On the subject of me being an awful human being

[Mental]

Those of you who think I'm a forum troll here ought to see the bullshit fights I've been getting into at Newsweek. To wit:

"I swear, there are days I wish my ancestor had been killed by lions the moment he set foot out of Chaldea, rather than found a nation of invaders (Israel) who started a war with the Filasteen (the ancestors of the modern-day Palestinians) thousands and thousands of years ago because he was a little bitch who heard voices in his head telling him to "found a great nation" and go kick a bunch of other people off his land instead of just living happily where he was..."

The Newsweek boards are ugly places these days, but, too much? What do you guys think?

My apologies to anyone else who may have Jewish ancestry as well. I just post this here because I'm increasingly concerned over what a terrible fucking person I'm turning into in these political discussions, though in my defense, you should also see some of the horrors I've been trying to defuse over there.

[Shrinweck]

what

[Flip]

what

I concur.

Stop fucking compliment fishing or whatever the hell you are doing to feed your obsession over yourself. No one here wants to talk about you in a dedicated thread allll about you.

[Kupek]

When my cat would bring small creatures she had killed to our glass, sliding door and try to present them to us as gifts, my mother would draw the blinds long enough for our cat to understand we didn't want it.

[Eric]

When my cat would bring small creatures she had killed to our glass, sliding door and try to present them to us as gifts, my mother would draw the blinds long enough for our cat to understand we didn't want it.

And then later you would pick up the small creature that was still there, look at your cat and say "THIS IS SPARTA!" and kick it into a small hole and bury it?!

[Mental]

*shrug*

I'll delete this thread after everyone sees it. I'm sorry, I'm terribly afraid the Israelis, American Christians, and radical Muslims are going to drive the world to the brink of nuclear war. Some of my family are lapsed Jews. I don't mind. Sorry to piss you all off, but I think people are really, really blind to the viciousness that can result from some of this.

I'm not sure I care if you all end up banning me, or something...I want these thoughts out. I don't know that you all realize how bad the situation is. If you don't want them, have me delete the thread...

[Mental]

what

I concur.

Stop fucking compliment fishing or whatever the hell you are doing to feed your obsession over yourself. No one here wants to talk about you in a dedicated thread allll about you.

Then DON'T TALK, Flip!

[Mental]

I really do not agree with what Abraham did. He led his followers to the "Promised Land", at which point they found out it was inhabited, and started a long, bloody war with the Palestinians.

That's what 9/11 was about. It's what our foreign wars were and are about. It's what Reagan's attempted assassination was about. It's what the oil crisis of the 1970s was about. This goes even deeper than Islam - Palestine and its occupants were around long before Islam was.

I think it's foolish that Muslims worship a man as a saint who created the modern nation of Israel that wants most of them dead in a ditch. I think it's foolish that so many Christians support Israel in that mission. I think it's foolish that the Israelis routinely cut off water to people who've been living in the region for some time so they can support nutty Jewish settlers who want to take over the West Bank and Gaza.

Do you all even know these attitudes exist? Do you know they dominate the public debate?

[Mental]

We have this attitude in the world that you can't talk shit about religion, no matter how bad people of that religion act. I don't believe in that anymore. I just don't. NOTHING is sacred in the context of debates about wars that are leaving the world a bloody mess. I'm sorry to those of you who do worship Abraham as a saint, but how much do you even know about him?

[Kupek]

Mental, don't pretend that you started this thread for the purpose of honest discourse.

[Mental]

I did too, Kupek. What you and I consider "honest discourse" differs, apparently.

[Mental]

I'm sorry you all are angry. Free speech is free, though, and Sine has said he believes in it here. Be as mad as you want. The truth is that I'm so sick of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the Ba'hai faith on their major religious texts' attitude towards killing (with the exception of the Ba'hai) and gay rights (everybody) that I want to throw up.

[Mental]

Let me say this -

I am sorry to those people that my comment was obviously hurtful to.

I still need to find a way to have a discussion about all this.

Who knows, perhaps it would be best for me to ditch this post and write a more well-reasoned, Ruminations-style post on my fears about radicalized Abrahamic religion in the modern era.

[Kupek]

No one is angry. We just didn't want to talk about your trolling posts at other forums, which is what you started with.

[Shrinweck]

The Newsweek boards are ugly places these days, but, too much? What do you guys think?

I thought the thread was addressing this statement and your baiting on other forums. To which my first reply still stands, I suppose. I find it extremely difficult to come up with an accurate opinion for what is one of the most complicated situations I can think of.

I guess if you want an answer for your first question I'll give - it looks like you're not exactly helping those boards not be ugly.

[Mental]

Good point, Shrin. I've just never been as scared of anything in my life as some of these attitudes. But you're right, and I really didn't post this trying to piss everybody off. I just don't know how to engage in this debate properly, I guess. Too close - too many ties on my part to the Middle East, I think.

[Julius Seeker]

The main reason for Reagan's assassination attempt was:
<img src="http://www.movietrimmer.com/content/def ... 6355_3.jpg" width="300">

[Julius Seeker]

Let me say this -

I am sorry to those people that my comment was obviously hurtful to.

I still need to find a way to have a discussion about all this.

Who knows, perhaps it would be best for me to ditch this post and write a more well-reasoned, Ruminations-style post on my fears about radicalized Abrahamic religion in the modern era.

Although when you do, think less on the religion and more on root of why people take these kind of routes in life: whether it be nationalism, religion, or anything else. What they do all have in common? They're ideologies, or beliefs that people feel they need to act on. Religion doesn't cause belief, but belief can cause the spread of religion. It is a two and a half thousand year old idea that belief leads to ignorant thought; the ancient Greek and Indian philosophers were well aware that they, the wisest of their people, really didn't know much at all.

So the question: What in culture drives people to twist beliefs into reason for violent confrontation?

I look forward to your post =)