What do you REALLY believe?

[Balls Wellington]

I hate this thread, however, because every time I read it I'm reminded that people who might otherwise make valuable contributions to the world (or at least generate some lulz) are still hung up on superstitious nonsense and imaginary friends with superpowers.

I hate this thread because I intended the OP as an honest question, not as a platform to shit on people whose beliefs you don't agree with. c'est la vie I guess.

Go fuck yourself, Cram. If you intended it as an honest question, you should expect honest answers even if they're not the answers YOU want to hear. If people don't want their beliefs shit on then maybe they should think about having less-stupid beliefs. It's not as though just HAVING a belief makes it valid. It's like every time you start a discussion and it takes a turn you're uncomfortable with you stick your fingers in your ears and yell "LA LA LA I CANT HEAR YOU" or start making vauge accusations of disrespectfulness (as though being respectful were something this board is known for). Try disassociating your questions from your own ego once in a while; it may help your intellectual credibility.

[Cramulus]

yeah like, I'm not really surprised or pissed off about it,

nor your reaction.


honestly - I just feel a little less resonance with this place every time I log in


there's a certain range of conversations appropriate to this board
and there's a certain type of person who belongs here at PD

and as I explore the geography of different cells, I feel less and less like that kind of person.

*shrug*

Over the last months I've been posting more sparsely, less invested, it's just sort of an exhaustion with the negativity. I used to think I could at least make the board more fun/interesting for me, but I don't think I can, it only leads to drama, so I just spend my day elsewhere. No biggie.

[LMNO, PhD (life continues)]

Cram, I know you were looking for honest answers to the question posed.

But do you really think that...

I believe in everything and/or nothing, depending on my mood/who i'm talking to/what's going on.

Reality is like the internet. You get a multiple choice option when it comes to 'truth'.

Lately i've realized I'm probably vaguely atheist in a very not atheist way. I may assume all the gods exist, but i certainly don't believe their existence makes them worthy of worship.

...is an "honest" answer, or is it simply the latest top coat of spackle used to cover that gaping void of unknowability that lies in the heart of every truthseeker?


You can't blame a person for calling out bullshit when they smell it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You can't blame a person for calling out bullshit when they smell it.

This.

Also, threads concerning belief are 169% guaranteed to turn into a horrible cesspit of gonads & strife, no matter what board you post them on.

[Balls Wellington]

yeah like, I'm not really surprised or pissed off about it,

nor your reaction.


honestly - I just feel a little less resonance with this place every time I log in


there's a certain range of conversations appropriate to this board
and there's a certain type of person who belongs here at PD

and as I explore the geography of different cells, I feel less and less like that kind of person.

*shrug*

Over the last months I've been posting more sparsely, less invested, it's just sort of an exhaustion with the negativity. I used to think I could at least make the board more fun/interesting for me, but I don't think I can, it only leads to drama, so I just spend my day elsewhere. No biggie.

Y'know, I like you, dude. So I'm'a apologize for the part in my last post where I told you to go fuck yourself. That was out of line. But if you can handle some honest criticism, it seems as though over the last year or so you've been trying to jam that bliss-ninny hat down over your ears and it just doesn't fit. I don't know why you'd even want it to. I'm pretty sure that one of these spags stole it out of the coatcheck room over at GaiaOnline and I seriously doubt they even so much as de-loused it first.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You have to expect a great deal of friction when you gather a bunch of creative spags in one place.  Reasonable allowances have to be made for the fact that not everyone has the same viewpoints and motivations, and everyone is articulate enough to argue their point and passionate enough to do so.

One person's negativity is another person's realism.

One person's positive outlook is another person's bliss-ninnyism.

I don't expect Cram to start focusing on the bones that his city is built on, but on the other hand, I do not expect to be told off for being "negative".  I am not in charge of Cram, nor is he my conscience.  If I wanted an environment where everyone agrees on everything upon pain of exile or being ostracized, I'd go to Mysticwicks as a serious poster.

That being said, Discordian Kitten is a piece of shit on the scale of Eldora, and I for one will not apologize for shitting on her here or anywhere else, as that is precisely what she does whenever she feels she can get a mod to shut down anyone that disagrees with her.

And if that means I'm shitting on her beliefs (or rather her stated non-beliefs), then mea culpa.  Guilty as sin...But I'd do it again.

[Jasper]

You will pardon me (I hope) for extending the "friction" metaphor, and saying that perhaps the problem is that the "lubricants" we've been using (fluff threads, open bar, etc.) aren't enough to ameliorate the mechanical stresses (furious agreement/bitter disagreement/our usual unbelievable bullshit). 

