A freeper just said the wrong thing to me yesterday

[Tsiyu]

He was some itinerant fisherman, in a pure white late model pickup plastered with the American flag and those retched ribbons.

His buddy was selling shrimp to the bank ladies when I went in to cash my daughter's check. As I came out, dude in truck asked me if it snowed a lot in our town as he was from Florida and was curious. When I mentioned our strange weather lately, he mentioned something about God's prophecies.


Honey.....


:mad: Don't go there with me.


He won himself an all-expense-paid trip to my State of Mind.

From global warming to the war to the kidnapping of Jesus, the words flew. He tried to keep a smile but I could tell he regretted picking the wrong stranger to chat it up with. I especially enjoyed relating that the obscure part of Leviticus dealing with homosexuality also prohibits eating CRABS and SHRIMP!!!!!!!! He tried to give me some lame justification, but I just talked over him and said, "You can't pick and choose which parts to practice. Either you follow it all or none of it is valid."

The look on his face was priceless. Fun stuff. Hope I made his ignorant, godly little day.

[Richardo]

1. "He won himself an all-expense-paid trip to my State of Mind."

LOL!!

[mourningdove92]

22. What a great line! I have so got to steal that one!

[Tsiyu]

62. Don't steal. I'll share!

:)

[Tsiyu]

61. Thanks! n/t

:}

[Darth_Kitten]

95. I love that phrase! LOL

:evilgrin:

[AuntiBush]

138. Loved Story! Better then "us" living in the STATE OF CONFUSION!

1 major victory for humanity, and 1 huge step backwards... well, for the backwards.

:) :) :) :) ;)

:hi: Thank you!

[Mizmoon]

2. itinerant fisherman?

Wow. I tend to live and let live, y'know. Who cares if he wants to believe the end of the world is nigh?

[Tsiyu]

9. Yeah, who cares if we think God'll sort it out

Like I told him, Mizmoon, if you trash your house, God is not coming down to clean it up. You have to do that yourself.

It's the same thing with the environment. It is dangerous to all of us when some of us believe a Giant with a fairy wand is going to swoop down here and fix our messes.

This guy's buddy was cashing a mombo check in the bank along with selling seafood ( talkin' it up ) so they weren't poor dumbasses. Dude believed - wrongly - when he saw the 3/75th Ranger Insignia on my vehicle that I was a freep, too.

Never assume somebody's going to agree with you....

[Mizmoon]

15. question

What's a mombo check?

[Tsiyu]

63. Mombo: Gigunda: Big n/t

:)

[CBGLuthier]

3. Did it make you feel important

Did you take great satisfaction in belittling this person?

Hey, I am an atheist myself but I would never insult anyone's religous beliefs. I just smile and walk away.

[southpaw]

8. Premillennial Dispensationalists don't count...

Those Rapture-Happy bastards deserve all the scorn and ridicule you can heap on them!

[CBGLuthier]

10. Why?

[southpaw]

13. Homosexual Invertibrate says

Just BECAUSE!


On Edit: Seriously, I don't loath the Rapture crowd any more than any other variety of freeper... they are all equally useless in my opinion.

[IntravenousDemilo]

116. The big problem...

is that you gave "igurrant" redneck crackers the vote after your Civil War. If you'd just subjugated them as you should have and given the vote only to BLACK southerners, then right-wing mouth-breathers would understand their place and troglodyte thinking wouldn't be the order of the day.

[Tsiyu]

121. There are ignorant people all over the globe

And this thread has nothing to do with race or region.

It has to do with twisting the bible to suit your own ends, not God's.

[Salviati]

21. Why?!

Because their ignorant dumb-assery is being exploited in order to gain power to dismantle our government, destroy our environment, and to devour our future. If these doomsday cultists want to go off and wait anxiously for Armageddon, that's fine with me, but when they try to take us with them, that's where I've got a problem.

[Tsiyu]

64. Thank you Salviati

Geez. Who helped put * in power? Who is shaping our Constitution, our economic, environmental and foreign policy? Our social structure? Our sytem of jurisprudence?


Could it be.......FREEPERS?

I don't know where some of you live, or how people treat each other there. We're pretty respectful on the mountain. Mennonites and Mormons and Pagans and Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists and Episcopalians and Athiests and Agnostics all live together in virtual harmony. It's considered impolite to bring up religion, and if you choose to bring it up, you will get a mouthful from nearly every man or woman here. The dude in the pure white truck might have received the same lecture from anyone male or female -whom he might have engaged in such discourse.

[Salviati]

68. Even bringing up your religion is fine...

as long as you realize that's what it is, your religion. Your right to free expression of your religion should end, however, where the well being of others begins. As seen in Bill Moyers essay on Truthout that has been quoted here often lately:

Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever engaging Grist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back."


