Is Nationalism Replacing Religion in Modern Society?

[The Smoking Man]

Has it ever occurred to you to even attempt to make a point without taking a jab at someone?

Lighten up for half a second.


Have you ever tried not to sound condescending?

 

[loseyourname]

Have you ever tried not to sound condescending?

I've never tried to sound condescending, if it makes a difference. If I sound that way anyway, I apologize. In case you haven't figured it out, I don't have much of a sense of humor.

And I never use emoticons. I hate those things.

 

[The Smoking Man]

I've never tried to sound condescending, if it makes a difference. If I sound that way anyway, I apologize. In case you haven't figured it out, I don't have much of a sense of humor.

Never would have guessed.

And I never use emoticons. I hate those things.

I used to hate them too. Now I find if I use them correctly, I can sometimes say what I think I'm saying. Sarcasm does tend to get a bit lost. If all else fails <sarcasm> </sarcasm> works too.

One thing you'll find you will get from me is like for like.

Early on you hit me with 'slow down and think. I know you have a point to make somewhere.'

You'll find a lot of me is just a reflection.

 

[jammieg]

The World Is Dying For More War

The world is dying for more war, the reason there is always war is because we are all born dumb animals and grow up as dumb animals learning from experience as we go some of us are more kind and some are more selfish, people who are selfish and greedy and hate tend to prosper while the country is built on the backs of honest workers, in time the selfish teach the young dumb animals to be more selfish and more of them until one day even the president is the son of yesterday's president and everyone is fighiting against each other about red or blue or dem or rep or north or south or black or white it doesn't matter it's all the same, people love conflict and love to hate but the ultimate teacher of what hate is is war, war teaches people where hate leads to and people who have been through war can sometimes teach people who haven't...that's why war leads to greater peace...the Romans knew it to well they built an empire on war, the baby boomers where a result of world war 2...but Vietnam was a joke reason being it isn't the lower and middle class that don't understand it's the whole friggin country from the top down they are all scumhoarders, that's when you know a civilization is on the fall when the fearless leaders and role models who can't be stopped are also corrupted so I'm kinda looking forward to China nuking America and getting this party started, pretty much everyone deserves to die anyway better yet we should all buy guns and make it legal to shoot someone for any reason why procrastinate? We all know there's some people we would like to kill if it were legal just like the wild west days.

 

[Smurf]

not reading that till you paragraph it.

 

[outsider]

so I'm kinda looking forward to China nuking America and getting this party started, pretty much everyone deserves to die anyway better yet we should all buy guns and make it legal to shoot someone for any reason why procrastinate? We all know there's some people we would like to kill if it were legal just like the wild west days.

the f-d up thing is, I can agree with most of what you've said, but I don't think we need to relearn the lessons of war by going through it in this day and age. The weapons are way too advanced and we have way too much at stake.

Jammieg, you seem to be giving up hope and saying that it's inevitable that war will begin. Is that a winning attitude? Is that what winners are made of? What happened to never surrender? Never give up?

If you talk to people who have lived through WW2, you will hear them talk about the horrors and see how passionate they are about the war. How they don't wish for another to begin. We are lucky that we don't have these problems. I encourage you to actually speak to people who have lived through war.

People who have nothing to lose always want to do something.

I remember the first few times I played paintball wars, I thought I was Rambo... nothing to lose... but I sat out a lot more than most people... if it was real life... i'd be sitting out right now... in some hole in the ground about 6 feet deep. My family would miss me, my dog would probably die from separation anxiety. Yeah, maybe I sucked... but even good people die for no reason.

No one wins in war... what are you hoping to win? what will your win cost you? Let me live another 40 years without the worries of war in my backyard and that will be a happy life. I don't even need to go to heaven.

 

[Jonny_trigonometry]

I wasn't clear in what I meant when I said the past must not be forgiven.

I meant only that it is foolish to be part of a system of beliefs which since the dawn of time has justified the slaughter of human beings. (I.E. organized religions, since being a part of that religion you forgive the countless wrongs it has commited:Catholicism and the spanish inquisition et al.) Obviously this isn't limited to religions, but basically certain systems of beliefs (nationalism, racism and on and on).

