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People have murdered each other, in massive wars and guerilla actions, for many centuries, and still murder each other in the present, over Ideologies and Religions which, stated as propositions, appear neither true nor false to modern logicians- meaningless propositions that look meaningful to the linguistically naive.
Robert Anton Wilson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights how people often engage in violence over ideologies and religions that may lack logical truth.

Robert Anton Wilson's quote criticizes the historical and ongoing violence that arises from deeply held beliefs in ideologies and religions. He points out that these beliefs, when examined through a logical lens, may not hold objective truth, yet they continue to incite conflict and division among people. This suggests a disconnect between the subjective significance of these beliefs and their rational validity, emphasizing the dangers of dogmatism and the need for critical thinking.

Themes

ViolenceIdeologyBeliefReligionConflictTruthDogma

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be shared in a discussion on how conflicts arise from differing belief systems.

More from Robert Anton Wilson

My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.
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There is no governor anywhere. You are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. If anybody could go into dhyana at will, nobody could be controlled - by fear of prison, by fear of whips or electroshock, by fear of death, even. All existing society is based on keeping those fears alive, to control the masses. Ten people who know would be more dangerous than a million armed anarchists.
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I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to everybody else and nobody can get punished for it. That can only happen without hierarchy and without people having the authority to punish other people.
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To work for libertarianism - to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual - used to be an idealistic choice taken for purely idealistic reasons. Now it is an act of intelligent and almost desperate self-defense.
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The abandoned infant's cry is rage, not fear.
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The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to the average primate, who instead invents emotional games (soap opera and grand opera dramatics).
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