This type of "religion" has no place in this country. It breeds on ignorace, feeds those in power, and is, for lack of a better word, evil. This farce of a religion bears no resembalance beyond the superficial bleatings of its followers to the humility and kindness that I see in the Christianity of my friends and my family.

[Tsiyu]

94. If you hurt someone

you should try to make it up to that person somehow. Often, people are too ignorant to know they are hurting others.

Their hijacking of Christianity is hurting gay and lesbian couples, non-Christians, children who come down with more and more environmentally-caused diseases, wildlife, trees, water.

At what point do we say enough?

When it's all gone?

[yardwork]

117. "It's considered impolite to bring up religion..."

buddyhollysghost said, "It's considered impolite to bring up religion, and if you choose to bring it up, you will get a mouthful from nearly every man or woman here."

That's exactly the point! Mr. Big White Truck imposed his religious opinion on you, so you responded. That's what 'Murika is supposed to be all about.

You didn't walk up to him and start abusing his beliefs. He stepped in it. He shouldn't have been surprised to get a load back.

I would never criticize anyone for wishing me a "blessed day" or something along those lines. Somebody starts telling me that the weather is "God's anger 'cause of them gays" and they're going to hear my opinion.

Good for you, bhg. You done good. Loved the part about the shrimp. I've mentioned barbecue here in North Carolina a few times...

[Tsiyu]

122. Thanks yardwork

:)

If you bring up a subject, that subject then becomes fair game.

[yardwork]

132. Yes, and I'm tired of smiling and tacitly agreeing with these jerks

It's time for liberals to start speaking up, politely but firmly.

[Salviati]

14. Exactly, back in the good ol days...

we used to call these wack-jobs doomsday cultists, and be done with them. If they want respect, then they better start showing some otherwise all they're going to get is me laughing at their ignorant asses.

[Tsiyu]

11. He insulted my beliefs first.

I did not intend to discuss religion or politics with the man.

And important is not the word.

I speak my mind. That carries no emotion. It's a responsible action in this day and time.

I will admit, it does carry some amusement. But I am sorry to have to be doing it at all.

[CBGLuthier]

29. I must have missed that part

Let's see talking about the weather and then he talks about religion.

Or is it just insulting to you to have anyone believe something you don't?

[Tsiyu]

65. Let's see

Do you believe that the problems with the weather are caused by man's sinfulness and homosexuality and liberals? Is it God's punishment on us for being sinful heathen?

My guess is Dude in Truck starts the weather chatter to get in his God's prophecy digs. Just a guess, but he was quick to jump to that topic after one comment.

No, I'm not insulted that he disagreed. I am insulted that his mindset even exists. But I never said I was a disrespectful person. You assumed that.

Why? I can only guess....

[joefree1]

30. Hey, wait a moment, spreading the Borg-again fear mongering

... deserves the jeering he got. We're up to our necks here in the USA with the mind control paranoia of the ultra right. Those of us who want to live on in this life on this planet have got to refute the suicide religions when ever we get the chance.

We could do it with a nice smile and a pat on the arm if that would make you feel better.:hug:

[Tsiyu]

84. You da man Joefree

:hippie:

[Mad_Dem_X]

31. Really - how about just walking away?

I would never yell at a stranger for mentioning God. If you're an atheist, fine, just ignore the guy. Lecturing him makes you seem as much a nutcase as you perceive him to be.

[Tsiyu]

66. Well, we're all different, I guess.

Some people can walk away when they see their country going to hell.

I don't admire that personality, but I can certainly see where it would be the easier kind of personality to have.

Civic discourse used to be the way politics was done. Now we need someone else to speak for us. But you know what? When I watched the Town Hall Meeting recently on Nightline, I didn't view the Veteran's Advocate Dude as a nutcase when he spoke passionately and confronted Allen and Perle. I was proud of him. ( BuddyM? Anyone know who I mean?) And I was much calmer than he was.

Wow. I guess they aren't having many conversations where some of you exist, because you sure seem ashamed and shocked that two people exchanged viewpoints.

[Misunderestimator]

85. Count me a nutcase too then... I would have done the same as buddy

What purpose would it serve to ignore someone who insults you? Why shouldn't we all share our knowledge and experience with others? The world would be a better place if we all did.

[Tsiyu]

88. I guess we're supposed to Care in the Closet

Kind of sad that some here are too afraid or ashamed of what they believe to speak up about it.

[yardwork]

118. The stranger blamed the bad weather on gays!

I think some readers are missing the point here. A stranger walked up to buddyhollysghost and said that the strange weather was being caused by gays. That requires a response, imo.

