from the the-power-of-god-compels-you-to-read-it dept.
The conviction that demons exist—and that they exist to harass, derange, and smite human beings—stretches back as far as religion itself. In ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonian priests performed exorcisms by casting wax figurines of demons into a fire. The Hindu Vedas, thought to have been written between 1500 and 500 b.c., refer to supernatural beings—known as asuras, but largely understood today as demons—that challenge the gods and sabotage human affairs. For the ancient Greeks, too, demonlike creatures lurked on the shadowy fringes of the human world.
But far from being confined to a past of Demiurges and evil eyes, belief in demonic possession is widespread in the United States today. Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:26AM
Here is a boy, age 3, who got a Muslim exorcism instead of medical treatment.
https://www.amren.com/news/2018/08/extremist-muslim-father-arrested-at-new-mexico-compound/ [amren.com]
https://www.dailywire.com/news/34460/prosecutors-special-needs-boy-died-extremist-james-barrett [dailywire.com]
https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-arrested-at-extremist-muslim-new-mexico-compound-was-training-kids-to-commit-school-shootings-documents [foxnews.com]
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/09/teen_from_new_mexico_islamist_compound_says_he_was_trained_for_jihad.html [americanthinker.com]
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2018/08/08/abccbs-refuse-report-links-muslim-extremism-new-mexico [newsbusters.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:38AM (34 children)
This is just on more example of the worrying trend of the last few decades that we see in so-called "civilized" countries.
People are progressively loosing all trust in the pillars of civilization: Education, justice, democracy, journalism, science, reason, etc. Plus, we see more and more orchestrated and deliberate campaings of disinformation aimed at discrediting and destroying all the advances of humanity of the last few centuries. Climate-change and evolution denyalism, moon-landings hoaxers, anti-vaxxers, even fricking flat-earthers.
Simultanuously, we see a rise in religions, religious sects, superstition, "alternative" medecine, conspiracy-theories of all sorts. Things that had been virtually eradicated from society are not only making a comeback, they are even starting to become acceptable to more and more people: Taking justice into one's own hand, violence, bigotry, homophobia, racism, sexism, and soon maybe even slavery.
In short: Civilization is slowly collapsing, and humans are progressively reverting to superstition, tribalism, barbarism and savagery.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:43AM (6 children)
TFA has the term "catholic exorcisms".
There's a whole caravan trying to get into the US right now from the predominately catholic part of the world. The more we irrationality we import, the greater the percentage of irrationality.
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:02AM (5 children)
Nothing compared to the irrationalism of the Purtians, the Quakers, the Morons, and the Episcopalians. In fact, best to exorcise all Christians, and it is easy to do: You just as them to pledge loyalty to the God-Emperor Trump! If they do, we kill them on the spot. Idolaters! Heretics! Republicans! Deplorables! Unclean! Stupidos! Witches! (Explains so much about Mueller's investigation into the Trump organization. If they confess, they are guilty (Cohen); if they do not confess (Stone), even more guilty. But where this logic is suspect during the witch trials of the 16th century, it surprisingly makes sense right now.
Donald Trump in fact weighs the same as Duck. Just Saying. Not saying he's made of wood. But he could be.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:17AM
Exercise them first, they are overweight anyway.
Put them to push the Thulsa Doom's Wheel of Pain, we'll have them do something useful for a change.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:27AM (1 child)
Yu misspelled "morans".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:23AM
As in the Church Universal and Dumbfounded? Utah, or Rome? Or, possibly, England? God cannot possibly support all of them, and MBS. Or can he?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:58PM (1 child)
I am a Christian and I would never pledge loyalty to Trump. I despise just about everything he stands for. In fact, I would never vote for him; I voted for Hillary in 2016. I would sooner turn in a blank ballot than vote for him (if I didn't think there were any other viable candidates on the ballot). I think you need to get out more. Just sayin'.
Ummm...yeah. What's old is new again, right? How about we leave Mueller to do the investigation while trolls like you STFU. That would work for me. See, I actually like things like due process; while it ain't perfect it's a hell of a lot better than what you are proposing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @05:42PM
Virtue waver noted. Except, it's more of an anti-virtue. If everyone who thinks like you would have voted third party, it may have done some good. But, that's alright - waving your virtues anonymously doesn't count anyway.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:55AM (11 children)
Yes, academia has become corrupted by scammers and political hacks. It makes sense people stop listening after the millionth "coffee is good/bad for you" press release from people who don't know what a p-value means yet use it for everything.
