Please tell me more about "I really did not want to post here because of previously being warned about interaction with the person that wrote the OP." — Athena

Ooops, please excuse me for that. I seem to have gotten you confused with another of Zeus's little darlings. Artemis. Long story, please just forget it.
I am not holding up very well under this bloody lock down, in fact I think I might go crazy.

If a person is ignored what would be the motive for continuing? — Athena

That would depend on your goals, ask Greta Thomborg if she plans to give up because the people she wants to listen to her refuse to listen. Ask the kartrashians and they will tell you that it is vital that they not be ignored, they would vaporize like the ancient gods did.

Wasn't that warning almost as effective as being banned? — Athena

No, when you are banned you cannot continue. And the warning I got was from her, not the forum

I am not into blaming males, but I think there is a reality of differences that prevents women from participating. — Athena

Us guys are not to blame for everything you know, most things maybe, but not all. Over the many years I have been around there have been plenty of female posters. And possibly quite a few that were females but kept it a secret.
Not many of the serious posters of either gender check to see the gender of the person posting, they are more interested in the content of the OP and the value of the ideas and arguments provided.

If you want people here to take you seriously, give them something serious to think about and discuss. This thread has gotten over 200 posts, not bad.

I am intensely aware of how painfully difficult it is for me to participate in male dominated forums. — Athena

I really did not want to post here because of previously being warned about interaction with the person that wrote the OP. But I am getting bored after being on lock down for more than 5 weeks.

I have been reading most but not all of the thread, and have come to a simple conclusion. The first line says it all.

"male dominated forums"

The forums are not all male dominated because the ladies are banned or forbidden to enter.

So why are they not here?

Because most of them have no interest in being here.

So do not blame the blokes, blame the rest of the feminists that cannot be bothered to join.

Sorry if I upset you again.

Sir, I am on my last chapter of flipping math for my degree! :fire: — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Oh yeah, so then the brain will get a rest.
Best of luck. No, you don't need that, that is for people that don't try hard enough.

So when is the party? :party:

Imagine you see a naturally attractive person. They look attractive to you and to many others, but that doesn't make that person attractive, does it? It only means that majority of people agrees with your opinion on his appearance. Or more like you all have similiar preferences. — Craiya

Saying that a person is naturally attractive and then saying because society says so, seems in some way contradictory. If attractiveness is natural, how can society define it?

Or do you mean that someone coincidentally fulfills the expectations that society has set for attractiveness?

I'm really suffering and am already in contact for help, and have been taking anti-psychotics (2 actually) for a good while.

What should I do? — Shawn

The pills do not appear to be working, time to find a new doctor.
I have no faith in doctors of any kind, especially dentists. The guy that prescribed the medicine might have missed something, get a second or third opinion about it.
And stick with us here, don't do anything that you cannot regret later.

I saw some kids at Rice University.truly made a game changer... — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Need is the mother of all invention. Shame that we never really know what we need.

Now if only the schools could start teaching "out of the box", critical thinking skills we would be better off.

Stay in the shade Tiff. :victory:

It is difficult to imagine them doing it, but try to imagine them making a mistake and having to start again. They have not found any previous drafts of it some they must have gotten it right the first time.

Lots of planning involved I would guess and all outlined before carving began.

Are not all of us getting to the end of our tether about this, well at least the sane ones among us are.

We have now been on lockdown for eleven days, and it looks as though it will be at least another two weeks before we are let out of our cages.

I am almost ready to start climbing the walls.

I have not seen much news from your area, but from seeing the area you live in, I doubt that you have problems keeping yourselves away from your neighbors. What is happening in the towns around you, are they telling people to stay in their houses?

Take care if there are any cases around you. And make sure to take enough internal disinfectants, rum, tequila, vodka, gin, whisky and so on. They probably won't help much but you will feel better about things for a while at least.

How are things going? — ArguingWAristotleTiff

I have now been locked in the house for over a week, guess how I am feeling?

Yep, you got. I am freaking out reading emails, whatsapp, and school website, giving classes on line and a whole load of other crap.

Let me out of here soon, PLEASEEEEEEEEEE

Dude, disaster in the works.

Some have apparently hoarded toilet paper, we grabbed some coffee, but is it enough? — jorndoe

I have plenty of food as well, just not sure how important that is. The booze comes from outside the country and the borders are closed. The food comes from mostly local produce, and they are letting those people continue working still.