[fishwax]

119. Is that in the original post?

about blaming the weather on gays? I think that's why people are missing the point.

But I agree with you that it requires a response.

[Tsiyu]

124. Actually there isn't space here to relate our entire conversation

so it might have seemed the guy breathed and I started talking. He spouted his views about prophecy mighty quickly, and was going into our "punishment for the sins of the world" which then was leading to homosexuals and abortion. He didn't get that far, because I've heard the whole line a million times and I know it by heart.

Let's just say his vehicle announced his political pursuasion quite aptly.

I started by saying that, "No, global warming is responsible, even though some people are saying it's gay people's fault. Can you believe that? I mean, have you seen these roving bands of homosexuals they keep talking about? You know, the ones destroying the very fiber of our nation? I just haven't seen any. Have you?" All he could do was glare and shake his head and say, "No."

Then I segued into the clean up your room part. I was very friendly but also showing my disgust at Christians, but I acted like he was no doubt on the same page as me. Fun stuff!

[fishwax]

128. I think you did well

And I think we should speak our piece in situations like that. It sounds like you were civil but didn't back down, and that's the way we ought to be, when possible.

When first reading your OP, I didn't make the connection that he had brought up or implied the "God's vengeance" on gays and abortion part in his prophecies spiel. Reading the rest of the thread, I understood, but I was just pointing out why some people, if they only read the OP and not the whole thread, might not have realized the full depth of what you were responding to.

I say bravo. :toast:

[yardwork]

131. It was very clear to me in the OP

Here are the snips....

"When I mentioned our strange weather lately, he mentioned something about God's prophecies.
......I especially enjoyed relating that the obscure part of Leviticus dealing with homosexuality also prohibits eating CRABS and SHRIMP!!!!!!!! He tried to give me some lame justification, but I just talked over him and said, "You can't pick and choose which parts to practice. Either you follow it all or none of it is valid."

Yes, I thought the OP made it very clear that the man was blaming the strange weather on gays, as in, God's wrath on the United States for tolerating gays (not that I've noticed much tolerance from our government lately. According to the freepers, God should be pleased.)

It was very clear to me, but I live in North Carolina. Maybe its a southeastern thing!

[Tsiyu]

133. It's pretty much a given that God's wrath is reserved for homosexuals

I have heard more gay bashing from the fundies lately than I can tolerate any longer. My gay friends and family are not responsible for our nation's problems. They are good people who just want to live their lives and be happy like any heteros. they don't deserve this shit.

I'm glad you understand. And thanks for that understanding.

[yardwork]

136. Thank you for speaking up and posting this thread!

It's given me the courage to speak up next time, instead of just ignoring them or giving them a weak smile and changing the subject.

It's time to speak up. Thank YOU!

[A HERETIC I AM]

41. Telling someone their opinion is not shared is not insulting their

religious beliefs. I am an Atheist as well and when someone says something like "Have a godly day" or the like i look at them incredulously and say with COMPLETE confidence "There IS no god", or" god is a mythical construct" or something similar. Would you so willingly tolerate someone who insisted that faeries were real and controlled the blooming of flowers? I doubt it. Most believers are astonished that there are those that don't toe the party line so-to-speak as belief in god is best served with complete compliance. Having the audacity to suggest otherwise is frightening and dangerous to that comfort. It wasn't about the original poster feeling important. Per the post, he/she didn't initiate the conversation so was, in my opinion, completely justified in taking this person down a peg or two.

[Tsiyu]

90. You Heretic, You

Yeah, where is it written that a man can start explaining the endtimes to me, as if it is absolute truth, and I am supposed to say, "Oh. That's nice?"

Sure, you can always be rude and walk away. That would have been insulting. I just gave him a little more than he bargained for when I stayed.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. Remind me to visit your state!

:silly:

You just earned a big YOU GO !

[Tsiyu]

67. Obrigada, ronnykmarshall n/t

:)

[Kikosexy2]

5. God..

bless you sister! You have a good day!

[Tsiyu]

69. Thank you Kikosexy2!

Ah feel blessed!

Score one for the Real Jesus, wherever he is!O8)

[fob]

6. I hope for your sake it was a ROUND-trip. Would want ignorance

like his lodged in there for any prolonged time.

[Tsiyu]

70. Good one!

Sometimes when you say these things in public, it gives others the courage to say the same thing. Sometimes they think you're a liberal Commie Pinko Bitch from Hell.

His brand of ignorance is frightening, I agree.:evilfrown:

[trotsky]

7. Hopefully you caused him to think.

Don't mind those who might be upset with you. The "turn the other cheek" approach has gotten us what, exactly? 8 years of a murderous chimp for president, that's what.

Time to fight back. Well done.

