Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Emotions ARE a Necessary Part of Life

A few days ago, I wrote the following blurb on Facebook:

What's that you say? Logic is king and feelings don't matter? Oh! Good! There is so much I've always wanted to tell you!!
Your butt makes you look like a pear fell off the tree and went 'boooooink' instead of 'thud'. Your hair looks like a spider got distracted or drunk and went on a rampage. Ever since the day I met you, I thought your deodorant choice was awful, not to mention it fails to cover up anything. Your choice of clothes are stuck back in the eighties, but, don't worry, give it ten more years, the style will have come back around and you'll be fine. Your feet smell bad when you take your shoes...
What? Wait! Why are you crying!? Why...um...
Oh.....

The above thoughts popped into my head while taking a shower.  Emotions are constantly belittled as unnecessary and disallowed as a part of discussion or decision making.   In many areas of Christianity (many religions, for that matter), emotion is used as a social status barrier - attributed to women.

The argument goes like this:

1. Emotions fail a person.  After all, they come from the heart and the heart is exceedingly wicked, who can know it?  (The conclusion is that only God knows the heart.)
2. Logic is the only allowable approach to any discussion that can be taken seriously.
(...then the hammer drops...)
3. Men are logical and women are emotional.
(...and the conclusion...)
4. Women are not good decision makers.  Thus men should be in charge.

The obvious error in..er...logic here is that men DO use emotions for their arguments. It's impossible to reason logically without emotion.  But men have a fail safe argument for that - it isn't emotion...it's PASSION!  And passion is okay.

I call bullshit.

Calulu has another, more personal perspective on the matter.  Head over there and check it out.  It's worth the read.

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