Yeah well, I’m just a farmer’s son with not much of an education. Unfortunate youth (mother dieing very young and living alone by myself whilst not being ready for that.
After that a drug problem. Finally I am recovered and getting somewhere.
So now I try to get some more out of life and I thought participating here might help me a little on that. Maybe my uneducated ways shrug uncomfortably on your educated and socially polished mind. Should I really feel pitty for you?
And the questions I’d really like an answer to: On the basis of what are you saying I am not honest?
And where does it say I have to be useful?
Cog??? Socially polished??? Sorry, Zo, but those two terms simply do not go together. (Obviously, you have never seen Cog on one of his poo-flinging frenzies.) Now, while I agree you might want to feel a bit of pity for the demented little primate, calling Cog “socially polished” is about like saying a rabid honey badger has a gentle and loving disposition. And I wouldn’t get too upset about Cog’s lack of tact, if I were you. With the very first post I made on here several years ago, Cog came stomping into my thread and began beating the snot out of me with a set of dirty anal beads and a rotten banana peel. Ever since then, however, I’ve learned to tolerate him to a fairly healthy degree. (AFTER, of course, I got my vaccinations updated and all my blood tests came back negative.) I guess what I’m trying to say is that Cog is just your standard run-of-the-mill natural asshole. So deal with it. If he slings poo, try to dodge it. But then sling some back at him. (You’ve got to be quick, though. He’s faster than he looks.)
In all sincerity, Zo, let me be the first to tell you that getting involved here is absolutely a good way to expand your thinking and knowledge. I can tell you this from personal experience. When I joined the AR roughly four years ago, I was going through the transition of shedding my religious indoctrination that had plagued me for over forty years. And it was NOT an easy transition, to say the least. Had it not been for this site and the incredible group of misfits who lurk in its passageways, I’m honestly not sure how I would have coped with the issues I was facing at that time. As it was, by hanging around and participating in discussions and getting acquainted with everybody, I soon found the haze and fog in my head clearing with remarkable ease. However, it would serve you well to remember you cannot wear your feelings out on your sleeves around here. I don’t know of anybody here who holds back from telling the truth as they see it. Therefore, it is entirely up to you what you get out of your experience here. And, believe it or not, most everybody I know here is genuinely willing/eager to help those who need it. You just can’t get too sensitive about how they do it.
No fucking way. I have worked on farms and of all jobs/professions, they are the most grounded in reality and common sense. You want good advice, talk to a farmer.
When I was young I did not pay any attention to education, I was too busy partying and raising hell. Although a lot of that behavior was self-destructive, it gave me a vast wealth of life-experience, irreplaceable and something that can not be taught in a classroom.
Never sell yourself short. Heck, you were brave enough to enter this den of sin. Most theists/agnostics shun at the thought of going into such an alien and (possibly) hostile place. They cower in their safe bubbles.
My life history is one of a roughneck, mechanic, and construction worker. Yet here I am, rubbing shoulders with a lot of very smart and informed people. I enjoy it because I enjoy their company and I learn a shitload of stuff every day.
It is not you, I am convinced I am talking to an honest person. It is just that some of your responses were evasive. It is most likely you were exposed to a world where such topics were not met head-on, and fellow theists deflected or changed the topic when faced with hard questions. That is a learned behavior.
I do not assess a person as one huge lump, were are a conglomeration of parts, parts that normally interact seamlessly. Two of those components are personality and behavior. They are not one and the same, behavior is WHAT we do, personality is how we THINK.
Education isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I didn’t mean to leave you with that impression. Plenty of smart, intelligent and well rounded people have no formal educational background. You would be surprised the shit you know growing up on a farm that the average city dweller is completely ignorant of. Put half of them on a farm and tell them to go kill a chicken for dinner, half of them will starve to death. (Hyperbolic - in case you missed it.)
We’ll - We are not free in what we do when we are not free in what we want. But what we want may not even be realistic and still, it holds us captive. How realistic is what you want? How will you know when you have it? You came here to get what? How realistic is that?
Are you honest? Really? Are you not a liar? Do you not lie to yourself and others? Do you know when you are lying and when you have chosen to be honest? When you are being honest, just how honest? Is this an all-or-nothing concept to you?
I, for one, know for a fact that you are a liar. You are a cheat. You are a piece of shit. You have hurt people both unintentionally and intentionally. Welcome to the fucking
human race. Now the question is… can you look in the mirror and live with yourself?
See, Zo? I TOLD you Cog is an asshole. Too bad that what he says is true, though. Fact is, with a few VERY RARE exceptions, most everybody (myself included) is guilty of those things he mentions in some form or fashion. Either face it and make corrections to avoid repeating those behaviors, or deny it and forever remain in a cycle of personal deceit.
