Which is more evil: patriotism or religion? Obviously both are awful ideas that lead to disgusting tribalism and massive disutility. But if you could eliminate one from the world instantly, which one would you pick?Scenario A: No more patriotism. Earth

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File: d52f1fbe7d0a34c⋯.jpg (209.78 KB, 500x423, 500:423, elimonk2darker.jpg)

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:00:05 No.6773

Which is more evil: patriotism or religion? Obviously both are awful ideas that lead to disgusting tribalism and massive disutility. But if you could eliminate one from the world instantly, which one would you pick?

Scenario A: No more patriotism. Earth united under one world government, by competent center-left leaders who mostly respect other cultures, religions, etc. Economic efficiency is vastly improved without stupid trade and human capital barriers, and prosperity ensues, albeit still with some issues of inequality.

Scenario B: No more religion and associated cultural garbage (keeping kosher, religion based repression of women, etc.). People still debate stupid philosophical questions like what it means to be a person (instead of just accepting materialism), but generally the sanity waterline is much higher.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:00:21 No.6774

So this seems to presuppose a pretty Western conception of religion already. My impression is that in e.g. Iraq, Sunni/Shia Islam already already fills a role closer to nationality in the western conception; it tells you which people you can trust and turn to, and which will turn against you in the coming civil war.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:00:34 No.6775

I guess what I'm saying is that religion and patriotism are just two overlapping blobs in the great continuum of ingroupism.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:00:50 No.6776

Guys, I'm pretty sure OP is being sarcastic (look at the image)

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:01:07 No.6777

>>6776

>Guys, I'm pretty sure OP is being sarcastic (look at the image)

new to imageboards? using a funny image and putting some humorous hyperbole in your hypothetical scenarios doesn't mean you actually disagree with your post's basic premise

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:01:26 No.6778

>>6776

(OP here) I wasn't really being sarcastic. My own opinion on the matter has changed over time - I used to think that religion was much worse, but after seeing the damage that Brexit, Trumpism, etc. is doing, I'm starting to lean more towards nationalism being more evil.

Also, pic unrelated. I just thought it was funny.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:01:42 No.6779

>>6778

>the damage that Brexit is doing

Are you having a laff m8? Brexit is a symptom, and at best an accelerator of a process already occurring.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:01:56 No.6780

>>6778

>thinks Trump is worse than Islam

Typical American liberal. Europe burns while his country and party leaders are funding the ideology/religion behind it, but he still thinks the guy who says mean things on television is "worse".

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:02:09 No.6781

File: c06ccdd1b0cc986⋯.png (134.36 KB, 368x279, 368:279, 1460917427826.png)

>>6780

I agree, OP is wrong to consider nationalism a higher threat than religion. Perfect nationalism would result in independent nation-states putting their own interests first and attempting to build mutually-beneficial alliances on the national stage. Nuclear war would remain unlikely, as nobody wants nuking, except for Islam/etc., which leads to:

Perfect religion would mean half of human kind would be enslaved, and we'd never take to the stars, if we all didn't immediately die in a nuclear holocaust.

Death to religion.

Anonymous 08/19/17 (Sat) 16:02:22 No.6782

>>6781

The question wasn't about which would do more damage in "perfect" form though, it was about which would be more beneficial to eliminate. These are logically distinct questions–as an analogy, "perfect" ebola (100% infection rate) would do more damage than "perfect" HIV, but in the real world you'd save more lives by eliminating the HIV virus than the ebola virus.