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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm
(March 8, 2019 at 9:03 pm)Abaddon_ire Wrote: (March 8, 2019 at 6:31 pm)Shell B Wrote: I appreciate that! I'm a little passionate about the public perception of Tourette's Syndrome. It's hugely misunderstood. Word salad it is not.
Right then.
Around these here parts there is a semi-regular guest on talk radio who is a Tourettes sufferer. When one first hears it, one feels guilt at how funny such interviews are right up to the point when one comes to know the nature of the person and how she is fully aware of how it sounds.
If one pays attention, one learns that she simply cannot help it at all, but she is so self aware about it, and realises that it is funny as hell, that she is fondly held as one of the best interviewees ever. Somehow, she transcends predjudice by means of humour. It is a thing to behold.
Once one got over the random inserted expletives, she was a peach with a wicked sense of humour and a hatload of self awareness.
Brave woman.
That's coprolalia. Most Tourette's sufferers don't even have that. Makes it less funny. The funniest thing I think is when the screams scare the shit out of someone.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 9, 2019 at 10:43 pm
(March 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm)Shell B Wrote: Makes it less funny.
I've been surprised to see that people here still use the word "retard" as an insult. I thought that grown-ups didn't say that any more.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 6:24 am
Atheism is not a belief, positive or negative. Just like someone who knows that the earth is round does not merely believe that the earth is round.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 8:10 am
(This post was last modified: March 10, 2019 at 8:13 am by EgoDeath.)
(March 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm)Shell B Wrote: That's coprolalia. Most Tourette's sufferers don't even have that. Makes it less funny. The funniest thing I think is when the screams scare the shit out of someone.
The problem is, some people who have Tourette's can get into swearing fits and the like. And honestly, it can be funny.
That's what the public perception of Tourette's has become and they've portrayed some pretty hilarious characters in different cartoons/shows.
It may not paint the whole picture, but that's what it's become in the public eye.
(March 10, 2019 at 6:24 am)Fake Messiah Wrote: Atheism is not a belief, positive or negative. Just like someone who knows that the earth is round does not merely believe that the earth is round.
Right. Just as 2 + 2 being equal to 4 is not a belief.
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 8:14 am
(This post was last modified: March 10, 2019 at 9:44 am by bennyboy.)
(March 10, 2019 at 6:24 am)Fake Messiah Wrote: Atheism is not a belief, positive or negative. Just like someone who knows that the earth is round does not merely believe that the earth is round.
That may be true, but we don't normally declare ourselves 2+2ists or round-earthists. Whatever else you say, an -ism isn't normally taken as a description of state; it normally refers to adherence to some system of thought, principle or organization. I understand that in the States, saying you lack a religion is probably worth saying, so what I call soft atheism means something. But it's certainly not unreasonable when religious people encounter you that they will think that your "-ism" means that you subscribe to a belief system of some kind.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 12:37 pm
(March 9, 2019 at 10:43 pm)Belaqua Wrote: (March 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm)Shell B Wrote: Makes it less funny.
I've been surprised to see that people here still use the word "retard" as an insult. I thought that grown-ups didn't say that any more.
It's funny because I grew up in a culture where we use the word retarded to describe things that are stupid. As adults, we don't really call people retards. I definitely still call stuff retarded, but the connotation isn't that it's special needs. I would never call a special needs person a retard. That's retarded.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 12:40 pm
(March 10, 2019 at 8:10 am)EgoDeath Wrote: (March 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm)Shell B Wrote: That's coprolalia. Most Tourette's sufferers don't even have that. Makes it less funny. The funniest thing I think is when the screams scare the shit out of someone.
The problem is, some people who have Tourette's can get into swearing fits and the like. And honestly, it can be funny.
That's what the public perception of Tourette's has become and they've portrayed some pretty hilarious characters in different cartoons/shows.
It may not paint the whole picture, but that's what it's become in the public eye.
It can definitely be funny when they have complex swearing tics. That's okay. I think the problem is that's what the public perception of Tourette's is, which I know for a fact is frustrating for sufferers, even though they recognize swearing tics are funny. I wonder how people with swearing tics who don't have Tourette's feel about it.
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 1:06 pm
(This post was last modified: March 10, 2019 at 1:14 pm by Bucky Ball.)
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell 
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 6:52 pm
(This post was last modified: March 10, 2019 at 7:15 pm by bennyboy.)
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RE: Is atheism a belief?
March 10, 2019 at 7:03 pm
(March 10, 2019 at 12:40 pm)Shell B Wrote: (March 10, 2019 at 8:10 am)EgoDeath Wrote: The problem is, some people who have Tourette's can get into swearing fits and the like. And honestly, it can be funny.
That's what the public perception of Tourette's has become and they've portrayed some pretty hilarious characters in different cartoons/shows.
It may not paint the whole picture, but that's what it's become in the public eye.
It can definitely be funny when they have complex swearing tics. That's okay. I think the problem is that's what the public perception of Tourette's is, which I know for a fact is frustrating for sufferers, even though they recognize swearing tics are funny. I wonder how people with swearing tics who don't have Tourette's feel about it.
Just to add:
It's only funny if the swearing is funny. Randomly saying fuck you dickhole is perhaps funny and embarrassing. Uncontrollably blurting really obscene words that are pretty specific is not at all a pleasant experience. Thankfully in my case it only happens in private when I'm alone. Brains can be really weird at times.
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