Sharpton is so outclassed that the opportunity to have Hitchins earnestly debate the points he makes is completely wasted.

Not a debate at all really - more like a fight with a four-limb amputee...

Any thoughts as to how this was pulled off? I would guess the guy was a lower-body amputee, but I've never seen an amputee with that much of the body missing, and I don't see how the lower body, which would have to be prosthetics, could work so well.

The sad thing is that people like BicycleRepairMan and Gorillaman don't realise that they themselves have been indoctrinated with an intolerant and fanatical form of atheism which teaches that all religion is bad and that people of faith are mindless.

I am not intolerant towards your religion (believe whatever you want.) I am intolerant to indoctrinating people, especially children, with irrational faith. Often, ofcourse these two things are not independent of each other, Islam is a great example, basically the rule of islam is, (in addition to all other values, good and bad) that you MUST indoctrinate, or that in not submitting totally to God, you dont even really count as a human being. This is not something I invent, its part of most religions, but Islam is worse than most religions in this aspect.

This is comparable to me not accepting promotion of fascism or nazism as "Free Speech" because the very idea of fascism and nazism goes against the idea of free speech. Oh, the irony sometimes witnessed when confused neo-nazis go: "Dont stereotype me!"

I am intolerant to intolerance, in other words.

don't self-delude that you are better than those that practice religions because even atheism is a form of religious fanaticism.

The difference is, I know that I could be wrong, and I know what it would take to convince me I am wrong. God heals an amputee -> BicycleRepairMan goes to church.

To a religious person, the very core idea of the religion itself is that nothing should be enough to convince you that you are wrong. The first three commandments anyone? Its like the first three rules of fight club.. except the opposite.

I am no better than anyone else, we are half a chromosome away from monkeys, I've never pretended to have all the answers, which is why I have such a big problem with those who do.

why not amputee his brain...?

A little background research for those of you interested:

"Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), also known as Amputee Identity Disorder or Apotemnophilia (from Greek αποτέμνειν "to cut off", and φιλία "love of") is the overwhelming desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs or other parts of the body. Sometimes its sufferers take it upon themselves to amputate their own limbs and/or penis. Although it most commonly refers to people who wish to amputate limbs, the term BIID, or 'wannabe' also applies to those who wish to alter their bodily integrity." (Wikipedia)

BIID seems to be considered somewhat of an extreme case of the emotional needs characterized for hypochondria/Munchausen's combined in part with body dysmorphia, with sufferers wishing for a different body or for the attention and care that they connect with being an amputee. An interesting theory is that BIID is caused by a problem with proprioception, making sufferers feel that they are somehow incomplete or "wrong".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Identity_Integrity_Disorder
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=1806125&page=1
http://www.biid.org/
http://www.slate.com/id/2085402/
http://www.amputee-online.com/amputee/wannabee.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200012/madness - (Registration necessary, sorry, use bugmenot.com)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munchausen_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception


I don't have the time to think this out completely, but my initial reaction is that this is a horrible thing, and should be prevented whenever possible. I just don't see how allowing people to cripple themselves could possibly be looked on as proper or even just acceptable by our society.

Perhaps part of my reaction is due to the fact that I know several amputees, all of whom would pay mindblowing prices (not merely monetary, mind you, emotional and relationship-wise) for a chance to regain the use of their missing limb.

Ugh. I'm going to go vomit.