Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post

I thought the purpose was philosophy, explanation of that in the world that couldn't easily be explained in ancient times, and to promote/standardise morals like 'don't stick a sword through your neighbour's eye just because he stole your chariot parking space'.
 
Brigantium said:
I thought the purpose was philosophy, explanation of that in the world that couldn't easily be explained in ancient times,
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Yes that’s how they start. This is not for control. Do not forget the messengers. There always been magic people that could heal you with their touch, or predict the future, to lead. They’ve been crucial too.

Brigantium said:
and to promote/standardise morals like 'don't stick a sword through your neighbour's eye just because he stole your chariot parking space'.
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This is control. This is how it becomes. Usually by the friends of the messengers or generally people between the worshippers and the magic people.

Of course there’s the charlatans and the evil that they (try to) start a religion or whatever you call it with the sole purpose to control in the very first place.
 
Just relatively recently I wrote this, regarding musicians who suddenly seem to have undergone a lobotomy once they decide to tackle religion

I don't know what it is, but even intelligent, cultured bands turn into a primary school level of argumentation and a late-hour pub level of stupidity when they decide to tackle religion. I mean, you try to be poetic, logical, erudite... and yet when you are confronted with a belief system whose tenets have been developed and shaped and perfected for actual friggin' millennia, THEN you don't feel the need to try all that much. Just, you know, some shallow arguments, some strawmen misunderstanding, I mean, the hoi polloi already know who is right and who is wrong, so we don't even need to try, to care. We're preaching to the already converted, leaning on the strength of their already-present prejudice. You know how this is called anywere else? Propaganda. And I mean that.
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I'm genuinely disconcerted that this is a much wider problem than I thought. "Religion makes you stupid" - yeah, but not precisely its adherents, pal.

I am sorry, I could have spoken on behalf of religion and even from a non-fanatical point of view (I was also an aggressive atheist, trying to erase it, once - and as an adult convert in general I definitely can understand the attitudes of the "outsiders")... but not to five year olds.

Brigs, Per and BAB have my Facebook (I think) and PMs in case there was any kind of genuine inquisitiveness from their side - as always.


Could you guys also please tag me once this line of "thought" is over and we'll back to discussing whether Michelle Pfeiffer in skin-tight latex licking somebodys face and Danny DeVito with bloodied face leering and saying "I'd like to fill her void" are okay for children?
 
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Sigh

Why can't I just shut my mouth? It seems like no matter what I say these days, someone will end up being offended.
 
Perun said:
Sigh

Why can't I just shut my mouth? It seems like no matter what I say these days, someone will end up being offended.
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You said absolutely nothing wrong and my post wasn't aimed at you in any way, I thought it was self-evident. I even mentioned you among those whom I trust to be in good faith and whom I am always open to.

As for your original post, not connected with what came later

Perun said:
I will never understand how our society came to the conclusion that it's okay to depict people killing each other and not okay to depict them loving each other.
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OK, here's a genuine answer - I think you're quite willingly confusing loving and fucking and these are not equivalent - you wouldn't want a film depicting parents "loving" their children this way.

As for the double standard - which I personally don't agree with, that is, I think violence should be just as sctrictly limited in media available to children as sex is - it probably arises from the fact that one is formative through being titillating and the other not.

Unless you're a sociopath (and then it's an altogether different can of worms), chopping off a head will not arouse you, it will not touch your personality in this regard, it won't entice you as watching something "pornographic" (which does aim at generating arousal and an attachment of almost a physical kind) does, which then also leads to the person in question not differentiating ... well, precisely between sex and love.
It is formative in a way it instills lewdness - and although I personally don't think children should be exposed to violence as well, I personally don't believe it is as formative as a result.

For example, I've been exposed to violent media ever since I was very little, and yet, although I believe sometimes violence might be necessary (as the lesser of two evils), I don't like it and I'd be only reluctantly using it. Whereas the sexual stuff I've seen even in the "normal movies" has deformed me in a way that I've been trying to fight off for some time... and it's somewhat hard to do. I do honestly find that to be more indelible.

Just my two cents why I think this double standard was born.
 
LooseCannon said:
And when you follow religion, you get to control, because that's truly the only purpose of religion.
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That’s why I like to keep my religion to myself and not preach to others. Look at Nicko. Also, a lot of religious people would say he’s going to hell for being part of Maiden. I don’t believe that at all.
 
Travis The Dragon said:
That’s why I like to keep my religion to myself and not preach to others. Look at Nicko. Also, a lot of religious people would say he’s going to hell for being part of Maiden. I don’t believe that at all.
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Everyone's entitled to a religion, as long as it doesn't harm others. And everyone's entitled to their opinions. The problem is that religion does a lot of harm, usually harm caused by a central authority or leader using the shared string of religion to make others dance as puppets. In the modern day, that's more of the evangelical style faiths than the more mainstream ones, but it happens, especially in local churches in remote areas of the world. And there's the undeniable evil of the various sex scandals in the Catholic Church, which I don't think reflects personally on the Catholics who believe, but the Church organization itself.
 
LooseCannon said:
usually harm caused by a central authority or leader using the shared string of religion to make others dance as puppets
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Bingo!

Easily possible in any ideology or any school of thought prone to groupthink. It bugs me more that people can see it in organised religion and ideological movements, but completely miss it when they're jumping on bandwagons on an everyday level, social media or otherwise.
 
Violence should be abolished from films /art. Images go directly to subconscious and subconscious tend to receive everything as true and as memory. So no violence. Sex is less of an issue, but obviously sex that devalues human dignity etc should not be reproduced in screen.

Travis The Dragon said:
That’s why I like to keep my religion to myself and not preach to others. Look at Nicko. Also, a lot of religious people would say he’s going to hell for being part of Maiden. I don’t believe that at all.
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Well not in hell but is this the best use of his time as a Christian with enough money to never work again?
 
LooseCannon said:
Everyone's entitled to a religion, as long as it doesn't harm others. And everyone's entitled to their opinions. The problem is that religion does a lot of harm, usually harm caused by a central authority or leader using the shared string of religion to make others dance as puppets. In the modern day, that's more of the evangelical style faiths than the more mainstream ones, but it happens, especially in local churches in remote areas of the world. And there's the undeniable evil of the various sex scandals in the Catholic Church, which I don't think reflects personally on the Catholics who believe, but the Church organization itself.
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And there's this too:
 
New Year's Eve. We've been sick all Christmas (currently convalescing) and wifey's pregnant to boot, so it's a rather grandpa-type "party".

So I went to Confession, to Mass, then it's watching DVD extras of Lord of the Rings trilogy and playing Plague Tale: Requiem until

1. the kids are awoken by inebriated people shooting fireworks and need to be calmed down and put back to bed

2. it's midnight and therefore a time to wake up wifey, wish her happy new year and then we'll go to sleep.

Saapanael said:
New Year’s Eve, the loneliest day of the year. No use being sad about it, though, I’ll have a workout and use my time productively.
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If it got too lonely or something, call me on Skype, I'd try to cheer you up.


And of course I'm wishing you all but the best in the AD 2023, gonna be praying for you lot whether you want it or not.
 
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