I'm just the kind of person that just doesn't use or buy into terms like pretty obvious or common sense or the like. Majority of the time I see the words applied its someone trying to sell the idea their interpretation of something is the most credible in situations where what is the most credible interpretation either isn't that clear or it is clear but something else - its lead me to not make assumptions or pretend to know what others are thinking.
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To try and sum this all up on a good note, and stop replying to you after this (unless you wished me to) its to say that you read Dawkings statements as carrying more needlessly offensive weight to it than it need to? Where as I don't and that is okay our interpretations differ. Sound about right? I do thank you for answering my questioned and revealing some of your thought processes involved. I didn't address the other point because well that conversation ran through heh heh.
I'm happy to give you the last word on Dawkins. I understand your point on people who seem to be looking to be offended by another's comments, I just don't think that's what I'm doing. However, I appreciate the discussion!
Oh but one small general statement more on topic, when you know something well, you don't need to trust it as much necessarily. When you put out a plate of food for a pet, when you know pets like food you can reasonably predict that a pet will be at certain places at certain times expecting food. You don't have to trust a pet to be there. Batman doesn't trust his villains, he knows most of them. Batman's fondness of knowing things, being prepared, critical thinking, doing some homework, establishing routines, and analyzing patterns, and just being skeptical, it lessens his need for trust, or more accurately faith or belief. Why trust when you can know? Of course in situations where Batman doesn't know, thats where things get interesting and make for good story telling. Think about any friends that you know who have addictive and dangerous habits - sure you trust them... but if you know them well, you know you can't always trust them the way you would ideally like to. That tension may suck in real life but can be powerful and captivating when inserted into the lives of our favorite fictional characters and heroes.
It's an interesting dynamic to consider trust as more "anticipating their actions" so to speak. From this perspective, could Batman be said to "trust" the Joker? Or at least, trust him to act like the Joker? (He did sort of trust him with the secret of his identity as revealed in the recent death of the family arc. I vaguely remember a time—I think from Batman: The Animated Series—when Harley Quinn almost offed Batman but Joker stopped her because he didn't want to be upstaged. Batman reveals later that he knew Joker would be Joker so he counted on his help.
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