# Left Behind Members Return Home Please

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 31, 1999, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297 "1999-12-31T21:05:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 8

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**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/141 "2000-01-21T04:05:00Z")

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“Inside” references?

Ouch! :eek:

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**Author:** ![demosthenes\_au](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@demosthenes\_au](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/demosthenes_au)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/142 "2000-01-21T04:36:00Z")

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PITA: A form of bread.  
Perhaps your husband was saying he COULD live on bread alone. 😉

And for a second there I thought we were going to be deluged with a possibly Idiotic Turn (of) Acronyms…

oh god… for a second there I thought I was playing Acrophobia (and don’t get me started on teh inaccuracies of THAT name)

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**Author:** ![Sage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Sage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/143 "2000-01-21T05:45:00Z")

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I’m here too! 😃

Wouldn’t have even known of this place if word of it hadn’t appeared in LBBB-land during the great war! Methinks the bannings and mentions got new members in SB-land!

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**Author:** ![Sage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Sage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/144 "2000-01-21T05:48:00Z")

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Whoops! I mean, “SD-land”!

And BTW, where’s the Conspiracy-Theory forum in SD-land? 😉

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**Author:** ![Pariah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/41988e/32.png) [@Pariah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pariah)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/145 "2000-01-21T05:55:00Z")

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Sage sed:

> [@](#):
>
> And BTW, where’s the Conspiracy-Theory forum in SD-land?

Depending on how many pseudonyms are in effect on each thread (I counted five on one of them; there’s one poster who had at _least_ 13), **every** thread is a conspiracy…

At least, that’s what they say…

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**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/146 "2000-01-21T06:25:00Z")

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I just spent an ungodly amount of time reading through a certain 15-page thread for the first time, and I’ve got to hand it to you guys – that was hilarious! …and masterfully done!

I especially enjoyed the evaluation of my intelligence based on reading habits, though I’ve got to admit that a further look at my bookshelves could only ruin what scant reputation remains. Next to the reams of SF/Fantasy, there’s everything from Left Behind to Narnia to a somewhat interesting little fairy-tale trilogy by Anne Rice (you know which one I mean). I’ll read anything. Once. 😉

Meara

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**Author:** ![bigred1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@bigred1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigred1)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/147 "2000-01-21T06:47:00Z")

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ooooo… you mean I can get into what’s on my bookshelves here?? kewl!!

Left Behind… Tales of the City… Dilbert… Piers Anthony… a Greek Bible… a few chemistry books (would have only needed one if I woulda passed it the first time!!)… the Exorcist… Three faces of Eve…

SO… what’s that say about me? LOL

now meara. where’s this other thread?

Beth

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**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/148 "2000-01-21T07:36:00Z")

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Ooh, meara, ya caught me! I was the one making fun of your reading habits, although I also lobbyied to extend an official invitation to get you over here when I saw the quality and content of your posts. Just think, you got mentioned by _name_! I am glad that you made it. 🙂 And I still think that if the LB series is anything like the excerpt they posted they’ve got pretty godawful prose. Narnia and Anne Rice (are you telling me you’ve got Rice’s “Beauty” series?) are at least halfway decently written… ::ducking and running::

* * *

“It’s like I always said…there’s nothing an agnostic can’t do if he really doesn’t know whether he believes in anything or not” --Monty Python, “The Meaning of Life”

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**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/149 "2000-01-21T07:46:00Z")

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Yep… that’s the one. I understand it’s required reading for some of Satan’s threads over on MPSIMS. 😃

Of course most of what I read hasn’t nearly so solid a connection to reality. (e.g. Neal Stephenson, Robert Heinlein, Orson Scott Card…)

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**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/150 "2000-01-21T07:53:00Z")

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Poor Satan…he’ll never live that down. 🙂 Heinlein’s a bit repetitive, Orson Scott Card rules, Neal Stephenson I don’t think I’ve read but on your recommend I’ll give him a go. If you like Orson Scott Card try Jane Yolen or Ursula Le Guin; very similar in the modern-day/futuristic myth sort of writing.

