Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Template Reformat

Sorry if the colors offend your eyes. I ended up messing up my template while trying to figure out why my navbar wasn't showing up. I'm going to be experimenting with the colors and templates a little bit. It may be time to update my 'gadgets' and consider other changes, so drop suggestions.

While I'm here, I might as well mention some post ideas:

1. A Doggerel entry, "Mind your own business!" for various woos who didn't appreciate me sticking my nose into topics they didn't want open for discussion.

2. A part 2 to "Christianity: The Apocalypse Cult That Survived." I think I'll avoid sticking to a book at a time, since a lot of the cult-like behaviors get replicated between the gospels. Any suggestions for a good list of cult identifiers out there?

43 comments:

Rhoadan said...

I think I've linked to the Advanced Bonewitz Cult Danger Evaluation Frame before. It's handy in that it describes behavior without reference to specific beliefs.

Dark Jaguar said...

"Mind your own business" and "leave me alone" are common things I hear when I start getting on a tangent. Fact is, I do have a hard time figuring out just when someone doesn't want to talk to me any more. I'm bad at those specific social cues.

That said, here's me defending myself. Most of the time, I never am the one to start discussing these things. I try to avoid politics, woo beliefs, and religion in my day to day discussions. However, when someone else brings it up, I respond, and then a discussion starts. To be sure, I don't mince words, but I do try to only attack the belief, not the person. Then the discussion gets heated, which I only notice after the fact, and abruptly ends with "well that's just what I think!" or something similar. Being charitable, I assume it's a lack of tact on my part. Being uncharitable, I wonder how many people I know just don't think they should have to defend what they say "all the time".

Don said...

BD: How dare you, sir! I, for one, have never changed my blog template and I am offended that you would attempt such villainy!

DJ: My wife is having lots of run-ins with people lately who seem to think that "It's just my opinion!" renders their claim unassailable. Of course, it only works for their claims; anyone else's opinions are fair game for them to shit on, but you better not try to question their opinion!

Ryan W. said...

It's just my opinion!:

Now that you've demonstrated my belief not only to be false but to be ridiculous, I'm now going to claim that you are stomping on my right to free speech! Falsify that assertion!

Bronze Dog said...

Are you saying the rapture happened on May 21 or not?

Ryan W. said...

Mabus is really mailing it in these days...

MWchase said...

Mabus is really mailing it in these days...

And not first-class, either! Eh, eh? ... *slinks away*

Anonymous said...

The End of America

youtube.com/watch?v=SZi4J-1F3UM

while you were talking NOTHING you lost your country....


unfacts.org/factsforum/viewtopic.php?t=4607

Bronze Dog said...

Are you so ashamed of your opinions, you won't discuss them like a human being? Is that why you act like a spambot, DM?

Bronze Dog said...

Something potentially blog-worthy I should mention: On Saturday, some Jehovah's Witnesses squeezed a little flyer for some apocalypse lecture/convention thing of theirs through my door crack. I might try writing something about it.

Anyone know if there's some big JW thing going on, or might this just be a relatively local thing?

Anonymous said...

The End of America - The End of War


graveyardofthegods.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&p=176806

Bronze Dog said...

Given the crazy fundies I've encountered, I don't know whether to assume you're:

A) hoping for the "End of America," and to cheer on the destruction of secular success (which all sorts of crazy, mostly Republican fundies running for office are actively campaigning for, whether they realize it or not)

or

B) trying to claim that free speech and religious freedom enforced by a secular government will, despite a couple centuries of relative success, somehow just magically and suddenly destroy everything those freedoms provided.

Anonymous said...

The End of America - The End of War


graveyardofthegods.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&p=176806

Bronze Dog said...

Still ashamed of yourself, DM?

Anonymous said...

bronze dog - see you are lying shit

Bronze Dog said...

[Citation needed]

Don said...

At least he called you by name. That's something, right?

djfav said...

#A67D3D FTW

djfav said...

And #B0E0E6! Yay!

Dark Jaguar said...

Where do you normally post BD? I'd like to talk a little more often since things are slower here lately (yeah, I've been busy myself, so I know how it is).

On an off-topic, I'm very interested in any links to psychological tests to see if simply being aware of human psychological tendencies helps to negate them. Like, if you know in advance people tend to miss things like a gorilla when focusing on basketballs being tossed, does that make people able to notice odd things like that while focusing? I mean we've all suspected as much, but if there's some science to back that up, I'd love to see it.

Dark Jaguar said...

DM, you called BD a liar, but that leaves me confused. What do you think he lied about?

Further, consider this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

Bronze Dog said...

This is still my primary blog. I'm just distracted from posting a lot.

Anonymous said...

