[Shiner]

Originally Posted by jools

It amazes me how people think they can know exactly what is in anoher persons mind,how they think,how they feel etc.It simply speculation.Sometimes we get it right,sometimes,(if we are big enough to admit it),we get it wrong.We all have our individual beliefs and opinions,which is a good thing,but to state your case as if it is indisputable fact,is,well arrogant.

I realised something the other day. Have you read Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion? His book discusses our continual willingness to commit ourselves to religion in this modern age despite the total lack of any physical evidence whatsoever of an afterlife or the existence of a god. A good example of blind faith vs physical evidence is creationism, religious people have been told and believe that the Earth is a few thousand years old. This is despite the fact that science has conclusively proven that the world was formed about 4.5 billion years ago (this figure itself is evolving new levels of accuracy as new data is uncovered). The crazy thing is that over 50% of the US population are willing to believe the former, including their president.

Here's the BB relevant bit - In the "religion of Big Brother" you find people like Josie (there are others but we'll stick with her for just now) who evoke a strong response in some people (possibly more so when they are shown in a particular light by BB). Her band of "disciples" say they "love" her and that all she does is spread good, apart from when she has been wronged then she (and only she) is justified in her vengefulness to smite because it is "their own fault" and they must pay penance (Keeva?). Not holding such a strong value to facts (because they believe no one else does) they manipulate the evidence with a feeling of impunity to show that their god is the best god to follow - "Josie is the most popular HM because she took 77% of the vote".

On the opposite side of the coin you have the more (dare I say it) open minded people who learn and evolve a changing understanding of who the HMs are, based as best as possible on the evidence given and on how they observe them behaving within the context of acceptable social boundaries (how often did we hear "I used to be a big Josie fan until..."?). These people put faith in facts and are on the whole baffled by the opposing sides inability to accept facts or form new opinions based on changing evidence.

And this is where the trouble starts. Each side has their own perception of reality and most of the time they both feel that trying to communicate their version to the other is like bashing their head against a brick wall. How many times has it been said now that, the actual reason Josie took 77% of the vote was because all genuinely strong opposition had been removed prior to the vote due to the VTE decision? And yet not one Josite has gone "Oh yeah now you mention it....".

Also the Josites often felt a close personal connection with her too - hence their ability to project her feelings and thoughts with absolute authority. So when their "goddess" received a negative comment they responded directly against the "heretic" with personal insults in return, which they felt was entirely justified as they felt it was on a par with the personal comment made about their friend. (this is quite a handy thing to understand about forum dynamics)

An interesting Josite observation too was that if pressed as to why they liked Josie, the replies would be along the lines of "Well if you don't know now you never will" or " Because she is awesome" and other such answers that require no actual proof of validity but state that their beliefs are right. Whereas the Josites would often piously demand proof that she was any of these things she was being accused of in order to try and catch out her detractors "When did Josie ever bitch/manipulate/lie etc. about anyone? I've only ever seen her say nice things.". But no matter how many pieces of factual evidence offered to the Josites in the form of videos, transcripts or anecdotal evidence to back up the claims against their goddess they simply wouldn't accept what they were being told. To any reasonable person the law of averages would state that they would be right at least some of the time yet the Josites put blind faith and denial ahead of the provable truth.

There you have it, the God Delusion BB style. Blind faith vs physical evidence. Human nature.