Things that are making you crabbit! [3]

Not like your patience to run thin with anyone Figgy..... well there is this one pers...... aaaaaahhhh!!

I was rather disappointed in Hillbilly's post saying-

'I stopped by forumshire a few times, and there seems to be a lot of narcissistic posts from atheists telling each other how smart they are or how bad America is. As a conservative Christian yank, I really don't have the energy or desire to squabble with them.'

I dont know how many atheists we have here, I'm a gnostic, Tin I believe is Catholic, Eldo is ex-porridge oats and Lorient is off on pilgrimage or whatever it is his religious group does (I hope thats going well Lorient).
What religion people are is not a bearing on things. And religious discussions and the like are generally confined to the Big Bad Serious Thread for the very purpose that those who dont want to engage on that subject can easily not.
Nor do I thin that the US based members would consider themselves anti-American or unpatrotic one could even agrue that casting a critical eye over the running of a country is patriotic, but that would be a debate for the BBST!

If you read this Hillbilly I would much rather you had engaged on these subjects rather than just complaining about them in Bree, and in doing so, in my view, you gave a misrepresentation of the range of opinions held by members here.

I am an atheist but I don't think I am a particularly smart one. Also, while I have made bad points about the U.S. I also think that there are a) plenty of good points which I have spoken of and b) don't say them to attack the U.S. in particular as there are plenty of similar points for all countries!

I have posted a lot of negative things from Italy, not because I hate Italy or Italians but just because of the absurd things politicians and religious leaders do. Same with my country, and I also dont like US bashing either or any country. Just because you criticize the weird and wacky things happening doesnt mean you hate your country, it just means you are aware and not prepared to put up and shut up when you hear of wrongdoing and injustice. Thats what democracy is for. I dont pretend to be smart about politics, and a lot of the time its just sounding off without much knowledge, but its good we can discuss any topic.

One of the things I like about the various changes that Jackson & Co have made to The Hobbit and the earlier LotR-trilogy is how this ensures that there will still be surprises, even though I've read through all of the original books. I'm not sure I would enjoy the films as much if they had not used any creative freedom and made a direct page-per-page adaptation of Tolkien's writing.

This comment has been voted up 7 times on TORn, and down zero times

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That's our torn!

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Pettytyrant101 wrote:  Hillbilly said: 'I stopped by forumshire a few times, and there seems to be a lot of narcissistic posts from atheists telling each other how smart they are or how bad America is. As a conservative Christian yank, I really don't have the energy or desire to squabble with them.'

there seems to be a lot of narcissistic posts --- Not unlike every other forum I've looked at, though I don't keep stats. I'd suggest that a fair proportion are made in good humour. Where they're not --- well, we're human, aren't we?  

narcissistic posts from atheists - Actual atheists seem few and far between, though Religion does get a bit of a bopping here. And so it should. Like any human belief or ism it is put under Scientific (sort of) scrutiny. (I mean, God created Science, didn't He?) Faith is rarely criticized - just Religious certainty, form and the whole supernaturalist thing. I'm agnostic myself --- but that's just me, myself and I, no one has to agree. 

telling each other how smart they are - some of that too, no worse than anywhere else. (Personally, I'm the only one I put any real creedence in here). But much is open for debate here - actually 'open' - and it's sometimes upsetting fiery debate. And yet, most people stay. We're like family. We don't all get on all the time but we still love one another in the end (loosely speaking), whether netroplatonically or netrosexually. It's not your warm and fuzzy fake Christian love though, it's gritty, down to earth, in-spite-of-everything, love. (Yes, there are some genuine sincere Christians - I'm talking about the Letter of the Law hypocrite Sadducees - not the Christians who acually read the Bible independantly and confront God independantly with the Word written in their hearts). There are many perspectives held here, and not just Conservative American Christian ideas, that's true. It's a genuinely polycultural kind of place. A Freedom-with-very-little-responsibilty kind of place. (Though we can be surprisingly responsible when things get tough - or, at least, Eldo and Amarie can be. They're like grownups in a way).    

As a conservative Christian yank, I really don't have the energy or desire to squabble with them.'  --- Umm. I thought Hillybilly would be exactly the kind of person who knows everything --- it's all in the Bible, after all. Who needs discussion when we have God's telephone number? Btw: Why is a Conservative Christian (Patriotic?) yank reading High Fantasy anyway? Shouldn't he be at Bible Class?

how bad America Personally, I have certain queries (issues) with America (sic), but in general terms my feelings and thoughts are favourable. I do query things about Australia too. I have the Freedom to do so. Democracy is Great.

Regards 'Bree', I have one question. "Why don't people go there no more?" Maybe because intolerance for other people's ideas raises it's head too often there? And, as far as I can tell, it's not often dealt with well. Here, once folk have had time to reflect on their occasional inteperate actions and reactions, we usually come to a point of reconciliation. Most here have an open hearted willingness to forgive and forget, or at least, to agree to disagree and move on. (Yes, wounds get re-opened at times, but then we generally go back to agreeing to disagree again - that's Forumshiran life).  

For all our warts, we Forumshirans do our best to accept that others have a right to their views - even when we are hotly and very angrilly and/or upsettingly refuting them.

Hillbilly is right about one thing though - if I'm reading the subtext here correctly - we Forumshirans are not perfect.

