# Opinions that others would find blasphemy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452 "2013-11-21T17:51:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earth001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a6a055/32.png) [@Earth001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earth001)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/1 "2013-11-21T17:51:03Z")
So, what opinions do you have that aren’t really religious that the majority of the population would find blasphemous? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/2 "2013-11-21T17:59:29Z")
There are no gods of any kind. Religion is to blame for the majority of societal injustice. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/3 "2013-11-21T18:24:16Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > So, what opinions do you have that aren’t really religious that the majority of the population would find blasphemous? Michael Jordan is not the GOAT. He was the best during his run, but Bird, and Magic both played a better complete game. Since they had each other to compete against, and both careers were shortened due to injury/illness, their records compared to MJ’s are very misleading. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/4 "2013-11-21T18:41:11Z")
The Supreme Court did not actually say that corporations are people. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/5 "2013-11-21T18:41:16Z")
> [@Earth001](#): > > So, what opinions do you have that aren’t really religious that the majority of the population would find blasphemous? [That depends when, where, and to whom you speak:](http://paulgraham.com/say.html) > [@Paul Graham](#): > > Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked? Did we actually dress like that? We did. And we had no idea how silly we looked. It’s the nature of fashion to be invisible, in the same way the movement of the earth is invisible to all of us riding on it. > > What scares me is that there are moral fashions too. They’re just as arbitrary, and just as invisible to most people. But they’re much more dangerous. Fashion is mistaken for good design; moral fashion is mistaken for good. Dressing oddly gets you laughed at. Violating moral fashions can get you fired, ostracized, imprisoned, or even killed. > > If you could travel back in a time machine, one thing would be true no matter where you went: you’d have to watch what you said. Opinions we consider harmless could have gotten you in big trouble. I’ve already said at least one thing that would have gotten me in big trouble in most of Europe in the seventeenth century, and did get Galileo in big trouble when he said it-- that the earth moves. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/6 "2013-11-21T22:34:54Z")
Anchovies on pizza. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/7 "2013-11-21T23:30:01Z")
I have so many that folks could be understandably suspicious that I accumulate them on purpose to be “interesting” or something… a) human organizational structure is possible without a hierarchy of authority, and it is inevitable that we will gravitate towards such structures because they will be more flexible and better suited to our purposes and needs; authority as we know it will be obsolete; there will be no formal law enforcement; parallel to that, there will be no currency system, not just no physical currency but no numerical exchange value of any sort, or any of what we think of as “the economic system” remaining in use b) none of the major ailments called “mental illness” are phenomena that the mental health system understands as actual illnesses with known etiology, known mechanisms causing the identifiable symptoms, or treatments that amount to anything more than palliative drugging; not one single “chemical imbalance” has been shown to actually exist (as originally posited for depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and the like). c) radical feminist theory is THE explanatory sociopolitical theory of our era, having an effect and a shadow longer and wider than anything since marxism in the late 1800s. you can agree with it or dissent with it but if you ignore it and don’t bother to read it, you’re ignorant. d) whatever theological truths exist can be expressed in either theological or non-theological terms; there are in fact such truths, by the way, although they don’t tend to take the form that either theists or atheists tend to think of when they think of theology and theological truths. e) emotions are so centrally a part of all cognitive processes that it makes no sense to speak of emotionless logic; no inductive reasoning is possible without emotions, only deductive rule-following. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/8 "2013-11-21T23:56:22Z")
Einstein didn’t do that much for modern physics, at least not in proportion to the veneration he receives. It’s people like Paul Dirac and Niels Bohr who are responsible for most of our modern technology, not Albert. But the percentage of people who’ve heard of either of them is infinitesmal. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/9 "2013-11-22T02:29:04Z")
I don’t know about the majority of people, but saying “Genesis is a fairy tale! It didn’t happen! Its. Not. True!” would get you into a heap of trouble in a lot of places in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/10 "2013-11-22T02:48:37Z")
The American way of life is negotiable. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/11 "2013-11-22T03:38:03Z")
Yes, a lot of blasphemy above, but as a physicist, I have to react to the one about Einstein. He originated the two ideas that form the foundation of what we call modern physics, relativity and quantum theory. Bohr built his theory on Einstein’s notion of the quantum. Dirac’s great triumph was to create a relativistic quantum theory of the electron. All great men, no question, but the statement that Einstein “didn’t do that much for modern physics” is blasphemous in the extreme. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/12 "2013-11-22T03:43:07Z")
Most people are decent people (yes even Muslims, Chinese, Fundies etc) who want the samesthings as you, nice safe life, well balanced kids, a bit of fun on the weekends and a job that keeps us from going hungry. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/13 "2013-11-22T03:48:26Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Yes, a lot of blasphemy above, but as a physicist, I have to react to the one about Einstein. He originated the two ideas that form the foundation of what we call modern physics, relativity and quantum theory. Bohr built his theory on Einstein’s notion of the quantum. Except he all but rejected it’s implications, or do also dispute that? edit: No, all Einstein did was propose the possibility of a dual nature for light - wave particle duality. It was others who developed the theory which he ultimately rejected. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/14 "2013-11-22T04:22:02Z")
Einstein did not reject quantum theory, he thought it was incomplete. He raised some serious issues about its implications, the so-called “spooky action at a distance” that was elucidated in the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paper. These issues are still perplexing and that paper has become ever more important as the years have passed. Dirac and Bohr had ideas that have not stood the test of time, but their greatness still shines through brightly, as does that of the father or modern physics. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/15 "2013-11-22T04:35:44Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Einstein did not reject quantum theory, he thought it was incomplete. He raised some serious issues about its implications, the so-called “spooky action at a distance” that was elucidated in the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paper. These issues are still perplexing and that paper has become ever more important as the years have passed. Dirac and Bohr had ideas that have not stood the test of time, but their greatness still shines through brightly, as does that of the father or modern physics. If anything, it’s Einstein’s ideas regarding QM that have failed inasmuch as Bell’s theorem conclusively shows that in a world where the rules of QM have been shown to govern, one must choose between counterfactual definiteness and locality. The non-existence of local reality has already been shown countless times and no one has ever come up with any “hidden variables” to show that QM is in any way incomplete. I’m not really equipped to argue this extensively, so I won’t but if you want to be yet another Einstein fanboi, go ahead. I won’t stop you. I would however appreciate it if you could do it on your own time. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/16 "2013-11-22T05:38:44Z")
You are NOT innocent until proven guilty. And, contrary to what many people believe, there is nothing in the Constitution that says you are. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/17 "2013-11-22T05:43:41Z")
It’s true that, in general, the government doesn’t create jobs. But I’d never vote for the other people who believe this. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/18 "2013-11-22T06:50:40Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Religion is to blame for the majority of societal injustice. Agreed > [@sisu](#): > > Most people are decent people (yes even Muslims, Chinese, Fundies etc) who want the samesthings as you, nice safe life, well balanced kids, a bit of fun on the weekends and a job that keeps us from going hungry. Agreed. I get a lot of heat from people I know in discussions about death - Honest, I do not know if this is it, when we die it all goes black. I can see that. I can also see us getting a cosmic do over, going to some generic heaven or hell based on what we think we are getting into. I _don’t know_. If I did, I would be up there with the Pope. I wouldn’t mind any of the above [and I feel that I would go to what passes for heaven, as I have always tried to behave in a positive and helpful manner.] I don’t know if there is one god, or a billion gods. I do know that if there is a single god he obviously hasn’t made it perfectly clear by popping into the skies over the earth and telling us in no uncertain terms, so i am good with the idea that we are all god and there is a bit of god in everything animate and inanimate. I don’t know if there are ghosts or not, I do certainly know that some seriously odd crap has happened to my mother, myself and a house I once lived in. Others had odd shit happen to them in that same house. I do know that many people have had odd shit happen to them. If there are ghosts, I do not see why they have to be able to be proven with current scientific efforts if they are something that is happening through some unknown natural principal we have not yet discovered - we discover new shit all the time. And I think that the population of the Earth should get over this tribal bullshit and have a single world government, with a single set of laws that applies to everybody. We should all have the same rights - a modern habitation with electricity, indoor plumbing, internet access, potable water and a functional kitchen. Everybody should have access to a basic education, basic healthcare, a job with a living wage OR everybody is on the same stipend with access to a job if they wish for something more than the basic stipend, at least 3 outfits of everyday clothing and one set of festival/holiday/sunday go to meeting clothing, and access to affordable food [or a set ration of adequate variety and calories]. If this all took the form of living in set planned communities with excellent access to public transportation and all the assorted allotted basic living rights I would be fine. I think we should be free to live in any part of the world that we can - if I want to pull up stakes and get a customer service job in someplace on the equator like Singapore [it is on the equator isnt it?] I should be able to put the house on the market, or put it back into the issue housing pool and find a job there and pack up and move. I should be able to walk the streets of Somalia in safety because the population all have the same access to housing, a job, health care, education - and buy a pair of leather sandals from a street vendor. And if that same Somali ends up with a burning desire to move to Connecticut or Devonshire they should be able to. And we need to get into space NOW dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/19 "2013-11-22T07:11:02Z")
Having a positive opinion of the aesthetics and state ceremonial of the Third Reich and USSR and that it should be imitated by free states. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/20 "2013-11-22T07:24:37Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Most people are decent people (yes even Muslims, Chinese, Fundies etc) who want the samesthings as you, nice safe life, well balanced kids, a bit of fun on the weekends and a job that keeps us from going hungry. This is an opinion that others find blasphemous? 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452.md?page=2)