[Tsiyu]

71. Thanks for having my back, trotsky

I agree with everything you said.
:headbang:

[BOSSHOG]

12. Dontcha just love Leviticus

[bleedingheart]

18. it is my favorite part of the old testament....

full of all sorts of fun stuff....

[Coastie for Truth]

28. Leviticus trumps John

Seriously (as a friend who is a Methodist-Salvation Army Pastor told me), the passage in John that all you need have is Faith (not Good Works), means that you either have follow Leviticus or you have to be "Born Again"

So, when I help him out at the Shelter he always makes it a point to have some tuna for me ("Cause you're sincere, so I don't need to evangelize you")

Pretty open minded for an Evangelical (we both work together with some pretty troubled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder veterans and multiple amputee veterans)

[Tsiyu]

72. You can just have so MUCH fun with it, So true!

And those yutses can pick one sentence out of the whole melee and wave it around like the golden fleece - like the most important sentence ever written in the history of mankind.

But don't bring up the rest of the sentences in that book. They don't count.

[politicaholic]

16. I'm sure when you left he said to himself, "Ya know? She's right."...

It sounds like you were successful in making a friendly person into a liberal hater and probably even more of a religious zealot.

Thanks. Next time you give a person a free ride to your state of mind we'll all know exactly what it's worth. Zero.

[Lex]

19. Wrong.

These people need to know that not everyone agrees with their f'ed up version of how the world works.

He may not have agreed with her, but at least he'll think twice before assuming everyone agrees with him.

[Tsiyu]

23. Dude, I was not hateful

WE left on good terms.

When I said i couldn't call myself a Christian anymore, he said, "Aw, don't say that." I didn't cuss him out or belittle "his" beliefs. I turned the conversation around immediately and had him agreeing with ME ( at least nodding his head) because I acted like I assumed he did.

And there were a few moments when he did seem to be thinking about what I was saying. thankyouverymuch. Passionate speech is still of value in this nation, even if some of you detest it.

[politicaholic]

37. Well, you shoulda said that you left on good terms...

i had the impression you screamed a barrage of liberal bullet points and left him in a mental "drooly place".

If that's the case...GOOD JOB!

[OldLeftieLawyer]

47. You made that up

Nowhere in the original post is there anything about "scream(ing) a barrage of liberal bullet points."

Man, you put the ugliest gloss possible on what sounds to me like a respectful and edifying exchange.

I wonder what inside you caused you to hallucinate like that.

[Tsiyu]

73. Aha! Someone who took the time to read and comprehend!

One of my favorite favorite things about being a "librull" talk show host for two years was the continuously looping air check. Everything I said was caught on tape.

It was always amazing how callers heard one word of a sentence and contructed this whole scenario or philosophy or insult out of it. And no matter how much I might say, " I never said that. You made that up," they would continue to insist I had said something I never said.

I loved playing back the aircheck for them.

DU is like that. And you are appreciated.:toast:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

97. Thank you so much

After thirty years working in a courtroom, I've learned how to pay attention to everything that's said.

It's a fascinating phenomenon, isn't it, how people project their particular perspective on what they're told? It's almost as if they have to build a reality with which they can identify, or, at the very least, be comfortable.

You played aircheck, and I read back depositions. Same astonished looks, eh?

Thanks again, and, I must add, "Well done."

[Tsiyu]

103. No, Thank YOU, my friend.

I proofread lawbooks for a year - at the Harrison Company in Norcross, GA. Talk about your boring reading - adding all the new codes ......blechhhh.

But when it came to the appeals? Ooooh. I loved following all the juicy motions and the cobwebby case law revisited. Maybe I was a lawyer in a past life? Who knows....And I love medicolegal stuff.

But I mostly love good arguments ( not as bloodsport- as the way to prove or disprove your truth.) It must be distressing to you as well when people don't know how to argue productively. You have to LISTEN well in order to respond well, I think.

You are a gem. Thank you for being a DUer at the same time that I am a DUer.....:hug:

[Misunderestimator]

86. LOL

:thumbsup:

[politicaholic]

87. I don't know. Maybe it was Satan that made me think that.

This was a very trying year for all of us. My local pub is a pretty staunch liberal blue bar (much like about 85% of the bars in Seattle) and sometimes I've found myself having to defend a couple of the republican regulars from getting "gang debanged" by a group of pissed off liberals. (I was a very good debater in high school and college so I can hold my own with the best of them)

This situation just gave me a flashback of those times. And I'm not above it. One night at the pub I maliciously took on a Michael "Savage" Wiener-head with the verve of a rutting bull. Even though I verbally did the equivalent of throwing down my hockey stick and gloves, pull the shirt over his head, and knee him in the face until the officials broke us up, I walked away from the whole thing with a sense of guilt and sheer dissatisfaction.

