Running to Mommy

B-but that's an abomination!

You haven't met the minimum requirements of hate for the world yet. Please come back when you have and we will consider your membership for Angerland.

Of which there hasn't been any in this thread.

I believe you've misspelled my name, Eggy.

coco

Oh, I dunno, I have a fair amount of hate for the world! My weak spot is probably my tolerance for other people's beliefs and lifestyles. I'm ashamed to say that my rl best friend is a Jehovah's Witness! Imagine! And me an atheist darwinist type. I'm a disgrace to my kind, I know.

Admittedly my best friend and I don't talk about religion or science

That's just INSANE.

Edit to add: is anyone else seeing the hypocrisy here? Why does this always happen to Ulrika's threads? Must be awesome having tunnel vision. Makes the world seem so much more simple.

Y'all really don't get it. That would be an act of theatrical rebellion, and Ulrika would love it.

Ironic that you should bring this up in this particular context. You do know who burned the library and why, right? It was destroyed because of Chrisitian persecution of the Pagans when Theophilus ordered all the Pagan temples in the city be destroyed. The intellectual darkness that continues to this day is the direct result of religion. Specifically, Christianity. What happened in Alexandria is only one small example.

There are few relics from that time that serve as a better allegory to what religion has visited on mankind than Archimedes Palimpsest. It contains the only surviving copy of his Method For Mechanical Theorems and the only copy in the original Greek of On Floating Bodies in which he explored the physics of floatation and specific gravity. Palimpsests are books that have been covered over and reprinted with something else. Usually religious texts.



Some of the mathematics presented in Archimedes work were not rediscovered for nearly two thousand years.

There is no subject in all of human history that NEEDS to be debated and examined with a critical eye more than religion. The cultural taboo that causes anyone speaking harshly about religion to be shouted down and written off as an affront to polite society is nothing but a continuation of the same dark age taboos that caused so many books to be burned and so much irreplacable knowledge to be lost to the ages.

I think the suggestion to burn Bibles violates the intolerance section of the Community Standards, which reads "The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life."

I think chronic forum troublemakers who compound a lengthy record of forum abuse by engaging in this type of religious hate speech should have their accounts closed and forfeit their inworld assets, land, linden balance, and inventory.

The forum bad post icon is towards the left of the screen.

If you need more space to explain, you can send an abuse report to [EMAIL=support@secondlife.com]support@secondlife.com[/EMAIL]

If Ulrika had posted that people should burn Christians you'd have a case. She did not. She advocated destroying an inanimate object. A symbol. Nothing more. It is frightening to me (and demonstrative of just how screwed up we are culturally) that people will seek to ban, punish, and otherwise exile anyone speaking out against that particular inanimate object. Is that perhaps the very point Ulrika was trying to make (albeit in a rather trollish manner.)?

Inanimate or not, it would be private property no? As would be the SUV. I maintain that it is ridiculous intolerance as well, not a very good way to make a point to your views/beliefs.

AMEN SISTA!! The whole Bush administration are nothing but criminals. I proudly show my feeelings for Dubya on my car...F the President.

Considering the reaction, I'm not sure she could have thought of a more effective way to make the point. If people are so fragile that they can't stand to have their beliefs challenged, Ulrika is the least of their problems. I'm not saying that what she said is a good thing, or polite, but the reaction (even from some non-religious people) is doing a wonderful job of demonstrating intolerance towards atheist views. When people will claim that advocating the destruction of an inanimate object is tantamount to cruel treatment of human beings and hate speech, something is very, very wrong. It doesn't make me feel sorry for anyone when someone shines a spotlight on these irrational social taboos.

I fail to see the irony. The mere fact that I added links to Wikipedia explaining what happend in Alexandria should have communicated to you the fact that I do understand what happened there, and by whom.

You did notice the links, right?




Yes, I am aware what palimpsests are, and their significance throughout history. They are a shining example of my distrust of organized religions as a whole.

