(April 18, 2025 at 8:20 am)Alan V Wrote: I don't mind criticisms as long as I can understand how they are accurate. His equating Democrats and Republicans as equally hateful seems like a false equivalence to me. MAGA Republicans go out of their way to demonize liberals, and often slander people in the process. "Waste and fraud" accusations seem directed at Democratic initiatives.
This is something we could discuss, if you're interested. I'm not saying that all politicians are equally bad. Trump is uniquely bad in his own way, but plenty of other bad things get done.
I am not defending Trump. I would never vote for him.
Quote:Same with atheists versus theists. I don't know of any atheists who believe theists are going to burn in hell forever.
The only thing that all atheists have in common is that they don't believe in God. Other than that they vary. There are nice ones and nasty ones.
If you say you've met more nasty Christians in your life, I wouldn't argue with that. I don't know where you live or where you hang out.
On the old Amazon discussion forums there was an atheist guy who was the most intelligent person I have ever encountered. He really stood out. He is now a professor at a very highly-ranked university, and was written up in The New Yorker a while back. He was also a very intellectually generous person -- willing to have sincere discussions and patiently explain his ideas, many of which were new to me. It is my experience that very intelligent people also tend to be generous in this way.
On the same forum there was an atheist who was certainly the nastiest person I have ever encountered. She appeared to be on line 24/7, constantly angry that anyone could disagree with her. She was caught at least twice using sock puppets. She didn't wish that I would burn in hell, but when a typhoon caused landslides in my town and 70 people died, she thought is was funny to joke about that and how I should have been one of them. I think you'll agree that was nasty.
I am not saying that either one of these people was representative of all atheists. I am saying that some are nice and some are not, and I know this through experience.
Quote:"Give a dog a bad name and hang it," sounds like authoritarianism to me. Calling it "winning" is just propaganda from my perspective. It begs the question.
I don't understand what this means. I am the one who is opposed to authoritarianism, because I don't think any political authority can be trusted.
I think it's correct to say that too many of the exchanges we see on line are attempts to win. Good faith discussions which attempt to persuade are different.
What question am I begging?
