Well... when you say you "don't believe in elves", what exactly does that mean?
I don't believe they ever existed. They're a myth that probably originated when members of a population encountered people with a different phenotype for the first time. The response has been seen more recently with tribes that thought they were meeting gods or demons when they encountered white people for the first time.
However, in this age of e-mail, it doesn't seem impossible or even improbable that a representative of an organization could receive and reply to a query over a weekend.
If you were talking about a supervisor or a higher up within your own organization, I would agree although I would probably doubt that they'd have much input into your livejournaling habits. Governing bodies are a lot more removed from the individual members of a profession. Even with e-mail, you do not have immediate access to ethics boards or directors. There are specific channels that you have to follow to receive an official position on a subject.
I'm not seeing the distinction between 'being delusional' and 'believing that something which physically can't happen does physically happen'.
Delusional implies a detachment from reality which isn't always the case in believing that something that can't physically happen does. I have read about a situation in which one member of a system got pregnant but another member didn't view the body as her body and insisted that she wasn't pregnant. This system believed that when the other member used the body she wasn't pregnant because they noticed spotting when she used the body and thought it was her getting her period. In that case, the system wasn't delusional for believing that the pregnancy changed depending on who was fronting; just stupid. If they still felt that way when they were eight months pregnant, then they'd be delusional.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-30 06:41 am (UTC)I don't believe they ever existed. They're a myth that probably originated when members of a population encountered people with a different phenotype for the first time. The response has been seen more recently with tribes that thought they were meeting gods or demons when they encountered white people for the first time.
However, in this age of e-mail, it doesn't seem impossible or even improbable that a representative of an organization could receive and reply to a query over a weekend.
If you were talking about a supervisor or a higher up within your own organization, I would agree although I would probably doubt that they'd have much input into your livejournaling habits. Governing bodies are a lot more removed from the individual members of a profession. Even with e-mail, you do not have immediate access to ethics boards or directors. There are specific channels that you have to follow to receive an official position on a subject.
I'm not seeing the distinction between 'being delusional' and 'believing that something which physically can't happen does physically happen'.
Delusional implies a detachment from reality which isn't always the case in believing that something that can't physically happen does. I have read about a situation in which one member of a system got pregnant but another member didn't view the body as her body and insisted that she wasn't pregnant. This system believed that when the other member used the body she wasn't pregnant because they noticed spotting when she used the body and thought it was her getting her period. In that case, the system wasn't delusional for believing that the pregnancy changed depending on who was fronting; just stupid. If they still felt that way when they were eight months pregnant, then they'd be delusional.