2739: Black and White

[flerchin]

By all accounts, there may be a couple of good men on any given football field. Those men do not deserve brain damage.

[Keith]

Of course they don't deserve it, but I would assume there's no way around it.

[WittyReference]

The mocumentary about Cycling, Tour De Pharmacy has Lance Armstrong in it in a "comical" role and it makes me feel the same way as putting Mel Gibson in a movie. The guy almost ruined the sport for fucks sake but lets make him look likable? Fuck off.



Armstrong is also doing podcasts now and did a daily one for the latest tour so he's still trying to earn money off of cycling too. Gross.

[Archimedes_Screw]

There will always be a Star Trek analogy.

[Lanfear]

Originally Posted by kaligula

Sorry, Lanfear. I don't mean to pick on you. ...
See above

Oh I do enjoy reading about manic cult leaders - there are a shitton of cool podcasts about them. Let me know if you need recommendations.

I don't usually try to defend them by saying 'nah he really didn't mean that part and I ignore this part because I don't like it and one of his main followers that is heavily featured in the book was mistaken but overall this story that was written years after by people who most likely never met that preacher is totes awesome and factual.

[Lanfear]

Also I'd be super interested into you explaining how Moses and Mohammed are so terrible vs Jesus (who I think you are defending but maybe I am misunderstanding that???) without diving headfirst into an antisemitic/racist sinkhole of logic traps

[Lanfear]

Originally Posted by Apia

Jesus had the best hair and body.

Totes - that’s probably why Mohammed forbid images of himself and Jesus hangs in every church practically naked
447CB479-14BD-442D-A3EF-BAE93ADC4B44.jpeg

[Lanfear]

Yeah got it - the difference is you picked out the stuff you like in the one and ignored all the inconvenient stuff. That’s what I expected to hear THANKS!

[Lanfear]

Originally Posted by kaligula

Take a look at what you're saying Lanfear. The worst Jesus of the Gospels did was get weirdly angry at a tree and freak out at the money-changers (what probably would have actually got him dead if real.) He also failed to criticise social institutions which were ubiquitous and unavoidable at the time. The thrust of his message does genuinely appear to have been to love your enemies.

Mohammed had the hands and feet of his enemies cut off, blinded them with flame-heated nails and left them to die of thirst in front of everyone.

Jesus has the advantage of being mostly mythological and the most probable stuff is the good stuff. Mohammed is at the disadvantage of having lived the more chronicled life, but the highlights are pretty out-there.

Do you not think there's a bit of a false equivalency here?

P.S. The way I know that the sword is metaphorical is that Jesus never uses a sword. Also, literal swords aren't very good for dividing families and setting them against each other, like he says in the next sentence.

EDIT: Also Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses and were all Semitic. I probably wouldn't be able to distinguish them phenotypically.

Oh I know exactly what I am saying

I am pointing out that you are talking to me about the truth and value in the teachings of somebody you just called 'mythological' yourself

I'm very ok with my opinions right now

[Lanfear]

Originally Posted by kaligula

Deflect away then! Note that the position you ascribed me - which you will find difficult to justify as an interpretation of my posts - is totally ungermane.

We were comparing the moral philosophies of two historical/mythological figures.

I use the Pythagorean theorem a lot, but it is only of marginal interest to me whether Pythagoras actually existed. Certainly, he is a partially mythical figure. We ONLY know Socrates through Plato and Xenophon, and they're both obviously fake-newsing it up but the Socratic Dialogues are classics for a reason.

It's pretty easy to discuss the ideas of historical/mythological figures. In fact, when discussing pre-modern figures, it's largely unavoidable.

You can appreciate the Vedas, and the Buddha, and Jesus without believing in any of them. I'm not a fan of Mohammed but a lot of Islamic art is spot on, as are some of the spiritual techniques. The Suffis are great, but they had to get rid of most of Islam to get that way.

EDIT: Sorry Apia. I hate positioning myself as the forums Buzzkill. I empathise with JC, partially because I'm also a kook who won't keep his mouth shut when it's good for him. ;-D

Ok it's midnight and I am drinking some delicious Riesling but I don't understand most of what you just wrote there.

We were not discussing moral philosophies of two figures?

I quoted bible verses and then you said I should just get a grip and know better to ignore half of them and then I asked you about Jesus vs Moses vs Mohammed which are three people that you then promptly declared to be mythological.

And now you are bringing up a math theory that I would hope is proven beyond any reasonable doubt and has nothing to do with morals to tell me that I am deflecting from religion? I don't even know what's happening right now