LogFAQs > #971775861

Nade_Duck posted...

taboo in this sense is just slang for "sorry i'm too cowardly to put aside my biases and participate in an honest adult conversation"

It could also be "I don't feel like dealing with other people who can't put aside their biases and participate in an honest adult conversation".

I love a good debate (duh?), but even I don't really enjoy arguing with assholes who just constantly rant emotionally and throw parroted talking points at you. If the other person won't engage intellectually, there's no real reason for me to bother doing so either.

It's similar to how I've pointed out one of the huge flaws of modern Internet discourse - you're never going to convince anyone to agree with you if all you do is constantly mock or shout abuse at anyone you perceive as "THE ENEMY". When you present your points as a personal attack, the other person will immediately dismiss anything you say and assume you're an asshole.

This is why Twitter has never accomplished anything of actual value and likely never will.



keyblader1985 posted...

What PO said. Course the internet is more inhabited by outspoken atheists than theists, who are just as broadly judgmental on the latter as they make the former out to be.

True. Which is why I've generally pointed out when people here on PotD complain about being surrounded by judgmental religious types, that they should probably consider moving the hell out of the Bible Belt (which is where most of the people complaining about it are from). Where you spend most of your time is going to play a very large role in which group of judgmental assholes you're interacting with (and again, this is why I avoid Twitter like the plague).

I'll also point out that there are both awesome religious people and awesome atheists, both ones who talk about their beliefs politely and rationally as well as those who avoid talking about them at all because they don't want to inflict their views on everyone around them. But we'll always remember the worst examples of any given group more than we do the best examples, because being a shitty human being is always more memorable than being a good person (sadly).

But the main takeaway is that people are just as likely to be assholes regardless of what they believe. It's not what they believe (or refuse to believe) that makes them an asshole, it's how they choose to express those views. And assholes exist across every spectrum of human experience.

It's why my general answer to almost any negative situation or scenario is "Humans suck". Because that's usually at the root of every problem. We're the ones who ruin everything.