09-28-24: i've read the definition of the term 'argument ad hominem' months--maybe years ago, but forgot, until I began the philosophy class… I’m learning many new big-boy words now that i’m back to school… Argument ‘ad hominem' attacking the credibility and character of the person--or group--rather than the substance of their point/complaint/argument...
... it's quite easy to engage in, and often used by media pundits, politicians, comedians... it's an easy way to distract one's attention away from truth, and to deflect from one's own failures, responsibilities, sins, and reality...
... the ad hominem might be based on truth, a gross exaggeration of the truth, prior sins, previous ignorance, or completely fabricated to further the distraction effects of the attack...
... besides the obvious distraction and deflection problems (maybe not so obvious for those who love entertainment, audacity, and tribal team-sports), here's another consideration--one which might hit home to Christians, addicts, reformed former convicts, and those who have learned from their former moral failures and previous actions--most people evolve/change over time. If you don't die while making stupid mistakes, we eventually grow to understand right from wrong, and why our previous attitudes and behaviors are not sustainable, and why we were wrong, otherwise we remain in fringe groups outside of the peace and mutual-respect loving general public...
... if the subject of the ad hominem attack is still actively participating in overly selfish, or criminal behavior, then fine... attack the shit out of them... however, if the subject has repented/changed/turned from their previous life-style, then the topic of the attack is off the table... I dunno, maybe unless it's with a bunch of buddies giving each other the business and joking around as guys like to do... we like to bust on each other for comedy-sake, it's a guy-thing...
... what about you? what's the worse thing that you've ever done? If you are like most folks you don't love to remember and dwell on the worse things that you have ever done, especially if we know we were wrong, and are embarrassed by our previous actions, and made the decision to not be a selfish asshole anymore. do you expect your peers to view you through a never ending filter of the worse things that you have done, things that you know negatively impacted, or, hurt others? I know some spiritual-idiots that frequently use ad hominem attacks against people they don't like, conveniently forgetting about their own sins, and filthy/sketchy past... some low-hanging fruit is what some folks call 'Trump Derangement Syndrome.' The self-delusion that they are morally superior to the former president (and anyone else they disagree with) based on the information/news they consume, their sense of what's right or wrong, and how bad they suffer from Dunning-Kruger Syndrome--an unhealthy percentage of self-awareness which tips too much on the delusion side of the scale...
... Most of the folks that I know who fall under this category are unchurched folks. They consider churchy folks to be pious/self-righteous, yet they judge others based on their own spiritual-idiocy, and distorted perception of reality; essentially becoming pious in their own right, based on a set of morals and ethics that they have formed without religious considerations, and can never live up themselves... the guy who brought multiple 'lovers' to get abortions and would go on to abandon his eventual wife and child, encouraging murder, and running from personal responsibility, while being fixated/consumed attacking Trump's former actions... or maybe the guy who totaled his parents car as a teen via DUI, and continued to drink and drive--knowingly putting other people's safety and lives in jeopardy even decades later... Hillary Clinton (possessed agent of chaos) that is incapable of telling the truth outside of her closest circle, she's an upper-management level cult leader, progressing her way up the ladder of world government empire--the trendy thing to those who need a sense of belonging and purpose, but willing to great lengths of deceit and destruction of others to exercise their thirst for more power, wealth, and influence--projecting her sins on the former president... all unchurched people, yet feel perfectly fine judging other folks words, actions, and behaviors through the filter of their own moral hypocrisies, mostly with ad hominem attacks, forgetting their own imperfections and sins, assuming they know more than anyone else but those you feed them news and information... conveniently dismissing their own
... although non-churchy folks don't appreciate Christian references (because they are deaf/dumb/blind to aspects of reality, playing 'i can't see you, so you can't see me' with God) there are a handful of bible verses that come to mind that I would share despite their resistance to truth:
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin." -- John 8:3–11 (NIV).
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. -- Luke 6:41–42 (NASB)
... even if you don't think that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah, or, was God's way of experiencing life as a human -- the whole human experience; and used the opportunity to straighten out some 'religious customs, practices, philosophies, instruction that weren't kosher -- so He used the opportunity to give 'on the job training' in logic and reality to a bunch of regular people who had ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to eventually understand, and mouths to teach the things that God taught them while He walked amongst men, women--His creation...
