The Culture within AN

[nisha]

Enwiabe, with all due respect, I would like to say that it's best to argue the fallacy in thinking rather than the person.

Thankyou.

[enwiabe]

I'd just like to comment on how ironic it is that abes22 had no shortage of likes to give the recent facebook statuses I made that were critical of Islam.

I guess what you're really trying to say is that we should all be very sensitive about Christianity. Other religions? Nah, no need. They're not the "one true religion".

The hypocrisy of your double standard is utterly astounding.

I liked something because I agreed with it. Your quotes were objective, and true. They were not false or misrepresented, so I liked them. I have never stood for moral high ground of Christianity, if you remember correctly, I said on that evolution thread:

I have no problem with criticizing religions, I regularly make criticism of religions, including my own.


This is exactly the bahaviour I was talking about - why am i being attacked? You can make any point you like whilst remaining respectful.

This is precisely the hypocrisy I was talking about. Only -your- version of religious criticisms are valid. Apparently.

This also answers Thushan's point. I do like arguing the individual person's thinking. What you don't like, abes, is that I went after your own logically fallacious reasons for believing in god. You're claiming that I can't do that for whatever arbitary reason. I can only attack the scripture itself, according to you.

And then you dived for the victim card. You trotted out 3 statements I made that you claimed were personal insults.

I debunked each of them as merely critiques of your views. You did not respond to this at all, and despite my efforts to allay your concerns, you ignored it and continued to pretend that they were personal insults. You are still doing it right now and that to me is the height of duplicity.

Your double-standard is "my criticisms are the only valid criticisms". Good luck with that!

[thushan]

Let's cool this down before it gets heated up. Btw enwiabe that above post was better in my opinion, less personal, more attacking the thing rather than the person. More constructive.

[enwiabe]

Depends on what the purpose is. Is it to express your disgust, or is it to change their opinion? If it's the latter, then harsh words may not work.

I disagree. I think social shaming of harmful attitudes is a big part of holding people accountable. A large reason of why there is so much disgusting material on the internet is the complete lack of accountability. Honestly tell me a situation where in real life someone would tell a woman, to her face, that she is inferior to a man, and it wouldn't be followed by an angry reaction that tells him he's being a douchebag? Why is it so much different online?

[thushan]

I agree with your point, but remember that I said "is it to change their opinion?" Will they feel accountable? That is the question. Are they amenable to argument?

If it's to express your and society's disgust to, in a way, prevent others from following the same pathway, then your point is entirely valid.

[Cappuccinos]

I suggest removing the ability to vote for respect from the religious debates.
Everyone has different beliefs it just doesn't work there.

+1 

Maybe it would be a good idea to disable voting on posts in the rest in the water cooler like what has been done lifestyle & entertainment and rants & debates boards?

I don't really see why "News & Politics" "Sports" and "Technology and Gaming" boards are treated differently to the "Lifestyle & Entertainment" and "Rants & Debates" boards 

There are helpful posts in all those boards (okay, maybe not so much rants & debates ), but does someone who suggests a good book to read not deserve the same thanks as someone who suggests a good protein supplement? Anyway, if I recall correctly and like previously mentioned the posts which are most oftened +1'd/-1'd in the Water Cooler seem to be the posts that owing someone who offers an alternative opinion to the majority/being witty etc.

Example (love ya epl) "Off-topic, but: I think you should have your own thread called 'Surgeon's lyf problems thread'. The amount of threads you start just about your own issues/queries is just lol-able. There are people employed at your school to answer these specific questions (i.e. Careers counselors). Sorry if I'm being too critical or harsh, but I don't think I'm the only one of this opinion." This received a whopping +44.

Does a person who expresses a majority's opinion deserve to be higher that who helps with a tricky chemistry/maths etc on the tutors list? I'm not really sure.

But disabling the up/down voting should encourage people to speak out without fear of backlash and dodgy posts can always be removed/edited by the moderators

Just my humble opinion

[Water]

your own logically fallacious reasons

There is a difference between attacking reasoning and attacking the person.

I'll be direct, you do both and quite successfully 

Depends on what the purpose is. Is it to express your disgust, or is it to change their opinion? If it's the latter, then harsh words may not work.