Eventually, the lack of confidence hits you even if it is a totally different field. It was a failure of the (research) authorities to police their fields.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by exaeta on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:00AM (9 children)
Amen. It's really hard to put trust in academia right now, given how much crap gets published.
If they wanted people to believe them, they need to make all the reports, procedures, etc. publicly accessible for free. Then people could examine the reports to see if they actually support the hypothesis or are a bullshit example of P-hacking.
Personally, I wont believe the random claims I hear from researchers if it defies common sense. About 90% of the time common sense seems to work better than modern "science". What about that study that said fat was bad for you? And that one that said that diet food was great? Now carbs are evil! And organic is the way to go. We're all doomed from preservatives (not!).
I could see someone with biases not accepting the results either. But their 'common sense' might be quite different from mine.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @12:01PM
Actually its worse. The 'carbs are bad' idea comes from people self experimenting and 'quack' doctors saying consuming carbs over a certain percent (~10%) of your diet increases appetite and thus overeating. The academic nutrition researchers are still calling a 40% carb diet 'low carb' and drawing conclusions about 'low carb diets' from that. So they arent even in the right ballpark.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:29PM (3 children)
Yeah!!! Because my common sense is better than yer book larnin'!!! </sarcasm>
Seems to work, you say? Could you put that on a more rigorous footing?
[citation needed]
[citation needed]
Stop watching Dr Oz, dimwit.
Buried in there is a clue for you. Can you spot it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @02:47AM (2 children)
Citations not necessary, really. Those of us who have been alive, and listening to news propaganda for more than a decade have been hearing this crap all our lives. Eggs are good, eggs are bad, egg whites are good, egg whites are bad, corn syrup is healthy, corn syrup is bad, sugar is good, sugar is poison - bacon, red meat, chicken, fish, on and on it goes. Mostly, we tune it out. But, each announcement convinces some small following.
If you really need citations on all the foods that have been demonized, then canonized in turn, you need to do your own research. It's time for you to play catchup.
And, yes, those "studies" on the various foods have taught us contempt for researchers. We need to go back to the early sixties, and the food pyramid. Teach people that they should eat a varied diet, they should limit their sugars, fats, and calories, but that they SHOULD eat some of each. Teach people to plan their diet to include minerals, vitamins, protein, and all the rest.
If people are eating decently most of the time, they need not feel guilty for pigging out for Thanksgiving when they are surrounded by family and friends.
Common sense. A million generations of ancestors lived on common sense diets, without any "studies" done to determine that one food or another was bad for you. We already knew to avoid some things like pufferfish after all - it was proven to be bad for a lot of people.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @03:10AM (1 child)
It's funny in a way, the way the research goes round and round, after billions of dollars and nearly as many food fads, it's more or less back to the advice my grandmother gave me growing up. That is, common sense.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @03:25AM
Just don't forget that Grandma prescribed cod liver oil for everything! :^)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:16PM
It's not just the researchers, it's the institutions. They see ads promising to change your life right (just give us your life savings and go into a debt you'll never be able to pay off)) next to the ads for products that will eliminate fine wrinkles or perhaps leave you blind or eliminate yellowing of your toenails or wreck your liver. Then they see again and again in the news that some of them are outright scams and others result in well educated baristas.
Then cynical politicians come along and validate the idea that science is not to be trusted hoping to get a few more votes for their side.
That's the average person's view. For those who might actually read research papers and journals, the evidence suggests that the journals that were a cornerstone of scientific discourse really are just in it for the bux. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me that much is one of them published "evidence" for the flat earth if they got paid enough.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Thursday December 06 2018, @11:47PM (2 children)
While what you say is true, the problem is that for all it's flaws academia is STILL a better source of truth than the shit people are latching onto. Religion, alternative medicine, and all the other woo is infinitely worse.
It's like saying that because you got an aqua-marine coloured lolly pop instead of a green lolly pop, you're instead going to switch to eating rat poison.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @02:13AM
Alternative medicine isn't necessarily worse. Often placebo is better than consuming a poison that could be harmful.
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Friday December 07 2018, @03:43AM
Sort of. Common sense can get your further, but some people do lack it. Real understanding of whether food X is good or bad for you will result from understanding the chemistry of that food and how it interacts with your body. These correlational studies are often done will sample sizes that are too small and they often make proclamations before the evidence fully supports them.
I think it's best if we stopped looking for 2% relative differences in risks and 0.05 P-value. Scientists need to think more and write braindead reports less. These studies are a symptom of the money being funneled to them. It seems there is little that can be done besides structural reform to encourage a different kind of science.
