when they don't impinge on me
This is the key. I'm with you for the most part. Your god says you can't do X, Y or Z? Fine, whatever. Your god says I can't do X, Y or Z? Fuck you. That's why my examples have been limited to bosses, political leaders, etc. What a "peer" (broadly defined) thinks or does has no real effect on me. What someone in a position of authority thinks or does can absolutely have an effect on me, whether I want it to or not.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 14:54 (three years ago) link
Ahh okay. For me, the problem there isn't about belief or thinking per se, it's about power and rights. I definitely do care if a boss's religious belief--of whatever tradition--means they use their authority to make sure the company health insurance won't cover birth control. I also would be opposed to an atheist boss who refused to let workers wear religious symbols, etc.
― rob, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:05 (three years ago) link
I'm not sure that anyone is going to argue that people should be able to impose their religious views on others or should avoid criticism if they try.
At the same time, 'i don't want a religious person to have any authority over me because they're likely to use it to impose their religious views' is not a particularly tenable position.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
And the “best friend in the sky, lol” rhetoric is childish. Marx’s critique of religion was better because he at least acknowledged that religion was serving a psychological need, a sense of craving and a felt lack.
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:14 (three years ago) link
People aren’t religious because they are “too dumb” to understand why creationism is implausible. They’re looking for a framework to understand and guide their own lives.
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:15 (three years ago) link
So I should pity them for their psychological weaknesses, not laugh at them for their absurd beliefs, is what you're saying?
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:18 (three years ago) link
No you should laugh at people for their vulnerabilities. That is what a good person should do.
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:19 (three years ago) link
Disdain of “weakness”—awesome trait. It’s why you’re my favorite ilxor!
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:20 (three years ago) link
unperson you are very stupid
― Clara Lemlich stan account (silby), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:20 (three years ago) link
I really admire how you have no curiosity about the ways people have, historically, tried to understand who they are and their role in the cosmos. And how you have the strength to belittle people who still wonder about these things. What strength! What power!
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:21 (three years ago) link
I really admire how you have no curiosity about the ways people have, historically, tried to understand who they are and their role in the cosmos.
"Historically" is the key word here. It's not very interesting that people believe crazy shit. It's even less interesting why people believe crazy shit. The impact of people's belief in crazy shit on their material existence is fascinating.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:29 (three years ago) link
I don’t think you know what “religion” is
― Clara Lemlich stan account (silby), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:39 (three years ago) link
Probably too late to go back to this question in a generous & thoughtful way, but I am genuinely curious why contemporary leftists or people otherwise fighting for social justice would choose to belong to the Catholic Church.
― rob, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:40 (three years ago) link
we all have coping mechanisms re: the terror of the void, just bc religion isn't yours doesn't mean yours is superior to religion, or that religion is an "insane" belief, which, fuck you
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:44 (three years ago) link
sorry that post was for unperson
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
lol I figured
― rob, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
how dare anyone impose narrative on non-narrative things, one of the main things the human brain does
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:50 (three years ago) link
Bruenig explains that here, convincingly or otherwise: https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/07/25/how-augustines-confessions-and-left-politics-inspired-my-conversion-catholicism
I'd guess you'd have a lot of people inspired by liberation theology in Latin America. It's probably also worth making a distinction between 'the Catholic Church', as an institution, which Bruenig, particularly over the last few years, has criticised, and Catholic theology in a more abstract sense.
― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 15:56 (three years ago) link
I'll read that, thanks, though I don't really want to make this about EB--I've wondered this long before I knew who she was. And TBC: it's precisely the institution & its history that I'm wondering about
― rob, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 16:02 (three years ago) link
Unfortunately, I didn't find that elucidating. It's an interesting piece for sure, but since it's basically TS: Protestantism or Catholicism, it's already too zoomed in for me. I did think it notable that she brought up Quakerism, but her reasons for rejecting it were unclear to me--to be fair, having never been religious there's a likely inevitable sympathy gap on my part.
All that talk about the Church's pre-modern attitude to property but no mention of the Vatican's property holdings. All that talk of coreligionists adding to the tradition without acknowledging that other-people's-traditions-destroyers like Diego de Landa are among them, and so on. I guess it boils down to "I take the good and reject the bad," and tbf I doubt I'll ever find that particularly convincing as an outsider, so perhaps I'm fatally prejudiced here.
― rob, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:10 (three years ago) link
I hope you all are enjoying my posts to the Chapo Trap House thread
I guess it boils down to "I take the good and reject the bad," and tbf I doubt I'll ever find that particularly convincing as an outsider, so perhaps I'm fatally prejudiced here.
This is pretty much my mom's position. (My mom who is not only a practicing Catholic but also a graduate of Penn State University...)