... even if you don't think that God chose the form of human flesh so He could experience what pain, excitement, depression, joy, and a rather nasty way to then physically die...
... even if you don't think God made some huge yet humble statement through the person known mostly as Jesus, and showing people a better philosophy to live their lives by, a sustainable philosophy when actually applied to all of humanity...
... even you don't think that God offered a way of reconciling and connecting with Him through a formal acknowledgment of Him, and what He's done--accepting the reality of God via. the one who literally showed how to 'agape/phileo love our neighbors' via. mutual kindness, respect, hospitality, humbleness, and gratefulness to God for extending life, intelligence, creativity to us, and giving us the ability to create with our resources and intelligence, to procreate, and give life to future generations, and to share our intelligence to future generations...
... even if you don't think that those aspects of the Christian reality are true, you can't dodge the wisdom in what he preached (take a look at the "Love Chapter", and the "Fruits of the Spirit" as brief examples)... Jesus also preached that reality is a requirement for life... and the reality is that no one is perfect, that we all either have, or, are doing things to deflect/distort reality to justify our own delusion, dysfunction, 'survival instincts', or 'sin'... so the ad hominem attack presents a delusion--an act of attempting to distort reality by means of nonsense... and it's very easy to do...
... I have a particular gifting to be able to 'shit on' anyone about anything by pointing out anything out of the ordinary, it's really just a form of comedy, i'm a world-class wise-ass when I choose to be... but, I know it can be hurtful, and trigger many responses related to frustration by insecure folks... so I don't really do much of that anymore... but sometimes I'm motivated to so when I see agents of chaos who I know are trying to distort reality as a negative influencer...
... there is something of a sheep-dog quality to me that arises when I see distracting agents of chaos and deceit attempting to distort reality to influence (manipulate) others off of the path of reality and what's good in this world... these things bother me to no end... and that's when I go on the offensive, and triggered to write some of the things in my 'Political' section... and most of my earlier substack posts...
... my frustration doesn't end with the agents of chaos and confusion who present distortions of reality to mislead and distract people -- but my frustration extends to those who accept the false reality, and then are unwilling to consider aspects of reality that they are not considering, because they were ensnared/entranced by the influencer's script/presentation... some of the frustration is a type of intelligence gap, some folks have difficulty scaling multiple integers and theories to larger environments and scenarios/illustrations... but most can usually understand if they are willing to try to understand, and committed to the time that it takes to do so, by adapting your vocabulary and giving different examples most folks have the capacity to understand complex things... my fictitious conversation is something like, 'this is why you were persuaded/manipulated to form your opinion/view', 'these were the methods they used to fvck with your head', and 'these were the emotions they appealed to when implanting the suggested/distorted perception of reality'... but stubborn/lazy folks will choose to stay willfully ignorant, they are probably too busy being consumed by their own stressors/difficulties/obstacles/life-styles/world-view that reality is too much to consider...
... anyways... I wrote all of this to say that I'm a world-class expert in ad hominem attacks, they are easy, it's a gift that is easy to abuse, but helpful when calling out hypocrisy. And, now that I can see that it's used in logical arguments every bit at it is to slander one's political nemesis, it becomes more clear/relevant, etc...
... i appreciate the way that the philosophy folks put meaning to words and phrases that we already sort of know, but are used to calling it something different that made sense to us... ad hominem... who knew... I probably won't use it very often... it sort of rolls off the tongue like your humming, or maybe a religious chant... hominem hominem hominem homenimmm... i dunno, i suppose it sounds kinda cool after awhile...
... if you ask me why--a self-professed Christian--appreciates Donald Trump over any Democrat offered in the past thirty years, it's because they are too embedded and compromised to be independent against their network's desire to rule the world... if that sounds like a strong statement, good... if it sounds like a gross exaggeration, then you are a part of the thirty percent trapped in a figurative matrix, you are hypnotized, and should probably quit reading lest you give way to throwing ad hominem attacks my way (again for some of you), and then search for a list of all my sins and selfish actions--it won't take long to gather a lengthy list because i'm far from perfect, and i don't pretend to be... nor do i hold other people to the expectations that is super-human...
