You're objecting to me calling the Military Dictator militant?
Isaac Send a noteboard - 21/12/2011 03:13:35 PM
I mean I guess I could sub in 'many reasonable definitions'... and I guess you're assuming the stress on all of this is 'atheist', not 'militant'. I guess you did not make it past the first sentence to the second sentence where I referred to 'publicly atheist'. Or the emphasis I placed in the follow up on saying I don't consider self-proclaimed atheists, cult leaders, etc who are really just trying to be the center of their own religion genuine examples of the belief they claim. Or the whole point and tone of the piece to be a reminder that tone and setting can have a very strongly negative reaction beyond what the actual logic of the arguments - which I also said I mostly agreed with in the original post - might warrant. I also think it's accurate to say Kim's every bit as much an atheist as David Koresh was a Christian, and I could come up with a massive heap of other examples.
Would it help, by the way, if I pointed out that the 'any reasonable' part was aimed at the word 'militant', and not 'atheist', maybe I didn't make that clear last post when I said that atheism is considered the de facto state religion of communist regimes. I am saying that the brutal military dictator is militant by any reasonable definition, but yes, even that should be 'many' not 'any' I suppose.
But let's just stress this point, message is a reply to Tom's "Militant atheism is somewhat amusing" title with my title follow-up to that being 'somewhat irrational at times too' with the first sentence being kinda a separate animal from the main body of the message, stressing what I view as the absurdity of someone actually deciding to call themselves 'militant' about their views on religion, in an era where referring to oneself as a 'militant Christian' or 'militant Muslim' would have most people understandably edging away from you. Are you catching yet that the whole point of the piece focuses around what I view as an almost absurdly irrational approach by people towards public relations? I'm actually genuinely sorry by the way, I know I'm being a rude prick right now but I just can't believe you've totally managed to fixate on that 'any reasonable' when I'd just take as a given that people would recognize it as hyperbole and recognize I'm stressing the 'militant' part.
So, let me just really nail this down, my opinion is that it is a bad idea to amplify, rather than dampen, anything which might cause negative mental connections to appear in the mind of one's target audience. At least if you're trying to convince them of your point (doubly so if one's core point is that that person isn't a very rational thinker but prone to go off emotion) and that setting up parallels, intentional or not, fair or not, with psychotic madmen is a really bad way to do that. And that generally 'militant' is also not a word wise people tend to tack on to the front of their self-description. I find it surprising, confusing, and a touch amusing that a group who's main selling point is the concept of acting rationally would ignore the very rational consideration of their public image.
Again, exactly which part of all of this do you disagree with?
Would it help, by the way, if I pointed out that the 'any reasonable' part was aimed at the word 'militant', and not 'atheist', maybe I didn't make that clear last post when I said that atheism is considered the de facto state religion of communist regimes. I am saying that the brutal military dictator is militant by any reasonable definition, but yes, even that should be 'many' not 'any' I suppose.
But let's just stress this point, message is a reply to Tom's "Militant atheism is somewhat amusing" title with my title follow-up to that being 'somewhat irrational at times too' with the first sentence being kinda a separate animal from the main body of the message, stressing what I view as the absurdity of someone actually deciding to call themselves 'militant' about their views on religion, in an era where referring to oneself as a 'militant Christian' or 'militant Muslim' would have most people understandably edging away from you. Are you catching yet that the whole point of the piece focuses around what I view as an almost absurdly irrational approach by people towards public relations? I'm actually genuinely sorry by the way, I know I'm being a rude prick right now but I just can't believe you've totally managed to fixate on that 'any reasonable' when I'd just take as a given that people would recognize it as hyperbole and recognize I'm stressing the 'militant' part.
So, let me just really nail this down, my opinion is that it is a bad idea to amplify, rather than dampen, anything which might cause negative mental connections to appear in the mind of one's target audience. At least if you're trying to convince them of your point (doubly so if one's core point is that that person isn't a very rational thinker but prone to go off emotion) and that setting up parallels, intentional or not, fair or not, with psychotic madmen is a really bad way to do that. And that generally 'militant' is also not a word wise people tend to tack on to the front of their self-description. I find it surprising, confusing, and a touch amusing that a group who's main selling point is the concept of acting rationally would ignore the very rational consideration of their public image.
Again, exactly which part of all of this do you disagree with?
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Kim Jong-il is dead. Would you become a fervent believer?
19/12/2011 03:37:28 AM
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If I was a Christian, I'd pray that he would burn forever in hell.
19/12/2011 03:47:52 AM
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See, I can't be an atheist.
