Bloody Fargin\' Stupid Political Correctness ...

[green stuff]

Message original : Brother Tom
Please wont somebody think of the children.

Arrfff, there is a chalenge : are the couple of years of pure childhood joy worth the shock that get children when they learn about who truely is you know who? Call me old fashion, but I think it is :innocent:.

 

[frenchkid]

could it be ..

you mean santa clause isn\'t real ....!!!!! :~o

 

[vincegamer]

The Pledge:
US citizen, but I always found pledging to a flag offensive so I never said the pledge in school. I just stood silently. The \"under God\" line was not originally in the pledge. It was added under president Eisenhower as a way of emphasizing how different we Americans were from those \"godless\" communists in Russia.

Christmas:
I was raised Christian, but tolerant. The day does celebrate the birth of Jesus even if it is not on his birthday (heck, AD supposedly means after the birth of Jesus, but it\'s off by about 6 years).
I have no problem wishing people whatever happy holiday they honor. It\'s a bit tricky when you don\'t know the religious beliefs of your friends, so you go neutral so as not to offend.

Constitution:
The US Constitution forbids establishment or religion and interference with religion - contrary to what the Republican party says, the document does guarantee freedom FROM religion as much as freedom OF religion. True the founders of this country were mostly Christian (though some were atheists, others deists etc.), but what they really didn\'t want was a \"state\" religion like the English had. Modern psychology and sociology has concluded that when the government pays to celebrate a religion (like by buying and displaying religious statuary) that has the EFFECT of establishing religion. The founders probably would not have thought of that, but I\'d think they\'d likely have agreed with it.
The solution seems to be the support of all religions (such as by tax exemptions for churches) equally. But how do you support the belief that there is no god?

The Seal:
I am not sure, but I believe the great seal of the united states was designed before the \"illuminati\" society stuff came about. They just copied.
\"in god we trust\" is even older, and the Court has said no one notices it and it\'s so old as to have more historical than religious meaning so it\'s not establishment of theism.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by green stuff

Message original : Brother Tom
Please wont somebody think of the children.

Arrfff, there is a chalenge : are the couple of years of pure childhood joy worth the shock that get children when they learn about who truely is you know who? Call me old fashion, but I think it is :innocent:.

The Boondocks comic strip was hilarious the other day.

Adult: why did you tell her that santa is in prison in Guatemala for illegal smuggling?

Child: same reason you told her Santa flies a sled pulled by magic reindeer and gives toys to everyone: I guess we both just like lying to small children.

 

[green stuff]

Message original : frenchkid
you mean santa clause isn\'t real ....!!!!! :~o

Did I say that? ... read again .

Actually, frenchkid, I think you have come of age to learn that Santa Clause is in fact ... Harry Potter\'s father ... ta da da ... to be continued in the Return of the Yeti . T\'is true, why would HP\'s patronus be a stag otherwise .

 

[Primeval]

I am completely un-religious myself, but was surprised and somewhat disgusted at the extent of PC behavior when I went to get some of my favorite holiday treats - the Reese\'s Christmas Tree. Except now it\'s just Reese\'s Tree with a drawing of a pine tree on the wrapper. Give me a break.

 

[green stuff]

Message original : vincegamer
I never said the pledge in school. I just stood silently.

Same here (and I\'m not expecting any non-french to sing the Marseillaise ).

Message original : vincegamer
The \"under God\" line was not originally in the pledge. It was added under president Eisenhower as a way of emphasizing how different we Americans were from those \"godless\" communists in Russia.

Very true. I may be mistaken, but wasn\'t Reagan who pushed for that line? I may be completely mistaken on that one (but I think it was when he was running for California).

Message original : vincegamer
heck, AD supposedly means after the birth of Jesus, but it\'s off by about 6 years

Some say there is a 4 year offset. The year 0 was dated in the 6th or 7th century and several Roman Emperors had redone the calendar system in between.

Message original : vincegamer
I have no problem wishing people whatever happy holiday they honor. It\'s a bit tricky when you don\'t know the religious beliefs of your friends, so you go neutral so as not to offend.

I go by \"happy holidays\", new year fits in there so that just about covers everybody on my continent ... yes I know not everybody on this little planet goes by the gregorian calendar.

Message original : vincegamer
The solution seems to be the support of all religions (such as by tax exemptions for churches) equally. But how do you support the belief that there is no god?

Hum ... no taxes for atheists=>fall of governments=>anarchy ... not worth it (IMHO).

Message original : vincegamer
The Seal:
I am not sure, but I believe the great seal of the united states was designed before the \"illuminati\" society stuff came about. They just copied.

Not true, the illuminati were formed May 1, 1776, in Bavaria, by Adam Weishaupt on some Masonic bases. Freemasons existed long before. I think it goes back to Alexander the Great\'s time (could be wrong there). By 1720, Freemasonry was present in America and some of the founding fathers were members of their local lodges (check it out here).

