I am not an emotional person, but when Hitchens passed it felt to me like the universe had lost a truly great journalist and an extraordinary human being. I took his passing rather personally. For years he was my favorite journalists and one of my favorite people. His insight into South Africa's issues during the apartheid era was staggering for a man who had not been brought up there. His keen grasp of politics and human behavior allowed him a degree of foresight few ever attained and he predicted so much about South Africa back in the early 80's few others could have seen or had the courage to call. I'll always miss him and his Richard Burton voice....
SecretSlaveClass
JoinedPosts by SecretSlaveClass
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41
Who is your favourite thinker?
by The Rebel inhaving recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.
this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.
the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.
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Evolution is a Fact #1 - Protein Functional Redundancy
by cofty ini intend for this to be one of a series of bite-sized ops on the evidence for evolution.. introduction to dna genes are sequences of dna made up of words (codons) each of which are three letters (bases) long.
there are only four letters in the genetic alphabet (acg&t) each word or codon is the recipe for one amino acid.
there are 20 different amino acids in living organisms.
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SecretSlaveClass
shadow8 hours ago
Good examples of classic propaganda techniques by the evolutionary faithful here.
Faith has no place in science. Either you accept the evidence or you do not - in which case people who tend to base their decisions on fact would continue their examination of empirical evidence until the facts all corroborated the proposed theory. Naturally I would expect this point to be lost on emotional "believers" to whom evidence means nothing and emotional commitment means everything.
Thanks Cofty, looking forward to the continuation of this lesson!
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76
What is your relationship with ALCOHOL?
by nicolaou inhere in the uk new drinking guidelines have been issued which suggest "no more than 14 units a week - equivalent to six pints of beer or seven glasses of wine.".
another piece of the advice which is getting a lot of attention is that "if people drink, it should be moderately over three or more days and that some days should be alcohol-free.".
already people are making cries of "nanny state!
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SecretSlaveClass
Alcohol and I are like boxers. It,always knocks me down no matter how hard I knock it back. -
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Did Jesus actually start a church to himself?
by TTWSYF inwith some 30,000 different christian denominations, how would one know which one was for real?
some folks think jesus did start a church, others think no.
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SecretSlaveClass
Mephis:
The Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls?It may be. Unfortunately I can't find it anywhere.
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Where to draw the line: how Platonism haunts our discourse and the search for exorcism
by slimboyfat inin the discussion about race i adopted a position i am not entirely comfortable with.
i think there is a sense in which it is useful to distinguish categories of description that can be fruitfully defended (apples and bananas) and those that cannot (caucasian or other racial descriptions for example).
but there is a more fundamental sense in which i believe that everything is socially constructed, every single line you can think of.
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SecretSlaveClass
I read through this whole thread and frankly, I enjoyed it despite not being a fan of philosophy as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed SBF's use of language and I do absolutely understand his point. However as a pragmatist, I see philosophy as a useful toy that can be used as a tool at times in the way a child's toy may be a toy but also a tool for teaching the child. When an adult has already learned all it can from that toy it ceases to be a tool and is only a toy. Of course you could try to hammer a nail in with the toy but it would not be an ideal tool for the job particularly when you know there is a hammer available to you - science being that hammer.
Just thought I'd add a little more gibberish to the thread 😉
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Have we become what we despise so much?
by Tenacious inthe majority of members who tend to join this forum have been hurt possibly even traumatized sometimes to the point of wanting to end their lives.
upon joining the forum, new members are welcomed with open arms, welcome messages start pouring in, "likes" are freely given, a false sense of security is promoted where a member is free to speak his mind without having to worry about the wt gestapo.
again, similar to how potential converts are welcomed and "love bombed" upon entering a kh for the first time.
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SecretSlaveClass
Tenacious: I recommend you spend some time watching the "how" pertaining to conduct protocol on real debates on YouTube. Particularly Christopher Hitchens debates in which I think you'll not only discover the spirit of debate but also the reward of honest discussion. -
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Did Jesus actually start a church to himself?
by TTWSYF inwith some 30,000 different christian denominations, how would one know which one was for real?
some folks think jesus did start a church, others think no.
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SecretSlaveClass
I saw a documentary a while back concerning suspected followers/believers of the Nazarene's teachings who escaped into some mountains or some such assumption. They had unearthed some sort of large dwelling and not far away a cave with scrolls in it which somehow suggested they were written by a sect dedicated to the Nazarene long before the concept of "Christianity". Unfortunately it didn't interest me enough that I payed much attention to it.
If I recall correctly it was on the History channel. I'll try to locate it and post a link here when I have the time.
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Introducing...ME
by Heartsafire inlong time lurker here.
i'm a fifth gen born-in baptized jw.
to say i've been struggling with doubts is an understatement.
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SecretSlaveClass
Welcome to the forum dedicated to finding the anti-Org vaccine! -
75
Have we become what we despise so much?
by Tenacious inthe majority of members who tend to join this forum have been hurt possibly even traumatized sometimes to the point of wanting to end their lives.
upon joining the forum, new members are welcomed with open arms, welcome messages start pouring in, "likes" are freely given, a false sense of security is promoted where a member is free to speak his mind without having to worry about the wt gestapo.
again, similar to how potential converts are welcomed and "love bombed" upon entering a kh for the first time.
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SecretSlaveClass
I don't (or rarely) despise people but I do despise unsubstantiated nonsense. And for me, nothing is worse than someone who pontificates a confusing, silly ideology or philosophy with whimsical farce. I am by far one of the least of the brightest members on this forum but I do understand the concept of debate and its penchant for inviting ironic and sarcastic candor. This I think has little to do with being smart but everything to do with understanding what it is to be an adult with self confidence and the willingness to be held under honest scrutiny for the best of one's own benefit. -
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If YOU had to make the decision, would you respect a JW relatives wish to refuse a blood transfusion?
by nicolaou ina few years after i quit the meetings my mum needed her medical directive signed and witnessed and she asked if i'd do it.
i was surprised to say the least!.
i think she was just angling to include me and maybe find some lever to get me involved again.
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SecretSlaveClass
Yes in the case of my mom and brother. They are such intolerably cruel people who hate science that I think they are not deserving of its benefits. They believe in a resurrection, well good - they can go earn it.