GeauxGhoti
28p26 comments posted · 12 followers · following 2
14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Americans United Urges... · 0 replies · +2 points
That said, what everyone needs to understand is that, in the Basic Training environment, for the majority of us, that was worse... We would have preferred to continue with our normal duties, simply because there was nothing to do. Most of us didn't know the Post too well since we were only there for Basic and had not been able to check it out, and we had little to no access to our money, and none of us had yet earned privileges such as going to the bowling alley for a beer or going off post... None of us were looking forward to a full day of sitting in the barracks staring at the walls so some of them went just to avoid that...
I definitely agree, this IS coercion and it really does need to stop...
I appreciate this post, vjack...
14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Atheists Face Discrimi... · 4 replies · +1 points
We can keep complaining about Atheist discrimination, or we can work to deal with the attitudes from those who discriminate... And that included many Atheists. The sad fact is, if you put a Christian or a Muslim; A Birther or a Young Earth believer in a room full of Atheists, a large number of them will treat that person with the same animosity we're always complaining about. Why do we only complain about it when it comes against us or those we consider our "allies"?
Ending the discrimination we experience is not going to solve the problem. The only thing it would do is make our lives a bit easier, and shift the focus of the narrow minded hatred to another group. If we are going to take up a standard and rally to a cause... Shouldn't it be more along the lines of improving the human race as a whole and not focusing so intensely on this one tiny, insignificant problem?
14 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Health Care: Right or ... · 0 replies · 0 points
Now we have a new bunch of morons screaming that socialized health-care would destroy our way of life; that it is "un-American", that we would have to pay more taxes and that we would lose our ability to choose to go to a private physician... And, of course, the people are believing them.
When I first left the U.S. to live in the Czech Republic, I absolutely freaked on the fact that they pay 19% taxes across the board... I am ashamed to say that, despite my best efforts, I had fallen prey to the narrow minded propaganda without even realizing it. I had visited many other parts of the world while in the Army, but my experiences with the cultures and the people of those places were limited and the majority of my time was spent on one Post or Base or another... I never really realized how things worked in Europe, even when I was stationed in Germany...
I've gotten one hell of an education since then, though. For example... My fiancée is a student working on her Masters degree at Charles University in Prague (which is not only one of the oldest Universities in the Western world, but it is currently one of the top 300 Universities in the world) and we have yet to pay a single cent for her world class education. If she gets sick, she has the option of being treated through the public system which is, just as in Sweden, extremely cheap, or going to a private doctor and paying more. There are all kinds of other benefits as well... Massive amounts of tax breaks and refunds are available for all kinds of reasons. One of my favorites is that a University student who still lives with or off of his/her parents will be able to go to school for free, AND their parents will get an extra refund every year that he/she is a student... They are basically getting paid to send their children to University! How well educated would U.S. citizens be if our system worked so well?
The United States has become synonymous with ignorance and apathy, narrow mindedness and greed, fear and hate, and I'm sick of it. They have become spoiled and selfish. They scream about the Constitution (which none of them really know or understand) when it suits them, and they scream about this Amendment and that Amendment, but they forget the most important part of it...
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
I do realize the importance of the Amendments, but we can't forget about the heart of the Constitution... The Amendments are, in the end, just that... Amendments. They were created to give more specific definition to certain aspects of what is the foundation of the document, and to our nation. That "preamble" is what it's really all about, though... Or, should be all about, anyway...
Sorry... I'll get off my soap box now...
15 years ago @ Black Sun Journal - At... - Eastern Europe As Wack... · 0 replies · +1 points
Thanx for the info about the comment system... I've never seen that problem before, and I only use Firefox, so it surprised me. Whatever it was didn't happen with this comment though...
15 years ago @ Black Sun Journal - At... - Eastern Europe As Wack... · 2 replies · +1 points
now and I can tell you, "the people" were not happy about having that defense shield here. They were afraid that its
presence would make them a target, not only for Russia, but also for anti-American terrorist groups. Personally, I'm
glad Obama scrapped that ill conceived plan, just as they are...
What's with the comment box? For some reason, it doesn't seem to recognize the right border... I have to keep hitting
"Enter" when I get there, or it will just keep on going in a single line...