From: Chip Midnight

Some of the mathematics presented in Archimedes work were not rediscovered for nearly two thousand years.

As an engineer, I am well aware of this and also of the losses from such great minds as Pythagoras, Euclid, Aristarchus, and scores of others. I used the example of the Library of Alexandria because it illustrated the destruction of a huge amount of knowledge and culture by a group of people driven by idiocy. It was not, as you put it, "only one small example".


There is no subject in all of human history that NEEDS to be debated and examined with a critical eye more than religion. The cultural taboo that causes anyone speaking harshly about religion to be shouted down and written off as an affront to polite society is nothing but a continuation of the same dark age taboos that caused so many books to be burned and so much irreplacable knowledge to be lost to the ages.

And I agree with you wholeheartedly. I feel that any and every institution should be challenged and queried with an open mind and should stand the test of intelligent debate.

However, I do not feel that the burning of any printed matter falls under the category of 'debate'. If it's OK to burn one type of book, then why not all of them?

I could give a rat's ass if someone is a flat earth creationtionist burning Harry Potter books (which is quite the rage where I live, BTW), or an extreme leftist burning religious dogma. Intolerance is intolerance, no matter what your ideologies are, and no good can come from it whatsoever.

Sadly, you may have confused me with someone who holds religion (particularly Christianity) near and dear. Believe me, I am not. Religion does have a purpose, but unfortunately it has always been used as a mechanism of control. As an individual, I am for personal freedom and staunchly against control by a minority.

Perhaps it is guilt by association from looking at where I live, being that most folks in the Bible Belt(tm) are offended at burning bibles but have no qualms about destroying science or fantasy texts.

My apologies if you read more into my post than was offered, or if you assumed I was part of a demographic that I am not. I just tend to cringe when people discuss burning any book, no matter the content, as it sends images like this through my mind.

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Nobody has been shouted down here. And "speaking harshly" assumes that there has been something intelligent spoken, rather than just provoking and baiting, with pointless and random hostility.

coco

Thanks for clarifying. I did miss your link, actually. Things like that tend to happen before my coffee kicks in.

I didn't see Ulrika's "burn a bible" post as a serious suggestion that people should actually go burn a bible. I took it as an ironic statement directly related to Christianity's long history of book burning. I took it as provocation for debate, hence why I think the reaction it inspired is irrational. As always, that's just my own personal opinion as someone who believes these topics desperately need provocative debate.

Thank you for proving my point so succinctly, Coco. There was a great deal of very intelligent debate contained in the various threads about religion which you just dismissed in their entirety as pointless.

This views are not only anti-American, just plain wrong.

You and the rest of the Micheal Moore socialist crowd should just move to Cuba and be with your own kind.

What would have been the result if Kerry a known commie helper and liar would have gotten in. Im glad there are still real Americans left in the US to defend our way of life.


The democrat/socialists are already boasting about the coming of the new socialist order right on the congress floor.

When it does come, and we do see it coming, just remember who has all the guns

Provocative debate yes. Dubious provocation no. IMO of course.

We still have a case. Of course. Denigrating and demaning a person's religious symbols IS "The use of derogatory or demeaning language . . .in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life."

Obviously.

coco

I'll grant you it was dubious Let's just try not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Troll.

Also, I'm a small-l libertarian. I've got the guns.

NO ONE is being intolerant towards atheist views.

People are being intolerant of others running rampant with their expressing their own intolerance, over and over. It isn't necessary, and it is offensive.

Just as it would be if I or anyone else ran rampant expressing intolerance toward atheist on the boards.

It is hate speech, pure and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly nothing better.

How about some of the other "irrational" social taboos that go against the TOS? Would you like to see THOSE expressed here, Chip? Or just the anti-Christian ones?

coco

Ya don't have mine.

In case people are missing this point - the Gideon Bibles are free for hotel guests to take. That's where my Teaching of Buddha came from.

That said, i'm sure the Gideons would rather you leave it then take it and destroy it.

So now you're against Prokofy? Make up your mind.

~Ulrika~