Biden Administration misc. activities

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Nodack
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

Post by Nodack »

Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:48 am
Thinking religions based on deities are BS doesn't make you racist/bigoted, unless you think less of people that are religious.
I think less of those people that screwed me over in the name of religion. People follow their own paths and decide for themselves what is BS and what isn’t and we all have a different opinion. I think some people need and want guidance in their lives and religion gives them meaning and something to believe in that is good. I can’t fault them for that. I just don’t believe it’s real. I admit I think they are a little gullible.

I looked for guidance in my life growing up from people I respected. I was a huge fan of John Wayne. He always did the right honorable thing in the movies and that was something I could believe in. It was just movies though. The real John Wayne was probably something else. My uncle became my John Wayne in real life and always did the right thing. Now days it seems we have lost anyone to look up to. Half the country seems to look up to Trump as their guiding light for behavior, so now lying, cheating and being a sexual predator is something we can all aspire to become if we work hard enough. There isn’t really a moral compass for the other side either.

So yes, I believe America has no moral compass right now and that is hurting us bigly. You can’t trust anyone. Everyone is trying to screw you. I never answer the phone unless I know the number because most likely the person on the other end is trying to scam me. My mother spends probably $100 a week sending money to political BS scams.

Some friends of ours just told us the story of how they use Best Buy’s Geek Squad people to protect their computers from viruses. Just last week they said their computer freaked out saying it was hacked and to call a number right away to take care of it. The people on the other end said they were Microsoft and proceeded to scam them in an elaborate scheme involving several people. They ended up talking to what they thought was their bank and their bank wanted their help in stopping the scammers and got them to buy $2000 in gift cards and gave “the bank” the pin numbers and the scammers bought $2000 worth of Best Buy products thanks to our gullible friends.

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In2ition
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

Post by In2ition »

Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:31 pm
There are a lot of definitions for everything. The main one on google is this:

Religion, noun, the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
Yeah, mine was on Bigotry, also from Google.
big·ot·ry
/ˈbiɡətrē/
noun
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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In2ition
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

Post by In2ition »

Nodack wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:51 pm
Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:48 am
Thinking religions based on deities are BS doesn't make you racist/bigoted, unless you think less of people that are religious.
I think less of those people that screwed me over in the name of religion. People follow their own paths and decide for themselves what is BS and what isn’t and we all have a different opinion. I think some people need and want guidance in their lives and religion gives them meaning and something to believe in that is good. I can’t fault them for that. I just don’t believe it’s real. I admit I think they are a little gullible.

I looked for guidance in my life growing up from people I respected. I was a huge fan of John Wayne. He always did the right honorable thing in the movies and that was something I could believe in. It was just movies though. The real John Wayne was probably something else. My uncle became my John Wayne in real life and always did the right thing. Now days it seems we have lost anyone to look up to. Half the country seems to look up to Trump as their guiding light for behavior, so now lying, cheating and being a sexual predator is something we can all aspire to become if we work hard enough. There isn’t really a moral compass for the other side either.

So yes, I believe America has no moral compass right now and that is hurting us bigly. You can’t trust anyone. Everyone is trying to screw you. I never answer the phone unless I know the number because most likely the person on the other end is trying to scam me. My mother spends probably $100 a week sending money to political BS scams.

Some friends of ours just told us the story of how they use Best Buy’s Geek Squad people to protect their computers from viruses. Just last week they said their computer freaked out saying it was hacked and to call a number right away to take care of it. The people on the other end said they were Microsoft and proceeded to scam them in an elaborate scheme involving several people. They ended up talking to what they thought was their bank and their bank wanted their help in stopping the scammers and got them to buy $2000 in gift cards and gave “the bank” the pin numbers and the scammers bought $2000 worth of Best Buy products thanks to our gullible friends.
Not you too, Nodack? You've been corrupted by Trump to, using his made up word. ;)

I also do not answer the phone to a number I do not know. It's sad really, our state of the world.

