Thursday, August 13, 2009

Question: What Good Trait Don't We Need?

The Commentarama Science Division advises us that we could be in for some trouble. A group of aliens are headed this way, and they’re jerks. They've developed a virus that will rob humanity of one good human trait. We’ve got a little pool going about which one it will be. So as we wait for an end to love (3-2), happiness (2-1), or cleanliness (12-1), we thought we’d ask you. . . if you had to choose one good human trait to disappear, what would it be? And why?

16 comments:

patti said...

there's a saying in the south: you're not sweet, you're nice.

high compliment. i have been told many a time in my life that i am not sweet, but nice, meaning that one is forthright yet caring. to be sweet is many things, one of which is masking what you really want with a smile.

i vote for getting rid of sweet. don't make me get my gun...


(andrew: thanks for pointing out what a bonehead i am...i mean that with the utmost sincerity. i made an edit to the entry. that will teach me to blog before my first full cup of coffee...holy smokes)

AndrewPrice said...

Patti, that's ok, I thought you were having fun with us! LOL!

I like the idea of getting rid of "sweet."

I wonder what the world would be like if we got rid of the propensity to tell white lies to protect people's feelings? Would it maybe even be a better world? I don't know.

BevfromNYC said...

A. A group of aliens IS heading this way if you believe 4am public access television, which I do when I can't sleep and;

B. I think we could do with less "gesuntheits" and "bless you"'s. I have allergies, and enough already. I really don't believe that the devil will invade my body when I sneeze. I know it's "sweet" to say, but enough...I sneezed, get over it!
[;-)]

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, If the Commentarama Science Division says it's true, then it's true! ;-)

So you want to eliminate pleasantries? I'm cool with that. Greeting cards are a pet peeve of mine.

Krig the Viking said...

Just for kicks, I'd like to see what would happen in a world with no love. I wouldn't want to *live* there, mind you, but I'd like to observe the effects on society from a safe distance. ;)

Of course, if real aliens had this technology, they would just remove our courage and then send a soldier or two down to conquer the world.

Monica said...

How about the belief that we're responsible enough for each other that we should be making decisions "because we know best"? Nothing annoys me quite so much as someone else deciding what I want!

Although I could totally handle pleasantries being done away with - how much of our lives do we waste on useless small talk? (Not to be confused with civility - which it would be nice if we actually still had. . .)

StanH said...

One sided “bipartisanship!” It means accepting the liberal premise of the nanny state. It by default, neuters what makes this country great.

AndrewPrice said...

Krig, You must be a scientist! The Commentarama Science Division is very proud of you. :-)

I wonder if we could get by without love? It seems a very transient an emotion, quickly falling back to comfort or just a strong like. I guess eliminating it would mean that we could no longer misinterpret lust or obsession with love -- "I think I'm in love", no you're not, remember the aliens? "Oh yeah." And love does make us kind of stupid. But it also seems to do a lot of good. Interesting question.


Monica, I'm not quite sure what you would call that, kind of an altruistic paternalism? Maybe it's just good-natured (but misguided) meddling? You might be onto something there. The world might be better off if we trusted others to make the right decisions for themselves.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew: You are right, I want the pleasantries back, not taken away!

Krig and Andrew: Scientifically speaking, if you get rid of "love" wouldn't you also eliminate it's opposite "hate"? Can we get a government grant to study this? I think we need to make sure before the aliens get here. Maybe there's some spare "Cash for Clunkers" money available. Alot of love and hate happens in cars...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, LOL! Cars do seem to be involved in a lot of love and hate!

I don't know if there is a casual relationship between love and hate, so that if we lost the power to love we would also lose hate. That is really an interesting question though. Are love and hate different emotions or at they simply the result of some intensification mechanism of other emotions? Interesting question.

Suzie1 said...

Well, considering the circumstances (with aliens and their viral gift -- really a bottle of wine would have been sufficient) I guess I'd have to go with trust.

The Commentarama Science Division, huh? What kind of blogocracy are you setting up here? Wait, are there really aliens headed this way? I don't know if I believe this...

AndrewPrice said...

Suzie, Getting rid of trust would be a great idea. . . trust me!

Suzie1 said...

Weighing the option:
(...... lawyers or aliens................lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens...............lawyers or aliens.......)

Always wanted to visit planet XO-3b!

AndrewPrice said...

You forget the third possibility: lawyers = aliens. . . 8-)

Suzie1 said...

Gosh, I suddenly have this urge to sculpt some blindfolded chick with scales out of mashed potatoes...

AndrewPrice said...

Suzie, LOL! That's brilliant! :-)

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