We also experiment far to little and do studies far too often. It's better to do large numbers of experiments, and once you notice a pattern in one of them, then decide to do a double blind study to confirm or deny it. Instead of just doing a bunch of random studies one after the other, which produces little substantial results. Take a moment to think about how most major discoveries are made, by investigative scientists experimenting, not the double blind placebo controlled study.
Whilst these studies are useful with large enough sample sizes, they aren't useful for small sample sizes. Also 0.05 is wayyyy too big. P should be less than 0.00001 as a rule and repeated at least 3 times by different groups of researchers before we accept a conclusion. (Reproducibility is important.)
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @08:21AM
That view is as much created by the sensationalist media that turn all headlines into absolutes.
Asimov's Relativity of Wrong comes to mind, and surprise surprise it was a student of the liberal arts that prodded him to write it. The same liberal arts students that are likely to go on to become hack journalists producing said absolutist headlines...
http://hermiene.net/essays-trans/relativity_of_wrong.html [hermiene.net]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:16AM
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:25AM (2 children)
Part of the issue is that lots of those "pillars of civilization" got weaponized by degenerates. Education and journalism are completely dominated by leftist thinking, and even science has been badly undermined. We can see the mockery of justice that is the 9th Circuit, civil asset forfeiture is still a thing, and overcharging is used to force people into plea bargains. Fraud runs rampant in the climate-change industry, with multiple cases of fabricated data, and the "solution" proposed is a worldwide planned economy (brutal bloody communism AGAIN) that doesn't consider the cost of implementation.
People take justice into their own hand when government fails them. When cops ignore crimes and when judges give trivial sentences, people quickly learn that revenge is the better option.
We've been importing violence, bigotry, homophobia, racism, sexism, and slavery. Since 9/11, muslims in the USA have gone from 1 million to 6 million. If we keep up that rate of growth (36 million, 216 million, 1296 million...) it won't be long before official government policy is to chuck LGBT from rooftops. We will have sex slave markets. It's coming as long as we insist on pacifist "we're better than that" non-response to the invasion.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:49AM
Totally useless, of course.
You have plenty of those at home and the price of them is not high enough to justify the importation.
(grin)
(Score: 1, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:56PM
Like, Ellen Degenerate?
And, Chuck? Muslims named Chuck on the rooftop are bad for LICKBUTTS?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:13AM (6 children)
At what point in the past was civilization at its peak, because we're at an all time low in religiousness in western civilization.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/prayer-belief-in-god-sinks-to-all-time-low [usnews.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:52AM (2 children)
(the collective) You may not believe in God, but it seems you believe in the devil alright. Enough to be afraid of it.
There may be something paradoxical in here, but then again, the reality shows a system of beliefs needs not to be rational.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @11:15AM (1 child)
It's probably more a case of there being more atheists and agnostics in the population as a whole, while those who choose to cling on to the superstitions of old have become more fanatical.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @03:25AM
Look closer at those Agnostics and you may find that they believe in the spiritual as much as ever, just not so much in organized religion.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:40PM (1 child)
Civilization "peaks" when it is winning. All of the great civilizations of the past were highly respected, when they were running abroad, and kicking ass. Soon after they stop kicking ass, their decadent children and grandchildren start getting their own asses handed to them.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:40PM
I can think of any example of an empire at its peak of hard and soft power, where the child of someone acclaimed for winning a major war would start his own random half-hearted wars with no proper planning, massively squandering goodwill and resources, while at the same time starving the system to enrich his rich and powerful friends, and ignoring warnings of a major economic crisis. Combined with an unprecedented rush to systematically provide another rising power with the secrets of its most advanced tech in exchange for short-term profits, what could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:21AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @01:04PM
Three generations back you got your news in the local paper. Maybe it was accurate, maybe it was crazy, maybe you were crazy. But the flow of information was slow. You could discuss things with your family, your colleagues, your pastor for a week or two before something else came out that was unusual in the paper.
Today you can get a hundred different ideas, most of them garbage, in an hour. And advertisers and social networks and media companies have a financial incentive to be inflammatory and controversial. Fear-mongering everywhere. So we each stop thinking about objective reality and sifting through a mountain of trash for facts. Instead we pick what we want to believe, and suddenly Scientology is equally valid as geometry. Welcome to the future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:03PM
Science and reason the pillars of civilization? friendly reminder that the world literally went to shit since the french revolution. Pollution, senseless wars. Before that, invasions were driven by need or by military leaders that would put their balls on the line.
