case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2014-02-12 06:40 pm

[ SECRET POST #2598 ]


⌈ Secret Post #2598 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.


__________________________________________________



15.















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 031 secrets from Secret Submission Post #371.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Again, is it really that mindboggling when someone gets defensive when they get insulted?

Because that's the problem here - there's some people who can't talk about their beliefs as absolute fact without also insulting everyone who doesn't share their beliefs. When people don't just talk about the nonexistence of any divine being but also tack on the "and if you believe in one, it's because you're dumb and crazy". It's dumb and bad when religious people do it, and it's sure as shit dumb when some atheists (who are not representative but who still exist) do it. And it's unfair that we say 'atheists' when we really mean 'those jerks who happen to be atheists' but we don't really have a word for the subset of atheists who happen to act like jerks, unfortunately.

I wish we did have such a term (full disclosure, I am an atheist myself so I'm not opposed to the position in general) but this sort of thing does happen and I don't think anyone should get a pass for it. And it's not surprising when people get riled up in response to it.
starphotographs: This field is just more space for me to ramble and will never be used correctly. I am okay with this! (Ginko (default))

Re: I am Euphoric...

[personal profile] starphotographs 2014-02-13 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
I think a lot of people get weird about it even when they're not being personally insulted, though. In my experience, someone talking about their religion as true is just kind of accepted/ignored, and people just kind of brush it off as "well, they're a (thing they are), of course they think that." And like, someone assuming you share their beliefs and saying they'll pray for you or something is seen at very worst as well-meaning but annoying.

But an atheist saying "there is no god," or anything you'd just sort of expect an atheist to say is being a vile disrespectful killjoy. That's what I've seen, at least. So I just wish that atheists had as much leeway to mention their beliefs as most religious folks seem to get.

(For what it's worth, I don't generally go around antagonizing people, either. Because that's how you get stuck listening to religious people talking about their religion. Part of being an atheist, in my case, is having an extremely low tolerance for that shit. :P)

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Hell, there are plenty of people who get bent out of shape when an atheist says something as innocuous as, "I'm an atheist," or "Atheists exist." There are billboard campaigns sponsored by atheist groups that say things like, "Don't believe in God? You're not alone!" and "Millions of people are good without God. Are you?" and these billboards get called hateful and inappropriate and are targeted for vandalism. The very fact that atheists exist and are willing to say so is perceived as hateful and inappropriate, let alone actually asserting their opinions about other people's religions.

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-14 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
But an atheist saying "there is no god,"
My problem with that is that it is stated as a fact, and usually it is thus implied that everyone who believes differently is an idiot or whatever. I have no issue with people believing whatever they want to believe for whatever religion (or lack thereof) they wish. As long as they don't hurt others and they don't present it as fact, as obviously no one knows anything really. (I am just as irked at religious people who state such things as facts too. Such as the Christian in my English class way back in high school who told my Jewish friend that she was going to hell because she didn't believe in the right God.)

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
And it's unfair that we say 'atheists' when we really mean 'those jerks who happen to be atheists' but we don't really have a word for the subset of atheists who happen to act like jerks, unfortunately.

Sure we do. The word is "assholes."

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Too bad people use atheist as a stand in for it.

I wouldn't mind asshole atheists becoming a thing, though.

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
"assholes" means asshole, so it's not the word for "the specific subset of people who exhibit a specific kind of assholish behavior based on their specific views about the nonexistence of God"

Re: I am Euphoric...

(Anonymous) 2014-02-13 06:19 am (UTC)(link)
The point is, their assholery is coincidental to their atheism, and if they weren't atheists, they'd be doing the same assholish things on a different topic. So calling them "assholes" and not tying it to the concept of atheism keeps from muddying the waters.