My in-laws, who are very smart people. My father-in-law is/was a physicist and inventor & engineer who could speak 3 languages, and my mother-in-law was an ESL teacher. They got scammed by the same Geek Squad scam. They were too embarrassed to tell us that they may have been getting scammed, that it could have been avoided much sooner. They finally broke down and talked to me about it, and I had to pull out the truth from them. Goodness was that I figured out what was going on early enough, but they were about to send a $30K check to them, until I intervened and my wife got them back on track and cleaned up the mess with the banks and their computers. It was a mess, but at least no one got stolen from that time. They even asked other friends of theirs, and they were also running down the wrong road.

It was comical really. My wife left her phone by them while they were working on the problem, while she needed to use the restroom. She comes back out and my mother-in-law is on my wife's phone. My wife asks, "Who are you talking to?" My mother-in-law says, "Oh, it's the computer company people that are helping us, Scam Likely". Needless to say, I think my mother-in-law was more than a bit embarrassed that she got scammed again. They are feeling very old and gullible at this point.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:39 am
You said the panel couldn't understand his nuance. Made it sound like you could, but most people can't. Apologies if that is not what you meant.
Ben Affleck went into full meltdown mode ..
Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:39 am
The rest of this is just you finding anything ever linked to sects of Islam and pretending like that is what the religion teaches or that over a billion Muslims around the world believe that shit. It would be like me saying "so defend why Christianity is so rampant with pedophilia" and similar stuff about defending the christian fundamentalists movements around the world that are very homophobic and anti-semetic. Or how christian doctrine supports incest.
I didn't trawl the net for anything and everything, I just looked here - not perfect but a reasonable summary:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism ... on_slavery

You said you didn't like the *motherload of bad ideas* comment and I gave you a motherload of bad ideas that are still commonly practiced in the muslim world - which I think you'll find is a marked difference to Christian scriptures and behaviours. I forgot to add female genital mutilation, omfg.
Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:39 am
And referring to someone as "more a realist than a racist" or saying he's close to the line but doesn't cross it because he doesn't intend to be racist is, well I am not sure how to respond to that.
I'll give a couple of analogies:

I like Indians (I like all people) but I can't stand Indian call centre staff ... They're hard to understand and cultural differences can lead to them acting overly confident which just comes across arrogance (to me, anyway), made worse when you can they don't actually know what they're doing.

I like muslims (i like all people) but why did the Muslim lady in my building in my old flat in London have to let the whole world know she was praying to Allah? She would wail and wail and wail and we'd all have to suffer through it.

Or the store owner who was praying to Allah literally in the middle of his store when I was trying to buy a couple of beers .. I'm all for religious tolerance but did he have to do it there? Why not a little discretion, especially in a religiously discreet country like the UK?
Indy wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:39 am
As for defining racism--I would say it is holding prejudicial beliefs for a group of people (regardless of it is race, religion, gender, etc.). I realize the actual definition is just limited to race, but there isn't a good word that covers all of it. And EVERYONE is racist in some ways. It is a spectrum.
Which is why I asked this question ... I don't think it's wrong to dislike something about someone's culture, nor make comment about it as long as it's not done in an inflammatory way.

The test (I think) is how you behave towards someone behind closed doors.

I'm a big guy and I physically threw a racist English d*ckhead off the train as he was being racist to a muslim family with young children. And if a muslim was in desperate need of help, I wouldn't treat that person any differently to if it was a white person ... I'd bet Maher would be exactly the same.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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In2ition wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:02 am
Bigotry - obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
Ignorance - lack of knowledge or information.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Nodack wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:19 am
I think Maher is ok. It is no secret that Maher thinks all religions are BS. I do too. That makes us both a racist/bigot I guess. I think people hide behind religion sometimes. It allows them to do bad things and be ok with it because they can ask god for forgiveness and release them from their sins.

A religious guy wrote a religious song and wanted record it for his Church. He came to me and I spent two weeks on and off working on his song. After two weeks he liked where it was and asked if I could make a copy for him to take home to listen too to make sure it was what he wanted before committing to it. I made him a copy and never heard from him again. That was a very uncool thing to do and he did it in the name of religion. I couldn’t grasp how someone could be that into God and religion and deliberately screw someone over n the name of God in a sense.

