tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63556164193998910932024-03-08T02:29:15.156-08:00SilverscreemerSilver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-29145101523696609192012-08-26T07:54:00.001-07:002012-08-26T08:05:31.761-07:00Email correspondence with dad about suffering. <h1 class="ha" style="color: blue;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="hP" id=":115"><span style="color: black; font-weight: normal;">(My posts are in blue, his fuchsia)</span> </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="hP" id=":115"> </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="hP" id=":115"> </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="hP" id=":115">Excerpt from a book I'm reading I thought you would enjoy. (Long but a good read)</span></span></h1>
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I'm really not sure how much to post, but if you are interested I can
send you the entire book, do note though that I haven't finished the
book yet. I was just reading it earlier and made a mental note to send
you a chunk of it. <br />
<br />
Easier said than done. <br />
<br />
In movies they say it's 5% picture,
20% sound, and 75% editing. I believe that, choosing what NOT to include
is important because you know the audience doesn't have all day... <br />
<br />
But you don't want to just include what you want to show either
because who knows if it'll have the same impact without proper context.
I'll do my best here... <br />
<br />
Oh and trust me on this. I know that my
endorsement has value ONLY if I recommend appropriate things. I truly
believe you will at the very least find this interesting. <br />
<br />
-----------------<br />
<br />
<br />
The modern philosophical problem of theodicy, which has been <br />
with us since the Enlightenment, is how we can imagine that God <br />
exists given such senseless pain and suffering. For ancient peoples, <br />
however, there was never, or almost never, a question of whether <br />
God (or the gods) actually existed. The question was how to explain <br />
God’s (or the gods’) relationship to people given the state of the <br />
world. Given the fact—which almost every ancient person took as a <br />
fact—that God is both above the world and involved with it, how <br />
can one explain the corollary fact that people suffer? <br />
<br />
Many of the biblical authors were concerned with this question—<br />
even obsessed with it. From Genesis to Revelation, biblical <br />
writers grapple with this issue, discuss it, agonize over it. A very <br />
large portion of the Bible is devoted to dealing with it. If God has <br />
chosen the Jews—or (also? alternatively?) the Christians—to be his <br />
people, why do they experience such horrible suffering? It is true that <br />
there was nothing in the ancient world quite like the Holocaust. <br />
That required the technological “advances” of modernity: the <br />
ability to transport millions by rail and kill thousands by gas and <br />
incinerate hundreds in specially built crematoria. But there were <br />
slaughters aplenty in the ancient world and wretched suffering of <br />
all kinds caused by all manner of circumstances: military defeat, <br />
cruelty to POW’s, and torture; drought, famine, pestilence, epidemic <br />
birth defects, infant mortality, infanticide; and on and on. <br />
<br />
When these things happened, how did ancient authors explain <br />
them? <br />
<br />
One of their most common explanations—it fills many pages of <br />
the Hebrew Bible—may seem simplistic, repugnant, backward, or <br />
just dead-wrong to many modern people. It is that people suffer <br />
because God wants them to suffer. And why does God want them <br />
to suffer? Because they have disobeyed him and he is punishing <br />
them. The ancient Israelites had a healthy sense of the power of <br />
God, and many of them were convinced that nothing happens in <br />
this world unless God has done it. If God’s people are suffering, it is <br />
because he is angry with them for not behaving in the ways they <br />
should. Suffering comes as a punishment for sin. <br />
<br />
<br />
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Edit for length. (It's hard to edit any of this out but I don't think you want me just pasting the whole chapter...)<br />
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<br />
If God is the powerful creator, and if he has chosen <br />
Israel and promised them success and prosperity, how is one to ex- <br />
plain the fact that Israel suffers? Eventually the northern kingdom <br />
was utterly destroyed by a foreign nation. How could that be, if <br />
God had chosen them to be his people? In another 150 years the <br />
southern kingdom was destroyed as well. Why did God not protect <br />
and defend it as he had promised? <br />
<br />
These were questions naturally asked, fervently asked, by <br />
many of the people of Israel. The most resounding answer to the <br />
question came from a group of thinkers known as the prophets. To <br />
a person, the prophets maintained that Israel’s national sufferings <br />
came because it had disobeyed God, and it was suffering as a punishment. <br />
The God of Israel was not only a God of mercy, he was <br />
also a God of wrath, and when the nation sinned, it paid the price. <br />
<br />
<b>Introduction to the Prophets </b><br />
<br />
The writings of the prophets are among the most misunderstood <br />
parts of the Bible today, in no small measure because they are commonly<br />
read out of context.Many people today, especially conservative <br />
Christians, read the prophets as if they were crystal-ball <br />
gazers predicting events that are yet to transpire in our own time, <br />
more than two thousand years removed from when the prophets <br />
were actually speaking. This is a completely egocentric approach to <br />
the Bible (it’s all about ME!). But the biblical writers had their own <br />
contexts and, as a result, their own agendas. And those contexts and <br />
agendas are not ours.<i> The prophets were not concerned about us</i>; <br />
they were concerned about themselves and the people of God living <br />
in their own time. It is no wonder that most people who read the <br />
prophets this way (they’ve predicted the conflict in the Middle East! <br />
they foresaw Saddam Hussein! They tell us about Armageddon!) <br />
simply choose to read one or another verse or passage in isolation, <br />
and do not read the prophets themselves in their entirety. When the <br />
prophets are read from beginning to end, it is clear that they are <br />
writing for their own times. They often, in fact, tell us exactly when <br />
they were writing—for example, under what king(s)—so that their <br />
readers can understand the historical situation they were so intent <br />
on addressing. <br />
<br />
What makes a prophet? In the Hebrew Bible there are, roughly <br />
speaking, two kinds of prophets. Some prophets—probably the <br />
majority, historically—delivered “the word of God” orally. That is, <br />
they were spokespersons for God the ones who communicated <br />
(their understanding of) God’s message to his people, to let them <br />
know what God wanted them to do or how God wanted them to <br />
act—in particular, how they needed to change their ways in order <br />
to stand in God’s good favor (see, e.g., 1 Samuel 9; 2 Samuel 12). <br />
Other prophets—these are the ones who are more familiar to us <br />
today—were writing prophets, spokespersons for God whose (oral) <br />
proclamations were also written down, on the ancient equivalent of <br />
paper. The writings of some of the ancient Israelite prophets later <br />
became part of the Bible. In English translations of the Bible they <br />
are divided into the “major” prophets, the well-known figures of <br />
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the “minor” prophets. This differentiation<br />
is not made to suggest that some prophets are more important <br />
than others but rather to indicate which writings are <br />
longer (“major”) than others (“minor”). The twelve minor prophets <br />
are somewhat less well known, but many of them deliver powerful <br />
messages: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, <br />
Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. <br />
<br />
What ties all these prophets together is that they were delivering <br />
God’s message, speaking God’s word, as they understood it, to <br />
God’s people. They saw themselves, and (some) others saw them, as <br />
the mouthpieces of God. In particular, they were delivering God’s <br />
message to people in concrete situations, telling them what, in God’s <br />
view, they were doing wrong, what they needed to do right, how<br />
they needed to change, and what would happen if they refused. <br />
This matter of “what would happen if they refused” is the full <br />
extent of the “predictions” made by the prophets. They were not <br />
speaking about what would happen in the long term, thousands of <br />
years after their own day. They were speaking to living people of <br />
their own time and telling them what God wanted them to do and <br />
what he would do to them if they failed to obey. <br />
<br />
As a rule, the prophets believed there were dire consequences for <br />
not following their instructions, given by God. For them God was <br />
sovereign over his people and was bound and determined to see <br />
that they behaved properly. If they did not he would punish <br />
them—as he had punished them before. He would cause drought, <br />
famine, economic hardship, political setbacks, and military defeat. <br />
Most of all, military defeat. The God who destroyed the Egyptian <br />
armies when he delivered his people out of slavery would destroy <br />
them if they did not behave as his people. For the prophets, then, <br />
the setbacks the people experienced, many of the hardships they <br />
endured, many of the miseries they suffered, came directly from <br />
God, as a punishment for their sins and in an effort to get them to <br />
reform. (As we will see later, the prophets also thought that human <br />
beings themselves were often to blame for the suffering of others, as <br />
the rich and powerful, for example, oppressed the poor and power- <br />
less: it was precisely for such sins that God had determined to <br />
punish the nation.) <br />
<br />
Most of the writing prophets were producing their work around <br />
the time of the two great disasters experienced by ancient Israel: the <br />
destruction of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in the eighth <br />
century BCE and the destruction of the south by the Babylonians in <br />
the sixth.To explore further the specific burdens of these authors, <br />
here I will simply highlight the message of several of them. Those I <br />
have chosen are representative of the views found in the others, but <br />
they present their messages of sin and punishment in particularly <br />
graphic and memorable terms.<br />
<br />
<b>Amos of Tekoa </b><br />
<br />
One of the clearest portrayals of the “prophetic view” of the relationship <br />
of sin and suffering comes in one of the gems of the <br />
Hebrew Bible, the book of Amos.We learn little about the man <br />
Amos himself from the book, and he is not mentioned in any other <br />
book of the Bible. What he tells us is that he was from the southern <br />
part of the land—that is, from the country of Judah—from the <br />
small village of Tekoa in the hills south of Jerusalem (1:1). He twice <br />
mentions that he was a shepherd (1:1; 7:14) and a farmer—one who <br />
tended sycamore trees (7:14). It has often been thought, based on his <br />
occupation, that he was from the Judean lower class; but given the <br />
fact that he was literate and obviously trained rhetorically, he may <br />
well have been a relatively prosperous landowner with flocks of his <br />
own. He was, in any event, no champion of the rich upper classes; <br />
on the contrary, much of his book is directed against those who had <br />
acquired wealth at the expense of the poor. It was because of the <br />
abuses of the well-to-do, he believed, that judgment was soon to <br />
come to Israel. It was against the north in particular that Amos <br />
spoke his prophecies, traveling up from his southern clime to <br />
announce God’s judgment on the kingdom. <br />
<br />
The preface to Amos’s book (1:1) indicates that his prophetic <br />
ministry was undertaken when Uzziah was king of the northern <br />
kingdom (783–742 BCE) and Jeroboam was king of the south <br />
(786–746 BCE). This was a relatively calm and peaceful time in the <br />
life of the divided kingdom. Neither the large foreign empire to the <br />
south—Egypt—nor the larger empire to the northeast—Assyria— <br />
was an immediate threat to the tranquility of the peoples living in <br />
the “promised land.” But that was soon to change. Amos predicted <br />
that God would raise up a kingdom to oppose his people because <br />
they had violated his will and broken his covenant. In the future, he <br />
contended, lay military defeat and disaster. As it turned out, he was <br />
right.Some twenty years after Uzziah’s peaceful reign, Assyria flexed<br />
its muscles and invaded, destroying the northern kingdom <br />
and dispersing its people. At the time of Amos’s proclamation, <br />
however, his dire predictions may well have seemed unnecessarily <br />
bleak, as life was relatively good for those living in the land, especially <br />
for those who had prospered during the time of peace. <br />
<br />
Amos begins his prophecies on a note that will characterize his <br />
entire book, uttering fearful predictions of destruction for Israel’s <br />
neighbors, destruction to be brought by God as a punishment for their <br />
sins.18 Thus, at the outset, comes a prophecy against the capital city of <br />
Syria, Damascus, for its destruction of the smaller town of Gilead: <br />
<br />
<br />
Thus says the Lord: <br />
For three transgressions of <br />
Damascus, <br />
and for four, I will not revoke <br />
the punishment;19 <br />
<br />
because they have threshed Gilead <br />
with threshing sledges of iron. <br />
So I will send a fire on the house <br />
of Hazael, . . . <br />
I will break the gate bars of <br />
Damascus, <br />
and cut off the inhabitants from <br />
the Valley of Aven. (Amos 1:3–4) <br />
<br />
Military defeat (a fire and broken gates) awaits the citizens of <br />
Damascus in exchange for their military exploits. So too with the <br />
Philistine city-state Gaza: <br />
<br />
Thus says the Lord: <br />
For three transgressions of Gaza, <br />
and for four, I will not revoke <br />
the punishment; <br />
because they carried into exile <br />
entire communities, <br />
to hand them over to Edom. <br />
So I will send a fire on the wall of <br />
Gaza, <br />
fire that shall devour its <br />
strongholds. <br />
I will cut off the inhabitants from <br />
Ashdod. (Amos 1:6–8) <br />
<br />
And so it goes. In chapters 1–2 Amos predicts military defeat and <br />
violence in similar terms against seven of Israel’s neighbors. And <br />
one can just imagine his readers dwelling in Israel nodding their <br />
heads in agreement. <i>That’s right! It’s exactly what our wicked <br />neighbors deserve: God will judge them in the end!</i><br />
<br />
But then Amos turns the pointing finger on the people of Israel <br />
themselves, and in a rhetorical climax indicates that they too will be <br />
destroyed, with particular vengeance, by the God they thought was <br />
on their side: <br />
<br />
Thus says the Lord: <br />
For three transgressions of Israel, <br />
and for four, I will not revoke <br />
the punishment; <br />
because they sell the righteous for <br />
silver, <br />
and the needy for a pair of <br />
sandals— <br />
they who trample the head of the <br />
poor into the dust of the <br />
earth, <br />
and push the afflicted out of the <br />
way; <br />
father and son go in to the same <br />
girl, <br />
so that my holy name is <br />
profaned. . . . <br />
So, I will press you down in your <br />
place, <br />
just as a cart presses down <br />
when it is full of sheaves. <br />
Flight shall perish from the swift, <br />
and the strong shall not retain <br />
their strength, <br />
nor shall the mighty save their <br />
lives; <br />
those who handle the bow shall <br />
not stand, <br />
and those who are swift of foot <br />
shall not save themselves, <br />
nor shall those who ride horses <br />
save their lives; <br />
and those who are stout of heart <br />
among the mighty <br />
shall flee away naked in that <br />
day, <br />
</div>
<div id=":15j" style="color: blue;">
<wbr></wbr> says the Lord. (Amos 2:6–16) <br />
<br />
The sins of God’s own people, Israel, will lead to military defeat. <br />
These sins are both social and what we might call religious. Socially, <br />
the people have oppressed the poor and needy; and they have broken <br />
the law God has given in flagrant ways (father and son having sex <br />
with the same woman; Leviticus 18:15, 20:12). As Amos goes on to <br />
indicate, these sins are particularly acute because Israel was to be <br />
God’s chosen people; therefore, their punishment will be all the more <br />
extreme: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth;<br />
therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (3:1). Moreover, the <br />
nature of this punishment is spelled out in clear terms: “An adversary <br />
shall surround the land and strip you of your defense; and your <br />
strongholds shall be plundered” (3:11). For Amos, this future military <br />
disaster and political nightmare is not simply an unfortunate outcome <br />
of human history: it is the plan of God, as God himself has decreed the <br />
future catastrophe. In a particularly memorable passage Amos presses <br />
home the point by stringing together a number of rhetorical <br />
questions, all of which are to be answered with a resounding “no!” <br />
<br />
Do two walk together <br />
unless they have made an <br />
appointment? <br />
<br />
Does a lion roar in the forest, <br />
when it has no prey? <br />
<br />
Does a young lion cry out from <br />
its den, <br />
if it has caught nothing? <br />
<br />
Does a bird fall into a snare on the <br />
earth, <br />
when there is no trap for it? <br />
<br />
Does a snare spring up from the <br />
ground, <br />
when it has taken nothing? <br />
<br />
Is a trumpet blown in a city, <br />
and the people are not afraid? <br />
<br />
Does disaster befall a city, <br />
unless the Lord has done it? (Amos 3:3–6) <br />
<br />
The reader is compelled by the rhetoric of the passage to answer <br />
no to the final question as well. The only reason disaster comes is <br />
that the Lord himself brings it. This may sound severe, but it is <br />
consistent, according to Amos, with the way God has historically <br />
dealt with his people. In another powerful passage Amos claims <br />
that God has sent all sorts of natural disasters on his people in order <br />
to compel them to return to him and his ways. But they never <br />
heeded his voice and never returned. And so God will subject them <br />
to a final judgment. Where did the famine, drought, blight, pestilence,<br />
and destruction that have plagued Israel come from? According to<br />
Amos, they came from God as a punishment for sin and <br />
an incentive for repentance<br />
<br />
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edit<br />
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<br />
One of Amos’s subsidiary messages is that it is only by proper <br />
behavior—not by cultic observation—that the people of Israel can <br />
be restored to a right standing before God. And so he speaks a word <br />
from the Lord: <br />
<br />
I hate, I despise your festivals, <br />
and I take no delight in your <br />
solemn assemblies. <br />
Even though you offer to me your <br />
burnt offerings and grain <br />
offerings, <br />
I will not accept them; . . . <br />
Take away from me the noise of <br />
your songs; <br />
I will not listen to the melody <br />
of your harps. <br />
But let justice roll down like <br />
waters, <br />
and righteousness like an <br />
ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:21–24) <br />
<br />
Those who think they can be right with God by following the <br />
proper dictates for worship (God himself had commanded them to <br />
observe the festivals and to bring him offerings) without also working<br />
for social justice and fairness are deceived. The people of Israel <br />
have not followed God’s call for right living. Their plights came as <br />
a result. Sin brings the wrath of God, which will eventually lead to <br />
the destruction of the people: “all the sinners of my people shall die <br />
by the sword” (9:10). <br />
<br />
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Edit<br />
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<br />
<br />
Page after page of the prophets’ writings are filled with dire warnings about <br />
how God will inflict pain and suffering on his people for disobedience,<br />
whether through famine, drought, pestilence, economic hardship, <br />
and political upheavals, or, most commonly, through resounding <br />
military defeat. God brings disasters of all kinds, both <br />
to punish his people for their sin and to urge them to return to him. <br />
If they return, the pain will cease; if they don’t, it will get worse. <br />
<br />
Rather than rehearse all the writings of all the prophets, here I <br />
shall briefly discuss the words of two of the most famous, Isaiah <br />
and Jeremiah, both of Jerusalem, so-called major prophets whose <br />
powerful rhetoric continues to make them moving reading two and <br />
a half millennia later.<i> It is important to remember, however, that <br />
they, and all the prophets, were speaking to the people of their own <br />day</i>, instructing them in the word of the Lord, urging them to <br />
return to God, and reciting the dire fate awaiting them should they <br />
fail to do so. Both of these prophets had long ministries of about <br />
forty years; both of them prophesied not against the northern kingdom<br />
but against the south. But their essential message did not differ <br />
significantly from that of their colleagues to the north. God’s people<br />
had departed from his ways and fearful suffering was in <br />
store for them as a result. God, for them, was a God who punishes. <br />
<br />
Consider the powerful lament of Isaiah’s opening chapter: <br />
<br />
Ah, sinful nation, <br />
people laden with iniquity, <br />
offspring who do evil, <br />
children who deal corruptly, <br />
who have forsaken the Lord, <br />
who have despised the Holy <br />
One of Israel, <br />
who are utterly estranged! <br />
Why do you seek further beatings, <br />
Why do you continue to rebel? . . . <br />
Your country lies desolate, <br />
your cities are burned with fire; <br />
in your very presence <br />
aliens devour your land; <br />
it is desolate, as overthrown by <br />
foreigners. . . <br />
If the Lord of hosts <br />
had not left us a few survivors, <br />
we would have been like Sodom, <br />
and become like Gomorrah. (Isa. 1:4–9) <br />
<br />
One can hardly read this without thinking of that fierce cartoon <br />
with the caption “Beatings will continue until morale improves.” <br />
That indeed is Isaiah’s message, in words reminiscent of Hosea: <br />
<br />
How the faithful city [i.e., Jerusalem] <br />
has become a whore! <br />
She that was full of justice, <br />
righteousness lodged in her— <br />
but now murderers! . . . <br />
Your princes are rebels <br />
and companions of thieves. <br />
Everyone loves a bribe <br />
and runs after gifts. <br />
They do not defend the orphan, <br />
and the widow’s cause does not <br />
come before them. <br />
Therefore says the Sovereign, the <br />
Lord of hosts, the Mighty <br />
One of Israel: <br />
Ah, I will pour out my wrath on <br />
my enemies, <br />
and avenge myself on my foes! <br />
I will turn my hand against you. (Isa. 1:21–25) <br />
<br />
<br />
The people of God have now become the enemy of God. And he <br />
will act accordingly: <br />
<br />
Instead of perfume there will be a <br />
stench; <br />
and instead of sash, a rope. . . <br />
instead of beauty, shame. <br />
Your men shall fall by the sword <br />
and your warrior in battle. <br />
And her gates shall lament and <br />
mourn; <br />
ravaged, she shall sit upon the <br />
ground. (Isa. 3:24–26) <br />
<br />
In one of the most famous passages of the book, Isaiah recounts a <br />
vision he has had of God himself, “sitting on a throne, high and <br />
lofty” above the Temple (6:1–2). The prophet is commissioned by <br />
God to proclaim his message, a message that the people will reject. <br />
When he asks the Lord how long he is to make this proclamation, <br />
he receives bad news —it is until the whole land is destroyed: “Until <br />
cities lie waste without inhabitant and houses without people, and <br />
the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away <br />
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land” (6:11–12). And <br />
what has Judah done that makes it worthy of such judgment? They <br />
have robbed the poor, not cared for the needy, not tended to the <br />
widows and the orphans in distress (10:2–3). God will therefore <br />
send another great power against them for destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, as we saw with Amos, Isaiah anticipates that God’s <br />
wrath will not burn forever. On the contrary, he will save a <br />
remnant of his people and start again: <br />
<br />
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the <br />
house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, <br />
but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A<br />
remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty <br />
God. . . . For in a very little while my indignation will come to <br />
an end, and my anger will be directed to their [i.e., the ene- <br />
my’s] destruction. . . . On that day his burden will be removed <br />
from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your <br />
neck. (Isa. 10:20–27) <br />
<br />
More than a century later, a similar message was proclaimed by <br />
Jeremiah, another prophet of Judah who anticipated that God <br />
would destroy the nation for its misdeeds. A foreign power would <br />
march against it and bring terrible destruction: <br />
<br />
I am going to bring upon you <br />
a nation from far away, <br />
O house of Israel, <br />
says the Lord. <br />
It is an enduring nation, <br />
it is an ancient nation, <br />
a nation whose language you do <br />
not know, <br />
nor can you understand what <br />
they say. . . . <br />
They shall eat up your harvest and <br />
your food; <br />
they shall eat up your sons and <br />
your daughters; <br />
they shall eat up your flocks <br />
and your herds; <br />
they shall eat up your vines and <br />
your fig trees; <br />
they shall destroy with the sword <br />
your fortified cities in which <br />
you trust. (Jeremiah 5:15–17) <br />
<br />
Jeremiah was quite explicit: the holy city, Jerusalem, would be <br />
destroyed in the coming onslaught. “I will make Jerusalem a heap <br />
of ruins, a lair of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a des- <br />
olation without inhabitant” (9:11).25 The resultant suffering for the <br />
inhabitants of the land would not be pleasant:“They shall die of deadly<br />
diseases. They shall not be lamented nor shall they be <br />
buried; they shall become like dung on the surface of the ground. <br />
They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead <br />
bodies shall become food for the birds of the air and for the wild <br />
animals of the earth” (16:4). The siege of Jerusalem by the foreign <br />
armies would lead to unspeakable horrors, as starvation mounted <br />
in the city and people resorted to the worst forms of cannibalism <br />
simply to survive: “I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed <br />
at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because <br />
of all its disasters. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons <br />
and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their <br />
neighbors in the siege, and in the distress with which their enemies <br />
and those who seek their life afflict them” (19:8–9). <br />
<br />
Like his prophetic predecessors, Jeremiah held out hope as well. <br />
If the people would simply return to God, their suffering could be <br />
averted: “Therefore thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take <br />
you back and you shall stand before me. . . . And I will make you to <br />
this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, <br />
but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you <br />
and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of <br />
the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless” (15:19– <br />
21). <br />
<br />
The logic of this hope is clear. Suffering comes from God. If his <br />
people will simply return to him, the suffering will end. But if they <br />
refuse, it will intensify until there is a final destruction. Suffering in <br />
this view is not simply an unfortunate set of circumstances driven <br />
by political, economic, social, or military realities. It is what comes <br />
to those who disobey God; it comes as a punishment for sin. <br />
<br />
<br />
------------<br />
Intermission<br />
------------<br />
<br />
Ok
so as you've probably noticed I'm now less just sending little bits,
and more just painstakingly copying over most of the book. <br />
<br />
A bit of commentary though. Isn't it funny how the crimes God
absolutely hated most were Greed, and putting praising him above being a
decent person? <br />
<br />
It seems all the talking heads in this country
want to point the finger at others, when greed is what pisses god off
the most. Next is just flat out not being a good person, and thinking
worshipping God harder or more publicly will make up for it. <br />
<br />
So anyway I should post the conclusions since we've come all this
way. If you like all you've read though I'd be happy to send you a copy
of the book, and a few others I have by the same author. <br />
<br />
<br />
-----------------<br />
End Intermission<br />
-----------------<br />
<br />
An Initial Assessment <br />
<br />
What are we to make of the prophetic view of suffering? It is not <br />
simply the view of several lone voices in remote portions of Scripture,<br />
but rather the view attested on page after page by all the <br />
prophets of the Hebrew Bible, major prophets and minor prophets <br />
alike. Moreover, as we will see in the next chapter, the influence of <br />
this view extended well beyond the writings of the prophets. It is <br />
precisely this view that guides the chronologies of what happened <br />
in the nation of Israel in historical books such as Joshua, Judges, <br />
1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. It is a view found in many of <br />
the Psalms. It is comparable in many ways to the view found in <br />
wisdom literature such as the book of Proverbs. This is a view that <br />
permeates the Bible, especially the Hebrew Scriptures. Why do <br />
people suffer? In part, it is because God makes them suffer. It is not <br />
that he merely causes a little discomfort now and then to remind <br />
people that they need to pay more attention to him. He brings <br />
famine, drought, pestilence, war, and destruction. Why do God’s <br />
people starve? Why do they incur dreadful and fatal diseases? Why <br />
are young men maimed and killed in battle? Why are entire cities <br />
laid under siege, enslaved, destroyed? Why are pregnant women <br />
ripped open and children dashed against rocks? To some extent, at <br />
least, it is God who does it. He is punishing his people when they <br />
have gone astray. <br />
<br />
I should stress that the prophets themselves never state this as a <br />
universal principle, as a way of explaining every instance of suffer -<br />
ing. The prophets, that is, were speaking only to their contemporaries<br />
about their specific sufferings. Even so, there is no escaping <br />
the gruesome realities of this view. God sometimes visits judgment <br />
on his own people—especially since they are his own people— because<br />
they have abandoned him and his ways. <br />
<br />
What can we say about such a view? On the positive side, this <br />
view takes God and his interactions with the world seriously. The <br />
laws that his people broke, after all, were laws meant to preserve <br />
the welfare of society. They were laws designed to ensure that the <br />
poor were not oppressed, that the needy were not overlooked, that <br />
the weak were not exploited. These were laws as well that dictated <br />
that God be worshiped and served—God alone, not other gods of <br />
other peoples. The prophets taught that adherence to God’s will <br />
would bring divine favor whereas disobedience would lead to hard-<br />
ship—and surely obedience would be better for everyone involved, <br />
especially the poor, needy, and weak. The prophets, in short, were <br />
concerned about issues of real life—poverty, homelessness, injus -<br />
tice, oppression, the uneven distribution of wealth, the apathetic <br />
attitudes of those who have it good toward those who are poor, <br />
helpless, and outcast. On all of these points I resonate deeply with <br />
the prophets and their concerns. <br />
<br />
At the same time, there are obvious problems with their point of <br />
view, especially if it is generalized into some kind of universal <br />
principle, as some people have tried to do over the ages. Do we really <br />
want to say that God brings starvation as a punishment for sin? Is <br />
God at fault for the famines in Ethiopia? Does God create military <br />
conflict? Is he to blame for what happened in Bosnia? Does God <br />
bring disease and epidemics? Was he the one who caused the 1918 <br />
influenza epidemic that killed thirty million people worldwide? Is <br />
he killing seven thousand people a day with malaria? Has he <br />
created the AIDS crisis? <br />
<br />
I don’t think so. Even if one wants to limit the prophetic view to <br />
the “chosen people,” the people of Israel, what are we to say? That <br />
the political and military problems in the Middle East are God’s <br />
way of trying to get Israel to return to him? That he is willing to <br />
sacrifice the lives of women and children in suicide bombings to get <br />
his point across? Even if we limit ourselves to ancient Israel, do we <br />
really want to say that innocent people starved to death (starvation <br />
does not hit just the guilty, after all) as a divine punishment for the <br />
sins of the nation? That the brutal oppression of the Assyrians and <br />
then the Babylonians was really God’s doing, that he urged the <br />
soldiers on as they ripped open pregnant women and dashed little <br />
children against the rocks? <br />
<br />
The problem with this view is not only that it is scandalous and <br />
outrageous, but also that it creates both false security and false guilt. <br />
If punishment comes because of sin, and I’m not suffering one bit, <br />
thank you very much, does that make me righteous? More righteous<br />
than my next door neighbor who lost his job, or whose child <br />
was killed in an accident, or whose wife was brutally raped and <br />
murdered? On the other hand, if I am undergoing intense suffering,<br />
is it really because God is punishing me? Am I really to blame <br />
when my child is born with a defect? when the economy takes a <br />
nosedive and I can no longer afford to put food on the table? when <br />
I get cancer? <br />
<br />
Surely there must be other explanations for the pain and misery <br />
in the world. And as it turns out, there are other explanations—lots <br />
of them—even within the Bible itself. Before examining these, <br />
however, we should see how the prophetic view of suffering affected<br />
writers who were not prophets but whose books also eventually<br />
came to be seen as part of Scripture. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
-------------<br />
I'll end this here...<br />
-------------<br />
<br />
<br />
That is the lead up to the next chapter. <br />
<br />
And
I should point out I skipped a long introduction, and a lot of this
chapter, basically the whole first half, and bits of the middle just for
pacing. <br />
<br />
Anyway hope you enjoyed and if you want to read more just ask. </div>
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<span style="color: magenta;">Thank you for sharing. What's the title?</span><br />
<br style="color: magenta;" />
<div style="color: magenta;">
All the Best, </div>
<div style="color: magenta;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: magenta;">
Shelton</div>
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</div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"></span> <span style="color: black;">----------------------------</span></div>
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<div style="color: blue;">
I'll just send the whole book. You can use Foxit reader to read it. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/" target="_blank">http://www.foxitsoftware.com/<wbr></wbr>Secure_PDF_Reader/</a><br />
<br />
Just press "Free Foxit reader Download" <br />
<br />
I've been using it for years. It's really better than any other PDF
reader out there, but I guess if you have Adobe that works too...<br />
<br />
And yes I do have the other books, (Jesus Interrupted, Misquoting Jesus) Although I haven't read them yet. <br />
<br />
The guy is a Biblical Scholar of the highest regard. <br />
<br />
I'll go ahead and send the other books while I'm at it. </div>
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<span style="color: black;">----------------------------</span></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
</div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hi Cory,<br />
<br />
Thank you, but </span></span>I would m<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">u</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ch
rather read my Bible than read someone talking about their opinion of
it, from a strictly critical vantage point. Most, if not all problems in
our society, particularly in the US and the modern world have stemmed
from sin and the removal of Biblical values and importance of faith in
Christ, Much of this critical thinking started at the university level,
where "scholars and professors" injected their abstract thinking into
what they truly know nothing about. <br />
<br />
From a secular level one cannot understand the supernatural. The carnal mind is enmity with God. <br />
<br />
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. <br />
<br />
The book of John is incredible. I highly recommend it...:)<br />
<br />
<br />
Love Dad</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: magenta;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<span style="color: black;">----------------------------</span></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
</div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span>I'm not sure how to respond to this. <br />
<br />
Denial is a hell of a drug I guess. People get dumber as they learn facts, because all the facts are wrong? <br />
<br />
I mean, you've already read the bible, you know what it says. What's important is why it says it. <br />
<br />
There are problems that it seems you're just ignoring. If you're
fine with that, then what can I do? I can't force you to be curious or
to want to learn. <br />
<br />
I don't accept that there even IS a supernatural level to understand. I've seen literally no evidence. None. <br />
<br />
Oh well. That's all I can really say. If you don't want to learn
because you think people who have devoted their whole life to this stuff
don't know anything...<br />
<br />
What can I even say? <br />
<br />
I'm sure you can't name ANY other field in which experts know less than casual dabblers... <br />
<br />
I wish I could write more but I'm actually very busy I just took a
break to write back. Not trying to argue, I just hate how dismissive you
can be. It's frustrating. </div>
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<span style="color: black;">----------------------------</span></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cory,<br />
<br />
I must compliment you and say that you have put quite a bit of time,
effort and creativity in your writing. I give you credit for exercising
skill and determination to share your views. <br />
<br />
</span></span>I<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> must remind you, (not that I need to) that I</span></span> am not your<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
project and you are not mine. I am going to choose to take part in life
and not sit on the sideline and take shots at the participants. <br />
<br />
I love a very real God and a very real Saviour that came to seek those that want to accept him. <br />
<br />
God does not need defending. <br />
<br />
What one say or believes does not threaten God.<br />
<br />
</span></span><br />
<div style="clear: both;">
<div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All the Best,<br />
<br />
Shelton</span></span></div>
<div class="im">
</div>
<div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: black;">----------------------------</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="im">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;"> That's one of three options. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Either you are right, and me (and everyone else) is wrong. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Or I am right and you (and everyone else) is wrong. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Or we and a whole lot of other people, are wrong, and some other group like the Hindu's or American Indian's are right. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Or the fourth option, we are ALL wrong and the truth is something no one has ever even thought of. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">It's
funny, you are an atheist too. To all but one God. We both think that
the Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons, Scientologists, Greeks,
Romans, Norse, Pagans, Satanists, Various other small cults, various
African religions... and others are less than true, but each of those,
and a WHOLE lot more have believers that are just as sure they're
correct as anyone you, and I say me with the addendum that, I do not
consider myself a Gnostic, as I guess you do. You seem to be unable to
accept the possibility that you could be wrong. Me on the other hand, I
have settled on what I find to be the most accurate answer. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">I'm just speaking here, not trying to argue. I don't see how you can even disagree with anything I've said here. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Am
I correct in saying that you do not accept that your beliefs could be
wrong in any way? That would make you a Gnostic Christian. You are a
Christian that claims to know he's correct. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">I call myself an Agnostic Atheist. That means I don't think that a
single God exists, but I can't claim certainty. It's impossible to
disprove a negative, because not being able to find it isn't good
enough. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">As for your jab, I'm not sitting on the sidelines because I want to be. And I don't take "pot shots". </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">This
is intellectual discussion, metaphors can only go so far. The greatest
argument in the world will do nothing against say, a prejudiced mind. I
know that it's a pointless endeavor. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">You don't think I know that your mind isn't, and has NEVER been open
to me or my ideas? I know I'm dismissed immediately. Often angrily.
Passionately. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">I know my stuff though, and I actually have
respect for knowledge and intellectual honesty. I respect critical
thinking, I respect formal debate, I respect logic. I avoid circular
reasoning, I avoid whenever possible logical fallacies, I don't always
prefer the answer I want to hear. And I, above all else honor truth. I
have said it before, I don't want to believe false truths, I want actual
truth. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">If I am some sort of crusader, truth is the flag I fight for. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">Ok that was a bit too sappy. I have music on and it made me fade towards the epic. Orchestra's will do that. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br style="color: blue;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: blue;">I'll end this here. </span></span></span><br />
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Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-18175732609193551802012-06-22T11:49:00.001-07:002012-06-22T11:49:10.883-07:00So I just had a bit of a dialog with my dad.<br />
<br />
To say it'll be a lengthy read is an understatement, but I think it's worth posting.<br />
<br />
----------------------<br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;">
My first post. </div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #e06666;">
So after I wrote the last letter I clicked around and found an interesting article that I'll post in a sec. <br /><br />It got me to thinking about various things. Like bias and all that stuff. <br /><br />Bias
is everywhere, especially in this modern world. Market research and
propaganda and blatant lies and scare tactics are everywhere. I've seen
it myself. <br />
<br />Just think about this. There's an evil dictator, he is just taking
women and if people fight back they're killed. Think someone like Fidel
Castro, if he fancied your wife, he would just send his men and take
her. All the people in the whole kingdom or whatever, they all get
together to overthrow this guy. They lose. <br />
<br />200 years later children are taught of the evil mob that tried to
overthrow their dictators great great great grandfather. The greedy mob
wanted more than the generous dictator could possibly offer and he
bravely fought them off. <br />
<br />It's said that history is written by the victor. The facts don't
always have to get in the way when there's no one left to correct you. <br /><br />So things get cleaned up, white washed, sterilized. Things start looking more black and white. <br />
<br />Anyway, I think this is happening today, right in front of our eyes.
The tyrant has gotten so powerful that he doesn't need 200 years to
turn the heroic rebels into an angry horde. Not that I'm saying there's
any one tyrant. I'm speaking in metaphors. <br />
<br />So basically you turn on the news and hear the news. But it's not that simple anymore. <br /><br />Ever
since Kennedy was killed things started changing. The news became more
than just what happened. It became captivating. Then people with money
went and offered some money to the news guys to say what they wanted
them to say. So they start with a few positive spins here, and negative
spins here. <br />
<br />Then things started getting political. <br /><br />Now we're at a point
where FOX News is totally 100% Right wing conservative, unquestionably.
MSNBC tends to skew a bit to the left, and a bit more liberal, but not
even close to as extreme as FOX is to the right. Then there's like, CNN
which seems to be owned by the banks and is arguably just as bad as the
others. <br />
<br />Here's a chart...<br /><br /><a href="http://corporatemediaexposed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/media_concentration.png" target="_blank">http://corporatemediaexposed.<wbr></wbr>com/wp-content/uploads/2012/<wbr></wbr>06/media_concentration.png</a><br /><br />
This leaves out the NBC chunk of the pie. <br /><br />Basically NBC, CBS,
ABC, CNN which is owned by AOL/Time Warner now, and FOX news are all
untrustworthy. They have what's called corporate interests. They serve
their rich owners. Now you can watch these guys but take everything they
say VERY carefully. <br />
<br />For example. the thing that got me into this rant. <br /><br />Obamacare. <br /><br />Many
people hated it before they even knew what it was. Because insurance
companies hated it, and the companies that gave us our news hated it. <br />
<br />What is it, well here it is, put simply. <br /><br />-------------------------<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
What people call "Obamacare" is actually the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. However, people were calling it "Obamacare" before
everyone even hammered out what it would <em>be</em>. It's a term mostly
used by people who don't like the PPaACA, and it's become popularized
in part because PPaACA is a really long and awkward name, even when you
turn it into an acronym like that.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Anyway, the PPaACA made a bunch of new rules regarding health care,
with the purpose of making health care more affordable for everyone.
Opponents of the PPaACA, on the other hand, feel that the rules it makes
take away too many freedoms and force people (both individuals and
businesses) to do things they shouldn't have to.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
So what does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it
goes into effect (because some of it happens later than other parts of
it):</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Already in effect</strong>:</div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>It allows the Food and Drug Administration to approve more
generic drugs (making for more competition in the market to drive down
prices)</li>
<li>It increases the rebates on drugs people get through Medicare (so drugs cost less)</li>
<li>It establishes a non-profit group, that the government doesn't
directly control, to study different kinds of treatments to see what
works better and is the best use of money.</li>
<li>It makes chain restaurants like McDonalds display how many
calories are in all of their foods, so people can have an easier time
making choices to eat healthy.</li>
<li>It makes a "high-risk pool" for people with pre-existing
conditions. Basically, this is a way to slowly ease into getting rid of
"pre-existing conditions" altogether. For now, people who already have
health issues that would be considered "pre-existing conditions" can
still get insurance, but at different rates than people without them.</li>
<li>It renews some old policies, and calls for the appointment of various positions.</li>
<li>It creates a new 10% tax on indoor tanning booths.<br />
</li>
<li>It says that health insurance companies can no longer tell
customers that they won't get any more coverage because they have hit a
"lifetime limit". Basically, if someone has paid for life insurance,
that company can't tell that person that he's used that insurance too
much throughout his life so they won't cover him any more. They can't do
this for lifetime spending, and they're limited in how much they can do
this for yearly spending.</li>
<li>Kids can continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance until they're 26.</li>
<li>No more "pre-existing conditions" for kids under the age of 19.<br />
</li>
<li>Insurers have less ability to change the amount customers have to pay for their plans.</li>
<li>People in a "Medicare Gap" get a rebate to make up for the extra money they would otherwise have to spend.<br />
</li>
<li>Insurers can't just drop customers once they get sick.</li>
<li>Insurers have to tell customers what they're spending money on.
(Instead of just "administrative fee", they have to be more specific).</li>
<li>Insurers need to have an appeals process for when they turn down a claim, so customers have some manner of recourse <em>other</em> than a lawsuit when they're turned down.<br />
</li>
<li>New ways to stop fraud are created.</li>
<li>Medicare extends to smaller hospitals.</li>
<li>Medicare patients with chronic illnesses must be monitored more thoroughly.</li>
<li>Reduces the costs for some companies that handle benefits for the elderly.<br />
</li>
<li>A new website is made to give people insurance and health information.</li>
<li>A credit program is made that will make it easier for business to invest in new ways to treat illness.</li>
<li>A limit is placed on just how much of a percentage of the money
an insurer makes can be profit, to make sure they're not price-gouging
customers.</li>
<li>A limit is placed on what type of insurance accounts can be used
to pay for over-the-counter drugs without a prescription. Basically,
your insurer isn't paying for the Aspirin you bought for that hangover.</li>
<li>Employers need to list the benefits they provided to employees on their tax forms.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>8/1/2012</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>Any health plans sold after this date must provide preventative care
(mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) without requiring any sort of co-pay
or charge.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>1/1/2013</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>If you make over $200,000 a year, your taxes go up a tiny bit (0.9%)</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>1/1/2014</strong></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
This is when a lot of the really big changes happen.</div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>No more "pre-existing conditions". At all. People will be charged the same regardless of their medical history.</li>
<li>If you can afford insurance but do not get it, you will be
charged a fee. This is the "mandate" that people are talking about.
Basically, it's a trade-off for the "pre-existing conditions" bit,
saying that since insurers now <strong>have</strong> to cover you
regardless of what you have, you can't just wait to buy insurance until
you get sick. Otherwise no one would buy insurance until they needed it.
You can opt not to get insurance, but you'll have to pay the fee
instead, unless of course you're not buying insurance because you just
can't afford it.</li>
<li>Insurer's now can't do annual spending caps. Their customers can get as much health care in a given year as they need.</li>
<li>Make it so more poor people can get Medicare by making the low-income cut-off higher.<br />
</li>
<li>Small businesses get some tax credits for two years.</li>
<li>Businesses with over 50 employees must offer health insurance to full-time employees, or pay a penalty.</li>
<li>Limits how high of an annual deductible insurers can charge customers.<br />
</li>
<li>Cut some Medicare spending</li>
<li>Place a $2500 limit on tax-free spending on FSAs (accounts for
medical spending). Basically, people using these accounts now have to
pay taxes on any money over $2500 they put into them.</li>
<li>Establish health insurance exchanges and rebates for the
lower-class, basically making it so poor people can get some medical
coverage.</li>
<li>Congress and Congressional staff will only be offered the same
insurance offered to people in the insurance exchanges, rather than
Federal Insurance. Basically, we won't be footing their health care
bills any more than any other American citizen.</li>
<li>A new tax on pharmaceutical companies.</li>
<li>A new tax on the purchase of medical devices.</li>
<li>A new tax on insurance companies based on their market share.
Basically, the more of the market they control, the more they'll get
taxed.</li>
<li>The amount you can deduct from your taxes for medical expenses increases.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>1/1/2015</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>Doctors' pay will be determined by the quality of their care, not how many people they treat.</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>1/1/2017</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>If any state can come up with their own plan, one which gives
citizens the same level of care at the same price as the PPaACA, they
can ask the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for permission to do
their plan instead of the PPaACA. So if they can get the same results
without, say, the mandate, they can be allowed to do so. Vermont, for
example, has expressed a desire to just go straight to single-payer (in
simple terms, everyone is covered, and medical expenses are paid by
taxpayers).</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>2018</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>All health care plans must now cover preventative care (not just the new ones).</li>
<li>A new tax on "Cadillac" health care plans (more expensive plans for rich people who want fancier coverage).<br />
</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>2020</strong></div>
<ul style="color: #e06666;">
<li>The elimination of the "Medicare gap"</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Aaaaand that's it right there.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
The biggest thing opponents of the bill have against it is the
mandate. They claim that it forces people to buy insurance, and forcing
people to buy something is unconstitutional. Personally, I take the
opposite view, as it's not telling people to buy a specific thing, just
to have a specific type of thing, just like a part of the money we pay
in taxes pays for the police and firemen who protect us, this would have
us paying to ensure doctors can treat us for illness and injury.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Plus, as previously mentioned, it's necessary if you're doing away
with "pre-existing conditions" because otherwise no one would get
insurance until they needed to use it, which defeats the purpose of
insurance.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
---------</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Here it is put another way. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Bob:</strong> Hi, insurance company. I'd like to buy some health insurance.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> No. You had cancer when you were 3 years old, and the cancer could come back. We're not selling you health insurance.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Bob:</strong> It's not my fault I got cancer when I was three! Besides, that was years ago!</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> If we sell insurance to you, we'll probably lose money, and we're not doing it.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Bob:</strong> But I need insurance more than anyone! My cancer might come back!</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> We don't care. We're not selling you insurance.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Obama:</strong> Hey, that's totally not fair. Bob is right, he does need insurance! Sell Bob some insurance.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> If we have to, I guess.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Mary:</strong> This is cool. Obama said the insurance company has to sell insurance to anyone who needs it.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Sam:</strong> Hey, I have an idea. I'm going to stop paying
for health insurance. If I get sick, I can always go buy some insurance
then. The insurance company won't be able to say no, because Obama's
told them they have to sell it to anyone who needs it!</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Dave:</strong> that's a great idea! I'm not paying for health insurance either, at least not until I get sick.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> Hey! If everyone stops paying for insurance, we'll go bankrupt!</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Obama:</strong> Oh come on Sam and Dave, that's not fair either.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Dave:</strong> I don't care. It saves me money.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Obama:</strong> Oh for god's sake. Sam, Dave, you have to
keep paying for health insurance, and not wait until you're sick. You
too, Mary and Bob.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Mary:</strong> But I'm broke! I can't buy insurance! I just don't have any money.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Obama:</strong> Mary, show me your piggy bank. Oh, wow, you
really are broke. Ok, tell you what. You still have to buy insurance,
but I'll help you pay 95% of the cost.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Mary:</strong> thank you.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Obama:</strong> I need an aspirin.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<strong>Insurance company:</strong> We're not paying for that aspirin.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
----------</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
I
can't find a single bit of that I disagree with. But the rich people
don't like it. So they convince everyone that it is just the worst thing
in the world. And it works.</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
So yeah, be careful. There's a lot of people out there trying to put
things in our heads. And we tend to like to surround ourselves with
like-minded individuals. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
This can lead to very horrible
things. the least of which being wrong, and having your wrong beliefs
basically verified and "confirmed" as true through other methods. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
I try very hard to make sure I believe as many
true things as possible. I do worry that I have strong opinions. When I
see people that believe strongly things that I disbelieve strongly,
instead of just thinking they're idiots, I pause and think. Then usually
i decide that, yes I am right and they are wrong. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
How do I do this? Lots of ways. I usually use logic,
and my handy list of fallacies. I can usually look at someone I disagree
with's beliefs and go over it bit by bit and diagnose the problem. I'll
say "oh well here's his source of information, a bad study that was
later thrown out, he's wrong because he's basing his opinion on outdated
inaccurate information." That is one of the more forgiving examples. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br />Often people are just idiots that shoot from the him and
don't think, at all. They believe things based on just, idiotic stuff.
But if you can say, ok the guy who disagree's with me is wrong... and
then stop and analyze your own beliefs, double checking them and then
you can rest easy. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Now, being wrong is fine. People base their beliefs and opinions
on all sorts of things. Like for example. The news media. They have
heavy saturation and a lot of influence and sway. It can be pretty easy
to just let down your guard and let someone else do the heavy lifting
for you. Just hear something say "that sounds about right" and then move
on with the new info. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
And that would work if there weren't agendas and people out there deliberately trying to mislead us all. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
In
the end you just have to have humility, and be prepared to re-evaluate
any of your beliefs if they could be wrong. I'm sure you think there's
an unspoken sub-text to all this, but well, everything means everything.
I can't go putting ANY exceptions in there because nothing should be
immune to critical thinking. If you feel the need to put any beliefs in a
box to protect them from harm, those are probably the most likely
things to be wrong. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
I challenge my beliefs on an almost daily basis. I'm fairly certain I'm correct in every one of my beliefs. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
But I am humble too. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
For instance. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
I believe.. uh, what's something that's not an opinion... <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Ok I'll say I believe that there are no ghosts. I believe when
people die, that's it, we're done. We are our brains. There's no spirit
to float out of the body and haunt places. I have seen people present
their evidence for the existence of ghosts. Some of the stories I've
heard would be compelling if they could be verified, but they couldn't
be. For me to believe that ghosts exist, I'd have to see some solid
evidence. <br />
</div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br />Some are more willing to believe, and they can see the same
evidence I dismiss as unsatisfactory, and go the other direction and
well, that's fine I guess. But "you can't explain that!" doesn't mean
"ghosts exist" it means I can't explain it. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
If you use logic, and be careful to avoid being persuaded by
convincing fallacies you can make sure you don't believe any untrue
things. </div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #e06666;">
Ok this has gone on far too long. </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
-------------<br />
<br />
His reply.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #0b5394;">Dear Cory,</span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
We all have a purpose in life. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Do you feel that your purpose (mission, goal, etc) is to advise others
on how they should think, feel, live and breathe when you are still
learning and have yet to experience so many things that life offers? It
does seem hard to grasp that you are always attempting to tell me (and
others) how wrong I am and how I should think and believe. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As many great qualities as you have, you are not qualified to do so. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
You are the only one you can change. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Life experiences qualify us. Formal Education can qualify us. Our track record also qualifies us. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
When I show that I can pay my bills on time, the credit agencies see
that I have been consistent and they listen to me when I say I want to
borrow money for something worthwhile. However, when I have not been
faithful or diligent to make the payments, they see me in another light.
They say I am not qualified. Regardless of what I think, that is how
they view me. I am the only one that can change this, by changing the
way I do things.</span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
It's kind of that way when we give advice, vent, preach, write (if we
have an audience) or just talk to a friend. Some respect us and some
don't. If I feel good about who I am and they don't, I can discount
their opinion, who they are and disqualify them in my mind. I also can
self reflect and decide that perhaps I am the one that needs to change
the way I am going, thinking, etc. Every day, I have this option. The
result is up to me where I wind up. I have my hand on the rudder of my
life. I personally, have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, and thank
Him for saving me by His Blood on the Cross, forgiving my sins and
directing my steps since that day in 1984 when you were just a few weeks
old. That does not mean that I have total understanding of why things
have happened, Cory or that I have always done right, but I know that my
purpose is being fulfilled daily with His help. Even when I mess up, He
is not overwhelmed by my mistakes. His plans even take this into
account and are not set back due to my shortcomings. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Mankind is all of us. We all comprise it, and although it(humanity) does
not define us or dictate who we are as individuals, it does
historically establish what is the norm and what is acceptable. I
totally understand that the age we live in is one where counterculture,
extremism, hedonism, materialism, shock factor and "anything goes" seem
to be in vogue. Regardless of what is said today, the majority of
humanity still believes that we must produce something of worth. The
essential materials each one of us have to offer are time, sweat,
diligence and the desire to make things better for ourselves, our Family
and others. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
When you have these to invest and don't, quite honestly son, most people
do not value your opinions as much. Being around other people on a
daily basis is one aspect of work and life that helps to shape up to fit
in and not be so confrontational (as we all can be at times). It's one
thing to have your own opinions but some of them are not in line with
what most people think and believe. I know that Einstein and other
greats were not in the norm, but there was fruit from his work and it
helped many people. He did not just write and tell others how they
should live. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
I know you do much more than this Cory, but I honestly do not want to
have conversations that are always, seemingly trying to evoke a response
out of me. My faith in God is stronger than anything you can ever say.
Christ is the foundation of my life and I hope that one day you will
experience His Love firsthand, rather than someone just telling you
about Him as if He was millions of miles away. He is as close as our
breath.</span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Regardless of how we differ, I always love you. It may not be shown in
the way you want or deserve. I am sorry to ever let you down. One day,
when you have a family of your own, you will understand how your wife
(and smaller children) occupy most of your spare time and attention.
That is never to say or even imply that you are less in my eyes and
heart than the grand children. They are not able to sustain themselves
and need us. My vocation requires so much time and yes, Karen and I like
to spend time together too. That does not change the fact that I enjoy
you and appreciate you and love you. </span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
I would like to do things with you other than going to movies. I love
the outdoors and treasure the camping trips we took years ago. Not sure
about any supplies ( as I have none) but hope that maybe one day we
could do this or something fun that does not place at odds with one
another.</span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Thank you for writing and sharing. I hope you have a really great weekend and get a chance to do something fun!</span><br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" />
<br style="color: #0b5394;" /><span style="color: #0b5394;">
Love, Dad</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</span></div>
-----<br />
<br />
<br />
My reply<br />
<br />
Ok so I'll be writing a preface to what was the actual letter. There's
always the fear of directness being mistaken for hostility. <br /><br />As
you may have noticed I have something resembling a minor mastery of the
English language. I'm not as skilled with the quiver as I wish I was.
I'll never be mistaken for Mark Twain or Shakespeare, but I do know how
to get things down on paper. <br />
<br />So yes, when I popped this email open to see the same familiar
things, I was discouraged and I wrote harshly. I don't think that I
should just whitewash those initial moments from history. Sometimes
things aren't always so nice and delicately formal. I do try to present
myself as something resembling civilized though. <br />
<br />Which raises the question. What do I do with this letter? I feel
that it is deserving of a reply and I do, futilely perhaps, hope that
the reply can do more good than my initial letter. A dialog was sparked,
and I'd like to do something productive with the little flame. <br />
<br />So I'll be replying bit by bit, not to be argumentative, but because
it is a good way to make sure I address every little bit. I do have to
say that some of the stuff rubbed me the wrong way. <br /><br />Also, if you could actually respond to things I write instead of blanket dismissal. Well, I'll get to that when the time comes. <br />
<br />----------------<br /><br />Ok so right from the start I may have to disagree. <br /><br /><i><span style="color: #339999;">"</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #339999;">We all have a purpose in life." </span></i><br />
<br />I do not believe this. I object to the word "purpose". I could
really go all day on this line alone. But saying something concisely is
the sign of true mastery and understanding. It would be very, very easy
for me to misrepresent my thoughts here. <br />
<br />Also I would ask, try not to knee-jerk dismiss what I'm going to
say. I know you believe what you believe. I'm a bit more mailable, but I
still have my convictions and standards. I just have to constantly
re-evaluate mine to make sure I actually still believe what I used to
believe. <br />
<br />Ok so, why do I object to the idea that we all have a purpose in
life? Well it sort of suggests predestination. I don't believe in fate.
