Just a little point.
But (closing midnight Thursday) would have been 12am this morning.
But (closing midnight Thursday) would have been 12am this morning.
original post
First titled "Goddamn Atheists!"
Atheists are anti-American, says a survery by the University of Minnesota. Apparently "Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in 'sharing their vision of American society'." Seems diversity is fine so long as you have shared "core values", and one of those is religious belief.
Strangest of all, Atheism's associated with an "array of moral indiscretions ranging from criminal behavior to rampant materialism". Rampant materialism?! Leaving aside the obvious irony of mainstream America criticising anyone for being mall whores, most Atheists I've met are fair-trade ethically sourced mung-bean types whose criminal behavior extends to a cheeky spliff after the red wine's run out.
Still, depressing as it is, good to see more evidence of the religious drawing battlelines with non-believers. About time Atheists and free-thinkers follow Richard Dawkins' fine example, end their silence, and vigorously attack the dangerous folly of religious belief in all its forms.
(Edited by Byron 21/04/2006 00:00)
later edit
I realise the last paragraph was aggressively worded and apologise for any needless offence caused. A less crusading summary of my position would be:- The old Liberal convention that you shouldn't criticise or promote religion in public has broken down; but we shouldn't return to it. I see why it came about, but changes to society mean those reasons no longer apply, and its insistence on treating religious faith as a private matter outside the scope of public comment is unrealistic; and unfair, both to believers wanting to publicise a faith and non-believers wanting to criticise it.
I'd hope you'd see me as not someone who wanted to be exclusive...
by MonSTeR
I’d say no, not if you want to be exclusive!
Happy to be go first on that one. You have my respect as do all the current posters on this site. On those rare occasions where I have in the past felt I had reason not to respect a fellow member, I'd hope at least that I remained courtious. While online.
by MonSTeR
On the mutual respect thing, we just need to wrap up the “you first†bit and we’re there
Just to respond to this.
by The_Host
A bit of common sense and a basic grasp of the English language was all that was required in this case.
Simple questions. 'Pseudo-intellectual' essays. Completely non 'pseudo-intellectual' references to Buffy. Whatever one chooses to have an issue with, nothing quite beats not banging on interminally about something that you got wrong, plain and simple. Right now, you look as if however much light, rather than heat, is generated by this debate/discussion (or however you want to split hairs), you require a whipping boy to address your own assumption that others are being pretentious just because they use the vocabulary at their disposal. I won't be that whipping boy, though. The most you can do is needle me into getting banned (and you're part of the 'club' that can be snide without risking that). I don't need to be here enough to mind that. So you got what you wanted. You've 'antagonised' me by not letting it lie. This thread probably won't stay open long enough to further the quest to feel better about yourself. You have to ask yourself if you want to start all over again in another thread.
That was a wise decision. A degree of power over people tests character. Some people learn that a messageboard is not about going 'toe-to-toe'.
Wise-ass.
by Vinnie
Just a little point.
But (closing midnight Thursday) would have been 12am this morning.
Have to admit I wasn't aware of that sort of posting in Big Brother threads as nothing's come to staff's attention, and personally speaking, I've always kept out of them.
by Sydney
Quite a few people have mentioned the 'respect' issue on Political threads... and said that they back out of threads on things that don't interest them without commenting. I think some of these posters have having particularly selective memories. Take the annual Big Brother threads. The only reason the people who like watching and discussing Big Brother weren't attacked last year is that I suggested they start their own anti-Big Brother thread. That worked, but prior to that I had to endure 3 years of posts on a subject I liked being slagged off as being intellectually inferior because I watched a partiular TV Programme. It wasn't everyone - for instance Kate has posted in those threads and put her point across in a balanced way that wasn't personally antagonisic.
Basically - what I'm saying is the respect thing needs to go both ways. Just because one 'group' is being vilified at the moment doesn't mean that other groups haven't been in the past. Its just that right now is when things have come to ahead.
We'll have to see, but I genuinely hope you would be. I'd always be willing to alter my style is it makes people who want to join in feel more comfortable doing so. Like I said, I want everyone who *wants* to participate in the threads to feel welcome.
For the record, I feel I belong to both groups. Hey one of my political threads was deleted by the PTB once! I'm active in politics and I have strong opinions and for that reason I sometimes avoid posting in the political threads because My beliefs are so strong and so anti the main thrust of opinion I know I wouldn't be able to remain polite in the current posting environment. Most People post in a way that I'd feel comfortable debating with. Two people don't. Know that one of those people has said they have looked at their posting style and will try to revise it then maybe I'll feel more confident at expressing my opinions. Maybe.
I think it would be a good idea if you started a thread in Feedback about the tone people would like to see in debate threads. Far less likely to end up with trouts at dawn with you taking the lead.
by Jayjay
But a lot of the posts here make me feel like I'm expected to write in a style (short, less verbose) than I would use when talking casually. Which makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Yes to thinking through what I'm posting, being as inclusive as possible. But to be asked to have a maximum word count, or a kind of anti-Roget's thesaurus, that limits rather than increases vocabulary, which is what it sounds like some people are asking for, seems rediculous. Be to the point, but some points take explaining.
Agree with you there. I really don't see a great deal of solutions to these issues though...
by KaTiEStar
We arent solving tho.
Something drastic needs to be done, not masses of posts of people biting chunks out of each other.
There's several solutions incorporated into the new rules.
by lizzieslayer
(quotes)
Agree with you there. I really don't see a great deal of solutions to these issues though...