In Defense of Rationality
‘Are Religious People Really, On Average, Less Smart than Atheists?’
I wrote these notes as an indirect response to the excellent above mentioned article from the website: neurosciencenews.com
The above article also debunks the myth that intuition is the highest form of intelligence, and which all religion and spirituality fall under as well, as supernatural deities have never been proven to exist.
(Meditation also falls short because it is a form of mind numbing, and agnosticism falls short because it is a state of unknowing, of uncertainty. Atheism is the way to be, even though the term secular is preferable, as atheism implies a non-belief but the method of the true atheist is rationality and the belief is in objective truth, or metaphysical reality.)
I could never stand that claim, to essentially favor intuition over rationality.
Who would want to be convicted of a crime based on a judge’s gut feeling, instead of hard evidence?!
The only time a gut feeling can be right is when the experience has been processed before, and the gut feeling now felt is a moment of recognition. But intuition alone is never enough to rely on in critical matters.
(This is an excellent article on the workings of intuition, ‘How Our Minds Mislead Us: The Marvels and Flaws of Our Intuition,’ by Maria Popova, who runs the website brainpickings.org)
But people just hate to think, (whereas thinking is one of my favorite past times,) they love to bypass all critical thinking to get to their feelings instead, and this country feeds on it.
(This is an excellent article regarding the moral premises of teleological thinkers or “believers,” ‘Core Thinking Error Underlies Belief in Creationism and Conspiracy Theories,’ from neurosciencenews.com)
It’s the easiest way to brainwash people, to work their feelings like a drug.
Feelings release dopamine, like sex and drugs, and the highs are short-lived, and so to be chased again, and to be intensified, since feelings diminish in intensity when repeated, and one’s tolerance level increases, (I’m not knocking sex nor certain drugs however, all in good time,) whereas the cracking of a philosophical question like a code, like an existentialist code, through necessarily a slow process of deliberate effort, fills one with certainty, the certainty of objective truth, mathematical in its’ exactness, and leaves one with a whole different kind of euphoria, one that does not need to be repeated or intensified, but just can be tapped into at will.
(This article talks about the effects of dopamine release on the brain, ‘The Cognition Crisis; Anxiety. Depression. ADHD. Dementia. The human brain is in trouble. Technology is a cause — and a solution,’ by Adam Gazzaley MD, PhD.)
All of George Orwell’s ‘1984’ rests on this premise of rationality, on the argument that two plus two is four, that individualism plus rationality equates freedom, in one’s mind that is.
(This is an excellent article on the themes of George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and how they are inspired by the Age of Enlightenment, ‘George Orwell’s Enlightening and Modern “1984” by Howard Chai.)
But great freedom comes with great responsibility, it demands a self-governing of the mind through critical thinking, which people rather forego for the safety of being told what to do.
And it is this latter type, the unthinking type, which makes up the majority of people, and who therefore also likes to congregate in groups, to revalidate those feelings over individual, critical thought, who is susceptible to totalitarianism.
And make no mistake about this, that whenever family is prioritized, (and only limited family immigration should be possible, and never prioritized,) what that effectively means is that those of us who, for whatever reasons, can not, or do not wish, to make a family will suffer the consequences!
That means primarily women who wish to remain child-free, or marriage-free, and very specifically the LGBTQ community for whom a lot of those options to create family are simply not possible, would be criminalized.
The agenda, especially on a legal level, behind anything family-driven, family-prioritized, as opposed to individual-prioritized, is code for a pro-life, anti-choice agenda, that is an anti-women and also an anti-LGBTQ agenda!!!
This is the very reason I always advocate for Individual Rights, (the right to own one’s mind and body, and the contents thereof, based on our ability to think rationally, and not because we are fertile through our bodies,) because the individual is the biggest minority of all, and rights should never be withheld, or voted away, just because the individual does not belong to a majority group!
A perfect example of this are LGBTQ people exactly, who never make up the majority, (as far as we know anyway,) and must be guaranteed equal rights protection under the law all the same.
The US Constitution was in fact written with the Individual Rights Principle in mind.
The purpose of life is not the survival of the species but the pursuit of our own happiness. And as long as we don’t hurt others in that process, that is being selfish in the best way possible.
The motto behind the Individual Rights principle is: “One person’s rights end where another person’s rights begin.”
Constitutional Rights (with their basis in the Age of Enlightenment, or Reason, as well as the logic of the Greek philosophers,) stem from the understanding that human beings have long term memory and therefore the capacity to form judgements, including morally, from experience, and through critical thinking. And that human beings are individuals first, and judge, and are to be judged, as such.
Our Basic Rights to Life, (not as a personal guarantee but as a principle, and not just as a means to survive but as the right to a dignified existence,) Liberty, (the only way to choose to have a dignified existence,) Private Property (of personhood, as an individual; that is private property of one’s own mind, one’s own body, and the fruits of one’s own labor,) and the Pursuit of Happiness, (not automatic, guaranteed happiness but an opportunity to seek what makes us happy,) stem from our capacity to reason, to think critically, as individuals first, and not purely from our basic needs for survival.
Men and women alike have a need far greater than the need to survive, and through the procreation of the species in particular, (which is only a biological function,) and want happiness, (a psychological function, and which can ultimately be summed up into “a dignified life” exactly,) and each should have the full and unhindered right (without harming others) under the law to pursue it.
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My name is Gabriella Bregman, I am a Hollywood-based Writer, Filmmaker and Producer, currently in production of a Feature Documentary about LGBTQ US-Immigration Exclusion-Policy, including my personal story of US immigration discrimination during DOMA, (Defense Of Marriage Act, of 1996–2015,) titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights,’ through my film production company Bregman Films.
The 2001 John Cassavetes Film Retrospective ‘Gena and John: A Cassavetes Retrospective’ at the Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles is a Bregman Films Production.
I am also the Founder of a Nonprofit Film Organization Queer Female Filmmakers Los Angeles — A Media Site & LA Film Mixers (2018.)
In 2018 I am publishing my story and essays in a book, titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights & Other Essays.’
I identify as a Gender Nonconforming Lesbian, “non-op” Trans-Masculine, and Bi-Racial, from the Netherlands, Los Angeles-based.
My pronouns are: they/them/theirs.
Please check out my other articles on LGBTQ- and Immigration Issues, the State of Women and LGBTQ People in Film, and Lesbian/Queer Film as well as Queer Female Sexuality and Gender Identity at medium.com/@gabriellabregman
A few titles:
Resume/FILM BIO: Gabriella Bregman (2018) (2018)
2018 Update on Documentary ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights’ (2018)
A Note on the State of Women in Film (2016)
A Few Notes On LGBTQ Filmmaking (2017)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 1 of 5) (2018)
John Cassavetes Film Retrospective (2001) (2018)
On ‘Moonlight’ and the Subject of Positive Representation (2017)
My 2018 Oscar Pick for Best Picture (2018)
In Defense of Rationality (2018)
In Defense of Individual Rights (2018)
A Few Notes on US Immigration Exclusion Policies Towards Women- and LGBTQ Immigrants (2014)
The Root Cause Of Misogyny, And The Necessity Of Free Will (Gender Binary System notes, part 1 of 7) (2016)
The Male And Female Brain, And The “Cause” Of Transgenderism (Gender Binary System notes, part 2 of 7) (2016)
The Gender-Binary System Was Created For Population Control And Slavery, Including Sex Slavery (Gender Binary System notes, part 7 of 7)
All Articles Written by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Pictures Owned by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Rights Reserved (2018)
