Another person who will be attending the convention is John Lombard, and I am very eager to hear what he has to say. He was involved with the first organization in Beijing that promoted Critical Thinking.As most know, Atheism is nearly mandated (there… better?) in China, as it was in the USSR. People often compare us to communists for that reason (a nod to American Communists, who are also atheists, but do not support forced atheism). Here’s the rub — when given even the slightest bit of religious freedom, the people of China will cling to any mythology onto which they can grasp their hands. They were not trained in critical thinking, but merely to follow orders. This makes them very open to Voodoo or ancient mythologies, and Christianity (same thing) when it is presented to them.Atheism needs to be the result of critical thinking (in fact, it is an inevitable result), not an order from a higher power (government). One can draw clear and scary parallels between China and America, where critical thinking is simply not enough of a priority in the school system.
JCC
Naughty naughty. You will burn in the eternal Lake o’ Fire.
Your inability to reason is hardly the fault of others.
jcc
HAhaha! I guess you could say that ‘reviving’ shitty AM radio is some sort of accomplishment – for lame-os.
Couldn’t get the ratings, couldn’t keep a good time slot in syndication, and it was a terrible show. I mean, it was his radio show except even louder and you had to actually look at his fat face. FAIL
I love it when you start screaming at me. Suddenly all that pretentiousness melts away and you’re revealed to be just another poor schlub loosing his marbles in front of a screen. I can’t help but chuckle over the fact that we’re sitting here arguing over the merits of a total douche bag like Rush. It makes the faux-academia of your anti-evolution arguments look that much more ridiculous.
Anyway, It doesn’t surprise me in the least that ESPN temporarily increased its ratings with Rush. Everyone knows what he’s about – everyones knows he’s a loose canon. They were all waiting for a train wreck, and Rush promptly gave them one with his thinly-veiled racism. FAIL
OMG! I’m so ‘cloistered’!
It’s called taste, dumbass.
rainbows4dinosaurs:
This is insane… Ok, so his $400M over the next 8 years must be a government subsidy — because everybody knows it certainly couldn’t have come from the revenue HE generates…
I can’t believe I’m having to spoon — actually, I can believe it — feed you this — oh boy, ok, his syndication partners didn’t cancel it because of the ratings, he pulled the plug on the show because he
because the majority of the station managers who picked it up didn’t have the gohonies to put it on during waking hours — they intentionally tried to kill it. Seventeen years later, given the enormous success of FNC, should he decide to do it again, I have no doubt his TV show could blow the roof off the ratings.
Only to invertebrate, hebetudinous liberals.
Nope, it was ahead of it’s time.
Yeah, and you’ve never expressed any annoyance at me, huh?
Keep talkin’ fella, you’re showing the world a perfect example of how a benighted liberal really doesn’t know his lower orifice from a hole in the ground when it comes to the truth.
Whoa, a tacit admission to the truth!
I love it! Anyone willing to speak the truth is automatically branded a racist by the libs ’cause they know that generates the fastest, most sensational “news” among their moronic brethren in the drive-bys… Sing it with me! Barck, the magic negro, lives in DC…
Ha! If he really did fail, why hasn’t his audience dropped off????
What? You? Yeah right — it’s obviously all in your mouth.
Still the ever classy, rainbows. So, do you talk like that in front of, and to your kids? — and are you gonna go postal for me mentioning them again?…
jcc
Don’t flatter yourself – you don’t have to spoon feed me anything. I know his version of the story. “Rush’s show was intentionally stifled by those damn elitists of the liberal media establishment, so he quit.” Whatever. The formula was too niche for network television. It was offensive. It didn’t play well to the larger demographic. Perhaps it was ahead of its time it some ways, but I’m not sure if that’s saying much when considering the overall state of cable news, be it liberal or conservative.
Uh huh… you mean like this disaster?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCl_–E3T2c
There was a great deal of self-awareness imbedded in my statement. The observation is that I feel like I’ve long since grown out of letting these conversations get to me on an emotional level (beyond humor and snarkiness) while you only seem to get more shrill. I think that’s funny.
Hahaha… what’s going to happen if I keep talkin’, jcc? Tell me, just what do I have coming to me? I’d really like to know.
The word is ‘ass,’ and the world doesn’t give a damn what either of us say on this blog (though I bet I have more ‘fans’ than you.)
His radio audience? Because that’s where he thrives – in the niche market!
Um… no, and I sincerely hope you’re not teaching yours to sing racist songs.
JCC
Kind of embarrassing, isn’t it, to spend your time defending somebody that makes millions as a conduit for the expression of your ignorance? You adore Rush because you think he gave you a voice in American politics. Did he? Think again. He worked you. Do you get it yet? You were used. Screwed. Hoodwinked. Taken. Bamboozled.