19/12/2011 03:53:55 AM
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I agree about atheism
19/12/2011 04:19:02 AM
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It's an approximation.
19/12/2011 05:40:05 PM
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no, I'm not saying that the sheer number of people alone is sufficient
19/12/2011 10:13:09 PM
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No, Pascal's Wager is stupid.
19/12/2011 03:09:42 PM
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You obviously misread my comments or ignored them.
19/12/2011 03:39:59 PM
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You're answering a different point to the one I was addressing.
19/12/2011 04:01:54 PM
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For atheism to be a tenable position, one must assume that millions lie about their experiences.
20/12/2011 04:11:53 AM
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Look, doesn't this go against your most sacred principle?
20/12/2011 06:43:27 AM
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No, it doesn't.
20/12/2011 08:30:55 PM
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Re: No, it doesn't.
20/12/2011 09:21:22 PM
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This militant atheism is somewhat amusing.
20/12/2011 09:48:57 PM
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... somewhat irrational at times too
21/12/2011 01:22:54 AM
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Huh?
21/12/2011 10:47:06 AM
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That's somewhat unrelated to the intended point of the post
21/12/2011 12:41:49 PM
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My "Huh?" was at your claim that any reasonable definition Kim Jong-il was a millitant athiest
21/12/2011 12:58:44 PM
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You're objecting to me calling the Military Dictator militant?
21/12/2011 03:13:35 PM
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Your position isn't rational nor logical
20/12/2011 12:45:03 PM
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I never stated it was either. That's the problem with spiritual matters.
20/12/2011 08:43:46 PM
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How about a faith atheist?
19/12/2011 04:28:59 PM
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Nevermind. It appears you answered that in your reply to Tim. *NM*
19/12/2011 04:32:19 PM
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Re: See, I can't be an atheist.
19/12/2011 04:57:23 PM
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It's impossible to tell if worshipping a false god would be worse than worshipping no god at all.
20/12/2011 04:14:59 AM
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Sounds like you must be a modern-day prophet
19/12/2011 05:24:24 PM
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Idiocy. Confirmation bias doesn't explain away external phenomena.
20/12/2011 04:19:10 AM
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Well.
21/12/2011 01:49:36 PM
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I didn't forget about it. I was getting ready to give up on it.
21/12/2011 02:27:18 PM
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Also, learn to use the subjunctive. It's "if I WERE a Christian..."
19/12/2011 03:54:20 AM
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The sad thing about that comment...
19/12/2011 04:52:57 AM
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I'm pretty sure there's plenty of middle ground between those two examples
19/12/2011 05:31:13 PM
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Tom, I think this means you should take up ForEx trading. *NM*
19/12/2011 04:00:20 AM
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I might. I'm close enough to it as is. I just did some ForEx ISDAs for clients...
19/12/2011 04:03:11 AM
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I thought you were asking if I believed in KJ-I, the Eternal Leader
19/12/2011 06:55:08 AM
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The article I just read said he died on Saturday.
19/12/2011 08:58:17 AM
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Yeah, he actually died on a train Saturday morning before Tom made the comment. *NM*
19/12/2011 09:13:44 PM
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I'm not claiming causality. And, for the record, I first made the comment on Friday afternoon.
20/12/2011 04:25:07 AM
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You know what's really weird?
19/12/2011 11:32:23 AM
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They took it down, apparently. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:40:24 AM
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Not surprising, still in the revisions if anyone wants to see of course
20/12/2011 11:06:05 AM
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He's not dead-dead. Neither is his father. Just ask the North Koreans.
19/12/2011 04:23:48 PM
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Re: He's not dead-dead. Neither is his father. Just ask the North Koreans.
19/12/2011 09:15:09 PM
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The problem with predictions that come true
19/12/2011 05:28:24 PM
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I don't make a lot of predictions. *NM*
19/12/2011 08:18:53 PM
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Well you should start at least journaling the ones that you do make.
19/12/2011 08:40:18 PM
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I actually now do tell my friends when I have dreams that have the "feel" to them.
20/12/2011 04:36:07 AM
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I can attest to the fact that this conversation took place on Facebook Saturday.
19/12/2011 09:19:06 PM
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Yes, TMJ, you also contributed in this case. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:38:42 AM
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Jeez, I hope I never get on your bad side
20/12/2011 12:06:54 AM
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Things did change for the better with Stalin's death.
20/12/2011 02:51:12 AM
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So I guess you want me to destroy the voodoo doll I have of you? Oh wait...never mind. *NM*
20/12/2011 04:37:35 AM
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