15 years ago @ Black Sun Journal - At... - Radical Skepticism and... · 1 reply · +1 points
For the record... I'm an Atheist who fully supports Evolutionary theory... I just want to know what you think, and how this post affects or reflects your beliefs...
Thanx
15 years ago @ Black Sun Journal - At... - Radical Skepticism and... · 1 reply · +1 points
I realize that this is simply one part of your statement, but it's the only part of the statement with which I could have a problem... Depending on how you mean it...
Thanx
15 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Democrats Not Selling ... · 0 replies · +1 points
Of course, I can't leave this without pointing out that this tendency to happily maintain a closed mind and obscene willingness to wear blinders is not strictly a U.S. problem. Just as the typical U.S. citizen has little or no clue what is going on across their borders (or in some cases, in the next county!) I see the same thing here. I get just as tired of Europeans telling me how stupid Americans are and pointing out how few of us (per capita) have university degrees and (especially) graduate degrees, but they don't realize that we don't have the benefit of free university education, as they do. My fiancée is about to start her Masters program, and after that, her Doctorate, and she doesn't have to pay a single penny...
Anyway... I do with the media would do a better job of truly informing the people, but the fact is, they tell the people what they want to know... If the people don't want to know more; if the people don't want to hear the truth; if the people don't want an unbiased news source, what's the media to do? Go out of business and be replaced by someone who will whore themselves to the people? Ok... It would be nice if any were that bold, and better if they all were, but the people pay for the medias services and they don't pay to be educated... They pay for confirmation of what they already "know".
I'll come back later and check for mistakes... I have to get coffee now... And, perhaps, stop posting first thing in the morning...
15 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - Personal Displays of R... · 0 replies · +3 points
The fact is, believe it or not, Atheists are not facing anywhere near the same kind of violence as black people did or Jewish people did, or gay people did, and it is in large part part due to their actions that we will never face that kind of large scale violence.
Yes, you will sometimes meet a freak that will act with physical violence towards what he/she perceives to be a threat, but for the most part, they'll just refuse to have coffee with you. It's not like there are gangs of Christians roving the streets looking for Atheists to beat to death in the alley behind the Atheist bar, or driving through the back roads looking for Atheists to lynch... And, the extreme minority who would take such action against you... Well, you'll find them everywhere. We call them the mentally ill, the criminally insane, the brainwashed, among others. They are the same ones who blow up buildings in the name of Allah, who happens to be a peaceful god, and they happen to be an extreme minority... They are the same ones who blow up abortion clinics in the name of Jesus, who also happens to be a pretty peaceful guy (despite what many people think due to misinterpretations of the bible) and they, too, happen to be an extreme minority.
I've been a proud Christian, and for the past 15 years or so, I've been a proud Atheist. I've talked to people (while making it a point to not shove my beliefs down their throats) and I've had the Darwin bumper stickers on my car. I was in the Army as an Atheist (which was pretty unpopular, believe me) and, due to my fathers military service, my mothers military service and my own military service, I have lived all over the the U.S. and all over the world. I've been an Atheist in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana and even in the tiny town of Pearl, Mississippi. In all that time, being an outspoken (but not pushy) Atheist, the only 2 instances physical violence I've ever met were 1) by a hippie who didn't realize that the Vietnam war had been over for a good 20 years, threw a wine bottle at me and called me a baby killer, and 2) a guy who's girlfriend had been hitting on me, and he didn't appreciate it... My Atheism, by bumper stickers, or the word Atheist on my dog tags was never an issue in the violence.
I've learned a lot from all my travels. I've learned that humans are humans, no matter what label they wear, what box they put themselves into, or what god they serve. Some will be violent, some will be angry, some will be confused, some will be sad, some will accept and some just won't give a damn... That's just the way it is. If Atheists ever want to be truly accepted, one of these days they're going have to push away from the keyboard, go to the coffee shop and introduce themselves. They're going to have to be counted. That, too, is just the way it is. No one is going to give the Atheist community the respect they want (and deserve) as long as they're hiding and afraid...
Sorry for any editing errors or disconnected speech... I'm on my first cup of coffee...
15 years ago @ Atheist Revolution - We\'re the Immoral Ones? · 1 reply · -1 points