ATTN: Parents

[Doktor Howl]

That "tone" business is something that is debated a lot on atheist communities. Some believe that diluting their message by minding their tone is like cheating or something. That only truth should matter.

Martyrs are a wonderful thing.

Of course truth matters.  But whether or not something is true, it still has to be sold.

[Cain]

Sounds like they're afraid of actually winning.

After all, whining about being an oppressed minority is much more fun than actually doing anything to change it.  If you think there is the chance of the latter being possible then, all of a sudden, you're responsible.  You can't blame Them.  The other people.  You know the ones.  They're so unreasonable.  It's all Their fault.  If they'd just See The Light, they'd Understand.  Not the atheists fault They're so bloody minded and resistant to change.

[Oysters Rockefeller]

Sounds like they're afraid of actually winning.

After all, whining about being an oppressed minority is much more fun than actually doing anything to change it.  If you think there is the chance of the latter being possible then, all of a sudden, you're responsible.  You can't blame Them.  The other people.  You know the ones.  They're so unreasonable.  It's all Their fault.  If they'd just See The Light, they'd Understand.  Not the atheists fault They're so bloody minded and resistant to change.

Well that's the beauty of whining about being an oppressed minority. You don't actually have to be one to do it. If you have the largest group, you can compare your numbers to the other group's numbers in a one-on-one basis (Us vs Group A, then Us vs Group B, etc.), but if you want to be a minority just compare everyones numbers to yours (Us vs Group A and Group B). Being held down by The Man never got so easy!

But I do agree with you. If there is one thing people love its being able to say how they're being wronged and it's everybody else's fault.

[Cain]

It's also worth noting most atheists are white, University educated and middle class folk.

This may be their only chance to be an oppressed minority!  If they actually went around convincing people, they'd lose out of their chance to induldge in oh-woe-is-me antics.  They'd have to go back to being Almost Raped or having Aspergers in order to get pity.

[Oysters Rockefeller]

It's also worth noting most atheists are white, University educated and middle class folk.

This may be their only chance to be an oppressed minority!  If they actually went around convincing people, they'd lose out of their chance to induldge in oh-woe-is-me antics.  They'd have to go back to being Almost Raped or having Aspergers in order to get pity.

Hahahaha...yeah, basically.

If I had a dime for every time somebody I know claimed to have aspergers or something similarly ludicrous, I'd have enough dimes to stuff in a burlap sack and beat some sense into them.

(Get it? Sense? Oh, me...)

[Golden Applesauce]

That "tone" business is something that is debated a lot on atheist communities. Some believe that diluting their message by minding their tone is like cheating or something. That only truth should matter.

That's hilarious - because Christian groups have that exact same problem.  See, if someone has died hair and trip pants, they're almost certainly going to Hell, and you have a Moral Obligation to do you best to prevent that from happening.  But if you just walk up to a stranger and tell them that their died hair and trip pants are going to cause your God to torture them for eternity, they have a tendency to interpret that as a threat or a challenge, and become even harder to save in the future.  Which means that telling the truth and spreading the Word is indirectly damning immortal souls.

So, there's an awful lot of hard discussion happening about the best way of telling people that Jesus hates them without making Jesus seem like a hateful person.  The best part is that any compromise is directly compromising with Satan.

[navkat]

People actually claim they're AS when they're not? No fucking wonder I got so much shit. It makes me pretty pissed off, actually, to think that the "cool kids" are gaining sympathy by claiming to be the uncool kids. GO FUCK YOURSELVES.

[LMNO]

It's blame-shifting.  "It's not my fault I'm a socially retarded, self-centered asshole!  I have ASPARAGUS!"

[Oysters Rockefeller]

Exactly. People are all "I have trouble in social situations, I must have aspergers!"

Nope, not even remotely the same thing. Way to be a dick.

Same kind of people who have a bad day and claim they're clinically depressed, or like things to be in order and claim to be obsessive compulsive.

[Doktor Howl]

Exactly. People are all "I have trouble in social situations, I must have aspergers!"

Nope, not even remotely the same thing. Way to be a dick.

Same kind of people who have a bad day and claim they're clinically depressed, or like things to be in order and claim to be obsessive compulsive.

I know an actual severe OCD woman.  She can't keep a job, because everything has to be PERFECT.  Good enough isn't enough, so she never actually gets things done.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Exactly. People are all "I have trouble in social situations, I must have aspergers!"

Nope, not even remotely the same thing. Way to be a dick.

Same kind of people who have a bad day and claim they're clinically depressed, or like things to be in order and claim to be obsessive compulsive.

I know an actual severe OCD woman.  She can't keep a job, because everything has to be PERFECT.  Good enough isn't enough, so she never actually gets things done.

People have weird ideas about what OCD is or is not, too. The default is to associate it with being a neat freak, but it can express itself in various ways, many of which are not at all neat. My former housemate has severe OCD and cannot throw anything away... it's horrifying. Or people can be like the woman you know, and are paralyzed by it.

[LMNO]

Some of it is ritualized behavior too, right?  Like, having to flip a lightswitch a certain number of times when turning it on, or an elaborate series of steps that must be performed to do simple tasks like opening a door.

[AFK]

It doesn't always manifest in behavior though.  My brother has OCD but it's all internal, thoughts.  He gets thoughts in his head and they just won't stop.  He's a lot better now that he has a treatment plan that has been in place for awhile.  But it was pretty bad at first and had him pretty much chained to his room for days on end. 

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Some of it is ritualized behavior too, right?  Like, having to flip a lightswitch a certain number of times when turning it on, or an elaborate series of steps that must be performed to do simple tasks like opening a door.

That's what makes it pathological, I think. A lot of people do irrational little things like saying "cut the butter" when they're walking with somebody and a signpost comes between them, but it doesn't get in the way of anything. I'm guessing it's a matter of degree and if people don't know where the line is, they'll label any neat freak OCD.

[Oysters Rockefeller]

Exactly. People are all "I have trouble in social situations, I must have aspergers!"

Nope, not even remotely the same thing. Way to be a dick.

Same kind of people who have a bad day and claim they're clinically depressed, or like things to be in order and claim to be obsessive compulsive.

I know an actual severe OCD woman.  She can't keep a job, because everything has to be PERFECT.  Good enough isn't enough, so she never actually gets things done.

That's what makes it sick. People make a little joke out of it like "Oh, I just like even numbers, I must be OCD! teeheehee!"

New life mission: Find out what offends the individuals who say shit like that, and make it into a crass little joke whenever they pop out a phrase like that. Rinse and repeat, occasionally lose fist fights.