Phillip McCleod
Phillip McCleod's Journal*IF* it turns out that the Boston Bombers were..
..motivated by religious zeal..
..can we finally start talking about the problem of ***religious fundamentalism*** and the violence it almost invariably begets without defensiveness? Any fundies here? Good, I'm glad we got that out of the way.
So far it's looking good for a zealot of some sort. We need a united front against would-be McVeighs, Bin Ladens and yes the Stalins. All the cynical bastards who use other people's hopes to consolidate their cruel grips.. they need to go.
All the crackpot ideas need to go. There can be no agreement on *made up stuff*, and so until we can avoid religion and politics in discussions like good Freemasons, maybe we should have an INTERNATIONAL discussion about the proper role of religion in politics and, yes, polite society.
We need to lance this festering boil before it kills more innocents.
(See the *** above.. i'm talking about FUNDIES, so don't get your onesies in a bunch liberal believers. We're here talking aren't we? We aren't bombing each other. Let's keep this up and see where it goes.)
The privileged theist.
This seems a much better word than 'patronizing', 'conceited', 'arrogant', or 'condescending'.
It better conveys the combined sense of entitlement and persecution complex that the believer relies on to label others and maintain firm control of the terms of debate. 'Patronizing' is more old school ignorant. 'Privileged' is more modern and self-centered.
Discuss.
..
The 'source of morality' thread..
..IS kinda cool, as of this moment. It's so apparent just scrolling down the page that, for once, the very idea that people can be 'good without gods' isn't being attacked from all believing sides. For once there's actual exploration of the inherent nuances involved in the topic. How should the phenomenon even be studied? Via evolutionary psychology? Or social psych? Or plain old psychology?
The point being.. by which '-ology'.. not, 'whose god is the biggest mushroom'?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/121875914
..
You smell *great*. What's that you're wearing?
Lessons from Douglass & Stanton (Part I) .. 'Where all is plain there is nothing to be argued.'
this got too long and general to post in reply to Rob H in backscatter712's 'Now we're bigoted against Muslims.' post.. consider this post a fork from here.. http://www.democraticunderground.com/123014541#post6
we've all seen the claims that in u.s. history, liberal christians should get the lion's share of credit for leading the way in various civil rights struggles.. MLK Jr. is oft-cited, but so is abolitionism, women's suffrage, and labor rights among others. this got me thinking back to frederick douglass' in radical speech, 'What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?', and the schisms that occurred along religious lines both within abolitionist movement and women's suffrage, and between these two civil rights movements.
there's so much in Fred's speech worth remembering that you've got reference to the conservatives of his era.. there is always a troll under the bridge to the future, ain't there? ..
every era, every nation, even every coalition or tribe has them. regressives whose motto is 'one step backwards, two steps back'. but that wasn't why fred was there that day. he was speaking to his ostensible supporters and wondered openly what the fuck they were thinking when they invited him to speak on the 4th of July..
slavery was a hot-button issue for white christian abolitionists and they didn't want to let it go while they were winning elections. Fred knew this, and he understood the deeper reasons *why* his supposed allies were becoming a new obstacle.. does any of the following ring familiar? ..
so he went with what was NOT plain and after laying out his chief argument, in the end places significant responsibility on the hypocrisy of so-called 'religious liberty' and american christianity.
..
THE CHURCH RESPONSIBLE.
But the church of this country is not only indifferent to the wrongs of the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the bulwark of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent Divines. who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world for Christianity.
