Unpopular or unorthodox views you hold

The BBQ Pit
1

Do you hold any unpopular or unorthodox views? I mean, REALLY unpopular or unorthodox. Among the many I hold are the following.

I don’t think that everyone has an absolute right to bring children into the world. Children who are poorly reared affect everone and therefore their upbringing is everyone’s business.

I don’t believe private property should exist. I’m not referring to personal property, which has a completely different character. Private property is income property. Corporations should be replaced by cooperatives.

I think that most prisons should be closed and the inmates be given jobs and counseling.

I think that all armies should be abolished and be replaced by lightly armed border guards.

I think that all the crap on TV and in movies should be replaced by PBS type programming.

I think football and boxing should be banned. Furthermore, I think that privatly owned professional sports teams should be abolished in favor of cooperatively owned teams.

I think that all fortunes over a million dollars should be confiscated. See private property attitude above.

I think that we should stop building houses primarily out of wood and that the National forests should be offlimits to logging.

I think that we should move as quickly as possible to a hydrogen economy. (Shoot! That one has become mainstream.)

I think people who engage in offensive bahavior (racism, sexism, etc.) should be brought up on charges and made to answer for their behavior by informal tribunals.

So there you have it. When you hold such views, you really can’t go around telling everyone what you think. They will think you are either looney or a dangerous phychotic. Please don’t let your children read this. I might be prosecuted under the Patriot Act or some such statute!

No debates please. Let’s hear your unpopular/unorthodox views.

2

  1. If you are paying for a service of some sort and experience a problem due to inefficiency or flaws with the service provider, you should be able to bill them for time spent on hold.

  2. Kids of convicts should receive major interventions. For instance, they should have mentors, tutors, coaches, etc. If they finish high school with a B average, they should get two year scholarships to community colleges. If these classes are completed with a B average, they should get two years from a state university.

  3. If flights do not depart and arrive on schedule, passengers should receive an appropriate discount.

  4. All senior citizens who live on less than $40 thousand a year, should get free drugs.

  5. Connie Chung should be forced to wear a t-shirt that says “I am a fraud”.

3

Most of mine kinda fit that category :slight_smile: OK…

a) The best academic / intellectual model for understanding the world is radical feminist theory, because the world’s structures and institutions are patriarchal in origin.

b) There is no such thing as “mental illness”, even if some people some of the time do have good results with the nerve-destroying pills that the psychiatric professions pushes.

c) It is not necessary or desirable to have any system of government in which there is a hierarchy of people in authority over other people.

d) The money system, and any other system for keeping track of who owes who what, or who has or has not done their share of the work, is unnecessary and undesirable as well.

e) We should not keep the concept of the sexual relationship bound up with the concept of the co-parenting relationship. They should be thought of as separate relationships that often (but don’t have to) coincide.

f) Laws should exist as the collective wisdom of the species, but should not be enforced by any formal law enforcement mechanism. Punishment most certainly should not be formalized and institutionalized in any manner.

g) I am God. I am a child of God. I am a manifestation of God. Everyone is a child of God. Everything that is is a manfestation of God. Not everyone is necessarily a Messiah, insofar as a Messiah is one who has attained an understanding of the wishes and will of God and therefore has a message for the people. I am a Messiah. It is not necessary to the success of a Messiah that the Messiah establish that this is so, since the veracity of the message should speak for itself if people will hear it, and since people who believe in Messiahs should not believe someone is a Messiah except infosar as that person bears such a message within which they hear the word of God.

h) There is nothing of or about God which cannot be explained strictly in terms that atheists would find acceptable, since God is not a supernatural entity and has no supernatural aspects. The truths pursued by theologists are not a different thing or a different reality than the truths pursued by students of the natural sciences.

i) The meaning of things exists in the relationship between them and those to whom they have those meanings. Nothing has meaning in and of itself, nor is meaning created within those to whom things have meaning. Objectivity therefore does not exist, and yet meaning is real and not subjective and certainly not solipsistic.

j) And Macs rock :wink:

4

Everyone should take personal responsibility for their own safety and health. If you are unable to defend yourself physically due to laziness or reliance on Police then expect the worst.