And you are ready to line up for more. Amazing! Simply amazing.
rainbows4dinosaurs:
No. It was ahead of its time.
Yeah, the truth can be offensive to those who try to deny it.
Because the “larger demographic” never got to see it.
Yeah, and I’m just too dense to pick up on your nuance.
Oh, nothin’ of consequence; you just keep adding to your profane, amoral legacy that your kids will read someday and see you for what you really are.
Maybe not, but it’s here nonetheless.
And the narcissism just keeps on going, and going…
Oh, so now you’re admitting that he thrives??? Why, in just the previous post you made it clear that he’s done nothing but FAIL (emphasis, yours). So, which is it? He can’t have done both — oh, but I digress, I’m trying to reason through this with someone whose perception of success and failure is so conflicted that he’s clearly incapable of recognizing one from the other.
Yeah, again, you’re only leaving a written record of your puerile mind for them here.
No worries, they know that black and yellow, red and white, they’re all precious in His sight. And I can look them straight in the eye and proudly tell them that I did not vote for the candidate who is obsessed by race and spent 20 years being indoctrinated by a documented racist.
Yep.
Actually, if you bother to look up a few more posts you’ll see that I have no problem admitting his success in radio. I just mock it:
Because I’m a new media guy. Radio is yesterday, and so is the GOP.
Oh horror of horrors, my kids may one day read that I called you a ‘dumbass.’ I think they’ll live.
btw, I recall the order being “red and yellow, black and white,” and I pretty sure they were singing the same song back in the Jim Crow days. It took a radically liberal, democratic socia_list black preacher stirring things up for people to really begin listening to those words.
jcc
Good grief. I mean really, it just has to take an insecure lowlife to produce such a rant. I’m looking around dude… I gotta tell ya, I don’t see any slime or poison oozing around here. This is a pretty loving household my wife and I have put together, and we’re proud of it. We’re certainly a lot more invested than our folks were. We ain’t always perfect parents, but somehow I doubt you are either.
And really, like I said before, I think it’s pretty obvious which one of us has been increasing the shrillness. Maybe it’s time to take a step back, ’cause right now you’re just pissin’ in the wind. That air of moral superiority you’ve worked so hard to cultivate is getting pretty thin.
Nope, they just feel like they have a license to badger others for not being perfect.
JCC
I doubt it. Rainbows4dinosaurs is a very common surname.
Where do you think you are?
Yes, God willing, but since you obviously don’t get it, it’s your legacy that will directly affect how they’ll live. Your imprudent examples will not only be an anchor holding them down in your slime, but they’ll be carriers of your poison that will continue to infect the “culture” that I have to innoculate my kids against.
Oh, right… Yeah, back when unlike now, Christians were not perfect, so the actual meaning of those words were incomprehensible to them…
rainbows4dinosaurs:
Rant? Here’s a thought; how ’bout criticizing my ideas rather than me personally?
Yeah? One that teaches by example to slander those with whom you disagree???–that’s the slime.
So you boast of your profanity and disrespect of others to your kids?
Yes, you’ve worn my patience thin again, but have I lowered the tone of the conversation?
Not quite. If we didn’t care, we’d leave you alone…
I would if you had any.
Your lack of self-awareness is… well, I guess it’s hardly surprising.
Uh… yes you have, “Sherlock.” I’m not sure I’d be so proud of this method you’ve cultivated of replacing explicatives with silly phrases like “doesn’t know his lower orifice from a hole in the ground.” Oh… you’re soooooo pure. I guess you’ve at least proven that eating soap doesn’t stop a person from being a jerk. In fact, it only makes you a self-righteous jerk. Congrats.
Now go berate your liberal coworkers like a good dittohead. El Rushbo commands you!
No need for acronyms here: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Your penchant for double-standards is now public record.
rainbows4dinosaurs:
You know, you’re right. I could’ve just as easily made my argument without the gratuitous remark referencing a perceived inability of yours. It added nothing and did lower the tone of the discussion, and for that I apologize. Like you, I am not perfect and when my patience runs short I let my base reactions get the better of me. I will strive not to do so in the future.
Hmm… how about forced xtianity?
http://tinyurl.com/bwr5wy
I hate to, but I feel compelled. What chided this inteligent input:
” I can’t wait for my NeoWolfe decoder ring.”
Response: I can’t wait for my official Hamas necklace made of baby teeth of official martyr human shields. My god you’re pathetic.
Now, It’s my turn, JCC said this:
“Rant? Here’s a thought; how ’bout criticizing my ideas rather than me personally?”
Response: The old wisdom is that you are what you do. Talking is something that you DO. Talking is an expression of your ideas and beliefs which dictate the traits of your personality. Therefore, this question is fundamentally idiotic. Your ideas ARE your personality.
