Originally Posted by chipcom
Originally Posted by Helmet Head
The single most important factor that affects behavior is beliefs. That is why VC ideology is so important. It affects your beliefs, which in turn affects your behavior, allowing you to ride safely and effectively in traffic.
That, my friend is what gets people killed. I believe strongly in 'do not kill', yet if I let that ideology guide my actions in combat, I would no doubt not be here writing this.
You are confusing bad ideology with the idea that all ideology is bad.
"Do not kill" is bad ideology because it is too simplistic, as shown by it's failure when applied to certain circumstances in the real world (self-defense, war, etc.)
What that tells us is not that all ideology is bad, or impractical, but that this ideology is too simplistic, and needs to be improved.
We can improve it by expanding it to, "Do not kill, except in self-defense", for example. Is it perfect? Of course not. But the point it can be improved, until you have something practical. What is the alternative? No ideology at all? No basis upon which to make decision. To treat every situation as unique, connected to nothing else?
Without ideology, we are lost. We are unable to function. The choice is not between ideology or no ideology, it is between poor ideology or better ideology. I choose better, thank you very much. Better, of course, is not perfect, and we must always remember that. But the better it is, the less often the ideology is not applicable in reality.
But criticizing VC ideology simply because it is ideology, makes no sense.
Show why it is bad, or how it could be improved, and we can have an interesting discussion.