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What interests me the most is the weakness of this man's argument and that he has a Ph.D. Conservatism is not the adherence to non change. Also when did clinging ever become a moral principle? This is abstraction gone mad. This is a good example of why academia is so screwed up. First a person defines a false context, then they proceed to build upon the clearly false context. This kind of argument would never have been accepted 100 years ago. This man would've been laughed out of the room.
1 posted on 07/27/2010 12:05:35 AM PDT by Maelstorm
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To: Maelstorm

... all the while clinging to his own sacred cows. My late grandmother had a great, archaic phrase for such people. Addlepated nincompoops.


2 posted on 07/27/2010 12:14:36 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Maelstorm

Odd, because there seems to be a strong correlation between increasing moral decay in America and decreasing academic performance over the last 40 years.


3 posted on 07/27/2010 12:24:11 AM PDT by TheThinker (Communists: taking over the world one kooky doomsday scenario at a time.)
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To: Maelstorm
I agree with you 100%, utter illogical twaddle, but he knows his intended audience and they lap this stuff up.

Liberal lefties say Pink is bad as it stereotypes girls but Codepink is good, because they only want change and inhale without exhaling. Say what? Logic out the window on every level.

5 posted on 07/27/2010 12:28:16 AM PDT by vimto (To do the right thing you don't have to be intelligent - you have to be brave (Sasz))
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To: Maelstorm
What's the difference between clinging and commitment? From what I can tell, they are indistinguishable except that clinging is bad and should never occur and commitment is good and should always occur.

One need not read farther than this to see that this guy is a complete idiot. This is a Ph.D. who writes an article based on the premise that his own inability to distinguish between the meanings of two entirely different words constitutes an infallible proof.

Hey, Dr. Retard, here is the difference between clinging and commitment:

I marry a woman and every time she wants to leave the house I ask her where she's going and how come she doesn't want me to come. That's clinging.

Or, I marry a woman and we argue a lot and I don't always approve of what she does and says, plus the pretty neighbor next door keeps hitting on me, but I am resolved to stay married and faithful to my wife forever. That is commitment.
6 posted on 07/27/2010 12:31:09 AM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Maelstorm
This is an example of an author writing about something that is beyond their comprehension, thus their limited perspective from outside the experience misses the point.

For example, take the concept of addiction. Although the twelve step process has helped many, many people and is an excellent program, I disagree with their contention that “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic!” Neither attachment to alcohol, nor aversion to alcohol is a good thing. In the twelfth step, through ones spiritual growth, they fill the void that created the attachment with Divine Love, that person is no longer an addict. Whether one is drawn toward something or pushing off that same something, they are still attached to it.

To the Buddhist, awakening to the Spirit creates “non-attachment.” To the Christian, it is the “dying daily” concept that Paul spoke of that allows the Holy Spirit” to enter. When a person is connected to the Divine, attachment of the Soul is on the vertical axis and not the horizontal axis, thus there are no opposites. It is the perfect union. The strength comes from above, not from attachment to or aversion from the physical things around us. This, the author of the “Psychology Today” article does not understand.

Remember, money is not evil, but attachment to it(love of) is.

9 posted on 07/27/2010 12:39:18 AM PDT by tired&retired
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To: Maelstorm

I had the exact reaction you did. It always amazes me how many “smart” people are really stupid as hell.
“Clingy”
Weak, desperate, needy, fearful, insecure, obsessed, manipulative, and a million other unflattering adjectives come to mind.
However

“commitment”

Consent to an informed CHOICE.


13 posted on 07/27/2010 1:02:00 AM PDT by MestaMachine (De inimico non loquaris sed cogites- Don't wish ill for your enemy; plan it)
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To: Maelstorm

Don’t cling. Show commitment.????

Well, let’s try this for an analogous concept.

Clinging is likened to a weed that grows and grows, choking all the other life out of existence.

Commitment, of love, would be like a Rose. Inviting and beautiful, with limits. Hence the thorns.


14 posted on 07/27/2010 1:10:26 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: Maelstorm

Clinging — Hanging on too tight.
Committment — Hagning on even through change

Yes, I want my hubby’s committment. No, I don’t want him following me everywhere.

It didn’t take 3/4 of a decade in “higher education” to know the difference... and this guy still hasn’t learned.