... for the rest of the reasonable readers... Trump is my compromise-choice for a CEO that is independent in major policy, has a pretty good bill-shit antenna (far from precise), and doesn't yield to the parts of government that are more concerned with self-preservation, willing to put millions of people in danger/jeopardy to make sure their 'business model' remains safe... demanding that citizenry buy into the distorted perception of reality, and brain-washing/hypnotizing those who can't see the world as it is, those who can't bare exposure to larger environments, and are conditioned to follow the narrative preached by their cult... fvcking with stupid, and easily persuadable people for your pleasure/delight, to stroke your ego by manipulating people that you are parasitic to is just plain mean...
... when spiritual-idiots, psychotic narcists that want to rule the world network together to do so--the world has a big problem. Democrats seem to have really bought into the business-model/cult of opportunities presented by world government, have partnered/networked/embraced with many exceedingly unsavory people who does not think that countries should be independent. The greater the authority/power, the more that authority is compromised for evil, self-serving purposes, at the expense of those who fall under that authority...
... when you notice policy-makers making asinine policy, policy which defies logic/reality, stating that that policy is good while appealing to compassion of the easily persuaded, and then attacking the folks who recognize breaches of reality all kinds of silly and shaming names, attacking their character not the content of their words, censoring them, and demanding that they are jailed or ostracized, saying that they are threats to a 'democracy' which has long been hijacked by those who have already accumulated success in the world government, and those who control it... when folks use all kinds of attack, and psychological manipulation tactics to delegitimize and trigger assassination attempts as a means to achieve their goals... that's a very good indicator that their idea of 'democracy' is a clever way of crying about their self-preservation, and business plans...
... so, if you ask me--someone who self-identifies as a Christian--why I would vote for a person with obvious moral flaws as a president to our representative government... it's a compromise to have someone that isn't interested in world-government membership, he's aware of the shenanigans that world agreements pose, and the consequences that Americans will have to endure as a result... Trump has already made his fortune, he's having a good time enjoying it, and isn't interested in the moral compromises and rewards presented by the world-government/influencer cultists...
... Democrats have learned to play America's systems against itself to the degree that they can put a senile man, or a woman who slept her way to the top as candidates, because they are popular enough to their team, and will do what they are told, which means doing the bid of an unelected world-government that creates it's own policies... that's why a brash, funny, tell it like it is guy who is an independent populist that threatens world-government plans by simply keeping America autonomous, an independent nation that isn't subservient to the collection of power that's pulling the strings behind the world-government proponents... my compromise for voting for an over-indulging man who may have had moments of moral-compromise for pleasure is that he doesn't seem to be one that sell America's independence for a sack of silver... Democrats and Deep-staters have been under the Judas Syndrome for decades, and have become ever more emboldened to score the ROI that the shot-callers demand... that's why I'm voting for the Trump/Vance ticket, and it's why I'm never voting Democrat—not until they can denounce, and expell the marxist, socialists, and communists from their network, and denounce a world-government agenda… the Dems have given too much power to those groups already...