Now, JCC, you have already admitted that you don’t believe that the story of the flood is literal. Will you pick and choose which parts of your (Iliad of Homer) that are literal and which are divinely inspired truth? Again, you don’t have to throw away your doubts and intuition in order to shed the ancient gods and heroes. Just take a razor sharp, honest look at the sanity of what you find yourself believing. You will find that they have used your fear of death, a natural function of survival, as a weapon to manipulate your mind. Do you have the courage to really look in the mirror?
NeoWolfe
neowolfe:
That “wisdom” only applies to those who regard themselves as existentialists — existence precedes essence, you know.
Only from your point of view.
Wow! Now that’s a stretch. So, does that mean that every time I change my ideas, my personality must change as well? If so, what causes this change? — my personality (which according to you is a manifestation of what I do) couldn’t have done it since it apparently can only react to external stimuli. Seems you’ve posited quite a logical pretzel there.
I did? When? Where? All I’ve said on the matter is that I literally believe that it was a regional flood, not a global one.
No, I regard all of the Bible as being true.
Did that. And the Bible withstood the scrutiny.
No “they” didn’t. I went searching for the truth and I found it.
Yes. I have, do you?
And please, please learn to use blockquotes…
Jcc…You are a complete idiot. Your idea’s, thoughts, expressions, these are ALL part of you, Yes when you change a thought your personality (Whether small or large) changes as well. You say you take all the bible as true, but the flood was a regional flood..wait..the bible says the flood was a globe flooding, what is true? If the bible were true wouldnt it say something along the lines of so and so nation flooded or hilalala village flooded, neo was completely right, you pick and choose what is right, yet say it withstood your judgement. If that withstands your judgement than truly you are a misguided and sad man. All you have is a twisted logic, you twist words and make it appear as if your thoughts were something meaningful. You live a sad life, and i say your life has become this way due to the bible you so worship. Honestly, you believe some wizard up in the sky cast magic on earth and controls everything? I strongly suggest you seek help with that one.
teop_suoiciv:
No. They’re manifestations of my mind; they do not define me, I define them, and when I’ve determined that they are no longer valid, I change them without undergoing a corresponding personality change.
Given what you just said regarding thoughts and personality, you might want to reconsider the target of that assertion.
I’m sorry; I don’t recall ever having met you.
Done that. And may I suggest that you would benefit greatly from some interpersonal skills counseling?
This is a letter to JCC,
I know that in the past, I have been derisive, dismissive and insulting. While I feel no need to retract anything I’ve said, I have a new feeling about you and Phreedumb and a new curiosity what pathology brings you here.
While contributers here call you idiots, as I have done as well, the content of your posts, while being more obstructionist in nature, rather than pointing to an intelligent conclusion, do exhibit an fairly high order of intelligence. I am not surprised. My parents were JW’s, and while neither of them were stupid, they believed stupid things. But let’s boil it down now, because there is no going back, you said in resonse to my statement:
“JCC, you have already admitted that you don’t believe that the story of the flood is literal.”
This deception, tantemount to hellworthy lie:
“I did? When? Where? All I’ve said on the matter is that I literally believe that it was a regional flood, not a global one.”
Do I need to quote you further on how you have put your beliefs to the test and found that the bible is divinely inspired? I can, and you know I can, and you, as a fairly inteligent person realize that you have entrapped yourself in a position where you must admit that a paradox exists in your head. Did King James select exactly all the divinely inspired texts and throw away the rest so that we can be sure that every word in today’s bible is the word of god, OR….. can we pick and choose what is truth or not. Or is it the third option, it’s all bullshit, interesting reading if you have nothing better to do.
You blinked JCC. You admitted that the flood account is bullshit, but, you still want to say the bible is divinely inspired truth. Too late. And if it’s not, and obviously it’s not, where do YOU decide what to believe and not believe?
Agnostism is a place where unresolved doubts are okay, but idiotic denial is unwelcome. Go look at that mirror again and this time open your fucking eyes.
NeoWolfe
neowolfe:
Like you, I “feel no need to retract anything I’ve said” regarding that, so go right ahead if you think that will help satisfy your newfound curiosity about me and phreedm.
No, I haven’t, and no, I don’t. Why do you keep saying things like that? If you believe you’re psychic, you’re wrong. You obviously don’t know how I think.
With the exception of Noah and his family, the Genesis flood wiped out all of mankind — i.e. the entire world — which at the time could have quite possibly resided entirely within the region of Mesopotamia. No paradox, no equivocating. No global flood required.
No, the Canon had been closed for well over a millennium.
No, we can’t. The truth is the truth whether we believe it is or not.
That’s certainly your prerogative to believe.
No I didn’t. If anyone blinked, it was you with your fallacious assertion about personality and thoughts.