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**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/151 "2000-01-21T08:00:00Z")

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For Neal Stephenson, start with _Snow Crash_. It’s a classic!

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**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/152 "2000-01-21T08:10:00Z")

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I will. 🙂 It’s been a while since I’ve done cyberpunk, but I’ve always liked it. You also might like the Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson, or Psion and Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge.

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/153 "2000-01-21T09:39:00Z")

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Who’d’a thunk it - the LB series on the same bookshelf with the ‘Beauty’ trilogy! I’m trying to envision the Improbability factors involved; they must be something quite astronomical! 🙂

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**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/154 "2000-01-21T13:07:00Z")

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[Moderator Hat: ON]

Ok, folks, this has turned incredibly MPSIMSish. If you want to start a thread talking about what’s on your bookshelf, please do so over there. I can’t move this thread because the beginning really needs to stay here. But I will have to lock it up if it continues in this vein.

* * *

David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator

[Moderator Hat: OFF]

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**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/155 "2000-01-21T13:09:00Z")

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Sage asked:

> [@](#):
>
> where’s the Conspiracy-Theory forum in SD-land?

This would be the place. Well, if the “theorist” in question was asking a question to which s/he would accept a simple factual answer, it would be General Questions. But with most conspiracy theories, it ain’t that simple and Great Debates is probably the best location for us to kick the “theory” around 'til it’s a corpse.

* * *

Ignorance is Bliss.  
Reality is Better.

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**Author:** ![PITA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@PITA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PITA)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/156 "2000-01-21T14:09:00Z")

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O’k, so I can’t spell. Sue me.

Geez David. Close this thread??? I feel like I’m back at LB. (Can I get banned for saying that?)

What is it that we are debating here, anyway?

Sage- recognize you from LB- great to see ya

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**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/157 "2000-01-21T14:29:00Z")

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Obviously we’re debating whether it’s fair to judge a book by its cover (or a person by the books she reads). 😉

Should reading Left Behind or Harlequin romances really qualify one for scorn? Is there indeed a cultural elite that sits around reading Ulysses and the Brothers K and other crusty old favorites?

Or is that all just a lot of posturing by a bunch of overblown hypocrites who secretly binge on Clancy, Grisham and Danielle Steel?

It’s a conspiracy, I tell you!

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/158 "2000-01-21T14:32:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Three faces of Eve…

Wait a minute…I thought it was **Gaudere** who had three faces. **Eve** only had two, and she’s given up the **Flora** one.  
🆒

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**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/159 "2000-01-21T15:38:00Z")

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PITA said:

> [@](#):
>
> Geez David. Close this thread??? I feel like I’m back at LB. (Can I get banned for saying that?)

Now I see how you got that nickname… 😉

> [@](#):
>
> What is it that we are debating here, anyway?

Precisely my point. If there’s no debate, it really shouldn’t be here. If it’s just a “Welcome to SDMB” thread, it belongs elsewhere. If Meara wants to debate judging a reader by the books she reads, that’s different.

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**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-members-return-home-please/17297/160 "2000-01-21T16:43:00Z")

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David:

I suggest we use this as the exception that proves the rule.

To wit: Yes, this is a debating forum. But for some time, the two boards were in heavy debating mode, and this kind of shows that time, and the transition.

So, it WAS a great debate, but one which, unlike probably EVERY OTHER potential and real thread here, actually had an outcome which was satisfactory to everyone involved.

No agreeing to disagree. No “I see your point, but…”. Instead, we all simply agree.

Leave it here, no matter how mundane and pointless it becomes. Imagine how this world would be if all of our heated debates ended so convincingly, and so hapilly.

So let this thread stand as a utopian version of GD, where there IS an outcome that all can aspire to.

The end result, even if it is mindane and pointless, beats the often harsh feelings and words that so many “real” great debates lead to, dontcha think?

Now, where’s my Nobel Peace Prize? 😉

* * *

Yer pal,  
Satan

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