Human Nature

[Angrboda]

Bel sticks with his schtick...passive-aggressive slams at atheists (the majority of members of this forum) followed by the expected "I Read a Book" entry.

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.  Same with atheists versus theists.  I don't know of any atheists who believe theists are going to burn in hell forever.

"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 rather suspect any differences between the left and right are due to environmental pressures. With groups with whom we sympathize, such as black people, we're more willing to see them as products of their environment when we note any failings such as academic scores or crime or whatever. When it's a group we dislike we tend to view it as something inherent in the individual, as a moral failing. This recalls the way that people with mental illness were stigmatized, that they were seen as being the product of moral failings. I think in some sense the situation is both getting worse and getting better with respect to religion. On the one hand we stigmatize religion from the birds eye view, pointing out widespread abuse, corruption, and so on. Yet more people these days are inclined to view religious individuals as individuals, to hate the sin but love the sinner. It seems like there is a disconnect there. Perhaps it's like Valk said in general. Individuals are neither good or bad, but humanity as a whole is stupid.