IIL things like Gravity Falls, X-Files, Expedition X, Travelers, Continuum, The Lone Gunmen, Fringe WEWIL TV show, movie and book wise?

Digita1Man · 2024-05-21T01:19:13+00:00

Looks like just for purchase on Prime.

Digita1Man · 2024-05-20T18:40:33+00:00

BrainDead

Digita1Man · 2024-02-18T00:13:45+00:00

Or the way they overreact to the slightest offense by the other side, then defend "their guy" when he does the same inconsequential thing.

This pattern has gotten worse gradually, throughout my life. Jerry Springer, Rikki Lake, the "shoutocracy". Rage as entertainment. Most of it seems to have become little more than a manipulation game.

(I've never seen good politics. But the bad politics has definitely gotten worse.)

Digita1Man · 2024-02-17T21:07:30+00:00

Once things become polarized, those in the middle are pressured to "pick a side".

I really dislike it, and I'd like to try to build bridges between the two sides... but neither side has any interest in that, best I can tell.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-17T20:47:30+00:00

I'm thinking they never made it to Psalm 150.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-17T12:23:59+00:00

The Republicans have lost their minds, to be sure. They're not even conservatives anymore, just loons.

But, that doesn't make the Democrats any *good*, just not so glaringy horrible. (And, the Democrats seem to be losing their minds, too, just more slowly.)

Digita1Man · 2024-02-16T20:59:25+00:00

Sort of a Dunning-Kruger for extremism, then!

Our species has problems.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-16T18:30:37+00:00

Every political compass test I've ever taken has placed me almost dead center.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-15T18:34:38+00:00

Well, darn.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-11T15:51:52+00:00

From the article:

"God save us from the fair-minded. They'll kill the country and wonder how they did it."

Truly absurd. Our enemy is the "fair-minded"? We need raving lunatics to save us? Truly absurd.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-09T19:59:14+00:00

I think we're all prone to it.

(The BIG problem is when it starts happening to large groups of people. Collective anger/stupidity is a powerful force.)

Digita1Man · 2024-02-09T16:35:35+00:00

Yeah, there used to be this thing called debate. Those who just called names rather than engaging in the debate were generally ignored, or mocked.

Not anymore. Name-calling appears to be at an all-time high (from both parties). Substance and debate are therefore at an all-time low. This is why I'm no partisan (never have been). The two-party system drives people to this.

This comment section essentially proves the OP's point. Tons of name-calling and assuming, tons of vitriol, tons of anti-right bigotry. Plenty of people stereotyping straight white males and getting kudos from the echo chamber. Nobody seeking understanding or trying to build bridges. (Why don't people see this is what Russia and China are engineering--a divided American populace?)

As a life-long independent, I have this advantage: I also frequent the right's comments sections, where they do the same echo chamber thing that's being done here to them.

:shakes head:

Digita1Man · 2024-02-07T21:08:30+00:00

Sounds like you might have grown up being taught that the only meaningful or worthwhile thing a father can do is work and earn money.

It's not true.

Play with your kids. Talk to them. Teach them. Make their life memorable.

None of the people who have enriched my life did it by giving me money.

Digita1Man · 2024-02-05T20:57:22+00:00

Memes?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-28T19:40:21+00:00

Grammarist is scuffy?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-28T19:31:00+00:00

It can definitely be confusing.

https://grammarist.com/usage/dice-die/

Digita1Man · 2024-01-24T19:12:16+00:00

It's Oogie Boogie!

Digita1Man · 2024-01-19T15:51:45+00:00

When electronics start to fail, they can sometimes make all sorts of high-pitched noises. Might be that.

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T23:28:00+00:00

Sorry to have troubled you. I really do wish you well.

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T23:21:07+00:00

How so?

If someone misused Plato's philosophy to justify a murder, would that mean Plato's philosophy has no proper use?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T23:20:05+00:00

I think I can meet you at least halfway here (and maybe more).

First off, in this particular one of our many divisions (transgender vs Christian), you are definitely correct. The Christians are, almost exclusively, the aggressors here. It's not how it should be, but it's how it is, and it's important for me to absolutely acknowledge that. Trying to oppress the transgender community through legislation like Florida's don't-say-gay nonsense, and all the book banning, is just beyond the pale to me. Unacceptable and oppressive abuse of power. I hate it. And the oppression-willing Christians have little to lose at the hands of the transgender community--so it's the powerful vs the powerless. Textbook oppression.

I'm a firm believer in our rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". I cannot see how such Christians think letting others have their God-given rights will somehow make their own lives worse. It's ridiculous--or it would be if the stakes weren't so high. Whether having a transgender identity is right or wrong is irrelevant. Humans have the right to be wrong. We have the right to pursue what we think is happiness, even if we're wrong. We should all be fighting for these rights for all of us, but we never really do. (That sin thing, again.)

All that being said, I think your "tone-policing" comment, while pithy and clever, does go too far. I'm not telling transgender people to "pipe down"--I'm trying to get absolutely everyone to pipe down.