… And if you wonder why someone who claims to be Christian writes to preach reality over the feelings of those whom I hurt, or with an occassional curse-word… well, I’m not perfect, and I don’t pretend to be; and living in reality is more important than the feelings of those who refuse to embrace it… unlike the well rehearsed, well dressed, and heavily sponsored candidates that pretend that they are perfect, very careful with every shallow word they preach… smiling at you, playing lip-service to your concerns, and carrying out the will of their sponsors, taking away our independence with every fake smile—the smile of a snake… Cheers. -- ct
09-06-24 updated: last night's cubensis therapy (3.75g Albino A+) went well, began around 7:pm, the medicine was pre-activated in lemon juice, with a Johnny Walker chaser shot. The overall theme seemed to be 'acceptance'. How do you feel? My answer was 'accepted'. Took a tea-prepared bumper of approximately 3g around midnight... eventually there was some sleep between then and 9:am when I finally got out of bed. Despite the little sleep I feel pretty good today... I'm looking forward to the serotonin regulation and positive neural affects. My eyes were closed maybe 98-percent of the time in therapy, and with eyes closed there were some pretty cool visuals, and it was another pleasant therapy. I'll repeat in about 2-3 weeks (maybe without the midnight bump)... unless the creek rises before then. So far it's been the best treatment for TRD/PTS, with little to no side-effects, and offers much better cognitive functioning as evidenced in reading comprehension, and not getting overwhelmed when taking in lots of stimuli. Time will tell if the results were better than the Golden Teacher therapy about six months ago--which resulted in several positive affects, enough so that when I noticed my cognitive decline about three months ago I began to search for a source to repeat the therapy... A+ and Golden Teacher are two different 'strains', but both psylocibe cubensis; the part that removes this treatment from any true scientific value is that both fruits have various alkaloids, many overlapping alkaloids, but unknown/untested levels of each one. Psilocybin is generally the largest that is measured, and thought to have the most contribution to therapy. Once metabolism of the psilocybin begins it converts to Psilocin, which is able to bind to some of our Serotonin receptors... and that's when the so-called 'magic' of the therapy begins. Some strains already naturally occuring psilocin, which I assume would cause faster--yet more mild affects, that mildness transitions to the so-called 'trip' that begins when the psilocybin is finally converted to psilocin, and the therapy typically found in 3.5mg begins. The other alkaloids found in various strains of cubensis and it's cousins of psychedelic remedies also contribute to the over-all therapy, but I don't know enough about them yet to speculate, but assume that it's similar to the theory of cannabis' 'entourage effect'... purists who would rather consume whole bud because it contains many other cannabinoids that (that extraction processes can strip) is also naturally occurring in the same plant; therefore, should help to metabolize or assist the other well-known cannabinoids; therefore, should also be consumed with the therapy due to it's naturally/inherently derived value. With all that said... so far so good, but I don't have as noticeable cognitive functioning as I remembered from the GT therapy of six months ago--perhaps that happened in time--but, I didn't document a time-line last time, I was just inspired to write a book about some of the realities involved in psychological talk-therapy, and stages of progression in therapy, and healing to the point where we are using our God-given gifts to help make the world a better place than we inherited it by serving, mentoring, teaching, laboring , etc. This time, nothing dramatic at all... other than a strong take-away of the sense of being accepted, greatly accepted... that was a sort of question that came to me late in the therapy... 'how do you feel'? ... based on what was going on my mind at the time, my response was 'accepted, very accepted'... Acceptance is just one step in a relationship, and something that I'll have to ponder in time... acceptance, and relationships... authenticity is something that's been bouncing around my head for the past ten years or so... when we are more concerned about image that we prevent ourselves from being humble, genuine, and engaged then we have a barrier from embracing reality, and it makes relationships difficult sometimes/many-time/regulary... maybe somehow those things tie-together for another sermon/essay... hmmm. [UPDATE] I just saw some notes joted on a white-board. I jotted them down while listening to former cult members speak about how some of the cult's positive relationship/pull made them feel, and also noted some of the ways they described how they felt which eventually drove them away, and in retrospec a decade or so later... there's something about 'relationship' that binds them together; and somehow expresses the Father's heart, to some degree... and there is something about the missing piece/barrier to a non-believer that can't grasp the sense of a 'relationship' with something that they can't see, that already knows everything about them, so they can begin their relationship with God with a genuine authentic 'acceptence' of who you are right now... what sorts of things do you want to ask for understanding... what ways can you begin to use your new found relationship in conjunction with your skills and knowledge to assist others -- or even their church if it's a good one -- and maybe what sorts of changes you might realize that aren't healthy, and should change... generally speaking, the beginning of your relationship with God might be something like an epiphany of sorts, especially when you consider forgiveness and redemption, and how far you may have strayed, or how selfish or damaging you might have been... I suggest the Jesus-centric approach to a better understanding of God's heart, and general expectations which lead to sustainable practices where we consider the consequences of our actions so that we don't do something that will negatively impact other folks, and assisting other folks with some of your time/resources/energy, etc... There's something about forgiveness for the consequences of our previous negative actions--or re-actions--that you will also discover about Jesus as you pursue this idealogy... there is something about the freedom to live your life with a new role-model, and way of looking at life through various perspectives... there is something about loving your God with the same sort of way that you love people who you appreciate, even though you might not 'see' God in His entirety, or understand how everything works... maybe there is something like that in there too... my PHIL240 class is a bit difficult, maybe it's because it's more about debate rather than what we do with the information of God's existence, God's expectations of the two most important commandments, and the exampls of the other other one's for more practicle application... what do you do with the new experience of really loving your God with as much as you can surrender during various stages of your journey... how do you use the information that you now feel and understand, how do you help return the favor, so to speak; how do you use your gifts to include some type of servantude to help serve creation out of thanks/gratitude for Creator... maybe something about that... I'm not into the arguing, I assume that people want to embrace reality, and want to get along with progress... to progress back to sustainable actions and behaviors that don't have negative impact on creation/humanity, but positive impacts that don't compromise the enviornment that future generations will inherit... when we are reconciled to God we aren't actively doing things that will negatively impact His creation, and the people that we have to share it with... maybe something like that... who knows, time will tell...
