I am a compulsive head scratcher. Its like a tick. Basically I'm quite glad I have a full head of hair because my scalp is probably quite scarred.

>> ^artician:

That is amazing.
Can you imagine the landslide she would win by if she fully recovers and runs for office again?
Pretty cool either way. Very lucky family.


Not to be negative but I don't think she can ever fully recover. But I do think she'll be recovered enough to run for office and be a functioning person...I just think there will always be those scars and struggles that she'll have daily.

That biological imperative to reproduce may be abhorrent, but it still lives pretty strong in some men and women. Monogamy isn't natural for everyone. Some folks just can't do it. To pretend otherwise leads to heartbreak. Let's be honest about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/20/the-gingrich-question-cheating-vs-open-marriage/voters-prefer-newt-gingrichs-adultery-to-open-marriage

Not sure why you find a disconnect between anything I have said, so I don't know how to clarify. Perhaps we can discuss this on our profile page? If you can be more specific about what doesn't add up? I think I am logically consistent.



>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^bareboards2:
Cool. So move on, right? To argue against biology so stridently is tiresome.
AND keep on fighting to keep religion out of the laws.
AND keep on educating the general public that religion is a choice -- I often thought that the most strident anti-religion atheists are those who were most scarred by the worst aspects of it. That theirs is an emotional battle on behalf of those trapped in households where religion is presented as THE ONLY CHOICE. And if you aren't someone who has that "religion gene", that can be crazy making.
I love all the billboards that atheists are starting to put up. I see them as lifelines to children and adults who don't believe and feel shame. Like being homosexual -- if you are gay in a fundamentalist household, stay in the closet until you are an adult and then MOVE AWAY. It is the only rational choice.
First I don't believe to argue against religion is to argue against biology. Religion is an evolved sociological trait, rather than a strictly biological one. But even if that weren't true, there are any number of biological traits that, while potentially advantageous in a strictly evolutionary fashion, we regard as abhorrent. Males are genetically predisposed to copulate with as many females as they can, and to fight off rivals. Neither of these traits are well regarded in modern society.
I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, so apologies if I am misinterpreting you, but the first part of your post seems to contradict the second part. Could you clarify?

>> ^bareboards2:

Cool. So move on, right? To argue against biology so stridently is tiresome.
AND keep on fighting to keep religion out of the laws.
AND keep on educating the general public that religion is a choice -- I often thought that the most strident anti-religion atheists are those who were most scarred by the worst aspects of it. That theirs is an emotional battle on behalf of those trapped in households where religion is presented as THE ONLY CHOICE. And if you aren't someone who has that "religion gene", that can be crazy making.
I love all the billboards that atheists are starting to put up. I see them as lifelines to children and adults who don't believe and feel shame. Like being homosexual -- if you are gay in a fundamentalist household, stay in the closet until you are an adult and then MOVE AWAY. It is the only rational choice.

First I don't believe to argue against religion is to argue against biology. Religion is an evolved sociological trait, rather than a strictly biological one. But even if that weren't true, there are any number of biological traits that, while potentially advantageous in a strictly evolutionary fashion, we regard as abhorrent. Males are genetically predisposed to copulate with as many females as they can, and to fight off rivals. Neither of these traits are well regarded in modern society.

I'm not quite sure what you're saying here, so apologies if I am misinterpreting you, but the first part of your post seems to contradict the second part. Could you clarify?

Cool. So move on, right? To argue against biology so stridently is tiresome.

AND keep on fighting to keep religion out of the laws.

AND keep on educating the general public that religion is a choice -- I often thought that the most strident anti-religion atheists are those who were most scarred by the worst aspects of it. That theirs is an emotional battle on behalf of those trapped in households where religion is presented as THE ONLY CHOICE. And if you aren't someone who has that "religion gene", that can be crazy making.

I love all the billboards that atheists are starting to put up. I see them as lifelines to children and adults who don't believe and feel shame. Like being homosexual -- if you are gay in a fundamentalist household, stay in the closet until you are an adult and then MOVE AWAY. It is the only rational choice.