The next night I saw the same blockhead in another bar leading a very loud "God Bless George W. Bush!!" chant with his sweaty slope-headed cronies. I realized I had accomplished nothing the night before. At that point if I had even walked up to him and said, "Not even Michael Savage likes GW Bush you friggin' moron." The only thing I would have gotten was a colossal ass kicking.

Yes. I was probably projecting some of this upon this innocent post. But I'll tell ya, the only reason I'm writing this is because I always read your posts OldLefty and I enjoy them thoroughly.

Have a good one.

[Tsiyu]

92. Well aren't I just chopped liver?

But thanks for 'splainin' yourself

[OldLeftieLawyer]

100. Shut up

I'm cuter.

;)

[Tsiyu]

102. Hey!

That may be true but I have a nicer butt.:P

[OldLeftieLawyer]

99. You kneed him "in the face"?????????????

You are SO not a girl.

Had a girl taken him on, I guarantee you, friend, he'd have been leading no cheers for anyone the next night, occupied as he would have been making sure those bags of frozen peas didn't shift off his crotch.

You're a keeper, politicaholic. You just have to learn how to aim your knees better.

:yourock:

[southpaw]

24. I'd bet dollars to donuts

the freeptard was already a 'liberal hater' and a 'religious zealot'

Challenging their worldview may not convert them, but they should occasionally be made aware of the fact that there are those who think they are FULL OF SHIT!

[RetroLounge]

93. Bullshit.

So I suppose if she said, "you know, I see your point, God will fix everything" then this stupid moron would suddenly become a lover of Liberals and Vote Dem?

Please don't insult the freeper, they won't like me...

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

RL

[Tsiyu]

17. I have to drive for a few hours now

but thanks to those of you who understand, and here's wishing the rest of you figure it out.

[southpaw]

20. Have a nice drive and

Give Freepers Hell!

[Tsiyu]

74. Thanks fer bein' bhg's friend, southpaw

And cool sig pic! :)

[Balbus]

25. Quote: "He tried to keep a smile .."

So even after your onslaught he was attempting to remain polite and courteous? Hmmmm...

[Bouncy Ball]

26. Go hmmmmm yourself.

[southpaw]

27. (((((titter)))))

[Mad_Dem_X]

32. Polite and courteous...what a concept, huh?

Imagine...

[joefree1]

33. Or maybe he was visualizing all of us "sinners"

... burning in hell for all eternity. The apocalyptic folk always have a bit of S&M about them. All that torture, hell, and apocalypse.

Need we mention "The Passion of the Christ."


Seating now available in the Smoking Section:
Politics, humor, death and the Devil - http://www.eDiablo.com

[Tsiyu]

75. Words=Onslaught

Yeah. I'm one a' them damm readers.

But I see the errah of mah ways, now.

Wurds iz evil.

Don't use no wurds cuz you will scare peeple and it will be like a onslawt.

[Balbus]

115. To use your own words...

"He tried to give me some lame justification, but I just talked over him..." = onslaught.

And if it was a pleasant conversation, as you are now claiming, to talk over someone when they're talking is just rude. I'm sorry if you were in a bad mood, but to take it on a visitor that was trying to make polite conversation is not justifiable in this instance. I'm sure it's not the image you wish your town to represent.

edit: spelling

[Tsiyu]

125. Yes, I talked over him- freepers and repukes do it all the time

Actually, I learned how to talk over people from watching Republicans on talk shows.

And they aren't considered to be delivering onslaughts to anyone.

Why not?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

130. In my world, polite conversation doesn't invlve

foisting your headcase beliefs on a stranger who happens to be walking by.

And bhg did exactly what had to be done there. You do not let people mouth obscenities of any kind, especially under the guise of Godspeak, and let them get away with it.

How fast would any of you naysayers have walked away from that guy if he were saying the same kind of stuff about Jews or African-Americans or women or any minority?

There is a time for walking, but, when someone's trying to take it over, no matter how innocuous it might seem, you're facing someone with a sense of entitlement to which they are not entitled, and it's every good American's job to make them see how wrong they are.

Fighting back is where America started, remember?

Oh, and while I'm at it, fuck Fuckface and his thieving band of White House squatters.

[fit4life]

34. Can I ask you something?

While I know how gratifying it can be to go off on some moron when they're blathering all kinds of insane garbage, is it really advisable?

All you really did was reinforce any bad stereotype that guy (and anyone else around you) may have had about democrats in general. I don't want to offend you, and I promise I know exactly how you felt. I bite my tongue on a near-daily basis to keep from verbally pummelling these assholes into the ground, but it just doesn't help advance our ideas and beliefs when we behave that way. And isn't advancing our ideas and beliefs our main goal? If I'm not making sense just tell me to shut up! :)

Please don't take offense to this, it's just a question I have. My goal is to turn red to blue on the political map, even if that means I bite my tongue and smile sweetly while some gasbag spouts his party line like an idiot sheep.