Why the hell does anyone need to 50 toilet rolls? Have there been cases of the virus making people crap more than normal?

There is a big conspiracy about reality shows actually being reality.

They are trying to convince us that there are actually people like the kartrashians and people that run around in the jungle naked. They try to make us believe that everyone should be like them. And so many people actually believe that that is what things are or should be like. Just look at how many big assed and pouty beyond belief lips there are now.

I have been banned from posting on almost every one of the online newspapers that allow comments for trying to tell people that it is all BS.

OK, now I am getting worried. :worry:
We are going to be on lock down from midnight for an indefinite period. :gasp:

Will 3 cases of beer, 2 bottles of rum, 2 baileys lookalike, 2 of whiskey and several other partially used bottles be enough? :chin:

It's mostly referring to the highly paid jobs, so in short - unless you have money, nobody cares how smart you might be. You're given an average job instead of the opportunity to work somewhere where your brain would be actually put in use. This way, society would only increase its not just level of education but also growth in general. — Craiya

What is the percentage of high paying jobs in the working world? I really don't have much of an idea but let's suppose it is a generous 10% of all of the jobs in the world. How many people really need to be educated to university level to fulfill those places even if they were all vacant?
How many of those that have graduated or will graduate from the university have good high paying jobs? Not many I'll bet. And it is not because they don't have the money or the experience or the correct education, it is because there are not enough jobs.

I have ex students that have worked hard to get good grades in high school and got scholarships to some good colleges. Even one in Harvard and another just received a 5 year total cost scholarship to study in Japan. And only a couple of them are well off even by local standards.

If a government was to setup a scheme where as you say "your brain would be put to use" it would very quickly be bombarded with claims of discrimination for not letting anyone study what they wanted to instead of what they were good for.
No society needs a couple of thousand new engineers every year, but so many people insist that is what they want to study. The same applies for every other degree that is offered. An many of them would be useless as professionals.

Free or cheap higher education is not the answer, nor is selective higher education. Does anyone have any better ideas?

And don't forget, someone still has to clean and pick up the garbage. If everyone goes to university who will do those jobs?

:up:

Banned alcontali for religiously-inspired extremism. — Baden

:100:/ :100: :clap: One of the best things you have done for the forum. Not the best but one of them.

Personally I would have banned him for just being a twat that loves to paste Wiki stuff, but then I am probably not as ethical as you. :wink:

Keep up the good work mate. :up:

he wanted to teach us to "think and write clearly" — Noble Dust

I have one extra requirement for my students, and they hate it as much as those guys did that teacher's ideas.

I want them to learn to read the freakin instructions.

This is a thread on quotes and in the Lounge section,. no evidence or justification is required.

My personal evidence and justification for the quote is too esoteric and perhaps long to put into the form of a concise and logical argument.

I don't expect everyone to agree with me. — A Seagull

That is very convincing proof of what you said. :lol:

Still humming through Algebra!!!!! :shade: — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Keep on truckin lady. You'll beat them number yet. :up:

I did. :) — A Seagull

So what do you base your statement on? Usually on is expected to provide some sort of evidence. :cool:

Yes, 1930 hours GMT (Green Mandrake Time), 2017-03-03. — S

Someone missed the event, and it was not me. :chin:

Okay, this is a lame post. — Michael Lee

No, it has a lot of potential. All that is missing are the road signs to show the path to take.

I do that from time to time, but I just loved the story. — Michael Lee

Welcome to the club. Free membership and drinks are on the house for the first evening.

Violence is as much a part of human nature as love. It hits some more than others.
If you look at the history and present state of humanity you will find so many examples of how violence was used to overcome the obstacles in the path of many group's advancement. Throughout history conquering the people on the land you wanted or that had the food you needed was the way of life.

Try reading the Iliad using groups as the characters instead of individuals.

I always tried to get my students to put the stories we read into a modern setting. Have you tried doing this. I used this idea to see if the stories carried any messages that were still valid today. Not all of the students were up to the task, but we had some good ideas and a lot of very good discussions.

I don't know where I'm going with this Sir2u. Do you know? — Michael Lee

That sounds a bit like my all time favorite bumper sticker.

"Don't follow me, I'm lost.
Put up some signs and we can follow them and see where we end up.

