The culture war continues...

April 13, 2005 2:24 AM

An antidote to theocracy - A celebration of rational thought over government-sponsored, populist ignorance, religious tolerance over an encroaching theocracy, it's just one more salvo in the constantly shifting culture war within America.
posted by AlexReynolds (44 comments total)

Here we go again...
posted by ninthart at 2:35 AM on April 13, 2005

some salvos go "dud." so do links where reg is required and the first five bugmenot's are out of date. my sentiments are with you though.
posted by trinarian at 3:18 AM on April 13, 2005

How 'bout them Reich Wing evangelical zealots. May the rapture take them away.
posted by whittenb2 at 4:19 AM on April 13, 2005

my sentiments are with you though.

Well, of course. Why do you think he posted this? Groupthink is such fun.
*looks forward to 500 variants of "There is no god! People who believe in god are dum!!," with perhaps a guest appearance by konolia*
posted by languagehat at 6:34 AM on April 13, 2005

"Culture War," is a stupid distraction proffered by the right to divide people over trivial matters while they screw us all. And the left are complete schmucks for buying into it.
posted by jonmc at 6:47 AM on April 13, 2005

And the left are complete schmucks for buying into it.
Is that a bit of humor there, jon? I mean, you'd have to be buying into something yourself to categorize people as lefty schmucks, right?
posted by boo_radley at 7:16 AM on April 13, 2005

the dilution of discourse through disinformation or dogmatic distraction undermines the mechanisms which allow of societies to modulate novelly/effectively.

which disinformation?
which dogma?
you pick.

alliteration sucks, too.
posted by jungturk at 7:17 AM on April 13, 2005

uh, grammar sucks, too.
posted by jungturk at 7:18 AM on April 13, 2005

Wow, superclever links to the homepages of Fox ("populist"), the National Day of Prayer ("ignorance"), and Reason Magazine ("rational thought"). An excellent way to support unique views we have never seen on Metafilter with insightful links.
posted by blahblahblah at 7:26 AM on April 13, 2005

boo radley, by tacitly agreeing that there's some kind of clearly dilineated, binary "cultural war," going on (the truth is more complex) is to let them dictate the terms of engagement, which is a big mistake, IMHO.
posted by jonmc at 7:29 AM on April 13, 2005

"Culture War," is a stupid distraction proffered by the right to divide people over trivial matters while they screw us all. And the left are complete schmucks for buying into it.

the "culture war" is right's new and improved version of the left's old and worn out "class war."

the screw is a common denominator.
posted by three blind mice at 7:38 AM on April 13, 2005

with perhaps a guest appearance by konolia

konolia doesn't live here anymore, languagehat. :(
posted by sciurus at 7:43 AM on April 13, 2005

*plays "All The Way From Memphis," in elegy*
posted by jonmc at 7:45 AM on April 13, 2005

konolia doesn't live here anymore

Can't imagine why.
posted by dhoyt at 8:00 AM on April 13, 2005

Best of the...?
posted by klangklangston at 8:06 AM on April 13, 2005

Why do we need a National Day of Prayer? I my mind Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and the Fourth of July take care of it.
posted by The Infamous Jay at 8:15 AM on April 13, 2005

Excellent! Two superb posts in a row!

Since this website has become, for the most part, nothing more than a daily list of pet issues that certain users are outraged about, it's nice to see that today we can discuss our collective and unified outrage about the lack of gay acceptance and our hostility to Christians. This should be fertile new grounds for "me-too"ing.
posted by dios at 8:24 AM on April 13, 2005

it's nice to see that today we can discuss our collective and unified outrage about the lack gay acceptance and our hostility to Christians

And, of course, it's wonderful to realize that the fine folks here have figured out that the way to promote gay acceptance is to be hostile to Christians, one of the largest and most powerful voting blocks in the United States. I am aghast at their political acumen.
posted by unreason at 8:28 AM on April 13, 2005

Atheism and Humanism are by far the most hateful and intolerant of all religions. This post is proof of that.
posted by rocket88 at 8:30 AM on April 13, 2005

dios - you know, if you don't like it, you can leave.

Atheism and Humanism are by far the most hateful and intolerant of all religions.

That's the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard.
posted by bshort at 8:33 AM on April 13, 2005

dios - you know, if you don't like it, you can leave.

Isn't that semantically the same as when the right-wingers tell you that if you don't like something about America that you should leave?
posted by unreason at 8:37 AM on April 13, 2005

Oh, and Alex, not your best post. Which is odd, considering that just yesterday I was looking at some of your past posts and thinking how good they generally are.
posted by unreason at 8:39 AM on April 13, 2005

This should be fertile new grounds for "me-too"ing.

with a little bit of your usual nay-saying thrown in for spice? You wanna disagree with things dios, that's fine, but at least try to come up with something substantive or failing that, original, because as of right now, you're as predictable as any zealot you denounce.
posted by jonmc at 8:41 AM on April 13, 2005

I love how the National Day of Reason coincides with Cinco de Mayo :P
posted by kimba at 8:58 AM on April 13, 2005

Atheism and Humanism are by far the most hateful and intolerant of all religions. This post is proof of that.

That's the dumbest fucking thing i've ever heard.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:08 AM on April 13, 2005

For what it's worth all the religious flag-waving nonsense going on in this country now is, I think, creating a new generation of atheists and agnostics. Perhaps a few converts to Islam as well.
I think the national day of reason is a great idea (oh, and 'me too').
posted by mk1gti at 9:47 AM on April 13, 2005

Atheism and Humanism are by far the most hateful and intolerant of all religions.

