Messages

'given that the Presidential candidates are placing huge stock in their (Christian) faith?'

Touche. It is still a founding idea, even if it's not adhered to.:) Speaking of my government and that of Islamic countries, I recently watched a globetrekker on Omen, it was really beautiful there so I thought I'd do some research. While their govmt is a monarchy they have prime ministers and a law that bars ministers from holding interests in companies doing business with the government. Another good idea, one that I think my government should look into implementing.

'So Shane, you must be pretty disapointed with the authorities in Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran then'

In a word, yes. I think seperation of church and state is one of the good ideas we've had here. I'm even more disappointed with our media, who love to throw the words 'islamic' and 'terrorist' together, but never hint that the government, puppet though they may be, are also muslim in Iraq, Afganistan, etc. They like to portray Saudi royals as being friends of america while at the same time they have been one of the largest violaters of human right. Corrupt power structures are corrupt regardless of their religious affiliation, and likewise a hypocrite is still a hypocrite.

'oh, for gods sake, SMILE!!!'

This is people's way of saying 'I don't really want to take the time to know or have interest in what's bothering you, so if you're smiling like a mindless idiot I can get on with my day.

'but i don't like alky's'

It can really get you down. Mostly when you see the same pattern of behavior. Drunk, hung over, self-loathing, drinking to get over self-loathing, repeat.

" but theyre just wrong"

I get that kinda stuff from people who don't even know that we believe in Jesus, just that he is a prophet, not the prophet or messiah.

'can be nice to non believers'

It's the chicken or the egg, I guess. I know some non-beleivers (in anything) that are very bitter and angry towards people, me, just for having any beliefs. I could see that if I were a younger person, I may not want to be around that all the time.  But I agree with you, in Islam, there can be no compulsion in religion, so to me the greatest infraction of this would be to raise a child with no other theological knowlegde and in essence brain wash them.

'Religion I can understand, that's a lifestyle that people may not want to share in, but what does my skin tone have to do with anything?'

I don't agree with it, but I can understand. I posed the question to this very same girl that if all mono-theistic religions have the same goals and basic principles, why not just work together? She looked at me blankly and just said 'but...you need jesus to get into heaven.'

I forgot I wanted to tell this story:

At one point I was a drunken, drug using womanizer, but I had really fallen for this Christian girl. So we were platonic for like a year and then I came to Islam. So eventually she found out that I liked her, as if she didn't already, and was totally against the idea. Which was fine, but it wasn't because of all the previous behavior. She said 'it would be bad enough if you were just a white guy..' (She was egyptian). So we ended up spending more time together when I was atheist or agnostic but being a white Muslim was just too much. It really struck me as the utmost in hypocrisy and I was dumbfounded that that would be held against me. At least that someone, who I was close with, would insult me to my face based on my race. Religion I can understand, that's a lifestyle that people may not want to share in, but what does my skin tone have to do with anything?

Bou, gainful employment's just not worth it. All the drama and BS. I think people go as far as you let them. When you shut it down, you have to be prepared to be unliked or repremanded, since people who are the most insensitive asses always get really hurt when you turn it around. If the work environment over there is like it is over here, the employees who work harder and try to be decent people are mis-perceived as being week and subsequently taken advantage of. It's probably not much consolation that you're more than likely a better employee, and possibly person, than they are.

When I posted this thread, I hadn't even answered it for myself yet. Upon reading your replies, I have decided never to return to UK, for fear of bodily harm.:)  I think the one thing that really gets me to stop caring about a person is when they make repetitive complaints: 'my boyfriends a jerk.' 'so leave him.' let's move on. Everyday they complain and every day I give them the same answer and it gets to the point where you realize they like to complain but I don't like to hear it, especially when there is an easy solution. If they're in the process of solving said problem that's different.

There was this great cartoon that had 4 identical punk kids pointing at this guy in a suit and yelling 'conformist'.

How much of that is true, Bou? I know you have kids and read comics...Sounds like your friend has serious issues, other than just being insensitive.

Tex, I too lost 'friends' when I stopped drinking, but came to realize that if we were friends, we would have at least one other thing that we could do together.

'This thread is hereby hijacked for evil "ex" tales'

Ex's don't count, ALL their complaints are trivial and boil down to their inability to voice their real opinion. More times that not it's as simple as: I'm just not happy with you or this relationship and thought I would do better.

In another thread the topic of conflict and it's subject matter came up. It got me thinking about some of the dumb things I conflicted over people with as a kid. For example, as a kid we argued over whose shoes are better and then we grew up and argued over whose god is better.

So my question is two-fold:

1) What is the most trivial thing that people had ever held against you?

2) When do you decide that you can no longer interact with some one. When does their opinions, interests or beliefs just become too much and you draw the line?

Good luck, prof. Hope it all goes well.

'how many links are in Dredds chain'

I'm gathering an army of 700 links-Todd McFarlane-Spawn-like supporters and we're gonna make some changes. And there will be stubble. oh, yes. There will be stubble.

I'm all for research, and the like, but I think there is a line. Why try to live on the moon when we can't live here? and things of that nature. If someone is really secure in their religion then none of this should upset them. Secondly, belfiefs don't do people harm, people do people harm.  If they weren't fighting over whose god is better, they'd fight over flavors of ice cream or sports teams, etc.

'might not respect the fact that humans are individuals, have preferences and come from different cultural backgrounds,'

Robots. This guy is talking about robots. I mean, people act this way..how..man, I can't even talk about this.

'I want robots to treat humans as human beings, and not like other robots '

That's just great. How about we (people) work on getting along first, and then worry about robot social interaction. (Those are three words I never thought I'd say in the same sentence.)