The OP was not very well written, but the idea is that some non-believers tend to exaggerate qualities of themselves and their lives in such a way as to exhibit a false version of themselves and of reality. They do this to show how happy and good they are--in order to illustrate that one doesn't need religion to be happy and good.
Does this exaggeration matter? It does to me. In my view, it is better to have an accurate view of reality and of oneself than a false view. I suppose we can call this my groundless moral principle--where I'm starting from. If one disagrees with this fundamental point, there's nothing I can say in response.
The question is whether the comments I admittedly rather rudely quoted exhibit such falseness. I think they do. It would have been better if I exhibited more samples, but I didn't have the time or energy to search. I was just going by memory. I found it interesting, though, that PD came up with another example of moral boasting from MikeHager (he wants me to mention his name). PD doesn't think it's boasting, however.
This false view is one-sided both about oneself and the world. The wonder of nature, about which Jar is constantly awed, surprised, and left in joyous rapture, was presented in pictorial form by himself. To counter this picture of life, I presented another scene, in words--a brief, personal memory of some disabled veterans.
The Veterans
What I said about the Veterans elicited many negative responses. I attribute these responses to the brainwashing of political correctness which presents a stripped-down, simplified version of human feelings (this is the nature of brainwashing).
People often, in fact, have complicated, multi-faceted feelings about other people. According to the doctrine of Political Correctness, my sympathetic feeling toward men with missing limbs meant that I was "dehumanizing" them or "judging" them or something. I was doing nothing of the sort. I had a mix of feelings, as we all do: sorrow, sympathy, adimiration for their stoicism, and even guilt. The 10-minute experience left a vivid impression in my mind, and then of course by the time I got home I had forgotten about it, being busy with my own concerns. This is the way people are. The memory came back later.
Now if someone wishes to think that because I have not "volunteered" to help such people--or some other suffering people--in some capacity, that I am being hypocritical for feeling sympathy for them and not doing anything about it, I don't give a damn. It's a foolish way to think. Nobody can help everybody. Everyone has their own job to do. My job is to teach English not help disabled veterans. I'm not the voluntering type or the club-joining type.
Another point made by posters was that I was being obnoxiously assuming by thinking they were poor financially or even that they had suffered or were suffering. I think one normally suffers if one gets one's legs blown off in a battle, but I'll waive that point. Yes, I was speculating. I do this all the time. Here's something else I do: I eavesdrop on private conversations in public places (crowded restaurants, for example). I like to listen to the conversation of strangers whom I will never see again and try to figure out from a few scraps of conversation what sort of people they are and what their lives are like. If somebody wants to think that is wicked and "assuming" of me, I don't care.
This is what I was doing, in effect, with the few minutes I was in the presence of the old veterans--imagining what they had been through and what their lives were like now and so on. I did so by observing their appearance and behavior. They were not a jolly group, spinning out tales of high old times during the war. What most impressed me was their stony silence.
One further point: These comments about how one would rather be happy than unhappy, or think pleasant thoughts than unpleasant thoughts, are beside the point. It's not about being happy or unhappy. I myself have no problem being happy. That's easy. What's not so easy is to have an accurate view of oneself and of the world.
Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.
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