Hammer meet nail...

[StriperrHunterr]

This is taken from Terminal Lance, and I can't post a link or the unedited source text because it trips the language filters, but you should be able to find it pretty easily if you search it up.

THIS is the real enemy, that the author is talking about.

Religious extremism is a scourge on an otherwise decent earth we live on.

I have a theory (backed up by nothing but pure and largely comical speculation) that if we got all the idiot terrorists in the world to just stop killing each other for like a few hours and sit them down and have Neil DeGrasse Tyson talk about the universe and stuff, they would eventually reach the conclusion that murdering people for no apparent reason is fairly petty in contrast to the massive scale of the galaxy and everything beyond it. I know that whenever I feel like going on a murderous religious rampage and forcing weird and archaic laws on people against their will, all I have to do is look up at the night sky and remember that I’m one dude sitting on one relatively small (and extremely lucky) rock revolving around a relatively small star in a galaxy filled with about 300,000,000,000 other stars.

That’s pretty doggone mind boggling, and makes everything else seem really doggone stupid.

There’s probably a much larger and more intelligent dialog to be had on the idea that lack of education is the source of most evil. As well, this is certainly not a stance or argument against religion as a general thing. Frankly I wouldn’t care if you worshipped Pan, the pagan goat god, as your lord and savior; as long as you didn’t use it as an excuse to cut peoples heads off on YouTube. Unfortunately I really doubt any of the people we’re about to unleash hades on are going to take a step back and examine the intricacies of the universe and all of its infinite splendor. Instead, they’re just going to keep being idiots, and so they are going to be treated like idiots.

It was weird watching the President talk on Wednesday night about the state of affairs in Iraq and the war plan. It was an intense deja-vu for me back to 2003 and watching President Bush sell us basically the same thing. Circumstances are different, naturally, but it’s weird to think that Iraq has been a part of our national dialog for almost half of my life now. Having been there twice myself, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll ever see the end of it.

There's really no refutation to his points. Any of them.

 

[ambush80]

This is taken from Terminal Lance, and I can't post a link or the unedited source text because it trips the language filters, but you should be able to find it pretty easily if you search it up.

THIS is the real enemy, that the author is talking about.



There's really no refutation to his points. Any of them.

It's like we're still cavemen throwing rocks.

I'm certain almost all military forces pray before unleashing death. Maybe not the Swiss.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

It's like we're still cavemen throwing rocks.

I'm certain almost all military forces pray before unleashing death. Maybe not the Swiss.

That's a brush too wide. Are there chaplains who pray on behalf of the military, sure, but that's way different than the soldiers praying.

When I went over in 2003 I carried a set of Rosary beads thinking that this would be the moment in life I found my faith. I prayed, I read the Bible, I attended services and it was no more meaningful to me, even while being shot at, than it was before. In fact, all that did was highlight the randomness to the universe, unless God is just unimaginably cruel. I've seen bombed out chapels, during service, where I, the professed non-believer, have mortars literally skittering over my feet without going off and coming home unscathed.

Some would rationalize that to me as God having purpose for me, or giving the other believers more of a test because he knew they could handle it, but all I saw was unflinching chance and really bad luck.

 

[ambush80]

That's a brush too wide. Are there chaplains who pray on behalf of the military, sure, but that's way different than the soldiers praying.

When I went over in 2003 I carried a set of Rosary beads thinking that this would be the moment in life I found my faith. I prayed, I read the Bible, I attended services and it was no more meaningful to me, even while being shot at, than it was before. In fact, all that did was highlight the randomness to the universe, unless God is just unimaginably cruel. I've seen bombed out chapels, during service, where I, the professed non-believer, have mortars literally skittering over my feet without going off and coming home unscathed.

Some would rationalize that to me as God having purpose for me, or giving the other believers more of a test because he knew they could handle it, but all I saw was unflinching chance and really bad luck.

That's an important word.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

That's an important word.

Agreed, that's why I used it. In my, not so, humble opinion, one could replace the word religion with ritualized rationalization and not change the outcome.

 

[ambush80]

Agreed, that's why I used it. In my, not so, humble opinion, one could replace the word religion with ritualized rationalization and not change the outcome.

So how does your observation that 'poop' happens (randomness) affect how you go about your daily life?

 

[StriperrHunterr]

So how does your observation that 'poop' happens (randomness) affect how you go about your daily life?

Poop happening to me is random, how I react to it is up to me. Whether or not I poop on other people is also up to me, and based on how I want them to look at me and treat me.

More generally, it shows me that life is fleeting and every moment precious. Live now, while you're alive, because you won't always be.

 

[ambush80]

Poop happening to me is random, how I react to it is up to me. Whether or not I poop on other people is also up to me, and based on how I want them to look at me and treat me.

More generally, it shows me that life is fleeting and every moment precious. Live now, while you're alive, because you won't always be.

