The New "Am I the Only One" Thread

... apparently...

WHAT? Israelies are supposed to just keep giving up their own land to Palestine and all these other blood thirsty people? I don't get you reasoning. Israel has already given up so much. I take it that you've never been to Israel then. Israel is already such a small piece of land, now they're supposed to give half of it away, fine. (They did). BUT NOW IRAN AND PALESTINE WANTS MORE! So let's just give it away! Umm... Those Arabs already own half the land there, they should not be complaining that they want more. If anything the Jewish people should. But they're not. They're trying to live in peace. They will gladly live in peace with the Muslims and Christians in the area. And they are already sharing that land. What? Are you going to drive Jewish people out of their country?

No...just the West Bank, which hasn't been theirs for centuries. No one is saying drive the Israelis out of their country...but you have to remember that modern Israel is a nation created under the Warsaw pact era. The inhabitants (mostly Muslim) of the region had NO say in the land being forcibly set aside for this "new" nation, so many of them are still understandably ticked off. When the nation's leaders first promise to stop building new settlements in the Gaza Strip and then go back on their word, it makes people ticked...and the people with rocket launchers especially ticked. Is violence going to solve any of it? Of course not. But to get a real peace, Israel's leaders are going to have to compromise more. The rest of the world would be considerably more amiable toward Netanyahu if he took his predecessor's stance instead of his hard-line posturing. Ya know that prophecy about the world turning its back on Israel? Well, not to sound defeatist, but it is that very posture which causes allies to break commitments and back away. Nobody wants to start WWIII, and saber-rattling doesn't help the matter any.
-------------------

I'm not saying that at all. This has NOTHING to do with Palestine (other than helping fuel terrorist organizations and fool religious citizens). This has got to do with Israel potentially starting WWIII with an internet troll of a government they call Iran.

And by Israel and Iran, I mean the idiot leaders that run their countries with macho posturing. Not the free thinking normal people who want to be left alone to exist and deal with their own problems. The thing is, Iranian people don't want to go to war with Israel, Israeli people don't want to go to war with Iran. Those people live in constant fear of their government's screw ups. Heck, the only reason why Iran's dictator keeps getting reelected is because he scares the old bitter religious nuts into voting for him, while the younger generation hates his guts.

Basically, Iran is the bizzarro version of the US in 2004. Even those who voted for him didn't like him, but were afraid they'd burn in Hades forever if they didn't vote for someone they didn't like. And much like 2004 US, their leader is spending so much on weaponry for their own shady PR than on helping their own citizens. It's easier to get people to fear you than to love you... the dictator's code.

As for Israel, it has every single right to exist. Every single right. What they do NOT have the right to is passive aggressively ticking off Palestine by building settlements where they shouldn't, going on misguided revenge patrols (which does nothing but complete a vicious cycle of never-ending retaliation), and reneging on every single peace talk the US has busted its back every Presidential Administration trying to work out because "That other guy started it."

The people of Israel and Palestine CAN learn to live in peace with the new, younger, smarter generation that's learning to abandon an idiotic feud so old that it was old in biblical times (where everyone was constantly at war with each other for superstitious reasons). It's the minority of brainwashed masses that are indoctrinated with those old biblical superstitions of who owns the land that's the problem. And of course, both sides of politicians have to pander to those groups to get elected.

Now, I'm no fan of Atheists, but I heard they had a billboard that said "You know it's all a myth" in Hebrew and Arabic. I have nothing but respect for that. Religion is supposed to give us clarity and guidance, not turn everyone into victims that live in constant fear.

Seeing as how we seem to always end up on the discussion of Charlie Sheen on this forum, what does everybody think of the new commercial he's in?

Not sure if I've seen it, what's it about?

The irreligious are always complaining that the religious infringe on their constitutional rights by displaying religious articles (Jesus fishes, praying in public, etc), but doesn't them always trying to take all of these things away from the religious infringe on THEIR constitutional rights as well? Anyone else think that?

I find that sometimes the nonreligious people are just as bad if not worse than the uber religious people :/

Am I the only one who hates going to movie theaters, and would prefer to watch movies on the internet or on DVD?

I'd rather see it in theaters first... if I miss it in theaters, then somehow, I completely lose interest once it comes out on DVD.

The two extremes will always butt heads, and the funny thing is when this happens they don't seem to realize they're more alike than different, lol.

Well, let's take a look at history...

What have the irreligious taken away from the religious? Mandatory school prayer, praying in public places, listening to Christian music in public places, trying to take "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegience, trying to take "In God we trust" out of money, trying to take the word "Religion" out of police officers' uniform patches (here in one of our neighboring counties), among other things.

What have the religious taken away from the irreligious? A network drama series about a book from the Bible, and that's about it.

If the irreligious don't believe in God, why are they bothered by religious people who do? Can't they just roll their eyes, call them "blind" and "stupid" and just go about their business?

I agree that sometimes people get way too anal about removing religion from society. But at the same time I think separation of Church and state is necessary.

Well that's not quite true. Atheists have been the subjects of witch hunts over the centuries. They're always the minority and persecuted by most societies.

If you're an atheist you can't be a Boyscout. In some states atheists can't hold office apparently.

Oh I agree, religion and politics don't mix (especially in those rare occasions where you have conservative atheists and liberal Christians).

My point is if atheists believe God doesn't exist, then what do they care what or who religious people believe in?

I've actually known a conservative atheist and consider myself something of a liberal Christian, lol. But I agree, it's not quite the norm.

I guess because a lot of religious people care that atheists don't believe in God.

Yeah, I'm a what they call a "Left Christian" as well. I first learned about that term because of Susan Sarandon: she's Catholic, but she's also a Democrat, so for people like that, they dub them "Left Christians".

Yeah I like the phrase they used on Tough Pigs, "Hippie Christian," lol.

Heheh, probably, though I can't see myself walking around in leather vests, tie-dye t-shirts, long hair, full beard, burning encense, wearing small round tinted glasses and such,

Ever seen the original Jesus Christ Superstar? Lol

Heh...

"Under God" was added in the 1950's during the Red Scare. It's fairly meaningless considering how they added it.

Also, those 10 Commandments that are on certain Courthouses?

Publicity stunts for the Ten Commandments movie