths were used to warn people against the vices displayed by the hero. Odysseus was praised for not being seduced by Calypso, for example. But at the same time he was prideful and for this he was punished. Moral impacts are routinely justified by the choices people made. Probably the greatest pure tragedies of the ancient Greeks were those of Sophocles, and you see the same thing - Oedipus is punished rather harshly for killing his father and marrying his mother, but praised for his reforms and getting rid of that Sphinx.

Egyptian, Hindu myths etc have the same general set of tropes. Maui, from Maori myth, for example, had the unusual tragic flaw of being too playful. He was praised for his ingenuity. It's not exactly like this is unfamiliar, despite existing on the other half of the globe.

Living an upset life has never been acceptable. People have always striven to improve their lot.

That's why Maui stopped the sun from bullying people by flying too fast across the sky to prevent them from getting work done. That's why the gods fought the giants in norse myth, and the titans in greek myth. That's why the crocodiles came to land in Egyptian myth. It all ties together.

Crow: If you truly oppose a rat race, then you should also be the world's biggest supporter of welfare programs. People should not be forced to keep working or face starvation, especially when we have more than enough to provide for all.

admin: Humans are not defined by emotions either.

Humanity most certainly is.

If life were just breathing, eating, and shitting, then that would be something totally different.

Plenty of animals experience all kinds of emotions.

If that is the case, then they should be included in the fold.


The thing is that those myths were used to warn people against the vices displayed by the hero. Odysseus was praised for not being seduced by Calypso, for example. But at the same time he was prideful and for this he was punished. Moral impacts are routinely justified by the choices people made.

The reason Greek mythology is so great, is because their Gods had humanity. They were not omniscient and benevolent beings.

Greatness is found in our humanity, and our humanity is found in our emotions.

Bad example too. Odysseus is still considered a hero. A full life, a good story, and a captivating end. That is greatness.

Living an upset life has never been acceptable. People have always striven to improve their lot.

When you reject emotions, life becomes a meaningless routine.

Rejecting emotions is worsening ones lot in life.

Crow: Not my master - I find meaning in things most people find boring.

admin: No.

If the state creates the rat race, then it is not the state you should look to for answers on how to solve it.

It also creates a greater evil, sense to fund welfare programs, the state needs to steal, seize, vandalize, and kidnap from ones population.

JoMomma: As long as they have a gun to your head, and a timeout corner for you to sit in, then they are your masters.

admin: There are ways to sustain oneself, without partaking in governmental assistance, and without allowing the "rat race" to dominate one's lifestyle.

Crow: Nobody's rejecting emotions, to be clear - I'm just saying people should not feel that something upsetting is acceptable just because it's part of the human experience or something. War for example, sucks bad, everyone hates it, and should be stopped. In saying that there is no rejection that war is bad, but there should conversely not be an acceptance of war.

Odysseus is still considered a hero.
Who spent 10 years paying for a relatively minor transgression.

JoMomma: And how do you ensure access to these options is equal for all?

Crow: Surely the simple answer there is to abolish the death penalty in your country? Like, you know, mine did more than a century ago.

Crow: The way I see it, the rat race is created by companies. It's a function about the competing wants of managers and workers.

We're also getting way off track again haha

Crow: No, they really are not my masters. They don't control what motivates me to keep on keepin on, or what thoughts are in my mind as I drift off to sleep at night, nor the way that I engage in the challenges that my situation in life presents.

admin: Nobody's rejecting emotions, to be clear - I'm just saying people should not feel that something upsetting is acceptable just because it's part of the human experience or something.

Our humanity is the number one reason to embrace emotions.

Otherwise we are just machines with sensors attached

. War for example, sucks bad, everyone hates it, and should be stopped.

You have a tendency to speak for every one.

Humans love war. That is why thousands of millions have joined militaries. That is why people are so attracted to war stories and movies.

War represents the epitomy of all emotion, churned down into one segmented event.

The only bad thing about war, and perhaps the most significant, is that it produces hate. Hate is unnatural, and counter to our humanity.

Who spent 10 years paying for a relatively minor transgression.

Not getting it, are you?

A great life is tragic. The odyssey would not be a story, if our hero sailed directly home and made love to his wife.

admin: The death penalty has been illegal where I live since its conception.

JoMomma: That is a great attitude, but surely you agree that there are those who have great power, and are actively trying to oppress you?