A Brief Word from the Guy You Hate
Hey,
I wanted to clarify a little bit because some of the private communications I've been receiving are showing that people don't understand where I'm coming from when I say I lose respect for you when I find out you're religious.
The above is true and I stand by it. In my eyes, it's the same as when you find out an adult believes in Santa Claus and is continually disappointed that Santa didn't bring him any presents year after year after year but refuses to wonder why. But what I'd like to put to you is this simple reflective exercise.
If you will indulge me for twenty seconds, which is not a lot of time out of your day, please imagine that you are meeting someone new. This person says "I knocked one of my teeth out on that stupid doorknob, but at least I'll get a quarter for it from the Tooth Fairy." You laugh a little bit, but the prson looks at you oddly for doing so. He then goes on to explain that he's up about $30 from the Tooth Fairy lifetime total, with no trace of a smile or humor. You ask the person "You mean, you're not kidding? You believe in the Tooth Fairy?" and he says yes, in an earnest fashion and you pick up that he is serious.
Isolate the feeling you feel right now. Isolate and articulate to yourself what you are thinking of that person. It is without malice, but it is without respect, as well. This is how I feel about all of you. Some people have done enough and said enough to earn more respect than they lose, like Wanderer. But as he and I discussed at length on our way to the casino last weekend (let us never speak of that particular session of blackjack ever again), the loss of respect is there and I choose not to lie about it.
So please stop e-mailing me unless you have something more constructive than "JESUS WONT SAV SNNERZ U FOOL!!!lolz", or "I'm a Marine and a college graduate and a Presbyterian. How can you say you don't respect me?" of which I've gotten many variations. I'd just stop having my e-mail be public, but I think those sae twenty people would just keep e-mailing me anyways.
I refuse to end this with life, or something close to it.
I wanted to clarify a little bit because some of the private communications I've been receiving are showing that people don't understand where I'm coming from when I say I lose respect for you when I find out you're religious.
The above is true and I stand by it. In my eyes, it's the same as when you find out an adult believes in Santa Claus and is continually disappointed that Santa didn't bring him any presents year after year after year but refuses to wonder why. But what I'd like to put to you is this simple reflective exercise.
If you will indulge me for twenty seconds, which is not a lot of time out of your day, please imagine that you are meeting someone new. This person says "I knocked one of my teeth out on that stupid doorknob, but at least I'll get a quarter for it from the Tooth Fairy." You laugh a little bit, but the prson looks at you oddly for doing so. He then goes on to explain that he's up about $30 from the Tooth Fairy lifetime total, with no trace of a smile or humor. You ask the person "You mean, you're not kidding? You believe in the Tooth Fairy?" and he says yes, in an earnest fashion and you pick up that he is serious.
Isolate the feeling you feel right now. Isolate and articulate to yourself what you are thinking of that person. It is without malice, but it is without respect, as well. This is how I feel about all of you. Some people have done enough and said enough to earn more respect than they lose, like Wanderer. But as he and I discussed at length on our way to the casino last weekend (let us never speak of that particular session of blackjack ever again), the loss of respect is there and I choose not to lie about it.
So please stop e-mailing me unless you have something more constructive than "JESUS WONT SAV SNNERZ U FOOL!!!lolz", or "I'm a Marine and a college graduate and a Presbyterian. How can you say you don't respect me?" of which I've gotten many variations. I'd just stop having my e-mail be public, but I think those sae twenty people would just keep e-mailing me anyways.
I refuse to end this with life, or something close to it.
posted by Hegemon at 12:56 AM
11 Comments:
MC - I hope you weren't offended by me pointing out the typo in your profile. It sounds like you appreciated the irony, too, though. Typically, I'm the typo king. I've spelled things wrong that have wound up going very much the wrong way - eg. "She's the breast person I know" and so forth.
While I do respect your position and the fact that you hold it strongly, I think that both of us have to be in a place where we say, "This is what I believe, but I'm open to the possibility that I could be wrong." I think if maybe we add that qualifier on the end we can perhaps have more open dialogue between our two positions. What do you think?
You have the right read on the typo thing - I found it funny. I remember once typing
Here's the thing. In pure abstract theory, I could be wrong. But. I would be more wrong to believe in what is unproven and ludicrous than to not believe in something unproven, ludicrous, yet true. I also feel that the practice ofblindly believing in something unproven and ludicrous, otherwise known as faith, is very wrong, and shows a lack of thought or process. Since it can be a major influence on one's life, and the lives of people around you who are sick of your crap, it should require careful consideration and responsible intellectual evaluation. I submit that anyone of faith has not done this, or has done it abysmally, and therefore should not be seen as a responsible mind, but more like a child's mind, where you have to be careful what you tell the child because they won't be able to exercise good judgment or common sense. It's true that a fall from seven feet won't kill you, but you don't tell a kid this because they will jump from ten feet, or jump from seven onto their necks, or do it in some way that violates the good judgment and common sense expectation that we would normally have for adults.
But you were not the target audience of this entry. The target audience is the jerks who keep e-mailing me because I posted my e-mail address on here once with stupid crap like "REPENT NOW OR Y'ALL'LL FRY". I get five or ten of those every time I post something.
One more thing re: typos.. Yeah, they can go very wrong sometimes. My job calls for me to interview candidates for positions at the company and make a decision regarding hiring them. We had a candidate once who looked great on paper but had a few troubling details if you read between the lines on his resume, so I was asked to take a very careful examination of his work history and make a decision. I responded to the e-mail "Yeah, I'll give him some good analysis" which was typoed in such a way as to cause the spellchecker to correct "analysis" to "anal'... you get the idea. I did a LOT of explaining about that one.
I once had a keyboard that had something spilled on it, so some of the letters ceased to work all the time. I used this keyboard when chatting (on MSN) with some of the troubled teens I work with. I type pretty fast and don't often check to see if the keys always work. I was talking with this one girl of about 16, the subject was pizza. I tried writing, "I like new york cheese best, personally." What came out was, "I like yor chest, personally." I caught it right before I hit enter and probably avoided a lawsuit.
Re: faith - I think that everyone puts faith in somthing. Whether it's in your car, your job, your abilities, science - I could go on but I've got to run. I think that I'd be very surprised if you didn't have unconfirmed faith in SOMEthing at all.
Cheers,
As it is defined, I don't have faith in anything.
I'm almost positive there's nothing I believe in unless I have an empyrical reason to think it is true or, preferably, proof.
I challenge Wanderer as one of my closest personal friends and an objective to name something I have faith in, that is to say believe without having any reason to whatsoever. I don't think there'll be anything in his list.
mc,
I have to say, after reading your post, I have more respect for you. I see that you aren't just some idoiot who doesn't know your...
never mind. You get the gist.
I don't agree with you ever...still think Wanderer better keep that baby girl of his away from you...but I do have more respect for you.
how about it, wanderer? Going to rise to mc's challenge?
Well thank you Maryellen, and you may be surprised to know we do agree on one thing. I told Wanderer before he'd better keep that baby girl of his away from me, too.
MaryEllen - 'tis true, he did so warn me.
Grey Owl - I do rise to the challenge, and must admit, I think MC is right. I initially intended to say he was the example himself, but, there has unfortunately been too much truth in any area he has lauded himself in my presence to make even that correct. MC thus far in my recollection is completely without faith by his definition.
So pbtbtphtb.
Hmm. That is surprising...
Post a Comment
<< Home