Posts by Abaddon

156

Is Atheism/Evolutionism Dangerous? Questions for Unbelievers

by Perry in

does the belief that there is no all-loving diety in which to be accountable to make it easier or harder to treat and judge others they way that you want to be treated and judged?.

since evolution supposes that life and ultimately man who is at the top of the chain got here through a process of the fittest dominating and killing off the weaker, and since most modern evolutionists in democracies no longer think that this is good to practice, how do you deal with the fact that you are a living contradiction of your own belief since you pronounce the same thing both good and bad?

.

Abaddon

Long time Perry... you still need to get your nails cut, silly Parrot.

Does the belief that there is no all-loving Diety in which to be accountable to make it easier or harder to treat and judge others they way that you want to be treated and judged?

Depends on the person, just as whether the belief that there is an all-loving Diety which one is accountable to makes it easier or harder to treat and judge others they way that you want to be treated and judged depends on the person.

Since evolution supposes that life and ultimately man who is at the top of the chain got here through a process of the fittest dominating and killing off the weaker, and since most modern evolutionists in democracies no longer think that this is good to practice, how do you deal with the fact that you are a living contradiction of your own belief since you pronounce the same thing both good and bad?

PLEASE, study evolution. Your above statement shows you need to, and proceeding further would be like discussing Chess with someone who approaches it with the attitude the rules are like Chequers.

"life ... got here through a process of the fittest dominating and killing off the weaker" is a mischaracterisation. In most populations those that survive and whose characteristics come to dominate the population over generations do so by being better at reproducing in the environment the population is in than other members of the population. If killing is done it is normally the environment that kills. Very few species kill each other; it is not a good way of surviving. And species which co-operate together can often have better survival propects than those that don't.

I think if you use Evolution textbooks as a source, rather than anti-evolutionary information (I assume you got the mistatement from the latter rather than misunderstanding the former), you will see you've mischaracterised evolution and made the assumption frequently parrotted by anti-evolutionists that not believing in the tooth fairy makes you morally unprincipled.

If you doubt me and can't be arsed to do the research, just look at the religious affiliation of prisoners. There is no support whatsoever for evolutionists being more likely to be in jail than believers.

3

violence in kids shows

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

ok so after i started the other thread i got to thinking about how the shows can sometimes be too adult themed.. going back to (as clam sort of reminded me) tom and jerry and popeye, even bugs bunny.

have these toons, which teach our kids various lessons of life, also taught them violence?

is it a big deal, to the point where we should not let our kids watch them?

Abaddon

I think any idea that 'we' old people could 'get' cartoon violence when we were kids, and realise that it was not meant to be enacted in real life, but young people todaycan't is a straw hamper short of a picnic.

Most ideas about 'it was so good then' are based on fond but rather inaccurate memories.

Is LA violent today? Yes. But now it is only as violent as it was in 1956 (I heard the mayor say so on BBC World Service today).

What we have is

Greater visability of bad things happening due to pervasive reach of media
Less censorship and self-censorship; child abuse happened in the past but reportage was very low, TV shows now cover topics considered 'unsuitable' years ago, but those topics still happened back when TV coverage of them was considered unsuitable
Modern families are different to families fifty years ago

79

'THE DAWKINS DELUSION' New book responds to Dawkins 'The God Delusion'

by nicolaou in

in the wake of richard dawkins bestseller 'the god delusion' (which i and many others here have read) there has been a good deal of rebuttal from the 'faith' community.

now a new book is out published by alister mcgrath, professor of theology at oxford university.

it is entitled 'the dawkins delusion'.. has anyone read it or ordered it yet?

Abaddon

gumb

I'll have a go too;

1. In what sense do you think evolution a 'fact'?

The word refers to the evidence of simple forms of life developing into more complex ones that we find around us, and the theory of how this takes place. The former is a fact.

2. In what sense do you think is it not 'logical' to believe in God?

Pfff... define what is 'reasonable to beleive' from this list;

The Apollo Moon Landings
The Battle of Hastings
LIfe after death
WTC collapse being caused by demolition charges
The tooth fairy
Odessyus
Mithras
Jesus
T Rex (dinosaur not band)
God

... your answers will be intresting in themselves but my question is chiefly to illustrate there is little semantic ground to be won over the word logical if one's definiton of reasonable isn't in itself reasonable.

3. In what sense is there 'empirical' 'evidence' for evolution?

Two random examples; look into 'ring species'; the herring gull/lesser black-backed gull, and a group of salamanders are good examples of these. Empirical evidence. Another; a species of plant found in the car park of York train station that was a natural hybrid of two other wild plants, self-fertile, but not back fertile with the originating species.

Over to you...

86

Stupid Brits!

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

we can take it!

c'mon tell us why we're so stupid, it can't be that difficult we elected tony blair for god's sake!.

.

