*beats taiyo with a fish* Unhand my fedora!!

I just did my taxes.

Like an adult.

hahahahaha!!! *hangs from a high tree branch while waving your fedora*

I'm gonna go AWOL for a while. Gonna go play LOTRO again

----------

BACK!!!

Is lotro any good? I have had massively conflicting reports there.

The day was full of nerd-dom. Spent pretty much all of it with some of the guys that were playing D&D and playing Rock Band.

And then I won $47 off of a scratch off ticket.

Well that's shiny. I hung out with my friend Aaron, and chatted with my ex, which made for a conflicting night. lol.

@ Sarof: I haven't had too many problems with LOTRO. I like it.

Do you buy the fancy items?

Nope, no monies.

How big is the world? is it interesting if you don't have tons of friends to play?

Hmmm... I'm torn between indulging in some healthy debate or ignoring the quite possibly poisonous person in this Facebook feed...

See, I always go for the debate, but that isn't always the good thing to do.

A friend of mine posted this: "You're sleeping between a hot girl and a gay dude. You're all naked.. Who do you turn your back to when you sleep?" One of her gay friends already went off on her about it saying that it was homophobic and therefore wrong. Stupid statements happened. So I came in with an actual answer: I would turn my back to the guy. He would probably not be interested in me, but that begs the question how did we all end up naked in bed together in the first place?

Then this one girl goes on a tirade about Christian Values and America and... stuff. I just... don't know. -eyeroll-

I sent a reply. I'm pretty sure she'll just ignore me.

...I'd ask her how many Christian values she ignores on a daily basis, and tell her to shut up. I'll even do it, if you send me a link. lol.

I was a bit less accusatory. I informed her that (contrary to her statement that America was a Christian nation up until 10-20 years ago) our country was founded by a bunch of guys that wanted freedom of religion and didn't want to have to learn Dutch to do that, as well as being "the land where you send your prisoners." Our founding fathers were Deists and Atheists.

She's throwing a lot of red herrings out here, like how women are paid less than men and its like... while that is a true statement, has nothing to do with the original debate.

That is indeed a strange agrument. Is she saying that unequal pay is a christian virtue?

You know, America was a Christian nation up until about 10-20 years ago. Values and morals were different, and based upon religion and God's laws. Perhaps that is why openly gay men and women were kept out of sight (i.e. mainstream films) and out of the military, so as not to offend, what you could say, was the majority. There is a fundamental catch-22 with religious beliefs and human rights/homosexuality. If you are religious and Christian, to embrace homosexuality is a sin, but if you oppress it, you are violating human rights. But in this case, many Christians ask themselves which is more important, God's law or man's law.

What is done in the privacy in your own home is your own business. But that doesn't mean that I should be subjected to it. And I am not just talking about homosexuality, I am also speaking of heterosexuality.

Heterosexual couples used to sleep in separate beds in films, there was no kissing, and obviously no nudity. The fact that there is nudity and sexual acts in films, when you think about it, is really ridiculous in itself.

America... I mean the United States... because America Implies Freedom and Liberty, has become desensitized... and these things that are happening... all around us, are leading the whole world into something that I don't think anyone is ready for.

You are entitled to your opinion. To each her/his own.

One more thing... women are still payed ~80 cents to the dollar of a man's salary. There are many things that I am not "supposed" to do... or able to do because I am a woman. My gender has suffered oppression as well, we fought for it, its pretty much what every minority has had to do... and by minority, i mean every group who is not a white man. They have called the shots run things from the start, and perhaps that is where the fundamental issue lies

I think that the womens issues statement was to do one of three things:
a. show that the discrimination isn't just against the LGBTQ community
b. blame everything on white men
c. prove that despite her anti-equality statement she isn't just some backwater hick's wife whose only role in life is to pop out babies.

Oh god... why are these people on my Facebook? =/

In actuality the founding fathers were Christian. For the most part at least. If you read their speeches it's quite apparent. They just understood that it should be a choice, otherwise it's meaningless. Their beliefs were more like mine than most "christians" who just use their faith to make them feel superior.

And yeah, this one's just a babbling monkey woman.

Benjamin Franklin was a known atheist and Jefferson was a Deist. The use of God in speech was more enculturation than it was a signifier of faith.

Franklin wasn't so much atheist as nonreligious. He really didn't think or talk about it that much. Too busy with women. ;) And deist in the modern sense Jefferson was not. He was once again more like me. Analytical about his faith. He believed in the Christian God, but not all of the stupid rules which no longer serve a purpose.

In an infinite universe the only thing which could prevent the existence of God is God, therefore logically God must exist. All of the details are sketchy. God may or may not have contact with humans. May or may not care about our little lives and problems, but that is for philosophy, not science to decide.

I hang out with scientists a lot... One must have a scientific argument for everything in those circles. Even one's religion.

I would like to take the stance, still, that their affiliation with Christianity was based entirely in enculturation and not necessarily faith. Quite a few people will speak glowingly of Jesus without actually being a strong believer. Plus, they were trying to appeal to the masses, who were devout Christians.

Here is my personal view of the universe: I believe in belief. If you believe wholly and truly that there is a God and that if you are a good person you get to go to Heaven, then as long as it harms none then that is what will happen for you. If you believe that your dreams are a portal to the Realm of Dragons and that you are an Ambassador of our world in the High Court, then who am I to say that you are not? I personally believe in ghosts. Many people have told me that ghosts are not real, but I still believe in them. What harm does it do to others that I believe in them other than being mildly annoying?

I'm not looking at scientific explanations for why the world exists, or why the universe exists. For all I know, we could be a superbeing's fourth grade science project. Those things are inconsequential. I don't need to know, though its fun to theorize. What is important to me is the variance of life. There are many different people out there, and they are very interesting.

I'm not a physicist or a philosopher. I prefer anthropology.

At the beginning of the debate that girl started, I'd love to know HOW being American means you have to be Christian. Aren't people who are Wiccan, Muslim, and Atheists just as American as anyone else?

Oh, why is it the interesting conversations have to start up when I'm getting ready to head to bed?! :gonk:

Because, Taiyo, serious debate always comes up when I'm online and you're a Daywalker.

I just think that her thinking was kind of..."buzz-word, buzz-word, red herring, buzz-word, Maverick."

That's why I'm on Mene and not Facebook. Menewsha gets the smart people. The idiots have Facebook.

And on that note, I am going to bed. Next semester I'd better have all my classes AFTER 12 NOON!!!!

I do not think the young lady understands how a catch-22 works.