::head explodes::
posted by unsupervised at 10:34 AM on April 13, 2005

That's the dumbest fucking thing i've ever heard.


I'm just going by personal experience. The only people I've ever met, online or off, who openly and regularly call other people stupid, misguided, and ignorant because of their religious beliefs are atheists.
posted by rocket88 at 10:34 AM on April 13, 2005

There are those atheists who are as dogmatic and narrow about thier nonbelief as fundies are about their belief, but it would be terribly unfair to characterize all atheists that way.

I think the National Day Of Reason seems to be run by such atheists, though- the type that meet in clubs to talk about how dumb religion is and to celebrate their nonbelief and misuse the word "humanist." The National Day of Prayer is a bad idea, and possibly illegal, but a National Day of Reason is worse because its goal (to persuade Americans that the National Day of Prayer is a bad idea) is not very served by insulting the very people whom it seeks to persuade.
posted by eustacescrubb at 10:58 AM on April 13, 2005

"and this post proves it" ??? Huh?
posted by belling at 11:12 AM on April 13, 2005

The only people I've ever met, online or off, who openly and regularly call other people stupid, misguided, and ignorant because of their religious beliefs are atheists.

I don't think my calling the National Day of Prayer folks ignorant is out of line, given that they — and our President — ignore any non-Christian, non-monotheist faith. At worst, their ignorance of other religions than their own is willful and therefore intolerant. Only calling this a display of ignorance is letting the NDP fundies off easy. I never called anyone stupid and misguided, either.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:13 AM on April 13, 2005

Rocket: What about people who think that God hates you and you're going to hell? That seems less hateful than calling someone stupid for believing in a great sky father?
(And for the record, I both believe in God and have no problem saying that your comment was moronic at best. But hey, maybe I'm the exception to the rule.)
posted by klangklangston at 11:20 AM on April 13, 2005

rocket88, what should people say about other people's religious beliefs that are stupid, misguided and ignorant?
posted by sineater at 12:12 PM on April 13, 2005

God (dios) doesn't like this post. But then, God would approve of theocracy I suppose.
posted by nofundy at 12:17 PM on April 13, 2005

The only people I've ever met, online or off, who openly and regularly call other people stupid, misguided, and ignorant because of their religious beliefs are atheists.

Come join me at my Christian college. I've been called all of those, as well as in danger of hellfire.

But still, Alex, what happened here? This post is below you.
posted by NickDouglas at 12:37 PM on April 13, 2005

Sorry, clarification: I've been called stupid, misguided, and ignorant, as well as sinful, evil, uncontrollable, giving into my worst nature, etc. -- for renouncing Christianity and becoming an atheist.

Any faith large enough to have followers is large enough to have hateful followers. Good Christians know it, good atheists know it, good Wiccans...
posted by NickDouglas at 12:40 PM on April 13, 2005

"Hateful" is fundie code for "even the teensiest bit doubtful about this whole fundamentalist takeover."

A comic makes a joke about xtians? "Hateful."

A columnist alludes to the eschatological wishful thinking underlying the war in Iraq? "Hateful."

I have a good long chuckle about the rapture-ready dorks? "Hateful."
posted by telstar at 1:01 PM on April 13, 2005

turning people to salt? "Not Hateful"
rampant smiting? "Not Hateful"
burnin' the spirit into folks? "Not In The Least Bit Hateful"
posted by jungturk at 1:10 PM on April 13, 2005

Celebrating reason and analytical thought? "Hateful."
posted by bshort at 1:14 PM on April 13, 2005

rocket88 said: "The only people I've ever met, online or off, who openly and regularly call other people stupid, misguided, and ignorant because of their religious beliefs are atheists."

I'm going to go ahead and say that you're flat out lying, here. You've never heard a christian (or even a non-atheist) call someone stupid? Is that because you only know atheists? Liar.

Now, I've heard the following words used by all kinds of people, but here is a list of words that I've heard used by christians (and mostly baptists and catholics at that, but not exclusively) so much more so than any other group that I'm tempted to believe they have a special fondness for them:

stupid, evil, ignorant, faggot, nigger, kyke, wop, dyke, sinner, towel-head.

All of those are used by christians (that I know) more than all the other religious groups combined. Online or Off.
posted by shmegegge at 2:06 PM on April 13, 2005

I've got teh Xtianity and I call various people dumbfucks on a daily basis. That is all.
posted by sciurus at 3:16 PM on April 13, 2005

I know, I know, I know.....you'll pray for me in your inimitable, condescending way. Thanks a fucking lot.
posted by whittenb2 at 3:34 PM on April 13, 2005

shmegegge: now that you've called me a liar, please go back and read the very words you quoted...especially the words "because of their religious beliefs".
I was dismayed by Alex's link to the National Day of Prayer attached to the word "ignorance", and assumed he was calling anyone who prays ignorant (an all-too common occurence among my fellow non-believers). His explanation clears this up a bit, but I still question his assertion that this is a Christian-only event. As I understand it, the National Day of Prayer, as enacted by Congress, is non-denominational. You can pray to God, Allah, Vishnu, Gaia, or Cthulhu.
It wasn't my intention to troll (I really don't have the time to engage in a lengthy debate here), I just wanted to point out what I saw as intolerance. If I went a bit far in making my point, I apologize.
posted by rocket88 at 5:53 PM on April 13, 2005

You can pray to God, Allah, Vishnu, Gaia, or Cthulhu.

But not L. Ron Hubbard. We have to draw the line somewhere.
posted by jonmc at 6:24 PM on April 13, 2005