Posts by MeanMrMustard

37

My "shameless" relationship with my ex wife

by Jayk in

i've thought about keeping this to myself but i'm still confused on what i should do.. my ex wife(never been a jw) and myself(raised in the org till 16)have been reconnecting these past few weeks.

we been divorced for almost 10 years, we got married when we where pretty young, and it didnt last long.. fast forward 10 years, her and i have been reconnecting and things are getting semi serious.. she got remarried, divorced again, and recently broke up with her gf.

so in the past 10 years she has only been with 3 people (including myself) and here comes me "a sucker with no self esteem".

MeanMrMustard

So, two failed marriages (one with you), someone else’s kids, bi-sexual, drugs in the last relationship, current taking SSRIs. Also, gets manipulative when you express doubt.

From what possible perspective does this end well?

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

As Hitch reminded audiences many times and schooled religious devotees about is obvious in history books around the world ... the people that did the bidding of these evil leaders were religious, they weren't secular. Sorry, parroting Christian fundamentalist talking points / propaganda to hate on atheism with doesn't work on me.

We are not too far off from each other, OGTG. But I think you are missing the point. I said explicitly in the previous post, the purpose of bringing up secular evils is not, repeat not, to promote a religious point of view over an atheist point of view. Or to argue, as the gentleman opposite of Hitchens was arguing, that the lack of religion was the cause of the atrocities. I’m not saying that at all. I’m an atheist too.

What I am saying is that the left vs right divide is independent of theism vs atheism, Democrat vs Republican, etc. I do not think the lack of religion was the cause of authoritarian regimes, as if all that was needed to prevent these atrocities was Jesus. But I am also saying that the lack of religion wouldn’t have prevented it either. That’s where it sounds like you were going with your line of thought - if religion is eradicated, then all is well. If you have a thriving environment of leftist thinking, you’ll end up in the same spot, the only difference being the justification for the tyranny.

If that is the case, I'm definitely not "left" leaning at all, I must be full "right", and what is more, I've never talked to a single person that is "left".

I don’t think most people are leftists. Have you talked to anyone that thinks “hate speech” is a form speech that can and should be banned? Have you talked to anyone that agrees with The Green New Deal? Have you talked to anyone that thinks health care is a right (as opposed to an entitlement)? Just take a gander at the Democrat line up this election cycle.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

What's going to happen to the UK if it becomes Muslim majority in the future?

I think that the majority Muslim population, since they aren’t likely to embrace Western values, would become more militant, Sharia law would be implemented, and the UK would descend into tyranny... unless the Brits can remember their classical liberal heritage.

The reason: Islam is a LEFTIST ideology. It’s a collectivist, authoritarian structure.

Do you think that the personal beliefs of the Muslims might impact the laws at some point?

Yes. See above. There is no separation between Mosque and state. For Islam, the Mosque is the state, one in the same.

I'm concerned about people's personal beliefs AND governmental law, because one impacts the other.

Right, ok. The point that I have been trying to make: there are certain foundational ways of looking at the world that characterize “left” and “right”. It is not universal. They do NOT align with political parties exactly. And it is the “leftist” viewpoint that you should be scared of, not religion per-se.

Of all the authoritarian regimes of the last 100 years, how many have been secular and how many have been religious? Mao, Pol Pot, Soviet Union, Hitler even - these were all secular in nature, were they not? We already touched on Islam - so that’s one on the religious side. We all came from the JW cult. Pretty authoritarian - in its own bubble. JWs are not trying to get ahold of law to force others into their perspective.

The point here is not to try to promote religious thinking over secular thinking. Rather, just to point out that you can still end up in the same type of authoritarian hell with atheists at the wheel. The difference is left vs right. The farther left, the more comfortable you get losing the individual to the collective, and using the force of law, of the government, to enforce some sort of uniformity. Fundamental rights like freedom of association, speech, private property - all are optional to the left.

You can also get Republicans wanting to force religious norms with law - completely agree. But to me, that’s a person claiming to be on the right, indulging in leftist thinking... it’s shortsighted at best.

Again, that’s the way I see the continuum... so that it operates like a continuum.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

People don't roll dice to create laws MMM, they do it based on their values.

Yes, exactly. That’s the point. His values are right leaning. Meaning that even though he disagrees with gay marriage he will refrain from forcing anyone else to fall in line with his view. The use of force is key here.

This is not the case with the left.

22

Trudeau's chocolate charm.

by waton in

e liked the success, explaining the repeat performanceswhy would an alpha male like the former prime minister's elliot trudeau's son justin want to appear different?

here is my theory:.

he took acting lessons, and is still using the acquired skills.

MeanMrMustard

Trudeau's chocolate charm.

Pfft. LOL on title.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

Ben Shapiro has stated he will not attend a Jew / Non-Jew wedding. The same way a JW won't go to a JW/non-JW wedding. This type of value system is what I'm trying to get away from, religious bigotry. Shapiro is an idiot.

