^Upvoted^

I love techno music that's got some structure & not just mindless "thump-thump". Good camerawork roundabout the 2:42-2:50 mark. For one second there at the beginning, I thought it was gonna be like Fatboy Slim's "Push The Tempo"

Anyone want to hazard a guess at the noises at the end? After he runs up the stairs...the "huuuuh" and 'thump' noise stumps me

>> ^hpqp:

@kceaton1
I am confused. What you provide is Hitchens making a very good point as to why superstitious beliefs (organised/codified in religion) are bad, and why he thus deems himself an antitheist (as I see myself, btw). What I asked for (in an almost rhetorical way, as I doubt such a thing exists) is the "militant" atheists/antitheists that are like the WBC, the ones that so-called "give us a bad rap".


Ah, I see what you want. Let me try to find one. I guess I should tone it down a tad as they aren't nearly as acidic as the Westboro Baptists, but to very religious people I imagine they are the worst people in the world. I believe my example of an atheist claiming all religions are evil is from Hitchins as well. He does of course try to explain why this is a truthful statement. Depending on how you view things this may be a fairly boisterous claim or merely a rational one. If you find it rational then you are most definitely an anti-theist to some degree, no matter what you think.

edit-

I think I will end it here actually. I guess I will change the original wording of militant to something else and make sure that it is known that the current crop of ant-theism is directly aimed at religion and typically Christianity. In the eyes of those religious they may seem like what I say due to the "seemingly undue" ferocity in which the words may be said, or the content a book might have--especially, to those that have spent their lives NOT bible thumping or preaching to the cameras. Books like "The God Delusion" or lesser ones that don't deal with the topic directly, but have the same effect like "Everything You Know About God Is Wrong" can have this effect.

So I will state that I know of this "movement" and it seems non-threatening to me, but I am not the target. So I have to view it through my very old religious goggles; with this I know it will be like shaking a beehive. So forgive my partly unfair adjective assignment and the unfair equality accusation of the Westboro Baptists to anti-theists.

OMG! I'm crying!

{thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump...}

This looks tougher than "Ninja Warrior".

This is the American English lesson where no respect for elders is demonstrated.

(Would now pay to see footage of this jerk getting his melon thumped.)

Where did I say you wronged me?

Fuck off a third time!

>> ^petpeeved:

>> ^budzos:
No. Do you feel sufficiently self-righteous and morally superior?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
I agree there are few things that pathetic. If you think that's what I'm doing, fuck off again K?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.


There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.


Okay, I'll fuck off. Feel manly now?


Somehow I've wronged you by objecting to you telling me to fuck off out of the blue?

>> ^budzos:

No. Do you feel sufficiently self-righteous and morally superior?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
I agree there are few things that pathetic. If you think that's what I'm doing, fuck off again K?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.


There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.


Okay, I'll fuck off. Feel manly now?



Somehow I've wronged you by objecting to you telling me to fuck off out of the blue?

No. Do you feel sufficiently self-righteous and morally superior?

>> ^petpeeved:

>> ^budzos:
I agree there are few things that pathetic. If you think that's what I'm doing, fuck off again K?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.


There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.


Okay, I'll fuck off. Feel manly now?

>> ^budzos:

I agree there are few things that pathetic. If you think that's what I'm doing, fuck off again K?
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^budzos:
Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.


There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.



Okay, I'll fuck off. Feel manly now?

I agree there are few things that pathetic. If you think that's what I'm doing, fuck off again K?

>> ^petpeeved:

>> ^budzos:
Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.


There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.

>> ^budzos:

Aw boo-hoo. Maybe you should call the authorities and see if they'll intervene on your behalf.
>> ^petpeeved:
Oh, fuck off? I've been a member happily on this site for years but I can't recall a time when I've felt the level of discourse had dropped to general YouTube comment levels. The lack of respect for differing opinions is new and distressing.



There are few things as pathetic as someone playing the tough guy card on the internet. Pardon me for valuing Videosift for being an oasis away from the idiotic chest-thumping of most forums.

I had some neighbors once that sounded exactly like this--including the thumps.

I'm pretty unclear on repudiate vs. default, but from the creditor's point of view, I don't see how they'd be different. In either case, you don't get back the money that you'd lent out.

The whole problem with Greek debt is that there are banks all over the EU holding those bonds. If they get turned into worthless pieces of paper, that puts stress on that bank's bottom line, and could make it go bankrupt, and make it start defaulting on its debts.

Then it just snowballs from there.

The problem for Greeks is that doing this will also kill their ability to borrow money, which means they can't run a deficit, and since they no longer have their own currency, they can't print their way out, so that means they're forced into austerity because the government literally won't be able to pay its bills. Who knows what happens at that point, but it won't be all sunshine and roses for Greece.

Thumping your chest and daring the EU to invade won't do you any good either. The problem isn't that the EU will want to invade to get their money back (which Greece doesn't even have), the problem is that Greece will need Euros from the other countries, and won't be able to borrow them. You'll need to take the army out to go get them, if you want to bring armies and war into this mix.

This isn't a magical solution to the Greek debt crisis, this is just an explanation for why people are really worried that Greece will wind up defaulting.

