my siblings who have left (3/7 last count) have no desire to talk about or hear about much less read about what the deal is witht the org our parents decided would bring them everlasting life.
it is head shaking to me - and i try not to bring it up at all- but when they ask, or it comes up and they are all freaked out about me being interested in it all i just shake my head.
even friends i grew up with in the org have no desire to know - they are just not interested.
Someone I love and care about was brought up in the truth, but never took it seriously..
They don't understand why I talk about the lies and deciet and why the religion bothers me.
They never had the wool pulled over their eyes like I did...
They had no emotional investment in it, it means little that this religion turned out to be a farce.
so this week, i broke up with my "on again off again" girlfriend of 8 months.
i came to realize that even though i cared about her immensely, i didn't see us working out long term.
that thought hit me a couple weeks ago, so i didn't think i should waste anymore of her time or mine.
You're not an asshole, blues.
Your ex-girlfriend will get over it and move on.
Don't beat yourself up too much...forgive yourself, ok?
I know this is not a popular opinion, but now you know a little of maybe why your wife cheated...
you can put yourself in her shoes, and hopefully, (unless you already have), forgive her too.
I wish you all the best with your new girlfriend....
and I agree with what OTWO said.
Barry, I thought your argument for torture was very well put.
Just because some of us do not believe that torture is a reliable means of getting information,
does not mean we side with the terrorists.
We are well aware that terrorists have the ability to attack, and do attack.
I support a strong use of force like recon and special ops, missions, etc. to find them and disable their ability to harm anyone else..
I just don't think that torturing another captive human being is logical and moral.
Why do I say that? Because psychopaths use torture. Terrorists use torture. Why stoop to their level of depravity?
Torture is a form of terrorism, because it insights fear and terror as a means to either cause suffering/low morale or to extract information.
Just because some feel justified in using it on ''the enemy'', well the enemy feels just as justified on using it on ''the infidel''.
so who is right?
Is it because the Interrogator slash Torturer is American, that they are in the right for using torture?
But if the terrorist group uses torture to get information or just for the sake of causing suffering
they are deemed evil and deserving of death, correct?
Double standard. Don't you think?
and you believe that god will help you to get through the difficulty?
sometimes i believe in chinese fortune-telling.
according the birth date, face and thenar lines the whole life can be forecasted.
I don't think people who pray are stupid...not at all.
Prayer is a helpful form of meditation.
It's good effects have been documented.
I just feel like I am talking to a wall.
If I feel stressed, I meditate and give myself a pep-talk instead.
a thoughtful series of twenty six pro-life arguments specifically against abortion can be found at: .
http://www.all.org/article.php?id=10229 .
through (following down the links the left side of each page) .
That's a really tough situation for your sister's friend, lola.
She might want to find a support group of women who have been through that experience.
There are probably a few online ones.
Some have aborted because of getting pregnant at a young age, and still felt that it was the best decision they made.
One friend of mine, carried her daughter to term (her baby was conceived by rape and she was a virgin),
and she put her baby up for adoption.
She gets updates on her daughter every few years. (This is not in the US)
If that young girl spoke to the different women who made either decisions and got their opinions,
it might help her decide which decision is the best for her.
No one knows how difficult that choice must feel like, unless they have been there.
Torturing another human being takes someone who has no empathy for another's pain and suffering.
If they did have empathy, they would not be able to do it. It would be only be done under duress.
If Terrorists have the ability to be psychotic and unfeeling towards others,
and the american gov't wants to destroy them before they destroy ''the american way of life'',
how does stooping to their level make them any better?
it doesn't.
I am not against ''fighting terrorism''. But I do believe that torturing suspects makes the torturer just like them.
Just to clarify, min, I don't think bribery works.
I was comparing it to torture. Both might get you a confession. But the confession is probably not the truth.
I'm not against certain types of torture if an extremist were to have information that would ultimately result in the deaths of many thousands of innocent victims. The end justifies the means.
But if the information is incorrect, then what good is it?
All it means is that the American Gov't is no better than the terrorists they are torturing.
They are just as dangerous.
I think spying and infiltrating an enemy has a more productive outcome and gains more accurate information.
Bribery probably has about as good a chance as getting accurate info as torture.
Both might get you a confession, whether or not that confession is the truth, is another matter.
C'mon. They aren't just looking for a confession. They aren't looking for faulty intelligence.
Sorry, I missed that one.
So, they're torturing them just for the fun of it then? Or?
And they think they are better than the terrorists?
Oh, thanks for the clarification, mini. I was not disputing you at all.
(Just was not sure to which form of information extraction you were refering to.)
I don't have any reason to believe that the American gov't agencies haven't been torturing subjects for years.
Even the police are known to use excessive force during interrogations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_serum
-It states that some people that truth serum was used on, freely mixed facts with fiction...
As we all know, it is easy to fool oneself into believing a faslehood is the truth and vise-versa.
I don't think torture works as well as bribery into getting information.
Both forms are not reliable ways to get the TRUTH out of someone though, - just a CONFESSION.
That's standing up.
Not nearly as bad as laying down, with your feet at a higher elevation than your head, so the water runs towards your nose/mouth.
But scary enough!