I simply don’t care. You may be 100% correct when it comes to you claim of hypocrisy. But it doesn’t matter. It simply doesn’t matter. As long as that view is not foisted on me by law, then we can live side-by-side in the same country. I would argue that he’s got it right when it matters.

If you're an exJW that likes Ben Shapiro, you're a cult hopper, plain and simple.

I do not agree here. Just because you “like” him or agree with him doesn’t make you an Orthodox Jew, or agree with any of the Jewish specific positions. ... and I’m not even sure it’s right to look at Orthodox Jews as a cult.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

Edit: marriage licences were first created so that the usual period of notice ( banns) could be waivered

Yeah, “created” is not the best verb here. “Weaponized” is probably better. They have been around for a while. But it is clear, at least in the US, they were used as a means to prevent interracial marriages. And then gay marriage. IMO we just kicked the can down the road on this. Polygamous marriage will be next. Polygamy, in my opinion, is just fine. Three or more adults entering into a consensual contract should be just fine.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

Ben Shapiro is no more philosopher than I am.

His absurd mental block when it comes to religion is beyond the pale ( quite literally lol)

That may be true. But he has it right when it comes to gay marriage, in my opinion. Regardless of his personal and religious views, he doesn’t want to foist them on everyone else through law.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

Conservatives always wish to control your social life, at the highest level, by law. Whom can you marry? Poor Ben Shapiro, still boycotts inter-religious marriages. You know, "the cool kids philosopher". It wasn't conservatives that wished for people the freedom to intermarry, whether that be race, religion, or sex. Conservatives have their divinely revealed morals and pass laws so that everyone else must live by their ideology.

I don’t think this is exactly accurate. Ben Shapiro may boycott a gay wedding, but he is definitely NOT attempting to stop the wedding by law. Being a Jew, he doesn’t agree with gay marriage, but he will sit down with a gay atheist like Dave Rubin (and even have dinner with Dave and his husband). The telltale attribute of the “right” is not disagreement with something like homosexuality - after all, you probably disagree with his lifestyle. The difference is keeping the government out of attempting to force conformity.

That being said. Marriage licenses were first created to put a barrier on interracial marriage. That is a “lefty” sort of thing to do. I do agree we have some highly religious people wanting to enforce social norms through law. This is an incredible mistake, because giving the government this power can have some serious blowback when the shoe is on the other foot. (The other party is in power).

The problem here is the government shouldn’t be involved with marriage AT ALL. It was an overreach to begin with.

Can you open a casino in Texas? Sorry, conservatives still have that outlawed. Can you buy beer on Sundays before noon in Texas? Sorry, conservatives still have that outlawed. Can you buy nails along with wood on Sundays in Texas? Conservatives finally let us do that in the 80s.

Yep. I agree here. In my mind “conservative” doesn’t mean “freedom loving” per-se. That is a spectrum too. You got some conservatives that think, in order to conserve the current order or what came before, it is appropriate to use the force of law to force people to do (or not do) things. These are “left” tendencies. It is, in my opinion, dangerous.

The reality is for American government, we have the Ds and Rs. And historically both parties suck. The rich buy off politicians in both parties.

I think one of the reasons why politics is so contentious these days is because there too much at stake. There’s too much power concentrated. The government is too big. Scale it back so that a political victory on either side won’t mean so much, and I think a lot of tension surrounding politics would ease.

30

Do you enjoy critical research ?

by Introvert 2 in

question, are you open to and enjoy doing critical research ?.

as a trades person with little education other than being a high school vocational graduate in machine shop tech.

1980 and now a small business owner i find proper research to be essential.

MeanMrMustard

A more useful model is from state control to libertarian as that groups the high-control ideologies all together as they work and act in the same way - fascism, islam, communism are really all the same, not "left" and "right". It's high control vs freedom. People equate "conservatism" with being "right" but it's not, it's just further away from the high control / big government (often viewed as "left").

Agree. Exactly. I’ve been confused for a while on this. We have a one dimensional left/right spectrum. There’s probably a good argument in there that trying to boil it down to one dimension is, in itself, inappropriate. But if we are to use a spectrum like this, it should work like a spectrum. I don’t understand how the far left is socialist, and as you move to the right, supposedly going away from socialism, you arrive on the far right to .... socialism again (national socialist). It’s like being a nationalist is enough to transport socialism to the other side. Makes no sense.

But to be honest, it does makes sense in the context of political parties like the Democrats attempting to make a historically horrible ideology “stick” to the more freedom loving side of the spectrum. (It’s politically convenient to label someone a Nazi)

When I was growing up, the left/right divide was defined in terms of *general* philosophical beliefs. The “left” was in favor more government control, and the “right” was for less. That’s in general. You couldn’t be sure what any one politician thought on a topic individually. But you had a general idea of how someone thought.

“Right” is generally more individualist, freedom oriented, and a traditional view of rights. “Left” is more collectivist, less individual freedom, and focuses on entitlements instead of rights.

In this way, Nazis are left (socialist, collectivist).