Friday, September 2, 2011

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM ATRIOS

Odd how both parties think the path to election is "pissing off liberals."

Maybe they're even right!
Quite odd.

I've been reading Atrios at Eschaton for years and years, although I'm not a member of his tight community of commenters. They all seem to know one another, and I'm not sure they take easily to newcomers. In general, they do not like religion. Can the religious amongst us blame them with the many examples of hateful speech that circulate on the internet in the name of religion?

Hey, guys! We're not all hate-filled.

10 comments:

  1. I went to ATRIOS -- very strange. Lovely to find something new I don't need to tack on my favorites list. They weren't being anti-religion at this point, just quarrelsome. Not in anyway as interesting as MP -- where things also get a bit heated.

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  2. Atrios is a pretty cool blogger. I read him often. He doesn't write much any more. Now he does mostly links and short pieces, but he leads me to interesting places.

    In the past, if you brought up religion in the comments, the response was not likely to be friendly, but I haven't commented there in a long time.

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  3. I've learned to keep my religion to myself in comments on most blogs. The tedium of those who would "prove you wrong" is more than I can take.

    I grow old, I grow old....

    And frankly, considering the hateful speech that circulates freely on cable TeeVee and the intertubes and almost everywhere these days, I can no longer distinguish between adherents of a religion and adherents of an ideology. What distresses me most is those who claim to be open-minded and thoughtful, who obviously have never spared a thought for religion, except for disdainful ones.

    As I said, I grow old. So now I drop in here for a quiet word, or mutter to myself in public where I can control any annoyances.

    So it goes. (Besides, I like the word verifications I get here. ;-)

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  4. I like the word verifications I get here.

    I arrange them especially for you.

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  5. I look at AmericaBlog, Atrios, Digby, and DailyKos daily, and I seldom look at the comments. The hosts give more information than I can process, without dealing with commenters whose bias and expertise is unknown. (You become aware of where John Avarosis, Duncan Black, Heather Parton [yes, that's Digby's street name!], and Markos are coming from, and read accordingly.) Comments can be just ego outlets.

    My husband looks at a lot of opera videos on YouTube, and too often the comments are just mean and snide, so it's not just religion that brings out the negatives. Grandmère can testify that I tend to be pretty negative on "religion," but there's a difference between discussing ideas and criticism and just indulging in p*ssing matches.

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  6. ...there's a difference between discussing ideas and criticism and just indulging in p*ssing matches.

    Murdoch, exactly. I don't mind disagreement or criticism, but I can't stand pissing matches. I have little enough disagreement here, and I welcome the diversity, just so we all stay civil.

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  7. A great part of the problem is that we still allow hate-filled people to call themselves Christian without challenge. I've been taken to task for daring to say that they are not Christian, by other progressive Christians!

    The standard meme is "They may not be good Christians, but you can't say they aren't Christians."

    Yes. You can.

    They don't follow Christ, they lack any empathy or goodwill, they cannot change or repent.

    They. Are. Not. Christians.

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  8. A great part of the problem is that we still allow hate-filled people to call themselves Christian without challenge. I've been taken to task for daring to say that they are not Christian, by other progressive Christians!

    But, just like the poor, they will always be with us.

    And much argument, like much studying, is a vexation.

    "Furiumm?" You can't make this stuff up!

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  9. Don't argue, simply state, clearly, that they are NOT Christians, whatever they may say. We don't have to convince the pseudo-christians, just make sure the non-Christians understand.

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  10. We don't have to convince the pseudo-christians, just make sure the non-Christians understand.

    No offense, but: good luck with that. I gave up making people understand. Now I let them try to understand me. If they can.

    If not? Hey, ho!

    Hey, guys! We're not all hate-filled.

    I've only recently discovered I'm actually cream-filled.

    "Ousheo"!

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