One could even argue that just having bad thoughts, fantasies or feelings poses a risk to yourself or others.
Humankind has been trying to deal with this issue for thousands of years in the most fantastical ways. They're not going to stop trying.
I decided shortly after becoming an atheist that one of the worst parts was the notion that there are magic words that can force one to feel certain things and I found that to be the same sort of thinking as saying that a woman’s short skirt “made” you attack her.
You’re a fucking adult, you can control your emotions around a little skin or a bad word.
You should feel creeped out if I actually sound like a psychopath rather than a true crimes reader.
To wit:
You’re a fucking idiot.
Versus
It’s a fucking word.
Versus
You’re an idiot.
Versus
It’s a word.
“You’re an idiot” is still fighting words with or without the swear. If you automatically assume everyone swearing online is angry then you’re letting magic words affect you.
Some people have a voice inside their head that never stops. Mine was that way until I started meditating. I didn’t believe that it was me thinking, but I didn’t know until I could do things without a constant internal monologue.
There are people who almost never talk to themselves in their heads. They have to talk to other people about their thoughts in order to process them. And one of the first tenets of speed reading is stop saying the words in your head and just read.
As an atheist, I have noticed that atheists are only slightly less prone to this paranoia and will happily resort to science and technology to justify and enforce ever tighter restrictions and surveillance mechanisms to keep control.