>> ^ChaosEngine:

>> ^

I used Dawkins as an example simply because he has the reputation of being the "most strident fundamentalist atheist" (whatever that is). In fact, he actually attempts to answer your question in the God Delusion. You'll have to read it for the full explanation but (paraphrasing here) it boils down to the idea that religion evolved as a combination of a few evolutionary traits, such as believing your parents and ascribing intent to occurrences. There's a whole chapter on the roots of religion there (from an evolutionary point of view), and it is explained far better than I could here.

New Millenium Cyanide Christ

I'M A CARNAL, ORGANIC ANAGRAM. HUMAN FLESH INSTEAD OF WRITTEN LETTERS.
I REARRANGE MY PATHETIC TISSUE. I INCISE. I REPLACE. I'M REFORMED.
I ERADICATE THE FAKE PRE-PRESENT ME. ELEVATE ME TO A HIGHER HUMAN FORM.
THE CHARACTERS I AM, MADE INTO A WORD COMPLETE, THEN I'LL BE THE NEW NORM.

SELF INFLICTED FRACTURES. I REPLACE MY BONES WITH BARS;
ALUMINUM BLEEDING OXIDE; THE DRUG OF GODS INTO MY POUNDING VEINS

(A HUMAN PUZZLE FOR ALL TO SCORN. NO FACE. NO BACK. DIRECTIONLESS.
MY SCARRED EDITION I'LL DISPLAY; THE ORGANIC WORD FOR NOTHINGNESS)

MY RECEIVING EYES EXCHANGED WITH FUSES; BLINDNESS INDUCED TO PREVENT DESTRUCTION.
CERAMIC BLADES IMPLANTED PAST MY RIBS TO SAVE ME FROM THE DUES OF INHALATION.
I TEAR MY WORLDLY USELESS SKIN. STAPLES TO PIN IT OVER MY EARS.
NON-RECEPTIVE OF UNGODLY SOUNDS - I DISABLE THE AUDIO-GENERATORS OF FEAR.

HEXAGONAL BOLTS TO FILL MY MOUTH, SHARPENED TO DEPLETE THE CREATOR OF ALL VIOLENCE;
WITHOUT SPEECH THERE WILL BE NO DECEIT

(MY FEET I CRUSH. THE FLESH I CUT AWAY, SO AS TO NOT PRODUCE THE SOUND OF THEIR PRESENCE ON ROTTEN GROUND)

BAPTIZED IN VITRIOLIC ACID. A FINAL TOUCH. A SMOOTHING OF FEATURES.
COMPLETION OF THE GREATEST ART; TO CAST THE GODLY CREATURES.
HUMANS, ONCE ASTRAY; MADE DIVINE. STRIPPED OF CONGENITAL FLAWS.
WE'RE INCANDESCENT REVELATIONS IN A WORLD OF DARKENED FORMS.

(CONFIDE IN MY NEW AGE DOGMA. SWALLOW THE INDOCTRINATION. YOU'LL COME TO LOVE IT HERE,
THE SUICIDAL ATMOSPHERE. LET ME INTO YOUR COMMON MIND. I'LL PLANT MY THOUGHTS INTO ITS SOIL.
WALK AMONG US SELF-MADE GODS, DEIFIED THROUGH THE PAINS OF SELF TORTURE)

DISCIPLES, COME JOIN WITH ME TO SAVE A FAILED HUMANITY. FOLLOW THE GOD OF CYANIDE INTO THE NEW ETERNITY.
BEHOLD; A SACRIFICIAL RASE A CLEANSING WORSHIPPING OF PAIN.
THE NEW MILLENIUM CHRIST HERE TO REDEEM ALL FROM LIES

(I'VE COME TO SAVE YOU ALL. I'VE COME TO LIGHT YOUR WAY)

Yes.

Got mugged once. Was pepper-sprayed right in the eye. Stings like a bitch. And it's slippery so no matter how tight you try to shut your eyes, it gets in, and in your nose, and your mouth. You think that you might not be able to breath, but you breath anyway, and it gets in further.

Tears will pour out of your eyes, and you will cry and cry and cry, but it won't help. You have to flush it out with cold water--and it will take hours to get it all out--though I hear milk or diluted maalox works better.

After a few minutes and brief struggle, I was able to get up and chase down the kids who attacked me. There's only so much you can do when you're outnumbered four to one, and having trouble seeing. I did succeed in scarring the crap out of them. Imagine them seeing the guy they thought they just took out chase them down for four city blocks AND catch them, in spite of a head start. I managed to get some of my stuff back and my wallet, though, they made off with my backpack and some money. Heh. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

When pepper spray is used it is almost always a weapon for assault, not for defence. The incidents I see on here haven't changed my mind of that. The talking heads on this video have no idea what they speak of.>> ^TheSofaKing:

Have you?
>> ^notarobot:
These talking heads have never been pepper-sprayed, have they?

>> ^dag:

I remember in 7th grade, my geography teacher - Mr. Reekie, (who was also the JV football coach) told us all that World War 3 was about to start in Poland because of Lech Wałęsa's solidarity movement. It scared the shit out of me, and stuck with me as a small scar - even as a 42 year old man.

I remember being similarly (and in retrospect, needlessly) terrified in 85-86 when the shit was going on with Libya (culminating in bombing). I would have been 6-7 at the time. I remember riding the bus home after school, looking out the window at the horizon, and being afraid that one day bombers were just going to come screaming overhead and destroy/kill everything and everyone. I didn't understand that Libya was a tiny speck of a country with an insignificant military, and I didn't understand that a tiny backwoods town in upstate NY would not be a valuable military target.

To Longde,
Clearly, you have never been abused in any way shape or form, which is very fortunate for you. I, however, was abused by my father for over a decade. My father used all 3 types of abuse on me; physical, emotional, and sexual. Of these 3, the emotional abuse and the beatings I took (mostly with a belt) are the ones that are still with me to this day, almost 10 years later. I understand spanking your child, this is how they learn mistakes. However, what this man did and what my father did goes above and beyond punishment. This IS abuse. When you are hit so many times with a belt that it rips your skin open, its abuse. When you are hit with a belt so many times that it leaves scars on your body for the rest of your life, it is abuse. Do not think that you know the facts of abuse when you have never been abused. I would like you to think of the child in this video as your mother or your sister or your daughter...would you be okay with it than? And if you are okay with it, I would venture to guess that you will be locked up someday for assault of abuse.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Saying it's World War 3 might be a bit of hyperbole - or at least jumping the gun.

I remember in 7th grade, my geography teacher - Mr. Reekie, (who was also the JV football coach) told us all that World War 3 was about to start in Poland because of Lech Wałęsa's solidarity movement. It scared the shit out of me, and stuck with me as a small scar - even as a 42 year old man.

So let's not pre-escalate the situation if we can help it. Think of the children.

As someone with a good Riddler costume, I have never cottoned to these reinterpreted Riddlers who are all covered with scars and urban grunge. The Riddler always was and always will be the dapper, arrogant guy in an impeccible suit and a derby. Long live the man in green.

@carneval @garmachi
My metric: causing lasting emotional damage
hit by a belt.....so many times that you have psychological trauma which lasts for the rest of your life

Seriously, what is "emotional damage" or "psychological trauma"? To me, these terms are rather soft to be condemning a father over.

Is it deep resentment? It's evident the girl feels a great deal of resentment towards her father that no sane parent would want. But lots of people feel resentment towards their parents for many reasons. That doesn't make their parents abusers.

Is it that the girl yells for them to stop or in pain? Well, spanking is painful; that's the point. You would expect someone to yell in pain if they are getting spanked, or to want the spanking stopped. Kids don't like to be punished and kids yell and beg even when non-spanking punishments are administered.

In fact, kids think the world will end when you punish them in any significant way.How do you distinguish that state of mind from emotional scarring, emotional damage, or psychological trauma?

I guess I should have called child protective services on the mother I saw in the mall whose kid was screaming over not getting some trinket. Or the parents in the mall who spanked their kid for acting out. My god the abusers are everywhere!

Then is getting hit by a belt fifty times abuse.......?

That's the question I have been asking. Where is the line, and who gets to draw it? In a society where you have witch hunts over some nebulous term "abuse", a clear line is necessary. For the record, the girl was hit 18 times.

>> ^mintbbb:

Sorry, didn't mean to go all ballistic about this. There were some weird message board ham(p)ster issues somewhere many, many years ago that obviously left me emotionally scarred
>> ^zombieater:
>> ^mintbbb:
I am sorry, but.. it is a hamster, hamster.. no 'p' there!

Ooh yes! You're right! Oops.



Ah, no worries. Let's just hope that nobody makes my mistake again so that you wont have anymore flashbacks.