Oh yes, cultivating a sense of humour is essential to maintaining one's equilibrium here, but, then, even a sense of humour is not obligatory.

Orwell wrote:Why is a Conservative Christian (Patriotic?) yank reading High Fantasy anyway? Shouldn't he be at Bible Class?

Um, what does that mean?  

Orwell wrote:"Why don't people go there no more?"

Your guess is sort of right; for me anyways. There, it's becoming less about actually talking about the movie and more about just being right. It's tiring after a while.

Recoveryanonymous wrote:

Orwell wrote:Why is a Conservative Christian (Patriotic?) yank reading High Fantasy anyway? Shouldn't he be at Bible Class?

Um, what does that mean?  

A bit of cheekiness on my part, but with some degree of seriousness. It seems strange to me (sometimes) that a Conservative Religious person would indulge themselves in escaping into a Paganistic and frivolous work of humanist literature. Which is not to say you can't read it if you are a Conservative Christian and want to.

Orwell wrote:

Recoveryanonymous wrote:

Orwell wrote:Why is a Conservative Christian (Patriotic?) yank reading High Fantasy anyway? Shouldn't he be at Bible Class?

Um, what does that mean?  

A bit of cheekiness on my part, but with some degree of seriousness. It seems strange to me (sometimes) that a Conservative Religious person woud trouble themselves with such a Paganistic and frivolous work. Which is not to say you can't read it if you are a Conservative Christian and want to.

Well for me personally, I like Tolkien's style of writing and getting swept up in the story.  

Recoveryanonymous wrote:Well for me personally, I like Tolkien's style of writing and getting swept up in the story.  

Me too. But I don't mind it's paganistic undertones. 

Orwell wrote:But I don't mind it's paganistic undertones.  

I find that trying to look at the world through other perspectives teaches me more about myself and my own views. It's amazing when I think about it, that most of my views were, at least in childhood, handed to me in a sense. When I was born I had no decision in where I would be born, in what time period, what race I would be, who my family members would be. Yet all of those things no doubt factored heavily into what my beliefs would be growing up.

It's a continual journey figuring out how much we take to be truth is really made up of assumptions we are wrapped in like swaddling clothes from birth. I'm perfectly happy with religious people who look at their religion with a critical eye (in my experience the most effective religious authority figures do this constantly and can't be considered "conservative" at all), but don't have much patience with religious people who are threatened by questioning their faith, or refuse to do so.

I'm grateful when MY assumptions are pointed out to me. It can be a bitter pill to swallow, but we're always better for it. I think many atheists can be as unbending as religious folks who know they are right, and hence can be just as annoying. Logically I know I should be an agnostic since there's no proof there is or isn't an supreme being; but I'm an atheist by choice just because it's more comforting to have the damn thing settled. But I know it's a choice, so don't try too hard to convince people god doesn't exist unless they are being annoyingly inflexible or judgemental about it.

I guess this is why some stay here and others go. Some of us feel uncomfortably confronted, but, who knows, maybe seek to grow from our experiences here (or from the "experiencing" of other people's mad ideas!) while others go away saying: "Oh what a narcissistic bunch of fellows those Forumshirans are. I'm glad I know what's right - thank God."

It's like halfwise said, life is a constant journey. I'd be a pretty poor adventurer if I closed my eyes and cried for home like Bilbo  

halfwise wrote:

 I think many atheists can be as unbending as religious folks who know they are right, and hence can be just as annoying.

I used to be one of those, until I realised I'm too stupid to explain that science right. And in the end, science isn't much but theories anyway, just like religion. I mean, how much of it can actually be proved 100% true? Still, science makes so much more sense to me in so many more ways than religion ever will, and that's why I keep calling myself a non-religious person, though I've become quite the agnostic myself.

Last night I was cutting onions while I was cooking dinner, and I didn't notice at the time, but I woke up this morning with the faint smell of onion on my fingers.  

I tired rubbing with salt, I tried washing with lemon juice, I washed them more times than I can count. I even tried rubbing them against stainless steal (these are all things I found on the internet today.) But the faint smell is still on my fingers.   

That's making me crabbit.

Pour vinegar on them - will still smell like shit, but they won't smell like onions

Well I just ran my hands through the gauntlet. I didn't have any vinegar so I used salt again, then lemon juice, and then...peanut butter. I think the peanut butter did the trick because now my hands kind of smell like peanut butter and the onion smell is gone. *knocks on wood*

Wire pad, scrub the top few layers of skin off, problem solved  

well if you are desperate try rubbing your hands with fresh herbs like mint or Rosemary. it has to be the live plant not dried herbs. just rub them and crush the plants, your hands should smell of the fresh herbs. the herb oils should neutralize the onion smell.

Eldo has gone camping   which is making me crabbit   as I needed him to give me that link for that cool Gif program, it was one of the many progs I lost when my HD died, and Ive just gone through the whole Atsistic Merits thread and its not there- can anyone remember where it was even posted or have a link for it?
Even the name of it would be a place to start looking.

no

unless you tell me whos birthday it is

 Here I am trying to find this for you, Petty, and the first thread on the search is one where I help you find something in the exact same manner.

Is this what you were looking for? http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t378p435-gif-thread#75178

(google search: site:http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/ gif program )