I did not mean that revenge was justified although I realize now that's what it sounds like.

But this is a belief in itself (that it's foolish to be part of a religion), which when taken to the limit, results in hatred of established religions, and a desire to make the world better by spreading this idea and those who don't give into it won't be tolerated. This then will lead to a war.

 

[motai]

I remember the first few times I played paintball wars, I thought I was Rambo... nothing to lose... but I sat out a lot more than most people... if it was real life... i'd be sitting out right now... in some hole in the ground about 6 feet deep. My family would miss me, my dog would probably die from separation anxiety. Yeah, maybe I sucked... but even good people die for no reason.

No one wins in war... what are you hoping to win? what will your win cost you? Let me live another 40 years without the worries of war in my backyard and that will be a happy life. I don't even need to go to heaven.

I too have had a similar thoughts running through my mind when I first played paintball. I never played it after that. There seems to be little mercy in actual wartime, and good people do indeed die, in addition to civilians, women and children.

Lets hope that nuclear wars don't break out... humanity would be completely doomed if it were nuked 14,000 times. A more peaceful worldview would help, but usually power tends to go to the guy who has the biggest guns...

 

[outsider]

I too have had a similar thoughts running through my mind when I first played paintball. I never played it after that. There seems to be little mercy in actual wartime, and good people do indeed die, in addition to civilians, women and children.

Lets hope that nuclear wars don't break out... humanity would be completely doomed if it were nuked 14,000 times. A more peaceful worldview would help, but usually power tends to go to the guy who has the biggest guns...

I think the realization of your personal weaknesses and tendencies give a good indication of what war can be...

I have a baseless belief that those who are PF are mostly thinking types who fall in a category of people who are capable of less violent resolutions, but after reading some threads, i realize that we can disagree on something trivial and it can be blown beyond proportion.

If everyone realized how they behave under pressure, the world would be a better place.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I have a baseless belief that those who are PF are mostly thinking types who fall in a category of people who are capable of less violent resolutions, but after reading some threads, i realize that we can disagree on something trivial and it can be blown beyond proportion.

I think this stems mainly from people figuring "it's just the internet" so they type things that they most likely wouldn't ever say to a persons face. On another forum I saw an argument get so out of hand that even the mods were insulting people. I've met some of them and know they wouldn't have acted in the same way in person.

 

[outsider]

I think this stems mainly from people figuring "it's just the internet" so they type things that they most likely wouldn't ever say to a persons face. On another forum I saw an argument get so out of hand that even the mods were insulting people. I've met some of them and know they wouldn't have acted in the same way in person.

That is true. I am also a different person around my friends and family.

The Internet let too many idiots on... Commercialization of the Internet has resulted in so much negativity... I hate the Internet! But yet I pay $50 a month so I can (as of late) read and post and read thoughts on PF... so yeah, that qualifies me as an idiot... I like PF simply because idiots are afraid to come in here... well, i realize that many of you consider yourselves an idiot to some degree, but this actually makes you less of an idiot...

 

[The Smoking Man]

That is true. I am also a different person around my friends and family.

The Internet let too many idiots on... Commercialization of the Internet has resulted in so much negativity... I hate the Internet! But yet I pay $50 a month so I can (as of late) read and post and read thoughts on PF... so yeah, that qualifies me as an idiot... I like PF simply because idiots are afraid to come in here... well, i realize that many of you consider yourselves an idiot to some degree, but this actually makes you less of an idiot...

I DO NOT! I consider myself an a$$hole ... not an idiot. (It's okay Russ ... you can agree with me here).

Russ, on the other hand ...

 

[Smurf]

Yeah, and I'm a god!

 

[outsider]

I DO NOT! I consider myself an a$$hole ... not an idiot. (It's okay Russ ... you can agree with me here).

Russ, on the other hand ...

in otherwords, people who don't want to curse would call you an idiot.. jk