... back to 9/6:
09-02-24: Weird start to Sept, a long weekend for a holiday during the changing of the calendar. The weather is great, it's a beautiful day in Rockingham County... it's about 70, mostly sunny, an occasional breeze, not too much traffic going by the house... yeah man, nice day.
Philosophy is kicking my ass, the reading is dense, and full of new names, time-lines, ideas, concepts, and vocabulary. Expanding our vocabulary for new pursuits can be a challenge... i'm halfway decent with English, but not so great at other languages, their words/names... so taking in a bunch of unfamiliar ideas/concepts/words/names and trying to sort through all of the information while not knowing what information will be required to demonstrate proficiency is a struggle. My noggin cannot retain the amount of new information that i'm consuming, so I have to try to figure out which part of the info is most important. I suppose I'll learn that over time, and probably be less anxious about grades as I begin exercising my mind, and setting better learning routines. I took almost a year off from reading REALLY heaving material--maybe a few exceptions during the year-- but, getting back into creation, various scientific laws, and historical people's names and theories has been a bit overwhelming. I am clearly not processing and retaining information with the efficiency that I was six months ago... some of it is physical stressors and distractions, some of it is unpredictable cognitive functioning, some of it is genetics, and i'm sure there are other factors as well.
Christian Apologetics added into the Philosophy changes the dynamic. We are currently learning about the theories and observations revolving around the topic of our universe's begining, how it may have began, and whether the Abrahamic-centric religious claims of an intelligent designer/creator remains closest to reality based on scientific laws.
As interesting as it is to read the theories of some of
history's influencers, I'm more drawn to the 'why' of creation... why did God
create the universe. He certainly used a great deal of His potential in
doing so. He certainly demonstrated much of His abilities, and
gifts. My bias toward Christian ideology and text makes the case for an
intelligent designer a no-brainer, and no one published has made the case
strong enough to challenge that, although many smart people have tried during
their quest to understand reality. But my understanding God being a
'personal/relational' father-like figure is that God wasn't simply showing off
Hid great abilities and intelligence, He did so to share the gifts of
life/intelligence/free-will/creativity with a creation that will not only
appreciate what was given to us, but will appreciate The Creator himself... not
just in worship type of appreciation, but in a relational aspect as well.
Parents care for our needs, and prepare us to be capable individuals that can
navigate life with some success. Some parents try to help their children
understand things about God as well, and to understand that God will help
direct their lives to be meaningful and purposeful far beyond thier parent's
capabilities. With a relational God, that requires the knowledge that God
not only exists, created our universe, and is personally attached to His
creation, right down to the individual. Prayer is nothing more than time
devoted to communicating with God, and prayer begins when we know that God
exists, and is personal enough to listen to us, and to even speak back to us
through creation, or His spirit. Intentional communication with God
requires us to approach reality on a level that many people are uncomfortable
with, God already knows what's going on in our live's, but trying to understand
it all, and how it should be positively effecting you, and for discernment in
understanding things that don't make sense; He knows all of that already, and
knows how to communicate with you in time, but we have to willing to approach
reality whether we are fully capable of understanding it all, or unwilling to
understand and accept reality at it's face. We pray because we know that
there is a Source/God/Creator, and we know that God is personal enough to
communicate with us. God communicates with creation because He is a
personal/relational God that cares for His creation, and has shown us how to
live sustainably through various ways over millennia.
