Falls over laughing

Started by Thesunmaid, September 05, 2013, 04:07:03 PM

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Cyrano Johnson

Quote from: Serephino on September 06, 2013, 10:02:16 AM
I wasn't referring to you, or even this particular thread.  I was just stating that I understand how irritating the religion bashing here in PROC can be.  I think that's part of the problem Pumpkin has with this, that yet again religion is being bashed, at least in her view.

And honestly, I'm typically on Pumpkin's side of that argument (despite my being irreligious myself). I just think she's come down with a slight case of humour-impairment in this instance.
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Serephino

Quote from: Iniquitous Opheliac on September 06, 2013, 10:06:09 AM
I am going to beg to differ with all of you defending the OP. I am sorry. What she did is incredibly rude and if she had come on here to complain about someone doing the exact same thing to her when she opened her mouth to say something (again, we do not know what the man was going to say - he could just as easily been about to say ‘have you heard the good news? Congress approved military action!’] then every single one of you would be up in arms about how she had been mistreated.

You cannot have it both ways. If it is ok for us to do it to those we don’t like, don’t want around, don’t agree with, don’t respect then we need to shut up and accept it when it is done to us. Is that going to happen? Of course not… none of us like being the butt of a joke.

Imogen and Pumpkin have the right of it. TSM showed an extreme lack of maturity in her actions. Instead of acting the adult she is, she chose to pull out grade school antics to humiliate someone she doesn’t agree with. She disrespected him and she made fun of him.

Part of the problem I see constantly is so very few seem to understand the golden rule. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Would this mean TSM wants to be treated as the butt of everyone’s jokes? Somehow, I think not.

It’s real simple. Treat each other with respect. Treat each other with kindness. Even when you do not agree with them or they do not agree with you. If we all lived by that then this world would be a hell of a lot better place.

Look at it this way.  Out of the blue I start pm'ing you about my religion, and why I think you should convert.  Are you going to politely ask me to stop while I repeatedly ignore your request, or are you going to report me to staff for harassment?  That's what spreading the good word is; harassment.  I treat others as I want to be treated by not shoving my religion down random stranger's throats.  Maybe two wrongs don't make a right, but the guy is not an innocent victim.  If he had left them alone he wouldn't have been the butt of a joke.

Kythia

Quote from: Serephino on September 06, 2013, 10:15:48 AM
I treat others as I want to be treated by not shoving my religion down random stranger's throats.

It's a good start, but really you shouldn't stuff anything down random stranger's throats.  Gag reflexes are tough to tame.
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Cyrano Johnson

Quote from: Iniquitous Opheliac on September 06, 2013, 10:06:09 AM
(again, we do not know what the man was going to say

With greatest respect: this seems rather like horsepucky to me, and I think you know it. I simply do not believe that you believe someone would start a conversation about Congress with the phrase "have you heard the Good News."

QuoteYou cannot have it both ways.

And hence, if I accost someone out of the blue on the street, I do in fact accept the possibility that they may choose not to be polite to me.

In fact I've worked in sales, the cold-calling kind. When you're doing that kind of work, there is no getting around the fact that you are intruding on people and they have every right in the world to simply tell you to piss off, and many of them will. There is nothing wrong with that -- it isn't Eeevil Bullying, it is an insistence on personal space, and I insist on the same thing in my daily life. Getting the occasional diss is the risk you accept in taking on that kind of work, especially when you don't have the advantage of at least having a product to offer beyond your own certainty that you know God better than your target.

Besides any of that: missionaries of this type aren't made of fricking glass. They have a supportive religious community to go back to and fellow Church members to share whatever burdens the uncaring public may have heaped on them. Unclench, people. It's going to be okay.
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Cyrano Johnson

Quote from: Kythia on September 06, 2013, 10:20:00 AM
It's a good start, but really you shouldn't stuff anything down random stranger's throats.  Gag reflexes are tough to tame.

But so worth it!
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Kythia

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gaggedLouise

Quote from: Kythia on September 06, 2013, 10:20:00 AM
It's a good start, but really you shouldn't stuff anything down random stranger's throats.  Gag reflexes are tough to tame.

Looking my way again? *nods and sucks*

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Kythia

Welp, I derailed the fuck out of this conversation.  I now return you to your regularly scheduled argument.

*disappears in a puff of smoke*
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gaggedLouise

*follows Kythia out, heading for the ladies' room*

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Cyrano Johnson

* awed whisper * Who was that mysterious beauty?