It's very easy to look back and think that you've been walking along an
ordered path. You can see the events of your life very clearly, one
thing leading to another. Sort of like a timeline of past, present, and
future. The past lead to the present, and similarly the future leads
from the past. You can conclude that you were "supposed" to arrive at
the point you're at now. that you were "supposed" to arrive at all the
points in the past too. It only stands to reason that that would stretch
into the future. In some sort of "I'm supposed to be standing outside
of a club in Detroit at 7:26 pm on Thursday July 13, 2017", and
everything between now and then will lead me to that point. The way of
thinking allows you to find meaning and order in the chaos. Bad things
suddenly happen in order for good things to happen, or something. <br />
<br />Like, yes I'm sitting here seemingly doing nothing. But hey, the
path I took led me to survive. Maybe a different one would have killed
me years ago. Maybe if I wasn't such a loser with the ladies I would
have ended up marrying someone who wasn't right for me. Maybe if I had
money it would turn me into a jerk. Maybe I need to be here for
something. <br />
<br />To me though, everything is pretty much, well, structured
randomness. There is order in that, things follow laws. If I tip over a
glass of orange juice the liquid will spill out onto the table and if it
gets to the edges, it'll pour, then drip onto the floor. If I try to
clean it up with a paper towel, it will leave a sticky residue that will
have to be cleaned in a more thorough manner. I also believe people
have behavioral patterns. Like how most people tend to turn right when
walking into a store. People have routines and quirks, and social
etiquette. We have laws and rules to protect us from those that may not
have as much empathy for others as most. We organize our things so we
can find them when we need them. <br />
<br />We also form relationships. When you meet someone that you get along
with, it can seem like you were just fated to meet. Like your life just
wouldn't be complete without your "other half". I think this is all
just hindsight though. We worked hard to get our civilization up and
running, we're all for the most part raised in similar environments
these days, to the point where it isn't TOO difficult to find at least
one person you can get along with for the most part. We also sort of had
this system going for a while where people would figure out what needs
to be done then find people who can do that stuff. <br />
<br />So yeah. Uh, I don't think I have a purpose in life. I don't think anyone does. <br /><br />What
I'm not saying is that I believe in some sort of anarchy. I guess I'm
saying I believe in free-will. Although that is another can of worms
that no one can seem to agree on. I'm not even really sure what I
believe on the matter. All I'm really saying is that I don't think I'm
fated to do anything tomorrow. I will inevitably do SOMETHING unless I
die in the next few hours, but I certainly don't believe that, well. I
guess it all boils down to supernatural belief, again. I don't believe
in any sort of deity so I don't believe that there's anything out there
with a "plan" for any of us. <br />
<br />I would love to go out and make something of myself. But I don't
believe that I'm fated to any more than I believe I'm fated not to. I
either will or I wont based on both my actions, and a whole lot of
variables and things that I can't control. <br />
<br />I don't believe in luck as an actual force, but it is a nice
shorthand for random positive and negative outcomes that influence
things. <br /><br />This is pretty exhausting. I'm going to take a little
break. You should take one too. I very much don't expect this to all be
read in one sitting. <br />
<br /><br />Ok, moving on. <br /></span></span><br />
<div class="im">
<i style="color: #339999;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Do
you feel that your purpose (mission, goal, etc) is to advise others on
how they should think, feel, live and breathe when you are still
learning and have yet to experience so many things that life offers?</span></span>"</i><br style="color: #339999;" /></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I
don't think I have a purpose, so I can't exactly say yes to this. But
advising people is something I'm good at. Whether or not I get a
paycheck for it, I do feel like I am a teacher at my core. I like to
learn, and I like to share what I've learned in a way that is easy to
comprehend. I put a lot of effort into this stuff. I will NEVER be
finished learning. There will always be more to experience than I could
ever hope to get to. I don't think these things warrant dismissal. Any
good teacher is also a student, first and foremost. <br />
</span></span><div class="im">
<br /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i>"It does seem hard to grasp that you are always attempting to tell me
(and others) how wrong I am and how I should think and believe. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As many great qualities as you have, you are not qualified to do so." </span></i></span></span><br style="color: #339999;" />
</div>
I'm sorry that's how you perceive things. It's really quite
hard to keep a cool head when insulting things like this are said. It
would be interesting to see you actually respond to what I said instead
of engaging on ad-hominem (personal) attacks. How can I really respond?
You're saying my argument is flawed because I am incapable of making a
valid argument. How do I move on from there? How am I not supposed to
feel incredibly insulted? <br /><div class="im">
<br /><i style="color: #339999;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"You are the only one you can change." </span></span></i><br style="color: #339999;" />
</div>
Not true. Not everyone is as stubborn, closed minded, and
dismissive as you are. It may be true that I'll not be able to change
your mind, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. I don't
believe in fate, remember? <br /><div class="im">
<i><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #339999;">"Life experiences qualify us. Formal Education can qualify us. Our track record also qualifies us." </span><br />
</span></span></i></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Argument from authority fallacy. <br /><br />But
I'll bite. My long hours of research, thinking, and learning to think
qualify me. I have life experience, I have education, and I'm not sure
what you mean by "track record", but when it comes to stuff like this,
I'd say mine is pretty damn glorious. I am an intellectual. This is what
I'm best at. I promised myself I wouldn't get hostile, but seriously.
This is extremely insulting. <br />
<br />One last point you CAN learn a lot in a bubble. I'm not sure why you
would just dismiss learning through observation. Learning through
study. Learning through practice. There are so many ways to learn. <br /><i><br />
</i></span></span><div class="im">
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"When
I show that I can pay my bills on time, the credit agencies see that I
have been consistent and they listen to me when I say I want to borrow
money for something worthwhile. However, when I have not been faithful
or diligent to make the payments, they see me in another light. They say
I am not qualified. Regardless of what I think, that is how they view
me. I am the only one that can change this, by changing the way I do
things.</span></span><span style="color: #339999;">"</span></i></div>
I'm not really sure what you're getting at here. <i><br /></i><br />I
think you're trying to say that consistency breeds authority? Or
something. But I don't think authority alone is a good determining
factor. It's just a small variable. A filtration system really. <br />
<br />I really don't think it's an appropriate analogy. You can't compare philosophy with something like paying back debts. <br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="im">
<i>"It's
kind of that way when we give advice, vent, preach, write (if we have
an audience) or just talk to a friend. Some respect us and some don't.
If I feel good about who I am and they don't, I can discount their
opinion, who they are and disqualify them in my mind. I also can self
reflect and decide that perhaps I am the one that needs to change the
way I am going, thinking, etc. Every day, I have this option. The result
is up to me where I wind up. I have my hand on the rudder of my life. I
personally, have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, and thank Him for
saving me by His Blood on the Cross, forgiving my sins and directing my
steps since that day in 1984 when you were just a few weeks old. That
does not mean that I have total understanding of why things have
happened, Cory or that I have always done right, but I know that my
purpose is being fulfilled daily with His help. Even when I mess up, He
is not overwhelmed by my mistakes. His plans even take this into account
and are not set back due to my shortcomings." </i><br /></div>
<span style="color: black;">So
is your point, that you don't respect me, and therefore my arguments
are automatically invalid no matter what it is that I'm saying? <br />
<br />There is a fatal flaw you just highlighted. "If you don't like who
someone is, then you can discount their opinion and disqualify them in
your mind." To this I scream an emphatic "NO!". This is absolutely not
how things should work. this is a dangerous and lazy shortcut. Giving
more credibility to people who say things you like to hear, and
dismissing those you can find fault with is just, a recipe for disaster.
<br />
<br />I do agree that self reflection and course correction are important mental tools. <br /><br />I'll
ignore the religiousy stuff. Those are arguments for another day. I do
have to say though, there is a big difference between something being
true, and simply insisting that something is. <br />
<br />I would say there is no "why things happened" to have understanding of. <br /><br />I
don't fault you for the past as much as you seem to think I do. We both
know you made some serious errors in judgement. Oh well. It's water
under the bridge. Nothing can be done about all that stuff. <br />
<br />Try not to claim to have knowledge you don't actually have. If
there's one thing that irritates me most about religious people in
general, it's the consistent overuse of the word "know". Insisting that
you know something, or that your beliefs are true, means nothing to me.
You do not KNOW that your purpose is being fulfilled ect. You believe
this. There's a drastic difference. It really screams of a lack of
humility. <br />
<br />I understand that you believe you are absolutely correct, and that
I'm just misguided and arrogant and possessed by multitudes of evil
demons and just a vile horrible sinner who rejected the obvious truth of
god. You believe I'm blind and in denial and rebellious all this other
stuff. Your condescending tone is dripping with well, not contempt
exactly, but just a superiority complex. <br />
<br />You believe that you are in possession of absolute truth, and
anything that I think that doesn't match up, must be wrong. Any
disparity or conflict puts you in the "correct" spot, and me in the
"misguided" spot. And I'll agree that that may be true in certain
instances. I will admit to being biased toward my own opinions, but only
to an extent. And that is only because I think of myself as pretty good
at this intellectual stuff. Put me into any other situation and you'll
see how fast I'll admit I have no clue what I'm doing. <br />
<br />Ok another break is long past needed. <br /><br /><i><br /></i></span></span></span><div class="im">
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Mankind
is all of us. We all comprise it, and although it(humanity) does not
define us or dictate who we are as individuals, it does historically
establish what is the norm and what is acceptable. I totally understand
that the age we live in is one where counterculture, extremism,
hedonism, materialism, shock factor and "anything goes" seem to be in
vogue. Regardless of what is said today, the majority of humanity still
believes that we must produce something of worth. The essential
materials each one of us have to offer are time, sweat, diligence and
the desire to make things better for ourselves, our Family and others." </span></span></i></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
Mankind is all of us, I suppose that would necessarily be true if you label "us" as mankind. <br /><br />I
really worry about being unnecessarily critical. Or rather, about being
perceived as such. You need to understand that I put a great deal of
care into every word I write. (Not that I'm suggesting that you didn't.)
I am fully aware that things tend to pile up and I am pretty
long-winded. But I can't "pull my punches" either. <br />
<br />So yeah, normal is relative and who really cares about being normal
anyway. It's sort of an ill defined concept. And there's really no way
to say that without feeling like a nitpicker. I'm really not trying to
find fault with everything here, I just don't necessarily think that
being normal is the ideal, something to strive for, or even put much
thought into. Next is, "acceptable". This is another loose term. Now I'm
not going to go over the top and say that I don't care about whether or
not something is socially acceptable. Of course I care about that. A
lot more than whether or not I care about whether or not it's normal.
But I accept that society can be wrong. Society can be VERY wrong. At
the end of the day things boil down to what I think.</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<br />The way I see it, you have always had a pretty negative and fearful opinion of "the world". Counterculture (</span></span><span>a culture with values and mores that run counter to those of established society )</span>
in and of itself isn't "bad". Extremism is something I would say you
have a LOT more experience with than I do. Hedonism is also something I
regret to say I have had nothing to do with. I do not believe in
intrinsic good, therefore I can not believe that pleasure is the only
one. Materialism, well there are two different meanings of the word, one
that has to do with the acquisition of wealth as a primary life goal (I
think we both accept that is not my primary Modus Operandi<i><a href="http://app.reference.com/click/yi77do?clksite=multiw&clkquery=BA175913FD3B79DA3C049A37E039A3EF&clkpage=web-serp&clkimpr=T+ShszJZPuMybMnf&clkld=1041&clkref=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fbrowse%2Fdisparity%2B%3Fs%3Dt&clken=ss&clkord=0&clkblk=sck&clktemp=top&clkmod=ss&clkitem=Modus%20Operandi&clkdest=http%3A%2F%2Fask.reference.com%2Fweb%3Fs%3Dt%26q%3DModus%2BOperandi%26qsrc%3D19%26o%3D10616%26l%3Ddir" target="_blank"><span></span></a></i>.)
The other meaning would be the belief that all that exists is matter
and energy. This is actually pretty close to what I believe. Although
I'd have to do more looking into it. Shock factor is a meaningless term
to me, and anything goes is a far less common mentality than you would
believe. Everyone has their own personal values. <br />
<br />Then you basically once again say I suck for not having a job. <br /><div class="im">
<br /><i><br style="color: #339999;" /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"When
you have these to invest and don't, quite honestly son, most people do
not value your opinions as much. Being around other people on a daily
basis is one aspect of work and life that helps to shape up to fit in
and not be so confrontational (as we all can be at times). It's one
thing to have your own opinions but some of them are not in line with
what most people think and believe. I know that Einstein and other
greats were not in the norm, but there was fruit from his work and it
helped many people. He did not just write and tell others how they
should live." </span></span></i><br /> </div>
Which of my opinions
are "not in line with what "people" think and believe"? Why do they
believe differently? How did they come to those conclusions? I don't
concern myself with what Einstein thought about this or that. I think he
was a very smart guy and he is one to look up to. <br /><div class="im">
<br /><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><span style="color: #339999;">"I know you do much more than this Cory, but I honestly do not want to
have conversations that are always, seemingly trying to evoke a response
out of me. My faith in God is stronger than anything you can ever say.
Christ is the foundation of my life and I hope that one day you will
experience His Love firsthand, rather than someone just telling you
about Him as if He was millions of miles away. He is as close as our
breath.</span></i></span></span><i><span style="color: #339999;">"</span></i><br /></div>
You have your hopes and I have mine. <br /><div class="im">
<i><br style="color: #339999;" /></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #339999;">"Regardless
of how we differ, I always love you. It may not be shown in the way you
want or deserve. I am sorry to ever let you down. One day, when you
have a family of your own, you will understand how your wife (and
smaller children) occupy most of your spare time and attention. That is
never to say or even imply that you are less in my eyes and heart than
the grand children. They are not able to sustain themselves and need us.
My vocation requires so much time and yes, Karen and I like to spend
time together too. That does not change the fact that I enjoy you and
appreciate you and love you." </span></i><br />
</span></span></div>
I'm not sure how confident I am that I'll ever
have a family. Of course I want one but, well the odds don't seem to be
in my favor. <br /><div class="im">
<br /><i style="color: #339999;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I
would like to do things with you other than going to movies. I love the
outdoors and treasure the camping trips we took years ago. Not sure
about any supplies ( as I have none) but hope that maybe one day we
could do this or something fun that does not place at odds with one
another.</span></span>"</i><br /></div>
There is a sort of mentality
that the older generation has. Grandaddy especially. The sort that just
doesn't deal with problems. Great rifts form and just go ignored. I
would like to keep the line of communication open. You want to slam it
shut. <br />
<br />If we're going camping it would be prudent to just get a cabin. May
cost a bit more but it would save on buying and lugging around supplies.
And no setting up the tent would be necessary either. <br /><br />Ok I think I covered everything and then some. <br />
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />---------------<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
(The original letter I wrote)<br />
<br />
<br />So, long story short, you don't value my opinions because I don't have a job. Good to know. <br /><br />I guess I should have expected that you'd have no love for philosophy, and look at thinking as a waste of time. <br />
<br />You seem to be associating unrelated things, and then using my lack of the first to dismiss the second. <br /><br />I don't care anymore, really. <br /><br />I
could pick this apart. (My beliefs aren't "in line" with what the
majority thinks? Good thing being what the majority thinks is irrelevant
to whether or not something is true or false. So is the age and
background of the speaker.)<br />
<br />If you're going to be dismissive and utterly lack humility, then yeah. <br /><br />There
is so much to discuss but your mind is locked like a steel trap. You
think this is a good thing. I wish I could explain to you why it isn't. <br />
<br />
<br />
-------------<br />
His reply<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="color: #3d85c6;">Cory,</span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Your adversarial response was exactly what I was writing you that I have
no need of or interest in engaging in. I am not afraid of you or your
beliefs.</span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Put your mind to good use. I was not criticizing you for not having a
job. Being a self proclaimed genius does not qualify you to put everyone
in their place. </span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Not interested in further dialogue for the sake on calling it
communication. I am also not interested in footing the bill for anything
that would only make you more dependent on others.</span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Love you and wish for better life for you. That life does not have to be what i want it to be but this dialogue seems pointless.</span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Best,</span><br style="color: #3d85c6;" />
<br style="color: #3d85c6;" /><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
Dad</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">----------</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My replies</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, I tried. <br /><br />Have fun with your imaginary friends. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">----</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ok that last reply was rude. <br /><br />I know you think that all these fictional things are real. I shouldn't have lashed out like that. <br /><br />It's just frustrating that you are choosing your delusions over me. And when did I ever ask you for money? <br />
<br />Oh, and I'm not a self proclaimed genius, I'm the real deal. <div class="yj6qo ajU">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ok I'm fairly certain no one would want to read this after all. But I'll post it anyway. </span></div>
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</span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-79906710855980176202011-12-11T12:10:00.001-08:002011-12-11T12:18:42.895-08:00It's Christmas time, so let's look at the story of Jesus again.<div class="MsoNormal">The story is, in many ways a classic heroic tale. A baby is born, and then it all leads to the epic heroic self sacrifice. It's the story structure that a thousand tales follow, in fact, probably a lot more. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On it's own, under different context, it's amazing. The basic structure has been tweaked and reworked into amazing stuff, but the version in the bible just seems to fall short for me, and I could never put my finger on why. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe I just didn't give it much thought, but from a narrative sense, there are a few thing wrong.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Looking at things out of context though, loses some stuff. First we have to look at the world Jesus was born into. An arguably savage world, chaotic. A world of doomed people in need of a savior. This is important, There can’t be a savior without people who need to be saved? It’s like swooping down and opening a door for someone who didn’t need to go that way. If a selfless act doesn’t accomplish anything, it’s not really all that noteworthy. Imagine if, the story of Jesus was exactly the same, except his death just made glass slightly less buoyant or something. Every other detail is the same, but the result is glass sinks just a bit faster in the water. So the reason and results are important.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m sure you just now thought “That’s stupid, why would Jesus have to DIE to make glass less buoyant? Who wants it less buoyant anyway? God? This is all God’s playground right? Why couldn’t God just make the glass as buoyant as he wanted to right from the start? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
And there’s the rub.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the story, Jesus, is the son of GOD, the all power creator of everything. He’s the guy that set up the dominos AND decides when to knock them down. He is said to be all knowing, all loving, all powerful, and every other positive attribute taken to the absolute extreme. Nothing is impossible to God. Nothing requires any effort for God. God can do what he wants with absolutely no restrictions. He has no limitations. He suffers no consequences. He’s above the law, no one can hold him accountable for anything he does. </div><div class="MsoNormal">So, if you look at the story as, the son of god rebelling against his all-powerful, undefeatable, maximum powerful father, then wow does the story get better. Before Jesus, God tossed fireballs and plagues and all sorts of nasty stuff at humans. He empowered armies to the point of invincibility, and sent them against people he didn’t like. He made people sacrifice things to him.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You could even take a step back and just look at the world he created. For one example, he had unlimited options, but he created hunger and thirst. Just hunger alone is perplexing. Water, at least we can just walk to a stream or river or well or something, and drink without hurting anything. Hunger though, you have to kill to eat, or you starve and die. Just think about that for a second. God isn’t said to need to eat. Why would he? What would happen if he didn’t? I don’t think anyone could imagine the Yahweh starving to death. Or being too hot, or cold, or drowning, or falling to his death, or being murdered so something could eat him. </div><div class="MsoNormal">So we step back and look. The world was specifically designed with all these attributes. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Then God decides to have a human kid.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok, I can sort of see that, he wants to see what it’s like to be human, so he pops himself into a body and walks around talking to people. That alone would be a fine enough story, God is born does some cool stuff, then says his goodbye and that he’ll be back in a bit.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We need a dramatic, tragic climax to the story though. So let’s have Jesus get killed. Why? Uh, to save humans of course! It’s the ultimate sacrifice, if you don’t think about it too hard. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
So the story is said that Jesus was born fulfilling all sorts of prophesies. It’s not enough for him to just walk around and chill and say some cool stuff, he has to accomplish something huge.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But it was just theatrics. Jesus’ death didn’t do anything that God couldn’t have done effortlessly. It wasn’t needed. An extra 50 or 60 years of Jesus’ life would have accomplished so much more in my view, to let him experience a full life, have a family and a life and experience the perils of old age. Tell so many more stories and help more people.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Or maybe he was just killed, and it wasn’t the “plan”?<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">I suppose I should take another step back and ponder a bit about the “other side of the coin”. The forces of evil! The great “war” between heaven and hell and we’re just caught in the middle! I mean just look at the Diablo games, it’s awesome!<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you remember that it isn’t really a war. It’s the devil running around throwing pebbles at God’s adamantium wall. It isn’t a fair fight, in the story the only thing really at risk is individual humans. It’s like, God is just sitting there, letting this “evil” devil run around. It’s an extreme case of delayed sentencing. What’s with that anyway? “Yeah devil, you’re going to hell to suffer forever, eventually. Until then though just feel free to run around and do whatever you want, bring as many of the humans down with you as you can, what do I care? It’s their fault for not loving or believing in me anyway, they deserve to be punished! None of this makes sense, at all.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">The devil is in heaven, before humans are even around, and he gets pissed at God, and stages a revolt or something. 1/3 of the angels join up with Satan, which must mean the angels were stupid, or Satan had some damn legitimate concerns. Any revolutionary that can get one friggin third of the population to rise up against an ALL POWERFUL foe, HAS to have some legitimate concerns. Just think about that, they knew they wouldn’t be able to win from the start, but still, almost half of Gods angels turned against him. Makes you wonder what they knew that you don’t, eh?<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, there’s a war, God versus the Devil, and well, you can’t even call it a war. More like a desperate revolution, with a foregone conclusion.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then after all this, god makes people, and wants to keep us stupid. The devil comes and, does the nicest thing anyone has ever done, he gives us free will. True free will. The ability to make informed decisions and such. He gives us knowledge, so we can decide for ourselves what we think of God. So we don’t have to blindly call him good because we can’t tell the difference. So we don’t just have to take God’s word for it. </div><div class="MsoNormal">God gets mad at all this though, and starts to show us exactly why 1/3 of his angels had a problem with him. He demands worship and sacrifice. He, well, he behaves like a being that can do anything it wants. When people try to build the tower to what they think is heaven, God scrambles their brains and makes everyone speak different languages. (But with a little KNOWLEDGE we can overcome that curse and speak to each other, thanks again Satan!) Then God just gets more and more pissed, turning people into salt and firebombing cities. Before just drowning everything but a boatload of people. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
The world is in pretty damn bad shape.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok so fast forward back to Jesus’ birth, keeping in mind all the players. There’s the humans, who are being assaulted by both God, and the Devils guys, in sort of a tug of war, with us always in the middle. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Then God decides to put himself in a human body, and things have the potential to get very interesting. They really don’t, but the possibilities are fantastic. Jesus siding with his all-powerful father to “save us” from a punishment that most of us are going to get subjected to anyway, doesn’t seem all that interesting. What would have been interesting is if Jesus sided with the devil to rebel against his father, and took another 1/3 of the angels with him in the process. Now this wouldn’t exactly make the fight fair, Jesus and the devil and all the angels and all the humans and bears and aliens, still wouldn’t stand a chance against God. It’s a futile resistance, and it always has been.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">The thing is, THAT would have been a real sacrifice. That would have made the story powerful. Jesus siding with US, the little guys against God. Jesus walking around, being something of a Public Relations guy for his dad, then going home to sit on his throne, where’s the sacrifice? He got a few minutes of torture, so that the one who’s calling all the shots could slightly modify things. That’s boring and pointless. </div><div class="MsoNormal">There’s a lot of aspects to the story that are confusing.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s actually unfortunate in a way that it isn’t real, I’d be curious to what’s really going on. “What was it that really caused the angel revolt?” is the big one for me. I don’t buy the “Well the devil wanted to be better than God” excuse. Sure that could explain one bad apple. But how do you explain 1/3 of the angels picking Satan over God? There must have been something. It’s actually not too hard to guess though, God is a dick tyrant. He sent his “son” (who is really him?) down to walk around and die, accomplishing nothing that couldn’t have just been done without the theatrics.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So yeah, the story doesn’t make sense, and it would have been a lot better if Jesus made an actual sacrifice, renouncing his throne and really fighting for the little guy, instead of just, doing nothing and siding with his all-powerful father/self. </div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-17324472107486005872011-09-03T11:54:00.000-07:002011-09-03T11:54:44.067-07:00My detailed notes on "Icarus Effect"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 1 part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mason DeBeers, Geneva Switzerland. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Large house on a nice day you can see the Summit of Mount Blank. Nice days are rare though, most days are grey and overcast. Nice days are memories. There’s acid rain, the house is old and very antique. 15<sup>th</sup> century. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The unnamed person we’re following thinks he owns the world. He has a lot of nameless assistants. He drinks a lot of expensive coffee. He’s told that Dr. Roman will be arriving on time. The main character is old and he needs to keep his health up. He resents the doctor. The guy has a native southern accent. He has a video conference with 5 men and 2 women. He hides his face because they don’t need to see it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I discover the guy is Lucius DeBeers, the cold freezer guy in Morgan Everett’s house in Deus Ex. There are other clues about who the other people he’s talking to are. But yeah, he talks to them and that’s that. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 1 part 2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Logan Circle, Washington DC</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna Kelso is Secret Service, a Senator Jane Skyler wants to go to lunch at Cooke’s Row on Georgetown for a meeting. Triads from California don’t like her. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They talk about a comm pool hub server all agents can access. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">President is named DeSilvio. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Larker and another man “Security” are with the Senator. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The guard is a private military contractor from Belltower. Biggest PMC group.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Skyler doesn’t like “Phil Mead” (Future president)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna has bionic eyes. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Pro-science stance on tech smuggling has led to a crackdown on “harvester” crimes. People killed for their augmentations. Trading “recovered” cyberware is big money for the triad gangs. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Garrett Dansky owns Caidin Global, made Anna’s eyes. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span>Anna sees a car that’s “set low on the shocks” and calls for the alert, but she’s too late, four hulking figures bust out of the small car, and a grenade blows up the limo. She hears Ryan screaming for help inside her head. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 1 part 3. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> The Grey Range, Queensland Australia.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This starts with a soldier named Saxon flying somewhere in a veetol. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I enjoyed reading this little bit even though not too much happens. It talks a lot about how he’s a soldier for Belltower, and that his contract is set to expire in a month. HE thinks it’s funny that they even give him the option of leaving, since he’s basically a living weapon. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Pete Kano is his African friend on the mission with him. They’re on Strike team six. Like I said before I’m going bit by bit I don’t know what’s going to be important later, I could be rattling off insignificant people and locations and mission names, but oh well, maybe Strike team Six will be mentioned in the game or something?</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon is likely British, as he was recruited by them. <span> </span>Saxon is proud to be a mercenary. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">More name dropping of weapons and equipment, I’m not mentioning the name of every gun just because it’s in the game, I know the author got a list of all the stuff then just plugged it into the story. Now if the game has like “Saxons Steiner-Bisley FR-27 custom” that’s different. Oh well though. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I suck at summarizing I guess, I provide too much info, but if you’re still watching this you care what happens in the book, if you don’t care you can jump ahead to part one of the game. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">His augs are his legs, one arm, the eyes, the feed forward system, reflex jack, “all of it”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He tells the soldiers in his group to “take their jabs now, so they don’t cough up blood or get the shakes in the middle of this” He takes a “cocktail” shot of things, including neuropozine.<span> </span>Or “Nu-poz”. He says without it it can turn even the toughest cog head into a blubbering palsied wreck. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Australia owns Antarctica, which has a huge ton of oil. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh the exact words about leaving are “would he be defanged? A predator hobbled so he could fit in with the outside world?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He has no life outside of his unit and he looks at being offered the choice to stay or go as an insult. Jefe is probably his first name. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway they get attacked by drones and shot out of the sky, which is puzzling because he was specifically told there would be no drones. His friend gets blasted to bits by the drones, and his plane is going down when the scene ends. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 2 part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We begin cutting back to Anna in Washington. She’s understandable bruised up and woozy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Her vision is blurry as her eyes are trying to reset themselves. She finally gets her vision back and reaches for her mustang auto pistol.<span> </span>Her ears are trying to reconfigure too, she has bionic hearing as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>To summarize, Chapter 2 part 1 boils down to the good guys getting their asses handed to them. Anna manages to shoot one of the 4 bad guys in the head, as he’s choking her, but the rest kill her whole team. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They don’t however kill the senator, a gun is pointed at her then the guy just walks away. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We learn that a “Nordic” guy with white blond hair killed her friend. Also Anna gets shot, and turns on her healing aug to help her out. She has a breathing aug that she was going to use if the smoke got any thicker, I liked the implication that she was conserving battery power, as that would be the only reason NOT to turn it on. So yes, she gets shot but she’s still alive, and the section ends with a fade out. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All in all it was a nice little bit, there’s a lot of good detail I’m leaving out, I have to otherwise this would just be an audiobook and not a summery. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 2 part 2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Back with Saxon in Australia, he survived the impact. There was a safety foam that sprayed onto him, he got some in his mouth and nostrils. Aircraft was torn to shreds in the crash. Lots of description I’m streaming past. Descriptions of the wreck and such. Fire all around him. Sam Duarte is the only survivor. He was thrown from the plane and his legs were broken, but that saved him from burning up. Jefe is Saxons first name. More gun descriptions. Saxon thinks about how the mission was blown before it even started and ponders why what happened happened. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon finds a G-87 grenade launcher and then the drones come back. Saxon fires at the drone but misses, the drone kills Sam. That was fast, but oh well he was a load anyway. Saxon fires at the drone again 3 more times and misses, but comes close enough to knock it into a tree which totally destroys it. Clever. It got tangled in the branches, didn’t just bump into the trunk by the way. And Saxon did lure it to the dense trees. Then Saxon slips and falls down a steep hill. Sounds funny when I retell it but he wasn’t made for dexterity you have to remember. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 2 Part 3. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Washington Hospital Washington DC</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna wakes up in a hospital bed. Ronald Temple and Hank Bradley are there at the hospital visiting. Ron is Agent in charge and Anna’s supervisor. They say that “they’re afraid they had to take Anna’s eyes” She reaches up and finds gauze and bandages covering her eye sockets. Bradley plugs in a cord and suddenly Anna can see again, but through his eyes, she looks at herself, because he’s looking at her. She thinks she looks like shit. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s been four days since the attack. They got a subpoena on her optics because she’s the only one that got a clear look at the attacker’s face</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’ll get you replacements, good stuff, upgrades from Caidin or maybe Sarif, sorry you had to wake up blind”.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The corpses were all blown up, even the one that Anna killed. The car came from the Red Arrow Triad. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna wonders why she and Skyler weren’t killed. Oh wait, Dansky was the guy the senator was meeting with, the head of Caidin, he was killed too. I didn’t notice earlier but they reiterated it. Interesting. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They point out again the Dansky wasn’t just shot, he was executed. But insist he was just collateral. I don’t buy that…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They say they’re going to get the people responsible for this, and then Anna calls Jennifer Ryan, Matt’s widow. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 2 Part 4 </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon also wakes up in a hospital, a field hospital just south of the redline. He remembers drowning, I guess he fell into some mud when he rolled down the hill. He remembers a hulking shadow saving him with voices he didn’t understand. Finds it hard to gauge the passage of time, but if it’s parallel with the other story I’d guess it’s been just under a week or so. Most of his augs are broken, shot up, or just plain manufacturing, and his human side is in just as bad shape. Wait, is his name Ben or Jefe? This is calling him Ben now. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The guy that pulled him out of the water has augs, and says it would be a waste to let Saxon die, Saxon asks who he works for and the man says you don’t need to know. Saxon thinks “Deep Black, they’re so far off the books they didn’t exist on any official documents. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The man says his name is Jordan Namir. He has an Israeli accent. Saxon guesses he’s former Mossad, and that he must have gotten out before the war with the United Arab Front. He’s trying to recruit Saxon because he survived against the overwhelming odds of the failed project Rainbird. Jordan says he’s field commander of the neutral Spec Ops group, the Tyrants. An elite, independent, self financing group dedicated to maintaining global stability through covert means. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He says in its original meaning a tyrant is someone who attains power through their own means, instead of being awarded it by birth or marriage or elective. That’s what we do, we take power from those that abuse it. Nice motto. I like it. Jordan says the offer is a onetime deal, and if you decline and then change your mind later and come looking for us there will be consequences, and also points out how incompetent belltower was that they got everyone killed, and that his contract is just about to expire anyway so they won’t really care.<span> </span>Saxon says “I’m in” and that’s the end of chapter two. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 3 part 1.</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Pier 86, New York City </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Back to Anna. She’s by the Hudson and very cold. She got her Sarif eyes so we know this is the future, not a flashback. She can see that the boat she’s watching is the Intrepid. There’s a basketball court on the ship, and people are playing, lit by trashcan fires. Yeah we know a bit about trashcan fires don’t we :p</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Boat is a former warship. An old aircraft carrier from the 1970s or so. She paid bribes to get the password of the day so she could board the ship. More classic Deus Ex goodness, I love it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Her cover name is “Kel” (for Kelso), Anna meets Denny, a dark skinned hacker in the aircraft carrier. He has mirrored Kusanagi optics for eyes. Another company, so there are three now. Sarif, Caidin, and now Kusanagi. Behind him is a thin woman with thumbless spider hands. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Denny tells the woman, Widow that Anna wants intel, but Widow says she tastes blue, and is angry that Denny brought a cop onto the boat. A bit of back and forth words, and Widow says she’s Go-Five, meaning Gang of Five. Hacker guns for hire well known by the FBI cybercrime division. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna convinces Widow to run a data spike with the guys face on it, saying she needs to know who he is. Anna pays the guy and hopes Widow can find out who it is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 3 Part 2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Aerial Transit Corridor – Smolensk Oblast – Russian Federated States</div><div class="MsoNormal"> <span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span>Back to Saxon. He’s at an airport. He has new Augs.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A Special arm from Tai Yong Medical, One of if not THE biggest augmentation conglomerates on the planet. He has Hermes legs, The upgrades “Sampson” series arm, and a few other implants Namir called his “welcome bonus”. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The veetol crash was 6 months ago. His arm has been a little sluggish in the past on the trigger, so he decided to up his neropizine intake, just in case. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon also has the high fall aug. Saxon meets a guy called Lawrence Barrett, a big ugly guy with a brass bullring in his nose. He’s ugly hmm? That must mean he’s evil right? We’ll see. His face is a bit scarred from a bomb blast.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon has done a few jobs, in Bucharest and Glassgow. I think they’re on a plane now. Maybe they always were. Saxon is paid well but he’s not allowed to ask where his funding comes from. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He’s seen some other operatives here and there, but this is the first time everyone’s gathered together at once for a mission. On the plane he meets some interesting people, firstly, our old friend Gunther Hermann! He’s getting his custom made, reenforced arm fixed up, and is currently without a hand. He hopes to enhance the rest of himself in similar fashion. Of course he’s carefully sipping on a delicious orange soda. He’s the youngest of the group, He was part of Germany’s GSG-9 Police, counter terrorism unit until the Tyrants had recruited him. Could the Tyrants be early UNATCO, or did Gunther leave to join UNATCO later? Ponderous, but interesting. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We learn that Saxon is the replacement for a man named Joe Wexler, who was Ex-CIA. Also Ex CIA is Scott Hardesty, who is the team sniper, and he’s thin just like his guns. Hardesty doesn’t like or trust Saxon. As you would expect for a sniper, Hardesty has extremely high quality eyes, a kind Saxon has never seen before. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Message from a hidden speaker says that they’ll be landing in 10 minutes, prep your gear and be ready, we’re on the clock for this one so mission brief starts the moment the wheels stop. I hope Gunther can reattach his hand in ten minutes!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 3 part 3</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’re back on the boat with Anna, she’s frustrated that Widow can’t find anything on her guy. Widow says “You know, a lack of info tells us a lot, someone went to a lot of trouble to erase this guy” Denny adds “He’s got to be high military or corporate”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After some more witty back and forth banter, Widow says she CAN pull up something, and starts digging in. “You paid for the gold package so I’m giving you the gold package”. They look on the Konspiracy Krew spelled with K’s website, and look around on the message boards. Anna dismisses the boards credibility immediately. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Widow asks Anna if she’s ever heard of the Tyrants, and Anna says “I quit listening to top 40 when I stopped wearing a training bra.” Widow says they’re Black Ops Cartel. They’re richer than shit and hardcore like you wouldn’t believe, stone killers through and through”. Class Curtain says they’re linked to all sorts of things like Regime change, Political murder, Intimidation, and Corporate Assassination. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The last one catches Anna’s attention, thinking back to Dansky. Everything seems to come together. She says she wants Widow to find out everything she can about the Tyrants. “That’ll cost extra”. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That instant the NYPD does a raid, says the place is under lockdown and all rights have been suspended. Widow thinks Anna brought the cops here. Everyone runs and Widow destroys all the evidence. Anna wonders if she DID bring the cops here. Anna gets taken down with everyone else by a sonic screamer, and gets all webbed up. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 3 part 4. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow Russian Federation States.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The plane parks in a secret hanger. They give us info about the plane, it can change the way it’s painted at will to blend in anywhere. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Everyone is gathered in the meeting room. We meet the sixth member for the first time, Yelena Federova. She has a triangular armor jacket on whatever that means. She doesn’t talk much, Saxon wonders if she’s even capable of speech. Ok so the team is Saxon, Namir, Gunther, Yelena, and The Sniper Scott. Scotts a dick. Anyway, South Park Jokes aside, Saxon wonders if Yelena is just measuring him like everyone else is. It goes on to describe her. She’s a female and it says she has nice looking augmented legs, so I’ll assume she’s the agile one of the group. Wait that was only five people, I thought there were six, hmm, oh well. Maybe I was including the dead guy or am forgetting someone or something. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir says they found a high value target in the hotel Novoe Rostov in Zubovskaya Square. They pull up the mark, a fat balding guy names Mikhail Kontarsky, minister of the Russian Federal assembly, and senior administrator of the RFS committee on human augmentation policy. Saxon raised an eyebrow at that. Namir continues saying he’s corrupt to the core, and he’s working with an organization called Juggernaut. He says Juggernaut is a decentralized terror group. That uses information warfare to farther the anti-globalization agenda.<span> </span>Wheew that’s a lot to spit out. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So yeah they have to kill him, first step in eradicating the dangerous militants and it’ll deny them conduit into Russian federation states. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon recognizes the name Juggernaut, from his days at Belltower. Tai Yong Medical was one of their targets. Apparently Saxons name is now Ben, I don’t know why he was called Jefe all through the beginning of the book. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon doesn’t like the idea and wants to know where Namir’s orders come from, Namir overhears him and says that Juggernaut is bad and the target needs to die because he’s a bad guy. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir says that Juggernaut are info warriors, and they’re responsible for Saxon’s team dying out there in the desert. “Is that reason enough for you? He asks gently”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 4 part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">NYPD 10<sup>th</sup> precinct , New York City</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna is drinking awful coffee in the police station in an uncomfortable metal chair. She sits there for a while then the man she least wanted to see, Ron Temple comes in to see her. Temple sits down in the empty chair as the door closes and locks. He places a silver briefcase onto the table. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“What the fuck are you doing Kelso” Temple asks. Do you have any idea what kind of shit you’re in? Anna says she had her reasons but Temple doesn’t particularly care. He says that it’s all covered up but he had to call in favors. The agency had concluded that the Red Arrow was responsible for the deaths, but Anna didn’t buy it. The case was closed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Temple opens the case and pulls out stems “How long have you been using again?” he asks, Anna says she hasn’t, she just needs to stay on top of things. Apparently she used to use 3 years ago and Ryan got her her job back. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna shouts “The attack on Senator Skyler was a false flag operation, the target was Dansky all along! We just got caught in the cross fire” Temple says he read the report but there’s nothing to back that up. He reiterates that the case is closed and the killers are all dead. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“I don’t’ believe that, division turned down my request to reopen the case so I looked into it myself, Dansky wasn’t the only one, there are other important people, scientists and corporate execs other politicians, even UN ambassadors all of them targeted by assassins with a similar MO…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You can’t know that!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The same men who killed Matt are running free! I’ve been trying to find something, anything, a name…” That’s why I came here to the intrepid, they could get me the names. Tyrants, she said like it was a curse, they’re the killers. If I could track them and find out who they’re working for…” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s Enough shouts Temple. “Those hackers you were caught with, half of them were known associates of a global cyberterrorist cell, a group called Juggernaut. Hmm where have we heard THAT name before. They’re on the most wanted list! Your request was denied because you have nothing but paper thin garbage you called evidence and whacko conspiracy theories! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There’s a new pitbull sniffing around the agency, and his name is Phillip Riley Mead, the Florida Governor. Mead is trying to make DeSilvio look bad by shining light on every mistake he can find. Yeah we know he’s the future president, moving on. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Her badge and ID have already been de-authorized, and the gun has already been taken. As of now she’s on medical leave. In a month when all this has been forgotten, a closed session review of your conduct will be held, and you will be discharged from the service, forfeiting pension and privileges” Go home and let this go”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ouch, things didn’t go too well for her did they? Moving on. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 4 Part 2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Zubov Square, Moscow. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Tyrants arrive in a super cool black helicopter. Hardesty hops out ant plays sniper, popping a few guards<span> </span>through the heart like a pro. Then the rest of the team hops down, using their longfall augs. Saxon thinks it’s pretty trippy to just be able to jump out without worrying about a cord or anything. Federova jumps after and lands with grace, she’s defiantly the catwoman/Spaniard of the group.<span> </span>The rest come down too after they’ve confirmed everyone that needs to be dead is dead. Saxon uses his head computer to scan a dead body and says “This guy was a mob hitter” Namir says “They all are, keep up”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They find an air conditioning vent and Gunther yanks it open. After that’s open Saxon asks where “Red” aka Federova is, and Barrett chuckles and says “She’s around”. Oh They all have code colors, Federova is red, Gunther is green… I’m sure this doesn’t matter but yeah. Barrett is Blue. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So Gunther activates a disk to block their communications, then they enter the air vent, the plan is for the 3 big guys to go 3 different ways, with Barrett in the back covering them. Saxon toggles his eyes to low light mode so he can see all the elevators in shades of green and white. Kontarsky and his people are on floor 13. Saxon ends up on the roof of an elevator, and sees the guy inside adjusting his eyes, he sees the bluish glitter and knows the guy just activated his “see through the walls” aug, a terahertz lens. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All hell breaks loose after this, the guy freaks out and sends the elevator plunging down towards the lobby. They all try to get their guys out, but they’re assault rifles and the elevator is too small, making them hard to use. He does the only think he can do, presses a button on his wrist that causes uh… something… to happen and that caves in the elevator roof. He falls crashing down. There wasn’t enough room for the 3 guys, and now there’s an extra huge one and a lot of debris. Saxon takes the guards out but gets bashed in the face, cracking his eye shields, whatever THEY are. Oh I guess the guards are back up again and all beating him 3 on 1, hitting him with their guns. Saxon decides to kill them, and then does in interesting ways. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well by the time he finishes with the last guy, the elevator doors open and there are a bunch of guards who are NOT having trouble aiming their big guns at him, and they tell him to get on his knees, he does so, then in a very cool seen, Fedorova arrives cloaked. He goes over the details of the cloak aug, and concludes that it’s expensive, rare, and to use it well you need to have a near pathological force of will. She cuts the first guys throat, and takes out the next with her machine pistol. She looked at Saxon and smiled. Everyone but the Sniper arrives and kicks some more ass, Gunther punches his fist through a guards skull. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They get to the 13<sup>th</sup> floor and observe that things don’t look like they should, they’re told to proceed and stay alert by Namir. Four thugs pop out and surprise them. Barrett reacts quickly by transforming his arm into a triple head barrel machine gun. Just like the OTHER Barrett. That’s pretty clever. Barrett with a machine gun arm :) Barrett blasts the suckers away. They get to the room they’re heading to and.. it’s completely empty. “Why would six men guard nothing? Namir asks. So nice to see the team leader just as confused as the rest of the team. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We learn the sniper’s color is white, and Namir is probably Silver. White tells Namir that according to his scan they’re in the room with them” Namir grabs some wires and yanks them, then Hardesty gasps and says all the other targets just vanished, clever. They were never there, it was just decoys the whole time. And guards guarding the decoys. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They wander around for a bit, then Saxon says there must be some place he’s hiding. He finds a hidden elevator but he can’t activate it. <span> </span>Federova slices off a guys hand and uses it to call the elevator. Saxon gets on with Federova, and goes on up to floor ten. The elevator opened to security cubes staring right at him, when they notice they don’t recognize him, they begin to unfold. The robots try to decide which target to attack, Saxon pulls out his gun and Federova runs around fast. Saxon shoots one and Federova kicks the other. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon radios that they’re on floor ten, then he and Federova split up, Federova giving him a curt nod. We learn that Saxon’s color is Grey. So is that all of them? Saxon Grey, Federova Red, Gunther Green, Barrett Blue, Sniper White, and Namir Silver. Good. I’m sure that’s really important :p</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon encounters another robot that warns him to leave, sees his gun and immediately releases a blast wave that nocks him down. Saxon tosses a grenade at it and blows it up, good thing the thing didn’t push the grenade back to him. He continues into a soft room, with a big data farm in it, computer servers everywhere. A guy comes out of the closet with a shotgun, but Saxon gets him first. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon finally turns the corner and sees Kontarsky at his computer chair, he’s crying and begs “You must not stop me”. A computer face on the screen says “He’s here to kill you Mikhale”, a data tag calls it Janus. Kontarsky begs again for Saxon to let him finish, saying to Janus “you said I would have more time”. Saxon takes a warning step forward telling him “Don’t touch that keyboard”. The video masked figure says “This is bigger than you, we need that data on the killing floor,<span> </span>you must complete the upload” Saxon shoots the monitor and grabs the man Kontarsky by the collar dragging him away, and dosens of screans jump to life saying “no, not yet.” The voice says he’s not a criminal you can’t judge him, Kontarsky says he only wanted to do what was right. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon yells “You’re part of a global terror network! You’re part of Juggernaut! And the people you sold out to are responsible for the deaths of my men!” Saxon throws him down and says “I’m taking you alive so you can answer for what you’ve done!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon turns to the screen and says “And I’m coming for you next!” The screen answers “Do you know what you’re doing mercenary? Do you know what master you serve?” the question made Saxon hesitate as he looked at Kontarsky, who’s scared out of his mind. “I don’t know anything about your men, you must believe me! And for a moment Saxon did. He was a good judge of liars. Saxon hears “Green light!” in his ears, and a bullet flys through the window and splatters Kontarskys brains all over the room. Then the computers all go dark. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Wheew intense chapter eh?<span> </span><span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 5 Part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Silver Springs, Maryland - USA</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna Kelso arrives in a driverless auto cab to her apartment. The cost of the cab drained the rest of the money from the credit chit that she was given. She wonders if it was all worth it walking to her place. She arrives and looks around, wondering if the place has been searched while she was in jail. She wondered why she was the only one that could see the truth. As she enters the domicile, her TV clicks on to Picus News channel automatically. They’re talking about a Science conference that’s been getting a lot of heat from the Pro-human, Anti-Aug lobby. She walks to her computer and before she can do anything it scans her now deactivated ID badge, and refuses to let her log on. “Access Denied, Clearance Revoked.” She sighs looking around her apartment to see if she could find evidence that it had been searched. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She suddenly remembers her safe, and Runs to her closet pushing her clothes aside. She opens it ans finds what little jewelry she has, some cash and papers, a Zenith 10mm Automatic with 2 full clips, and a small flash drive. I wonder if there’s anything too this “two clips” thing. This isn’t the first time that the book has gone out of its way to point out that specific number. Ponderous. Indeed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the flash drive was encrypted data of everything she had worked on up to the moment. She thinks about all the work and sacrifice she went through to acquire all the data on the drive, and asks herself again if it was worth it.<span> </span>She receives a call on her vu-phone, whatever that is, and it says it’s from Matt Ryan. She answers and predictably asks “who is this?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Conversation goes as follows, voice says “you and I need to have a talk”. Anna listens hard trying to figure out who it is. Anna says he’s not Matt Ryan so she’s hanging up, the voice said he just sent that name so she would pick up, and that hanging up would be a mistake. Voice says “I know you’re not in the mood to talk to anyone after what happened at the pier” Anna says “What pier” and the voice says “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The voice says to call him D-Bar, and that he wants to talk to Anna in person, and when he says “he” he really means “we”. D-Bar could be a female though I don’t know the gender. Anyway D-Bar says they’re the Juggernaut collective, and that they’re kind of a big deal”. D-Bar says that Widow could have never given her what she needed, but they can. Anna plays dumb YET AGAIN, and D-Bar continues “The Tyrants, Do you want to know who they are or not?” She’s told to meet them in downtown Washington DC, and to come alone. Anna splashes water on her face, changes clothes and bolts out the door in a rush. She was very tired, and didn’t want to miss anything and show up fatigued, so she grabs another stem pack from the medicine cabinet before leaving. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 5 Part 2</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Knightsbridge London Great Britain<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon is staying at a townhouse that used to be a hotel. Saxon is on the fourth of 5 floors. All 6 members of his team are there in their civilian clothes, although they all still looked like soldiers even without their uniforms or weapons. On his way up, on the third floor, Saxon was startled to see a picture of Namir with his family, a wife and two kids. He found it strange seeing him like that. He doesn’t think it’s fair. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the meeting Saxon feels like they’re just going through the motions for the benefit of an unseen observer. Saxon says that he could have brought Kontarski alive. “That wasn’t the mission! He didn’t know anything of value, and he was a cancer, killing him sends a good message that no one in Juggernaut is safe. We’re not in the business of taking prisoners, you know that. Namir says. They suggest that Saxon was talking to two people, and he answers that Kontarsky was the only one in the room. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon again thinks about what Janus had said, Do you know what master you serve?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir restates that there are reasons for every order, every one. Saxon realizes that he’ll never know who’s actually giving these orders, or what the reasons are, and asks himself if he can live with that. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon thinks about the luxury lifestyle he’s lived since he joined the team, and that he actually DOES like his team members, well except for maybe Hardesty, and the work. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Skipping past a lot of stuff about him thinking, weighing his options and what he knows. Then just decides to stick where he is and worry about what Janus said later. Namir opens a secret door to the study by whispering something to a painting. Namir whispers “Yelena?” and with blurring speed she whips out a tazer and shoots Gunther in the neck. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon can barely get out “what?” before he’s shot as well. He had barely registered the bite of the needle before the stun charges lashed at him knocking him out.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 5 Part 3</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Omaha Center, Washington DC</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Following her instructions brings Anna to the conference center. Kelso is alert, the fatigue beaten back, but she knows she’ll pay for it later. The Human Front is holding a presentation of “No Better- The myth of Human Augmentation, By William Taggart. Taggart founded his organization to disabuse society that human augmentation technology was a positive development. Anna doesn’t buy that, and feels that her Augmentations have done nothing but improve her, and didn’t make her feel any less human.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some really good stuff about disaugmentation I’m skipping past. Here’s a bit about how Purity First twisted Taggarts Message toward aggressive ends. We already know about those guys, don’t we truth seekers? There are a lot of poor people who just can’t afford augmentations even if they wanted them, doubt they could afford a ticket either. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m really not doing this section justice there’s a lot of interesting stuff I’m skimming past in the interest of time, although I assume these things will be reiterated in the game. A message only she can see says “Kelso Upper tier section G Box 3.” So she heads off. She has her hand on her Zenith handgun when she enters the skybox. The box is seemingly empty and the door closes behind her. Just as she arrives the lights in the box go out and the lights on the stage go on, and William Taggart steps onto the stage. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She clicks on her low light vision aug and is startled to find she isn’t alone in the booth after all. “Let me guess, D-Bar?” D bar couldn’t have been older than 19, and comments on how much of a looker Anna is. Anna says she’s not in the mood for games. She asks where the “we” he talked about were, and he points to his hat and say’s they’re watching, and if you try to kill me they’ll send the pics all over. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They list some deeds Juggernaut has done, then Anna says “maybe I should arrest you, I could really use a win now. D-Bar says “No you don’t want to do that, we’re the good guys”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">D-Bar says that they HAVE to break the law because the lawmakers are corrupt and the heartless mega-corps want to turn the world into their own personal chum-bucket. D-Bar says that she should join up because they’ve been tracking the shadowy group that’s been systematically using an info war and assassination to target midlevel corporates. He insists that Juggernaut doesn’t kill people. He says the bad guys are taking people down with black mail, extortion, entrapment and absorption. Anna asks why she should care, and he says that the Tyrants are their attack dogs. He tells her they’re already on the same team, she just doesn’t know it yet. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b> Chapter 5 Part 4. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Knightsbridge London. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon awakens laying on concrete, still dizzy from the effects of the stun dart. He hears a womans voice, distant, but light and playful. He sees Hardesty, Barrett and as it says “The Russian Woman”. Hermann is nearby just waking up himself. Gunther tries to stand but Barrett tells him to stay right there, son. Saxon saw the woman at the end of the hallway talking to Namir and recognized her to be his wife. Namir tells Scott, who is, as we remember, a dick, to leave. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon asks Namir what’s going on. Namir is emptying all but one bullet from the gun, and putting the rest into his pocket. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir says “One of you is a disloyal, I know which, and the other needs to prove himself, so two birds, one stone.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Gunther gives Saxon a fierce look, shouting “I am no traitor!” Saxon asks “Disloyal how exactly?”</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir tosses the loaded pistol into the middle of them, and says he’ll explain in 5 minutes if you’re still around. Saxon keeps yapping but Gunther goes right for the attack. Saxon imagined Gunther taking him down then stripping his corpse of augs and bolting them on. Gunther punches Saxon hard in the ribs, and Saxon see’s Gunther smile for the first time. Gunther continues to beat the shit out of Saxon, but goes for the gun too soon and Saxon takes advantage. Saxon gets Gunther in the throat and takes the gun. Barrett asks him if he’s going to do it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No. Answers Saxon. I’m not going to do it because there isn’t any bloody traitor. He then turns and gives the guy to Namir. The Tyrant commander took it with a nod. The right call ben, if you had pulled the trigger I would have shot you myself” Hermann got up slowly. “Then we would both be dead” </div><div class="MsoNormal">Barrett says the bullets were blanks.<span> </span>We’ve done this before, we ain’t stupid. You did good there, you got steel, I’m impressed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon frowns, “A test?”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir answers, In a way… By the way we’re going to America tomorrow, prep and make the most of your down time. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s it? Saxon asks, You’ve got nothing else to say?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What do you want a membership card? You passed, you both proved yourselves, you’re part of the Tyrants, until death. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And that’s the end but uh, how did Gunther pass? He absolutely would have killed Saxon if he had gotten the chance AND he lost the fight and could have been killed. That seems like a double fail for him. Oh well, they both passed. Whatever. I’m overthinking this. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 6 Part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Back to Anna, still up in the skybox talking to D-Bar. Dbar lockpicks the minibar and steals an energy drink, which he drinks in a big gulp. Anna asks him what he knows, and D-Bar answers by explaining what the Icarus Effect is. Sweet, I’m sure we’ve all been wondering this. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“You know the story of Icarus, guy and his dad build a set of wings, guy gets too bold and flies too close to the sun, guy gets dead. Same idea, it’s a sociological thing. A normative process created unconsciously by a society in order to maintain the status quo, keep itself stable. Whenever someone does something that will threaten to upset the balance, like flying too high, the Icarus effect kicks in. Society reacts, cuts them down, stability returns. That’s what the tyrants do, they enforce the effect for their masters, only they don’t wait for it to happen naturally. They choose whose wings are going to get clipped. These creeps are all about power, anyone who threatens them or makes waves gets dealt with. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna asks. “Threatens them how exactly? D-Bar answers “You know what they say, if you want to make enemies, try to change something. People invested in keeping things the same don’t like it when you try and make waves. He shows her some pictures of victims and flashes back again to the assassination. And there are a lot more we don’t know about, the ones who were leaned on instead of getting roughed up or murdered. The ones who buckles, took the bribes, did what they were told to do. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna asks, how could the tyrants be doing that, they would need a global reach, unparalleled access to secured information…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That we do know something about, the group, the guys with the leash on the dogs, they’ve penetrated 100’s of agencies. They have a spy network that spans the world. They talk about how Skyler’s maid was falsely accused of spying for the Red Arrow triad, plead innocent, and then was eventually killed in jail. <span> </span>He says that the Tyrants had a source inside the United States Secret Service itself. Anna instinctively denies it, then rethinks the claim. D-Bar says they can’t prove it, but you can Agent Kelso. Anna responds Even if I wanted to help, I can’t do anything I’m suspended. D-Bar says he’ll help her get back inside, and Anna agrees to the job.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 6 Part 2. </b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Knightsbridge London</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir gave Saxon the room at the top of the house, the fifth floor. He stripped off his clothes so he could survey the effects of the beating that Gunther gave him. Ugly bruises, shallow cuts and minor contusions, no broken or chipped bones though. His cyber arm feels slightly sluggish again. He takes a fresh shot of neuropozyne, and asks himself that the hell just happened? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Were the pistol rounds really blanks? If I had taken the shot would I have ended Gunther’s life? If I had done that what would they have done? Would they really have killed me for it?” It chilled him to consider a different truth from the one Namir had laid down when he took the gun from him. Why doesn’t is sit right with me? He wondered almost aloud. I passed the test, right? I should be happy, right?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He looked out his window, at the advertisement on the side of the floating blimp. A woman selling some product or other seemed to be looking right at him, the words on the ad said “What master do you serve?” This startled him, he stared until the words transformed into numerals, matching an international sat-comm code. Before he was even aware of it (I guess he has a lot on his mind) He pulled out his phone and was dialing the number, he placed the phone to his ear, and heard the click of his door.<span> </span>He immediately hung up the phone and tossed it down, turning to see that Yelena Federova was sneaking into his room, looking like some sort of Shadow Wrath. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She stalked silently towards him, her black and steel legs catching the glow from the light outside his window. Her eyes were hooded so he couldn’t read her intent in them. A slow forming predatory smile appeared on her lips as she crept to him. Saxon was immediately reminded of the way she looked while slicing up the soldiers in the tower. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon knew in an instant that he had failed the test. She was coming to kill him, discretely and quietly. Sparing Gunther’s life had marked him as weak, and he was going to be cut from the pack in favor of someone stronger, more ruthless. Who would follow orders without hesitation, unquestioningly.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She halted a few steps from him, then with care pulled at the tabs holding the ballistic cloth blouse closed over her chest. She let it fall free to the floor, beneath it she wore nothing, and Saxons gaze were drawn to the rise of her breasts. A small ebon cross hanging in the valley between them. She removed the rest of her clothes and made her way to him. Saxon let her move in, then they kissed, and well, you can imagine the rest. </div><div class="MsoNormal">What an unexpected plot twist eh? That’s one way to encourage his loyalty. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 6, Part 3</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">The US Secret Service HQ, Washington DC. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Being the evening, the building is sparsely populated, but far from empty. More than enough lingered to make sure Anna’s job would not be easy. She knew that everyone that’d recognize her would be alerted to her medical suspension by now, and doubtfully would treat her as friendly as they did last time she saw them. </div><div class="MsoNormal">She entered the building treating it like an undercover agent, her new identity was as an agent that had a right to be there. She walked through the front door and immediately the person at the front desk recognized her. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Agent Kelso, I thought you were taking some medical leave?” He asked, presumably innocently. She smiles at him “That’s right but I’ve got to drop some paperwork off for the guys picking up my caseload” I’ll need you to sign in”<span> </span>he offered her a touchpad and she ran a stylus over it in a quick scrawl. Anna couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder to her car, in the parking lot. She seriously thought about running. </div><div class="MsoNormal">She had passed through the security arch before it dawned on her that she had been allowed in without question. Whatever D-Bar had done to her badge had worked. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The elevator took her to the seventh floor and on the way up she fought the twitchy sensation, folding her arms then unfolding them, shifting her weight from foot to foot nervously. Her stem pack was wearing off, she could feel it. Her phone vibrated and she answered “I ghosted you via the entry subnet, blinked the sign in as soon as you were through, can’t go any farther without your help though. “Working on it, now shut up and let me concentrate. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She arrives and the doors open. Her instinct immediately pointed her to her old office, she could see a box with all her things in the distance, pictures and all her other stuff, she resisted the irrational urge to go and try to salvage some trivial mementos though. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some former co-workers walk by talking about football, and she jumps to hide in a storage room. After holding her breath for entirely too long they pass. After hacking her way into the security room with her magical ID badge, She took out the special data rod D-Bar had given her. She found the correct input socket, and slid the rod home, much like Saxon was currently doing with Federova. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We find that she had handcuffed D-Bar to the car so he couldn’t just take the info and run, leaving her screwed. As a result he has to type with one hand. They banter back and forth, for a bit, and Anna uploads Juggernaut’s special data worm. It will grab anything of value and upload it to a saved file. After the worm is uploaded Anna takes D-Bars rod and drops it into a pot of coffee. “I’m not about to give you unrestricted access to the Secret Service files” she explains, replacing the rod with her own. All the data gets saved onto hers. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She found all sorts of data, in file format her agency didn’t use. Then stuff from Homeland Security, the FBI, Diplomatic Corps. Some pages not even in English. Whoever the leak was had been tunneling through the Department of Justice. Then off beyond to the global law enforcement community. </div><div class="MsoNormal">She took a deep breath and typed in “Skyler”. She found every bit of supposedly secure transport records, from which vehicles would be used to their maintenance records. Everything an assassin would need to prepare a flawless attack. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The files had a code attached to them, attached to the agent who copied all the files. It was a code she knew very well. Ron Temple. “You son of a bitch” was all she could say as she sat and stared. She trusted him and served with him, and she was looking at proof that he was a traitor. He had sold them out to whoever it was controlling the Tyrants. She gets a bit emotional thinking about all the people who died, and back to the betrayal. “Why… how could he have done it? For money? Out of fear? No explanation she could come up with sounded good enough. <span> </span>Her anger faded and she heard D-Bar yelling into her ear. The screen was flashing red and telling her to wait for security. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">(Oh shit)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She yanks out her flash drive and shoves it into her pocket, moving across the room to the door. She can hear voices. She composed herself and walked slowly toward the elevators, every instinct told her to run, but she knew if she did she would be identified by the very cool device that identifies unusual body kinetics. If she ran they would see it.<span> </span>She smothered the urge and slowed her pace. She was almost there. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Behind her she hears a voice call out. She recognized it as Drake. She was so close to the elevators, just around the corner. “Hey, Stop, stop right now!” She hears him pulling out his gun “I won’t tell you again!” he shouts. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She fled, it wasn’t a conscious choice on her part, but instinctive. She couldn’t think straight, due to her aforementioned stim crash. She had some adrenalin though, so she could run. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She rounded the corner and came face to face with Agent Tyler, just coming off of his break, stirring a coffee. “Kelso?” he asked confused. “Stop her! Drake shouted again. That was enough to snap Tyler into action, dropping his drink and going for his gun as well. She dove for the open elevator, and pressed the button, the doors almost shut when Tyler grabbed her by the collar and kicked the back of her knee, pulling hard on her. She laid on the ground, half in and half out of the elevator car. “You’re under arrest” Tyler told her, pressing his gun into her back.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Uh oh for her eh?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 6 Part 4</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Romeo Airport, Michigan USA<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’re at an airport and we learn pilots have special headsets that make the landing zones seem like day time so they don’t need lights. Interesting detail. Airport is close to Detroit. Scott smoked, Saxon exercised his legs, Federova was going through the equipment picking out which grenades she wanted. Saxon thought she reminded him of someone at the market buying fruit. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon didn’t know what was going to happen next, even as they were having their wild sex, he was just waiting for her to plunge a knife into his back or snap his neck, but that didn’t happen. After they were both spent, she left him alone up in the room. He couldn’t help but wonder if Hermann had gotten the same treatment. Federova treated him no differently than before. Saxon tried to just write the night off as a one time thing, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir called him over to a map of Detroit, which Gunther and Barrett were already looking at. Unlike federova, Gunther was treating him differently, he tried to guess why, maybe respect, maybe, jealousy. </div><div class="MsoNormal">Namir discussed the plan. Detroit was home to Sarif Industries HQ. They specialized in superior tech out of most peoples price range. According to Namir, Sarif was forcibly holding a team of scientists, forcing them to do R&D, and that they were going to go in and free them. Saxon wondered how much, if any of it was true. They were planning a rooftop assault and their timing had to be perfect. “Some of the staff are heading out to Washington, we have a small window of opportunity, which they’ll have to wait for, when they get the go ahead, they launch. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Saxon asks about opposition, and Barrett says it’ll just be a bunch of rent a cops. He says he could do the whole mission on his own without breaking a sweat. Namir says he’s still gathering data but the whole team is going because why not. Namir shows Saxon another file “This guy we should keep an eye out for, he’s a former SWAT guy, head of security at Sarif. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Scott, the dick, says that he’s just a broke ass ex-cop who is out of his league, no threat to us. Saxon says not to underestimate him. He may not go down that easy. He can tell the difference between someone who’s a professional, and someone who pretends to be one. Scott taking the insult in stride says “Useful trick, you’ll have to teach me to do that sometime limey. Namir says to get your shit together and be ready to deploy at a moments notice. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 6 Part 5</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Part 5 eh? Ok then. Back to Anna. She’s in the basement, in the holding area. It didn’t get much use so it was clean, but a cell was a cell. They took all her gear, including her doctored badge, flash drive, and car keys. She wondered how long it would take someone to go out and look at her car, she hoped D-Bar was quick thinking enough, and able to hotwire her car and get out of there. Under normal circumstances she would plan, but she was on the crash so she just fell asleep. She was awakened by Tyler and dragged to the interview room. Ron Temple was in the room, his arms folded, and expression of fear and anger on his face. Anna shouted “You fucking bastard!” the instant she saw him. Tyler caught her and put her into and armlock, insisting that she calm down. “She yelled at him too, and she was sat down at the table, her cuffs locked to an electromagnet inducer coil. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Before Temple could speak again she shouted “O know what you did, you sold us all out, you got Matt killed… “</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Temple silenced her with a slap to the face. Shut up you stupid stupid bitch. I warned you to stay away. You couldn’t let it go could you? You dosed up and came right back.”I know you’re part of the tyrants" she said</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That name doesn’t mean anything to me. You don’t understand anything, was his reply. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She finally gets to him and he says “You don’t know, they have people everywhere, it’s not like there was a choice Kelso! It was my life, the life of my family, my kids!” That’s the way things work and you’re going to pay for it because I will not take the fall”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Who are THEY Anna asked. The government? Corporates? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He gave a harsh laugh, too small, it’s more than just flags or dollars. These people are so big you don’t even see them. He took out the flash drive “You’ve given me everything I need, you’re going to disappear. Everything about you will be destroyed. It will be like you never existed. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You can’t hide this! She shouted. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“They already have”, he said without looking at her.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And that’s the end of chapter six. She seems sort of screwed eh? We’ll see what happens next time.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 7 Part 1</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">North Springfield, Virginia US</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">An unmarked van is heading west on I-495. Anna Kelso is in the van. (Wow first 5 parts to a chapter and now two Anna bits in a row? This book does love throwing its curveballs. She wore orange prison jumpsuit. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Her wrists and ankles are chained. Craig Tyler sat in the back with her. He pretended not to care, but Anna knew he didn’t like doing this job.<span> </span>Drake was driving. At first Anna, like all of us, thought they were just taking her far enough away to put a bullet into her head, but it didn’t seem like that was the case. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">All she could gather was that she was being taken to the “contractors”. She was being taken to an off the map prison. A place that didn’t exist and she would no longer exist there. They could interrogate her in any manner they saw fit, with no rules whatsoever. Then when they have enough, she’ll be executed. “That isn’t right Craig and you know it!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He answered “What I know is you’re a terrorist sympathizer Anna, You’ve been classified as an enemy combatant.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Bullshit, you know what I was doing wasn’t about terrorism, it was about Matt Ryan-“</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Maybe so… Maybe that’s what <i>you</i> think you’re doing, but you’re in bed with international criminals! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You’re working with Juggernaut! They’re wanted by Interpol, the NSA, FBI…”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“It’s not what you think!”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tyler reached into his pocket to pull out a data slate “D-Bar, your friend, you know who he is right? Patrick Couture, D-Bar, from the French word meaning “to unlock”. He read off D-Bar’s crimes” This isn’t some kid hacker, he’s a criminal and now so are you. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She considered Tyler’s accusations, maybe he was right, maybe she was being played by Juggernaut. But Juggernaut couldn’t have manipulated the files on the agencies computer. “No! it’s Temple, He’s the traitor, he’s been using the Department of Justice network to pass classified data!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“To who?” Tyler demanded. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I.. I don’t know! She said angrily. All I know is that he is solely responsible for the deaths of half a dozen Secret Service agents, men you and I worked with. Tyler tells her she’s going to a therapist to get some help. If Juggernaut was just using you…”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anna says not to talk to her like she’s delusional, she knows what she saw. She struggles with her chains and Tyler threatens to knock her out if she doesn’t stop it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Rushing through the next bit, D-Bar sends a remote control trick to take out her van. Sends her a warning so she’s ready when it goes over. Neither guy is killed, D-Bar unlocks her and she hops out, changes clothes in front of him, tosses away her orange jumpsuit, and steals his sports car, saying she still doesn’t trust him. She heads off back to Washington to confront Temple and make him give her the name of his contact. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Chapter 7 Part 2 </b></div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-44030855384065281102011-06-06T11:58:00.000-07:002011-06-06T11:59:01.899-07:00Emails from my prick dad<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">First Email-</span> </span>sent April 27, 2011<br />
<blockquote style="color: blue;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="hP" id=":172">Do you want to go see Thor and Captain America this summer? Thor comes out May 6th.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
Up to you. </blockquote><br />
<div style="color: magenta;">Dad's Reply- </div><ul style="color: magenta;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hi Cory,</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> It's great to hear from you. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span>No<span style="font-size: small;">t <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sure about Thor...I know you have always been a fan. Who wouldn't want to see Captain America?</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I Love you,</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Dad</span></span></span></li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue;"> My Reply -</div><blockquote style="color: blue;"><br />
Thor is awesome. (He and Captain America are friends. They're also friends with Iron Man and the Hulk)<br />
<br />
Why wouldn't you "be sure about" Thor?</blockquote><br />
<br />
<div style="color: magenta;">Dad's Reply</div><div style="color: magenta;"><ul><li>I <span style="font-size: small;">know <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">nothing about him...never was a fan I guess. </span></span></li>
</ul></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="color: blue;">My Reply- (All handwritten by the way)</span></div><div style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><blockquote style="color: blue;">Well, He lives in Asgard, his father is Odin, his brother is a weak(er than him) trickster named Loki. Loki is his main rival. Another is the Enchantress, who wants Thor to love her, but I don't know if she'll be in the movie. <br />
<br />
So yeah, they fight frost giants and stuff in Asgard. There's a big rainbow bridge that connects to "Midgard" which is what the Asgardians call Earth. <br />
<br />
In the comics, Thor has an Alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake. Donald Blake is... well I read the first comics they never really explain it too well, I guess he was a real guy that kind of got merged with Thor, Kind of like Hulk OR Bruce Banner. Anyway Thor turns into Donald Blake when he taps his hammer on the ground, and then his hammer turns into a cane, because Donald has a hurt leg or something. <br />
<br />
So yeah, Thor joined the Avengers and hangs out with Iron Man and Captain America, and tosses lightning bolts around. He can also fly by throwing his hammer and holding on to the thong. (the like, leather loop on the end of the handle)<br />
<br />
Any more questions? I think I covered the basics. He's a strong guy that can do wind and lightning and hits things with a hammer. He also has cool Asgardian friends, and at least two of the best villains in comics come from his books. </blockquote><div style="color: magenta;"><br />
</div><div style="color: magenta;"><br />
</div><div style="color: magenta;">Dad's reply </div><ul style="color: magenta;"><li>Thank you for the thorough explanation!</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;">My Reply</span> </div><blockquote style="color: blue;">Oh I forgot one thing. Thor loves to throw his hammer at things right? And usually it returns right to his hand. But if he's ever without his hammer either in his hand or on his belt or anything for 60 seconds, he'll turn into Donald Blake, a human doctor with a bad leg. Luckily no one but Thor (and Captain America oddly) can even lift the hammer. His hammer is basically his weakness, get it away from him (for 60 seconds) and he can't be Thor. </blockquote><blockquote style="color: blue;">Hey I Just found this, it's a 5 minute trailer for Thor! Should help to give you a full idea of what to expect from the movie.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://n4dp.info/thor-trailer/" target="_blank">http://n4dp.info/thor-trailer/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
And here is a better looking shorter trailer: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnr4D5vB4Q0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=dnr4D5vB4Q0</a><br />
<br />
Tell me what you think, we have a week, I'm sure I can think of at least one person you know that'd like to see it with us. </blockquote><br />
<div style="color: magenta;">Dad's reply- (April 30)</div><div style="color: magenta;"></div><div style="color: magenta;"></div><ul style="color: magenta;"><li> Ok<span style="font-size: small;">...w<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">e will see Cory....:)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Th<span style="font-size: small;">ank <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">you for being so thoughtful... </span></span></span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span> <br />
<div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My Reply- (May 3rd)</span></span></span></div><div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></span></div><blockquote><span style="color: blue;">So have you given any more thought to going to the movie??</span></blockquote><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;">His reply- (What the FUCK!?!?)</div><ul style="color: red;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hey Cory,</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span>T<span style="font-size: small;">o <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">be honest, that's not as much a focus for me as family time is. So, to be clear, time spent with you is much more valuable to me than whatever we do. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hope that will show you both that we all had some really great times when you were younger.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Love you. And yes, I feel pretty sure we will get together and see at least one of the movies.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Dad </span></span></span></li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My Reply-</span></span></span> </div><blockquote style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span> <br />
<div>I've read this post like, 4 times and it still confuses me. I understand that you don't care about the movie, that much is clear. You say time spent with me is valuable, as you tell me you don't want to hang out this weekend? Am I reading this right? We can do other things too you know, I'm the only one that ever suggests things though, and well, I suggest movies because I know how busy you are. By the way we can watch the movie here, there's a new theater. <br />
<br />
I don't think meeting up twice for 2 hours over the entire summer is all that much to ask, by the way. </div></blockquote><div></div><div></div><div>EMAIL #2 Sent June 6, 2011</div><div><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div style="color: blue;"><h1 class="ha"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="hP" id=":rm">Any chance you wanna go see X-Men?</span></span></h1><blockquote>I'm sure you won't, but I heard it was good. </blockquote><br />
<br />
<div style="color: red;">His Reply</div><div style="color: red;"></div><div style="color: red;"></div><div style="color: red;"></div><ul style="color: red;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cory,</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> I know you like that type of movie, but I do not really have any interest. I would like to see Capt. America with you when it comes out if that's ok with you.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Love you...have a good day!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Dad </span></span></li>
</ul></div><div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">My Reply</span></span> </div><blockquote style="color: blue;">Yeah, I can see your point, meeting up TWICE over the summer would be too excessive. <br />
<br />
Maybe once is too excessive too? I wouldn't want to take up any of your valuable time. </blockquote><br />
<div style="color: red;">His reply- </div><div style="color: red;"></div><ul style="color: red;"><li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sarcasm is not the best side of you Cory....:)</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> I know it hurts to be isolated, but that's not my doing. How about being appreciative for what I do rather that trying to make me feel bad for being honest. I would not want to see Xmen if I had free tickets. If i did, I would give them to you and Kevin.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> If all you want to do is take shots when you talk, what good is in that?</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> I was making some real dialogue and you did not even answer my questions...maybe because you felt hurt...not sure, but my love for you is not affected by how you speak to me. Still, I think you would agree that it's more fun to be around someone that actually acts like they want to be around you. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The biggest issue is your living over an hour away...wish it was not such a huge issue with regard to transportation.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Have a good afternoon,</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Dad</span></span></span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">--------------------------------------</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">Ok, commentary mode. I'm seriously on the verge of ending the entire relationship with this bastard, forever. There's too much backstory to just pile it all onto the end here, but the relationship is hanging on by a thread. He had treated me like crap my entire life, and I'm struggling to give him chances to attempt to repair things. Then he goes and does shit like this. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;">What do you guys think? </span></span></span></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-34308018752576350352011-04-03T21:25:00.001-07:002011-04-03T21:25:46.186-07:00New project I'm working on. A complete detailed list of all the flaws in the human body.So basically I want to be able to point out how inelegantly designed we are. (Un-intelligently too). (And yes I call dibs on "inelegant design", unless someone else thought of it first and no one liked it so it never caught on...) <br />
<br />
Here are some examples. <br />
<br />
The throat. What kind of idiot would make food & liquid, and air go in the same tube? How many people have choked to death really? Sure we manage to get around it, but can you imagine being able to say, breathe while kissing or something? That would be nifty... <br />
<br />
Breathing. Why do we need air at all? A lot of these questions are fair game. Remember god does not have to build us to certain specifications. He didn't have to follow any rules. He decided when he made us that we pretty much die 100% with no air for 5 minutes. He then exploited the weakness he gave us by drowning the entire planet. <br />
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Food. God made sure we have to kill to eat. Whether it be plants or animals. Why can't we get energy from the sun. Or friggin nothing. He's all powerful. He can create life that doesn't need to eat, he just didn't. <br />
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Teeth. These things need constant maintenance. Ever get a piece of chicken stuck in there overnight. You'll friggin know it in the morning. Then you have to use special tools to get it out. Teeth are in constant danger from ROTTING if we aren't very careful with them. Tooth pain is insanely painful. Damn I could do a whole book on teeth alone. Most people have too many teeth, and have to have some pulled. this is a huge thing because sometimes teeth can be pushed so out of place they're SIDEWAYS. <br />
<br />
The eye. No protective shell whatsoever. The eye is EXTREMELY vulnerable to damage. Ever get orange, grapefruit, lemon, or anything like that squirted into your eye? Or soap? What about a stick? a thin layer of skin that can't even really block light is all we have. The way it actually works is baffling. A leftover eyelid right by the nose. (You know the part that always seems to create sand?) We have to constantly blink or our eyes will dry out and I can't imagine the horror if we went a day, hell hour without blinking. then there's the fact that our eyes barely work. Can't see? Pray all you want, human ingenuity is your only actual hope though. How many people wear glasses or contacts? Really? Also, sunglasses. flashlights are kind of the anti-sunglass. Bright lights can make us blind, and low light well, we can't see in that either. I find it hilarious that the human eye is like, the poster boy of the ID guys, proof that god made us. <br />
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[Here's an interesting vid by the way. Enjoy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duBW9QabXfw)<br />
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The ears. Loud noises can break the ears. What is it called? Tinnitus? The ringing in the ears afflicts countless people. No amount of praying will help by the way. Deafness goes without saying. <br />
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So eyes and ears, two senses that can just flat out not work. and this isn't like, oh you got into an accident (at least not every time) Sometimes this is from birth. Or you'll be fine, then bam, oops you're going blind/deaf, too bad for you. Pray all you want it won't help. <br />
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Back. People often have back problems. Like, a LOT of people. Why is this? Well we're still new to walking on two legs. Once upon a time we walked on four. Then we probably started using our front legs to hold our food so we could eat it (Even squirrels do this). Then we probably got the bright idea to carry things around with our front legs, and bam, we're walking on two legs. Our horizontal spine now becomes vertical. Oh wait, I mean god made us exactly as we are today, he just did a poor job of it. <br />
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Blood and Heart- why do we need this crap? Oh and the food we eat (That we shouldn't NEED to eat) can clog your heart and make the blood not flow and you die fast. <br />
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The brain. this is a biggie, I'll touch on a few. First, sociopaths. Second, Well, think of all the other brain disorders. think of all the people that just have stuff wrong with the brain. Autism? Borderline personality? Schizophrenia? Hallucinations? The brain also loves to act up when it doesn't get enough air, or food and drink, or blood, or it get's too much of something. Oh and I'll end with... headaches!<br />
<br />
Lungs- Ever had a bad cough? Yeah. <br />
<br />
Nose. Ever had a bad cold? The sinuses alone can be a nightmare. good luck praying to got for relief. Also so easy to get broken. <br />
<br />
Legs- it can be pretty easy to trip. Also the bottoms of feet are extremely vulnerable to things. Yeah I know they're sensitive so you can tell when you're stepping on something harmful like a spike, but if they were tougher you could step on broken glass and it wouldn't really bother you. good thing WE invented shoes eh? Let's do a test christians. I live in a state where the roads get VERY hot in the summer. You can pray to god all you want, and I'll wear shoes, then we'll see who can walk down the hot road the longest without falling to the ground in unbearable pain. and this isn't a dash over hot coals either, this is walking on a hot street. <br />
<br />
Skin- Pretty easy to cut and bruise don'tcha think?<br />
<br />
Immune system. Does an ok job most of the time. This is where god gets most of the credit too. If something heals on its own god gets TOTAL credit. But the body does try its best to heal up on it's own. Sometimes it succeeds. More often than not though, it can use a little help. and sometimes you're screwed because the immune system is totally inadequate. Sadly humans haven't figured everything out yet. And we never will if all our kids are told the human body is perfect any prayer can heal all ailments... <br />
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Tongue. Have you ever bitten your tongue? God, god, can't you give the tongue super healing powers or something? One mistake and you pay for it for at least a week. this goes for lips and the top and bottom of the mouth, and cheeks too. and the gums. All mouth injuries are hell. and ever burned your tongue? <br />
<br />
That reminds me...<br />
<br />
Sensitivity to heat. I hear idiot Christians who can't think say "The earth is the perfect temperature for us, we couldn't survive if it were any hotter or colder". "The earth is fine-tuned with us in mind" this makes me want to toss them either into a freezer and lock the door, or into a desert to bask in the sun for days. They're right, humans will die if it gets to hot or to cold. And we get uncomfortable if it gets even slightly too hot or cold. Extreme flaw in my book. <br />
<br />
Ok well, this was just a sample, hope you enjoyed it. i'd love to hear more examples and comments on the ones I gave.Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-63538257736925535002011-03-13T16:43:00.000-07:002011-03-13T17:22:41.983-07:00(Short) Rant about the teachers. (And the rich and powerful)Ok, I'm a little late to the party here, but this thing with the teachers fucking infuriates me.<br />
<br />
Evil suppressive dictator 101: The FIRST things you need to do to subjugate a population are: <br />
<br />
1. Make everyone else stupid.<br />
2. Give them religion.<br />
<br />
There are very good reasons for this. Stupid people are easily tricked. Ok, maybe stupid is a bit harsh, what would be more appropriate? Oh I know, how about "Uneducated", or "Ignorant"? Yeah they fit nicely don't they?<br />
<br />
<br />
So this god damn FOX News generation, movement, cult, whatever you want to call it. They are so obvious in everything they do. It used to be funny. Now it's just sad. Fortunately, I think most people think of FOX as a dangerous joke of a network, at best, but if you don't...<br />
<br />
<br />
Well the expression is "if you're in for an inch, you're in for a mile". If you're dumb enough to believe just one of their carefully/carelessly crafted lies, they get their hooks in to you and before too long you'll be asking "Yeah? That's a good question, where IS his birth certificate?" <br />
<br />
So These FOX news trouble instigators are on TV bitching that teachers are being paid too much. The Daily Show has done an amazing job of summarizing:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-exposes-the-lavish-lifestyle-of-the-american-public-school-teacher/">Here you are, hope it works for everyone. </a><br />
<br />
In fact, Jon did SUCH a good job there's not much else for me to say, hence the "short". There is going to be a lot that I don't cover, but I do want to reiterate my main point though.<br />
<br />
They are going for the brains. Get religion in, keep knowledge out. Keep power for ourselves.<br />
<br />
One could argue that they are keeping everyone poor, but there's no reason to argue that. Everyone being poor can simply be explained as a side effect of those in power taking everything for themselves. If a conspiracy theory isn't absolutely necessary, it's probably best not to create and invoke one.<br />
<br />
This education thing though, these guys attacking the teachers are nothing new. They have had a hard on for new knowledge since, well forever. Sure they like things like new weapons, they can use them to spread the word of their lord and savior by force with those. If you have armor and a nice sword, and you're going up against a peasant with at best, a shovel, then God is on your side, not his. How else can it be explained that you always win the fights you get into, and they always lose?<br />
<br />
They seem to like medicine too. Medicine can heal people then the credit can be given to their god. Medicine is awesome. (If one gives a sick fellow some good medicine, God is like, one thousand percent times more likely to answer prayers to heal them. It's true!)<br />
<br />
Some things the religious flat out ignore, like our understanding of nature. Who cares that we understand how and why natural disasters happen? Still call them acts of God, and claim that those who "felt gods wrath" must have deserved it, and maybe now the survivors can be converted, people who just survived a near death experience and are in desperate need of aid, are surprisingly-(sarcasm alert) easy to convert.<br />
<br />
So what else? I'm sure with enough thought you could sort all of the knowledge we gained since we first used a bone as a hammer, into the three groups: Religion likes it, religion ignores it, and, religion opposes it strongly.<br />
<br />
One of the things that REALLY got religious people in an uproar was the whole "we evolved" discovery. Even Darwin knew he had to be very careful with his discovery or risk being killed, and he was rich and well liked and respected.<br />
<br />
So then time passes and America becomes "Modern America" I'm putting this point anywhere from 1900 to 1935 or so. I think Depression Era America falls into the Modern Era, but you may not. So in 1925, the Scopes Monkey Trial happens. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053946/">(WatchThis Movie - Inherit the Wind)</a> Ever since that point religions and schools have been at odds.<br />
<br />
<br />
Recently the Religious have been hitting the education system with full on assaults. First they tried to sneak Intelligent Design in. They failed. Then they they tried to force it in. They failed harder. They aren't giving up though, ever it seems. They will keep trying and keep trying and keep trying. They say "teach the controversy" "teach both sides" and all this assorted pseudo-intellectual sounding garbage. There is no controversy. Evolution is true. This is not under dispute.<br />
<br />
So now their latest assault. They want to take funding away from our schools. Why? A lot of reasons. Like I said, no matter what happens, they benefit from a less educated population. Another desired goal could be that the schools will be more desperate, and likely to take their tainted aid. "Maybe we'll donate money if you let us build an ID study center?" I can see something like that happening. "Oh you can't afford books? Well here let us DONATE some for free, sure they have our fake "science" in it and we bash real science, but you can't really afford to buy those expensive books with actual science in them, can you?"<br />
<br />
So this is about more than just lining the pockets of the rich, (and I'm sure they're devastated by that side-effect). In my opinion. This is simply the latest of the constant relentless assaults on the education system that have been being struck for almost 100 years now.<br />
<br />
There will be a day (but damn do I hope I'm wrong about this one) these same people try to take our precious internets away from us. They will get rich and simply fucking <b>buy </b>it, and turn it off. They will take over all the hub centers and slowly start turning the crank.<br />
<br />
I fear in 5 or 10 years the internet will have regressed into a Web TV, with a big link to Conservopedia right on top. They do NOT want us to have access to the wealth of knowledge the internet provides. <br />
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They will do this in the name of stopping "piracy", stopping "cyber bullying" , stopping "the spread of misinformation and corrupting influences".<br />
<br />
I wish I had a big enough hard drive so I could download the entire internet, and preserve it for that not distant enough day. So someday I could show my kids how cool it used to be. They'll look at me as if I'm crazy as they step into their transport tubes to head off to public school to learn about how Jesus cured dinosaurs of their demonically inflicted ailments with his superpowers. <br />
<br />
I can't wait.Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-18098790710612594092011-02-22T19:52:00.000-08:002011-02-22T19:54:15.484-08:00I don't understand being offended.<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">(Ok so this is going to be a LONG read. Just a warning.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Here’s the story. About 2 years ago I was posting on GameFAQ’s religion board quite frequently. (I have been a GameFAQ’s member since 2002, so I had a nice respectable account. I had always consumed information about religion and stuff, but I’d never had a “forum” to actually input opinions and ideas myself. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I was like a kid in a candy store, making topics about everything I could think of.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unsurprisingly, being an atheist, I started getting into “trouble” frequently. I would log in every day fearing that dreaded “System Messages” thing at the top of the screen telling me I’ve had posts deleted. To make matters more frustrating, there was usually a punishment to go along with the censorship. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So my mindset went from “Wow a place I can say what’s on my mind, really challenge myself and others and grow as a person, and maybe help others grow too” to “Wow, a place where I can say… what exactly?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That took me a while to think up. I wrote and erased a lot of different things, before realizing the truth. I have no clue what exactly will set people off. I’m constantly surprised by what ends up labeled as “offensive” by the guys in charge. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At the time I wrote this originally, I had just gotten done being banned from GameFAQ’s for like 3 or 4 days. <a href="http://silverscreemer.blogspot.com/2011/02/god-vs-space-aliens.html">Here's the entire backstory for you to enjoy.</a> In the original post (the “I don’t understand the whole concept of being offended” one) I said this: </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>“Please don't mark this topic as offensive, I have to re-post everything or nothing will make sense, I can't just assume everyone read it the first time and remembers everything. <br />
