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Topic: The Problem with Atheism (Read 204632 times)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #725 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on
Google Belfrager Google!
1 950 results. I'm a star.
I even have a species named after me..

Taxonomy
class Insecta → subclass Pterygota → infraclass Neoptera → superorder Paraneoptera → order Hemiptera → suborder Auchenorrhyncha → infraorder Fulgoromorpha → superfamily Fulgoroidea → family Fulgoridae → genus Cyrpoptus → species Cyrpoptus belfragei
Species name(s)
Cyrpoptus belfragei Stål, 1869 = Caliptoproctus belfrayey Stål, 1869 = Crypoptus belfragii Stål, 1869 = Caliptoprotus belfrager Stål, 1869.

What the f*ck is a Caliptoprotus??
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #726 –
Quote from: Jimbro3738 on
If there is intelligent life elsewhere in the multiverse, did/does/will-there-be a Jesus, too? Romans? Jews? Will he be crucified?
JW answer is yes, it would be so. Which is why they deny there can be intelligent life elsewhere in the uni/multiverse. Because there must be a single Bible and a single Jesus.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #727 –
Another idiot beats the dust.
A matter of attitude.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #728 –
Oddly enough, every sect of Christianity presumes it has the answers… Even the Catholics had to supplant the Gnostics, not to mention the Jews.

I'm reminded of Jimmy "JJ" Walker's quip: In Ireland -a land with no blacks and no Jews- they still kill each other, over religious issues… White folk are so creative!
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #729 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Oddly enough, every sect of Christianity presumes it has the answers… Even the Catholics had to supplant the Gnostics, not to mention the Jews.
When everybody claims to have the truth in contradiction to others, there are certain things that don't follow. It doesn't follow that truth cannot be had and that there's no truth. Supposing that truth matters, it follows that it's hard to be had, strait path and all that.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
I'm reminded of Jimmy "JJ" Walker's quip: In Ireland -a land with no blacks and no Jews- they still kill each other, over religious issues… White folk are so creative!
If that were unique to religion (and to whites), JJ would have a point. Maybe.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #730 –
…Comedy's hard! :)
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #731 –
Humanist Association does not consider Dawkins a humanist anymore.

Quote from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/20/richard-dawkins-loses-humanist-of-the-year-trans-comments
The American Humanist Association has withdrawn its humanist of the year award from Richard Dawkins, 25 years after he received the honour, criticising the academic and author for “demean[ing] marginalised groups” using “the guise of scientific discourse”.

[...]

In 2015, Dawkins also wrote: “Is trans woman a woman? Purely semantic. If you define by chromosomes, no. If by self-identification, yes. I call her “she” out of courtesy.”
I personally have more curtness than courtesy. A castle in the air is not a castle; it is air. Plastic fruits are not fruits; they are plastic. Silicon breasts are not breasts; they are silicon. And heresy-labelling and excommunication among atheists is religious dogmatic behaviour, very ironic.

A delusional self-identity is not an identity. It is an identity crisis. It is healthier to snap out of it.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #732 –
If the reward had been given out this year it may have been justified. Given it's a reward from the previous century it's petty at best. He was, is, and forever will be deserving of the 1996 award. They should've simply firmly denounced his current behavior. Dawkins is clueless and ignorant, and doesn't seem to consider who might be hurt by his inconsiderate behavior.

tl;dr See Steven Pinker https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/1385011253924478981

Quote from: ersi on
I personally have more curtness than courtesy. A castle in the air is not a castle; it is air. Plastic fruits are not fruits; they are plastic. Silicon breasts are not breasts; they are silicon. And heresy-labelling and excommunication among atheists is religious dogmatic behaviour, very ironic.
There's no such thing as a transgender person claiming they are of the other sex.

Edit: typo

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #733 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
There's no such thing as a transgender person claiming they are of the other sex.
There's no such thing as transgender person in any relevant way that should be legalised or incorporated into mainstream culture or whatever it is they want. It is akin to a child putting on a ghost costume on Halloween and saying he is a ghost. Yeah, Halloween exists, go for it. Transgender underground clubs exist. That's where they belong.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #734 –
Quote from: ersi on
There's no such thing as transgender person
This comes up more and more, among the "rights-ists: Lawsuits!
Our (California's) Dept. of Corrections (prisons) is expected to pay for "gender reassignment" treatment, up to and including surgery... It's yet another battlefront in the Law-fare of the left - against society, and sanity. (Seems to me it wasn't so long ago that psychiatrists were considered doctors and -hence- subject to the Hippocratic Oath. Recent DSMs have "decided" patronizing patients with serious mental illness is justified, by the sincerity of the patient's belief in his delusion...)
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #735 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Quote from: ersi on
There's no such thing as transgender person
This comes up more and more, among the "rights-ists: Lawsuits!
Americans in general are very fond of frivolous lawsuits. It has been going on for more than half a century with regard to all sorts of consumer products. For example, I heard that some court determined that microwave ovens should bear a label that don't dry your cat in it. Trump & Teams's attempts to overturn the election results are frivolous to the highest degree.