*climbs off the soapbox* :)

[trotsky]

35. How about we ask you something?

How can we "advance our ideas and beliefs" while "biting our tongues"?

If people are not confronted and challenged on their beliefs, how on earth do you expect them to change?

[fit4life]

38. Why sure!

By "biting your tongue" I meant not going off on the guy in the way the original poster described. I see they amended it later in the thread to say they continued the conversation in a nicer way, which is good.

I just don't see jumping down someone's throat for disagreeing as a good way to make someone receptive to what you have to say. It immediately puts them on the defensive and closes their mind to any possibility of accepting something other than what they already believe.

[trotsky]

40. Would that be the tactic our Congressional Democrats have been using...

to oppose Bush and the Republicans at the federal level?

The "nice guy" approach has done what for us, exactly?

[fit4life]

42. That's a good question.

HOWEVER, what makes you think doing the exact opposite is the solution? Do you see everything in black & white? So taking the high road and being above the fray didn't work as well as we wanted, so now we have to turn 180 degrees and climb down in the mud and get just as dirty? I think there's a better solution out there. I don't have it and won't pretend that I do, but I'm not ready to accept that sinking to their level is the answer.

[trotsky]

57. If you read the original poster's replies, you will see

that they engaged the person in a constructive and illuminating way. Not at all what you are insinuating with "climbing in the mud."

Many of these people never hear a dissenting voice. Corporate media, rightwing radio, employers who beat them down, etc. I think we should take every opportunity to confront them with facts they never get to hear.

[fit4life]

59. If YOU will read my replies.

You will also see that I acknowledged seeing that she added to the thread to explain the way the rest of the discussion went.

[Tsiyu]

76. But why did you assume the worst?

Do you always do that to fellow Democrats or is this a new trend here?

[fit4life]

104. The worst was what they posted!

Go up and read the very first post, independent of any follow-ups, and then come back and tell me it looked like a perfectly civil exchange of views and ideas. The initial post was a retelling of someone absolutely going off on a stranger for something they said. You don't learn until later that there was a calming down and further discussion.

I don't assume the worst of democrats or anyone else for that matter. But when the worst is staring you in the face, you'd have to be a fool to ignore it.

[Tsiyu]

107. "They" would be me

You WANTED it to read as if I had gone off on the dude. I never said I screamed. I never said I raised my voice. I never said I humiliated him or berated him or insulted him.

You see, you put all of that in there yourself.


I said "words flew" not "insults flew." I said "I related" not "I ranted."

When you have preconceived notions about things, you tend to put your own spin on things. Try opening the mind a bit. And maybe move someplace where people don't yell at each other in public?


By the way, the little mad smiley in the original post is NOT an actual picture of ME. It is an emoticon to "decorate" the post, not a reason for you not to read the words.

[fit4life]

113. YOU gave the impression.

I only received it.

*on edit*

I really didn't come here to fight with fellow democrats and I'd rather not. From your first post, I obviously misunderstood the situation, which prompted my original response. The rest of my posts were simply trying to explain my position on the original post. I apologize if I misunderstood you and jumped the gun.

[Mad_Dem_X]

36. Great post, fit4life!

We do not always have to "go off" on people whose views differ from ours, especially if they are just trying to make conversation.

[fit4life]

39. Thanks.

I'd like to say for the record I'm not always good at taking my own advice though, and it's easy to give that advice from the sidelines when you're not faced with the situation being described.

I in no way wanted to offend anyone with my post, I was honestly questioning the method and not the person. I try not to judge anyone, especially when I wasn't there.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

49. "go off"????

Where are you people getting "go off" from the original post? I read it as someone arbitrarily, and rather inappropriately, trying to foist his religious beliefs on a stranger, and the stranger responding with more substantive content than the original speaker might have had.

All in all, it read like a perfectly civil exchange, something you folks seem to have overlooked. That's the essence of good communication, you know - the ability to have differing opinions and to speak them and to stay polite.

No one was going to change anyone's opinion, but it's the height of rudeness and exploitation, I think, to throw your religious beliefs at a passerby. I don't let Moonies do it to me, and I applaud the original poster for maintaining calm and educating the original speaker.

This "walk away" crap has gotten us where we are today.

I want to watch you walk away when some guy leers at your teenage daughter and calls out what God has instructed him to do to her.

[fit4life]

51. Now YOU'RE reading things that aren't there?

Where did I say to walk away? I'm simply saying there are less confrontational and better ways to get your point across to someone.