15 posted on 07/27/2010 1:14:42 AM PDT by dajeeps
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To: Maelstorm
The man is very confused. Who ever said that "Don't cling. Show commitment." are moral principles? Both can be useful psychological tools but only if carefully clarified. It is necessary to know exactly what not to cling to or make a commitment to.

I am sure his Buddhist friend told him that concepts like "don't cling" and "show commitment" are guiding reminders for a psychological/spiritual practice of meditation or contemplation not absolutes. He probably also gave him the litmus test he is asking for and it applies to either phrase. If it is neurotic you're doin' it wrong!

He is really doing it wrong.

19 posted on 07/27/2010 1:31:49 AM PDT by TigersEye (Greenhouse Theory is false. Totally debunked. "GH gases" is a non-sequitur.)
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To: Maelstorm

Preaching immoralism....


21 posted on 07/27/2010 2:13:36 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Washington, we Texans want a divorce!)
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To: Maelstorm

Some pseudo-intellectual attempts a defense of the indefensible. Yawn.


22 posted on 07/27/2010 2:17:13 AM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: Maelstorm
What's the difference between clinging and commitment?

One word answer ... "Context."

It is desirable to commit to that which is good. It is similarly desirable not to cling to that which is bad.

23 posted on 07/27/2010 2:18:21 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: Maelstorm

This is the kind of garbage bandied about in academia. It is trash, but it will take its place among all of the other leftist psychobabble used to convince idiots with irrelevant degrees that they are intellectually superior to conservatives.

Just think, careers are launched by churning out drivel like this. The worst thing about it is that this is taught to students who don’t know any better. Parents spend lots of money paying for their children to be exposed to this kind of propaganda.


24 posted on 07/27/2010 2:24:08 AM PDT by SkipW
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To: Maelstorm
. . . that moral principles do more harm than good.

First, everything beyond the first line became blah, blah, blah., since he never addressed moral principles, only behavioral concepts -- since when was "clinging" a moral principle?

Perhaps if he actually tried embracing a moral principle, rather than his "partner", he might understand the idea a little better. As it is, I can understand his need to tear down the idea of morality, if even only for his own sense of self.

200,000 student hours of teaching? When did that way of measuring teaching longevity start being used? It sounds more like trying to puff more air into the empty balloon by manufacturing an impressive number to toss into the CV.

Moral principles didn't make this guy dumb -- he seems more like a self-made man.

25 posted on 07/27/2010 2:56:50 AM PDT by Quiller (When you're fighting to survive, there is no "try" -- there is only do, or do not.)
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To: Maelstorm

This is just another intellectual stroll through moral relativism, the catechism of the Left.


27 posted on 07/27/2010 3:23:37 AM PDT by jonrick46 (We're being water boarded with the sewage of Fabian Socialism.)
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To: Maelstorm

This is moral relativism. Of all liberal tenets, I detest this one more than any of them, since I believe it is the root that all other liberal abominations grow from.

Ugh.


28 posted on 07/27/2010 3:35:13 AM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: Maelstorm

Eggs and bacon for breakfast.
The chicken clings to the concept; the pig is committed.


29 posted on 07/27/2010 3:37:14 AM PDT by Repeal The 17th (If November does not turn out well, then beware of December.)
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To: Maelstorm

This guy believes, as many liberals do, that it is bad to have standards, because if you don’t live up to your own standards, then you are a hypocrite.

To liberals, who wear their faults on their backs, nothing is worse to them than being charged with hypocrisy (which is why they constantly charge others with it)

Can’t remain monogamous? Deconstruct and tear down the nuclear family.

Can’t keep kids from having sex? Encourage them to have sex.

Can’t stop using drugs? Make all drugs legal.

Can’t believe in God? Deconstruct, outlaw and destroy religious expression.

And so on.

For liberals, the bottom line is: If you don’t have standards, you cannot fail to meet them, and cannot be accused of hypocrisy.

Then, for them, life is good. What a twisted bunch.


31 posted on 07/27/2010 3:42:52 AM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: Maelstorm

Good analysis. I see why this made your blood boil. As Ann Coulter has said, never concede a false premise to liberals, since they will build a huge edifice on the foundation of that falsehood, which will be 1000 times harder to refute.


32 posted on 07/27/2010 3:44:52 AM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: Maelstorm

This guy is a PHD? I wasted my time reading this stuff that sounds like it came from an 8th grader.


34 posted on 07/27/2010 3:52:56 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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