News:

I hate both of you because your conversation is both navel-gazing and puerile

Main Menu

Why Paganism is Crap, parts I-V

Started by Doktor Howl, August 02, 2011, 08:15:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Shai Hulud

Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 03, 2011, 03:37:11 AM
Quote from: Luna on August 03, 2011, 03:34:27 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 03, 2011, 02:41:57 AM
Quote from: Guybrush on August 03, 2011, 02:28:07 AM
Exactly.  There is no alternative.  Any time you think you've got a special pipeline to the ultimate Truth, you're doing essentially the same thing as the Pagans.



Other than Pagans and Calvinists, who the fuck thinks that?

THINKS it, or SAYS it?  Any high muckey-muck of damn near any faith you choose to look at claims they know the TRUTHTM...  Or at least A Truth...

I know a bunch of IRREFUTABLE TruthsTM.  Actual, objective wisdom that cannot be denied by anyone of any denomination, yet cannot be proven scientifically.

Now that's where the money's at.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Guybrush on August 03, 2011, 06:53:14 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 03, 2011, 03:37:11 AM
Quote from: Luna on August 03, 2011, 03:34:27 AM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 03, 2011, 02:41:57 AM
Quote from: Guybrush on August 03, 2011, 02:28:07 AM
Exactly.  There is no alternative.  Any time you think you've got a special pipeline to the ultimate Truth, you're doing essentially the same thing as the Pagans.



Other than Pagans and Calvinists, who the fuck thinks that?

THINKS it, or SAYS it?  Any high muckey-muck of damn near any faith you choose to look at claims they know the TRUTHTM...  Or at least A Truth...

I know a bunch of IRREFUTABLE TruthsTM.  Actual, objective wisdom that cannot be denied by anyone of any denomination, yet cannot be proven scientifically.

Now that's where the money's at.

Yep.  Examples:

Don't fry bacon without a shirt on.

If you've been married 9 times, it's probably you.

There's more, but you have to be a level 3 user to see it.
Molon Lube

disdude13

Oh man! Why'd you stop posting! I was enjoying it so much.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: disdude13 on March 13, 2014, 12:53:10 AM
Oh man! Why'd you stop posting! I was enjoying it so much.

You're supposed to lurk for a while before the stalking begins.  -10 points for lack of form.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.

Does he get any points for over-eager enthusiasm? Or is that what Nigel's tender mercy is for?
Weevil-Infested Badfun Wrongsex Referee From The 9th Earth
Slick and Deranged Wombat of Manhood Questioning
Hulking Dormouse of Lust and DESPAIRâ„¢
Gatling Geyser of Rainbow AIDS

"The only way we can ever change anything is to look in the mirror and find no enemy." - Akala  'Find No Enemy'.

Chelagoras The Boulder

K, see this is something that's always kinda stuck in my craw. Why does PD seem to have such a hate-on for pagans?Speaking only for myself, I've never felt that pagans are such a bad folk. I'm a Unitarian Universalist, so pagans are a noticeable part of the congregation, and in my opinion they're pretty nice folks once you get to know them. I think that what's at play here is similar to what happens with feminists. Most feminists are perfectly nice rational people, yet if you were to judge them solely from the interactions of online boards you'd think every one of them was a castrating feminazi because the internet has a way of collecting all the shitty bits of our ideas like a sewage drain. I've been to pagan rituals, and while i don't identify as a pagan, or worship any of their gods, i can see the value of them. They're calming, and meditative, and they get the people involved to think deeply about various aspects of their lives. Yes, a lot of the setup (cups, daggers pentagrams) is a lot of silly bullshit, but if thats someones way of reflecting on their life, and it works for them, I don't see the point in judging them for it, especially since the Prinicipia was firmly, nay, proudly based on a lot of silly bullshit the writers made up to get people to think about their lives.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Quote from: Chelagoras The Boulder on March 19, 2014, 07:25:10 PM
K, see this is something that's always kinda stuck in my craw. Why does PD seem to have such a hate-on for pagans?Speaking only for myself, I've never felt that pagans are such a bad folk. I'm a Unitarian Universalist, so pagans are a noticeable part of the congregation, and in my opinion they're pretty nice folks once you get to know them. I think that what's at play here is similar to what happens with feminists. Most feminists are perfectly nice rational people, yet if you were to judge them solely from the interactions of online boards you'd think every one of them was a castrating feminazi because the internet has a way of collecting all the shitty bits of our ideas like a sewage drain. I've been to pagan rituals, and while i don't identify as a pagan, or worship any of their gods, i can see the value of them. They're calming, and meditative, and they get the people involved to think deeply about various aspects of their lives. Yes, a lot of the setup (cups, daggers pentagrams) is a lot of silly bullshit, but if thats someones way of reflecting on their life, and it works for them, I don't see the point in judging them for it, especially since the Prinicipia was firmly, nay, proudly based on a lot of silly bullshit the writers made up to get people to think about their lives.