EDIT: Who were those mysterious beauties?
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Iniquitous

Quote from: Serephino on September 06, 2013, 10:15:48 AM
Look at it this way.  Out of the blue I start pm'ing you about my religion, and why I think you should convert.  Are you going to politely ask me to stop while I repeatedly ignore your request, or are you going to report me to staff for harassment?  That's what spreading the good word is; harassment.  I treat others as I want to be treated by not shoving my religion down random stranger's throats.  Maybe two wrongs don't make a right, but the guy is not an innocent victim.  If he had left them alone he wouldn't have been the butt of a joke.

One - if I asked you to stop and you did not, there is a handy dandy ignore feature and I am not afraid to use it. BUT, I digress there. Did she ask the man to stop? No. Not even once. She just immediately launched into making him the butt of her little joke. Thus, your analogy does not stand.

Two - You are all missing the point. Like religion or don't, no difference to me. But stop thinking you have to be asshats to someone who just wants to share what is important to them. My Gods, is it that hard to say "Thanks but no thanks?" Are you all so damned calloused that you think it is alright to treat someone else like this?

You all act as if this is some great and horrible thing but let me tell you - I work with the public. I spend 8 hours a day talking to people and if I made every religious person I spoke to the butt of a joke I would lose my job in less than an hour. I constantly hear people tell me "God bless you" "Are you a christian?" "Have you found Jesus?" And guess what... I work for the cable company so it isn't even a venue that should have religion brought up! I simply thank them and then deflect the questions. It is not hard. It's as simple as a 'no thank you' or a 'I already have my beliefs'.

The point of this is TSM came on here to continue her ridicule of the man. She wanted everyone to pat her on the back, laugh with her and help her further ridicule this man and his religion.

Is that tolerant? Is that even remotely how we want to treat others? If so then maybe I am in the wrong group.
Bow to the Queen; I'm the Alpha, the Omega, everything in between.


Cyrano Johnson

Quote from: Iniquitous Opheliac on September 06, 2013, 10:31:32 AMAre you all so damned calloused that you think it is alright to treat someone else like this?

Do I think it's alright to make a mild joke at the expense of someone who intrudes on me while I'm minding my own business? Yes.

Do I think it's insane -- or just inane -- to compare doing so to bullying and ridicule? Yes.

Am I working in customer service on my daily commute? No.
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Braioch

Welp, someone beat me to the punch on the whole 'yeah, kinda rude to come shove your religion down my throat bit' already. And the 'you come a callin to me about this crap, Imma be a bit grumpy.'

-glares at Cyrano-

And you know, on a personal note, with my recent experience with the people handing out bibles (as if they're hard to get ahold of or anything) I would have just been exasperated. Instead the man took one look at the book I was reading, while I gave him a blank stare, (because honestly, I'm on a freakin' campus, having a bible shoved at me is not something I expect) and all but swelled up and hissed at me. Other times when I have told people very politely 'no thank you,' and then when they persist and I have to resort to, 'no thank you, I'm not a believer...at all,' well then suddenly they have made it their mission to convert the heretic. So if I find that a bit of humor in the face of what is a continued onslaught of religious spewing, is a much better reaction than 'piss off' then that's how it goes. You can only deal with these things so often before you start to get irritated, and you either remove someones head from their shoulders verbally, or you find some other way to vent it off.

As for the comments about how religion is treated on these forums, quite frankly, I'm going to have to disagree. From a majority of the people I have interacted with, most bear a metaphysical belief of some sort and are generally respectful of different belief systems. Of course exceptions do apply as always, and I won't deny that I have shown a certain flippancy towards religion as I personally find it...err...unbelievable, yes, that. But when you live in a country where it is perfectly acceptable for idiots to get on the radio, the TV, on your very damned doorstep and tell you how you're wrong and this individual knows just the key to save your soul (can I get an amen?) then yeah, some people are going to get fed up, they're going to get tired of it all.

What it boils down to is that there is being a demand for us to show these people some respect, and yet, that statement lacks acknowledgement that those of us who don't want to bloody well hear it, are not having our wishes respected. So instead of being able to find some way in which to deal with the situation, in which simple patience will no longer suffice after a few dozen times of attempted conversion, I advocate a different way. The OP I support, she never mocked them personally, nor did she act in a cruel and malicious manner. True, it toed the line on the 'sanctity of belief' but I certainly won't get into that little tidbit in this thread, less I derail it. She took what could have been an irritating and possibly frustrating situation and made it into a humorous situation based on how ridiculous it is. Yes, ridiculous, because it is utterly ridiculous for anyone to start selling their religion to random people on the street, completely.
I'm also on Discord (like, all the time), so feel free to ask about that if you want

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Cyrano Johnson

Quote from: Braioch on September 06, 2013, 10:41:21 AM-glares at Cyrano-

Sorry, bro, my bad... :P

Honestly, I do see the point some make about excessive religion-bashing on here: I think too many people take too many rhetorical cues from guys like Dick Dawkins, and we could use less of it. But a demand for complete humourlessness will not do either, and the pearl-clutching about TSM having the gall to make a unicorn joke instead of just using The Pre-Approved Phrasing of the Civilized is getting way over the top at this point. The Golden Rule is all very well, but we must not in observing it forget the Diamond Rule*.

