From: Scott Chase (osteopilus@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri 29 Jul 2005 - 02:36:33 GMT
--- Robin Faichney <robin@mmmi.org> wrote:
> Wednesday, July 27, 2005, 6:17:14 PM, Keith wrote:
>
> > I am sorry, but something really major has come
> up. That will divert my
> > attention for a while. You might consider reading
> up on EP for background.
>
> Sure, Keith. Unlike you, I've nothing else to do.
> Any other suggestions?
>
We could try taking the thread back to where Alan
introduced the topic of how Harry Potter has raised
the ire of X-ian fundies and how Kate pointed to the
US as a locus of this fundamental (pun intended) focus
(that rhymes). That was actually getting kinda
interesting.
Not sure how Flintstone psychology (sensu Steve Rose)
fits into the picture, unless there's some religiosity
module, but even then it's just a basin that attracts
ideational content. We could pretty much fit
everything with metaphysical and spiritual importance
under that same umbrella and call it a day. But, wait,
Gould shortcircuits the whole endeavor with the
nonaptive spinoff, so maybe we're back to proximate
explanation (including memetics) after all and don't
need to worry what genetically shaped the biological
underpinnings of the ur-religion of Fred and Barney in
the EEA. Maybe they suffered existential angst because
of the fact that their big noggins enabled them to
contemplate mortality, seeing loved ones and others in
the tribe croak and they invented some mystical
explanation based upon a patriarchal totemism, their
Oedipal love for their mothers and some arbitrary
Skinnerian reinforcement for good measure. Sacrifices
to Odin and Thor brought good crops last year. Wasn't
Skinner part of the Standard Social Science Model
Conspiracy (TM)? Gotta love the guy.
If Pebbles had read Harry Potter and Fred decided to
bring Wilma to a PTA meeting to protest the presence
of such pagan infested occult claptrap on the school
library shelves, then we might have something to talk
about. Yet if Fred and Barney were true heathens (the
Stone Age did antedate the rise of Christianity by a
couple years) they might have assented to Potter. Not
sure if they could comprehend the modern English
prose.
[note: there's a little sarcasm in there somewhere]
Seriously, to understand the controversy over Potter I
think an exploration of recent history holds the key.
EP might provide *a* basis in primordial psychological
motivations, but not *the* overarching answer. EP'ers
need to get over themselves already. They tend to
revert to the kneejerk adaptationist stance no matter
how many times nonaptive byproducts are acknowledged
then quickly forgotten.
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