Abaddon

Robdar

Maybe the difference is that most Brits can laugh and be scathing about something they love, whereas some Americans think if you love something you can't act like that?

I certainly know the JYA posse from the US at my Uni' were always a little taken aback by the English habit of taking the piss out of their friends (micky taking), as they were unable to distinguish banter from criticism at first.

No humour until last night? Hell, I found it funny loads of times before last night, even if sometimes I was probably the only one. Glad to have entertained.

86

Stupid Brits!

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

we can take it!

c'mon tell us why we're so stupid, it can't be that difficult we elected tony blair for god's sake!.

.

Abaddon

Jade Goody, classic example of the exaltation of mediocrity that dominates popular media.

Fiance back from girl's night out, going off line... fun topic though.

61

Stupid Americans

by Mackin in

jw
friends

watch this and weep.. .

edit: for the benefit of americans, the interviewer is not john howard, the austrailan prime minister.

:-) .

Abaddon

Robdar

You are absolutely correct. It is our fault. I will never say otherwise. We will rue the day that we (as a collective--you are aware I didn't support the war) invaded Iraq. However, you guys are in the thick of it with us. Instead of getting grumpy with the American people, maybe you should direct some of that ire at Blair.

How, in responding to a sentence where I specifically mention the Bush Administration, and say I mention it so people won't think I am being anti-American in general, you can then ignore I said that and make out like I said it about you? Step away from the sceen Robdar, you're so into lashing out you ignore I make it obvious I'm not having a go at you or Americans in general.

And I could bore you silly with ire about Blair, thank you.

This: " Oh joy, what pearls of wisdom shall this observation hearald?" tickled me so much I have yet to stop laughing. Thanks for the belly laugh.

I'm glad you're laughing, I sometime worry you take this too seriously. Don't worry, you make me laugh too.

86

Stupid Brits!

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

we can take it!

c'mon tell us why we're so stupid, it can't be that difficult we elected tony blair for god's sake!.

.

Abaddon

Robdar

Of course you can take it, a Brit started this thread. You might not find it so funny if, say, a Frenchman started it.

Go on then Robdar, if you're so determined to prove the average Brit is as sensitive as some Americans are, go to it. Try and be mean. No one will ever accuse you of being anti-British. You're just joining in what we probably do better and know more about than you, trashing our own country. Maybe you should start a thread trashing the US to show how well you can take it when you start such a thread, as that seems to be your argument.

We don't have to be like some American's are. Britain doesn't have to be best at everything and uncriticized for Brits to feel okay about themselves. Saying we are shit is okay, especially if it's funny and at least partially true.

You DO take this stuff seriously though! Relax!

37

I walked out in the middle of the Watchtower Study yesterday............

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

i'm down to 1 meeting per week and that is even becoming difficult to attend.i read blondie's excellent reviews of the weekly watchtower study and that keeps my sanity when reading the weekly study.

yesterday,i walked out in the middle of the study and went home because of some comments that were made after the reading of paragraph 5.here is blondie's study article and one comment that was made at the meeting.. .

clearly, jesus was concerned that his followers too could become distracted by satan's world, even to the point that they might "return to the things behind.

Abaddon

blondie

Yes, Winston Smith works in MiniTru (the Minstry of Truth) re-writing history as party faithfuls lose their position and political allegancies are changed. I love that book, really hit me when I read it afterward, can't think what I was thinking of when I read it first at school, not to get it.

86

Stupid Brits!

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

we can take it!

c'mon tell us why we're so stupid, it can't be that difficult we elected tony blair for god's sake!.

.

Abaddon

Every year, it is sunny for three days in a row, and we declare a drought. Every year, we have an inch of snow and the country grinds to a halt. This happens every year, as if we had never seen snow or sunshine before.

Classic...

Where do I start? How we are far more liable to lock up woman for offenses a man won't serve jail time for, even if this destroys a family? That's stupid.

Lighter hearted... in Holland and I believe in the US there are electrical sockets in the bathroom, and light switches. In the UK, the light switches has to be one of those string pulls or outside the bathroom, and only shaver sockets are allowed. Despite the 'safety' this give the Brits, I have yet to see plies of bodies of people who got electrocuted turning on a light-switch with a wet hand in Holland. There's this insane 'nannification' treating people like they are idiots (because even in Britain we have idiots, LOL).

We pretend like we are still a world power. Our nukes were only ever aimed at France anyway...

We try hard to ignore all the shitty thing we did in days of Empire.

We prevaricate, excuse, justify and apologise for stuff that could be fixed if we were bothered enough, or avoid doing anything about it by reminiscing about the Blitz spirit or sucking down some newspaper fabricated scare.

We allow obscene intrusion into celebrity's private lives.

Most of us read 'newspapers' I wouldn't put under a cat. Although American journalism can be just as biased, apart from the usual suspects (National Enquirer et. al), it really is better quality on average than any of the traditional tabloids.