Helluva story. Here's the whole thing from Wiki:

The Christie Pits riot occurred on 16 August 1933 at the Christie Pits (Willowvale Park) playground in Toronto, Canada. The riot can only be understood in the context of the anti-semitism, Swastika clubs and parades and resentment of "foreigners" in Toronto, and the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in 1933.[1]

The riot, which lasted six hours, broke out after a quarter-final baseball game at Christie Pits Park between two local clubs, Harbord Playground, predominantly Jewish, and St. Peter's, a baseball team sponsored by a church at Bathurst and Bloor.[2]

The riot occurred soon after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany and in the midst of the Great Depression. The Toronto papers, including the Telegram and the Toronto Star, as well as the Yiddish journal, Der Yiddisher Zhurnal, reported on how Jews were being dismissed as lawyers, professors, teachers, etc. in Germany, as well as incidents of violence against them. Thus to Jews the swastika represented degradation and physical violence against Jews, and was inflammatory.[3]

At that time, the Jewish community in Toronto was predominantly poor and working class. They were also the subject of discrimination and were excluded from summer resorts outside of the city. Jewish families and youths in particular would therefore cool off during the hot summer months by staying in town and going to the predominantly Anglo Beaches area in order to swim. This resulted in complaints and resentment from some local residents. Some of the locals formed "Swastika Clubs", which openly displayed the Nazi symbol to express their displeasure and make Jews feel unwanted.[4] The leaders of the Swastika Club initially insisted that the swastika had nothing to do with Hitler. They said they merely wanted to keep the Beach clean. After a meeting with Jewish leaders backed by City officials, the Swastika club agreed to drop its symbol and its name. At that point, several of the members joined the Swastika Association of Canada that was much more open about its links to Hitler.[5]

The night of the riot was the second game between Harbord and St. Peter's. Two nights earlier, at the first game of the series, a swastika had been displayed. Police were warned that there could be trouble at the second game, but those warnings were ignored. After the final out of the second game, Pit Gang members displayed a blanket with a large swastika painted on it. A number of Jewish boys and young men who had heard about the previous Swastika incident rushed the Swastika sign to destroy it, supporters of both sides (including Italians who supported the Jews) from the surrounding area joined in, and a fight started.[6]

The Toronto Daily Star described the event the next day:
“ While groups of Jewish and Gentile youths wielded fists and clubs in a series of violent scraps for possession of a white flag bearing a swastika symbol at Willowvale Park last night, a crowd of more than 10,000 citizens, excited by cries of ‘Heil Hitler’ became suddenly a disorderly mob and surged wildly about the park and surrounding streets, trying to gain a view of the actual combatants, which soon developed in violence and intensity of racial feeling into one of the worst free-for-alls ever seen in the city.

Scores were injured, many requiring medical and hospital attention... Heads were opened, eyes blackened and bodies thumped and battered as literally dozens of persons, young or old, many of them non-combatant spectators, were injured more or less seriously by a variety of ugly weapons in the hands of wild-eyed and irresponsible young hoodlums, both Jewish and Gentile".[7]
”

No one was killed in the riots. There was criticism of the police for not being ready to intervene, as they had been during previous potential problems in the Beach area.[8] After the riot, Mayor Stewart warned against displaying the swastika and there were no further riots.[9]

The riot revealed the xenophobic attitudes toward Jews and other non-Anglo immigrants among Anglo Canadians. Jews represented the largest minority in Toronto in 1933 and were thus a target of xenophobic residents.

In August 2008, a Heritage Toronto plaque was presented to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the riot.

Hey there, and and a semi-belated (sorry about that) thanks! High praise indeed coming from a fellow Sifter I'd describe in pretty much the same terms; I always enjoy reading your well thought out and reasoned comments. Your presence is very much appreciated, as least on my end. Still sorta feel I maybe gave the wrong impression and was misread as a result (a bit too strident maybe?), but oh well. I never quite feel like I'm describing things the way they appear in my brain, but what can ya do?


In reply to this comment by hpqp:
Thank you for speaking my mind with much more eloquence and brevity than I ever could've!

In reply to this comment by AnimalsForCrackers:
>> ^xxovercastxx:

I don't support the idea that you have to respect every opinion but calling people idiots doesn't help either.
One of the things I've come to hate about debate is people are less interested in discussing, comparing and evaluating ideas than they are about thumping their chests and insulting people. Even women are apparently not immune to machismo.
Does anyone really think this is going to help? Will we (atheists) be more accepted/trusted/respected if we just call enough people idiots? Will theists see the errors of their ways if only we insult them enough?
There's a reason argumentum ad hominem is a logical fallacy; it's a failure to make any relevant argument and often a sign of incompetence.
The objective of debate is to sway people to your side (though not necessarily the people you're arguing against) and you don't do that by forcing them to shore up their defensive wall.


But...but... calling people idiots and addressing the argument aren't mutually exclusive propositions.

Simple insults aren't ad hominem unless they're used as a substitute for actual reasoning. Calling someone an idiot doesn't magically negate the relevant criticism that preceded it.

"Your argument is wrong because you're an idiot, liar, or some other negative human characteristic picked out of a grab bag to give the appearance of discrediting you and thus, your entire argument." = ad hom

Sure, I suppose you could make that argument that even a biting, rational critique interspersed with some choice derogatory flourishes can undermine any attempt at bringing the other person to reason, but I disagree that a definitive statement like yours can be made on whether it's ineffective on everyone; I like to think there's multiple paths of approach. Often the target of ridicule isn't the one you convert, but the people on the sidelines watching.