[* The Diamond Rule is: "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."]
Artichoke the gorilla halibut! Freedom! Remember Bubba the Love Sponge!

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Braioch

Ahh Dawkins.

I like the man, I do. He makes good points, if after a time, tired points, and for the most part he's astute and on point. Now if only we could take out the whole 'kind of a dick' bit and we'd be golden. I'll stick with Fry instead ::)
I'm also on Discord (like, all the time), so feel free to ask about that if you want

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Rogue

Quote from: Iniquitous Opheliac on September 06, 2013, 10:31:32 AM
One - if I asked you to stop and you did not, there is a handy dandy ignore feature and I am not afraid to use it. BUT, I digress there. Did she ask the man to stop? No. Not even once. She just immediately launched into making him the butt of her little joke. Thus, your analogy does not stand.

Ignore buttons do not exist in real life and it's easier to throw someone off guard and derail the situation then to deal with a person persistent on selling you something. On a side note, he could have easily moved passed it and instead have been like, "Not yet, but still looking. Perhaps we'll find them in heaven." He could have gone along with it and found humor in it as well.

As it is, she was clever and he was not. He was being rude, by potentially interrupting their conversation or whatever they were doing to amuse themselves at the bus stop, and she decided to be clever instead of just saying "Please go away!" Yes she's finding humor in the situation! I would too! Hell it could have turned into a wonderful religious debate if he had answered in the right way! But his lack of confidence made it humorous, not the comment itself.

Quote from: Cyrano Johnson on September 06, 2013, 10:57:59 AM
Sorry, bro, my bad... :P

Honestly, I do see the point some make about excessive religion-bashing on here: I think too many people take too many rhetorical cues from guys like Dick Dawkins, and we could use less of it. But a demand for complete humourlessness will not do either, and the pearl-clutching about TSM having the gall to make a unicorn joke instead of just using The Pre-Approved Phrasing of the Civilized is getting way over the top at this point. The Golden Rule is all very well, but we must not in observing it forget the Diamond Rule*.

[* The Diamond Rule is: "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke."]

*files this rule away for use at another point*

gaggedLouise

#66
I remember one of the first student tenements I was at, early in my uni career. A guy who lived next door on that floor was...a bit mentally unstable and not really a university student, he had managed to get a room anyway because the people managing the house wanted to lend a hand to persons who had been outside of mainstream society for a long time, people who had spent time in a mental hospital, refugees, people who had been on the dole for long and had little of a supporting network - this could create some strained situtaions. Anyway, my neighbour had had some mental issues, and he also had very obvious dreams of being a major preacher, an evangelist. This would come through in his talk, he badly wanted to appear and sound like a mighty evangelist and a master of praying. He also believed in the inerrancy of the Bible and its supremacy over science and history. Most of the time he was actually a nice guy, and many of us realized he was a bit vulnerable.

So, one morning I and another guy are in the kitchen having breakfast and looking through the papers. One of the fridges is suffering from a bit too much humidity and dodgy cooling. Our friend comes in, stops just by the stove, looks at us, and I mean really *stares* straight at us, taking us in as if we were new to him or he was summing up the strength to enter an important conversation. Silence. Then he says, in a voice that's clearly aiming to make it sound churchy:

"Ingemar! Why are you not putting your trust in (rising tone and much vibrato) GOD?"   

We looked blankly at each other and after the words sank in, Ingemar replied "So, will God fix the fridge?"

I don't recall how the convo continued, I think Ingemar had shot down what the guy had planned straight, with one sentence. There was no tone of meanness, but we both sort of knew there was no point in trying to make our neighbour realize how useless his efforts at evangelizing were in this place.

When I told a friend about this later on, she rocked with laughter and said "But who would begin that kind of line by stating the guy's first name? "Ingemar!" I mean, they're neighbours - and he's aiming to say something this far out".

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Blythe

Quote from: thesunmaid on September 05, 2013, 04:07:03 PM
I was on my way home from work waiting at my bus stop when this Mormon comes to me and my co worker and we are both atheists so we were not in the mood to hear their we love us some Jesus speel. So I looked at her and said"Let me handle this.."I looked at the guy with a huge grin and he asked"Have you heard the good news?"I jumped up and said"Unicorns are real?!" he looked startled and said "uhh....no..."I then proceeded to pout and apparently this made him panic so he said"B...But they might..umm...in heaven.."I then grinned and then saw my bus coming and said"Yay! well thats good to know. ok well there is my bus so thanks for talking about unicorns with me..have a nice day!" and left him there looking bewildered.

just thought I would share.