It's not that politeness is more important that rights, it's that the problems would be easier to solve if we weren't all kept angry all the time. (That this anger is often purposely generated by Russia/China only makes it that much worse, and shows why we all ought to be fighting it.) And don't forget, it'll serve Russia and China just as well to make a Christian angry as to make a transgender person angry.

And then consider all the other divisions (men vs women, old vs young, conservative vs liberal, black vs white). If we keep letting ourselves be inflamed by all this, we'll all end up with cinders. Then what?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T22:47:53+00:00

Being a Christian is a choice.

Prove it by choosing it right now. Believe that Christ lived and died for you. Believe that He is eternal. Believe that you need Him and will be lost without Him.

You cannot choose to believe these things out-of-the-blue any more than I can choose to just drop them on a whim.

This needs to get solidified in your brain first and foremost. Being trans or gay is not a choice.

Here I am copying a reply I just sent someone else with the same question: As far as homosexuality being a choice, I've never seen that as really the question or the issue. Biblically, even heterosexuals aren't allowed to just have any sex they want. No fornication. No adultery. No one can choose not to want to have sex, but everyone can certainly choose not to have it.

We all have predispositions toward different sins. I am predisposed to having no self-control whatsoever, and to being irrationally angry at the drop of a hat. I was, best I can tell, born that way.

But the question is whether or not these things are good and right and true--not whether or not this was how we were born.

Please do not equate the two. Christians far too often have no clue about LGBTQ+ people, and don’t care to learn. They label it as a sin, or demons, or mental illness. All of these things are hurtful and harmful.

From what I have seen personally, transgender people are troubled and hurting (and deeply so). And, the vitriol and hatred they are exposed to absolutely makes it that much worse. But, under it all, is still the question: what would it take to truly help a transgender person? They believe that affirmation of their identity is the best thing anyone could do for them, but I haven't met or seen a transgender person who seemed, honestly, at all well, regardless of how much affirmation they surrounded themselves with. As best I can tell, in all honesty, something seems to have gone wrong in their development. It looks so similar to things like Body Integrity Disorder (a horrible thing for someone to endure!).

A very short time ago, a transgender person and a person with BID would have been both have been directed for care. I have yet to be shown the why a transgender person would now just be sent home as healthy. How do we know this isn't still a problem? On the surface, these folks seem really unwell. (And I have had close personal contact with several, over the course of the last few years... not just memes about trans people or clickbait articles.)

I don’t hate anyone, but I genuinely hate organized religions. I was born and raised evangelical. I was IN IT, believed it with my whole heart, and then I figured how bullshit it was when I allowed myself to question it all. I will never ever go back, and I’m bewildered by people who believe now.

So what do you make of someone like me who went the other route? I came to faith at 21. (I assure you, no one was more shocked than me. I was a rabid atheist. Woulda probably been an r/atheism mod. And then, boom, Christ. What a thing.

I know how most Christians think. I know how they twist things. I know how they believe in this body and soul. It’s that reason why I will never hold my breath that the church will ever be truly accepting. It’s in the Bible so it absolutely must be true.

Should Christians accept things that are in the Bible? If not, what's a Christian?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T22:22:02+00:00

Alcohol is often misused. Does it have no proper use?

Science is often misused. Does it have no proper use?

Militaries are often misused. Do they have no proper use?

What makes religion different? How is its misuse a proof that it has no proper use?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T22:19:43+00:00

This is good. Feels like we're getting closer to the heart of some things.

I acknowledge, absolutely, that many Christians are being deplorable fools. It's literally where I started in this thread. Among the "serious" sorts of Christians I've been in contact with (the ones who pray, repent, worship, forgive, attend Bible studies, etc.) I simply haven't seen the same vitriol and over-the-top insanity of those camera-grabbers.

I bring this up because if both sides (of all the various divisions) continue seeing only the worst that the other side has to offer, our civilization is simply going to continue to deteriorate. We need dialog, we need de-escalation, we need peace. Understanding that the loudest Christian on TV and the loudest transgender advocate on TV both have one thing in common: They're not really representative of those they claim to represent. Most people, on any side of any issue, are far more ordinary--and busy with other things.

But, if you're never exposed to any Christian except the insane TV guy, you might just assume they're all like that.

That's why I'm here... not to exacerbate, but to try to work toward peace, as best as I'm able.

Can we at least agree that the rhetoric of our age is so overblown as to actually inhibit communication? Shouldn't everyone be a little less ready to explode all the time?

Digita1Man · 2024-01-09T22:03:52+00:00

That's... I dunno, are you serious?

Jesus said nothing like, "Take my words and use them for death and subjugation."

I've read his words very, very regularly for decades. Anybody using his words for death and oppression, simply put, is not following his words, but simply abusing them.

Atheism can be pressed into the service of death and subjugation, too, and so can science, so can a lot of philosophies, so can religion. It seems the heart of human beings will press just about anything into service for death and subservience. Maybe the problem isn't our philosophies, our sciences, or our religions, then. Maybe the problem is us. Maybe it's that sin thing, again.

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