Funny (political, religious) pictures

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Krisken said:
Ehhh, I think it's a hell of a stretch to compare Halforums to extremist websites. Some people definitely dog-pile on differing thought regarding religion and other hot button topics, but that's not the whole forum, and not letting people get away with saying terrible things and holding them accountable for it isn't an echo chamber, it's being a responsible community.

And ignoring evidence isn't something most of us here let slide, no matter which persuasion of the political spectrum someone is on.
Click to expand...
I don't mean to say we are extremists, just that there's definitely a political culture that is self-reinforcing and discourages deviation/dissention.
Ravenpoe said:
There are people within this community whose opinions and political standings do veer right rather than left. Yet they're still a part of the community.
Click to expand...
And how many of them besides me regularly contribute to political discussions? I may be a glutton for punishment, but most of the others aren't eager to raise their hand when the self-satisfied mean girls are holding court - and they've told me as much in private conversations. There's a definite chilling effect going on here. And the strength of the "echoes" has hockey sticked in the most recent years. Every time faith is openly and broadly disparaged, and yes, every time something like "death to all the landlords, they're bloodsucking parasites every single one of them" is posted. Because it's not worth the heartache to rebut, but leaving it lie establishes a status quo closer to that end of the spectrum and makes those who might have considered speaking up feel like they have less of a place here than they thought they did. So they post less. And the effect feeds on itself. Then maybe they stop checking the threads. And it feeds on itself. And maybe one day they realize they haven't posted anything in weeks or months, and decide they might as well just delete the bookmark.

You may honestly think you welcome debate, but those who aren't left wing enough - note, not right wing, but just not left wing enough - have definitely expressed their reluctance to involve themselves.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

GasBandit said:
You may honestly think you welcome debate, but those who aren't left wing enough - note, not right wing, but just not left wing enough - have definitely expressed their reluctance to involve themselves.
Click to expand...
We should probably take this out of this thread as there aren't a lot of funny pictures involved, but before that I just want to clear something up. I personally don't welcome debate. I'm not interested in debating anyone, it's why I tend to only dip into the political thread before leaving again. All I'm interested in are sharing my own personal opinions, and if I see anyone saying something I think is fucked up I tell them. And the opposite applies for people telling me what they think of my opinions. And if you feel you can't voice your opinions in public (this is a general you, not you specifically Gas) then I don't think that makes this an echo chamber, I think it just means maybe you should reevaluate those opinions if you don't want to be held to task for having them.

And this is probably coming off as hostile, a limitation of text, it's honestly not
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GasBandit said:
I don't mean to say we are extremists, just that there's definitely a political culture that is self-reinforcing and discourages deviation/dissention.
Click to expand...
I think there's something to that. But there's also something to the fact that a lot of us just don't care to have knock-down drag-out arguments over the major differences we have. We still hold disparate views on religion, and guns, and how to cook a steak, we've just stopped trying to convince each other on a lot of issues. We may talk the most about issues we agree on, but there's still a lot we disagree on, and sometimes we even state it and move on.

Most of the time I think we're less argumentative than we were a decade ago, back when I was a hell of a lot more conservative than I am now. Even when I thought being gay was undeniably a sin, and probably would have voted Republican if you could have convinced me to make the effort to vote, etc. etc. even then I didn't feel like anyone was trying to shout me out of the forums, or would punish me for stating my beliefs. I knew people didn't like my beliefs, and some were rightly hurt or insulted by them, but I also knew you guys put up with me anyway. Some of my beliefs are still things I know Halforums is anything but lock-step on. I don't bring them up much, because it doesn't feel important to constantly re-hash that.

American politics have had a major shift in the last decade, I'm just glad that I shifted in the opposite direction.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

figmentPez said:
I think there's something to that. But there's also something to the fact that a lot of us just don't care to have knock-down drag-out arguments over the major differences we have. We still hold disparate views on religion, and guns, and how to cook a steak, we've just stopped trying to convince each other on a lot of issues. We may talk the most about issues we agree on, but there's still a lot we disagree on, and sometimes we even state it and move on.

Most of the time I think we're less argumentative than we were a decade ago, back when I was a hell of a lot more conservative than I am now. Even when I thought being gay was undeniably a sin, and probably would have voted Republican if you could have convinced me to make the effort to vote, etc. etc. even then I didn't feel like anyone was trying to shout me out of the forums, or would punish me for stating my beliefs. I knew people didn't like my beliefs, and some were rightly hurt or insulted by them, but I also knew you guys put up with me anyway. Some of my beliefs are still things I know Halforums is anything but lock-step on. I don't bring them up much, because it doesn't feel important to constantly re-hash that.

American politics have had a major shift in the last decade, I'm just glad that I shifted in the opposite direction.
Click to expand...
To expand on this and use you as a (hopefully) willing example, I know Pez holds religious beliefs a lot different from mine. I'm not going to fight him on those beliefs because they are his and aren't harmful. I'm perfectly happy to respect him in this regard and I know he'll do the same for me, and neither are likely to bring it up unless it's for a bigger religious discussion.

Now if he was an Evangelical extremist that expoused beliefs that were harmful to others, then I would openly call him out on this. That's the difference. People are going to have all manner of different ideas and belief systems. It's the ones that are harmful that receive the most pushback, that's just how society works. We're all (mostly) friends here, so if someone starts acting like a jerk it's up to the rest of that person's community to let him know hey, that's messed up.

Sorry to piggyback all that on you, Pez
 
Frank

Frank

Eastern Religions being first is all you need to know that whoever wrote this list is a prick.

God I wish I could participate in Necromancy and Lycanthropy.

Wait, Disturbia? The Shia Lebouf movie? This list has to be a joke.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
PatrThom said:
Hiding secret messages in audio that you "decode" by playing it backwards.
...or so I'm told.
Click to expand...
My understanding is that alarmists are afraid of backmasking because they think it's a way to brainwash people. Layering backwards audio under a song supposedly puts that message into the subconscious of the listener, no decoding necessary for the message to have an impact. The decoding is just a way to "prove" that the brainwashing attempt is being made.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

This is the same rhetoric I have heard. The subconscious will understand the backwards audio leading to deep personality changes undetectable by the conscious mind.

...nevermind the actual lyrics.

--Patrick
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

So, if I cross off anything I've practiced, studied, researched, or been interested in at any time in my life, I'm kinda surprised I don't have about a dozen of them evil critters setting up residence in my body as we speak...

1643753323683.png


Edit: We should turn this into one of those FB-type games where we give 1 point for everything we've done at least once.
I'm at 33 :D
 
Emrys

Emrys

Tinwhistler said:
So, if I cross off anything I've practiced, studied, researched, or been interested in at any time in my life, I'm kinda surprised I don't have about a dozen of them evil critters setting up residence in my body as we speak...

View attachment 40361

Edit: We should turn this into one of those FB-type games where we give 1 point for everything we've done at least once.
I'm at 33 :D
Click to expand...
You haven't raised the dead or even yourself? I am disappoint.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top