But speaking of rights-ists, here is one running for your governor, Oakdale. Being an absolute partisan that you are, of course you will have to vote for him: Caitlyn Jenner announces run for governor of California.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #736 –
Quote from: ersi on
I heard that some court determined that microwave ovens should bear a label that don't dry your cat in it
The numbers of apochophil similar stories on the web primarily shows how gullible people are!) But reality is bad enough...
Quote from: ersi on
Trump & Teams's attempts to overturn the election results are frivolous to the highest degree.
Of course you're against following long-established law, so long as the non-Trump wins! How very ersi of you, old chap! But not very sporting...
Quote from: ersi on
[piffle excised] Being an absolute partisan that you are, of course you will have to vote for him: Caitlyn Jenner announces run for governor of California.
TFFW...! :) (Don't bring me down, Bruce!)
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #737 –
While being overly litigious doesn't make lawsuits frivolous so much as often (seemingly) unnecessary, a lawsuit that you know will fail because it makes no sense is the definition of a frivolous lawsuit, is it not?

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #738 –
Is not the definition of lawsuit contention? If the parties disagree, there's a case; if their filings don't convince the judge it's "justiciable" it is tossed... But that the defendant finds the case frivolous means nothing, in and of itself.
And that you agree with the defendant's prejudgment has no force in 
American law; especially in election law.
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #739 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Is not the definition of lawsuit contention? If the parties disagree, there's a case; [...]
The definition of a frivolous lawsuit is just pretending you have a case when you don't. Even worse when you know you don't, but you file the suit and hope for the best, at least to win time or such.

With Trump's election lawsuits, the frivolity of it all was revealed even to the dummiest when Sidney Powell stopped pretending.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iETwWNociM8[/video]

A simple question to you, Oakdale: Did Trump win or lose his re-election?

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #740 –
If lawsuits were side-effect-free there would be no incentive for frivolous lawsuits. We would still have lawsuits based on poor judgement or understanding of the law (but if they truly were side-effect-free, that wouldn't matter). Lawsuits to harass, delay, or manufacture controversy are there just for the side-effects. 

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #741 –
Quote from: ersi on
Did Trump win or lose his re-election?
He of course lost! But that doesn't mean the irregularities and, in a few cases, flagrant violations of election laws, are forgiven and forgot: Some states have serious work to do...
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #742 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Is not the definition of lawsuit contention? If the parties disagree, there's a case; if their filings don't convince the judge it's "justiciable" it is tossed... But that the defendant finds the case frivolous means nothing, in and of itself.
Words like frivolous come from judges, not defendants.

Here's one of many: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/dec/11/judge-trump-lawsuit-dubious/
Quote
The judge had previously called the Trump request "bizarre" and "very odd." On Thursday, he asked Trump's attorneys why the lawsuit wasn't filed before the election.

"The response that I heard today was the plaintiffs had too much going on, they couldn't pay attention to what issues were being raised in the state of Wisconsin," Ludwig said. "That strikes me as incredible."

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #743 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Quote from: ersi on
Did Trump win or lose his re-election?
He of course lost! But that doesn't mean the irregularities and, in a few cases, flagrant violations of election laws, are forgiven and forgot: Some states have serious work to do...
But Trump's lawsuits are not about addressing the irregularities and violations of election laws. Trump's lawsuits are about tipping the election results to his own favour.[1] And as Sidney Powell says, no reasonable person would conclude that Trump's elections-contesting lawsuits contain statements of fact. His only purpose is to obstruct justice. Indeed, why wouldn't he, since it has always got him off the hook thus far.
1 As in, call state election officials and threaten them to give him more votes.↵

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #744 –
Trump's lawsuits are -- over. But Trump Derangement Syndrome persists... Must be something in the water. :)
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #745 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Trump Derangement Syndrome persists...

