Toaster strudel alliance takes on drugs, atheists and liberalism

[LastPoet]

You may have your own definition of atheism, but I think atheism is when people eat ice cream and they they have a warm feeling inside of their mouth and they think to themselves "I like icecream".

Therefore, all atheists are icecream eaters, because the definition of an atheist is someone who likes that warm feeling of ice cream in their mouth.

What is this? I don't even...

[Faith No More]

You may have your own definition of atheism, but I think atheism is when people eat ice cream and they they have a warm feeling inside of their mouth and they think to themselves "I like icecream".

Therefore, all atheists are icecream eaters, because the definition of an atheist is someone who likes that warm feeling of ice cream in their mouth.

This basically issustrates the sort of epistemology you people have. You think that you can arbitrarily define words to include whatever and whatever the words want and then reason with the words that have the same signification as other words, but if you use the old signification with your new meaning, you can LOGICALLY PROVE Christians are idiots who define their concepts using some other method.

This proves that atheism is what you consider it to be, based on an argument from authority to yourself of what atheism is. Incidentally, this carries about as much weight as dictionary definition. If you want to understand the world, grow up, don't look in a dictionary, think for yourself. Test the power of language to describe different social forces and carry in its value system good philosophy. Of course that is what atheists are doing when they argue over the definition of atheism. They are trying to advance their own philosophy.

You know, if you're looking to spark rational discourse, it's probably best to put forth a coherent argument with sources to back it up instead of emoting your own shortcomings through unfounded assertions. To me, you come across as someone that needs atheism to be as you perceive it, so you can hold onto some sort of defense mechanism that keeps you from admitting that a large portion of people are justified in not believing in god. That's what happens, however, when all of one's posts are simply emotional rants and ramblings that do nothing more than seek to demonize those you disagree with.

You act all self-righteous about the way atheists insult people here, but at least they have the gall to do it in a direct manner instead of feigning some sort of moral high ground and spewing gross generalizations in an attempt to discredit the validity of the conclusion others have come to about the existence of god. I'll take being called an asshole to my face any day over having to read poorly veiled insults being tossed from someone's high horse.

[jstrodel]

That is much more true than saying there is no cultural currents associated with atheism because I define atheism as such.

[Angrboda]

You are posting in the ecstasy thread. There is another thread about DMT. Then there is another thread about Hugo Chavez. There are many threads that refer to liberal or leftist themes.

I did not say that most atheists are Communists, what I said was that Marxism is an extremely heavy influence over the atheist movement. That is true. If you are an honest person, you will care about that.

(emphasis added)

Bloody hell. Hugo Chavez was an important world leader who recently died. That you think it symptomatic that we talk about a major news item that just happens to be about a Marxist leader, and that it implies anything beyond the fact that we care about world events is ridiculous. We don't generally mock people for no reason. We mock you because you have all the reasoning ability of a kumquat that's been sitting in the sun too long.

For what it's worth, I was one of the first to mock you, and my first post to you was mocking. Why? Because I trusted my intuitions about you, which are quite capable, and concluded that you were likely a stupid and irrational wanker from your original presentation alone. Your thinking is that bad that I spotted it in one post. The facts of the matter have borne out my initial assessment of you and abet my decision to mock you.

We may mock others for one reason or another, but we mock you because your idiocy and bigotry deserve to be mocked and condemned.

[LastPoet]

I foresee a poe's law exercise -.-;

[jstrodel]

Bloody hell. Hugo Chavez was an important world leader who recently died. That you think it symptomatic that we talk about a major news item that just happens to be about a Marxist leader, and that it implies anything beyond the fact that we care about world events is ridiculous. We don't generally mock people for no reason. We mock you because you have all the reasoning ability of a kumquat that's been sitting in the sun too long.

Chavez is not a Marxist, by the way.

Why are you so firmly opposed to actually engaging with my arguments? I did not say that the evidence of the Chavez thread meant evidence for a left wing thread atheist constituency, I said the Chavez thread was.

Read the thread. Compare the number of Chavez supporters on atheist websites to Chavez supporters in the general public. Then look at the number of other threads that quietly are sympathetic to Chavez without actually endorsing him. Look at Avatars of figures like Bertrand Russell, quotes by people like Christopher Hitchens.

Atheism IS a left wing movement. Go back to the French revolution, when the terms left and right originate. What role does atheism have in that?

Why are you so much more concerned with promoting your ideology than facts?

I am not bigoted. I have had many friends in my life who were blacks, homosexuals, women, etc. I am many things but I am not bigoted. Don't call me bigoted.

[LastPoet]

I call poe. Have fun with this one folks, remember the rules.

[Jackalope]

Bloody hell. Hugo Chavez was an important world leader who recently died. That you think it symptomatic that we talk about a major news item that just happens to be about a Marxist leader, and that it implies anything beyond the fact that we care about world events is ridiculous. We don't generally mock people for no reason. We mock you because you have all the reasoning ability of a kumquat that's been sitting in the sun too long.

Chavez is not a Marxist, by the way.

Why are you so firmly opposed to actually engaging with my arguments? I did not say that the evidence of the Chavez thread meant evidence for a left wing thread atheist constituency, I said the Chavez thread was.

Read the thread. Compare the number of Chavez supporters on atheist websites to Chavez supporters in the general public.

Atheism IS a left wing movement. Go back to the French revolution, when the terms left and right originate. What role does atheism have in that?

Why are you so much more concerned with promoting your ideology than facts?

I am not bigoted. I have had many friends in my life who were blacks, homosexuals, women, etc. I am many things but I am not bigoted. Don't call me bigoted.

[jstrodel]

I am not necessarily opposed to mocking, I am opposed to mocking in place of rational argument

I am not offended by peoples dislike of me, you are free to dislike me as much as you want. I am more offended by the quantity of which non-rational persuasion techniques are used to express ideas that really should be put in serious arguments, but instead are dealt with at the level of an internet meme.

I don't believe that people are free to be as foolish as they want, and cover up their foolishness with psychological tricks. I am not concerned about the integrity of my belief system, are you?

[Jackalope]

I am not necessarily opposed to mocking, I am opposed to mocking in place of rational argument

I am not offended by peoples dislike of me, you are free to dislike me as much as you want. I am more offended by the quantity of which non-rational persuasion techniques are used to express ideas that really should be put in serious arguments, but instead are dealt with at the level of an internet meme.

I don't believe that people are free to be as foolish as they want, and cover up their foolishness with psychological tricks. I am not concerned about the integrity of my belief system, are you?

When you first arrived here, people engaged you earnestly. It didn't take long for you to demonstrate that you're not worth the time to engage on such a level.

You THINK you've brought rational arguments - but you're wrong. You've brought naked assertions, confirmation bias, and an inability to appreciate alternate viewpoints, amongst other things. This has been explained to you, and your reaction to it has been to reassert your original assertions.

You are reaping what you sowed. It can't be put any plainer than that.