I disagree. I think social shaming of harmful attitudes is a big part of holding people accountable. A large reason of why there is so much disgusting material on the internet is the complete lack of accountability. Honestly tell me a situation where in real life someone would tell a woman, to her face, that she is inferior to a man, and it wouldn't be followed by an angry reaction that tells him he's being a douchebag? Why is it so much different online?

When a woman is being hurt; the ideal situation would be that a bigger person would come, protect her, and tell the guy calmly to back off, or the people around her to calmly tell that person, to back off, and protect her.


Your argument is as bad as following the herd mentality.

[ninwa]

Steph, that is a great idea and I'm going to remove respect for the Water Cooler right now

[abeybaby]

This is precisely the hypocrisy I was talking about. Only -your- version of religious criticisms are valid. Apparently.

no, only objective criticism of religion is valid. i cant look at buddhists and say buddhism is peaceful. i cant look at muslims and say islam is violent.
you can only make these judgements by reading the koran/hadith/bible/torah/whatever that religion is meant to be.

Depends on what the purpose is. Is it to express your disgust, or is it to change their opinion? If it's the latter, then harsh words may not work.

I think social shaming of harmful attitudes is a big part of holding people accountable.

you are very fortunate that the rest of the members are not like you.

[nacho]

Everyone here is nice, but whenever you see a religious debate sprout up
Nan and Dina will flame the crap out of the opposition in the most ridiculously unnecessary manner.

Like, we get it, you hate religion (or not? feel free to correct me, but please don't be vindictive about it) but is it necessary to really demean the members/go to that extent?
You look like the biggest immature jerks when you do it, and you're the admins of this forums. I could imagine it being pretty scary for new members who want to voice their opinion but are scared of the ban stick.

A part from mostly everyone is nice and gets along except for that occasional weirdo (there's one in every year i swear)


Shout out to:
TrueTears and pi for being the biggest bosses on this forums.

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[thushan]

What about me nacho? Im sad. jks jks.

Anyway, "no, only objective criticism of religion is valid. i cant look at buddhists and say buddhism is peaceful. i cant look at muslims and say islam is violent. you can only make these judgements by reading the koran/hadith/bible/torah/whatever that religion is meant to be."

I disagree here. This is assuming that the Scripture defines the true religion. Is this entirely true? If this were the case, would there be many denominations of say Christianity and Islam? Do we classify these as the same? Or different? Do we consider Catholicism equivalent to Jehovah's Witnesses?

I think that each interpretation of scripture and values are what should be critiqued, not the scripture itself, as functionally...it's immaterial.

[abeybaby]

Like, we get it, you hate religion (or not? feel free to correct me, but please don't be vindictive about it) but is it necessary to really demean the members/go to that extent?
You look like the biggest immature jerks when you do it, and you're the admins of this forums. I could imagine it being pretty scary for new members who want to voice their opinion but are scared of the ban stick.

the fact that you even have to say that shows how serious this is

[MonsieurHulot]

I think social shaming of harmful attitudes is a big part of holding people accountable.

I don't believe that public shaming of someone's beliefs is acceptable at all. How can someone feel accepted and valued in a community where it is okay to insult them simply because you think that their ideas are harmful? I think that your aforementioned is harmful, but does that give me the right to insult you? No, not at all.

[ninwa]

You look like the biggest immature jerks when you do it, and you're the admins of this forums. I could imagine it being pretty scary for new members who want to voice their opinion but are scared of the ban stick.

Hey Mr Hyperbole, name one person that has been banned just because they disagreed with me or enwiabe

[nacho]

You look like the biggest immature jerks when you do it, and you're the admins of this forums. I could imagine it being pretty scary for new members who want to voice their opinion but are scared of the ban stick.

Hey Mr Hyperbole, name one person that has been banned just because they disagreed with me or enwiabe

(myself LOL) okay but i deserved those.
I never said you'd ban them, but when you have two admins going off their nuts because they're atheists, it can come off as intimidating to new members who don't know you too well, wouldn't you agree?

What about me nacho? Im sad. jks jks.

suck it thushan!
TrueTears and pi for admin!


Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience