Very, very interesting -- thanks for the sift!

I'd love to see more, specifically about the US / Cuba talks and the Pope's involvement. As an atheist, I tend to think of Catholicism / the Pope / organized religion in general as generally having a primarily negative influence on world affairs (Crusades, Inquisition, birth control, anti-condoms, molestation, homophobia, etc.), but negotiating peace and better relations between the US and Cuba is a pretty undeniably positive thing.

I knew Latin American countries were highly Catholic, but I kinda figured that some of the USSR anti-religious stance would have rubbed off on Cuba. I guess maybe it did, but the missile crisis and fall of the Berlin wall / end of the cold war was long enough ago that Cuba has greater freedom to make up their own minds on this sort of thing.

Enough so that perhaps the Pope's involvement was necessary, or at least very helpful, to act as a mediator between the two sides. Props where props are due.

Anyway, all quite interesting.

Good bit of poetry, i enjoyed it. I don't agree with the sentiment though.

Firstly and most convincingly for me, animals have been eating other animals since there existed anything that might be called an animal. Essentially we evolved as we are because we ate meat.

Secondly, food intolerances/allergies/etc. never seem to be acknowledged by crusading vegans or vegetarians, and i have a real bee in my bonnet about that. I'd love to have the luxury of choice but if i eat something that has been near to something that had gluten in it, i'm going to be bed ridden for days. Depending on where you live, buying ONLY food labelled "gluten free" can go from easy and cheap to near impossible and extortionate. Some people have it even worse than that and have to exclude more. When you aren't making the food yourself, (travelling, visiting friends, all kinds of stuff) sometimes the only thing that you can feel safe eating is meat. No one in that position wants a guilt trip from someone with the freedom to opt in and out of their limitations.

The self righteousness of your post almost made me feel sick. Vegetarianism SHOULD be a stepping stone to veganism? It SHOULD be whatever the hell you want it to be - for example a temporary situation for when you SHOULD return to eating meat.

Now i'm not going to do what you did and reel off the standard list of reasons why veganism is bad for you, they are well documented and discussed but we all know that it is very possible to have a varied and sufficient diet regardless of what you limit yourself to.

As for your comment about milk, i did a quick bit of research - most of the sources i can find saying that milk causes calcium to be ejected out of the body sourced from the bones and/or cause osteoporosis are new age blog style websites written by a vegan who - like you - clearly has some serious agenda.

As for decent sources, here is what i found:
- Several scientific papers noting that though some observational studies have shown more alkali diets being beneficial to bone health in pre- and post- menopausal women, it has yet to be proven in any definitive clinical trial
http://osteoporosis.org.za/general/downloads/dairy.pdf
(and other sources, but not as scientific)

- The Harvard School of Public Health state that it is not clear what the best source of calcium is for bone health. However the consumption of dairy products has more beneficial effects than just bone health - protection against colon cancer for example, also other vitamins, proteins and minerals that are present.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/calcium-full-story/#calcium-from-milk

Job losses may seem irrelevant to you, but i suggest that's because you have a very very tenuous grasp on the farming profession and don't rely on it for your income. No, you can't simply replace any and all dairy farms/farmers and workers with plant-based farming alternatives. There are a huge number of reasons for this which only a farmer would be able to tell us in detail, but for example - the equipment is different and requires a huge investment (both for acquisition and storage and transport and so on), the land and buildings are not necessarily interchangeable, the skills and knowledge are often built up since childhood and are not instantly transferable, the connections within the industry for logistics and business dealings are different. These are just a few that i thought up.

Yes, some animals are poorly treated in the farming industry and it makes me very sad to think of. However if you are careful and attentive you can ensure that you do not consume any products that were unfairly treated. This is like saying that a minority of clothes sold in shops are made in sweatshops by exploited child labour, therefore we should ban all clothes from the planet.

I could go on and on and on, and even begin my own dissertation on how "everyone going vegan" would be detrimental to overall public health and prosperity; if we grow more crops, more animals must be killed to ensure the crop is healthy and full.. we are not able to process celulose because we evolved.. there are things you can't get from plants that your body needs.. etc. But this comment is already very long, and i think i've broken the backbone of your argument already.

I will mention though that your crusade could end up being very damaging to the health of people who have auto immune diseases and/or allergies that rely on meat to have a balanced and varied diet. I recently discovered that i have coeliac disease (auto immune response to gluten) and secondary lactose intolerance, and i really wish i could explain to you just how difficult it is to avoid gluten containing grains and lactose.

For you it is a choice to not eat anything that comes from animals, for me it is a necessity that i have to avoid gluten and lactose otherwise i get debilitating pain within half an hour. If i did not have access to meat and eggs, there would be very little that i could eat. Wheat is added to almost everything, or almost everything is made in the same vicinity as wheat products resulting in cross contamination. Meat and eggs are sometimes the ONLY thing that i can be sure are safe to eat, and yet some self righteous do-gooder like yourself sits there on a high horse telling me how terrible it is that i inevitably, medically do what our ancestors have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years of human prosperity and ascendance.

If you'd had a bit more of an open mind when you wrote that comment, if i hadn't found out i have these medical conditions, if you'd said things in a debatable way, presented your sources (you provide none), offered it up for discussion rather than a commandment written on a stone tablet, then i probably wouldn't have replied like this. But when i'm forced into doing something and an interfering busybody strolls along and shrieks "oooooooooh you shouldn't be doing that!!!" it really does wind me up.

I think the problem is more a general attitude of PC nonsense like making a crusade out of people dressing up like people of other races for halloween. Well, I guess that means only people from fuckin Transylvania can dress up like Dracula and tell the black girl she can't be Cinderella -- that's fucked up. And that's what's generally fucking wrong with PC: it's just one sided shit. I come from a family with a long line of racist beliefs so I can tell you there is a HUGE difference between edgy behavior and actual racism. And people should know the difference.

I can just tell when a conversation is going to be a quick hello and goodbye when it's impossible to speak my mind. I can just walk away without offending someone, a comedian cannot. Praise Elune I only spend time with pot smoking trannies, angry gamers and booze guzzling musicians. I would probably murder myself before it ever got close to 1984. You can take my life but I'm taking my good genes with me and the Chosen One will never be born.

Fortunately, no. I had seen the words 'atheism +', but had no idea what it was....and now I wish I didn't know. Screw these idiots, they ain't riding the coat tails of atheism if I have anything to say about it.
That's not a crusade, it's an excuse for outrageous crazy bullying. As a staunch atheist, I would have stood between those two to protect the proselytizer from the raving lunatic, even though I HATE them.

@newtboy
oh,but havent you heard?
there is a NEW atheism out there!
atheism PLUS,and if you do not subscribe to this NEW atheism you are not a "true" atheist.

of course,actual rational and reasonable atheists fought back to shut the "new and improved" atheism down.(hooray for thinking people)

seems this man never got the memo that his new crusade was dead in the water.

@Jinx

you used a great word:"nuance" and i would add "context".

i know you identify as a social justice warrior,and many here on the sift do as well.i would even include myself on that list in certain instances.

but this video is not addressing the rational and reasonable people who have valid grievances and wish to stand up for:human rights,fairness,justice and equality.

this video is addressing those who abuse political correctness to further their own,personal agenda,dressed up as social justice.these people,who have co-opted,infiltrated and hijacked LEGITIMATE and VALID causes and corrupted them with an irrationality that should,and IS,being ridiculed.

why?
because in the free market of ideas,where there is a free flow of information and dialogue,is the place where bad ideas go to die.

but how do these extremist deal with criticism?
with scrutiny and examination of their call for justice?

well,they simply ACCUSE you of being a:racist,bigot,homophobe etc etc and that is where the conversation ends.the very act of accusing shuts down any dissenting voice by demonizing that person for having the audacity to even question their righteous crusade.

change takes time in a free society.this is a slow process.
so archaic,societal and cultural belief systems take time to shift,but what has ALWAYS been the successful trait in every single victory for social justice is:conversation and discussion.making people aware of the situation and then addressing the problem.

basically it takes people talking about it.

but that is not the tactic we see used by these perpetually offended and faux outraged.THEIR tactic is to shut the conversation down as viciously and violently as they can.they are allergic to dissent or disagreement,and to even attempt to point out the logical fallacies,or incongruities will get you labeled a racist,bigot or homophobe.

that is not justice.that is censorship with a large dose of fascist.

this video makes a solid case for pointing out how a small cadre of narcissistic cry-babies have hijacked groups who had actual grievances and created an atmosphere of fear,anxiety and paranoia simply to promote their own brand of social justice by latching onto real movements...and in the process..destroyed them.

did you SEE what they did to occupy?
or their current slow motion destruction of feminism?
or how about that semi-retarded atheism plus?
good lord..just go watch PZ meyers slowly become a former shadow of himself to pander to these fuckwits.

look man.
even YOU acknowledge that their are some who abuse political correctness for their own self-aggrandizement,and i suspect that even YOU do not identify with this small group of extremists.

well,that is who this video is addressing.

i mean.what fair and reasonable person is AGAINST women having equality or being treated fairly?
who would be AGAINST fighting corruption in our political and economic systems?

but this new batch of social justice warriors are all about THEIR rights.THEIR feelings.THEIR safe spaces and THEIR fascist ideologies on how a society should behave and act.

and if you happen to disagree they will unleash the most vile and vicious tactics to not only shut you up,but lose your job AND,in some cases,abuse a court system to make you criminally libel.all because of THEIR agenda.

free speech is only something THEY are entitled to,YOU get to shut the fuck up.

this ultra-authoritarian,cultural marxism is so anti-democratic and anti-free society,that it must be called out and ridiculed for it's own absurd lack of self-awareness.

they should be laughed at,ridiculed and chastised for the idiocy it proposes.

now maybe we disagree on this,and that is fine.disagreements will happen and they are healthy.

but just know i am not addressing those actual social justice warriors,but rather their more radical and fascist minority that appear to have hijacked the conversation.

and i truly highly doubt you are part of that minority,and if you are?
sorry man.we disagree.

No.

There is an unofficial sequel written on the premise that Mordor was Middle-earth's first progressive, technological civilisation; which was thrown down by effectively a crusade of religious fanatics. I didn't get very far into it (because I was reading it as a pdf on a computer monitor), but Saruman's motivation at least makes substantially more sense in that interpretation.

This video gets somewhat hard to follow when half the time I can't tell if they're saying 'Soren' or mispronouncing 'Sauron'.

Did I say the man "quoted" rap lyrics? NO. You assumed. In fact I didn't say the source of the rap at all. You want that information? He wrote the fucking lyrics towards his wife. And to the FBI agent who interviewed him. DIRECTLY to them. Honestly I didn't expect to have to spoon feed you this shit.

And btw, the first woman who called him a pedio, SHE CAN BE HELD LIABLE. However, not the feminist after. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/01/facebook-rapper-wins-at-supreme-court-in-widely-watched-threat-case

How about this, I won't comment on your stupid as fuck posts, and you don't comment on mine (Which you think are stupid as fuck.) This way we stop this feud that ONLY WE go through. This way you stop calling me racist and shit. Which of course is liable. But that is beside the point.

How about we include @lucky760 and @dag, just to be safe. I don't want some internet crusader to try and get me banned from the Sift for harassment.

1. Weed in the Park (Illegal act in public place) Fine, they deserve to be called out on it, but it's also something that the public at large doesn't care enough about to affect them long term.

2. Winter Solstice Ritual. Fine, they could be fired from one company, but it's pretty rare to have strict religious fundamentalists as employers. They'll find a job elsewhere and be able to sue the other company.

3. Prostitute. It's illegal, if they're caught, I'm assuming they met in public. It's something that society tends to forgive.

As far as your version of VoodooV being a crazy stalker, that's probably something that could be dealt with using anti-harassment laws.

Even the racist moron in this video will end up with another job eventually, we have some social safety nets that will help him survive until then. The people who choose to crusade about these things also tend to have a short attention span, there's always something new to be outraged about. So, the likelihood of an ongoing campaign to keep this guy unemployed is pretty low.

Also, there is nothing forcing these companies to fire them. They can keep them employed and accept the bad PR and any accompanying loss of business. It's their choice.

The problem is that you think that you get to decide where the starting line is. The path you are pointing down requires taking in the totality of history, not using some arbitrary point that is within living memory

For example, when do you think this started?

Was it with the Arab Spring and Assad's put down of the revolution? Maybe the invasion of Iraq in 2003? Perhaps when Iraq invaded Kuwait? When Libya bombed the plane at Lockerbie? The 6-day war? The establishment of the state of Israel? British Colonialism in the Middle East? The Crusades? The Battle of Yarmouk in 636?

Trying to find a singular, root cause is not how you end a conflict. That is done through humanizing your enemy, recognizing the futility of your efforts, finding alternative means to meet your needs, compromising and forgiving.

(source: MA in conflict resolution and 5 years of peacebuilding work)

Easy answer (he kinda mentions it):

The money saved chasing black market pot + tax excised from the legalised sale of pot = more treatment for addiction.

End of fucking story.

ps. You can tell the type of parent she is that she's so busy off crusading to save people that her daughter is getting high and drunk easily. Lemme guess, extremely strict parent who has closeted her kid so much that she's gone off the rails after getting a taste?

I think "Blame Canada" really needs to be linked to this sift (but have no idea how to do so... = ) because this woman is Sheila Broflowski...

Where does the criticism of the religion end and its followers begin? Most Christians I know think the Crusades were a horrible idea, and don't inform their faith today. The pastor in the church I grew up in wrote off the entire old testament as a highly colored history, whose barbaric morality was replaced by the teachings of Jesus.

There are plenty of muslims where I live now. I see them at picnics, or walking around the neighborhood. The women hear scarves in their hair, but I never hear their husbands mistreat them, and they seem to enjoy all the freedoms of the western world just fine. Are we being fair to these people if we label them as following a hateful oppressive religion? I imagine a day i their mosque wouldn't sound that different than a day in a church in this part of the world.

In the midst of serial killers, pedophiles and pastors wanting to kill gays, i can understand how this video came into light, people can badmouth it all they want to, but I have seen what Christianity does to people. It tears them apart emotionally, sexually and psychologically. Perhaps in another several years this might be more appreciated, only after another event like the Witchtrials or another Crusades....at any rate I thought the message it was trying to convey was obvious, dont be a christian because the religion/relationship really messes you up.