We put up with joke politicians and the divorcing of the voters from any real say in day-to-day politics.

We pretend we aren't part of Europe, like if we close our eyes and breathe quietly it will go away.

Despite the fact we know more about other countries than some nationalities, when we visit them we still tend to either be condescending, drunk, surprised at climatic extremes lower than 35 degrees F (0C) and over 70 F (21C), sun-burnt, indolently expectant of everything being like it is at home, combinations thereof or otherwise embarrassing.

We let Tony get away with it.

We say sorry too much.

We suck at at sport every sport we invented. Football. Tennis. Cricket. Rugby. Boxing.

We don't invest nearly enough in our future (education, research).

We vote in governments that slash tax for 17 years so we can afford a second car and then wonder why the schools, public transports networks and health service are in such a bad state. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

You know the Elgin Marbles? That's nothing. If the pyramids at Giza had been a little smaller, we'd have shipped them to the British Museum lock block and mummy.

I am so traumatised by this list I have to skin up...

Oh yeah, idiotic drug laws... that too...

61

Stupid Americans

by Mackin in

jw
friends

watch this and weep.. .

edit: for the benefit of americans, the interviewer is not john howard, the austrailan prime minister.

:-) .

Abaddon

Robdar

So you do have anti-American sentiments and you are self righteous about too. No surprise there. It is as I thought and you prove my point.

Slight problem with that. You don't have a point, QED. If you can distort 'anti-bad things' into 'anti-American' it is YOU who are making the causal link.

Remeber your sense of humour, Abaddon. You know, the sense of humor you are always telling Americans to have. Looks like you can't laugh at yourself but feel fine about passing around advice to others. Typical.

Ah, I see, someone with no sense of perspective telling me I took it out of proportion. I think you guys call that 'cute'.

I use stupid and gave my meaning. I can type out 'uninformed, 'insular', etc., but in this rare instance I favour susicintness. Funny how someone earlier said Americans 'get it' if they know it is meant to be funny, and you're at work (unfunny environment).

Either way, since the English are involved with us in Iraq and in the Middle East, I have to wonder why they are so self righteous and pissy and acting like it's all the fault of the US.

Robdar... it IS the fault of the US. Specifically the Bush administration, just in case you think I'm being anti-American in general. A subject for another thread maybe, but I'm surprised you can still think otherwise. Bad things may have happened anyway, but if a company was run like the US has run the Iraq invasion, the share-holders would bring in new management.

And I will probably agree with every negative thing you have to say about the UK being in Iraq, and never accuse you of being anti-British. Yes, I am rather proving a point, just not the one you thought.

Abaddon is English, correct? An English man living in the Netherlands.

Oh joy, what pearls of wisdom shall this observation hearald?

Ross

(in his usual verbose manner)

I ramble, therefore I am. So call me sesquipedalian. The 't' on your keyboard is sticky by-the-way ;-P

Love and kisses to you and your love from me and Kate.

And, aye laddie, I'm English, ya' mad wee kilty you. An I've nert te be afrai' o' with yon fine Hadrian's Wall confounding the devices o' the wee Picts living in the wilds beyond.

One thing I've never got Ross. How come the Scots (stereotypically) have this massive grudge against the English? I mean, you guys WON. Your King became our King, hard to see it any other way than as a total victory for the Scottish. I think the Scots Parliament should start taxing England... ooh, they do ;-)

Welsh during Rugby. English by simple dint of birth and upbringing (although I was almost born in Naples, or Australia) and quite happy with it I suppose, British by nationality, living with Dutchess (and kid) in Clogland on a bog in a windmill, wearing clogs and eating cheese and herring in between consuming massive quantities of drugs and porn, before a bracing walk around the red-light district... (sorry, Robdar has to write her own post, mustn't spoil her fun).

sammieswife

When Tony Blair ends his speeches, how does he end them?

Something along the lines of 'goodbye'. Currently a very very very long-drawn out goodbye. Like a five year-old playing cowboys and indians and not playing dead when he gets shot. No 'god' branding, or 'the UK and god are best buddies' sentiments.

When the Queen gives her speeches to the country, how does she end them?

Dunno, never watched one through to the end. What Ross says is far funnier than any likely reality though.

When talk show hosts end their broadcast on television and radio, how do the sign off?

Tune in again please, or words to that effect.

We used to play the National Anthem in cinemas and theatres, years and years ago. Dunno if they do it at football games normally, don't think so anymore.

The US stereotypical attitude is 'best place on Earth glad I am American don't disrespect me or mine I am proud of it'.

The UK stereotypical attitude is 'good god what a dreadful place, still some bits are lovely and I'd rather be here than anywhere else', and as slagging Britain of is a major hobby of the British will probably buy you a (warm) beer if you start to.