Amen.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

That was the same lesson I took away from cancer. Random luck gave it to me, how I experienced it was up to me, and how I lived afterward was a reflection of that randomness and the awareness that life is all too fragile.

 

[Israel]

That was the same lesson I took away from cancer. Random luck gave it to me, how I experienced it was up to me, and how I lived afterward was a reflection of that randomness and the awareness that life is all too fragile.

Truly said he, unless you change

This soul of frailty sewn,
and sown in earth
of rock hard clay
but for waters sent
breathes soft air and lives.

But even air when pressed
by many toils heated
looses softness in the lungs
and all then is torrid labor
from other labors born.

What then of this birthing
in the trying pressing forth
to be again as babies
sucking softness as of softness formed
of milk and dew?

You let the water slip in aging
like an old and crackéd cask,
Return return in rest
to first breast suckling form
before even forming first firmed.

And drink both softer milk unaging
and sweeter air of light
Where dark and hard unknown
in word and sight
are not even spoke of in myth.

You are not made for toil
or struggles once embraced
to be a something special
in your eyes you give the world
but being in an eye unmade unblinking
as he gives and pulls you strongly, softly
of his bosom.

To him, you're all that is.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

Truly said he, unless you change

This soul of frailty sewn,
and sown in earth
of rock hard clay
but for waters sent
breathes soft air and lives.

But even air when pressed
by many toils heated
looses softness in the lungs
and all then is torrid labor
from other labors born.

What then of this birthing
in the trying pressing forth
to be again as babies
sucking softness as of softness formed
of milk and dew?

You let the water slip in aging
like an old and crackéd cask,
Return return in rest
to first breast suckling form
before even forming first firmed.

And drink both softer milk unaging
and sweeter air of light
Where dark and hard unknown
in word and sight
are not even spoke of in myth.

You are not made for toil
or struggles once embraced
to be a something special
in your eyes you give the world
but being in an eye unmade unblinking
as he gives and pulls you strongly, softly
of his bosom.

To him, you're all that is.

Beautifully composed, but can I get the Cliff's Notes version? I'm not very good at deciphering poetry to meaning.

I'm more of a prose guy.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

This is taken from Terminal Lance, and I can't post a link or the unedited source text because it trips the language filters, but you should be able to find it pretty easily if you search it up.

THIS is the real enemy, that the author is talking about.



There's really no refutation to his points. Any of them.

In short, "The only problem with humanity is humanity. "

The question is "Why is that the case?"

Until you can answer that, you can't even begin to hope to reach a feasible solution.

 

[660griz]

In short, "The only problem with humanity is humanity. "

The question is "Why is that the case?"

Religion.

From past wars, flying planes into buildings, etc.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

In short, "The only problem with humanity is humanity. "

The question is "Why is that the case?"

Until you can answer that, you can't even begin to hope to reach a feasible solution.

What solution do you propose or think I am proposing?

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Religion.

From past wars, flying planes into buildings, etc.

Most wars have nothing to do with religion. WW I and WW II just to name two.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

What solution do you propose or think I am proposing?

I don't think you can propose a solution until you identify why we are our own worst enemy. You have to answer why something is broke, before you can truly fix it. Not patch it but fix it.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

I don't think you can propose a solution until you identify why we are our own worst enemy. You have to answer why something is broke, before you can truly fix it. Not patch it but fix it.

Zealotry and blind adherence to a religion's commandments.

Now what do you propose we do about it?

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Zealotry and blind adherence to a religion's commandments.

Now what do you propose we do about it?

Aw come on Stripe. Give me a break. Is it really just a problem among the religious or is it a bit more encompassing to include everyone in one form or another?

 

[StriperrHunterr]

Aw come on Stripe. Give me a break. Is it really just a problem among the religious or is it a bit more encompassing to include everyone in one form or another?

It's more broad than just religion, but do you seriously expect me to turn a blind eye to the likes of Westboro and ISIS because YOU'RE a good Christian?

It's all zealotry, which is why I posted that, but so far the green, reduce-your-carbon-footprint, climate change goofs aren't killing anyone on par with those who have been killed and harmed in the name of God (whatever the particular religion calls them).

 

[SemperFiDawg]

It's more broad than just religion, but do you seriously expect me to turn a blind eye to the likes of Westboro and ISIS because YOU'RE a good Christian?

It's all zealotry, which is why I posted that, but so far the green, reduce-your-carbon-footprint, climate change goofs aren't killing anyone on par with those who have been killed and harmed in the name of God (whatever the particular religion calls them).

Not asking anyone turn a blind eye, asking you to open both eyes. The problem is universal. To believe the opposite one has to totally disregard the entirety of human history.

I could say you can't judge a philosophy by it's abuse, but that misses the point too.

My point is that this "evil", "bad behavior", whatever you want to call it is universal.

And again what causes it?