• Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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    18 hours ago

    Belief without evidence is a powerful tool when used correctly.

    When drag first met drag’s dragon several years ago, it suffered from crippling depression. Couldn’t work a job, couldn’t clean its house. Couldn’t even maintain most of its friendships because it had no motivation to do anything. All the evidence it had available said that things would keep on getting worse until it killed itself. It didn’t have any good reason to believe it could ever be healthy.

    Drag told it, fuck the evidence. Every day we spend hours together. We read books, watch movies, play games, and discuss politics, philosophy, and the arts. Drag tries to push it a little further than it’s comfortable with each day. Drag tells it not to give in to despair, no matter how likely its fears seem.

    Belief without evidence saved its life.

    • AlexanderTheDead@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Well, the problem with this line of thinking is that we do have empirical evidence that depressed people DO get better by making a huge effort to get better.

      Drag had anecdotal evidence, which is incredibly weak evidence.

      Drag may have had baseless belief in something and it worked out, but my point is, the evidence WAS available to support that point.

      • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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        35 minutes ago

        Yes, it was, but evidence doesn’t work on most people with severe depression. The disease impairs the part of your brain that processes good news. Drag understood the evidence, but drag’s dragon couldn’t, because it was sick. That’s what depression is.

    • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I gotta ask if changing all the pronouns to 3rd person requires mental effort for you? Cause I would play hell trying to do all that.

      I’m not trying to insult you either I’m just genuinely curious. Also do you prefer others referring to you only by name or is using the 2nd person “you” acceptable?

    • funkless_eck
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      7 hours ago

      Republicans spent the most money, and performed the best on, anti-trans ads targeted at white, college-educated mothers (“Kamala is with the they/thems”). Kinda says it all really.