I sense that actually having met some of each other has caused us to be less hasty with harshness, and that's good.  But the community could use an oil change.  As it were.

[Faust]

You have to expect a great deal of friction when you gather a bunch of creative spags in one place.  Reasonable allowances have to be made for the fact that not everyone has the same viewpoints and motivations, and everyone is articulate enough to argue their point and passionate enough to do so.

One person's negativity is another person's realism.

One person's positive outlook is another person's bliss-ninnyism.

I don't expect Cram to start focusing on the bones that his city is built on, but on the other hand, I do not expect to be told off for being "negative".  I am not in charge of Cram, nor is he my conscience.  If I wanted an environment where everyone agrees on everything upon pain of exile or being ostracized, I'd go to Mysticwicks as a serious poster.

That being said, Discordian Kitten is a piece of shit on the scale of Eldora, and I for one will not apologize for shitting on her here or anywhere else, as that is precisely what she does whenever she feels she can get a mod to shut down anyone that disagrees with her.

And if that means I'm shitting on her beliefs (or rather her stated non-beliefs), then mea culpa.  Guilty as sin...But I'd do it again.

That being said there is the other side of it, in the past I've seen negativity used because its easy or self feeding, it becomes a meme and we should be careful to call negativity for negativity sake bullshit just as quickly.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You will pardon me (I hope) for extending the "friction" metaphor, and saying that perhaps the problem is that the "lubricants" we've been using (fluff threads, open bar, etc.) aren't enough to ameliorate the mechanical stresses (furious agreement/bitter disagreement/our usual unbelievable bullshit). 

I sense that actually having met some of each other has caused us to be less hasty with harshness, and that's good.  But the community could use an oil change.  As it were.

Horseshit.  That friction is where all the amazing comes from.

Discordianism - or even life itself in the 21st century - is no place for putting on an act of being Concordian.  It's about giving a fuck, and since we all obviously don't believe the exact same thing, we're going to argue like hell.  The day everyone gets along on PD is the day that this place becomes worthless.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

That being said there is the other side of it, in the past I've seen negativity used because its easy or self feeding, it becomes a meme and we should be careful to call negativity for negativity sake bullshit just as quickly.

Okay.  Define "negativity", then.

[Faust]

That being said there is the other side of it, in the past I've seen negativity used because its easy or self feeding, it becomes a meme and we should be careful to call negativity for negativity sake bullshit just as quickly.

Okay.  Define "negativity", then.

I don't define negativity as an unrealistic pessimistic view based on very little information. As you said one mans negativity is anthers realism, that is where i would tow the line, pessimism without cause or fact  = negativity in my view

[Jasper]

You will pardon me (I hope) for extending the "friction" metaphor, and saying that perhaps the problem is that the "lubricants" we've been using (fluff threads, open bar, etc.) aren't enough to ameliorate the mechanical stresses (furious agreement/bitter disagreement/our usual unbelievable bullshit).  

I sense that actually having met some of each other has caused us to be less hasty with harshness, and that's good.  But the community could use an oil change.  As it were.

Horseshit.  That friction is where all the amazing comes from.

Discordianism - or even life itself in the 21st century - is no place for putting on an act of being Concordian.  It's about giving a fuck, and since we all obviously don't believe the exact same thing, we're going to argue like hell.  The day everyone gets along on PD is the day that this place becomes worthless.

I'm not saying we shouldn't argue.  FUCK no.  I'm saying we need to be able to argue like hell and not get sick of each other for it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

That being said there is the other side of it, in the past I've seen negativity used because its easy or self feeding, it becomes a meme and we should be careful to call negativity for negativity sake bullshit just as quickly.

Okay.  Define "negativity", then.

I don't define negativity as an unrealistic pessimistic view based on very little information. As you said one mans negativity is anthers realism, that is where i would tow the line, pessimism without cause or fact  = negativity in my view

So we should call people out for not having optimism as their default attitude?

Am I reading you correctly?  <--- Serious question.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm not saying we shouldn't argue.  FUCK no.  I'm saying we need to be able to argue like hell and not get sick of each other for it.

The only people I get sick of are the ones who don't argue.  And I don't even get sick of them...I just get sick of the "I'm above all this/I don't have time for this" attitude towards the very thing that drives half of the really awesome shit that gets done around here.

[Jasper]

Well, a lot of people do get sick of it.  There haven't been as many ridiculously long flounces as of late, but I attribute that to mere addiction.