sgman's messages

Your recent post in “Opinions & Bigotry” has to be one of the most reasonable and intelligent I have yet seen on this site.

The only thing I would have made a bit clearer was about your reference to children being left alone in your house. That would be a GENERAL & SPECIFIC application of “opinion” on the issue.

One can have enough general experience that would give one a limiting factor in why to not leave th alone. Seeing how little MATURE behavior in general would certainly preclude one from thinking children would magically “grown up” merely because one allowed them to be trusted like an adult.

AND,,, one can moderate that “general” assumption when dealing with a SPECIFIC child. On an individual basis, w/ extensive knowledge of that child’s responsibility level & maturity,,,,,one could apply a much more (specific) “correct” opinion.

AND,,, there certainly is NO bigotry in either case…(degree of application of experience level—-be it general or specific.

A really good post ya gave on explaining a very “delicate” issue about how EXPERIENCE (of varying degrees & areas) does in fact influence our thinking—-even if areas that COULD appear to be bigotry based.

I look forward to reading more of your posts.

Z

To make your arguments easier to present and comprehend use ‘the fancy quoting’. You can implement this into your posts by using bq. copy/paste
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Thus if I were quoting you saying ‘lol’ I would arrange my post as follows: bq. lol. I would then press enter and respond to said post.
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Hope this helps :D

Hey there. Don’t really know how often you check your shouts, but I figure I’ll give it a shot anyway.

First off, I’d like to preface this with a statement. I’m attempting to contact you through this, and not the forums, because I do not believe that personal conversations are suited to a medium like the forums.

Anyway, I’d like to extend the olive branch, and I hope that I’ll be able to explain why I sounded so hostile in the thread about the meaning of life.

First off, if you find meaning in religion, so long as it’s a “positive” meaning, then I have no issues with that. A lot of people read my arguments and think that I’m attacking them, when in fact it’s not truly my intention to do so (That being said, I have and to some degree still do harbor anger towards fundamentalists, due to where I live, but that’s another issue for another time).

The reason I was so aggressive in the thread, presenting my arguments in such a derisive fashion, was because (though I believe you when you stated that this was not the case) it’s an all too common phenomenon for a theist to come online and attempt to justify their prejudices, something which I ultimately (in this case) find to be deeply insulting, since they often insinuate, if not outright claim, that it is impossible for atheists to be moral people (using a neutrally valued definition of moral, even, wherein you ignore religiously dictated practices, such as tithing, which atheists obviously will not practice).

As I have stated, this happens far, far too frequently, and plays into my anger/aggression issues, and as such, I apologize for any attacks that I may have made against you, as I feel I was needlessly aggressive and allowed myself to fall prey to prejudice.

Admittedly, your low post count and default avatar REALLY make it easier to believe you are a troll, and if you intend to become a regular on the forums – and I hope you do, because really, the theists are largely outnumbered and in many cases outclassed on the forums, and I dislike lopsided discussions. Yet you seem to be a theist, like darkruler, who is actually worth talking to, because while I never expect to "convert you to atheism, nor should you hope to convert me, discussion will offer us both the means to grow as individuals.

So, in closing, please forgive me for my harshness – I recognize that they were in error and will not make such erroneous assumptions about you in the future. I hope that I didn’t disillusion you towards the forums, and that you’ll enjoy your time on Serious Discussion.

Also, if you’ve got the time, here are two videos on the subject of atheist morality and on morality in general, and I highly recommend watching them. The second moreso than the first (as it’s about atheist morality), I find to be highly evocative and very deeply moving.