Oh, and as far as where I got "going off", check out this part of the first post:

From global warming to the war to the kidnapping of Jesus, the words flew. He tried to keep a smile but I could tell he regretted picking the wrong stranger to chat it up with. I especially enjoyed relating that the obscure part of Leviticus dealing with homosexuality also prohibits eating CRABS and SHRIMP!!!!!!!! He tried to give me some lame justification, but I just talked over him and said, "You can't pick and choose which parts to practice. Either you follow it all or none of it is valid."

If you don't consider that "going off" (especially in the context of the rest of the post) I don't know what to tell you.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

60. "Going off" means "flipping out,"

in my world.

I didn't pick up any of that in the post, but, you know, I live on the East Coast, and our way of talking to each other is to talk over all the time. You might be used to a more genteel way of communicating.

But, "going off," in anyone's idiom, is about raging and losing tempers. None of that happened in that exchange.

[fit4life]

105. Perception could be key.

When I read how she jumped him from this subject to that subject, I read that as going off, mainly from my own experience. When I go off on someone, I tend to cut loose with everything about that person that's bothering me, not just the issue at hand, and that's what her post looks like.

[Tsiyu]

108. Don't blame me

for the way YOU act.


Fix yourself.

[fit4life]

112. Learn to post then

Post the WHOLE story in the first thread if you don't want to be misunderstood. Don't blame me for the perception you gave in your first post.

*on edit*

I really didn't come here to fight with fellow democrats and I'd rather not. From your first post, I obviously misunderstood the situation, which prompted my original response. The rest of my posts were simply trying to explain my position on the original post. I apologize if I misunderstood you and jumped the gun.

[Tsiyu]

120. Apology accepted

It's time to listen to each other, not jump to conclusions.
I appreciate your taking the time to restate your position.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

129. We call that "sandbagging"

Going off on everything about the person that's bothering you is a common and unproductive, not to mention unfair, way to disagree with someone.

Sandbagging. Destined never to get either party anywhere except unhappy and sad.

Now, who is this "she"? I never caught buddyhollysghost's gender. That's not just perception - that's filling in blanks that aren't there.

[EC]

43. Good...

And to all above that took offense, he didn't just mention God, he said prophecies, rather signs of the rapture...

These are the same people that say use up the environment, rape it, for it doesn't matter, they'll be not of this earth soon, so what. They are the ones, creating a riff in society, ragging on gays, and prochoicers. They are the ones that wanted war, and killing of the Islamics, because "our God is greater than their God"

Each and everyone of them that are blind and hard groupies deserve the blasting...

Just smile and let them live in their disallusion? Noooooo....they are dangerous to the rest of us, and totally subvert the teachings of the bible....

I really don't believe literally in the bible and really don't care much about it, just as I don't live my life for fairy tales, but there is much about life you can learn from the writings of many not just the bible...

To believe in prophecies and believe you will be saved (from what I don't know)and to trash everything along the way, because you believe there is no need for it in your future, brings the rest of us that don't believe the same into the fight, because what they are trashing belongs to us too.

Now, I realize there are those that do believe in the rapture - but also believe in saving the environment and lives, good, at least they've got a conscience, and realize they need to keep their souls clean, not just belong to the right church...and I thank those that believe, but don't preach, or ask us to accept, or praise the Lord to us in everyday conversations.


Sorry for my rant...

[Tsiyu]

77. Hey, I understand the rant, EC

That's where I am. Past the point of being full of rage or hurt or depressed over the environment.

If there's going to be anything left of our natural environment for my grandkids, we better start speaking up TODAY.

That means countering this bullshit whenever it rears its ugly head.

[youthere]

101. trust me...

you did the right thing. My neighbor is one of the achristian pentecostal millienal psychopaths. If you just walk away they actually believe they made progress. They call it "planting the seed". I wish I had a dollar for every time she told me "they didn't say anything but I know they were thinking about it when they walked away." Yikes.

[redqueen]

44. God bless you. :o)

[blondeatlast]

45. I have no idea what happened.

Replied to one thread, it ende up here.

Anyway, good for you (OP).

[Tsiyu]

83. Well, glad you're here

have a cupcake? :donut:

[Mad_Dem_X]

46. Have a blessed day! :P

[Tsiyu]

78. GodBlessYou back, Redqueen

O8)

[SarahB]

48. Check this out

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0602/sexfreebible.html

[fit4life]

50. You're aware of course...

That site is a satirical parody. It was set up by members of a forum called "The Drunk's Bar". I'm not sure about the rules of posting links, but the drunks are all hardcore democrats and all-around great guys.