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The basic idea was that aliens came to earth in the old testament and that's why god was , damnit, I can't even talk now. I'm so god damn afraid of offending someone’s sensitive soul. This is so friggin frustrating. <br />
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I seriously don't understand the concept of being offended. I know some of you will roll your eyes when I say this, but I've NEVER been offended before. Not that I can remember. Sure I've disagreed with things, who hasn't? But I've always supported a person’s right to say stuff I disagree with. <br />
<br />
I propose that being offended is a learned response. It’s learned and positively reinforced out the friggin wazoo. Becoming offended automatically wins you an argument, without having to argue. All you have to do is act appalled, and whatever you disagree with just goes away. It's like an instant win card you can use as much as you want. In fact, it gains power the more you use it. If you can claim you got offend multiple times in a row, well “there’s just no talking to that offensive hooligan is there?” I propose that being offended is a learned behavior, like table manners and saying “oh excuse me” when you bump into someone. And I must reiterate, the positive reinforcement for getting offended is insane. <br />
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<br />
I don't even know how to repost this thing, do I edit it? Do I censor it? Can I post it without fear because it's in a different context? Will I be instantly punished again for just discussing what happened?<br />
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I seriously don't understand, it's so friggin frustrating. Ok I'll just skip the first post I guess? That’s the one that got me into trouble in the first place<br />
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I'm going to start with my appeal, I'll try to decide how to go about posting the original post... <br />
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I'll have to break this up since it's so long...<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
(This is where I reposted the “God vs. the Space Aliens” post I linked to earlier minus the original post sadly. So it was just my argument with the moderators)<br />
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</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />
I just want to restate that this isn't purely a "Me complaining that I got into trouble" topic. <br />
<br />
I seriously do not understand the concept of "Offended". I have been scared, I've been angry, I've been happy, sad, lustful, proud, ashamed, hungry, sleepy, all the other 7 dwarves I left out. <br />
<br />
But I've never, ever been offended. <br />
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Is being offended so horrible an emotion that you would feel the need punish others for offending you? I guess so, that’s the way things seem to be. I guess I should count myself lucky that I’ve never had to experience such an abominable emotion. It is an emotion right? Happy, Sad, Offended…<br />
<br />
It just seems tragic that some sensitive, fragile individuals would deprive others of their right to express their true feelings and ideas, just so the delicate little flower people’s lives can be copacetic and placid?<br />
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I mean jeeze, why don't these alarmists just get some nice relaxing lobotomies and be done with it? <br />
<br />
Can someone who has experienced the emotion of "Offended" please explain why being offended is the worst emotion in the world? Or explain it at all? </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />
Why is it OK for the censors to make us who want to speak freely afraid of being punished for expressing our genuine thoughts and opinions, but it is totally, unquestionably NOT OK for us to make them even slightly “offended”?””</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some people don’t seem to want to discuss things. They just want what they don’t agree with removed so they can pretend to live in a sterile world where everyone agrees with them on every matter. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If an “offensive” post has any of these three things, there’s groundwork for discussion. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>An argument. Someone is trying to explain why they believe or support the “offensive” thing. If there’s an argument within the offensive material, there’s something to reply to. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>A question. If the offensive statement includes a question, then the “offensive” person is admitting to not knowing everything. You should take that into account, and attempt to answer the questions. See if a bit of extra info on the topic will sway the “offensive” person to see things your way. Maybe they’re offensiveness is born of ignorance. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>Initiation of a discussion. Some “offensive” posts are blatantly trying to start conversations. When someone is open to discussing a topic, and you are of the opinion that “some things just shouldn’t be discussed”, the fault lies with you. I’m under the mindset that you can’t be open to discussion AND offensive at the same time.<br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> <br />
Maybe I’m wrong, who knows. <br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So apparently the reason I got into trouble for being offensive was “defaming a belief system”. This is apparently frowned upon. Is being critical a key element of being offensive? Maybe, can you be offensive when praising something? Explaining something? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know. Maybe someone can find a bunch of examples of things people think are offensive and see if there are any universal consistents? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
I really have never been offended, so I don’t really know how to read or hear something and say “that is decisively unambiguously offensive”. Maybe that's why I love arguing so much? Because I can just look at what’s said without taking anything personally. (Although excessive stupidity does depress me greatly) I really don't understand the concept of being offended. I can’t seem to reiterate that enough.<br />
<br />
Even when people insult me directly, I don’t get offended. The way I see it there are two types of insults. Valid insults, and inaccurate insults. If someone says I suck at playing the flute, well I can't play the flute, so they would be right, if they say I suck at a particular game, and they, and pretty much anyone else can consistently beat me, than I guess they're right. If they say something like I'm stupid, or ugly or fat... well I know I'm not stupid, ugly or fat, so I'll just dismiss the insult as inaccurate and move on. <br />
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If someone says derogatory things about something another person believes in, which can happen quite often when one actually believes in things, the second person needs to stop and wonder why person A is saying those things. Are THEY ignorant, or are you? Could it be possible you’re both correct, or is there some logical conflict that would really only let one of you be correct? Don’t get offended when someone says your beliefs are flawed, stupid or silly. Think about what’s being said and why.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I wish I could read one of my "offensive rants" through the eyes of a believer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When I write about how screwed up the book of Joshua is (I’ll post it soon), How the story of Adam and Eve makes no sense, or jeeze, who knows how many other sacred cows I've tossed rocks at? I'm told I'm being offensive and everything I've said is completely ignored.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I just can't see my "blasphemous" writings as anything but a logical analysis of the topic at hand. I really do try to stay on point and not go over the top with the mockery, but I can’t write about this stuff in a COMPLETELY respectful tone. Does tone really matter all that much? These stories are absurd, and I think if I was as respectful as I could be, I'd still be called "offensive". </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I want to be able to get past my audiences defenses. If I can get someone to actually read what I write, well that should be the hard part right? For example, I was reading a topic the other day in which a guy mentioned that he was an atheist to his co-worker, said co-worker immediately jumped into the “so you believe we came from nothing? You think we came from monkeys” material and stuff like that. Before she asked her first question her mind snapped shut like an adamantium vice. Nothing is getting in there. Nothing you say matters. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are times though when a Christian will (pretend to?) be open to conversation though. They will actually read what you have to say with a supposedly open mind. But when you point out how silly their story is there panic switch is instantly thrown. This is what I want to avoid. I’m not sure it’s possible though. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I want to know what a religious person thinks when a story they believe in is ripped to shreds and made fun of right before their eyes. It takes so much skill and understanding of the religious mind to write something critical of religion, a follower of that religion will want to read and digest, then actually think about.</div><div class="MsoNormal">How can we say offensive things without offending the people most needing to read the writing in question? I don’t know. It’s not just about not getting into trouble, or getting a bad reputation. I don’t care about those things, well I do but, not as much as I care about </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sorry the ending kinda fizzled out. Or maybe the ending is the best part? I don’t know, I’m sure some people will like different parts. I do hope that if you got this far you found at least some parts that you liked though. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been wanting to edit this all down and repost it for quite some time, it was quite a daunting project.I hope it was an enjoyable informative thought provoking read. </div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-58250967889444752002011-02-22T02:35:00.000-08:002011-02-22T16:55:22.158-08:00God vs. The Space Aliens<div class="head"><h2 class="title"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(This is a classic tale. I wrote this about two years ago, as you can see I got into trouble for it too. I'll post it all here unedited for you guys to enjoy.) </span></i></h2><h2 class="title"> </h2><h2 class="title">God vs. The Space Aliens</h2></div><br />
<b><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=49330176&user=578490">Silver Screemer</a></b><br />
<b>Posted: 5/2/2009 5:31:50 AM</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/detail.php?board=263&topic=49330176&message=540652386"><br />
</a></td><td>Ok, so I was thinking about why God was so obsessed with sending "his people" to kill seemingly innocent cities and stuff. Take the town of Jericho for example. <br />
<br />
Then it hit me. Jericho was filled with invading aliens! They were trying to attack humanity while we were weak and couldn't defend ourselves, so obviously God had to assist us in defeating this invasion. The Bible make's so much more sense if you think of everyone God commands to be killed not as a human, but as an evil alien in disguise. <br />
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Because the Bible doesn't make any friggin sense if God was pitting humans he liked vs humans he didn't like...<br />
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He obviously wanted the human males to rape the hot alien females so they could have the stronger half alien/half human hybrids that we are today. Otherwise it wouldn't make ANY sense that God commanded his army's to rape women. <br />
<br />
See, now that we're all half alien, the aliens think of us as them, and they won't have to come and destroy us.<br />
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</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="pod"><div class="head"><h2 class="title"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Moderation Information</span></h2></div><div class="body"><div class="details"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Deleted:</b> 5/3/2009 2:05:46 PM</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Action:</b> Warned (Top)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Reason:</b> Offensive</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Status:</b> Appealed to Admin - You have appealed this moderation up to an administrator. It will be reviewed within 48 hours.</span></div></div></div><div class="pod"><div class="head"><h2 class="title"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Moderation Reason - Offensive</span></h2></div><div class="body"><div class="details"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b><i>Offensive Material</i></b> - Users may not transmit or encourage others to transmit material or links to material considered patently offensive in nature. This includes, but is not limited to using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language; using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, disability, nationality, or gender as a means of insult; using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language; and posting, requesting, linking to, or otherwise sharing material considered pornographic, obscene, graphic, or hate speech. Failing to abide by a warning that material or terms are offensive or prohibited is a violation. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some additional notes on the Offensive rule: </span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Using terms for homosexuality or mental or physical disability as a means of insult in any way towards anyone or anything is considered offensive. This includes, but is not limited to, insinuating certain people (including video game characters) are homosexual or disabled in an insulting way, calling things "gay" or “retarded” as a synonym for "stupid", or using offensive slang terms. The use of any such derogatory language will result in an automatic suspension.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Jokes or humor about rape or incest are generally considered patently offensive. </span></li>
</ul><span style="color: blue; font-size: xx-small;"><ul><li>Several other words and terms are flagged by the site censor when a message is posted, and users are clearly warned about the connotation and use of these words on the site. Failing to abide by the warning presented is a clear violation.</li>
<li>Links to sites with content that violates these terms are not permitted. Warning users about offensive content in a link does not grant permission to post that link.</li>
<li>Links to images or sites displaying images with nudity, near-nudity (i.e. see-through clothing, very skimpy coverings), or depictions of such are not permitted.</li>
<li>Images or descriptions of sexual acts, genetalia, or clearly graphic material (shock images, defecation) are considered offensive as well.</li>
<li>Using the word "rape" as a synonym for "owned", "destroyed", "decimated", etc is considered inappropriate.</li>
</ul></span> </div></div></div><div class="head"><h2 class="title"> </h2><h2 class="title">Dispute Messages (My appeals to the mods and their replies)</h2><h2 class="title"><br />
</h2></div><table class="board message"><colgroup><col class="author"></col><col class="message"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr><td class="author"><br />
</td><td><b>You said on</b><br />
<b>5/3/2009 2:29:00 PM</b><br />
<br />
This is posted on the Religion board, and is an interpretation of the classic Old Testament story. I'm not sure what is offensive enough about it to have me set to "warned" status. <br />
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Ok let me look at it...<br />
<br />
Yeah nothing. <br />
<br />
The whole point was to try and figure out WHY God acted as he did, in sending "his" armys against seemingly innocent town after seemingly innocent town. God should NOT be playing favorites, a human is a human. <br />
<br />
So the idea I came up with is that God wasn't pitting humans vs. humans, but humans vs. aliens.<br />
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This isn't offensive, it's just a reinterpretation of the events. <br />
<br />
Just because you don't agree with something doesn't make it offensive...<br />
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<b>A Mod/Admin replied on</b><br />
<b>5/3/2009 5:26:25 PM</b><br />
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</td></tr>
<tr class="even"><td class="author"><br />
</td><td><br />
First off, claiming that aliens attacked Jericho is not only offensive to those who believe in the Bible, but it's also trolling. And second, claiming that men were sent to rape half-alien females is also offensive, since jokes about rape are not tolerated on here.<br />
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<b>You said on</b><br />
<b>5/3/2009 5:56:22 PM</b><br />
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</td></tr>
<tr><td class="author"><br />
</td><td>I never claimed that aliens attacked Jericho. I said the people of Jericho WERE aliens. (And how do you know they weren't?)<br />
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I also said the OFFSPRING was half alien, meaning our ancestors. The women being raped were 100% alien. <br />
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Also, The rape comes DIRECTLY from the bible, I was not "joking" about the rape. <br />
<br />
<i>Numbers 31:9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Numbers 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Numbers 31:18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Numbers 31:35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.</i><br />
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Here's a second occurrence. <br />
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<i>Deuteronomy 20:13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Deuteronomy 20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.</i><br />
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There's a ton more, but I think I've made my point, In the Old Testament, God orders his people to march from town to town slaying the enemy, and "taking" the virgin women for themselves. <br />
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So I was saying my interpretation of what was happening, God was helping humanity fight space aliens.<br />
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<b>A Mod/Admin replied on</b><br />
<b>5/3/2009 8:23:29 PM</b></td></tr>
<tr class="even"><td class="author"><br />
</td><td><br />
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="author"><br />
</td><td><table class="board message"><tbody>
<tr class="even"></tr>
<tr class="even"><td class="author"></td><td>Rape jokes and suggesting that the Old Testament is about aliens is quite offensive, actually.<br />
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<b> </b><br />
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<b>You said on</b><br />
<b>5/3/2009 9:10:55 PM</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I wasn't making "rape jokes". Seriously where is the joke in this? I was trying to explain why god would command his chosen people to do such a terrible thing. Is it less offensive to talk about god commanding his army's to "take" 32,000 virgin human women, than 32,000 evil alien women?<br />
<br />
Is it less offensive to think of god sitting up in heaven killing millions of human beings? Seriously? You want to think of god as an evil human murdering monster? <br />
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All I was doing was trying to re-interpret the Old Testament in a way that made sense TO ME. Now I won't go into the whole freedom of speech thing because this is GameFAQs, and I know the rules are different. <br />
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But this wasn't offensive. <br />
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I'm not going to try and suggest I actually believe this idea, but what if I did? Are you seriously suggesting that no religious person believes in any unconventional things? What if my religion taught this particular interpretation of the Bible (as sects are known to do, there are young earthers, old earthers, literalists, apologists, and people that think the ENTIRE thing is basically parables and that it's all figurative, and everything in between.) <br />
<br />
I personally have never been offended, so I don't really understand the concept. I do try to be respectful of others though. I have a feeling you're going to stand by this and uphold it no matter what I say. I also get the feeling that you aren't personally offended by this, but you fear someone else might be. I guess someone must have marked this post as offensive, and I would really like to know why, because it's obvious that the mods didn't even read the thing before they warned me. <br />
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I know 3 days is a minor thing, and I can just avoid GameFAQs for that time, I'm making a big deal out of this though because I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong. I put this on the Religion board. I did NOT joke about rape (All I suggested was that the alien females were hot, that is a descriptive verb not a joke). I can't fathom how anyone would be offended by this when the stuff in the Bible is one hundred times worse. (Although I will admit that is pretty irrelevant, the post and only the post are being discussed here, the only reason I bring up the Bible is to prove that my post was parallel to the book.)<br />
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There is absolutely no way to know that there weren't aliens here back then. There is no way to know that we aren't alien/human hybrids. There is no way to know this. I wouldn't say it's likely to be true, but what do I know? All I know is it's not offensive. And I referenced rape, I tried to rationalize gods motives for commanding his army's to rape and kill. <br />
<br />
In closing... I don't see how speculating about god's motives is offensive. And that is the reason for this post. I was wondering how anyone could love a god that does such horrible things. If god helped us defeat aliens, that would explain a lot.It would show that God cared about humanity as a whole, and didn't play favorites tribe vs. tribe as is the "common" interpretation.<br />
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I still say it wasn't offensive, and I'm betting against the house on it. I know the odds aren't in my favor here, but I know the facts are. Hopefully that will be enough.<br />
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(Edit- I found the final reply from the mods)<br />
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</style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">A Mod/Admin replied on<br />
5/5/2009 11:58:26 AM</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I can't find a single sentence in that post that wouldn't offend a religious person.</span></span><br />
<br />
---------------------<br />
There we go, the "famous" God vs. the Space Aliens fiasco. This eventually led to me getting a week, then a thirty day ban. But I'll get into that all in the next post... </td></tr>
</tbody></table>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-87941789184159969312011-02-18T16:36:00.000-08:002011-02-18T17:08:25.265-08:00Once again... Adam and Eve!<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok so, We are to believe that Adam and Eve is 100% true, correct? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been told COUNTLESS times that “The fall” is responsible for everything bad. Death, sickness, hunger, needing to eat and drink, injury, mental illness, tooth decay, deterioration as we age, and everything else. The reason the world is unfair, is “The fall”. It’s the single most important event that has ever happened, at least as far as humans are concerned. Because of the fall we’re all born with sin. We had to sacrifice all sorts of various things to god because of the fall. Our BEST things. Our prized bull, our best crops, all because the fall happened. Hell was opened to humans because of the fall. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a very important story and it’s important to understand exactly what happened. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">God makes Adam and Eve at the same time. No wait he makes Adam first then Eve later out of Adam's rib because Adam is lonely. Why god needed a rib is never explained. Well he needed dust to make Adam so yeah, whatever no reason to think about that too much. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Adam and Eve are hanging out wondering how there was light before there were any stars, and god says “Don’t eat from the tree’s over here”. So they don’t. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s important to think about Adam and Eve’s mental state at this point. What did they know? Next to nothing it would seem. They may have known things… but they didn’t know about good and evil. They were ignorant. They didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. They had one authoritarian figure in their life that told them what to do, and they did it. They were like little obedient robots. God said it and they did it. No questions, no speculation as to what God’s motives were. They were unable to do this. They didn’t have that ability yet. They couldn’t really distinguish commands by importance. They (commands) were all equal. What other commands did God give Adam and Eve? The story doesn’t mention any because they aren’t important to the story, but should we assume they were free to do whatever they wanted, as long as they followed the ONE rule? (Don’t eat from these two trees). That’s the way most people seem to interpret the story. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let’s step back and look at what happened before the creation of Adam and Eve. What happened? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Popular opinion is that God was sitting up in heaven. (That exists before god created earth?) God has a lot of Angels that he made to tell him he’s friggin awesome. (Right? Why DID god make the angels?) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So God is in heaven, which is literally the only place there is, surrounded by the angels he basically just made. And the Angels are basically his slaves? What the hell ARE the angels at this point? How long does this go on for? What actually happens?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Eventually God’s musician gains a fan club. God get’s royally pissed off at this. Now I don’t know what the relationship was like, but like… something seems wrong right from the start. God is like… alone. So He creates heaven for him to live in. And he creates angels to tell him he’s awesome. He gives the angles the abilities to do things… like, play music and sing songs about… how awesome god is, and nothing else? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
Now if god really was all knowing he would have known when he created the Angels that some would eventually see through his BS and start thinking for themselves. And I guess God was ok with this. He needed his creations to have free will. Or else he would basically be a guy telling himself he was awesome. If they couldn’t choose not to love him, their love would be meaningless. It would be like building a robot, and programing it to say “I love you”. Sure you can build it, and it can say it… but it can’t mean it. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So God surrounds himself with lesser beings, because he’s unable to surround himself with equals. They all love him at first, then some stop. This infuriates god, and god decides that it’s evil not to love him. “Thinking you’re better than me is bad!” Says god. So God takes all the angels that sided with Satan, or Lucifer, or whatever, (The real story behind those names is that they were… eh another story for another time) And he creates another place. It’s a terrible place, he sends the “bad” angels there. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well now we’re back to square one. The angels are freaked out because god lost his temper and sent a huge chunk of them to hell. They realize that they really don’t have the option of loving god or not, it’s either love him or pay the price. So The Devil is in this newly created hell, and he’s pissed. Why? Because he was frigging right. God isn’t worthy of love, or any better than any of them, he’s just more powerful. He’s a powerful, lonely, insane, guy, who tried to make himself some companions, and couldn’t deal when they decided they didn’t want to devote their lives to HIM. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let's review what's happened so far, God has created Heaven and the Angels. The angels split into angels and demons, and god created hell for the bad angels. Maybe angels turned to demons after arriving in hell, probably. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So now it’s time for god to make us? I guess so, he’s done with his first project, the angels, bored of them. He made them too powerful or something. I don’t know why the Angels weren’t good enough, I guess because even the ones in heaven that actually loved him still knew too much, they knew what he did to their friends. And sure he could mind wipe them, make the angels in heaven mindless drones with no free will, but then well, what then? Does he wipe their minds constantly? How would that help with his loneliness and insecurity?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yes, it’s time to make people. He has fun with this project. It’s not made clear whether where we live is bigger or smaller than heaven, we tend to think of heaven as like, a city or town. There’s no real sense of scale, whether heaven is bigger than our universes, and all the other universes, we don’t really think about. But god makes all the universes and sticks us here in our spot, on a tiny little spec of a planet. Uh, ok then. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">God creates the planet, then he makes a nice garden and puts all the animals and plants into it, then he either makes man and woman, or just man, depending on what you read. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">From what I understand, the big difference between humans and angels is that we can reproduce. Having babies is the big difference, apparently angels can’t do that. In fact I wonder if angels even had a gender. Or god for that matter, if anything is trans-gender, god would be. What would god need with a gender? The only way it would make sense is if god is the last of his race, which is a whole other topic. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So god creates people and he puts them into a garden, and says do whatever, but don’t eat from this tree. </div><div class="MsoNormal">A commonly asked question at this point is… why? (I mean, I know the answer, Christians won’t like it. The Tree is from another religion that Christianity was built on top of to get converts.) So ask yourself, why were the tree’s there? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The devil, Satan, God’s only real enemy at this point, just waltzes into the garden unopposed, even though he’s supposed to be trapped in hell for “rebelling” against god by thinking he wasn’t worthless. This is the focal point of the story and no one gives it 2 seconds worth of thought. Why in the blue blazes was Satan allowed to stroll uninhibited into the garden? What did he fool god by pretending to be a snake and slither under the anti-Satan force field? How did he get in there? What was god doing when Satan entered the garden? Watching? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’ve been over this before, but really, it can’t be stressed enough. This story makes no sense. </div><div class="MsoNormal">So, The devil is a snake and he climbs the tree and hangs out and waits for Eve to walk by, then he says hey, come eat this fruit. At that moment God should have jumped in to protect her. God didn’t do anything, and this is before Humanity had committed a single sin. When we were his shiny new toy he had JUST finished putting together. Already, God was bored with us. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At this point it’s important to re-iterate that Eve didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. God didn’t give us that ability because well, he gave it to the Angels and well, that didn’t turn out that great. So Satan saw that god was trying to deny us the free will that every living thing deserves to poses, and he jumped in to set things right. He was honest when he said we would benefit from eating. After Eve ate, she knew the devil was right, and went to go share it with her only friend Adam. She wanted to share the knowledge she had gained. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now I want to take another step back and point out that we don’t generally LEARN things from eating. But in this story we do. I also want to point out something else, a small little detail. Adam and Eve ate, before they ate the apple. I’ve had people tell me that people didn’t need to eat before the fall. This doesn’t seem to be the case at all does it? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They eat from the tree, as I asked earlier, why was the tree there In the first place? Who knows, why was the devil allowed in? I don’t know, what did the other tree they didn’t eat from do? Who knows. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">God comes down to walk with them and they’re wearing clothes, being all modest and stuff. God asks “Who told you you were naked?” and gets all pissed off, seemingly having to FIGURE OUT that they ate from the tree. I guess there was no alarm system. Some say god was just pretending to play dumb. Uh, ok sure, whatever, god is an actor. What ELSE was god “just pretending”? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So here we are, god knows we broke his rule, now what? Punishment time. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At this point, we’re lead to believe that the snake wasn’t the devil at all, just a snake. A normal snake that could talk. And was smarter than humans. <b>A snake that was smarter than humans.</b> And this is a literal story. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As a result god punishes all snakes to be snakes, and makes women hate snakes. He wants snakes to try to bite her kids, and her kids to try to kill snakes. He also for some reason greatly increases suffering from childbirth. Genesis 3:16 is a really weird one. It says that because of all this, woman are to be submissive to men. (and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.) You read it then pause and re read it. What the friggin hell? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok, moving on.. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Thorns and thistles are a result of “the fall” and not because they’re good protection from things that want to eat them. God reminds Adam that he’s just dirt, and that he’s going to die. Then god himself makes leather clothes for them to wear. Then god tells the angels that if man eats from the tree of life, man will live forever. As if god would be unable to reverse this process. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Genesis 3:22-23</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Then Yahweh God said, 'The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must be prevented from reaching out his hand to take from the tree of life, lest he eat from it and also live forever!'</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">God sure as hell doesn’t look all powerful here, just sayin. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So god builds a defense system around the friggin tree with a “whirling flaming sword” and cherubs to keep them from getting the immortality fruit. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are a very specific set of things that happened in the fall. They are all listed neatly. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Also, none of this ever happened. What are you stupid? You think this is all true? It’s infuriating. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Really friggin infuriating. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ok well, I’m done. Hope you had a nice read, I hope I got all my “facts” right. I think I did. </div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-43576386309568693792011-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:002011-02-08T11:26:00.999-08:00Deleted postDeleted postSilver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-46589251414143247012010-12-30T06:42:00.000-08:002010-12-30T06:42:12.409-08:00Some thoughts about heaven and eternity<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">As a kid, I never really believed in heaven, but I heard about it so much I couldn't help but think about it. So my idea of heaven started out like the cartoon version, like we pretty much all imagine, but that's where the similarities end. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">See I was having a real hell of a time imagining eternity. I was trying to figure out how the hell I would spend my time up there. I heard people at church talking about how they were looking forward to an eternity praising god, and as a kid, I was like... "dude I can't even do that for 5 minutes with you freaks without going nuts from boredom." (Side Story, they said "Oh it will be much better praising god when god is actually with us" I responded "I thought you said god WAS here with us" She replied "Oh, well he is but we can't see him, it will be better when we can see god" I said "so if I close my eyes up in heaven it'll be like down on earth?" And she said "Oh you won't want to close your eyes up in heaven!" Yeah, that's word for word)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So where was I? Oh right, eternity. So I was trying to imagine what I would DO with my eternity. My first idea was, just watching, everybody. I would watch people live their entire lives, and I would do that, for everyone. I figured, I would start with the people I knew best, like my best friends, and family. I was curious to see what they all did when I wasn’t around. What I missed and stuff. Then I thought “Wow I’ll be watching a lot of people just watching TV a lot… oh well”. So yeah, after I watch all my friends, I’ll watch all their friends and so on, kind of in an outward circle from myself. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Another idea I had was that I would almost HAVE to be able to read their minds. I thought, “you know it would be fun to know what people were really thinking. I would read the mind of every liar. Know every reason for every action. Not only would I see the people do the things, but I would know why they did it. I would know why people were mean, know why people were nice. So yeah, when I die, I’ll watch everyone and not just watch, I’ll read their minds too. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then it hit me, if I was going to do this, I would have to watch everybody die. If I was going to watch the entire life of everyone who ever lived, I would have to watch the deaths to, and some would be very early. I thought about all the little kids that died. For a brief moment I though “Well that’s ok because when you die you just go to heaven right? It’s not really a big deal”. Then I remembered not everyone goes to heaven. So I would watch people live their lives, know their every thought, see their death, then know they’re down in hell. And it would happen a lot. Probably most of the time, if what the church people say is true, only a few people are going to heaven. They said “You probably have friends at school that are going to hell” (Yeah it was a real nice church…)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then I thought back to the praise thing. And thought, well what makes a person go to hell. Because I went to a church that said all the time “There will be good people in hell!” that was what I heard as a kid. “There WILL be good people in hell!” That angered the crap out of me. I’m going to go to heaven and watch good people, live their lives, hear all their thoughts, then watch them die, and know they’re in hell, forever. I would know that for every second I’m sitting up in heaven bored out of my mind, there were good people down in hell, that were there because they didn’t say some stupid magic word. They didn’t praise the stupid god that I didn’t think deserved praise. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then I continued to think about eternity. I though, ok so maybe watching people live their lives is out. I just can’t handle thinking about the good people that were sent to hell. So what AM I going to do? I sure as hell don’t want to praise god. I’m not spending one second of my eternity singing stupid songs at god. So what AM I going to do? I never did come up with an answer to that question. And while I was thinking of one, I realized that even if I DID watch the life of every single person that ever lived, it would still be instantaneous in the face of eternity. So what would I do with all that friggin time? I don’t know. Would god eventually get bored with us and go off to start a new universe? Hey, maybe we aren’t the first. Why the hell did god make us anyway? What are his motives? Are our lives really just entertainment to him? Did he make us just to watch us? What happens when he gets bored? Will he just send us all to hell and start over? What if god stops loving us? If god can send people to hell for such a stupid reason once, who’s to say he won’t do it again. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It was questions like those, that helped me realize, it’s all nonsense. None of it makes sense. </div><div class="MsoNormal">I started looking around, people would give thanks to god, when god didn’t do anything. They would just thank god for everything. If someone looked like they were going to be late, but showed up just slightly late instead “Oh thank god you’re here!” Why thank god? He didn’t do anything. People would give god credit for stupid stuff, and claim that was proof of his existence. People would pray, and nothing would happen. It didn’t seem to make any difference. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I began wondering, what proof do we have that there even is a god? The story doesn’t make any sense; the Bible is full of crazy garbage, all the people that believe seem like lunatics… </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So yeah. It’s not true. Not one word of it. There is no god. There never was one. We may not know how we got here but it certainly wasn’t the Christian god. I would bet my soul on it, but, well it’s kind of hard to since they don’t exist either. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I just find it unfathomable how people can believe this garbage. They look forward to praising god for eternity. That alone it astonishing. They can’t have given it much thought, they just can’t. Like, what happens if you want to take a break? Is god going to glare at you and say get back to singing and praising my name!” That lady at the church, like, she actually believed that once we finally get to heaven and see god, we are NEVER going to want to take our eyes off of “him” and that we will be happy and honored to just sing about how great he is, forever. And I guess they don’t envision god ever getting bored with that. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I once got into trouble for posting a number, it was a 1, followed by a lot of zero’s. I don’t remember exactly how many, but the number was so large it was crashing peoples browsers when they clicked the topic. That number, is less than 1/ that number of eternity. So let’s say:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">900 billion, to the 900 billionth power = N,<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span></span>And “N” will basically be an insignificant amount of time. Basically like a fraction of a second down here. Only much, much smaller. I could say “A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second” but that wouldn’t even begin to express how small “N” is next to eternity. We seriously can’t fathom it. Heaven would be hell. I can only imagine what hell would be like. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">People like to throw around words like “Fire” and “Freezing cold”. They like to speculate. Wonder what’s in store for all the “good people” that didn’t ask Jesus into their hearts, as their personal lord and savior. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I swear I can get so wrapped up in this crap, I have to remind myself why I’m mad. I’m not mad because I think this shit is real, I’m mad because I know it isn’t, and I think everyone else does too. They HAVE to. There’s no way anyone can think about “N” and think, “yeah, I want to praise god for N to the Nth power, and then I’ll want to praise god some more!” <span> </span>I know they think stupid shit like “Yeah I’ll get to see grandma again and we’ll go on picnics!”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">People don’t think about monotony. A day in heaven won’t be amazing. It will be tedious. If we even have days, and why would we really? Will heaven revolve around a sun? Will it be spherical? If you dig into the ground in heaven what will you find? Will there be dirt in heaven? Will there be worms in the dirt? I guess so because I know there’s a shit-ton of people looking forward to “goin fishin with god up in heaven”, so I guess they’ll have to have worms. But what if you don’t like worms? Well you can just go to the other side of heaven right? Away from the worms? Well, what if someone picks up a worm and tosses it at you? Will it still be heaven? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Also what about football? We can assume there will be a lot of football players in heaven right? So what happens when they both pray to god for a victory? What if someone dodges a tackle, runs 99 yards in for the touchdown, then thanks god for the help. Will the person he dodged feel cheated? Will he ask god “why did you help him and not me?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I know I know, this is getting stupid. I could do this forever though. (No not really, that was a joke). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Heaven is such god damn bullshit. Just think about it for five seconds. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe I’ll write more about this later. But just think about the largest amount of time you can fathom, being absolutely insignificant. Less than a millisecond. Far less. The tiniest fraction of a millisecond you can imagine. That’s how insignificant the largest amount of time you can imagine is. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And what are you going to do with all that fucking time? Look at your watch and pray that some day it will stop ticking? Well it won’t. There’s no escape. Well, maybe god will notice you aren’t praising him and send you to hell. Forever. And ever, and ever. Halleluiah. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>So be thankful death is the end. Because forever is a long, long time. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-66758345481227550762010-12-29T00:43:00.000-08:002010-12-29T00:43:52.889-08:00Post in which I talk about family drama<div class="head"><h2 class="title">Question for my fellow atheists regarding young siblings or nieces/nephews.</h2></div><table class="board message" summary="Message listing"><colgroup><col class="author"></col><col class="message"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr><td class="author" id="p001"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=530161">king gimpy</a><span class="gamefox-tc-label"> (tc)</span><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 10:58:00 PM</span><br />
<a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316/638375985" title="Detail">message detail</a><span class="gamefox-message-links"><br />
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#001</div></td><td><div class="msg_body">OK so as I'm sure pretty much every regular here knows I am an atheist, an atheist from a Christian family.<br />
<br />
So far that's been an OK situation. In fact, it's improved a bit as my family as a whole seems to have become more accepting of my fiance and I's atheism.<br />
<br />
Recently I learned my youngest sister is pregnant and that I'll be an uncle sometime next year. I'm excited by this news and can't wait to be an uncle but there is a situation that I am almost positive will come up and I am unsure how to deal with it.<br />
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Given that my entire family is religious save for myself, I am positive my future niece or nephew will be brought up in Christianity. Since they will be brought up in it from birth I'm sure they will adhere to it, at least for their childhood if not for much longer.<br />
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The issue is, I know eventually they will ask whether I or my fiance believe in God. Both her and I are rather certain in our disbelief but I'm unsure how to explain this to them if they are young. I don't want them suddenly thinking their uncle Andy and aunt Dawn are bad people or something.<br />
<br />
Have any of you experienced something similar? If so, how did you handle it? I'm not talking about pushing the kid towards disbelief, that's not my place. However, I feel it would be wrong to lie and claim I believe in God, so I know I'm going to have to at least try and attempt to explain why neither of us do.<br />
<span class="gamefox-signature">---<br />
<b>Just remember I will always love you, even as I tear your ****ing throat away.</b></span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="author" id="p003"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=5981345">Juiceman_Shado</a><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:13:53 PM</span><br />
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#003</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i>more accepting of<b>me and my fiance's</b> atheism.</i><br />
<br />
Fixed.<br />
<br />
Also, isn't your youngest sister still in high school? Can't wait to see her on MTV. Anyway, I'm pretty sure children don't concern themselves with things regarding God anyway, so any question they ask certainly isn't going to mean much to them the next day. Just don't lie to the kid, and I can guarantee (not literally, obviously, but you get the idea) that the only way they'll think uncle Andy is bad is if their parents tell them so.</div><div class="msg_body"> </div><div class="msg_body">---------------------------------------------- </div><div class="msg_body"> </div></td></tr>
<tr class="even"><td class="author" id="p004"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=530161"><br />
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king gimpy</a><span class="gamefox-tc-label"> (tc)</span><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:17:27 PM</span><br />
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#004</div></td><td><div class="msg_body">Fuck you Shado, You god damn troll. </div></td></tr>
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<tr class="even"><td class="author" id="p006"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=5981345">Juiceman_Shado</a><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:19:07 PM</span><br />
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#006</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i><strong>From: king gimpy | <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316#p004">#004</a></strong><br />
**** you.</i><br />
So you're just going to ignore the rest of that post? Come on, I was <b>TROLLING</b>... (Like I always do)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="author" id="p007"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=530161">king gimpy</a><span class="gamefox-tc-label"> (tc)</span><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:22:55 PM</span><br />
<a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316/638379428" title="Detail">message detail</a><span class="gamefox-message-links"><br />
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#007</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i><strong><br />
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From: Juiceman_Shado | <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316#p006">#006</a></strong><br />
So you're just going to ignore the rest of that post? Come on, I was kidding...</i><br />
I love how this is your response everytime someone get's bothered at your complete and utter inability to act like a civil human being. Do you have social interaction problems Shado? Because you seem completely unable to go five seconds without saying something insensitive to another human.<br />
<br />
You're like Michael from The Office, except worse because at least his character is written to be funny and a conscious effort is made by a team of writers to make him act that way.<br />
<br />
You're an actual person and yet somehow manage to come off as offensive in most of your interactions with people here.<br />
<span class="gamefox-signature">---<br />
<b>Just remember I will always love you, even as I tear your ****ing throat away.</b></span></div></td></tr>
<tr class="even"><td class="author" id="p008"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=5981345">Juiceman_Shado</a><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:31:32 PM</span><br />
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#008</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i><br />
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I love how this is your response everytime someone get's bothered at your complete and utter inability to act like a civil human being.</i><br />
<br />
Not really, since most of the time it's something religion-related and people just don't like it and claim it's "trolling", even though it is genuine.<br />
<br />
<i>Do you have social interaction problems Shado?</i><br />
<br />
I love how this is your response everytime you get's bothered by my posts.<br />
<br />
<i>Because you seem completely unable to go five seconds without saying something insensitive to another human.</i><br />
<br />
I didn't know being on TV was something horrible. Oops.<br />
<br />
<i>You're an actual person and yet somehow manage to come off as offensive in most of your interactions with people here.</i><br />
<br />
Statistically speaking, no. But I see that you're mad now, so I'll just leave this topic alone before I anger you further. If I thought I really crossed the line here (which I admit, I have done in the past - no one's perfect) I'd say sorry, but I don't think I did so... bye?</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="author" id="p009"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=530161">king gimpy</a><span class="gamefox-tc-label"> (tc)</span><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/28/2010 11:37:39 PM</span><br />
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#009</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i><strong><br />
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From: Juiceman_Shado | <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316#p008">#008</a></strong><br />
Statistically speaking, no. But I see that you're mad now, so I'll just leave this topic alone before I anger you further. If I thought I really crossed the line here (which I admit, I have done in the past - no one's perfect) I'd say sorry, but I don't think I did so... bye?</i><br />
Ah I see, so I can say anything I want towards you and so long as I personally don't feel I've crossed a line (which would be hard to do considering what I think of you as a person), everything I say is just dandy and you have no right to get upset?<br />
<br />
You really see nothing wrong with that train of thought?<br />
<span class="gamefox-signature">---<br />
<b>Just remember I will always love you, even as I tear your ****ing throat away.</b></span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="author" id="p011"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=5468497">JamesB0ndOO7</a><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/29/2010 12:14:02 AM</span><br />
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#011</div></td><td><div class="msg_body">ITT: Gimpy is very, very, very easily trolled.<br />
<span class="gamefox-signature">---<br />
Do you know what an alt is? If you did, you'd know I don't have any right now. ~Shado<br />
<a class="linkification-ext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxDemDZWktM" title="Linkification: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxDemDZWktM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxDemDZWktM</a></span></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="author" id="p013"><div class="msg_stats_left"><a class="name" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/user.php?board=263&topic=57634316&user=2541010">OrangeWizard</a><br />
<span class="gamefox-post-date">Posted 12/29/2010 12:29:12 AM</span><br />
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#013</div></td><td><div class="msg_body"><i><strong>From: Juiceman_Shado | <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/263-religion/57634316#p003">#003</a></strong><br />
Also, isn't your youngest sister still in high school? Can't wait to see her on MTV.</i><br />
You win. So hard. So much.</div></td></tr>
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I have a lot to say about this topic. <br />
<br />
First, Shado is troll incarnate. OW seems to be too. They may not respect me, but I have so little respect for those two, it's not even funny. <br />
<br />
<br />
Second, I two am the only atheist in the family, that I know of, and would love to tell my heavily indoctrinated cousins this and that. I would never just say "there isn't a god" so simply, but I wish I could let them know things aren't so frigging black and white. They are told there IS a god, 100%, which IS a lie, and I'm not allowed to say "Well no, there probably isn't a god."<br />
<br />
It can be infuriating knowing that these kids are being lead down a road, being force fed garbage. I would hate if they turned out to be little pricks like Shado or OW. Unthinking drones. Trolls 4 Jesus. <br />
<br />
But they aren't my kids. The only reason I still get to see them as much as I do is because I haven't opened my mouth. I mean the family even trusts me alone with the kids, which I do appreciate. (Just this Christmas I was the only supervisor while the kids all played Nintendo upstairs, 2 or 3 years ago this would have never been allowed, someone would always be "keeping an eye on me" so to speak, to ensure I didn't say anything.)<br />
<br />
So yeah, it's a terrible situation. With no easy answer. Because every time I see those kids, I just want to tell them that not everyone agree's with them. They go to a private christian elementary school. All I can do is sit and observe, they are smart maybe they'll come around on their own. Or maybe in 50 years I'll still be the only non-believer. <br />
<br />
As for me calling Shado out on his trolling, and OW to a lesser extent for getting off on Shado's trolling, I'm sure they will mark my post. I'm sure they marked Gimpys. I'm sure they'll deny both actions. <br />
<br />
Anyway, good luck. I wish I could give you some answers, but I don't have any. I'm not sure there's much you could do even if you wanted to. Pulling them aside when mom and dad aren't looking and saying "Hey guess what, you're being brainwashed" doesn't fly. You would just be labeled as a "suppressive person" by the family and you'd stop getting invites to the holiday parties. Maybe, I'm pretty sure that I'd only get one shot. After that the kids would say something to someone, the parent's would say "who told you there was no god, that's silly?" then it'd get tracked back to me, and well, then things would get interesting. Things would go back to "watch that damn atheist like a friggin hawk" mode. <br />
<br />
So yeah, I just have to relax and remember that I came out ok. Whatever happens, happens. The future remains a mystery. <br />
<br />
I also want to point out to the mods that Shado and OW weren't even invited to this topic. This was an atheist only topic and they came in specifically to troll it. For what it's worth, I personally have no respect left for either of them. (Not that that was exactly a secret.) So yeah, I'm sure they will mark this post, and some mod will read it. what did they mark it as? Flaming? I'm not flaming at all, I'm stating facts. Shado DID troll Gimpy. This isn't ambiguous. And OW did come in and get off on the successful trolling, rubbing salt in the wound so to speak. Neither of them had any business in this topic. I'm also clearly not trolling. But I'm sure I'll be punished anyway. <br />
<br />
Yay? <br />
<br />
Let's hope it's JUST a 3 karma loss.Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-32060229785338073532010-11-03T12:49:00.000-07:002010-11-03T12:49:00.661-07:00Fuck you Gamefaq's.Seriously. Fuck you.<br />
<br />
Here's what happened. I made a dumb post. It happens. Then I get a 10 karma loss and 2 day "warning" for it.<br />
<br />
That is a severe punishment. For a nothing non-issue.<br />
<br />
So I contested it. And here's the whole thing. <br />
<br />
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">You said on</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">11/3/2010 1:46:50 PM</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><span> </span>Are you serious? Yes it was a silly little off topic post, but 2 days and 10 karma? What the hell? Am I being punished for past crimes or something? Do I have some red flag next to my name that says "Punish this guy severely every time, never just delete his post and let that be that"?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">10 karma and 2 days for an off topic? (That isn't even off-topic by the way) If I had a post that said my guy has a nice looking sword, would that have gotten me a 10 day ban? I was talking about the in game model. (Dies was a typo by the way, I meant to write "does" but eh, it was a dumb post anyway so I just left it. )</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Seriously you guys need to tell me if I'm just not allowed to post anymore, or if there's some mod that's getting off on punishing me for nothing. WHY is this a 10 Karma 2 day suspension? It's just a silly little thing. The kind of post that should either be left alone, or deleted with no karma loss if you really don't want it around.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">So yeah, I'm arguing that my post wasn't off-topic in the first place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">* Unless a board specifically is listed as a social board, you should assume that topicality is enforced. All boards for games on modern systems are topical. When creating a topic, a warning will be displayed to the user reminding them when a board is topical.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">* On a board for a particular game or system, topics should always be related to that game or system in some manner. Topics about users on the board, the board itself, or not about the game or system in any way are clearly off-topic.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">* When a special interest board has been created for a particular topic, discussion of that topic on game boards will normally be considered off-topic. For example, discussion of the current NFL season belongs on the Sports and Racing: Football board, but not on the Madden NFL game board.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">* Creating a topic that does not relate to the game or system and then adding small "on-topic" content to the post does not make the post on-topic. Your entire topic should relate to the game or system in question, not just some small portion of it.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">* The message boards are a public forum, and not meant for private messages between users - topics used for private messages to individuals or groups (even about in-game activities) can be considered off-topic on gaming or special interest boards.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Those are the rules. Point out which I broke.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Let's go through the 5 point by point.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">First point is moot.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Second point, "topics should always be related to that game or system in some manner." My post was, in EVERY manor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Third point is moot.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Fourth point, "Your entire topic should relate to the game or system in question, not just some small portion of it." Check. Entire post is about Warcraft. Nothing else.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">And Point Five, not a private message to a user.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">So therefore, my post is NOT off-topic in the first place. Therefore, there was no crime and ergo, no punishment. Instead, there was no crime, and a severe punishment. I want to know why.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">A Mod/Admin replied on</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">11/3/2010 2:01:10 PM</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span><span style="color: red;">You're not discussing the video game, you made a joke topic about character in game having a nice ass.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">Also you may not dispute based on harshness either, but with a large suspension like that, any minor violation can get you at least warned.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">You said on</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">11/3/2010 2:25:48 PM</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><span> </span>So I AM being unfairly punished severely because I was unfairly punished severely last month on a different board? You're saying that every time I have a post moderated now for any reason, I'll be set to warned and lose 10 karma? Oh I'm sorry, that's the LEAST that can happen.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">I have a lot to say here. Really, I've written and deleted a lot of stuff.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Punishing people because they were punished is stupid. It's horrible. It's evil.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">I shouldn't have gotten the 30 day ban, I said it then and I say it now. I shouldn't have gotten the ban I got just before the 30 day ban either. But that IS off topic, isn't it? So we won't talk about that.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">I was punished, whether or not I was fairly punished (I wasn't) is irrelevant.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">I did my time and now things should go back to normal. I should be able to make silly little posts just like I have for the past 7 or 8 years. I should be able to be an idiot, just like every other user here. I should be allowed to have fun and be stupid. I should be able to make harmless little impulse posts without worrying about getting another friggin ban.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">If any other poster had posted this, it would have just been deleted. But because it was me, this happens. I'm not one to cry persecution, but what am I supposed to conclude here?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;">Take me off your black list and let's get things back to normal. In fact, delete the black list all together. It isn't right to punish people for "crimes" they've already paid for.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">A Mod/Admin replied on</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">11/3/2010 3:25:32 PM</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> <span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: red;">You don't seem to be disputing this moderation, and are instead launching into a rant about a previous suspension that was handled by the site's administrator.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;">I guess we're done here then.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">So really what Can I say? I get another reply but... seriously these guys suck. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Fuck you, you anonymous mod. Fuck you Gamefaq's. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></div>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-53669220421850308282010-10-18T19:34:00.001-07:002010-10-18T19:34:42.622-07:00Calling it now…<span xmlns=''><p>The retard that jumps off the boat is Deathwing. <br /></p><p><br /> </p></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-44814503067308444902010-09-29T01:31:00.000-07:002010-09-29T01:31:47.460-07:00"I wonder what happens when we die"I just saw a movie ad that said that. A few weeks ago it was ""If a person is evil enough can they come back from the dead?"<br />
<br />
Is this really how people think? People are dimwits.<br />
<br />
Another thing, I'm watching Lonestar, enjoying the show, and I find out it's been canceled after 2 episodes. I hate this, knowing that the show won't be resolved. They only filmed 5 episodes, and yeah, bam.<br />
<br />
FOX is terrible about this. <br />
<br />
I watched "The Event" it was really stupid. REALLY stupid. <br />
<br />
"The Whole Truth" was good, I'll watch it if it stays on. <br />
<br />
Chase sort of bored me halfway through. <br />
<br />
I'm just bummed, Lonestar was a pretty good show, I wanted to see how bad things could get...<br />
<br />
Oh well, that's what I get for trying to watch a show on FOX...<br />
<br />
More updates later.Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-48056088778029438532010-09-21T14:43:00.001-07:002010-09-21T14:43:13.345-07:00Suspended again?!<span xmlns=''><p>Ok, fuck this. I'm so sick of GameFAQ's. The Religion board is a joke. I'm not going back there. I'm not even sure I'll still have an account to go back with. I'm done, it's over. I'm not posting there anymore. I said that last time I know, but this time I mean it. I am pissed. <br /></p><p><br /> </p><p>What got me into trouble you ask? This, which I was going to post here anyway. <br /></p><p><br /> </p><p>Here, enjoy. The topic title was originally how to be a well loved poster, but sort of evolved. <br /></p><p><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>1. Barely ever make any topics of your own<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>2. Don't have strong opinions either way, be as close to "True Neutral" as possible. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>3. Say we can't know for sure who's right so everyone's opinions and beliefs are equally valid. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>4. Mock people with strong opinions, as if having conviction instantly makes the person a fool. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>5. Write long pseudo-philosophical posts that don't say much. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>6. Claim to respect everyone's opinions without really expressing any of your own much. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>7. Post news stories and ask for comments, without giving any yourself. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'> Hmm, I'll add more later, and I did delete a lot that were too specific. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>But really, try it yourself. Think of all the people on this board you would consider well liked. Not that you necessarily like them yourself, but you just get the vibe that most people like them. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>From what I've seen, the most well liked people never, ever attack anyone, rarely make interesting topics of their own, if they do make topics they're either dull, or links to news stories where they don't comment themselves. Being neutral doesn't necessarily mean agnostic atheist, agnostic Christians or whatever can be neutral too. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Basically, if you call people out on the foolish things they believe, like I do, you get scorn. If you play flower child hippy, you become popular and well loved. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>I guess I can understand how I got the reputation I have. Attacking religion on the religious board seems like I'm just being a jerk, but in reality, I just want you guys to, stop believing in stuff on faith, that's a good first step. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Take for example the soul. There's no reason to believe a soul exists. None at all. Yet people believe. Why?<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>If I could figure that out... I may finally be able to sleep peacefully at night. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>How can people believe this stuff? They believe Jesus healed by touch. They KNOW no one can do that. Faith healers are ALL con men, it's been documented. So are intermediary's, psychics, fortune tellers, and Ghost Hunters. People believe in mystical healing energy. They pay LARGE amounts of money to lay on a table listening to Enya, and having pretty crystals waved all around them. That makes them feel better. But they're still sick. Their belief that the crystals helped them isn't valid. and I can't have respect for people that believe things like that. When I'm talking to a girl, and for example, she tells me she's a wicca and she believes in astrology, I die a little inside. People really believe the way the planets and stars were aligned when you were born affects things. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>People believe, for some reason, in reincarnation. It's an interesting idea, I'll admit. But, we're still hung up on the soul thing. Everything we know tells us when the brain dies, that's IT. We scan the brain, get people angry and we can see anger nodes light up, make them look at someone they love, love nodes light up. Sociopaths have something wrong with their brains, they aren't possessed by demons. We have no reason to believe demons even exist, do we?<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>And when I ask for proof, you... jokers, you clowns, you hilarious folks... you tell me to prove souls don't exist. You say "you say souls don't exist, prove it!" Like you're some genius. You can't DISPROVE something that doesn't exist, and you don't HAVE to. Well, you shouldn't. The fact that people believe in things with no proof, it mucks up the science. You guys jump right past all your stuff, you jump past the testing and evidence and the double blind studies, to belief. I can't tell you how little I think of people that do that. I can't respect you. I can't act like you're smart when you show no signs of intelligences. You don't get a free pass just for being a human in the modern age, and knowing a few things other people figured out using processes you ignore. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Listen. I know. You hear god talk to you. You see signs of his existence everywhere. You think I'm just stubbornly denying his obvious existence, or maybe I'm blinded from the truth by Satan's forces. Hell I don't know what you think of me honestly. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><br /> </p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>The only real critique I get, is that my writing style is not acceptable, I spell words wrong from time to time, and I'm harsh, or just really aggressive. I've been called an angstheist, although thankfully not lately as that's one of the most annoying insults for some reason. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>And yeah, I am wound up tight about this stuff. For some reason I have a strong urge to bring people into the real world. Maybe it's self-preservation. Being around delusional people is scary. Just sit next to a homeless guy on the bus, who barks and yells at no one, swatting at the air furiously. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>The rules here are something I will never grow to just accept, they aren't fair, everyone knows it now. I'm not in the mood to reiterate that. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>So why do people laugh at me? Because I say things people disagree with? Because I say it "wrong"? <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>I say there's no soul, people demand I prove it, I say there's no evidence that one exists, and I'm told that's not good enough. You guys, and I know I'm generalizing, but that's ridiculous. Pointing out there's no supporting evidence to a claim you guys "have faith in" IS enough. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Then things get mucked up in probability. Or people will say "Well people theorized about atoms before we could see them…". Whatever it takes to justify your irrational beliefs. I never thought I could see so much frigging back bending, you guys are masters I'll give you that, NOTHING, and I mean nothing I can ever say will make you guys resort to using logic and common sense. You do everything you can to avoid actually answering questions. The most popular is shifting the burden of proof. You think "Well I can't prove there's a soul, but HA! He's saying there isn't one, that's an assertive claim, he just grabbed the burden of proof!"<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>No. just no. All I'm doing is pointing out that you never had a right to make the claim in the first place. But the claims were grandfathered in. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>We have sort of a weird take on knowledge. We value the knowledge of our father more than that of our brother. And Grand Fathers and Grand Mothers are thought to be wiser still. And if you're lucky enough to have a Great Grandfather or Great Grandmother, well we value their insight most of all. So I guess we just consider that pattern back, thinking every previous generation gets progressively smarter. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Think of how much admiration and respect is put on the American forefathers for example, then back much farther to the Greek philosophers, they're thought to be the smartest people EVER. So we mistakenly think that you can find answers in what the people of the past believed. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>You can even think that if you go back far enough you'll find people who were around at the very beginning, , but that isn't true. People weren't around when the earth formed. The people of the past looked to the past for wisdom too. Only, now we know that, they were wrong about a LOT of things. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>And we can't let go of their mistakes. We hold onto their crazy guesses with our very lives. People made up the soul. People made up god. People made up devils and angels. People made up EVERYTHING. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Why is that so hard for you people to accept? You know how good our imaginations are! Look how many fantasy worlds and creatures we've created for Elune's sake! <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Self-preservation is one of our strongest drives. We do not want to die. Our entire lives are pretty much "I don't want to die, I don't want my genetics to die". Food, house, money, all survival stuff, and our obsession with romance is to keep the family line going. We want to live. So the idea of us just dying someday, it kills is. We don't want that. We are all going to get sick, or injured and die. Someday our heart will stop beating. Electricity will stop fuzzing around in our heads, and that's it. There's no reason to believe your ghost will continue on without the body, and you'll still be you. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>That's stupid. Do you have any clue how stupid that is? That's not the end of it though, people REALLY put wishful thinking, wish fulfillment into full blast. What if you got brain damaged a week before you died. Would you be brain damaged in the afterlife? What if you went blind 5 years before you died? Lost some limbs?<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Yeah, yay for you, you get to be in your best possible condition! Sucks to be you if you were always fat and born blind. But not everyone believes that. That's the funny thing about belief, there can only be one truth, and everyone thinks THEY have it. In any other situation, you could just figure out the answer. But here, people make stuff up and believe it, then teach it to their kids and tell them they must believe or their soul will regret it. People don't even stop to think "I have a soul?" or "There's a place we can't get to that we go when we die?"<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Maybe people do think that, but not for long. They're told doubts are bad, have more faith, faith is good, faith is good, have more faith, faith is good, faith is good, have more faith, faith is good, faith is good.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Have more faith, faith is good, faith is good. Don't question things, the Pope in infallible, Denying God's Existence is an unpardonable sin, don't even THINK of doing that. Because really, there's no reason to believe, so we have to make you afraid of the punishment you get for not believing. That's why this all revolves around belief, it's the ONE thing they need to keep you roped in. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>They have to get you to believe without questioning WHY you believe. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Seriously, think, WHY do you believe a soul exists? Because someone you trust told you it does? And a book you trust told them, and you that it does? <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>What do you believe, and why?<br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Do you have actual evidence? Do you even care that you don't? You know damn well it's impossible to disprove things that don't exist, and you use that to convince yourself your beliefs are just as valid as those that don't believe. They aren't. At all. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Not only do we have NO REASONS to believe in the soul, but we have many not to. But I'm going in a loop. I just have to reiterate this because, maybe this time it will stick. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Extraordinary claims and beliefs, require extraordinary evidence. Not NONE. You can't just pile on more faith to get over the lack of actual reasons to believe. Hell, some people claim to believe things 100% on faith, and are PROUD of that! I would be humiliated if I believed something I didn't have one actual reason to believe. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>I believe in god because the bible says so, and you have to believe everything in the bible because god wrote it. How do I know god wrote the bible? The bible says so! Why do I believe the bible? Because it's the word of God! How do I know it's the word of God? The bible says so! And that's good enough for me, because who am I to question god, or god's word. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>I know, I know, no one HERE has to resort to circular reasoning. Everyone here believes for good valid reasons. Just like all the people that deconverted did before they realized, they didn't. They realized they didn't have actual reasons. They realize the stories make no sense. They realize there's no evidence. No actual reason to believe. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>So maybe someday you'll look back on the way you think now, and see yourself from my point of view. Someday you'll see that you believed nonsense for no reason. You'll see why people call faith a virus, the worst thing that can ever infect your mind. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>I take no pleasure in knowing there's no afterlife, but I do take great comfort in knowing there's know hell. I know there's no hell like I know there's no Xenomorph in my closet dripping acid on the floor. I know that I will never solve a puzzle box and go to Cenobite land. I know I'll never rub a lamp and find a genie. I know there are no jewels I can attach to a sword to "power it up". I know no one will ever shoot fire from their eyes. I know these things will never happen. Hell doesn't get a free pass. Nothing does. I know there's no soul because there's no reason to believe there is one. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>And yes, culture. I know. Heart and soul. Soul mates. Tainted Soul. Favored Soul. Old Soul, Corrupt Soul, Divine Soul. I know I know. That doesn't mean it actually exists. It just means you're influences by hearing positive reinforcement every day of your life. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Anyway, I'm pretty tired. I'm going to bed. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Forgive any errors, I'm too tired to proofread this. <br /></span></p><p style='background: #b8cce4'><span style='font-size:10pt'>Oh and yeah, this topic sort of evolved, I would go back and fix the beginning, but I'm too tired, I barely made it to the end. <br /></span></p><p style='background: white'><br /> </p><p style='background: white'>So yeah, that got me suspended. I don't care anymore. Seriously, I don't. I have the blog now, I'll write here. I don't have any readers yet, but I'll get some. <br /></p><p style='background: white'>My account will likely be suspended for at least a month, if not longer. So I'll have a lot of free time to post here. I've got a lot of work to do on this place anyway. <br /></p><p style='background: white'>So yeah, wanted to post this. I feel better. I'm still annoyed. For so many reasons, but, I'll be ok. I just won't ever post there again. Maybe I'll link to here, but I don't even know. <br /></p><p style='background: white'>All my late night long winded rants will be here from now on. But hey, I went out with a bang. And well, maybe I'll get my account back some day. When you're suspended, they don't tell you for how long right away, they have to review things. <br /></p><p style='background: white'>I'll keep you all updated. <br /></p></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-14675531176827965312010-09-20T23:13:00.001-07:002010-09-20T23:14:57.770-07:00Ok, now I’m pissed<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<span xmlns="">Forgive this posts rushed nature I want to get this out before I calm down. <br />
</span><br />
<span xmlns="">On a message board I frequent (But am strongly considering abandoning) I just saw a topic that seriously pissed me off. It said:<br />
</span><br />
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><b>There's a special place in hell for Christoher Hitchens when he gets there<br />
</b></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I have no problem with people being atheist, but this guy is a grade A d-bag.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><b>Silver Screemer: (me)<br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Wow, this topic is...<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ok so we're allowed to say:<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Hell exists.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">And a popular author is going there.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But we're not allowed to say there is no hell and you're a horrible person for taking joy in what you perceive to be someones eternal damnation?<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I have a problem with you TC. This topic is abysmal on so many levels, and you don't even see it.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">You're not going to an afterlife when you die, you'll rot in the ground, just like all the people you hate so much. That's reality. Deal with it.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">If you get to declare that people you don't like are going to suffer for all time, and beyond, in an especially vile part of hell just for him, surely I can tell you what's actually going to happen to you when you die, right?<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Right?<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""> </span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Yeah.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Heh, sorry your post just rubbed me the wrong way.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(253, 233, 217);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I don't have a great love for Hitchens, I just know that you probably feel the same about me than you do about him. (And if you didn't before you do now I'm sure)<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Yeah I know I probably broke the rules for saying there's no hell but fuck it. That post seriously annoyed me. And it's not JUST that, it's all the smug arrogance Christians, and maybe all religious people have, although some claim (and maybe actually possess) humility. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The whole "ha ha you're going to hell, my daddy's going to punish you for being different than me" mentality is fucking annoying. Worse than the "I'll pray for you" thing. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Why is it so bad? Well for starters, it takes for granted that they ARE right, it skips the debate and declares them the winners before anything is even said. Everything they believe is true, no question about it. Then, after they "established" that there is a Hell, they pass judgment on someone themselves. They then take delight in the sinners punishment. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This has ALWAYS been the point of hell. People don't talk about it much anymore, but that the "Saved" could sit in heaven and watch the damned suffer for all time, was a huge part of the appeal of heaven. People will deny this of course, but actions speak louder than words. Without even thinking Christians constantly take solace that "people will get their punishment". They would be UPSET if they found out everyone went to heaven. They refuse to accept that possibility. THEY are going to heaven, and the people different than them are going to hell. They refuse to believe people have different sexual desires than they do (Or even worse, the same, only they're pissed off they have to repress theirs). They are disgusted by people who can enjoy "secular media". People think "Look at that guy, sure he's having fun now, but I'll be rewarded for my conservative ways, and he'll be punished for his "sins".<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I want to point out that sins don't exist. They're like laws, but sometimes stupid. Ok, ok, often stupid. (Often is more than sometimes right?) <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ok well I put on Nick Cave and now I'm calm. (The Boatman's Call, to be specific, just one of his amazing albums) So yeah. I just had to get this out. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I'm sure some readers will declare me hellbound. I have a lot of anger towards religion and specifically Christianity. I know being an atheist technically free's me from caring about this stuff, I know I'm above it all. But I still care about people, a lot. It's quite a dilemma. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I don't want people to be stupid and believe foolish nonsense for illogical reasons. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ok well, this one's done. </span></span></div><span xmlns=""></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-10096165337688887332010-09-20T21:05:00.001-07:002010-09-20T21:05:57.483-07:00This is the backstory. For those that care.<span xmlns=''><p>Basically the backstory is, I used to post on the GameFAQ's religion board. I'm not really planning on doing that much anymore, so I'll do it here. I'm not going to muck up the first post of the blog going on and on about this, but the rules for that forum aren't fair. They've admitted as much. Here's a quote from a high ranking GM:<br /></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>Moderation Detail for Silver Screemer<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Message detail: <br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>But seriously, there isn't a god. That's why you can't find him. <em><span style='background-color:white'>(This is the post that got me into trouble)</span><br /> </em></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>Moderation Information<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Deleted: 9/5/2010 2:06:07 PM<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Reason: Trolling<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Status: Upheld by Lead - This moderation has been upheld by a Lead Moderator as a TOS violation. You may not appeal any additional moderations until this moderation clears from the system after 30 days.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Moderation Reason - Trolling<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Trolling (Inciting Flames) - Messages intended solely to annoy and/or offend other users by going against the clear nature of a board, topic or chat room are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to: provoking other users to respond with flames; provoking fans of a particular system or game, especially on boards or topics dedicated to that system or game; making misleading topic titles; asking obviously useless questions; posting false information as fact; and using another user's quote in your signature without permission.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt; text-decoration:underline'><strong>Dispute Messages<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>You said:<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'> What I said was 100% true, what's the problem here?<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>A Mod/Admin replied:<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'> Its your opinion but you are stating it as fact and not backing up your claims with why you think there is no god. Plus saying there is no god on such a board like that is just provoking people.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>You said:<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'> So are people that say there defiantly IS a God, "trolling" to? I'm just curious.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>A Mod/Admin replied:<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'> If there was an atheist board and someone went there to make posts and topics stating flat-out that there *was* a god, then that'd be considered trolling, yes. If someone on the religion board posted saying there *was* a god, or if someone there just stated that they either believed or didn't believe in a god..? That would seem fine to me - the former is in keeping with the subject of the board, the latter is personal opinion. One kind of trolling is "going against the clear nature of a board," especially when you do so by insisting that your opinion is fact, or is more valid than anyone else's opinion, and even more so when you do so repeatedly on a board, even when it's been made clear by other users that you're annoying them.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt; text-decoration:underline'><strong>Dispute Not Allowed<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: white'><br /> </p><p style='background: white'>Ok so as you can see, the rules aren't fair. (I'll link to another post detailing the topic later, the link will be right here, when it's done)<br /></p><p style='background: white'>Just for fun, let's see what got me a 7 day suspension. Must have been really horrible right?<br /></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Moderation Detail for Silver Screemer<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Message detail:<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>You all know I'm a skeptic, but even I can't explain this miracle. It MUST have been divine intervention. Well here's the vid:<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AlhaJF5Afw<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>As you can in the video see, God clearly granted this kid his Shiny Ponyta, after only 25,968 tries.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Bless his holy name, God is love!<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><br /> </p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt; text-decoration:underline'><strong>Moderation Information<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Action: 7-Day Suspension - This message was deleted from the boards, there was a 15 karma point penalty, and the user's account was suspended for 7 days.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Reason: Trolling<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Status: N/A - No user-initiated action has been taken on this moderation.<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'>Moderation Reason - Trolling<br /></span></p><p style='background: #d9d9d9'><span style='font-size:9pt'><strong>Dispute Not Allowed<br /></strong></span></p><p style='background: white'><br /> </p><p>Anyway, these are just two of many. I'm not getting my account banned, because some mod has a chip on his shoulder for Jesus. <br /></p></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6355616419399891093.post-6562843160653422282010-09-20T20:57:00.001-07:002010-09-20T21:17:28.112-07:00First Blog post, I’ll try to start with a bang. (No not THAT bang, I’ll do that later)<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<span xmlns=""><br />
</span><br />
<span xmlns="">Ok, so, this is my first blog post. This blog will be about a lot of stuff. Here's my <a href="http://silverscreemer.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-is-backstory-for-those-that-care.html">backstory</a>. </span><br />
<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Since I'm no longer tied to the boards decree that we stay "on topic", there will be many different topics, from comic books, to movies, to video games, and all sorts of other topics. The main focus will be religion, because well, it's a big interest of mine. I'm a strong atheist, I believe there is no god. I also believe there are no:<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Souls, Ghosts, Goblins, Dragons, Fairies, Demons, Angels, Afterlives, Spirits, "Energy", Chi, Auras, Karma, Fate, Luck, Destiny, Unicorns (Invisible Pink, and otherwise), Miracles, Psychics, Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, Rapture, Divine Healing, and I'll add to the list later if I think of anything else. I'm sure there's some pretty obvious stuff missing. And before you say it, no I'm not "closed minded", I'm open to changing my mind on an one of these things, if convincing evidence is provided. I am very proud to say I take nothing on faith. (And I will be writing about why I hate faith so much. Stay tuned for that. )<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""> </span><br />
<span xmlns="">One worry I have is that I won't update frequently enough. I think if my writing is adequate, and what I say is explained in a way that makes it clear why I think what I think, and the readers are open minded, I'll get some readers. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think no one would ever want to read it. Wait... I WOULDN'T be doing this if I DIDN'T think NO ONE would ever want to read it. Yeah I think I need to get rid of that didn't. I wouldn't be doing this if I thought no one would ever read it. Yeah, perfect. As you can see I'm hesitant to press the backspace button, sometimes I think it's more amusing to just keep going and deal with your mistakes. If you guys disagree, tell me and I'll do more thorough editing. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br />
<span xmlns="">So yeah, let's get started on the first topic, Jesus! <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br />
<span xmlns="">Jesus is a mythological figure, like Hercules or Thor, who people insist really existed. I do plan to delve into the historical stuff later, but this post is going to be about the story itself, and how ridiculously stupid it is. I'm going to talk about the birth, the death, the "sacrifice" he made, and the followers (then and now). It is my first post, so I may as well kick it off talking about (one of) the Son(s) of (one of the) God(s)! So without farther adieu, let's start this party with a bang. (No, not THAT bang, I'll do the Big Bang later)<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">So, the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">story</span> myth of Jesus. (I'm going to sort of do the cliff notes version of this, maybe I'll expand on stuff later. Also, I'm going to do my best not to "misrepresent" the story. I won't be calling Mary a goblin queen (even though you can't PROVE she wasn't one) or anything like that, this time. I will be posting my personal spins on events of the Bible later though, starting with my famous reinterpretation of the book of Joshua in "Joshua vs. the Space Aliens".) So yeah, the <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">story</span> myth of Jesus is a popular tale, many little kids know all the important stuff by heart. I'm tempted to just Google "The story of Jesus" and see what it gets me… eh ok I'll do it. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The Story of Jesus . org<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Welcome to the Story of Jesus<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The Story of Jesus is the greatest story ever told. It is the true story of Jesus' life and death, what he did and what he taught. It is a story that calls us to respond to the question, "Who is Jesus?"<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This story comes from the fourth book in the New Testament, the second half of the Bible. It is traditionally called "The Gospel of John" because one of Jesus' followers named John wrote it.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">You are invited to read the story for yourself. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Thank you for reading His story.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Wow the greatest story ever told eh? Better than Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin or Batman vs. the Joker? Better than Half-Life 2 and Deus Ex? Better than the Lord of the Rings or Back to the Future? (Sadly the joke deteriorates after 3 examples, I could go on for hours giving examples of stories I think are better.) So yeah, "they" call it the greatest story ever told, I dispute that claim. So this site selects one of the 4 gospels and that's that. Maybe not the greatest example, but they're first on Google. <br />
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<span xmlns="">Oh excuse me, that was just the title page, there is more here, I'll post their summary unedited:<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"><b>Summary of the Story of Jesus<br />
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</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">John was one of Jesus' best friends. Before meeting Jesus, he and his brother James worked for their father Zebedee in the fishing business. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> One day Jesus came by and called John to follow him. John left his nets and for the next three and a half years listened to all that Jesus taught. <br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">He soon became convinced that Jesus was far more than just another man, that he was God himself. He wrote this story so that you and I would come to believe the same.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> As the story begins you will meet another John, not the author. This is John the Baptist who came to prepare the way for Jesus.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> John the disciple stayed with Jesus to the very end. When his master hung dying on the cross John was there. In that poignant moment it was John to whom Jesus assigned the care of his mother.<br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">John lived a long and full life. Toward the end of his life he ran into trouble for preaching the message of his good friend Jesus. <br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> The authorities banished him to Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea, and it was there that he wrote Revelation, the last book in the New Testament.<br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">Along with John's Gospel and his three additional letters (called Epistles), these books provide a unique insight into not only the story of Jesus but also God's eternal plan for mankind.<br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> Let your imagination take you back to the first century world where the man Jesus, an apparently simple Galilean carpenter, moves into the religious setting of his day, teaches the way of love, challenges the practices of the religious leaders and raises such hostility that before long he is put to death as a blasphemer and rebel. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">But the story does not end there. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(251, 212, 180);"><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> But let John be your narrator. He was there when it all happened and will tell you the story in his own words.<br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> The original story was written in the Greek language. What you are about to read is the same story, but put into contemporary English and told as a first-person account. Where John uses the pronoun "we/us/our" he is referring to himself and the other disciples.<br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;"> Before each new section there is a short introduction to the story that follows. These comments are in blue and are not part of the Bible. </span></span><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 9pt;">References, such as "(3:1-15)" refer to the chapter (3) and verses (1-15) of this passage in the Bible.<br />
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</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Ok I'm honestly starting to think I picked a target that was to easy. This particular "The story of Jesus" website, despite having the name, seems to be more about how awesome John is. Now I'm not going to invest time reading all the content of the site (although there doesn't seem to be all too much of it). They did say that the above text is "the greatest story ever told" though, so we'll go with that. I just find it hilarious that in a summary about the story of Jesus, they jump right into "John was…". Seems like they should start with "Jesus was...", but what do I know, I don't have any divine inspiration. <br />
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<span xmlns="">The summery says John was an uneducated fisherman who "left his nets" and went to follow Jesus around for 3.5 years. Then John was convinced Jesus was God, and wrote the story, to convince other's that Jesus was God. (I'm going to assume that's what happened because the quoted text says so, we have no way of knowing if John had an agenda, but the Text above suggests he did, so I'll go with that). So this says he had an agenda, to convince us Jesus was God. That means he may have embellished the events a tad. I'm sure he never downplayed Jesus' greatness. So these guys just assume everything John wrote was true "because he was there and wrote it in his own words". It's so tempting to go off on a rant about how we can't just believe things, because someone said so, especially supernatural things. <b>Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. </b>Then it goes on and on about John, man I really picked a bad source. So screw it, I'm doing this on my own. Besides, any website I pick will be under the "No true Scotsman" scrutiny situation. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">So yeah, this website got me distracted from my main point, Jesus never died. I know I'm spoiling my huge twist ending right from the start, but after all the dilly-dallying, I need a hook to keep you guys reading. I'll explain what I mean in due time. <br />
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<span xmlns="">The story of Jesus starts at "creation". (I'll get into this fiasco in more detail at a later time.) What we're expected to believe is this: <br />
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<span xmlns="">God always existed, don't question that. One "day" he decided to make all of existence. He eventually made Earth and People, (along with everything else, but that's for a later time). Adam was lonely (shows God's lack of foresight) so God made Eve. Adam and Eve were told not to eat from a special tree of knowledge. A talking snake(?) then tricked Eve into eating the fruit, and she was like, "Hey not being stupid is awesome, I want Adam to be smart too!" So she ran to Adam and convinced her to eat. He ate and then God found out and was pissed. I really want to get side tracked and go on about how stupid this is, but this is about Jesus. I promise I'll do it soon. <br />
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<span xmlns="">We'll now fast forward a bit. God is angry Adam and Eve ate the fruit, either literally or metaphorically. (And if it WAS metaphorical I'm curious as to what actually happened.) He demands blood sacrifice and makes a lot of evil rules. Demands his followers march around killing, raping, and pillaging. (I'll get to it I swear). God sends down fireballs, turns a woman to salt, kills countless babies, enhances a horn to destroy a city with sound waves, and Floods the entire planet, killing everything. Fast forward to Mary and Joseph. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Mary is a virgin, at least that's the translation we're told is accurate. We really have no way of knowing if she had sex. We have to just take the stories word for it, for the story to continue we have to say she was one. The first thing we have to take on "faith". So Mary and Joseph were told to travel to Bethlehem, for a census. (Ok that's plausible at least, although I've heard it argued that that never happened. I'm not getting into the historical stuff now though.) Mary is pregnant with Jesus, God's baby. We're told Joseph believes this because he saw an angel. If that's true, then ok, more power to him, but why should <b>I</b> believe it? I didn't see him seeing the angel, hell I don't even believe angels EXIST. So as far as I'm concerned the story of Jesus is impossible before it even starts. I can conclude right here that it never happened. Like if you told me about the time George Washington flew around like Superman, only nobody saw him but you. I wouldn't even need to give it any thought. I would know immediately that it never happened. You wouldn't have any evidence, and we know people can't just pick up and fly around like that. So why does all this religious stuff get a free pass? I don't know, it annoys me to no end though, all the stupid bullshit people believe.<br />
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<span xmlns="">Continuing on, we finally make it to the manager, and I'm skipping past so much, I know. I guess I'm worried about this being too long. Personally I love long posts. Writing and reading them, but I know not everyone does. I think it's already long but, well I can either edit it or do other articles on specific things and link to them. Jesus is born and everyone's happy. (Except the king because we need an antagonist to every story.) Jesus' life is well, far too detailed to skim over, I'll devote a full post to it, at another time. (May be a bit, I want to re-read all the relevant stuff first). <br />
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<span xmlns="">So here we are at Jesus' death. The story goes; Jesus died for our sins, paid the ultimate price, the ultimate expression of God's love to us. This is absolutely stupid, one of, if not <b>the</b> stupidest stories of all time. It doesn't hold up to one fraction of a second of thought. There are so many ways I could point this out. I think the simplest is the best:<br />
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<span xmlns="">God sacrifices himself, to himself, to force himself to forgive "sins" that we were born with, because Adam and Eve ate some fruit. It gets worse than that but it's already imbecilic enough as is. So the real question is, why couldn't God just forgive us, what did Jesus' death actually do? Well as a kid, I was told that when Jesus died on the cross he went to hell for 3 days, and had a boxing match with Satan. He won the match, and then we got the chance to go to heaven. (I swear this is what I was told, I'm not making this up. They even had a song about it and everything. )<br />
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<span xmlns="">So Jesus "dies" on the cross. I say "dies" because that's the word everyone uses. According to the story he never ceased to be or anything, it's not like for 3 days there wasn't a Jesus. He just went somewhere for 3 days, either heaven, hell, purgatory, or somewhere else. <br />
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<span xmlns="">Then he goes back to his body, it comes back to life, he shows people he's alive again, then he floats away. The way I see it, he didn't DIE. Death is nonexistence. Christians don't believe in death. (Well some do, but only for the unsaved). So when did he die? When he was on the cross? How is what he did a sacrifice? What did he sacrifice? His inferior human husk? The word death in the context of "Jesus died on the cross for our sins, that's the ultimate expression of love!" is… not accurate at all. It's some sort of vocabularial emotional manipulation. When we hear the word 'death", we naturally think of actual death. Ceasing to exist in any form. Here let me post the definition:<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;"><b>Death<br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">–noun <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">1. the act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. Compare <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brain+death"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">brain death</span></a>. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">2. an instance of this: a death in the family; letters published after his death. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">3. the state of being dead: to lie still in death. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">4. extinction; destruction: It will mean the death of our hopes. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">5. manner of dying: a hero's death. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">6. (usually initial capital letter ) the agent of death personified, usually represented as a man or a <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skeleton"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">skeleton</span></a> carrying a scythe. Compare <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Grim+Reaper"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">Grim Reaper</span></a>. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">7. Also called spiritual death. loss or absence of spiritual life. <br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228);"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt;">8. Christian Science . the false belief that life comes to an end. <br />
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</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Wow, I used both Dictionary.com and merriam-webster.com, they both gave me the same results, so I'll go with them, oddly enough the "Christian Science" thing was on in both. I guess I'll get to that at another time. My point is, the definition we think of when we hear "death" doesn't apply to what happened to Jesus. I don't think any Christian would ever say it did. They would never say "When Jesus died on the cross it was the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions" since his body is apparently, not vital to his continued existence. Jesus, in the story, had no need for his human body. He had a better one waiting for him the second he was done with his human form. Then he jumped back into his body and did some more things. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">Even if the story WAS true, it still makes no god damn sense. You would have to be an imbecile to believe this shit. (Yes I swore, get over it you alarmist Christian dunderheads, your fucking censorship makes me sick, but that's a topic for another day)<br />
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<span xmlns="">Sorry to be so harsh, I try to stay mellow and calm, but this story is… nonsense of the highest caliber. To believe the story is true, fuck, I just don't know how anyone could swallow it. One has to accept so many things that we know aren't true. We know people can't come back from the dead, especially from a cross execution. Do you know what HAPPENS when you're on a cross like that? Your lungs liquefy. <br />
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<span xmlns="">(While I was looking for some detailed data on what happens when you die, I found a Christian website. Yeah I know I should have expected it, but Christians are some of the dumbest fucking idiots. This shit gets me so missed off, maybe I'll do a rant on this website, I'm still looking for recurring features, maybe I can critique religious sites? I doubt I'd be able to stand it though.)<br />
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<span xmlns="">Anyway, here's what happens when you're crucified:<br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228); margin-left: 36pt;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;">When the legs are relaxed, the person's weight is supported on the bones of the wrist pressing down on spikes between the bones of the forearm. This causes, forgive the expression, excruciating pain. When the victim can no longer endure it, he can't help trying to stand up. This tears through the tissues of his feet, and as he rises, his lacerated back scrapes along the rough wood of the cross.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228); margin-left: 36pt;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;">The intense agony and the eventually open wounds lead to dehydration and terrible thirst.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228); margin-left: 36pt;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;">The pleurum -- and possibly the lungs -- gradually fills with fluid, and eventually the heart is compressed.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(184, 204, 228); margin-left: 36pt;"><span xmlns=""><span style="font-size: 8pt;">As the victim weakens, his struggles lessen, and the accumulation of fluid accelerates until finally the heart cannot beat any longer or no longer has the strength to do so.<br />
</span></span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">So his lungs were liquefied, his body was destroyed, unsalvageable. But I guess that just makes it a better miracle right? Ugh, I'll get to miracles later. I know I keep saying that but this is the first post. I can only do so much at a time yah know? I'm tired and dizzy and pissed off now. It seriously angers me how people can be so stupid. This is just the beginning. I hope you religious people stick with me, I know you won't, but I can't sugar coat this stuff. I can't stay passive. I can't, I seriously care to much. People ask me why I care, I don't know, I just, hate living in a world full of people that believe god damn ridiculous things. <br />
</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span xmlns="">I</span><br />
<span xmlns="">'ll probably edit this down the road, but I just want to put it up now, be done with it, for now anyway. I hope I inspired you to think. That's my goal here. <br />
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</span></div><span xmlns=""></span>Silver Screemerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01095926425824019641noreply@blogger.com0