 

[frenchkid]

Originally posted by green stuff

Message original : vincegamer
The Seal:
I am not sure, but I believe the great seal of the united states was designed before the \"illuminati\" society stuff came about. They just copied.

Not true, the illuminati were formed May 1, 1776, in Bavaria, by Adam Weishaupt on some Masonic bases. Freemasons existed long before. I think it goes back to Alexander the Great\'s time (could be wrong there). By 1720, Freemasonry was present in America and some of the founding fathers were members of their local lodges (check it out here).

Actually I could be wrong but I do belive the illuminati go back before the freemasonry wich they used as a mean of survival when they were hunted by the churche. So I think they came even before the freemason. Then again I had an intrest in that a couple years ago but I am by no mean a specialist.
But it is usually accepted that the symbol on the dollar bill is an illuminati symbol, what people argue about is if the president was tricked into using it or if he was himself an illuminati ( on top of beeing a freemason if I remeber correctly). But it seams strange to me that the symbol is kept there knowing that it\'s basically the opposit of saying \"in god we trust\"
And if you want another fun fact about bills check out a bill from the seychels, if you lok at the palm tree on the left the leaves spell the word \"sex\" wich is suposed to be a subliminal message to attract tourist.

 

[green stuff]

Message original : frenchkid
And if you want another fun fact about bills check out a bill from the seychels, if you lok at the palm tree on the left the leaves spell the word \"sex\" wich is suposed to be a subliminal message to attract tourist.

There is something similar on the american bill if you fold it a bit :innocent:.

Well, I guess we\'ve covered most of the classic anti-PC subjects : hypocracy, money, sex, ... what\'s next ?

 

[supervike]

That is a good point...

Originally posted by Primeval
I am completely un-religious myself, but was surprised and somewhat disgusted at the extent of PC behavior when I went to get some of my favorite holiday treats - the Reese\'s Christmas Tree. Except now it\'s just Reese\'s Tree with a drawing of a pine tree on the wrapper. Give me a break.

That is just another fine example of Corporate America bowing down to what they percieve as how people think, regardless of reality.

If they had a Reeses Menorah, I\'d still happily gobble it down. The only offended part of me would be the tightening waistband on my pants!!! lol

 

[pitynoman]

Originally posted by ZaPhOd
Because one person isn\'t happy, no one has the *right* to be happy....

You\'ve got my point exactly, unfortunately that\'s the sign of the times. I hope politicians get a clue BEFORE we are ALL living in a global fascist state where EVERYONE is EQUALLY miserable.
I came from former USSR and I\'ve seen what that kind of equality does.

 

[freakinacage]

i have to say that there is a load of this pc bs over here too. up north somewhere, they have decided to rename the christmas celebrations \'wintertide\'. what a load of crap. i know people of all different religions and they have never been offended and most celebrate christmas too. why the hell not? if i ever find someone who is offended by christmas (no doubt they still accept the holidays given by religious festivals such as easter), i shall find them the biggest chrismas card and send them one every year!!

there was some trouble in london in the last couple of years because a muslim policeman said the metropolitan police badge offended him (it has a cross on it). wtf?

i am not christian and i celebrate it. i acknowledge it is supposed to be about christ\'s birth but i see it as a time of year for families and giving (not necessarily presents).

oh, and merry christmas everyone!!

 

[slidedog]

Well this is an interesting thread. I see a lot of intelligence being exhibited, kudos to mini painters

my 2 cents worth.

Pledge of alliegence: I always participate when the event is appropriate. But... I quietly leave out the UNDER GOD part, as it was only added to the pledge during the insane red witch hunts of the McCarthy era. I feel alliegence to the country is appropriate, it has been good to me but I will not support the religous aspect of the pledge that was added but some truly evil men. The founding fathers were NOT I repeat NOT Christians on the whole but Diests that believed in a higher power, but didn\'t necessarily want much to do with \"organized\" religion.

Christmas is truly an artifical construct that allowed a powerful church to deal with all of the pagans they were trying to convert and used it pretty much to fill in for their Winter Solstice traditions and legitimize their point of view. In the US I see christmas as a cultural holiday that has very little to do with religion any more. It has become ubiquitous and overly commercialized certainly, but a time for reflection and giving at the end of each year (along with New Year\'s Day) is a good thing and I go along for the ride.

All organized religions have histories of unbelievable evil being done in their name, and for the sole purpose of maintaining and expanding power and influence. As well they have done good in the world. If you can\'t guess I don\'t have a lot of use for organized religion though I see myself as a spiritual person that tries to improve myself and treat other people well. If the life I have lived earns me a trip to hell, then I want no part of a god that is so maniacally egotistical that he can\'t handle someone who doesn\'t accept worshiping him/her/it.

That being said here\'s a great quote I read once that makes you think:
\"Most Christians finding Jesus pointing the way to a better life would rather sit and suck on his finger for comfort, rather than go in the direction he is pointing.\"

Unfortunately Christianity has become a religion ABOUT Jesus not the religion OF Jesus. And I suspect many of the worlds other religions are suffering from a similar drift in spiritual focus.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

To quote the zenith of Politically incorrectness....Referring to those who turn from God to their own ideas..\"thinking themselves wise in their own eyes, they became fools\". I often hear people refer to society nowadays as enlightened. I\'m not so convinced.

