dealing with rude people in western nations

Guest   Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:54 pm GMT
<<This thread has descended into a kind of evangelical soap box. >>


Did this thread actually descend, or did it start off on the wrong foot -- i.e., was the first post for real?
JohnnyC   Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:15 pm GMT
<<I bet they'll welcome you in dwarves land.>>

What the hell is dwarves land? Did you make that up or is it a real place that just translates funny from your language to English? At any rate I'm sure I'd be welcome there or anywhere.

<< fear we have landed slap!....wham!... bang! in the middle of the infamous American Bible Belt>>

Not so, Damien. Laura is the only devout Christian here and she's European. Her exhortations to repentance are oddly refreshing, probably *because* she's European. I think most of the Americans on here are indifferent to religion. That's my impression, but that may be what they call in psychology "transference".

I think the post, perhaps by accident, remained on-topic the entire time. The question of the thread is after all, "dealing with rude people in Western nations" and almost everyone who posted remained 100% rude throughout the thread. Except you. As usual you were above the fray and as always you displayed a complete lack of interest in conforming to the behavior of the nitwits surrounding you. I've yet to see you sucked into the drama... figuratively and literally.
Guest   Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:25 pm GMT
"and almost everyone who posted remained 100% rude throughout the thread."

...you on top
JohnnyC   Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:52 pm GMT
<<"and almost everyone who posted remained 100% rude throughout the thread."
...you on top>>

Well, if you insist, but if your legs get tired after awhile we can trade off.
Guest   Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:09 pm GMT
<<I've yet to see you sucked into the drama... figuratively and literally. >>

I wonder if he's ever succumbed to the temptation to join in the "drama" and post using "Guest"? Of course, he has to refrain from such posts using his nym, in order to protect its reputation.
JohnnyC   Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:23 pm GMT
<<I wonder if he's ever succumbed to the temptation to join in the "drama" and post using "Guest"? Of course, he has to refrain from such posts using his nym, in order to protect its reputation.>>

I doubt it. He doesn't seem interested in it and I haven't seen any other nyms posting in his style. But you're right... Of course he *could* post crazy shit like the rest of us using a different style from his Damien persona. And the Damien persona may be just that, a character he's developed for this forum, one of many characters even. He may be all the characters.

I have in my mind's eye an image of a youngish, educated, erudite gay man living in Scottland drinking expensive wine as he posts. But he may not be Scottish at all. He may be an elderly African American woman living in Detroit posting from the projects or a straight, jackbooted, Harley-Davidson-riding skinhead who is also a closet Anglophile, living in Bakersfield, California with "HATE" tatooed on his fingers.
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:02 am GMT
JohnnyC, are you a Christian? If so why do you love blasphemy so much?
JohnnyC   Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:06 am GMT
<<JohnnyC, are you a Christian? If so why do you love blasphemy so much? >>

Thanks for asking... I was born to parents whose religion is other than Christian, but I think of myself as agnostic. I definitely don't believe in the whole garden of eden, adam and eve theory or any of the Christian doctrine. I believe Jesus, if he existed, was a wise teacher whose ideas about ethics, etc were ahead of his time. Shit, they're still ahead of *our* time. We can't seemto get it right here in the 21st century either. But I don't believe he was god. I believe in science and evolution but respect other's rights to believe whatever they want to believe. I'm not sure I know what you mean about blasphemy. Come to think of it I don't believe in blasphemy. I don't believe there are ideas that, if you speak them you are damned. If I say, "jesus christ, can't you read??" it's just an expression and doesn't have any religious meaning. I hope that helps.
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:10 am GMT
People who believe in God are delusional.
K. T.   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:07 am GMT
If that is true, then many famous people, scientists included ,are delusional. What's your proof for disbelief?
K. T.   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:08 am GMT
Wait! Maybe "unbelief" is a better word. Let's work in the English lesson here.
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:13 am GMT
Man is capable of doing things God could never do! Like heal diseases and fix genetic disorders. Man can manipulate nature to create real life miracles!
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:16 am GMT
You can pray all your life for God to fix your eyesight or whatever, or you can go to a hospital and get laser eye surgery and that's that!
K. T.   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:23 am GMT
I've heard of cases of blind people being healed in modern times, but this is a case by case situation.

Laser eye surgery seems to work for some people, but I was having a discussion about this with someone recently. We don't know how good this will be down the road as we see more aging eyes which have undergone this surgery.
Guest   Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:26 am GMT
<<I've heard of cases of blind people being healed in modern times, but this is a case by case situation. >>

Yep, of course you _heard_ about it. You didn't study it with scientific precision. I didn't just _hear_ abuot people being cured by laser eye surgery, I've _seen_ it first-hand.