(February 9, 2010 at 12:28 am)Zhalentine Wrote: It is unfair to blame the people responsible for our negative label in society? Surely people don't have the negative perception of atheist from the ones who do community service and make positive contributions towards society. They see the idiots spouting their bullshit and label all atheists like that. You fail to recognize that it doesn't matter if it is logical or not that his ignorant comments make atheists look bad. You can claim it is illogical to form a negative opinion towards all atheists because of the actions of a few, and I agree with you, but the reality is that people do have bad feelings about atheists because of the few moronic ones.
I don't care if you're irked or not, it doesn't justify your childish behavior. You can argue like an adult without name calling and throwing a hissy fit.
I most certainly did not blame Minimalist for the current public's perception of atheism, but he does contribute to the negative reputation we get with ignorant comments like the ones in this thread.
Other people make their own perceptions. It is solely of their own creation. And one should not be responsible for the thoughts of others, neither a keeper or property of another.
You have not disproved my argument, and while I have laced it with invectives, my logic still stands at its base. People have the freedom to make bad abstractions of others - hiding oneself from the scrutiny of others is unreasonable and unnecessary due to the fundamental uncontrollable nature of others thoughts.
I am calling you out on illogical statements in a forum that uses logical thought to evaluate many claims.
And no, you incorrectly attributed the opinions of others to the statements made by Minimalist. In fact, you still insist on linking him to some unfounded "reputation" with your last sentence.
Furthermore, your statement on that "it doesn't matter if it is logical or not that his ignorant comments make atheists look bad" is meaningless. In a rational society, it is expected to consider the actions of one individual as opposed to the whole. Just because we do not live in a perfectly rational society only proves that we, in some fashion, failed to be rational. All your argument lies upon, is simply an argument that because some will act irrationally and make poor opinions upon a certain group, any one person should be judged upon as representative of a group and therefore the character of a group is to be held at stake.
I call bullshit. Just because some break form with rational thought does not mean rational thought is broken (please treat the previous iterations and current one of this as a metaphor, not a straw man, as I am trying to frame your statements accurately). It means that the few who broke with rational thought acted irrationally and the subsequent decisions they made in being irrational should be called into question and scrutinized.