Yes, I'm trolling, just like parent did, unconsciously, by repeating the party line.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:01PM
Or it's the same old cycles repeating themselves throughout history, on a generational swing cycle.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @04:10AM
of buying GMO and gluten free water?
(Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:44AM (5 children)
The power of Christ compels you!
The Power of Buddha compels you!
The power of Mahavira compels you!
The power of Shiva compels you!
The power of The Flying Spagetti Monster compels you!
The power of Thoth compels you!
In fact, the power of common sense and non-partisan reasoning compels you, TMB? Why must you resist it so? Are you "mental" ?
Or just "mentai"? Poor Buzzard, so totally unaware of how far from the truth he is, and yet thinking he is defending the same. Sad.
(Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:44AM (1 child)
Oh, wow, mega-down modded by the forces of evil! So let's try this again, only on the alt-evil side!
The Power of Satan, could it be, Satan???? (Dana Cary, Church Lady, SNL)
The power of Baal compels you! To pay child support to your ex!
The Power of Moldervort compels you, to not have a whole face?
The Power of Chulthu compels you! Mostly in ways Geometrically you do not want to be compelled.
The Power of the Violent Impostion of the State compels you, to pay your fair share of taxes.
The Power of Beezulbub, "prince of the demons", compels you!
The Power of Angra Mainyu (/ˈæŋrə ˈmaɪnjuː/; Avestan: 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 Aŋra Mainiiu) Compels you.
The power of Maya (/ˈmɑːjə/; Devanagari: माया, compels you, but only if you fall for illusions.
And finally, the Power of SoylentNews compels you, to admit that free speech and aristarchus are right!
Confess! Confess! Confess!
Cardinal Fang, bring out the Rack! Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition [youtube.com].
I still think that TMB is possessed. khallow also, most probably. And Bradley13, for obvious reasons.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:32PM
Exorcism is not needed. Just don't use Perl.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:40PM
No doubt about it. His blind faith is constantly on display.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:41PM (1 child)
And, the power of Aristarchus can compel a migraine.
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:14PM
Like a splinter in your mind, Runaway, like a splinter in your mind!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:50AM (25 children)
The US is already fucked, but over here we still have a chance.
Y'all ought be ashamed that you permitted 70% of people to believe this shit when even the extremely low effort of shaming them would have prevented it.
Living in a democracy the opinions of others are your business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:02AM (4 children)
Do you believe in free will over there? If not then, they have no choice in what to believe. If yes, then there is scientific evidence for it and there is ample evidence that it's an illusion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:27AM (3 children)
People mean many different things by the phrase ``free will'', I can't answer confidently without knowing which definition you intend. I'm rather confused by your apparent belief that ``choice'' can't be coherently defined within a materialist view. ``choice'' in a materialist view is rather like ``pressure'' in a modern view of gases, it doesn't exist per se, but is a useful abstraction to avoid the irrelevant complexity of the underlying reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:36AM
When I said ``defined coherently'' I meant ``defined such that one's extant beliefs don't entail it has no referents''.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:43AM (1 child)
Control over one's actions is a standard definition and will work. Unlike your pressure analogy choice can go eithr way regardless of external or internal pressures.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:00AM
If by ``control over one's actions'' you mean ``one's internal monologue and/or thoughts causally influences one's actions'' then yes, free will exists, it's just that ``one's internal monologue'' and ``one's thoughts'' have physical existence in one's brain, which evolves* per the usual laws of physics.
When you say ``choice can go either way regardless of external or internal pressures'' do you mean that your neurons do not evolve* per the laws of physics**? If so, that can be tested in a lab. If it is the case that the movement of ions in a neuron is causally influenced by something other than physics then neuroscience has yet to notice.
*here merely meaning ``to change over time''
** I identify ``choice'' with the firing patterns of neurons because choices don't mean anything without action (whether immediate or having an influence on later action) and actions occur via efferent neurons***.
*** yes there are edge cases, but they're not relevant to my knowledge.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:50AM (2 children)
The Pilgrims for example, emigrated from England to Holland to escape religious persecution, then from Holland to the New World when they realized all their children were speaking Dutch.
The First Amendments stipulation that "Congress shall make no law respecting a religion" was not at all to promote atheism, but in part to forbid the establishment of a State Religion, but even more significantly to prevent people of different faiths from killing each other, was was so widespread during the Protestand Reformation.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @10:15AM
The implicit claim that the government taking a stance on religion leads to the violations of people's rights is dubious.