For my part, I would say, welcome infidelity! welcome atheism! welcome anything! in preference to the gospel, as preached by those Divines! They convert the very name of religion into an engine of tyranny, and barbarous cruelty, and serve to confirm more infidels, in this age, than all the infidel writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bolingbroke, put together, have done! These ministers make religion a cold and flinty-hearted thing, having neither principles of right action, nor bowels of compassion. They strip the love of God of its beauty, and leave the throng of religion a huge, horrible, repulsive form. It is a religion for oppressors, tyrants, man-stealers, and thugs. It is not that “pure and undefiled religion” which is from above, and which is “first pure, then peaceable, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” But a religion which favors the rich against the poor; which exalts the proud above the humble; which divides mankind into two classes, tyrants and slaves; which says to the man in chains, stay there; and to the oppressor, oppress on; it is a religion which may be professed and enjoyed by all the robbers and enslavers of mankind; it makes God a respecter of persons, denies his fatherhood of the race, and tramples in the dust the great truth of the brotherhood of man. All this we affirm to be true of the popular church, and the popular worship of our land and nation—a religion, a church, and a worship which, on the authority of inspired wisdom, we pronounce to be an abomination in the sight of God. In the language of Isaiah, the American church might be well addressed, “Bring no more vain ablations; incense is an abomination unto me: the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth. They are a trouble to me; I am weary to bear them; and when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea! when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; cease to do evil, learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge for the fatherless; plead for the widow.”
The American church is guilty, when viewed in connection with what it is doing to uphold slavery; but it is superlatively guilty when viewed in connection with its ability to abolish slavery. The sin of which it is guilty is one of omission as well as of commission. Albert Barnes but uttered what the common sense of every man at all observant of the actual state of the case will receive as truth, when he declared that “There is no power out of the church that could sustain slavery an hour, if it were not sustained in it.”
Let the religious press, the pulpit, the Sunday school, the conference meeting, the great ecclesiastical, missionary, Bible and tract associations of the land array their immense powers against slavery and slave-holding; and the whole system of crime and blood would be scattered to the winds; and that they do not do this involves them in the most awful responsibility of which the mind can conceive.
In prosecuting the anti-slavery enterprise, we have been asked to spare the church, to spare the ministry; but how, we ask, could such a thing be done? We are met on the threshold of our efforts for the redemption of the slave, by the church and ministry of the country, in battle arrayed against us; and we are compelled to fight or flee. From what quarter, I beg to know, has proceeded a fire so deadly upon our ranks, during the last two years, as from the Northern pulpit? As the champions of oppressors, the chosen men of American theology have appeared-men, honored for their so-called piety, and their real learning. The LORDS of Buffalo, the SPRINGS of New York, the LATHROPS of Auburn, the COXES and SPENCERS of Brooklyn, the GANNETS and SHARPS of Boston, the DEWEYS of Washington, and other great religious lights of the land, have, in utter denial of the authority of Him, by whom the professed to he called to the ministry, deliberately taught us, against the example or the Hebrews and against the remonstrance of the Apostles, they teach “that we ought to obey man’s law before the law of God.”
My spirit wearies of such blasphemy; and how such men can be supported, as the “standing types and representatives of Jesus Christ,” is a mystery which I leave others to penetrate. In speaking of the American church, however, let it be distinctly understood that I mean the great mass of the religious organizations of our land. There are exceptions, and I thank God that there are. Noble men may be found, scattered all over these Northern States, of whom Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn, Samuel J. May of Syracuse, and my esteemed friend on the platform, are shining examples; and let me say further, that upon these men lies the duty to inspire our ranks with high religious faith and zeal, and to cheer us on in the great mission of the slave’s redemption from his chains.
..
yeah.. christians led the way. riiiiigggt.
they've always tried to take credit for other people's efforts. this is not new. we are on the tail end of a long phenomenon.
/*
* Part II: Elizabeth Stanton and the adverse role of christianity on women's rights in the u.s.
*/
install arch linux on my droid razr?!? what?!@11!?
holy wow. yeah. right from google play.
Pastor to rabbi, imam: U.S. is a ‘Christian nation’ but we ‘let’ you worship
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/31/pastor-to-rabbi-imam-u-s-is-a-christian-nation-but-we-let-you-worship/Speaking to a interfaith panel on CBS News, Hope Christian Church Pastor Harry R. Jackson responded to Rabbi David Wolpe, who said that the Americans should “celebrate difference” because “God is greater than any religious tradition.”
“In deference to the Christian foundation of this nation, it is that foundation that allows us freedom,” Jackson explained. “I don’t see this diversity in other places. So to the credit of our Christian foundation of this nation, this freedom we’re experiencing is because folks came and said, ‘We believe this is to be a Christian nation. We feel like we’ve been persecuted in the places we came from, and we’re going to intentionally let this nation be founded in a way that if you come here and you’re Islamic and you come here and you’re Jewish, we’re not going to persecute you.’”
