# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/121 "2013-11-25T21:44:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Has anyone ever been cured of lung cancer? I don’t know of anyone. ☹ > > There are some diseases whose outcome is the same whether they are treated or not, and this is one of them. Pancreatic cancer, too. Palliative treatment and comfort care are fine and do enhance quality of life, but aggressive treatment for a disease that’s going to be fatal in a matter of months anyway? Of course they have. The 5 year survival rate of localized lung cancer is about 50%. Unfortunately many don’t know they have it until its spreads and the survival rate is much lower then. Same with pancreatic cancer. That is especially bad because most don’t know they have it until it is too late. But those few that manage to catch it early enough can treat it. Its still much better to have treatment available and have a shot at surviving. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/122 "2013-11-25T22:51:03Z")
**The Silmarillion** by Tolkien is less interesting than watching paint dry. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/123 "2013-11-25T23:29:47Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > **The Silmarillion** by Tolkien is less interesting than watching paint dry. This made me realize what my own blasphemous thought is – The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is boring as indicated by the Harvard Lampoon take-off Bored of the Rings. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/124 "2013-11-25T23:56:11Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > Beyoncé is a decent dancer who can hold a tune. Otherwise she isn’t terribly interesting. And, a bit flabby, with no corresponding bosomism. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/125 "2013-11-26T13:56:15Z")
The age of consent should be around 12-13, teenagers aren’t children. Parents have way too much power over their kids to the point that they are basically property. If you were born rich there almost zero chance you are not a horrible human being. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/126 "2013-11-26T15:22:53Z")
As always, in threads like this, most of the “blasphemous” thoughts aren’t particularly daring, and many are shared by a solid MAJORITY of people. I have no use for David Sedaris and little use for Beyonce myself, but really, will I stand out like a sore thumb if I say publicly that Sedaris isn’t funny or that Beyonce’s music is forgettable? Nah. Heck, even if I say “The Beatles were incredibly overrated\*,” hardly anybody is going to get truly outraged. There is NO movie, actor, author, musician, performer or celebrity of ANY type who is so universally beloved and admired that any of us would face any real repercussions for saying “They stink.” And depending on who you are and where you live, even seemingly controversial opinions can seem surprisingly mainstream." MOST of the regulars here who state that God doesn’t exist and that religion is evil live and work in circles where almost nobody bats an eyelash at such talk. Most of what’s being presented as “blasphemy” here is mighty tame stuff. Some of it merely FEELS controversial or blasphemous if we live and work among certain classes of people. If you live and work among nerdy middle aged males (I do; heck, I AM a nerdy middle-aged male), you may FEEL blasphemous for saying, “\*\*\*Dr. Who \*\*\*is a stupid show” becuase it SEEMS as if everyone you know is watching it. But in reality, it’s a cult show with a tiny audience. It takes no reall cojones to say that. \*A mere hypothetical- SDMB regulars know I love the Beatles ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/127 "2013-11-26T15:37:50Z")
The vast majority of babies are not cute. They are also not the slightest bit interesting. Asking if I want to hold your baby is as pointless as asking if I want to hold your waffle iron, except the waffle iron most likely doesn’t smell as bad, so is actually preferable. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/128 "2013-11-26T15:44:38Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > . . . you may FEEL blasphemous for saying, “\*\*\*Dr. Who \*\*\*is a stupid show” becuase it SEEMS as if everyone you know is watching it. But in reality, it’s a cult show with a tiny audience. It takes no reall cojones to say that. For that comment I challenge you to light sabers on the plains of Malastare at dawn sir! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/129 "2013-11-26T15:50:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Anchovies on pizza. Yum! Whilst some extremists will argue that the only true pizza is a Margherita, anchovies are a perfectly common and valid topping here in Italy. I agree that there’s nice on pizza. No fucking pineapple, though. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/130 "2013-11-26T15:54:03Z")
I want to play, but I don’t know if I have any really blasphemous opinions. In the context of this board, I guess - I believe that consciousness is qualitatively different than the ‘computer model’ of the brain - it is more than a meeting of energy and matter. There is a self-awareness in animals that machines will never be capable of. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/131 "2013-11-26T16:12:10Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I want to play, but I don’t know if I have any really blasphemous opinions. > > In the context of this board, I guess - I believe that consciousness is qualitatively different than the ‘computer model’ of the brain - it is more than a meeting of energy and matter. There is a self-awareness in animals that machines will never be capable of. That is pretty blasphemous to a significant portion of the cognitive scientist population. Good choice. I agree that it is truly difficult to find anything universally blasphemous in all belief structures. Maybe if I were to advocate raising children as food? I don’t know. I know cannibalism, human sacrifice, child slavery have all had their advocates in the past. But now, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/132 "2013-11-26T17:01:10Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I’m doubtful that the Holocaust happened, as presented to us. I go along with David Irving on this, pretty much. I think that the Wannassee (sp?) Conference tapes were fake, mistranslated, or out of conference. > (Before you start cackling that I’m anti-Semitic, I will say that you are totally wrong.) There are no tapes of the Wannsee conference. There are, however, audio tapes of Heinrich Himmler (the [Posen speeches](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posen_speeches)) saying the following: > [@Himmler](#): > > I am now referring to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people. It’s one of those things that is easily said: ‘The Jewish people are being exterminated’, says every party member, ‘this is very obvious, it’s in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination, we’re doing it, hah, a small matter.’ […] But of all those who talk this way, none had observed it, none had endured it. Most of you here know what it means when 100 corpses lie next to each other, when 500 lie there or when 1,000 are lined up. To have endured this and at the same time to have remained a decent person - with exceptions due to human weaknesses - had made us tough. This is a page of glory never mentioned and never to be mentioned. […] We have the moral right, we had the duty to our people to do it, to kill this people who wanted to kill us. And on killing Jewish women and children: > [@Himmler](#): > > I ask of you that that which I say to you in this circle be really only heard and not ever discussed. We were faced with the question: what about the women and children? – I decided to find a clear solution to this problem too. I did not consider myself justified to exterminate the men - in other words, to kill them or have them killed and allow the avengers of our sons and grandsons in the form of their children to grow up. The difficult decision had to be made to have this people disappear from the earth. For the organisation which had to execute this task, it was the most difficult which we had ever had. […] I felt obliged to you, as the most superior dignitary, as the most superior dignitary of the party, this political order, this political instrument of the Führer, to also speak about this question quite openly and to say how it has been. The Jewish question in the countries that we occupy will be solved by the end of this year. Only remainders of odd Jews that managed to find hiding places will be left over. Himmler said all this, we have it on tape, and we have tons of eyewitness and documentary evidence of the Holocaust. Irving is way, way wrong. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/133 "2013-11-26T17:57:34Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > The vast majority of babies are not cute. They are also not the slightest bit interesting. Asking if I want to hold your baby is as pointless as asking if I want to hold your waffle iron, except the waffle iron most likely doesn’t smell as bad, so is actually preferable. Also, the waffle iron probably won’t heave large amounts of partially digested breast milk all over you. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/134 "2013-11-26T19:39:48Z")
Sean Connery was not the greatest James Bond. Pierce Brosnan was. George W. Bush did not deliberately lie about WMDs in Iraq. He was mistaken, and as surprised as anyone when none were found. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/135 "2013-11-26T20:09:26Z")
The sooner we get over our fetish over the Founding Fathers, the better. They were slave-holding aristocrats who would be completely lost if they suddenly appeared today. Who gives a shit what they would think about gun control? Nobody should ever say the Pledge of Allegiance. People who agonize over non-existent threats to remove “under God” from the Pledge have no business voting. Nobody is qualified to home school their children. Children need to learn from a variety of adults with different perspectives and knowledge. Citizen Kane was one boring ass movie. Most right wing fundamentalist politicians are privately not very religious at all. Being in the military does not make you a better or a worse person and there is no need for me to admire you. The space shuttle was a colossal mistake and there is no reason to send humans into space. ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/136 "2013-11-26T22:11:40Z")
Jennifer Aniston is not all that pretty. She barely qualifies as average. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/137 "2013-11-26T23:28:28Z")
> [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](#): > > Jennifer Aniston is not all that pretty. She barely qualifies as average. True, true. And, everytime that Yahoo! or some other page talks about her changing her hairstyle, I can’t see an effing difference! ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/138 "2013-11-27T16:16:02Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > … The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is boring as indicated by the Harvard Lampoon take-off Bored of the Rings. I sit on the floor and pick my nose And think of nasty things… I loved that book! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/139 "2013-11-27T16:21:55Z")
> [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](#): > > Jennifer Aniston is not all that pretty. She barely qualifies as average. True blasphemy! She is drop dead gorgeous! ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452/140 "2013-11-27T16:34:48Z")
[It’s bad enough](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brain-cells-searching-for-jennifer-aniston-neuron&WT.mc_id=SA_printmag_2013-02) that in 2005[she got her own neuron](http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050620/full/news050620-7.html). At least you can’t say she’s witless. (yeah, that was a stretch, but I had to do it) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opinions-that-others-would-find-blasphemy/674452.md?page=8)