If you want to prove my theory wrong, you could try doing this extremely unrecommended experiment... see how long you can go doing everything the way that YOU think you should do everything, do everything at the speed in which you think it should be done. Conduct your life based on feelings, what you eat/drink, how much you sleep, throw away moral integrity, and any of the reasoning behind that. Quit praying, or even contemplating God, live your life as if there were no God... and then see how sustainable your life has become, how long you can go on for slowly drifting from reality... observe how meaningful you think your life has become... document it all.
The truth is that we all do that from time to time, for various length seasons. We stray from reality by being hypocritical to our understanding of it, as we seek paths of little resistance, motivated by energy/exhaustion-levels and desires that we might subliminally be pursuing. I don't recommend my proposed experiment, but most of us experience that battle of us being our own God, and hopefully/eventually appreciating God because He is God, and He did things right, despite the many times we wished that we could have changed things/experiences.
God didn't create this universe to complete a project in
some science class; or to show off his skills to the guys, or to impress a
girl... it's this purpose that I always go back to when reading the theorists
bicker over who understands some aspect of reality better than others. Why? To utilize
his potential to share life by creating more life... creating life that can
birth to bring forth more life, in a sustainable universe created in a way
which supports this life? To give intelligence, free-will, creativity,
and access to necessary resources provided by more of creation. It's the
'Why' considerations that gets my attention when discussing creation. And, when you start to realize why, what do
you do with this information, how do you apply it in your life?… seems like a
long topic to ponder in itself. A good place to start is with prayer, and a desire to seek reality in all aspects of your life--you should expect nothing less when communicating to the one who gave life--it's a commitment to entering into a relationship, what should be the most important relationship of your life, one with our creator/God. Once you have taken that step, ask Him to teach you everything that you need to know about Jesus... as you'll come to see--it's quite important.
The PHIL240 class is kicking my ass, lot's of reading to do on subjects that I haven't spent much time consuming. Lot's of names, and partial theories, date periods, and previous influencers... lot's of information to consume. Some of the difficulty is because people are speaking about topics that are only relevant for very small parts of conversation, unless you are an apologetist at heart. I like thinking about creation, but currently only under the context of 'why' God did it, not 'how,' 'what', 'when'... I already know the 'who', and that is God... unless we have completely different understandings of reality. -- ct
09-02-24 later: the next reading assignment in PHIL240 is much more relatable considering that I don't speak to hardcore creation deniers with any regularity, or folks who don't believe in God based on their need for empirical science to actually believe in God. In "The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus" (Gary R. Habermas Michael R. Licona) part of chapter eleven talks about 'the problem with evil', when folks use the argument that a loving God wouldn't permit evil to exist in His creation. Folks who have experienced traumatic events/circumstances also use grieving loss, or tragedy to seperate themselves from God and reality while contemplating many ways that their tragedy didn't have to go the way that it did, that God didn't intervene in a preferred way that would have changed the outcome for their better... the barrie is placed by man toward God... their book doesn't say all of this, it's just my observations.
Unrelated to apologetics, when trying to discern evil from tragety, ask if was caused by ignorance, or selfishness... was the person who caused the tragedy actually in an active relationship with God, do you think they would have acted differently if they were... did they think they had the ability to do what they did successfully, but it didn't turn out that way... everyone is capable of delussion at some point (see Kruger Dunning paper), we are all falable of both over and under-estimating our capabilities, our sense of self is never perfect, especially when impaired by exhaustion, or self-induced via toxins... was the delussion that lead to the tragedy a reasonable mis-calculation... or was it planned... evil plans/schemes... some tragedies happen because people weren't more self-aware of themselves or their surroundings, or the possible consequences of their actions, but some happen because of evil intent. -- ct