 

[slidedog]

And even greater hubris to believe that ANY man including any you hold holy, can actually know the mind of god. That is the height of human arrogance.

 

[Mosch]

I have written a looong rant about political correctness, but unfortunately in German, so I am going to compress it a bit.

People have food, they have water and an abundance of enterntainment. They are too happy. So, they have to invent little things that nobody ever thought of and get offended by this. I call a turkish person \"Türke\" (that\'s German of course, to keep true ) when I speak about him, I am not going to say \"ausländischer Mitbürger\" (\"Foreign Fellow citizen\" or something to that extend), because he is a Türke! And if he has problems with being turkish, well, why does he speak turkish all the time?
Really, nobody says \"Türke\" anymore, it\'s this \"ausländischer Mitbürger\" crap. I DEMAND to be spoken about as \"Deutscher\", not \"native-born inhabitant of the Ruhr-area\". In fact, I will punch anyone in the face who is not prepared to use a racial slur in front of me when I do the same (I don\'t, but just in case).
There are no cripples, there are only \"differently abled\" persons, right? Let\'s all sing around and pretend my friend\'s legs have grown back, that\'ll help him.

My blood pressure reaches astronomical heights when I think about this. Apply what I said above to anything that has anything t do with political correctness and you basically have my views on it.

By the, now this is especially for Germany: The Jews have their own religious slaughter thing, \"schächten\", which does not comply with German law. So - there was this debate it schächten should be disallowed. Religious freedom and so on.
YES IT SHOULD. My religion dictates me to randomly jump at strangers and surgically attach a Chevy V8 \"Big Block\" chainsaw to their left eyelid while hitting them over and over with an elephant spine I formed out of minced meat. Now don\'t tell me I\'m not allowed - religious freedom!

I\'ll stop now. My physician already tells me my blood pressure needs to go down if I don\'t want to, as he puts it, \"place my ass in the box\" at thirty....

 

[pitynoman]

Originally posted by Mosch
By the, now this is especially for Germany: The Jews have their own religious slaughter thing, \"schächten\", which does not comply with German law. So - there was this debate it schächten should be disallowed. Religious freedom and so on.
.

Ok, you\'ve lost me there! How does this relate to the topic and please expand on what this religious slaughter is and how it offends you? Do you mean Kosher?
If so back off cause Hebrew National hot dogs Rock!???

 

[Aryanun]

I\'m sick of PCism.

I work for the US Government. We can\'t hold \"Christmas Parties\" because of the cries of PCism that goes on. They have to be called \"End of the Year\" parties.

And yet, there is a Christmas tree in just about every area at work.

Should I complain that the image of Christ offends me and everyone at work who has such an image at their desk needs to take it down?

The US has gotten so bad that even cartoons are suffering. In some episodes of Yugioh you can tell that some of the thugs (especially the first season) who are supposed to be carrying and pointing guns have had the guns merely removed from their hands. So what is it that they\'re supposed to be pointing?

I read a new version of the three little pigs the other day to my son. Where in the original story each house the wolf blew down he ate the little pig inside. Not in this version. Nor was the wolf killed. He ran away.

 

[Sand Rat]

Originally posted by green stuff
*** putting on Tactical Dreadnought Terminator Armor ***

Technicaly, they\'re not celebrating Christ\'s birth. If I\'m not mistaken, it was decided on that day to coincide with a pagan ceremony that celebrated the coming of Spring and of the sun god (check it out here).
*** heads for the bunker ***

Dont know about the sun god but - Mithras was born on 25 December, and then there is Saturnalia - but I digress

 

[LavronYor]

Boy am I glad that in General Discussion you have the freedom to rant. First, for the \"In God we trust \" phrase, you are forgetting the second part which reads, \" All others must pay cash.\" So when you put them together, you can see why it is always on money. Second, for PC, there is nothing correct about politics, it is an oxymoron. Third, everyone chooses to get mad or not to get mad. ONLY YOU can let someone else make you mad. They can not do it themselves. My favorite statistic stated that people are basically as happy as they are ever going to be. If you are generally happy, you will always be. I don\'t mean to brag, but I am usually a happy person.
SO, don\'t sweat the small stuff. Let kharma deal with assholes. I beleive that everyone eventually gets what they deserve.
As for Chrispymas,( I hope Chrispy doesn\'t mind having his name used inane)
I heartily agree that it is for the Children. As Sam ( the talking snowman of Rudolph fame, not the Uncle )says, It\'s the best time of the year. My kids are so excited, it makes it all worthwhile to me. So enjoy the season (including all the holidays and the boost to many economies) and how did no one mention Festivus. \" I got a lot of problems with you people\" Mr. Costanza.

\" After all, we all want to pull Santa\'s sleigh some day, right? Right.\"

\"