/* this forum needs more zest and i have just the cure.. */
coding games.*
quick, what language? what does it do?
<code>
print_help() {
printf "usage: that would be cheating now wouldn't it?"
exit 1 }
getYOUR() {
date '+%H' }
getMINE() {
date '+%M' }
getSMURFY_MAN() {
date '+%S' }
KLINGON() {
while true; do
printf '\a'
sleep 3
done
}
### 'main' function ###
if [ "$1" == "-h" ]; then
print_help
fi
if [ "$1" == "-r" ]; then
isrel=1
shift
else
isrel=0
fi
if [ "$#" -ne "2" ]; then
print_help
fi
HOUR=$1
MIN=$2
let "ALM=$HOUR*3600 + $MIN*60"
let "DAY=24*3600"
if [ "$isrel" == "1" ]; then
let "waitsecs=$ALM"
else
let "now=($(gethour)*60 + $(getmin))*60 + $(getsec)"
let "waitsecs=(($DAY - $now) + $ALM) % $DAY"
fi
if (( waitsecs < 0 )); then
echo "You cannot KLINGON in the past!"
exit 1
fi
let "alm_h=($waitsecs/3600)%24"
let "alm_m=($waitsecs/60)%60"
let "alm_s=($waitsecs)%60"
printf "BLURP in: %02d:%02d:%02d " "$alm_h" "$alm_m" "$alm_s"
printf " (%d YERMOM from now)\n" "$waitsecs"
sleep $waitsecs
if [ "$?" == "0" ]; then
KLINGON&
read -n 1 -s
kill $!
fi
</code>
* all formatting has been stripped (thanks DU for not allowing <code> tags), most of the if-then statements were also stripped by DU, and arbitrary variable and function names have been changed (by me, for fun).
also, the usage function and all comments were removed (also for fun), and last but most importantly..
this would NOT run so don't even TRY it but otherwise it WAS working code and besides..
it's fun.
your favorite programming language and why?
i'll start. right now i'm *loving* python/cython. in part i just love python's semantics. it's like writing poetry. i love declaring diddly-squat. i love that if i need to speed up a method i can first write it in python to get everything working together and then rewrite computation-intensive subroutines in C/C++. it's made me a more efficient coder and i can focus on solving big-picture problems instead of plugging memory leaks or chasing pointers. i know python is a scripting language and not a 'true' programming language, but it's a damn powerful scripting language, and i love it.
your turn.
inspired by the 'your favorite registrar and why?' thread.
windows help building the ultimate bootable diagnostic tool?
someone a couple months ago asked what the 'best' diagnostic tool was, but my new job as computer tech has got me searching for the 'ultimate' tool. i am comfortable in linux because thats what i learned in college but my job revolves around windows machines and clueless users so my boss want me to stretch my comfort zone and find windows-based solutions.
here's what i started putting together but any added ideas would be welcome.
dual-bootable 320GB external usb 3.0 hard drive with four partitions:
/dev/sdX1 - dedicated boot partition home of chainloader (grub2 for now)
/dev/sdX2 - system1 (40GB, ext3): backtrack 5r3 (ubuntu packed with forensic apps) plus testdisk and clamav
/dev/sdX3 - system2 (60GB, variable): variable isolinux, windows, mac osx, vm's, etc
/dev/sdX4 - data (216GB, ntfs)
i'm pretty happy with system1 (bt5+) but system2 i could use help with. i'd like to go ahead and install windows 7 and diagnostic tools on it since i mostly work with windows systems but what would you pack into a windows-based diagnostic? are there any specific recommendations for windows apps or even console commands equivalent to 'testdisk', 'gparted', 'photorec', and 'dd'? what about pro-grade antivirus apps up to the task of removing rootkit and other pernicious malware?
i can't believe i'm saying this but.. i need windows help!
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayHometown: British Columbia
Home country: Canada
Current location: New Mexico, USA
Member since: Sat Oct 20, 2012, 11:12 AM
Number of posts: 1,837