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:12 (three years ago) link
this has mainly just been the inter-left squabbles thread for a long time xp
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:12 (three years ago) link
Oh this is about your mom I guess that explains your shitty personality xp
― Clara Lemlich stan account (silby), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:13 (three years ago) link
What does Penn State have to do with anything?
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:13 (three years ago) link
Never mind. Paterno. Get it.
― treeship., Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:26 (three years ago) link
a lot of catholics have issues with the church. in fact most catholics ive known, including very devout ones, daily communicants and the like, have issues with the church. when i was a kid my dad, who attended seminary for a time, told me that the pope (JP II) and Mother Teresa were fascists.
i can't speak to the convert experience, i have never personally known a convert to catholicism.
― 《Myst1kOblivi0n》 (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 17:45 (three years ago) link
Matt really running the gamut this afternoon, mixing in what sounds like bits of Jung, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer even? Alongside the usual history bits:
https://www.twitch.tv/chapotraphouse
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 21:30 (three years ago) link
They finally announced that Virgil is officially departing the show.
― OneSecondBefore, Thursday, 20 May 2021 04:57 (three years ago) link
Virgil Texas in Chapo history. pic.twitter.com/KNrBIBC5Dj— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 24, 2021
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Thursday, 20 May 2021 05:12 (three years ago) link
I think currents of belief like catholicism are easier to attack because they have an actual figurehead and structure that ppl can point to. That being said, with the amount of US catholics who go "well who cares what HE thinks" every time the current pope says something slightly progressive I think ppl shouldn't be surprised at people having catholicism as their value system while rejecting the church.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 20 May 2021 09:32 (three years ago) link
good. dude's been much more insufferable than funny for a while and I'm glad to have his bullshit safely quarantined on something I don't listen to. amber can stay on r*d sc*re while we're at it
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Thursday, 20 May 2021 11:40 (three years ago) link
which episode did they announce it on?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 May 2021 12:39 (three years ago) link
I saw it as a screenshot (from the Patreon maybe).
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Thursday, 20 May 2021 13:28 (three years ago) link
stumbled on a thread of people claiming that oren cass is virgil's brother lmfao
― global tetrahedron, Thursday, 20 May 2021 13:37 (three years ago) link
had to google him, but I could see it lol
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Thursday, 20 May 2021 13:38 (three years ago) link
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3408444/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 20 May 2021 14:49 (three years ago) link
tbf "Justin Cass" sounds faker than "Virgil Texas"
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 20 May 2021 14:50 (three years ago) link
the main topic/article this week is pretty staggering
The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called "signature reduction." The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.The unprecedented shift has placed an ever greater number of soldiers, civilians, and contractors working under false identities, partly as a natural result in the growth of secret special forces but also as an intentional response to the challenges of traveling and operating in an increasingly transparent world. The explosion of Pentagon cyber warfare, moreover, has led to thousands of spies who carry out their day-to-day work in various made-up personas, the very type of nefarious operations the United States decries when Russian and Chinese spies do the same.
The unprecedented shift has placed an ever greater number of soldiers, civilians, and contractors working under false identities, partly as a natural result in the growth of secret special forces but also as an intentional response to the challenges of traveling and operating in an increasingly transparent world. The explosion of Pentagon cyber warfare, moreover, has led to thousands of spies who carry out their day-to-day work in various made-up personas, the very type of nefarious operations the United States decries when Russian and Chinese spies do the same.
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-inside-militarys-secret-undercover-army-1591881
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, 21 May 2021 13:23 (three years ago) link
The Americans seems so quaint now
i'll be honest - i'm not into that!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:04 (three years ago) link
nice try, signature reducer
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
i've been deep cover for years trying to infiltrate the neil young community
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
Is Newsweek back to being a trustworthy source? Not trolling: I was under the impression they'd become a garbage click farm
― rob, Friday, 21 May 2021 15:20 (three years ago) link
this appears to be one of their rare attempts at actual journalism
― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:22 (three years ago) link
aren't they owned by a cult or something?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:57 (three years ago) link
I really really really wish some Anonymous dorks (lol remember them) or just literally anyone would start doxxing/ counter-catfishing the FBI agents et al who run these ridiculous ops.
― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will), Friday, 21 May 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
The FBI honeypotting the awkward teenager was enraging.
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Friday, 21 May 2021 17:38 (three years ago) link
absolutely. magnified for me by the fact that whoever’s big brain birthed that debacle will only fail up, and retire comfortably as a real American hero
― Washington Generals D-League affiliate (will), Friday, 21 May 2021 17:45 (three years ago) link
here's my ranking of dirtbag left accounts on letterboxd
will menaker: very good at it. he'd make a good film critic
matt christman: surprisingly bad. his reviews sound like high school essays or something, doesn't read as in his "voice" probably bc he doesn't care enough about movies to rant at them
stav from cum town: really funny, a natural
― flopson, Sunday, 30 May 2021 22:07 (three years ago) link