For a long time, I was the "new guy" here on AR. Meaning one of the new atheists that joined and actually stuck around. Often we get a few new people but they rarely if ever stay for very long (I have no idea why). Usually, there are some hangers-on, like Old Man and Tin-Man and I am thankful for them, but it is always a small number. Occasionally we get new atheists that just come here to promote something, themselves or a website.
Recently we have been privileged with "new blood"! This is inspiring! The diversity in age, geography, philosophy, politics, ideas is refreshing, to say the least. Having one thing in common, that being not believing in any god, is in itself is...dare I say it? A godsend!
There have been times that I have started threads just to keep things going as the conversations just bogged down.
Now I can relax. With the influx of more and new atheists here there are fresh ideas and new looks at old issues!
Tin-man and Oldman seem to have taken the mantle of protector and motivator which they are much better at than I. But don't be surprised if Nyar and Chimp3 and others don't chime in with very profound statements, they are very good at that aspect of the forum. I'm not going anywhere (that I know of) and intend to be just as crusty as ever, but it is a good feeling watching the new folks take the reins!
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I always appreciate your posts and insight into subjects. I may not post the most thought provoking subjects, but I do try to stay involved and like you am a progressive liberal and have no tolerance for conservatives.
I am an Atheist. I went from christian to years of being an agnostic, which there is nothing wrong with, and finally have arrived at being an Atheist. I appreciate this group and people with strong opinions like yourself. Glad to feel like I am part of something that can change people's minds and help them undo the damage religion has caused them. This group has really helped me more than anything else I have in my life.
Always enjoyed you thelargerbowl!
Well, I plan on staying for a long time. Sometimes, like recently, life got a little intense and I have little time to get on and little inclination to switch gears so hard, but I'll always be back.
This site has been most excellent. Always fun talking and debating and reading what amazing things people write.
And you, Myckob4, you make me laugh with a lot of your threads. Always good for a break in my, often serious demeaner.
And I promise I'll be back in the trenches of debate very soon. I've got blue balls for fucking shit up after my recent break.
Hi Mykcob4
I'm one of the newbies and like you, a liberal progressive, but I'm left of spectrum quite a long ways on some things. I can't guarantee I'll be here all the time - I tend to flit off and pursue other interests for awhile- but I can guarantee I'll come back.
This is a small forum, but it's a nice one, a nice community. I love the diversity in age, geography, philosophy, politics and ideas you find in forums, too, but the thing I value the most is the similliarities. The way the Creationists started out small in numbers and grew influence from there, here and in the US, for example, or the way we're ALL seeing the imposition of public surveillance justified in the name of antiterrorism and vilification of refugees for the same whether you're in the US, UK, EU, Asia or Australia. I think learning and sharing those similarities is key to recognising the rest and overcoming what divides and conquers us.
@Myk
Hey, Myk! Fuck you, you decrepit old bag of bones jarhead! I ain't motivatin' nobody! And if me and Old Man get hold of the reins we're gonna end up fighting over which one of us gets to steer this bitch over the edge of a cliff! *maniacal laughter as I strip off my clothes and run naked down the street*
Relax, Tin one. I'd cut the reins off before surrendering them to you two. Chaos would be safer.
@Sushi
Waaaaaa!!! Waaaaaa!!! Waaaaa!!! *throwing temper tantrum* Not fair! I wanna steer the horsies! I wanna steer the horsies!... Waaaa!!! Waaaa! Waaaa!!!
Oh so true TM.
And fuck Mykcob as well...oh wait...wrong thread...*Laughs uncontrollably*
people come and go..
change is constant... but not for T-man..
always gets the rust out....old but not obsolete..
its a compliment t-man..don't get me wrong bruh..hahahha
Tin & Old you fucking crack me up!
Sheldon, you are the harbinger of sanity! Qu@si what a lark you are! Sushi you always make my day! Aposteriori you are so spot on! To all of you good luck!
like wise mykcob..oh and Happy Valentines too...
no gods attached..seriously..!
I am new on here too. I'm not sure how many of my kind, Libertarians over 50 that (not always proudly) vote Republican, there are here, I suspect not many. But at least I don't have to be in the closet about my non-religious views. I've been reading more than posting thus far, but plan to participate more once I get the feel of the place.
I'm a Republican that always votes Democrat.
Always playing the malcontent huh, Breezy!
I just see labels as tools, not identities.
@Breezy
You're right about labels but it came off differently.
Well NewSkeptic, glad you're here. I won't tell you what I think of libertarians...let's just say it's along the lines of an Agnostic.
@mykcob4: I won't tell you what I think of libertarians
Freedom is important, too, Mykcob4. And tyranny can arise from either end of the political spectrum. Whether they oppress in the name of god or in the name of the proletariat, the result is always the same.
@Algebe
I don't know about that. Extreme conservatism is tyranny, extreme Liberalism is anarchy.
What about extreme socialism? Every major industry belongs to the state. Trains and planes operate to create jobs for crews and to hell with the passengers. Health care is free but you have to wait 10 years to get treated.
