There's this Mormon I'm friends with. He's an alright sort, even with the occasional rant about how socialized health care will be the death of America, or a perchance for Glen Beck quotes. But not the sort who would push it in your face if you asked him for some quiet. And he has interesting things to say about other subjects, particularly literature. And he's not a misogynist or a racist or even an asshole.
I've been telling myself I keep him around because he broadens my perspective, that the worst thing possible I could do is surround myself with people who all agree with me. Of course that's not true, plenty of my friends disagree with me. But there is usally much more agreement with Discordians than there is with a religious conservative.
Just today I was noticing my tendency to poke at some of the silly things he says. These are things I could leave well enough alone. They are seldom enough that I could ignore them without trouble. But for some reason I feel the need to poke.
And now, I'm wondering if I've got your sickness. I could have dropped this person months ago, or conversely I could ignore the opinions that, while I dislike them, they are otherwise quaint. But I don't. I HAVE to poke. And the more I see it happen, the more I want to poke.
I wonder if I am keeping him around just because I want to poke and poke and poke. Like you when you put yourself out there with your neighbors. It's not just an exercise in civic activism, it's the need to put them on edge. Pull them in calm and then stir them up.
I think it's a Discordian disease, and I think I caught it from all these years watching you. And now I /can't not poke!/
We have to poke them, Kai. If we don't, then who will? I mean, it's either we poke them until they fix themselves, or we have to clean up their messes.
These people are the spiritual followers of the few people who are directly responsible for fucking up the world.
The way I see it, getting a poking every once in a while isn't half the kicking around they deserve. Also, mockery is the one chance you can give them to wake the hell up.
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 04:31:56 AM
These people are the spiritual followers of the few people who are directly responsible for fucking up the world.
The way I see it, getting a poking every once in a while isn't half the kicking around they deserve. Also, mockery is the one chance you can give them to wake the hell up.
They won't ever wake up, Roger. But at the same time they're not going away. I'd ask if coexistance was possible, but if it's not there's not going to be a world left for living in.
Quote from: ZL 'Kai' Burington, M.S. on August 12, 2012, 02:08:40 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 04:31:56 AM
These people are the spiritual followers of the few people who are directly responsible for fucking up the world.
The way I see it, getting a poking every once in a while isn't half the kicking around they deserve. Also, mockery is the one chance you can give them to wake the hell up.
They won't ever wake up, Roger. But at the same time they're not going away. I'd ask if coexistance was possible, but if it's not there's not going to be a world left for living in.
I disagree. The "culture wars" that started in 1972 are beginning to burn out. I was reading through some of Jerry Pournelle's non-fiction the other day, that ranged from 1978-1992. He was very typical of the conservative writers of the time, and they had a FAR worse opinion of liberals than people do today. They were utterly convinced that anyone to the left of Joe McCarthy was determined to give America to the Soviets.
Today, what you see is liberalism reasserting itself, slowly, and the country moving back to the center, where it belongs. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is gone, Gay marriage is legal in an increasing number of places, race relations have improved steadily (if at a glacial pace), women are taken more seriously, etc. The loud shrieks from the right are the noise made by people whose precious hate is becoming irrelevant. They are loud, but they are - for the most part - ineffective.
But it's easy to listen to the volume of their complaints, and assume they are legion. God knows they think so...Yet things continue to get a little better, here and there...And that adds up.
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 05:11:41 PM
Quote from: ZL 'Kai' Burington, M.S. on August 12, 2012, 02:08:40 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 04:31:56 AM
These people are the spiritual followers of the few people who are directly responsible for fucking up the world.
The way I see it, getting a poking every once in a while isn't half the kicking around they deserve. Also, mockery is the one chance you can give them to wake the hell up.
They won't ever wake up, Roger. But at the same time they're not going away. I'd ask if coexistance was possible, but if it's not there's not going to be a world left for living in.
I disagree. The "culture wars" that started in 1972 are beginning to burn out. I was reading through some of Jerry Pournelle's non-fiction the other day, that ranged from 1978-1992. He was very typical of the conservative writers of the time, and they had a FAR worse opinion of liberals than people do today. They were utterly convinced that anyone to the left of Joe McCarthy was determined to give America to the Soviets.
