Human suffering and misery is caused by Assholes

[sixmile]

Save for nature, (weather, viruses...) most pain and grief on Earth can be traced back to someone being an asshole.

Go ahead, give me a scenario and I'll walk you back to someone being an asshole.

I'm an asshole. You're an asshole.

How much stress and pain have you caused? How much suffering have your actions wrought upon those you have never met? How much of your life's pain was caused by an asshole? Look back through your life and you'll see that the theory holds water.

We need to stop being assholes.

[Deja Q]

1. Thanks for the maudlin speech. Do you have any ideas on how we can stop being assholes?

We know the problems. Solutions: Either theoretical, real, obtuse, imagined, or otherwise are preferable to hearing the problem for the umpteenth time.

I'm also sorry for being an asshole.

[sixmile]

3. Apologizing is part of the process

I'm sorry, too.
I think the answer is the Golden Rule. Live and die by it.

[lostnotforgotten]

43. Forgiveness Is The Key - Try Starting Here

http://www.acim.org/

If you are from the western Judeo - Christian tradition.

[lunatica]

2. It's less about all of us being assholes and more about being informed

We've all contributed to human suffering on a grand scale. Just buying that romantic engagement diamond contributes to the blood diamond issue of diamonds in conflict areas in Africa. The issue is do you still continue to buy blood diamonds after knowing that. That's where the moniker 'asshole' works.

[sixmile]

5. It's bigger than that

If people weren't such assholes we wouldn't need:

War
Prisons
Police
Most medicines
....

[lunatica]

8. I figured that was understood in my answer

I was giving you the benefit of intelligence by not listing every single human grievance on the planet. Sorry, my bad. But please speak for yourself and not for me. I don't buy diamonds for the reason I stated above.

:sarcasm:

[BuelahWitch]

4. Unfortunately people will always be assholes because

a. So many think their shit doesn't stink and
b. Their asshole friends think it's cute and egg them on.

Personally I prefer the company of cats and dogs just for those reasons.

[sixmile]

6. My dog is an asshole, too

But it's because he has an asshole for an owner.

[BuelahWitch]

7. Well then quit being such a bad influence!

;-)
Would anyone attend asshole anonymous groups? :shrug:

[sixmile]

9. I think that's what religion is for

Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples - all filled with assholes

[Tim01]

10. My own idea of a solution to this.

I don't believe that most individuals can really influence major events that much. However, I can influence my immediate environment. I can help change and teach my family and friends. If each of us does this, we change things overall as a result. And our own life is more fulfilling.

[Sugar Smack]

11. I like your theory very much. Anyway, I'll try to do my part

and offset some of the assholishness by being a well-intentioned polyanna. How's that sound?

[Odin2005]

17. Your kitty is adorable!

[Sugar Smack]

24. Thank you!

:hi:

[navarth]

12. I'm not an asshole! My shit smells like perfume!

Does saying that make me an asshole?

All kidding aside, the poster is correct: assholes fuck up everything. And the Golden Rule is the solution.

But assholes won't follow the golden rule, because...they're assholes!

I think I've wasted enough bandwidth here, just ignore me

[old mark]

45. Perfume makes me sneeze....

it's YOUR fault!!!:spank:

mark

[tridim]

13. That's what keeps the RW punditry and Faux Newz in business

Republicans LIKE being assholes.

[izquierdista]

14. Broken Hearts are for Assholes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OlfJG7EgqU

[sixmile]

15. Zappa, though great beyond description, was an asshole

An unapologetic asshole.

[Odin2005]

16. I like the Buddhist claim that suffering is caused by desire.

Greedy, selfish people inevitably hurt others as well as themselves. And of course if you want something you will never be satisfied because the brain re-adjusts itself to the "new normal", hence the selfish desire to want MORE, MORE, MORE!

[Boojatta]

26. What does a virus desire?

When people are suffering from an illness, is their suffering caused by their desire to not be ill?

How does the desire to cure or prevent disease cause suffering? Without the desire to develop cures and treatments, there wouldn't be cures and treatments. Then there would be more suffering and more premature death.

[Odin2005]

28. No, I distinguish suffering caused by human action and suffering caused by non-human actions

But the two are often related, like when people's greed cause them to oppose taxes that could go to healthcare and thus cause themselves and others to get sick.

[omega minimo]

32. the ego

[omega minimo]

31. The assholes who desire to cure but not prevent disease cause a LOT of suffering

[omega minimo]

30. the ego

[No.23]

33. Actually, and since I swim in those waters from time to time...

it would probably be more accurate to say that...

it's our attachment to desire that causes suffering for us.

