Happy Atheist Forum

Community => Social Issues and Causes => Topic started by: Ecurb Noselrub on August 23, 2021, 04:40:49 PM

Title: Reputations
Post by: Ecurb Noselrub on August 23, 2021, 04:40:49 PM
Don Everly died, and I was thinking about the Everly Brothers' song "Wake Up Little Suzy".  It says in one place "our reputation is shot".  I was wondering if we still had reputations. This was always a thing when I was young - this invisible entity that was out there in the social atmosphere that somehow controlled your actions - sort of a super-judge over everything you did.  Today, with everything out there on social media and the nation completely polarized, I wonder if anyone has a reputation anymore. In the law we talk about a person's "reputation in the community" when discussing their truthfulness. Most people don't even know most other people, even in the same community, and those who do often have divided opinions about them. Does this concept even have any relevance anymore?  It seems to me to be an extra method of social control. What matters is your criminal record and your credit rating, not your reputation. Just some random musings, if anyone is interested.

Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Tom62 on August 23, 2021, 05:13:16 PM
I consider reputations to be rather subjective. Some people have reputations that are not based on facts and which fall apart when investigated. Mother Theresa comes in mind. A flawed woman which caused suffering among the poorest of the poor. Other way around, we might frown upon someone who is working in the sex industry, but who does that to pay off debts or to take care of a sick family member. But I must admit that, I would be extremely careful, if I would have to deal with someone had a reputation of being an evil motherfu#ker or a crook.
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Dark Lightning on August 23, 2021, 05:53:50 PM
Given the way people act in public and the kinds of lunacy I see sometimes on you tube, I think that the idea of reputation has suffered a terrible beating. Most people are so desensitized to it that they don't even notice. Watching the events of 1/6/21 at the US Capitol is a case in point. Allowing recording and even recording themselves, and bragging later on social media? They committed crimes and weren't the least bit ashamed...until criminal charges were leveled. That smacks of remorse at the consequences, not the action. People pleading "not guilty" when there is video footage! That said, there is an organization called "My Life" that spams me with warnings about my reputation, and has reputation "levels" listed for some family members and neighbors. My only worry about "reputation" was to stay out of trouble and not get any bad debt, as my security clearance could have been revoked.

That said, there is a reputation app that is encouraged for use by the Chinese government. People rat each other out, and the gov sees it. And we think we have a "big brother is watching you" problem here in the US? Not even close. China's "social credit system"-

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Tom62 on August 23, 2021, 07:02:14 PM
And what about reputations being destroyed by digging in someone else's past to look for something that is frowned upon now, but was fine and irrelevant when it occurred? Dr Seuss and many other famous people comes in mind. Personally, I think this can only ruin the reputation of the morons who look for these type of things.
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Bad Penny II on August 25, 2021, 11:49:44 AM
Well it's a war situation isn't it.
There's thems and there's us.
You can't do wrong, not if you're doing it to them.
This is an existential battle, if we loose all will be darkness.
Former concepts of reputation are irrelevant, the question now is what side are you on, are you fighting the good fight?
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: billy rubin on August 25, 2021, 12:35:34 PM
https://imgur.com/a/SwEtttJ

cannot get tbe jpg link, but the old tintin books were explicitly racist.

im not sure how to deal with that. judging things that were not considered wrong by modern standards assumes that things are always getting better and more righteous with time.

some things are obvious, like lynching, but old caricatures of other races reflect more ignorance than malevolence.

i am undecided
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Bad Penny II on August 25, 2021, 01:02:14 PM
Quote from: billy rubin on August 25, 2021, 12:35:34 PM
cannot get tbe jpg link, but the old tintin books were explicitly racist.

im not sure how to deal with that. judging things that were not considered wrong by modern their standards assumes that things are always getting better and more righteous with time.

I don't like your use of the word "always" and I think your assumptions a weird.
We are here for just a little while, looking down on then, whether the track tracks up or down after us is not known.



(https://i.imgur.com/UnT9ur2.jpg)
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: billy rubin on August 25, 2021, 03:33:12 PM
thats my point.

what im talking about is the old excuse that racism and misogyny and so on in tbe past were excusable because " things were different back then and we are more enlightened now . ."

i reject that. pain and suffering are real no matter the year or culture.

but "justice?" what is that?

the taliban are a progressive force in afghanistan. they are correcting past injustice and primitive attitudes by installing fundamentalist sharia law.

they are making progress towards a just and righteous society.

in their own opinion, anyway.

was herge wrong to be ignorant about race and to accept common stereotypes of other races? i dont think he can be condemned for being what he was, but neither do i think his work can be read without noticing that it was part of a world in which his attitudes contributed to pain and suffering of others.

this is a long answer. does it make sense?
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Bad Penny II on August 25, 2021, 03:59:38 PM
Quote from: billy rubin on August 25, 2021, 03:33:12 PM
thats my point.

what im talking about is the old excuse that racism and misogyny and so on in tbe past were excusable because " things were different back then and we are more enlightened now . ."

A good man, a brave man in brutal times may put himself at risk and do what good he can, while attempting to avoid retribution from the powers that be.
An ordinary man in peaceful times who condemns him for not doing enough is a twat.

Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: billy rubin on August 25, 2021, 04:02:43 PM
sure

i agree with that
Title: Re: Reputations
Post by: Icarus on October 23, 2021, 03:51:56 AM
Our society is at risk. What is the problem one might ask. Here is one of the answers.............
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc

One of the numerous videos from Neil DeGrasse Tyson shows us that we are at the bottom of the intellectual ladder compared to so many other countries. In a group of 25 countries we are in 24th place ahead only of Turkey.  Bonhoeffers stupid people, mainly the US ones, are out there shouting that we are number one, number one, number one.....(sigh)

I am too old to move to Iceland, Finland or Denmark.