Today, what you see is liberalism reasserting itself, slowly, and the country moving back to the center, where it belongs. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is gone, Gay marriage is legal in an increasing number of places, race relations have improved steadily (if at a glacial pace), women are taken more seriously, etc. The loud shrieks from the right are the noise made by people whose precious hate is becoming irrelevant. They are loud, but they are - for the most part - ineffective.
But it's easy to listen to the volume of their complaints, and assume they are legion. God knows they think so...Yet things continue to get a little better, here and there...And that adds up.
yep.
I wrote a piece about this a while back, but I forget where I put it... the reason they're screaming so loudly, and the reason they're pushing back so hard with new legislation, is because they feel threatened.
Of course, that doesn't mean we can get complacent... it means that we need to keep pushing even harder.
Quote from: Dear Departed Uncle Nigel on August 12, 2012, 06:32:35 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 05:11:41 PM
Quote from: ZL 'Kai' Burington, M.S. on August 12, 2012, 02:08:40 PM
Quote from: Dirty Old Uncle Roger on August 12, 2012, 04:31:56 AM
These people are the spiritual followers of the few people who are directly responsible for fucking up the world.
The way I see it, getting a poking every once in a while isn't half the kicking around they deserve. Also, mockery is the one chance you can give them to wake the hell up.
They won't ever wake up, Roger. But at the same time they're not going away. I'd ask if coexistance was possible, but if it's not there's not going to be a world left for living in.
I disagree. The "culture wars" that started in 1972 are beginning to burn out. I was reading through some of Jerry Pournelle's non-fiction the other day, that ranged from 1978-1992. He was very typical of the conservative writers of the time, and they had a FAR worse opinion of liberals than people do today. They were utterly convinced that anyone to the left of Joe McCarthy was determined to give America to the Soviets.
Today, what you see is liberalism reasserting itself, slowly, and the country moving back to the center, where it belongs. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is gone, Gay marriage is legal in an increasing number of places, race relations have improved steadily (if at a glacial pace), women are taken more seriously, etc. The loud shrieks from the right are the noise made by people whose precious hate is becoming irrelevant. They are loud, but they are - for the most part - ineffective.
But it's easy to listen to the volume of their complaints, and assume they are legion. God knows they think so...Yet things continue to get a little better, here and there...And that adds up.
yep.
I wrote a piece about this a while back, but I forget where I put it... the reason they're screaming so loudly, and the reason they're pushing back so hard with new legislation, is because they feel threatened.
That's an issue in itself though. Fundamentalists who feel threatened are easily manipulated. The worst possible outcome is terrorism as they become increasingly marginalized.
It wouldn't the first time people like that have resorted to terrorism here, but I'm inclined to think they'd be cracked down on, and hard, if if comes to that.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on August 12, 2012, 07:57:52 PM
It wouldn't the first time people like that have resorted to terrorism here, but I'm inclined to think they'd be cracked down on, and hard, if if comes to that.
They kill us, sometimes. Then we have martyrs and public outrage.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on August 12, 2012, 07:57:52 PM
It wouldn't the first time people like that have resorted to terrorism here, but I'm inclined to think they'd be cracked down on, and hard, if if comes to that.
Eric Rudolph is their patron saint.
I remember that bombing.
I was thinking of something else, but he works perfectly, too.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on August 13, 2012, 01:58:39 PM
I remember that bombing.
I was thinking of something else, but he works perfectly, too.
He also shot an abortion doctor or three, and did a couple of other bombings. He was supervillain material.
Interesting. Yes, he fits then, better than I thought.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on August 13, 2012, 02:28:06 PM
Interesting. Yes, he fits then, better than I thought.
Wiki him. The man was a one-man terror wave.
Did, just now. Oic. What the hell.
Quote from: Secret Agent GARBO on August 13, 2012, 02:38:16 PM
Did, just now. Oic. What the hell.
The one thing the cops aren't good at is catching a killer that has no personal motive, provided the guy works alone.