I DID NOT. I applied a textual criticism to the Hebrew account and found, in light of the geologic evidence of the area, that it withstood my scrutiny.
Because I have yet to be able to determine otherwise.
Again, that’s your opinion of it.
The same place you do: by virtue of free will.
I disagree. I’ve found it to be a place of intellectual laziness; a cowardly resort for those lacking the fortitude to confront the truth and all its consequences.
Do you really think that will actually inspire me in any way?
And hey, using blockquotes is fun and easy. It’s as simple as surrounding your quote with tags like this:
<blockquote>text to be blockquoted</blockquote>
which will look like this when posted:
In the beginning there was this void….
Then it got a bit muddled….
Central message of the Bible
God created everything (including himself presumably)
But neglected to go into much detail leaving his audience to pretty well make it up and guess.
(This was to become a bit of a problem; when a few people began to figure out just how big and old it all is. After all we were made in his image and we were getting smaller and smaller in the scheme of things).
Jews kept God in a box, only a few were allowed to see it and then very rarely, then they lost it
Then found a guy pretending to be God (Well his son)
And hung him
Then his followers wrote another book and attached it to the Old one. (the one with all the made up stories)
His claim to fame…….
Christmas joy, It’s a boy
Virgin Mary’s not so coy.
Five feet nine he’s divine,
Changes water into wine.
He’s no fool, keeps real cool,
Walks across ‘the swimming pool’.
Bread and fish what a dish,
Fed five thousand ‘piece of piss’.
It’s a lark after dark,
Kissing Judas in the park.
Long white robes Jewish nose,
Hangs about with the Holy Ghost.
It’s too bad, and quite sad,
Having to die, to see your dad.
He’s not frail, but went quite pale
They crossed his legs to save a nail.
Then 1500 years later some followers thought for themselves and fell out with the bosses.
Lots of bloodletting and killing later we had two churches.
During the next five hundred years or so the churches were to split again and again and again, lots more killing and ethnic cleansing.
Then most countries became Democracies and became secular (The rulers owing their allegiances to the people rather than a church in another country)
Then we had the technology explosion Radio, TV and the Internet
Freedom at last…… Well no
Then we had freedom from religious intolerance and an explosion of new age religions ALL claiming the same rights as the old ones, i.e. TAX BREAKS.
The Older religions caught on and learned to use the power of propaganda rather than the Stake or sword and found that it was more efficient to bribe and coerce people into staying inline through the power of money.
Then politicians became aware of the power of the churches i.e. Money and votes.
So where are we now…. Well we have multi millionaire TV Evangelists living lives of luxury….. Telling the same old stories.
Keeping their followers in the dark and feeding them the same old shit.
no JCC, an argument that all humanity lived in mesopatamia is a ridiculous distraction:
” 8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. 22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.â€Â
Your loving forgiving god just confessed to killing everything that lives. Done yet? Or must I remind you of Armegedon when he promises to do it again. Nice guy, I wonder why I pity you instead of praising him? Republican style spin doesn’t work with free thinkers.
When I explained to you that I feel that it is not a mental weakness, from my point of view to not exclude the idea of an intelligent influence in creation, I was rewarded with this ignorant reprisal:
“I disagree. I’ve found it to be a place of intellectual laziness; a cowardly resort for those lacking the fortitude to confront the truth and all its consequences.”
What kind of lightning bolt from whichever of your imaginary angels or charubs would shock you into understanding the difference between leaping to an unsubstantiated and apparently ridiculous conclusion, and a finding that you are an idiot, but doubts about intelligent design are inconclusive. There, are you satified, I confronted the truth, you ARE an idiot.
Satisfied? Now answer the other questions about your murderous loving forgiving genocidal god, and you can move on to evolution. Coward.
NeoWolfe
Neo
Addendum, JCC, and you Phreedumb, Dave once opened a forum at my request where both of you could come and defend your ridiculous stories or gods, prophets, and heroes. Neither of you showed up. You are both pathetic cowards afraid of defending your pathetic beliefs. You have built, and yes, wasted your lives, devoted to ancient mythological ideas. You can’t admit it because you can’t face your mortality nor can you face the fact that you have imposed the same mindless idiocy upon your children. Step up. Or in JCC’s words, man up, and face me. Defend your fairy tales. And I’m not the only recovered christian here, face us all you cowering wannabe’s.
This time,Dave, I request that you give JCC, and Phreedunce a thread. Block them on every other thread until they answer all charges. Let the pathetic cowards defend their beliefs.
Then, Dave, let’s you and me debate evolution, two people with their eyes open.
NeoWolfe
Atheism should not be forced on anyone, however neither should religion, On of the ways to combat the religious lobby is to insist on the historical truth about religions. Christianity for example has been the most murderous throughout the ages. Culminating in their collusion with the Nazis during WW2. So dont let them rewite history.