Hell, Banno used to start with less and get a century thread. :lol:

Christians have managed to extract an enlightened, positive ethical system out their befuddled books. — Nobeernolife

And that I think should be recognized as the only miracle in the whole of christianity.

As is evidenced in the real world, by the progress of christian-based societies. — Nobeernolife

Christian-based societies that would not accept that the earth was not the center of the universe.
Christian-based societies that burned witches.
Christian-based societies that chased fellow christians out of their countries and forced them to go to invade the new world.
Christian-based societies that refuse to allow birth control even though the world is overflowing and the people in many places are a burden upon the society instead of the church.
Christian-based societies that made fortunes by stealing the gold from the countries they invaded.
Christian-based societies that for many years backed the use of slaves, bonded servants and even the sale of babies from the work houses poor and the orphanages.
And so on and so on etc ad infinitum.

Exactly what part of society's development did the religion have? Did their scientist create anything to improve the world? Personally I can not think of one single advance that can actually be credited to the church.

I think you should leave well-enough alone. — Nobeernolife

The only thing I can sympathize with there is your handle, cool. :cool:

The need to share, is it in some way spiritual?

The gods in those days were not shy were they? they came down to our level and let us see them.

Maybe if we all started worshiping Neptune or even Thor they would come back.

There is no question. I just want to share it with you. Sir2u, I need to share it with you. — Michael Lee

OK, cool. :smile:

And the question is ......................................

I think that the christian religions should start using some sort of rigorously trained expert to interpret their moral code.
It is quiet clear to me that there is a gigantic misunderstanding of the ten commandments by the majority of people that do things that are bad.
We really do need an expert to explain them.

No,no, no. What am I saying, how can I be so blind.

They are written down so that everyone can read them. Why would they need to be any interpretation? Is god not wise enough to give them in clearly understandable words so that his people can understand and obey them?

Do not kill!
Does anyone need help understanding that?

The only reason I can think of that could explain the need for specialist to explain the rules is that the people do not have an education and need some one to help. NOT interpret them nor help understand their true meaning as it is written.

But are we out of the middle ages now? There are supposed to be few illiterate people left so the need for people to have holy books read to them should have and appears to have diminished. At least in some parts of the world.

Another thing that I could never understand is why people that have been promised a trip to heaven and a lot of presents when they get there would want to live outside their beloved countries and go to places where they hate the people there because of the god they worship.

Probably better looking as well. :up:

On the other hand, if you listen to even the most extreme and radical Muslims, such as Osama bin Laden or so, or even to some people in the ISIS crowd, have you ever heard them referring to Nazi literature? — alcontali

How could anyone that has no education and cannot read be expected to cite the works of hitler or any other nazi?

As I have mentioned earlier, the holocaust could simply not have taken place in the Middle East or in any other Muslim-majority country because the Nazi policy of die Endlösung der Jüdenfrage is in violation of a long list of legal clauses in the Quran. — alcontali

I could never happen because not enough jews live in those places. But that does not mean that killing on a smaller scale has not happened.

Do not bother to reply, I don't want any more of your garbage directed at me.

So the problem secular morality faces, is, I think, that it is the successor of religious moralities where morality was founded in metaphysics, with God as the pinacle of that metaphysics. Every tradition not only had it's prescriptive rules, but also it 'discriptive' myth where the morality flowed from. Now this is important I think, not only did they say "you have to do this because God says so", they invariably embedded it in a story so people would buy into it more readily. So the purpose to all of this, is to give a morality authority. You need to follow it because it's true. — ChatteringMonkey

https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Atheists-Guide-to-Reality/

That wasn’t the issue. You said you had never met an atheist that says life has no meaning. I showed you one. I could show you other too (Rosenberg). — JohnRB

Sorry to bother you, but I could not remember any Rosenberg saying anything that. I have not read much in the last few years and age has taken a toll on the memory as it has been taking in a lot of new stuff lately.
So could you post a link to this for me please. I did a quick scan of some of by books but could not find anything.

Thanks in advance.

Such, in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief.

He only points out what science says about the world.

A strange mystery it is that Nature, omnipotent but blind, in the revolutions of her secular hurryings through the abysses of space, has brought forth at last a child, subject still to her power, but gifted with sight, with knowledge of good and evil, with the capacity of judging all the works of his unthinking Mother. In spite of Death, the mark and seal of the parental control, Man is yet free, during his brief years, to examine, to criticise, to know, and in imagination to create. To him alone, in the world with which he is acquainted, this freedom belongs; and in this lies his superiority to the resistless forces that control his outward life.

