Reply to Re: Faith
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but I know that habits result from choosing to do something repeatedly
I don't think so - habits and addictions are not based on choice. Humans are very susceptible for doing things based on triggers. People see a fast food sign, they think of the taste of the food and without consciously choosing it, they're already inside the restaurant and ordering the food.
The same for smoking, drugs, alcohol and all other addictions: if they were based on repeated but wrong conscious choices, they would be much easier to cure: simply convince people that the choices are wrong. But it doesn't work like that: addicted people know that their actions are wrong but they do them anyway. There's something else at work here; people live their lives in patterns that appear to work well for them but that are actually destroying them.
I also do not believe that it is a popular view, nor that it is a view propagated by the people of the USA.
It very much is: society nowadays believes that we are responsible for our lives, see this talk for example. Business people commit suicide when their business fails and people keep buying self-help books to achieve success.
Your rape example does not discuss why the rapist decided to rape the woman. Common opinion is to say that some people are just evil and have no moral values: they just do whatever they want. But the reasons for committing crimes often run deeper than that: people live on the street, receive no love and they steal to stay alive. In those circumstances, rape is no different from hitting a person or firing a gun.
You could argue that the rapist has the choice not to rape, not to steal and not to use weapons... but that foregoes the psychological state of that person. Someone living in those cirumstances is no longer thinking about what is right in society, their life is no longer on track and they make different choices (so to speak). But from their perspective, their actions make sense. Once these people have been rehabilitated and function normally in society, they often agree that raping and stealing was indeed wrong but they felt they had no other choice.
It's the same for suicide bombing: if you're living in poverty and you're led to believe that after you die you'll be welcomed as a martar in heaven, then blowing yourself up does not seem so bad.
I don't think so - habits and addictions are not based on choice. Humans are very susceptible for doing things based on triggers. People see a fast food sign, they think of the taste of the food and without consciously choosing it, they're already inside the restaurant and ordering the food.
The same for smoking, drugs, alcohol and all other addictions: if they were based on repeated but wrong conscious choices, they would be much easier to cure: simply convince people that the choices are wrong. But it doesn't work like that: addicted people know that their actions are wrong but they do them anyway. There's something else at work here; people live their lives in patterns that appear to work well for them but that are actually destroying them.
I also do not believe that it is a popular view, nor that it is a view propagated by the people of the USA.
It very much is: society nowadays believes that we are responsible for our lives, see this talk for example. Business people commit suicide when their business fails and people keep buying self-help books to achieve success.
Your rape example does not discuss why the rapist decided to rape the woman. Common opinion is to say that some people are just evil and have no moral values: they just do whatever they want. But the reasons for committing crimes often run deeper than that: people live on the street, receive no love and they steal to stay alive. In those circumstances, rape is no different from hitting a person or firing a gun.
You could argue that the rapist has the choice not to rape, not to steal and not to use weapons... but that foregoes the psychological state of that person. Someone living in those cirumstances is no longer thinking about what is right in society, their life is no longer on track and they make different choices (so to speak). But from their perspective, their actions make sense. Once these people have been rehabilitated and function normally in society, they often agree that raping and stealing was indeed wrong but they felt they had no other choice.
It's the same for suicide bombing: if you're living in poverty and you're led to believe that after you die you'll be welcomed as a martar in heaven, then blowing yourself up does not seem so bad.
