Why are you doing this? Some people mean demons metaphorically as they would says orcs or goblins or whathaveyou. Some say it meaning biblically, literally, a hellspawn minion of Satan. Some mean heretic, dark pagan, believer in unsavory demon-gods like moloch or baal, or acting on behalf or in cahoots with such. The most common usage is a stand-in for "really bad dude, like cosmically, spiritually bad," no matter what cosmology they believe.
Why is it important to you, important enough, to take specific umbrage at how people describe malefactors?
Because the language you choose, especially the language you choose in reflex under pressure or in the face of emotional extremes, is one of the most telling indicators of how you view the world.
People lie to others, and to themselves, all the time. We craft and wear myriad masks, and speak in dozens of fine tuned codes, all to fit in to specific social groups and hierarchies. We bury the truth of who we are for who we pretend to be, for whatever reason we pretend to be that person in that place at that time.
You can never truly know who a person is until you put them in a place and time where the masks fall free and the code book is dropped.
And here we had an excellent moment. When faced with the evils that men do, in the reality where men live, the language you chose to describe it showed that, deep down, a concerningly large number of people still believe in magic and monsters.
If the word that leaps to mind is "demons", then you understand these people to be such. You do not see evil humans whose actions can and must be stopped by good humans. You see mystical creatures from mythology, whose only doom is other, bigger mystical creatures from mythology.
Or, in short, this shows that, fundamentally, you do not live in reality. You live in religiosity, and it forms the underpinnings of your entire worldview.
Why do I do this? Because I hold the, perhaps foolish, hope that at least some of you can be talked off the ledge of religiosity. To borrow a metaphor from a different mythology, this is buddha's golden thread I wish to throw down to the misguided sinners, in the hopes that even one of you clings to it and ascends out of the pit. And yes, I am aware of the ridiculous irony of arguing against religiosity using a religious metaphor, but the advantage of stories is that we can reference the lessons from them without pretending they are reality.
And that segues into the last point, as far as demons vs other fictional evil creatures like orcs or goblins or the like. Because all of you already recognize those are fake. Because none of you need to be told the uruk hai are not coming to siege the walls. Because none of you read a story about mudslime rape gangs or paki shitskins murdering a man for shits and giggles and go "these subhuman GOBLINS are evil". You know, deep down, all those other alternatives you listed are fake, but you still think, again deep down, that demons and gods are real.
And so here I am again, reminding people demons aren't real, because a concerning number of you actually don't understand this, on a visceral, personality defining level.
It's fucking crazy, dude. And this is your life, spent one screed at a time. Yelling at people online for using words that trigger you. Seriously, for your own good, go do anything else.
Why are you doing this? Some people mean demons metaphorically as they would says orcs or goblins or whathaveyou. Some say it meaning biblically, literally, a hellspawn minion of Satan. Some mean heretic, dark pagan, believer in unsavory demon-gods like moloch or baal, or acting on behalf or in cahoots with such. The most common usage is a stand-in for "really bad dude, like cosmically, spiritually bad," no matter what cosmology they believe.
Why is it important to you, important enough, to take specific umbrage at how people describe malefactors?
Because the language you choose, especially the language you choose in reflex under pressure or in the face of emotional extremes, is one of the most telling indicators of how you view the world.
People lie to others, and to themselves, all the time. We craft and wear myriad masks, and speak in dozens of fine tuned codes, all to fit in to specific social groups and hierarchies. We bury the truth of who we are for who we pretend to be, for whatever reason we pretend to be that person in that place at that time.
You can never truly know who a person is until you put them in a place and time where the masks fall free and the code book is dropped.
And here we had an excellent moment. When faced with the evils that men do, in the reality where men live, the language you chose to describe it showed that, deep down, a concerningly large number of people still believe in magic and monsters.
If the word that leaps to mind is "demons", then you understand these people to be such. You do not see evil humans whose actions can and must be stopped by good humans. You see mystical creatures from mythology, whose only doom is other, bigger mystical creatures from mythology.
Or, in short, this shows that, fundamentally, you do not live in reality. You live in religiosity, and it forms the underpinnings of your entire worldview.
Why do I do this? Because I hold the, perhaps foolish, hope that at least some of you can be talked off the ledge of religiosity. To borrow a metaphor from a different mythology, this is buddha's golden thread I wish to throw down to the misguided sinners, in the hopes that even one of you clings to it and ascends out of the pit. And yes, I am aware of the ridiculous irony of arguing against religiosity using a religious metaphor, but the advantage of stories is that we can reference the lessons from them without pretending they are reality.
And that segues into the last point, as far as demons vs other fictional evil creatures like orcs or goblins or the like. Because all of you already recognize those are fake. Because none of you need to be told the uruk hai are not coming to siege the walls. Because none of you read a story about mudslime rape gangs or paki shitskins murdering a man for shits and giggles and go "these subhuman GOBLINS are evil". You know, deep down, all those other alternatives you listed are fake, but you still think, again deep down, that demons and gods are real.
And so here I am again, reminding people demons aren't real, because a concerning number of you actually don't understand this, on a visceral, personality defining level.
You should really find something else to do that isn't this.
No.
It's fucking crazy, dude. And this is your life, spent one screed at a time. Yelling at people online for using words that trigger you. Seriously, for your own good, go do anything else.