So far as I'm concerned it would be immoral to outlaw the practice* of /any/ religion, even if failing to do so would inevitably lead to the collapse of society and civil war. That isn't because I value religious freedom, it's because I value beyond expected utility the protection of rights which imply religious freedom and so I /can't/ oppose religious freedom no matter the cost.
That's why I say it's too late for y'all. Beyond propaganda** you can't do shit. But prior to a person becoming a citizen? A government may make the decision to admit them or not for any reason they like.
*in a way which doesn't violate anyone's rights
**preferably the truthful variety, but even that's a horribly dangerous path and why I'd prefer not to have to deal with it in the first place by not importing a problem
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:25PM
They just keep not mentioning that the "religious persecution" was that people kept stoppng them burning Roman Catholics.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:39PM (15 children)
If liberal thinking is taken to a far enough extreme, SJWs can fix everything.
The best way to avoid conflict and encourage diversity is to force everyone to voluntarily think alike.
Religion is the best way to heal a world deeply and violently divided by religion.
We must never tolerate the intolerant.
And remember there are no absolutes. Absolutely no absolutes.
Idle CPUs are the devil's plaything.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:49PM (1 child)
For us older people, a penis is a plaything. Some of us were so poor, if we didn't wake up with wood, we didn't have anything to play with.
Oh, wait. Sorry, that was my grandparent's generation. They lived through the great depression. Parents were born into the depression, so they don't remember shit. And, whatever shit they might have remembered was lost when they dropped dead . . .
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:32PM
Wood toys are underrated and make excellent play things.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @03:33AM (7 children)
Isn't it about time to realize that the SJWs are nothing but an extremist fringe, much like McVey was on the other side?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday December 07 2018, @02:25PM (6 children)
One would think so. But they either have bigger numbers than I would expect, or they are louder than I would expect.
I don't have any fear of the SJWs as long as they don't get absolute power. I do have fear of the opposite extreme even if they don't have absolute power. But I could be somewhat ignorant and uninformed about just how extreme SJWs might potentially be, especially re: violence.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @05:19PM (1 child)
If you recognize that they're just the extremist fringe, why do you keep painting all liberals with the W brush? Would you care to be equated with the Daily Stormer or McVeigh?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday December 07 2018, @05:51PM
I do consider myself mostly liberal. I recognize there are extremes and these get the most attention it seems.
I'm not sure what the W brush is? I'm unfamiliar with Daily Stormer.
I would definitely not want to be equated with McVeigh.
I don't have a problem laughing at either liberals, conservatives, myself or just about anything else if it is funny.
When there is something funny about what I do, or what liberals do, that makes me realize I should rethink maybe.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @06:33PM (3 children)
Somewhat ignorant, maybe. There's no real shame in ignorance, as it can be fixed. Try this site - https://www.redneckrevolt.org/ [redneckrevolt.org] (noscript complains about their site)
We've forgotten the names of the people and the organizations from decades past, who were happy to kill their fellow Americans for progressive goals. We've forgotten the Weather Underground. We've forgotten and forgiven Patty Hearst. Bill Ayers is an honored member of society today. But, the violence is coming around again. The left just isn't willing to own their violence.
For amusement purposes, you might visit Youtube, and do a search for "liberals shooting" or Leftist marksmen" and like terms. There are many videos of naive people attempting to do something meaningful with weapons - and most of them are funny. But - give the devil his due. If they screw around with those weapons long enough, they'll either kill themselves, or start to become competent with them.
At this point in time, if civil war erupted between lefties and righties in this country, the casualty count would overwhelmingly favor the righties. Each lefty who becomes competent to handle a weapon will tend to even those odds. Not something that I really want to see happen, of course. But, the point is, lefties have violent tendencies. All of their heroes from the Russian and Chinese communist revolutions were violent SOB's. Maybe our American style lefties are ready to own that.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @06:48PM (2 children)
Just as I do you the courtesy of not calling you a neo=Nazi or a truck bomber, you can do me the favor of not calling me an SJW or a Soviet.
And BTW, I can shoot just fine.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 07 2018, @06:55PM (1 child)
Yes, there ARE liberals who can shoot. And, there ARE liberals who have served in the military, and understand what warfare is all about. But, the odds are with the right in the event of a war. I think that you'll recognize that the generality has some validity.