Another guy came to me who was recording a religious album and needed acoustic guitar on it. He told me the album was going to be big, said it had a lot of backing and promised a nice payday for me. I recorded his acoustic guitar and he said he loved it and then he asked if I could record electric on it too and so I did. He gave him all the tracks… and never heard from him again.

I was playing a Corporate gig for some company and one of the prizes for top salesman was a nice set of Ping golf clubs in a nice leather bag. The lead singer was the music director of a church his dad was the pastor at. He decided he wanted that set of golf clubs and just walked it out to his truck and said “God will forgive me”. I have never forgave myself for not turning him in. Doing so would have gotten him arrested and ruined the bands reputation. It was selfish of me. He forgave himself right away because God would forgive him.

These three events reinforced my belief that religion is BS. I don’t believe god wrote the Ten Commandments. I believe some maybe well meaning man/men wrote the Ten Commandments to give man some basic rules to live by and added Gods name to it to give it punch.

I am rambling and have said enough already but, that is my viewpoint.
I started listening to Christopher Hitchen's take down of religion, and it was all over .. he just tears it to shreds.

That said, the Christian church in the UK seems a lot less corrupted than what I can see in the US, and if someone tells me they believe in god or go to church in the UK I'm fine with it as they're almost always nice people. If they're American and they're into the church they tend to be a bit weird, likewise here in Australia.

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In2ition
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

Post by In2ition »

3rdside wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:17 pm
In2ition wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:02 am
Bigotry - obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
Ignorance - lack of knowledge or information.
Thanks, 3rdside! You're the best!!!!

Best - adjective
of the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Right back at you In2 - you're definitely not ;)

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Sorry, that's a little mean .. No hard feelings although your religious, small town background explains a lot lol.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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*seems to explain a lot .. don't want to be guilty of incorrect stereotypes ;)

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In2ition
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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3rdside wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:30 pm
Right back at you In2 - you're definitely not ;)
Haha, fair enough. I haven't lived in a small town in over 30 yrs, but sure.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass

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Indy
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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I like Indians (I like all people) but I can't stand Indian call centre staff ... They're hard to understand and cultural differences can lead to them acting overly confident which just comes across arrogance (to me, anyway), made worse when you can they don't actually know what they're doing.

I like muslims (i like all people) but why did the Muslim lady in my building in my old flat in London have to let the whole world know she was praying to Allah? She would wail and wail and wail and we'd all have to suffer through it.

Or the store owner who was praying to Allah literally in the middle of his store when I was trying to buy a couple of beers .. I'm all for religious tolerance but did he have to do it there? Why not a little discretion, especially in a religiously discreet country like the UK?
Not to get religious here, but jesus fucking christ.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Lol - are you saying I'm racist?

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Indy
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Like I said before, we are all racist.

And the UK is not a religiously discreet country. It is certainly a repressed culture overall, but it screams Christianity every where you look and listen.

(to be fair, I haven't spent much time outside of London, so maybe it is just there)

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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Right, so it's important to understand nuance. And in my case my actions speak louder than my thoughts (which is why another one of your agitative responses is a little dubious..)

A qualifying comment on the muslim stuff - *with discretion*, for me, is how one should behave in a modern society to maintain harmony if what one does could be considered annoying or offensive by others; religious practice, smoking weed, homosexuality etc etc - most people, I think, won't have a problem with what someone else does as long as it isn't overly visible, aromatic or audible in public.

As for the UK:

- There's churches and cathedrals everywhere but that's more a historical trait rather than an indication of religiousness; no one's in your face about it like in the USA. Muslims tend to be much louder about their religion, which goes against my ideal of discretion.
- I'm not sure why you think the UK is repressed? London is a madhouse of capitalism and anything can and does go. Australia on the other hand - cops, bouncers, lifeguards etc this place IS repressed lol.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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I suppose relatively repressed vs the USA is a fair comment, as you guys are wild - the price you're now paying for having an unstable country I guess.

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Indy
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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3rdside wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:48 pm
Right, so it's important to understand nuance. And in my case my actions speak louder than my thoughts (which is why another one of your agitative responses is a little dubious..)

A qualifying comment on the muslim stuff - *with discretion*, for me, is how one should behave in a modern society to maintain harmony if what one does could be considered annoying or offensive by others; religious practice, smoking weed, homosexuality etc etc - most people, I think, won't have a problem with what someone else does as long as it isn't overly visible, aromatic or audible in public.

As for the UK:

- There's churches and cathedrals everywhere but that's more a historical trait rather than an indication of religiousness; no one's in your face about it like in the USA. Muslims tend to be much louder about their religion, which goes against my ideal of discretion.


- I'm not sure why you think the UK is repressed? London is a madhouse of capitalism and anything can and does go. Australia on the other hand - cops, bouncers, lifeguards etc this place IS repressed lol.
A) Very common take. "Hey, I don't care what you do, just don't flaunt it." That has been used against people different from the majority forever.

B) I think you are not realizing that a "historical trait" of having christian churches and cathedrals everywhere *IS* very in your face.

C) The Londoners I experienced were not outspoken and didn't share their feelings/emotions much, if at all. That is what I mean by repressed. Maybe you were using a different definition. It is very much a self-repression, but it feels societal (at least to me).

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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A) So the alternative is just to be in your face about it? I can't see how that works on any level but feel free to explain it.

B) Again it's a historical trait - the difference is in the behaviours of its citizens; Americans verge on cultish behaviour when it comes to religion, which isn't evident in the UK and the % of people into religion in the US vastly outnumbers the UK:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Importanc ... by_country

I'm not sure what's hard to understand about this.

C) Brits tend to be more conservative in their approach to relationships with others - at least initially - that's surely a cultural trait rather than a sign of repression.

By repressed I mean feeling free to do and say what you want without feeling constrained. You can do that in both the US and the UK, but the earned independence by the Americans from the British back in the day, and the resultant desire not to feel 'ruled' by anyone and to do away with class structures and traditions, is why you do it better than the Brits do.

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3rdside
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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And you have better weather, which I'm sure helps the more outward nature of personalities.

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Nodack
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Re: Biden Administration misc. activities

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We have pretty great weather in Phoenix imo. It’s getting late in November and some people are still wearing shorts at night. It does get a little chilly late night. I still haven’t worn a jacket except to formal stuff yet.

Every place is different. People have different customs. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day at kind of precise times that waver throughout the year and must face Mecca. Christians pray at different times. Weddings, dinners, bed time, Church. As a non religious person it can be a little weird holding hands and praying with other people at some function. I just go with the flow and act like they act and nobody is any wiser.

Just like tonight. I was playing at a sports bar and a patron walks up that knows the drummer and starts telling us a joke. “What did the Taliban call their new military supply store?” “Traitor Joes”. I just kept my mouth shut and the drummer laughed and then later apologized to me after he got it. I said “You don’t need to apologize”. The bar is owned by a proud right winger with proud right winger friends. Later on in the night one drunk guy comes ofer and wants us to play the Brandon song. I didn’t know there was a Brandon song. I know the Brandon story and how saying “Let’s go Brandon” really means fuck Joe Biden. The guy started yelling “Let’s go Brandon!” “Let’s go Brandon!” over and over walking around the bar as I kind of just shook my head.

You mention people are more or less repressed in certain places. It depends on the situation. If I was hanging around a green room with my other band I am in, they, aside from the keyboard player, would be talking about the crazy Republicans. I was at a right wing sports bar tonight and the last thing I was going to do is announce I voted for Biden. They love us there but, it would probably be my last gig there if they found out how much I detest Trump and voted for Biden. The people that come see us a mostly older white people who are generally Republicans.

The internet has allowed people to express themselves without any filter they would have on in any other situation with real people. The online politics comment sections are filled with insults after insults from people of both party’s attacking each other.
So yes, I believe America has no moral compass right now and that is hurting us bigly.
Not you too, Nodack? You've been corrupted by Trump to, using his made up word. ;)
I used bigly intentionally to reference Trump when talking about not having a moral compass.

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