People who can’t care for children should be prevented from having them.

Anarchists should be denied constitutional protection in exchange for the right to continue to go on acting like arseholes.

Corporal punishment should be reinstated.

I’m sick of seeing so many goddamn flags. If being a proud american means I have to keep looking at tacky red wite and blue toilet mints and whatever else I’m call myself Canadian.

Fireman moustaches look like Toms of Finland homoerotic art. Whats with that?

Female comedians who rely on menstruation humor, black comedians who rely on “white people are lame/cant’ dance/etc” humor, white male comedians who rely on whatever white men do humor, and everyone else who uses their particular race/gender/nationality to make lame jokes should be kicked un the groin until dead.

Comics with MS who say they work at “Shakey’s” pizza can continue as usual.

Also NWA was better than Public Enemy.

5

Some of these concepts remind me of the Foremen’s song “You’ll Be There,” which includes the line:
When intolerant people are guillotined immediately…
As for my own unpopular ideas…well, use the SD Search Engine and key in my Username, along with any of the following topics: Blood, Jehovah, Carbon-14 dating, or Movies. I am in sympathy with many of the ideals thus far posted in this thread, but it’s a fair guess these ideas I posted on the SDMB will be pegged as unpopular.
Well, I dion’t believe, as Teddy Roosevelt apparently did: “Vox populi, vox mei.” :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I think everyone is a racist, and the ones that dont admit it need a kick in the ass.

I think that violence has been tabooified too much to the degreeto which it has become THE way of being socially deviant - ie psychopaths.

Prisons are a waste of money and a waste of human potential. Whats the difference between 20yrs and 30 yrs - what does that extra 10 years of hell teach you that you didnt learn in the first 20?

The matrix sucks as a ‘thinking mans’ movie - its an action movie. Get over it.

I hold a neutral opinion on the topic of religion… I essentially have no opinion, I know what a religous person gets out of their communion, but I understand the protests of the religion naysayers. I really have no opinion whatsoever on religion, and that itself is an unorthodox view…

Cops are people too (somewhat unpopular in a college town)

7

Originally posted by Pythagoras

I had a professor at El Camino College (he also teaches at USC) who seemed to encourage this attitude. He assigned us to read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and the first topic it takes up is that you don’t have to have “responsibility” if your cause is just. Tell THAT to a judge, or Rudoplh Giuliani… :frowning:

8

There is no God.

There is no such thing as psychic power or communication.

There is no afterlife.

Haj

9

Citizens should be required to perform some form of community service for the benefit of their nation (military service, corps of engineers, whatever). If they refuse then they should lose the right to vote, and their welfare benefits should be reduced/eliminated.

10

The following should be banned, in order of popularity: recreational drugs, cigarettes and cigars, guns, meat, cars, dairy, professional sports, and sugar.

11

1 - Medical science is weekining the human race by saving people who should have died in childhood/infancy so they can reproduce and spread there illness.

2 - Medical science is weeking the human race by providing fertility treatments to allow infertal couples to have babies (who might be infertal). Eventually we won’t be able to reproduce w/o medical science.

3 - resources should be spent on expansion (into space, oceans) not on internal problems.

4 - mankind must reach out toward the stars (if God gives us enough time) before the earth is rendered unlivable for humans or before we exhaust the resources of earth so we can’t travel to the stars (see #3).

5 - Guns should be encouraged for citizens. Shooting skills should be taught in schools.

6 - Instead of ‘one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind’ N. A. should have said’ I claim the moon in the name of the USA’

7 the baby boom generation was a setback for mankind (kind of cancles out the giant leap)

8 Clinton caused serious damage to our national security and will go down in history as one of the worst presidents in the US.

9 We should take the oil fields (back) by force. back becuase we constructed many of them before they were nationalized by Saudi Arabia.

10 social security was/is a pyrimid scheem that must fail

11 Many programs set up to ‘help’ the poor only serve to make more poor and make them dependant on such programs. This ever growing poor group has no chioce then to vote for the party that would maintain their benefits.