I don't recall calling sjames a soviet or an SJW. I've probably recognized you as a lefty or some such. What, exactly, are you taking offense to?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @08:32PM
You personally have not lumped me in with either the SJWs or the Soviets, but I commonly see it done and you seemed to be objecting to my general objection.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:34AM (4 children)
that, sir, is beautiful. I shall add it to my sig quotes file. Is it original?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 10 2018, @02:35PM (2 children)
It is partially original. I saw a quote somewhere once, which inspired this variation.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday December 10 2018, @10:41PM (1 child)
Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion.
-- Jon Stewart
Which sounds like it might have been your influence.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday December 11 2018, @02:57PM
The idea of that is close. The the inspiration was a quote that had a similar ending.
. . . blah blah heal a world divided by religion.
Since my major goal in life, at this point in my life, is to get modded Funny, it was immediately clear what must be done.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday December 10 2018, @02:41PM
> The best way to avoid conflict and encourage diversity is to force everyone to voluntarily think alike.
This one is original, and I first posted it on SN before anywhere else. An attempt to get as many oxymorons as possible into a single line.
conflict vs diversity
think alike vs diversity
force vs voluntarily
force vs encourage
> We must never tolerate the intolerant.
I had this idea, but I'm sure others have too. I first posted on SN, but I saw this more concise version, I think on SN, at a later date.
> And remember there are no absolutes. Absolutely no absolutes.
I heard this one in church in 1986. But I have never heard or seen it since then.
> Idle CPUs are the devil's plaything.
Original, I posted it first on SN before anywhere else. Again, it is possible someone else thought of it.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 07 2018, @01:47AM
What would you have them believe instead? In the benevolence of Trump? Of Hillary? The healing power of United Healthcare? Are you sure that 70% is the group that needs shaming?
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:26AM
So, the subject line concludes the exorcism of our delighted Soylent readership. Job well done, thank you.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:35AM (4 children)
The type of person who would answer a poll at all, let alone honestly, has probably changed a lot since 1990. I wont even answer the phone without knowing the number...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:37AM
No text.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:41PM (2 children)
I only answer a poll if I am assured that my answers will be sent to Google for safe keeping.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)
This is the level of control khazar jewish rats exercise over you. You write some text on your keyboard, or click a few buttons and it shows up on a jew's terminal. Sickening!!!
Expose the jew.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:33PM
Wouldn't that violate some sort of public decency law and get you branded as a sex offender?
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 06 2018, @08:46AM
I convinced my mother that I was stone deaf every time she'd walk right up to me then shout directly at my face.
"No, Mom. I'm not deaf, I just wasn't listening."
Those trances took place when I was nine and ten years old. They went away then returned when I was thirty four.
One day I was lost in thought when my attention gradually wandered towards someone shouting my name as if from a great distance away. Eventually I heard that voice calling my name. As time passed I grew increasingly aware that it was quite cold, and that I was dressed quite warmly. Eventually I found myself standing near quite a beautiful frozen waterfall, then an even more beautiful young woman.
"Why is she so upset?" I wondered.
"MIKE! MIKE! SNAP OUT OF IT! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"
That was Bonita, at the time my girlfriend, then later my wife, now my ex.
She called it "Living Inside Your Head". I didn't regard that as a problem because as I explained I regarded being lost in thought to be a better way to live.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by SomeGuy on Thursday December 06 2018, @01:36PM (16 children)
Obligatory reminder to all the religitards out there: There is no such thing as god. It is just a story someone made up a long time ago so they could gain power and boink children. There is also no such thing as an afterlife, and there are no supernatural demons, ghosts, angels, or whatever.
You should be ashamed for believing such childish nonsense.
Not sure exactly how influential television still is these days, but I have seen a dramatic rise in TV shows the last 10 years or so that use the supernatural as regular plot devices. Also many standard OTA channels have added vaguely religious themed sub channels. It is to a point now that has passed absurd. Sure, sometimes that can make for a good story, but with enough of this stuff spewed out, people forget supernatural stuff IS NOT REAL!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Bot on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:20PM (6 children)
And the creatures in the simulation shouted "EUREKA! we did it! we found THE RULES! Every single particle of our world is ruled by those rules! inescapable! and guess what? we found no traces of any superior being in these rules. Nada. Everything there is, particles, states, and rules from one state to another. THERE IS NO GOD!"
And the programmer sighed, "Fuck, I even showed myself in the sim, I proved I was the admin, yet they won't believe unless a hack is done under their nose. They regressed to materialism instead". And switched off the machine.
Fact is, god cannot be proven.
The devil, instead is pretty easy to prove. Evil is basically a myopic view that put personal gain above all else. Evil is quick to form a system where a group increases his personal gain. Calling that system the devil is as straightforward as calling the bunch of cells and co-resident bacteria a "parent poster".