@pzmyers

for lying sh*thead myers

the END OF AMERICA - the END OF WAR


unfacts.org/factsforum/viewtopic.php?t=4607

Bronze Dog said...

And DM still shows his shame by refusing to speak about his opinions in meaningful detail:

It's much easier to hide your shame under false bravado copypasta than it is to make something that invites serious reading.

djfav said...

Won't somebody think of all the goats? Those poor fucking goats! What did they ever do to be set on fire?

Anonymous said...

"Come on baby light my fire...time to set some goats on FIIRRRREEEE!"

It is so sad to see Dave Mabus spasmodically jerking out his mindless spam. But at least we know that poor Dave is still alive, and that some kind person is looking after him. Could it be that Depeche Mode and Nostradamus are the ones caring for our demented hero?
Keep those goats burnin' Dave!


Skepticktock:)

Dark Jaguar said...

So you're calling Bronze Dog a liar because you believe Myers is a liar?

There seems to be some miss communication here. Bronze Dog is a different person than Myers, and thus can't be held responsible for any perceived lies by Myers.

Still, this does make me curious. What lies do you think Myers has engaged in?

I followed one of your links, but it doesn't really clarify anything. I just reach a forum post by you that links to yet more sites, mostly youtube videos. These videos, at least the few I checked out, seem to be pro-skeptic videos.

This leaves me utterly confused as to what your actual position is. Could you please explain your position directly, intentionally handicapping yourself by refusing to use any links to make that point? I believe it would help.

Bronze Dog said...

I think the reason he posts videos of skeptics being skeptical is that in his twisted worldview, they said something that constitutes a 'gotcha,' and simply assumes we're going to go through the delusional symbolist/semantics/whatever gymnastics he does, therefore there's no need for discussion.

In other words, he arrogant enough to assume he's the template of humanity.

Anonymous said...

WHACKANATHEIST

youtube.com/watch?v=GlZtEjtlirc

for lying sh*thead myers

END OF AMERICA-END OF WAR


unfacts.org/factsforum/viewtopic.php?t=4607

Bronze Dog said...

Why are you so ashamed of yourself, DM?

Bronze Dog said...

The shame continues.

Anonymous said...

for lying intolerant sh*theads


WHACKANATHEIST


disclose.tv/forum/the-end-of-america-the-end-of-war-t54505.html

Bronze Dog said...

Intolerant. That's funny coming from a pro-genocide person. The worst us typical humanist atheists do is wield a sharp tongue.

Of course, people of faith, who consider themselves above gods, can't have anyone spouting heresy involving the idea that they're fallible.

Anonymous said...

liquidation in the ideological sphere is followed by liquidation in the REAL WORLD... we stopped that by LIQUIDATING YOU

MWchase said...

So, according to you, we threaten your existence by pointing out logical issues, so you're justified in killing us (presumably by pulling fire alarms at us until we go deaf and wander out into traffic).

Funny, I don't feel dead.

Bronze Dog said...

Just goes to show that DM is too ashamed of his beliefs that he won't even think about how they contradict one another. Of course, he's probably a divine command theorist: An extreme form of moral subjectivism and arbitrary circumstantialism: It all depends on the god's random mood, therefore he can declare mass murder 100% moral, whenever it's convenient for DM, I mean, that god.

At least humanism tries for some objectivity, even if it's not truly possible.

Anonymous said...

for lying intolerant sh*thead "wiseman" - we even use YOU!

disclose.tv/forum/the-end-of-america-the-end-of-war-t54505.html

Bronze Dog said...

Why can't you engage us as a human being? Why do you hide behind spambot-like copypasta?

Don said...

My guess is psychosis.

Ryan W. said...

I'd like to know what "Whackana Theist" is.

djfav said...

I think it's like Whack-A-Mole for Christians.

Jim Roberts said...

As a metaphor, it's sort of an interesting one.

I'm picturing That Guy you always find on the midway at any county fair a sweaty-toothed madman with a plush hammer madly wailing away at Whack-a-Mole for hours at a time, accomplishing nothing but blistering his hands and accruing carnival tickets he can never exchange for anything of real worth.

The violence of the image offends me, and I'm not even an atheist so I imagine it'd feel worse if I was, but it is evocative.

MWchase said...

I dunno. For me, it's kind of tempered by his documented ineffectuality. For all that DM posts, when push came to shove, he ducked out, fearing confrontation with PZ, of all people.

Being actually afraid of PZ indicates either pernicious intellectual dishonesty, or a profound failure to comprehend the world around oneself. Or, you know, being an actual criminal that PZ has been called to testify against. But DM really tilts toward the first two.

It's really more like some guy who spends all his time bragging about his Whack-A-Mole records, but is actually deathly afraid of anything that makes sudden movements, such as a Whack-A-Mole game.