Personally, for me, it's specifically INTERNET FORUM Pagans. Pagans at large don't bother me, many of my friends are pagan, I identify as pagan to some extent, but internet forum Pagans are 98% totally fucking insufferable pricks and I thoroughly enjoy baiting the shit out of them. Sometimes I get lucky and the 2% who are not insufferable pricks will make friends with me.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Mesozoic Mister Nigel

It's kind of like Facebook Discordians or Tumblr Social Justice Warriors or antitheist Atheists; they're a subset of the whole, and they're mostly control-freaky jerks who like to shit on people. My personal challenge is to draw them out, into revealing themselves as control-freaking hateshitters.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Chelagoras The Boulder

Yea, but it just seems that with all the people to troll, trolling internet forums pagans would seem to have the least effect on anything ever. I know i started here as an anon groupie, but at least they piss off people worth pissing off. Pissing off Internet pagans and teenage wiccans is about as relevant as yelling "yo mamma" jokes at amoebas in the grander scheme of things. Sure, they're jerks, but the world is filled with jerks of all shapes and sizes, and picking on only the ones who are already so low that they need to pad their egos like that just feels...i dunno, unsporting, even bullying in some cases.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Quote from: Chelagoras The Boulder on March 19, 2014, 07:41:01 PM
Yea, but it just seems that with all the people to troll, trolling internet forums pagans would seem to have the least effect on anything ever. I know i started here as an anon groupie, but at least they piss off people worth pissing off. Pissing off Internet pagans and teenage wiccans is about as relevant as yelling "yo mamma" jokes at amoebas in the grander scheme of things. Sure, they're jerks, but the world is filled with jerks of all shapes and sizes, and picking on only the ones who are already so low that they need to pad their egos like that just feels...i dunno, unsporting, even bullying in some cases.

Who do you enjoy trolling? I recommend you give Stormfront a try, they're always good for some fun.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


The Johnny


Idk, i feel like paganism is the fetishization/erotization/sensualization of rituals... i mean, orthodox religions have rituals, but they are usually ascetic and revolve around some type of physical or mental puniwhment. Thats a fundamental difference and similarity towarss orthodoxy.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Cain

No-one's religion especially bothers me.

THAT SAID, you have to understand PD's interactions with Pagans has been...less than stellar.  There was MysticWicks, with its power-tripping and its meth-addicted, flasher admin.  Then there was The Celtic Connection, with its utterly insane, even more power-tripping admins.  Both websites were helped by PD, and both websites subsequently stabbed its userbase in the back, for petty and malicious reasons.

Basically, Pagans on the internet are the worst sort of shitbags.  The kind of people who, given any form of power, can't handle it and immediately go off the rails, demanding respect and calling themselves Elders and High Priestesses and whenever their knowledge is questioned, they either claim it isn't their job to teach you (or even point you to the right resources), or just ban you outright.

Chelagoras The Boulder

Yea, but i think its the same sort of mistake i make when i talk about vegans. I know people who are vegans, and the ones i am friends with are perfectly fine people, yet when i talk about the preachy-ass, meat-is-murder, "all your problems would be solved if only you ate just like me" vegans, i find myself speaking with the same sort of contempt one reserves for Nazi child molesters, which my friends do not deserve. If we're gonna talk about a subset, lets talk about a subset, otherwise we lump in a lot of decent people who don't deserve scorn.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."

Cain

Because we didn't think we'd have to spoonfeed you an otherwise obvious conclusion.

Chelagoras The Boulder

It's obvious to you because you were active here when all of that stuff happened. For people who weren't the thread just sounded like a lot of people here hated pagans for reasons i knew nothing about.
"It isn't who you know, it's who you know, if you know what I mean.  And I think you do."