Desire comes and goes, like everything else.

All things are transient, they would say.

Including desire.

But it's our attachment to desire that makes us addicts of desire.

Just wanted to add some color commentary here.

Thanks for bringing this up.

[Odin2005]

35. You're welcome!

:hi:

[Warren DeMontague]

39. Fear.

Just as much as desire.

Or, two sides of the same coin. Attachment being the desire to attain as well as the fear of loss.

Personally, I think a little desire and fear make for an interesting life, but then again I'm not the Dealy Lama or anything.

[H2O Man]

18. Disease and the death

of loved ones causes suffering.

[sixmile]

20. Agreed

Yet many diseases and manydeaths are casued by people being assholes.

[Starry Messenger]

19. Did you just get back from an EST seminar? n/t

[sixmile]

21. Nah. Just tired of everyone acting like an asshole

and felt a profound realization that our misery is often tied to our condition. Further, our condition (in many instances) is caused by us being assholes.

[omega minimo]

29. Yes the Dalai Lama boils it all down to "Don't be an asshole, asshole"

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. 2 versions of The Asshole Anthem. Choose your favorite.

Denis Leary wrote this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPnv8UvKFzc


Jimmy Buffet's Asshole Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i6OrOZwtmA

[lib2DaBone]

23. For example.... would these would define the word Asshole?

NOT Lovin It...

[tama]

25. I'm an asshole

Through my asshole I fertilize the the soil, my shit is blessing to worms and other tiny critters who turn it to wonderfull crumbs that plants love to feed on, the plants we graze on. Truly truly I say to you, let's eat shit and be merry! :)

[Gwendolyn]

27. The poor a**hole is so maligned, and for no good reason.

It's a cute little thing and all it does is dispense waste material, in the process usually informing its owner when too much hot sauce, or crappy food has been consumed. The human mouth, tongue and vocal cords do far more damage to our fellow humans.

[WhiteTara]

34. and that asshole's path

leads back to fear and pain.

I think we need to work on the problem rather than attackng the messenger...my life's work btw
Pema Chodren says the answer is compassion.

[snot]

36. Yes; and

I blame entropy.

There are unavoidable losses: death, etc. It's easy to get messed up, and help coping well isn't always handy.

In many cases, the most people can hope for is to minimize the damage they pass on to others.

I'm probably among the more pessimistic and paranoiac people I know; but I also believe most people try.

Few of us succeed fully, but it's more fun trying to make things better than not; and I think most people suspect that, so I think most people are kinda trying, and I actually think we're making progress, though painfully slow.

[gtar100]

37. And the greatest suffering and misery is caused by assholes in uniforms with obedient tools

An asshole can ruin your day but an army can ruin a whole country for generations. Assholes.

[bridgit]

38. Assholes serve a vital function. When they stub their toe or slam their fingers in car doors, etc...

they offer a proof that life can be a tight rope walk that even assholes can and do fall off of while reinventing slapstick anew

[moondust]

40. Human history

is largely a tale of people abusing or mistreating other people. Greed is responsible for much of that.

[reggie the dog]

41. fuck you, i am not an asshole i outta kick your ass

err. ah??? wait a minute.....hmmm, nevermind...gotta stop being an asshole.....

[RagAss]

42. The Buddha beat you to it on this one....but he was more polite.

[sixmile]

44. Polite don't work!

Sometimes you can only stop an asshole by being an asshole for the greater good.

[undergroundpanther]

47. Exactly right!

A chronic bully often needs a fistful of his own medicine to stop him. It is because some assholes cannot comprehend civility,they only understand domination and submission, so you got to"speak their language"And put a boot to their head. And if they are a sociopath,it may require a gun to stop them.
Sometimes being nice and accommodating to the ruthless ends up being the immoral choice,as it crosses over into enabling and identifying with the perpetrator..I fucking hate bullies and despise sociopaths,and I am not ashamed of saying it at all.

[undergroundpanther]

46. Big difference between a bad day

and a sociopath.
Yes anyone can act like an asshole,on a bad day BUT the people causing the majority of suffering ARE sociopaths and the cultures created by them.Like the corporate world.

To make my point,a normal person being an asshole is not like THIS.
This kind of person causes the majority of human caused suffering & trauma.


Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern of the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken. And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools. Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs. Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless. You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness. The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience that they seldom even guess at your condition.
http://www.cix.co.uk/~klockstone/spath.htm

More info
http://www.sociopathicstyle.com/traits/classic.htm

And yeah despite the damage sociopaths do, we should stop being assholes to one another too.