The Republican downfall happened before Trump. It happened when they decided lunacy was preferable to reality. Trump is the symptom, not the cause. But my, was he an effective accelerant.

There have been crazy people in the US as long as I have existed, and probably as long as the US has existed. But the Republican party hasn't been the Party of Crazy before. Q was a spoof conspiracy, an obvious troll to see how gullible people can be. It was not supposed to be a party program. Jim Watkins is probably thrilled, but embracing insanity is not a viable long-term strategy.

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #746 –
Historically, I'd say the Republican Party started to lose its integrity and legitimacy during the Kennedy vs Nixon elections at the latest. Up to that point, Republicans had been the party that had won the civil war and ended slavery in the country. But then something happened during the campaign: M. L. King Jr. was arrested in Atlanta to nationwide attention.

Both presidential candidates needed to give some kind of response to King's arrest. Nixon considered his racial vote already secured, representing the party that had ended slavery, and did not want to alienate Southern Whites by fighting too hard for King's liberation.

Kennedy, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to swing Black votes and called the Georgia governor (a Democrat, duh) to plead in support of King. King was freed in two days. This made a massive difference in the public perception of both of the parties - Democrats went from keepers of petty bourgeois values to promoters of minority rights on the federal level, Republicans from concrete principles (end of slavery, anti-Jim Crow) to abstract principles.[1] However, the event stirred up enough hate among Southern Democrat Whites (typical Southern racists at the time) that Kennedy decided not to allow Sammy Davis Jr. play at the inauguration.

The Republican party began to totally lose it some time later with the Watergate scandal. The facts of this scandal demonstrated that, under Nixon, Republicans had become full-on conspiratorial, trying to use any illegal means to rig the system to stay in power. They have been like this ever since. And, also ever since the Watergate scandal, they keep scandalously failing.

Trump is thus far the last in the line of failed Republican power-grabbing conspiracies, so scandalous that the party lost all legitimacy and should, in all honesty, disband, but of course they won't because they have no honesty. Democrats of course also like power, but they also like an air of legitimacy. Therefore Democrats will keep Republicans around: It is lovely to have a weak enemy that one knows well instead of a strong or unknown enemy. Despite of what Republicans think and fear, Democrats don't want a one-party rule. Nor ar they Commies. They are just more happy about how things are (understandably) and generally are tend to go along with incremental change, instead of being wacky conspiratorial and aiming at an abstract nonsense ideal that cannot have practical value.
1 Empty slogans like "constitution!", "state rights!", anti-Communism enhanced with libertarian Capitalism that had its hayday during Reagan's Reaganomics.↵

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #747 –
@ersi: The re-writing of history continues to be necessary for some ideologies... And Dobbin's blinders keep him from bolting at any motion not directly in front of him.
Quote from: jax on
The Republican downfall happened [...] when they decided lunacy was preferable to reality.
What, pray tell, is the "lunacy" of which you speak? (Try not to get all "intersectionality-ish" when you try to explain what you meant: Just the facts, man; just the facts.:)
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"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #748 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
What, pray tell, is the "lunacy" of which you speak? (Try not to get all "intersectionality-ish" when you try to explain what you meant: Just the facts, man; just the facts.:)
This is where the Trump thread is your friend, assuming you are a friend of facts examining the Republican lunacy. But of course you are not. You will prove me right in your next post, as usual.
 

Re: The Problem with Atheism

Reply #749 –
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
What, pray tell, is the "lunacy" of which you speak? (Try not to get all "intersectionality-ish" when you try to explain what you meant: Just the facts, man; just the facts.:)

Current antics by leading members, or for that matter rank and file, of the Republican party. Of course crazy people vote, and it is in the parties' interest that as many vote for them as possible, crazy or not. But they are usually not allowed to rise in the party proper, not in great numbers anyway. The Southern Strategy may be the Republican party's iacta alea est, but catering to science denial sped up their downfall.

Fact resistance is not inherently to either side of the political axis, and it is easy to find cases all over the landscape. But the GOP soaked them all up. I consider catering to evolution denial to be a milestone, remember  Bantay, not because it mattered that much in itself, it only meant that Republicans would be less likely to be biologists. But it led to party increasingly less comfortable with science, and we can draw a line from there to GQP.

I refuse to be dragged into the Republican-radical culture war, it is froth, turbulence, and waste of energy. "Intersectionality" is somewhat fact-based, though when the word is broached, it's a flag that what follows has a non-zero probability of being nonsense.