But he also gives a purpose to life.

You ask 178432 different questions and then you still expect just one answer. — alcontali

And you cannot even count. Where the hell is the facepalm smilie when I need it?

I am completely opposed to freebies. As I have said already, I do not want a ministry for the provision of gratis clothes to the populace. For a long list of reasons, too long to enumerate here, clothing should not be free of charge. The same is true for education and healthcare. I simply do not share that kind of culturally Marxist beliefs. — alcontali

You see, their views are totally contrary to mine. As a man, I do not just pay for myself. I also pay for wife, children, subsidies and allowances to extended family, and charity to neighbours in the wider community. I cannot imagine seeking to ask for freebies from other men. The idea alone is horrifying to me. Other men don't owe me anything. I simply do not want to live in a country with that kind of freebie mentality. — alcontali

I do not have any moral qualm in exploiting freebie systems either. Morality emerges from your moral system. Unless your moral system forbids particular behaviour, this behaviour is deemed permissible. Therefore, I see no problem in helping to bankrupt a flawed freebie system by sucking it dry of its freebies. I would do that with a big smile on my face. — alcontali

I give up with you.
You consistently refuse to answer any question that is asked and you are a bullshitting hypocrite.
Don't bother to answer.

No further explanation is required. Ants and apes don't have beliefs about the meaningfulness of their lives. — JohnRB

They have no doubts about what their purpose is either.

“Such, in outline, even more purposeless, more void of meaning, [than Faustus’ cyclical creation myth] is the world which Science presents for our belief.” - Bertrand Russell, A Free Man’s Worship. — JohnRB

I always liked this paragraph.

The savage, like ourselves, feels the oppression of his impotence before the powers of Nature; but having in himself nothing that he respects more than Power, he is willing to prostrate himself before his gods, without inquiring whether they are worthy of his worship. Pathetic and very terrible is the long history of cruelty and torture, of degradation and human sacrifice, endured in the hope of placating the jealous gods: surely, the trembling believer thinks, when what is most precious has been freely given, their lust for blood must be appeased, and more will not be required. The religion of Moloch--as such creeds may be generically called--is in essence the cringing submission of the slave, who dare not, even in his heart, allow the thought that his master deserves no adulation. Since the independence of ideals is not yet acknowledged, Power may be freely worshipped, and receive an unlimited respect, despite its wanton infliction of pain.

But some of his later works had a better view of things.
But even here he does not say that life has no meaning. He bitches about the truth of man's life as seen from the scientific point of view, but no where does he say that it is not worth living or that it is without purpose.

Ha aha ha! The student debt crisis in the US would not even exist! What a joke! — alcontali

So where is the information about it. One article does not prove anything. If the crisis exists it must be written down somewhere. Let's see the numbers, how many students, how much money, that sort of thing might be believable.

Welcome to the real world! — alcontali

It is a shame that more people are not wealthy enough to live in your real world.

I don't want to brag about that because that will quickly sound arrogant, but I am more than happy with my life! ;-) — alcontali

Where I come from we only brag about things when something can be gained from it. It is usually better to state the facts.

By the way do you plan on answering any of my questions or are you just going to continue spouting articles from the internet?

If it is possible, then why don't you do it?
And if you did it, then where is it documented? — alcontali

Stick around pal, we are working on it as you try to get the knot out of your knickers.

A Christian advocate is threatening to sue the NFL for discrimination towards Christians, showing immodesty without warning, and putting souls in danger. All because of the Lopez-Shakira show — Gregory

We need a rule about that for our moral code, let me think.

Thou shall not do evil to those that try to bring happiness to the masses.

That should stop those idiots going to court.

Forbid thy tongue from mentioning those to which there is no evidence of existence.

That should stop them from blabbing about lost souls. Fucks up Santa Clause as well but you cannot eat your cake ad have it at the same time can you.

I know this creates questions, but what if Christians outlaw pornography and we have all the porn stars making an honest working at Jack in the box! — Gregory

OOOOHhhhhhhh nooooo.

How would all of those poor kids that never get to see a woman naked until they are married to one get an education?