Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamcatcher21  And one thing I realized is that if I was truly secure in my egg-consuming activities, then this article wouldn’t have bothered me at all. |
Wrong.
You are human. We are human. Emotional reactions are part of what MAKE us human. Personal development isn't about removing all emotional reactions from us. It's about examining our emotional reactions to test their validity and their congruence with our beliefs.
And I think that that is where this article came apart. This article was specifically designed to produce an emotional reaction within people, and, as such, it's not a very good litmus on how that emotional reaction resonates with us. As I said in the other thread, let's say that the the video alone was posted and THAT was what caused an emotional reaction. THEN Steve's point about examining emotional reactions would be valid because the emotional reaction would not have come from some outside source (i.e. Steve) swaying an emotional reaction. The reaction would have came from internal stimuli and, as such, would have deserved attention.
As the article stands, it's very hard to separate out what exactly is creating the emotional reaction because there are too many factors at play in the article that are intentionally designed to incite people. Inciteful language was used, as well as a "holier-than-thou" overall tone. All of which created a reaction in anybody who did not specifically agree with what Steve was saying. And as such, the article itself was manipulative and distasteful IMO. I mean no offense to Steve by that because I think that most of his other articles are jam-packed full of value, so it's completely ok if one of them doesn't really hit the mark.
The point is that you can't just say "Oh, I had an emotional reaction to this, it must mean something is wrong with me." Not it doesn't. You are human and you have emotions and you have NEGATIVE emotions and those emotions are perfectly legitimate pieces of who you are. I'd worry more if you DON'T react to things once in a while than if nothing you ever seen or heard ever had an effect on you. They have a term for that in psychology and it is called being a "sociopath" and it's an extreme disorder.