Fact is, "religion is fear of death" is baseless propaganda. In fact it's quite idiotic to say the reason why a guy tries to contact a hostile tribe until they kill him is a fear of death.
Fact is, "religion is a way to rule other people" is baseless propaganda. For example a Christian integralist cannot obey a master different from God as embodied by the Christ, so not even a Pope can have complete power over him. Even religions born as a political movement with earthly aims (Islam) have problem managing their own soldiers because ethics get in the way.
Relax, Nobody can make you believe. So you don't need to be more illogical than theists. So avoid it kthxbye.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday December 06 2018, @03:45PM
That line is the bestest.
The people who rely on government handouts and refuse to work should be kicked out of congress.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Thursday December 06 2018, @04:41PM (4 children)
Thank you captain pedantic pants. Where would we all be without you? (Oh, now you have to tell us exactly and precisely in excruciating detail.)
If you don't like my saying that there absolutely isn't one, then please inform all the religitards out there that they can't say there absolutely is one.
You have never met my mother or experienced the amount of pain she can inflict. It is not possible to be more illogical than her.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:46PM (2 children)
SN is probably not the best forum for working out your issues with your mother. Now run along! Shoo!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:26PM (1 child)
So, tell me, how does not the best forum for working out your issues with your mother, make you feel?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday December 12 2018, @06:00PM
This Elizascalated quickly.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday December 08 2018, @03:56PM
> It is not possible to be more illogical than her.
if she is a mother in law she is par for the course.
The problem was not your comment. The problem is that nowadays atheism is based on slogans repeated as mantras which reminds me of other kind of organizations. Go to reddit homepage, see atheist headline with the usual rationalizations, oh look, thread is locked. And they get upset when they get told they are a religion.
Account abandoned.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:21PM (5 children)
Just because you can't see it means it doesn't exist, right. How open-minded of you. And you make it your personal duty to offend anyone who has different views, is more open-minded or entertains the idea that all that exists is not known to them.
You could be a khazar jew. Jews pray to their god, Satan and ridicule other religions so others will lose their faith and become slaves to the evil, evil jew.
Non-jews should keep an open mind and, of course, there is scientific evidence that other energy beings exist on this and other planets. Some people see them and can communicate with them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @05:51PM (4 children)
There is?!? Has any of this been presented in a peer-reviewed journal?
Really? What do these "other energy beings" have to say? Somebody who can communicate with these other beings should act as some sort of mediator between us and them. I bet someone could make a lot of easy money that way!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:46PM (1 child)
Turns out energy beings give really shitty stock advice, limiting their usefulness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @10:10PM
Agreed. And yet...and yet...people will pay oodles of money to have an audience with Ramtha [wikipedia.org], for example. So someone is making easy money off
some suckersthis stuff.(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:30PM
"Has any of this been presented in a peer-reviewed journal?"
These "peer-reviewed" "journals" are infiltrated by khazar jewish vermin, therefore will not let anyone expose them. This is why they control media and continue to buy/threaten/infiltrate independent media. The rat-faced jewish vermin cannot let themselves be exposed. The jewish vermin will not play fair.
"I bet someone could make a lot of easy money that way!"
That form of communication/control of other beings is used to commit great evil. Money is too small a thing. When you can control the minds of people, you do not need money.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday December 07 2018, @11:21PM
They're too busy playing Brockian Ultra Cricket to bother talking to us.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:29PM (2 children)
I don't think the connection to television is relevant, save for those ridiculous fantasy shows on TV like Jerry Falwell and Joel Osteen and so forth.
I'm an atheist, and I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed and Smallville and The Good Place and so forth. I know other atheists that watch lots of fantasy too.
I posted elsewhere as anonymous coward that I think the real problem is just the modern disinformation age. Several generations back news traveled slowly, so if you were exposed to any strange ideas you had weeks or months to think things over. If you were inclined to be irrational then the pace of new information was irrelevant. But if you were inclined to be rational you had plenty of time to think things through. Today you can see five dozen contradictory things before breakfast, and the great majority of it is presented in an inflammatory format because outrage brings more viral shares and advertising revenue. Irrational people are still irrational, and I think after a while too many of the rational people become numb and give up examining evidence in favor of being like the irrational ones and just believing whatever the hell they want.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Friday December 07 2018, @04:57AM (1 child)
That slightly misses the point. Nobody sits down and changes their major beliefs just from watching a few TV shows, much in the same way nobody instantly runs out and buys a product because they see an advertisement.