.....are we sure the religious guy was panicking? Any religious guy I've talked to would have been trying to joke back if he said "B...But they might..umm...in heaven.." in regards to unicorns.  ::)

(Not saying it's a great way to joke back, but a reply like that seems like it's an attempt to roll with the humor). Sort of seems like TSM caught him off guard, he tried to joke back, and she and her friend laughed and left. Heck, that behavior seems pretty normal no matter what one would approach a stranger with in public to talk about.

Kythia

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Shjade

Sorta ignoring the whole argument about whether or not it was appropriate to make a joke about "the good news," for the last few years I've always assumed the best possible answer to, "Have you heard the good news?" would be, "Yep: we finally got Obama!"
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
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Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Imogen

Quote from: Shjade on September 06, 2013, 01:55:15 PM
Sorta ignoring the whole argument about whether or not it was appropriate to make a joke about "the good news," for the last few years I've always assumed the best possible answer to, "Have you heard the good news?" would be, "Yep: we finally got Obama!"

That's no joke :-P I think most Europeans celebrated that victory almost as hard as Obama's US supporters.
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gaggedLouise

The East German variety would have been:

-Have you heard the good news?
-Well, I got my Trabant last year already.

Good girl but bad  -- Proud sister of the amazing, blackberry-sweet Violet Girl

Sometimes bound and cuntrolled, sometimes free and easy 

"I'm a pretty good cook, I'm sitting on my groceries.
Come up to my kitchen, I'll show you my best recipes"

Shjade

Quote from: Imogen on September 06, 2013, 01:59:32 PM
That's no joke :-P I think most Europeans celebrated that victory almost as hard as Obama's US supporters.

The joke is that the person speaking theoretically meant to say "Osama."
Theme: Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe
◕/◕'s
Conversation is more useful than conversion.

Pumpkin Seeds

Would her comment have been funny if the person was attempting to have her sign a pamphlet for abortion rights, gay rights, environmental causes, etc etc.?  Would I suddenly have humor impediment if that was not found to be funny by me?  Somehow I think this entire thread, mainly because people have said so, would be different if the OP had made this joke at anyone else aside from a potential Mormon.  The behavior is not justified because the victim was a Mormon.  Yes, I use the word victim because she intentional set out to make him uncomfortable and to make a joke of him simply because she thinks he is Mormon.  Just as she then came onto the Politics and Religion section to brag about her actions because she knew she would gain support and backing because she thinks he’s a Mormon.  That is malicious behavior.  Whether she actually hurt his feelings is not relevant, she set out to make herself look better at his expense.

Do I understand that putting yourself out there by presenting your religion means that people will react harshly toward that person, certainly?  I don’t pat those people on the back though and tell them good job for making fun of someone else.  When there is a gay rights parade at the French Quarter, I understand the bravery those people undertake in coming out in support.  I don’t praise the guy next to me for his witty comment ridiculing them to his friend and I highly doubt this forum would come out in support.

As for approaching her, once more simply look at the Bad and Ugly thread.  Men approach women all the time to flirt, hit on or make conversation.  If he were doing that then there would be an outcry against the OP.  Yet the man approached her in a similar, friendly fashion and asked one question.  She then set out to make him the butt of her joke with her friend.  He didn’t come up to her maliciously; attempt to cram his religion down her throat or any of those things.  We don’t know if a simply, “Please leave me alone” would have sufficed to make him go away. 

We are praising her behavior and making fun of this man all because she supposes he was a Mormon.

lilhobbit37

Actually, it has NOTHING to do with the fact he is mormon and everything to do with the fact that he approached her to preach his beliefs. She didn't want to hear it and countered with a belief of her own. Silly or not, it was not harmful to him for her to do so.

You keep alluding to the fact that he is a victim, but a victim of what? Of a stranger not wanting to hear his speech? I don't think he was harmed in the making of this joke or thread.

I can't speak for religious bashing on E because I avoid religious discussions and threads. However, this is not religious bashing, she has not said a single thing against the religion. It seems that way because only a select few religious organizations preach on the streets, however, the problem isn't the religion or it's beliefs, and it has everything to do with the fact that people don't like random strangers approaching them with those beliefs.

If you were completely against gay rights, would you want gays to continually approach you and try to convince you otherwise? Or vise versa, if you are for gay rights, would you like someone to keep approaching you, telling you all the reasons you are wrong?

She didn't bash him for his beliefs, she simply stopped him from preaching them. In a way that didn't harm him OR his beliefs. This isn't making him a victim.