Ah in that sense I get what you mean by lying.
Yes who is not a liar?
I sometimes get begged for some money at the supermarket. They say “Do you have money for me?” Knowing I have some coins in my pocket I do say no.
But I don’t want to give them my money, I have been in comparable circumstances and got round the city finding recycle bottles and brought those back for cash. Enough to buy some bread and I was lucky enough at that time to still have my garden where I then got some veggies and I lived for another day…
Often beggars asked for money to get something to eat, but as soon as I offered them my loaf of bread (The very shit I walked hours on end for obtaining it myself collecting bottles.) they would not have it.
That got me in the habit asking what they need the money for. One lady who answered that she’d like to buy drugs then got well rewarded… I loved that honesty!
Not telling my family to pray compared to just leaving them with the idea that I accept their prayers, or just not reacting on it at all?
I prefer mostly to do the last. Too bad I have still to learn a lot about how to keep my mouth shut, for if I do not pay attention, the first action might occur.
So yes I lie, but it’s not one of my greatest skills.
Would you please show me your fact, your evidence that I am a liar? You really got me curious.
Some people fall in love and then the other person is all they want. That craving might make them do a lot of things they would not even consider where they not in love.
Still, who one falls in love with is very often not much of a conscious choice.
Another example of desire to be aware of before even thinking about exercising free will is sexual orientation, isn’t it?
As I understand it being gay is not some sort of choice one makes.
Still it puts many people in a whole different circumstantial environment. There are enough places in the world where being gay is not accepted and freedom in being is no option for such a person on such a place…
Your name is not Zodan. Your mother and I named you … well you know! It’s a poublic forum after all. After the bitch divorced me and married your step dad, I lost touch. They moved to Hawaii or something like that. I heard you were sent to some farm someplace where you could grow up doing hard labor and recieving regular beatings. Sorry to hear about that. By the way, how is your mother anyway?
Artificial light? Now there is an idea. That would be light that is not light. Or here is a can of light, just add water. Now, I admit that the light used in grow houses is not as intense as sunlight and it does not have the same balance, but artificial? What does an artificial light actually look like and how could you possibly distinguish it from a real light?
Light comes from many sources. Is light from a volcano real of artificial? It’s different than light from the sun and it does not grow plants very well, unless you live in Iceland and have figured out how to harness its power. How about light from a lightening strike? Artificial? Or is it real? This is just so confusing.
Damn, Cog! Here we go again! Why u gotta b so DAAAAMN stooo-pid? How u NOT be knowin’ wut is arty-fishell light? Hell, boy, it kinda b likes da same tang as dat arty-fishell air and dat arty-fishell water dat dem eju-ma-cated lab-bree-toree fellers makes in dem hiiiiii-tek fak-tor-ees. Ain’t u got no lernin? Hell-fire ‘n’ lordee-mersee, son, it shore ‘nuff b gettin’ downrite 'bare-assin havvin-ta keep-a skoolin ya like dis.
Nice rant, I love it!
Now I did not create the idea of artificial light myself, I can’t take credit for that, it just doesn’t exist in English. In Dutch it does:
Not native speakers like me tend to just translate silly Dutch inventions without second thought, and yes, you guys warned me for this sort of reaction.
NOW I AM LAUGHING MY ASS OFF — This translated…
Artificial light is light that is artificially generated; this is in contrast to natural light such as daylight (sunlight) or moonlight, or light generated by lightning.
Daylight? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha … There is no such thing. Days don’t have light! A day is an arbitrary time frame and set parameter in which a segment of the Earth’s surface happens to be facing the Sun.
Moonlight? Oh for fuck sake! What are we, a bunch of ‘Flat Earthers.’ Do I really need to comment on this one? Moonlight is ‘natural light?’ Where in the fuck did this nut-job go to school?
Or lightening? Lightening - Electricity. And that is significantly different than all other forms of electricity… how? Electricity in the sky is natural but if I make it by spinning a copper wire around a couple of magnets, somehow that is artificial, not real electricity? I wonder what the guy in the electric chair thinks of artificial light? When he lights up, will it be real light or artificial light?
Light produced by luminescent organisms is also considered natural light.
Well, I should hope so!
The oldest known form of artificial light is the light produced by fire.
Now here is a fun one. Fire is artificial light, but as we see above, lightening is natural. So when a lightening strike hits the ground, it is natural light, but when the tree catches fire from the lightening strike (Most forest fires are caused by lightening.) suddenly it becomes artificial. Who in the hell made these distinctions?
Fires have traditionally been used to be visible in the dark; think of prehistoric campfires, of fire beacons to keep ships in the …
