MINK:

You're debating a claim that nobody made about Mormon ideology being true because the people are nice? You only have to tolerate something if it doesn't decrease the amount of happiness in the world i.e. hurt anyone. Thus, I don't have to tolerate Hussein's ideologies because they hurt people. Mormons are pretty good people and the church does good things. So, you could be called intolerant not to tolerate them. That is the only reason I brought up the whole "nice" thing.

All organized religion is not "by definition" intolerant of others. And how is it insulting for Mormons to make claims about Christ? Does somebody own him? I don't demand that the attacks stop. My whole reason for defending the faith is:

1.) An egocentric perpetuation of the belief that the Mormon faith is so very ridiculous that Mormons must be brainwashed, stupid, ignorant, or crazy to believe it, as opposed to other religions that are "more believable", is an intolerant practice.
2.) This intolerant practice leads to discrimination, hatred, and cruelty.
3.) Such ill-informed and unsupported treatments of Mormon beliefs should end because they are intolerant and prejudiced and they have an adverse affect on the people.

That's all I'm trying to say. Honestly, if you can't undertand how the typical Mormon video on VS is intolerant, I don't know what I can say to help you understand it. I would and have done the same thing for Catholics a few times.

Your weird and extraneous argument about Joseph Smith's death baffle me. I'm glad someone else already set you straight so I don't have to.
And will someone please explain the source of the "magic hat" thing to me? I've never seen it anywhere but on South Park.

"Alright come back and debate your point when you've actually read The Screwtape Letters."

Why? Is the piece recited in the video not representative of the book? If indeed that is the case then my criticisms still apply to this particular letter which in my opinion is quite exploitative.

"And when you refer to "the church" which one are you referring too. "

When people refer to "the church" they are usually talking about The Roman Catholic Church with it being the largest christian church and all. I thought this would be evident as I was refering to the famous controversy involving the catholic church's insistance on a geocentric model of the universe (i.e., earth in the center) which conrtibuted to the murder of Bruno, the life imprisonment of Galileo and, to the rather embarrassing recantation of the doctrine in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.

"And why do you feel a need to associate religious beliefs with a church?"

I was using the church as an example of a religious institution exploiting/reinforcing certain fallacies common to human thinking; in this case the fallacy being an egocentric model of the universe. That is not to say such exploitation is unique to christanity (I offered hinduism as my other example) or to religious institutions for that matter.

"I never offered my feelings of possessing a soul as proof."

I believe you said something along the lines of: "How do I know there is such a thing as a soul? because..."
I realize that this is a "personal" proof that you have used to convince yourself of your soul and if I get the gist of your proof it seems to go along the lines of "I have these incredibly strong transcendent feelings which must originate from a non-material source like the soul." My examples were meant to illustrate the rather physical/chemical sources of these transcendent feelings. When I was kid I used to think I was special because I had these inexplicable experiences which I now know to be deja vus. It's quite likely you are making a similar mistake.

PC is a form of alteration of semantics for agenda-(see Eric Blair)

Most of the folks that are hip and centered, in the U.S., use, with their black, Asian, or Hispanic American friends, colloquial terminology, if referencing their origins for contextual emphasis, endearingly....don't know if you noticed folks, but most of the racism of 40 years ago and beyond in America, has been snuffed with regards to any form of separation of races....it is a new game today, working towards
a new form of ism, based on demographics and citizenship.....and, hello meatbots, race-baiting, class struggle, all the mob-oriented tools are still used by the herders-

Dupes are those who play into it- If one has a lot of baggage, and bitterness, then they will probably be the ones the most upset, when they overhear someone say, "the black dude cross the way", or, "He's that cool Asian cat I met" -personally am honored when cultural heritage is recognized, referenced, or associated in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person...banter-away(here), of a cracker-ass euro-mutt dago....

....whenever you see the uncomfortable look, in the eyes of someone, if you fail to say "African-American", referring to a brother?, you'd be doing him a favor, to shove that shit, straight back up his ass.....

Agree with the political, economic, and social equality of females-buuut....Feminism-?

Feral
Egocentric
Matrons
Irrational
Nihilists
Intimidating
Seminal
Monkeys

These are the ineffectual, egocentric type fundamentalists, who waste their divine energy and temples on public masturbation.......prb'ly Baptists....bl, is that Yoda with a Tibetan monk???? HERETIC!!!!

From George Carlin:

We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. "Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these fucking people kidding me? Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, we're gonna save the fucking planet?

I'm getting tired of that shit. Tired of that shit. I'm tired of fucking Earth Day, I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world safe for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a shit about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don't. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!

We're going away. Pack your shit, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.

You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.

The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...asshole.

So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that's begun. Don't you think that's already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let's see... Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh...viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.

Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron...whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it doesn't judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.

Self-actualized, semantic woman with morality and strong ethics, collides with Fox gas-bag, egocentric, journalistic abortion.....

Dr. Laura Rocks, always has!!!
Oh and O'Riley shoulda known he did not have the balls to try to go head to head wit the best......pnked!

PM's original suggestion re: limit of videos in the queue is pretty good. Couple that with self-discard or a shorter cull for 0/1 vote vids would be good.

Agree with swampgirl that anon downvotes don't sound good to me. And setting a queue post limit based on queue size is also a good idea.

And yeah, we can be more egalitarian in terms of limits, instead of favouring the golden.

In response to oohahh's comment on "list those close to escape": we already effectively have that feature: choose "most votes" under new queue, and you'll get an instant look at those vids.

Egocentric question: I wonder how much my temporarily part-time involvement on VS has added to the queue size inflation?