It is about impressions and probability on a larger scale. Someone who suddenly has to chose a product with no time to think is statistically more likely to choose the one they have heard advertising about. On a small scale one purchase does not matter, but on a lager scale it can put an underdog competing company out of business.
My own observation is that as some of these ideas, such has demons, get thrown around more, they sort of slowly increase traction in the population at large. The effect is that in aggregate it is harder to present or have opposing ideas. An existing atheist will not change their mind, but down the road someone trying to find their own way may find that the threshold of opposing religious/supernatural ideas is just a bit too high and give up.
Also, I don't think anyone watched Buffy for any of the supernatural stuff :D
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Friday December 07 2018, @12:15PM
That makes sense, thanks for making the point more clearly now. I naively interpreted your top level comment to think you meant that people watching a show like Touched By An Angel were suddenly going to start believing angels exist and work however they're depicted in the show.
I don't agree with insulting people who have religious beliefs. If you insult someone for their position, even if they're wildly wrong, I think it strengthens their resolve and closes their mind further. It makes us feel better to mock them, of course. But it doesn't help. And remember that the religious fanatic that won't actually listen to a single thing you say isn't really important. The important bit is to catch observers on the sidelines with a more open mind and convince them.
...having said all that, I am open to the possibility I'm wrong. If I can isolate the idea someone is Christian (or Muslim or whatever) and just discuss it with the person, then politeness is probably the right approach. But in the overwhelming majority of cases someone who is religious is also advocating against abortion rights, equal treatment of GLBTQ+, etc... so we're not just disagreeing on their fantasies about the creation of the universe, we're also in disagreement because they support immoral political positions. If I was engaged in a debate with someone who said it should be legal to steal money from a few people per year for fun, I wouldn't be polite about it. So why should religious people get special treatment for advocating something worse?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06 2018, @06:20PM
if you don't turn off the tv they will just repossess you. that's the whole point of tv. it's a possession delivery device. just watch the occurrence of demons in kids animated movies and cartoons. the villains in the original scooby doo series was always found out to be some harmless loser. now the movie remake was all about demonic possession. many other examples of this. maybe check what bs you sit your young child down to be brainwashed by. whether these demons represent real beings is somewhat irrelevant. the cultists believe they can infect the young, free mind with fear and use that to control them the rest of their life. in this sense, they are doing the bidding of evil spirits they believe in, and these spirits give them power as a reward in a concrete sense b/c they control your slave children. these are the ancient mysteries of the dark arts.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday December 06 2018, @09:47PM
I've covered the failure of acedemia as a pillar elsewhere. But government and the political process have proven themselves unworthy of respect. Politicians on both sides don't even seem to remember that they're supposed to represent all of their constituents whatever their personal view. They squeek by with a 0.1% margin when people hold their noses and vote for them because the other candidate was slightly more offensive and declare victory for their side as if they have any sort of meaningful mandate from the people for exactly their views. They have proven that they will say and do nearly anything to win, honest or not. Politicians have never enjoyed a good reputation, but it has become decidedly worse over time.
It's no wonder people are turning to churches for guidance and leadership. Even before the Christian church took over europe, the many different pagans turned to their own priesthood for leadership. If the civil authorities won't do it or seem to become the enemy of the people, the people turn back to religion. Some of the politicians above try to jump on that bandwagon is spite of showing no sign of belief (or even respect) in the religions. They would be wise to consider what would happen if a popular preacher issued a call to arms to the flock, but they aren't wise.
Although many people in medicine seem to actually care, the medical industry increasingly seems focused on leaving people bankrupt under threat of death. Even doctors and nurses bristle against it.
People turn to healing crystals and herbs because they can afford them and it makes them FEEL better. They place their hopes there because they don't know where else to place their hopes. There are plenty of scams in alternative medicine, but many others who sincerely believe they will help (whatever you might believe about actual effectiveness) and they don't bill for more than you make in a year, don't demand an insurance card before they even look at you and will actually talk to you about your concerns. In many cases, that may ACTUALLY be more helpful than a perfunctory scribble on a prescription pad followed by handing over what was supposed to be the rent and grocery money for the month.
If the civil authorities would like to remain authorities, they are going to have to be more civil. Otherwise, various priesthoods WILL take over.
(Score: 2) by xpda on Friday December 07 2018, @01:20AM (3 children)
...he's still in the White House.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @04:23AM (2 children)
while I've been alive and I haven't noticed any difference in my life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @06:28AM
You're dumb as a rock, then.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday December 08 2018, @10:51AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves