Comments on: What to do

By: Locutor

Locutor — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 20:04:29 +0000

Yep, that’s right, Thorley: “Atheism: come for the mass murderin’, but stay for the baby-eatin’!!”

By: Thorley Winston

Thorley Winston — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:48:46 +0000

You should try being an atheist in this country, if you want to know what intolerance is like. I have been asked more times that I can count, “If you are an atheist, then why don’t you kill someone?”

That’s funny, I’ve never been asked that question despite the fact that the worst mass murderers in history have been atheists. Granted they were socialists as well, perhaps that’s the distinguishing feature.

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:47:11 +0000

I’ll show you, Ayjay. I’m using my advanced atheistic science to build my own Robo-God to punish the believers! Your prayer shawls can’t save you now!

By: Thorley Winston

Thorley Winston — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:44:39 +0000

DBL, thank you for your well-reasoned post at 06:18 PM.

By: ayjay

ayjay — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:44:16 +0000

Ayjay: You agree with me? You mean two people have successfully communicated with each other on the internet, on a blog comment board no less? I’m cashing out my 401k. The end is nigh! Yeah, it kind of ruins the fun, doesn’t it? So forget I said that, and let’s try this instead: I’m so glad you’re going to roast in hell for all eternity, you whiny little bastard!

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 21:14:22 +0000

Ayjay: You agree with me? You mean two people have successfully communicated with each other on the internet, on a blog comment board no less? I’m cashing out my 401k. The end is nigh!

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:11:02 +0000

i realize that when I gratuitously insult whiny little bastards, they will feel justified in dismissing the content of what I say. This is a cross I’ve had to learn to bear.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 20:08:00 +0000

Yes, it’s hard for the Democrats to win elections when people in the South are bigots. The problem isn’t that we call them bigots, but because they are bigots. The reasons why Buchanan and Bennet can’t get traction in the South isn’t because of the lack of a common moral ground. There’s plenty of that. It’s because of old fashioned Ian- Paisley- type bigotry. My post wasn’t about electoral strategy. It was about bigotry. 40% of the voters in Alabama voted against repealing the miscegenation laws. They’re bigots too. And yeah, race hurts Democrats in the South too.

By: ayjay

ayjay — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 18:51:55 +0000

My point is that Christians in the U.S. who complain about intolerance have no idea what they’re talking about. Agreed, w.p. You’re absolutely right.

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 18:35:28 +0000

If you wouldn’t vote for someone just because they’re an atheist, you’re a bad person, and in a just universe you would burn in hell for all eternity. Ayjay: It doesn’t bother me all that much when someone asks me why I don’t go around killing people in my spare time. My point is that Christians in the U.S. who complain about intolerance have no idea what they’re talking about. Atheists are treated with a constant low level of contempt, and by and large they don’t complain about it. I only brought it up here to make the point that Christians don’t know how good they have it.

By: DBL

DBL — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 18:18:13 +0000

Cranky—As the father of a Jewish child in a school with mostly (>96%) gentile children, my advice would have been this: Bow, graciously accept the applause for winning the contest, and tell them thanks but no thanks on the prize. My guess is that someone donated the week at bible camp to the school for a prize, and that is why the School Board said they weren’t going to go out and buy some other prize. If the prize were a Virginia ham, the Jewish child would just say thanks, but no thanks, and no one would be getting all huffy about it.

By: james

james — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 17:25:58 +0000

“And for this and similiar reasons, we quite rightly call the Southerners bigots.” And we are officially back to why the left doesn’t win elections. To all commentators: People have the right to vote based on any premise they desire. Common religious affiliation implies a common moral ground. This may not be true, but the perception is there. The fact that a group of people would vote based on a perception of common interest and values is neither bigoted nor intolerant. What is intolerant is to assume that only your individual reasons are justified enough to make correct voting determination.

By: ayjay

ayjay — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:32:39 +0000

john emerson seems to have been too occupied with trying to come up with a devastating insult to read my posts—achieving the phrase “whiny little bastard” must have exhausted his intellectual resources. I haven’t claimed to be the victim of discrimination or anything else; I just said (to him) that one is not discriminated against by failing to be elected to high office—election to high office isn’t a right—and (to walt pohl) that people aren’t discriminating against you when they ask you rude questions. Those aren’t difficult points to grasp, if you’re not hyperventilating. bernard yomtov’s point—“It seems to me that someone who refuses to vote for Jewish or Catholic or atheist candidates can reasonably be accused of intolerance”—is a good one, and I think generally correct, though I think the increasingly acceptability over the last twenty years of Jewish and Catholic candidates among conservatives (e.g. Joe Lieberman) indicates that red-state Americans want their politicians to believe in some god rather than no god. The idea that it’s good for politicians to have some sense of accountability to a Higher Power is perhaps not as unreasonably intolerant as mere anti-Catholic or anti-Semitic prejudice.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 15:16:23 +0000

What Yomtov said. Ayjay’s victimization (by harsh sarcasm, hyperbole, and perhaps even litotes) doesn’t amount to much, and is also the result of the fact that people disagree with his ideas. The victimization bar was lowered by that whiny little bastard, not by me. In fact, a considerable proportion of Southerners would not vote for a Catholic. This fact has seriously diminished Pat Buchanan’s demagogic career, and William Bennett’s too, since the South would otherwise be the best audience for the rest of their message. And for this and similiar reasons, we quite rightly call the Southerners bigots.

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 14:59:16 +0000

ayjay seems to have the odd idea that refusing to vote for a candidate because of his religion is no different that refusing to vote for him because of his views on taxes. It seems to me that someone who refuses to vote for Jewish or Catholic or atheist candidates can reasonably be accused of intolerance.