[SarahB]

52. Oh yes.

Funny stuff. :thumbsup:

[fit4life]

54. Just wanted to make sure.

I've seen people completely fooled in the past use it against fundies only to have the fundies point it out to them. That wouldn't be much fun! :)

[Tsiyu]

79. I love it SarahBelle!

The first time I visited that hilarious site, I had to read for a few minutes to realize it was satire.

I loved the real estate ads. And there are people who would live like that if they could. What am I saying? They're in the White House!


Aaaaaackkkkk!:puke:

[forgethell]

53. Too bad you shouted him down.

How can you effeectively argue with someone if you don't know his jsutifications for believing as he does. Concerning the eating of food:


Acts 10:
9On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
15And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
16This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

[B Calm]

55. When dealing with wilfully ignorant people, you have to shout!

[forgethell]

58. That'll educate them, alright.

I haven't converted many people to my way of thinking, over the years, but there have been one or two. Everyone changed his mind only after repeated, polite discussions over the issue. No one person has ever changed his mind when I called him an ignorant fool. There have been some of those, too.

[Tsiyu]

80. Sometimes I don't read through an entire thread before I post

either.

[Tsiyu]

81. Can I get an "AMEN" Sister!

Even though I didn't shout. But some people were there and they heard me, apparently, because now I find out I was raging like a lunatic! Sorry I missed it!


Anyone have pictures?

[donheld]

56. Good for you

Wish i could have been there.

[Tsiyu]

82. Me too!

Glad you're here, though! ;)

[Misunderestimator]

89. Good job!!

:toast:

[SheilaT]

91. Great job!

I'm tired of being told I have to tolerate ignorance and bigotry, and I shouldn't be letting ignorant bigots know just how ignorant and, well you get my drift.

I just wish I were better about articulating my beliefs. I tend to degenerate into incoherent rage when confronted with such people.

[orleans]

96. nice job

[Brewman_Jax]

98. Well done!

Freepers should never get a free pass to spew their insanity! :toast:

[WoodrowFan]

106. Actually he was correct (about the shrimp)

Actually he was correct on the shrimp. St. Peter specifically released believers from the Old Testament dietary laws.

HOWEVER, he did no such thing about the other many rules in the OT, so you can still throw stuff like selling your kids into slavery, banning people with mildew as unclean, etc., at fundies who start tossing rules about homosexuality around. They are still picking and chosing which laws to obey to fit their bigotry.

[Tsiyu]

109. Yeah, technically you're correct

but still, the point made is valid.

If Christ said "Don't judge. By the same measure you judge so shall you be judged" we need to start reminding them of the laws they are breaking. The ridiculous ones. The petty ones. The brutal ones.


WE can pick and choose, too.

Have a good day Woodrow:)

[WoodrowFan]

114. I agree with you.

you too. :)

[Glenda]

110. Bravo! You're great!

I hope he was able to feel the full weight of the wrath of the 49%.

Btw, are you good at salary negotiations? I may need you ;)

:yourock:

[Tsiyu]

134. Ha ha Sure!

I negotiated once for a higher price on a piece of writing and the publisher said, "Okay." I was shocked. I'm one of those folks who HATED to talk money.

But today? Bring em on, Glenda. How much salary, vacation and fringies do you want? They're yours!

[aWaKeNoW]

111. Great Job!

Hope his head didn't explode when you left...you know TRUTH does that to some people who really aren't smart enough to realize it. :yourock:

[Magrittes Pipe]

123. I did the same thing, except I also kicked him in the nuts.

Fucking itinerant fishermen.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

127. They're the worst kind of fishermen

:scared:

[Tsiyu]

135. Ironically ironic isn't it?

I've known some great fisherpeople. I have nothing against fisherpeople. But I can't deal with bullshitters. I've spent too much time on the mountain.

When someone runs their mouth too much, I get suspicious. And this guy's cohort was letting some bullshit fly in the bank while he bullshitted the folks outside.

I'm a friendly person, really. Just don't blow smoke up my ass.

[Tsiyu]

126. To SheilaT, orleans, LArgyle. Glenda. WKNW and whois all and Darth Kitty

and anyone I missed, thank you.

We've been doing our first tie dye experiments and I have leave in a minute to go to a horse care seminar, but I will be back later to haunt the lounge. I am proud of the cool DUers.

the rest of you better shape up. I'm comin' to your town....

[prairierose]

137. Fabulous!!!! You go!

I've actually been disappointed recently because no one has made the mistake of saying something stupid like that to me. I'm just looking for someone to educate! :evilgrin:
edited to add:

I do not believe in being quiet or turning the other cheek in the face of people who preach bigotry and hatred. And when an xtian starts in with their patented codes, we all know what is coming. Letting them spout their rhetoric and not responding gives them the idea that you agree with them & I do not.