New Zealand went down that track until the mid-1980s. The churches egged the government on to take more and more money out of the productive economy to spend on failed social programs for people who really only needed jobs, but nobody could create jobs because the government took so much money about the private sector. There's a lot of power to be gained through charity.
It depends what you mean by extreme Liberalism. The role of government should be to enforce laws, to be a neutral umpire. I got in a dispute with the telephone company over unfair charges and abysmal service quality. I should have been able to take the owners to court, only the owners were the government. So the telephone company could do anything it liked. That's anarchy.
@Algebe
The end result is the same when we're oppressed in the name of democracy, too. Not as easily in direct democracies, of course, though it could still happen, but nobody has one of those anyway - we've all got representative democracies. Just get into power and tell the people the majority of them want x,y and z because they voted for x,y,z, even though they weren't offered anything other than x,y and z by anybody, so they had no choice but to vote for them. X = global corporate capitalism, y= the War on Terror and z= the War on Drugs, for example. A little while ago, the Christian Right ran a particularly nasty campaign against same sex marriage on the grounds the majority were opposed to it.
The only thing I can never decide is if it's done in the name of god or the proletariat? So much of it is straight moralising it feels like the former, but they swear it's for our health, wealth and/or safety, so it sounds like the latter.
Any system of government where a tiny minority make decisions for the majority - oligarchy- will be oppressive to a greater or lesser degree and that's the only system of government we've ever managed to produce.
@Sushisnake: The end result is the same when we're oppressed in the name of democracy, too.
Yes. Democracy can end up as six people telling four people what to do.
Are you talking about the same-sex marriage campaign in Australia? Did you notice the sky falling and society melting into chaos after the vote was passed? All I've seen is a lot of cringe-worthy weddings on the news recently. I love marriage but I really hate weddings [LOL].
@Algebe
Yes I did mean the same-sex marriage campaign, and whether or not the sky fell would depend where you were standing at the time. It would have felt touch and go to the thousands of children who were told their families weren't real and their parents weren't proper and the science says children are better off being raised by a Mummy and Daddy and everyone knows that in their hearts, don't they? It would have felt touch and go to a lot of young LGBTIQ people who had no idea how nasty we could be because they weren't around in the 80s and 90s when we were throwing queers off cliffs and undercover cops gave them a good kicking. It would have felt like the sky did indeed fall to everyone working hard to reduce bullying in schools by addressing it with education, and I doubt anyone harbouring hopes of critical reasoning and/or comparative religion being introduced as a core K-12 subject in the near future cracked open a bottle of champagne in celebration of our liberal enlightened society.
And then there's the way it was done. Not a legally binding plebiscite overseen by the AEC, oh no - it was a postal opinion poll. Had it been a plebiscite, the laws governing campaign propaganda would have kicked in, denying the Right their spiteful little shit show and we couldn’t have that, not after all the money donated, especially by the churches. $100 million was a small price to pay for this little present to our friends.
It wasn't a harmless exercise, it was a deeply divisive and irresponsible thwarting of representative democracy for propaganda purposes and it opens the door for more of the same.
Sushisnake:
I agree with you, I think. Did you think I was against the same-sex marriage law? It wasn't done well, but at least it was done. The poll was not a robust process, and I'm sure there was lots of double voting and vote tampering, but the result was still too decisive for even Australia's politicians to ignore.
Church leaders, Abbot, and various religious groups used TV ads and other means to tell us that a yes vote would destroy families and cause society to break down. New Zealand, a very similar society to Australia's, passed a same-sex marriage law five years ago without any of those disastrous consequences. They actually did it by a vote of parliament, too, rather than the $100m opinion poll used by the Australia's cowardly politicians.
No! I didn't think you were against same sex marriage for a second, Algebe. My concern is that the opinion poll was damaging and completely unnecessary. The bipartisan government changed the law to exclude SSM in 1994 without an opinion poll or plebiscite, all they had to was change it back. They knew where Australians stood on it, they'd known for years: the result was expected. Instead, they did this, and it's a dangerous precedent. Imagine the other propaganda campaigns they can launch under the pretense of giving us our say? Imagine the division and hatred they could whip up? Imagine one on refugees? They've got a run on the books now.
Amen Sister 5*****
That poisonous toad Abbott and his fuckbuddy Cardinal Pell have a lot to answer for.
Well, I've read enough on here to pick up on your politics. Can't say I agree with very much of it. But politics has no interest for me here. I will admit that your side of the political aisle does have less of the god dillusion, which gives me some pause, but the political among them feel compelled to lie about it.
Wow
I am a newbie here also. Find myself wishing these forums could have existed about 50 years ago.
And keep up the profanity mykob4. I love it.
Voting?
Ha!
No one has been worthy of receiving my vote since I became voting age.
Just wished I lived in Texas, then I could vote for Aron Ra.
rmfr
@arakish
I appreciate your posts as well!
I am new too, although I have been active in other groups.
This one does appear to have interesting topics for discussions though.
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