Comments by "SsjC" (@ssjcosty) on "Intellectual Dark Web: The Rebranding of Bad Ideas" video.
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Thanks for posting this, it was an interesting read. I had a somewhat similar journey but I ended up in a very different place than you. I grew up as an Eastern Orthodox Christian in a very religious country. I was brought up religious, I used to go to church quite often and for a period of a few years I even hoped that some day I would become a priest. However, at the same time I was also very interested in stories, especially fairy tales and mythology. My grandma (a former secondary-school literature teacher) used to read me fairy tales in the evenings all throughout my kindergarten period. This made me want to read more fairy tales by myself, and my parents bought me a few fairytale books. Then when I was 8, I signed up to the local public library, and I would constantly borrow collections of fairytales, and at some point I stumbled upon a series of volumes of the Ancient Greek myths of gods and demigods, which I loved. Later on, when I read the New Testament in an abridged edition for children and teens (with pictures), I felt very guilty for a long time because I thought that Hercules was much more interesting than Jesus, and I didn't want that to be the case.
Anyway, I used to read a lot of religious books and stories, but at the same time I also enjoyed more esoteric stuff, like Stephen King novels, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, as well as quite a lot of science fiction (Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, etc.). I had quite a few conservative values derived from Christianity, and they were often at odds with the other stuff that I was reading, and I remember I used to wonder about how courageous some of these writers must be since they wrote stories and said things that were borderline blasphemous. Another thing that I think contributed to my now very liberal outlook were TV shows like Star Trek TNG and Stargate, where they explored a lot of fantasy scenarios and had very "enlightened" and liberal values well represented and justified on screen.
With time, I kept distancing myself from the claims and conservative values of Orthodox Christianity. I used to read various testimonies from monks who supposedly met demons, and they never sounded too convincing, although they were quite scary, and I always found their claims sketchy when it came to Michael Jackson, Madonna and other bands and singers being satanists, or that barcodes represent the number of the beast (666). I also used to read encyclopedia entries about other religions, like Mormonism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam, and found it interesting that we didn't believe their claims nor worshiped their gods but we believed our religion's claims when they seemed to be the same types of stories and themes (supernatural beings, miracles, parables, teachings, redemption etc).
Anyway, I eventually stumbled upon the "Root of all Evil" documentary by Richard Dawkins, and I listened in while some of my coworkers were debating about God (one atheist, one Christian) but never chimed in myself. I still believed in God, but I found more and more things troubling (like that documentary). Eventually I ended up watching various debates which included Dawkins, C. Hitchens and Sam Harris, and I was constantly amazed by how their points seemed far more reasonable than those of their religious opponents. That's when I realized I couldn't believe in God anymore, and I went on this investigative quest to learn more. I was in university at that time, and I had just started a Master's degree programme at a top university where I got an introduction in the philosophy of science and I learned a lot about scientific research methods.
On my quest to redefine myself, I realized that I was in charge of my own life, and my values were no longer tied to the religious doctrines of my youth, and I could look toward the future. I ended up quite liberal, but I don't like positioning myself within a left/right paradigm as I feel it is an artificial and forced concept. I believe we should all express ourselves in ways that are meaningful to us, and try to not let traditions or religious norms hold us back. Of course, we should be mindful to not harm other people while doing this, and allow them the space and freedom to do the same. In my various readings (which even included fascist writer Giovanni Papini), the most appealing outlooks I found to be the one promoted by the Professor of Philosophy A. C. Grayling - enlightenment values about science, civil rights, equality under the law, tolerance of different lifestyles, freedom of expression, freedom to travel, an interest in social cooperation and helping each other out. I also found the existentialist outlook (Beauvoir, Sartre, Camus) mostly compatible with my own views.
I lived in a Scandinavian country for several years, and found that the way their society functions very refreshing - while they do pay high taxes, they get a lot out of those taxes: state funded education at all levels, including University, state funded healthcare system, a focus on family life and a good work-life balance, and practical education levels which meant that they encouraged vocational training (e.g. carpentry, plumbing etc.) without assigning any stigma to it. Overall, this gave me a very positive view of what people can achieve when they care about the wellbeing of their communities, and of course the wellbeing of the individuals that comprise those communities. I saw how unburdened people were, that they could change their minds (several times) about the upper education and the type of job they wanted, and also how easy it was to start a business, as the risks in such decisions wouldn't threaten to ruin you because you always had the social safety net to rely on.
Coming back to the so-called IDW, I really despise the views put forth by Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson (and I consider Steven Crowder an uncultured hack). I think it's because their views call us back to the same types of traditional and rigid norms that I left behind a while back, very much opposed my current outlook and aspirations. I still find Sam Harris interesting from time to time, and I found Steven Pinker's book "The Better Angels of our Nature" really interesting and impactful, proof that we as a society can indeed overcome our violent and animalistic impulses. Dave Rubin doesn't seem to have any real values, and is mostly a reactionary against the so-called "regressive left", and I dislike his constant pandering to the conservative values of his guests; I just don't like the guy. TYT also seem a bit... iffy. I sometimes enjoy The Minority Report - they have some really interesting points, but they can also be a bit childish at times. I still listen to a show called The Atheist Experience, although it's not as good as it used to be a few years ago, since a bunch of their co-hosts have left the show in the last 2-3 years.
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