12 1st time criminal offences should carry a much lower sentence (maybe 3 days to 2 months for most crimes) THis would hopefully give most people a second chance while not making them hardened criminals and disrupting their lives too much so they can serve their sentance and return to productive lives. 2nd offence should be a life disrupter and sentanced about what is given now and 3rd time offenders should be locked up for life.

13 Property tax should be abolished and replaced by a income tax or sales tax.

14 teachers make way to much money

15 unions are good in general BUT gov’t jobs should not be allowed to unionize because we the taxpayers are paying the bill.

16 This message board should ban searches during peak usage time (the biggest cause of slowdown from what I hear) and should reduce graphics until the hamster can keep up.

17 moving violations should be based on vechical weight and/or monentum.

18 we are overtaxed (I couldn’t give a $#!+ that they are paying 2x as much in europe that’s their problem)

19 men and women are fundementally different and that’s a good thing.

12

The members of Hanson are really hot guys. :smiley:

13

I believe that intellectual property is a strange and harmful concept. Information should be freely created and freely taken. I believe that intellectual property laws hurt humanity as a whole and it is ethical to violate them.

I actually don’t believe that the concept of private property in general is a good one. You might call me a communist. I do believe that Marx’s vision will one day occur, although I am unsure how I feel about that. I do believe that most of society’s problems are based on economics, and we will never make any real “progress” without a revolution.

I believe there should be no armies. I believe that it is better to be killed than to kill.

I reallly really like riding on public transportion.

I believe that not wanting to work or be productive is a valid way of living life, and that that should not be tied to how much food and stuff one gets.

I believe that it is permissible to cheat on a spouse, even if an agreement saying that is allowed is not made.

14

I believe in God. That He is bigger than anyone and anything else, that He gave his will to us in the form of the Bible, that He came to Earth in the form of Jesus, that He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again in three days.

I believe in Heaven and Hell, and that we will all eventually end up in one place or the other.

I believe that homosexual behavior is a sin.

I believe that underage drinking is wrong (very unpopular in a college town).

I believe that prisons are too luxurious, and those who are rightfully sentenced to jail time should perform hard labor and should be allowed no conveniences like cigarettes or televisions.

I believe that Affirmative Action is racist.
Please don’t hurt me.

15
  1. I believe that there are no place for guns in a civilized society - anywhere.
  2. I believe that mentally abusing someone should come with a much higher penalty.
  3. I believe that prostitution is a legitmate career.
  4. I believe that people should not have the right to vote.
  5. I believe that communism really has some promise with a few tweaks here and there.
  6. I believe that treason should not be a crime.
  7. I believe that someone should be deemed mature before they can take a drivers test and that a drivers test (where the person would be actually driving) should be taken every 5 years.
  8. I believe people should have the right to fight a duel to the death provided both parties agree in writing in front of a witness. These duels would be fought using hand to hand combat of course, possibly swords. I’m sure you can now guess my feelings on euthanasia.
  9. The idea of different nations bother me and I believe that one world government would cause far less mess. I am well aware that this wouldn’t exactly be a simple undertaking.
  10. I’m not sure how unpopular this is, but I believe that Physical Education should be required throughout high school (I’m not sure how this works in the united states but when I went to high school, we were only required to take it twice and for one semester. I’m proposing that it should be taken throughout the year and throughout high school.
  11. I believe hygiene should be a course and should also be required at least once.
16

Ah drat! I forgot one of the biggest, alcohol! I guess that falls under recreational drugs, though. But caffeine is not recreational; I need that for my job.

You know, I realize that my ideas are not terribly groundbreaking, but compared to some things here… I mean, “I believe in God”, “I don’t believe in God”, “I don’t like taxes”, “Killing is bad”!!! Come on, people! I expected to come into this thread hearing about how people think that all novelists should be buried alive, or that black is the only color people should be allowed to wear, or that Arabic numerals don’t hold a candle to Roman numerals. I’m an American, darn it. I demand to be shocked.

17

I hate to see private iniative co-opted by government entanglements (particularly subbbsidies).

I really don’t think there’s anything unsightly about industrial development, drilling rigs, highways, etc.; big cities are, apparently, the natural habitat of much of the homo sapien population.

I really do think we should exploit what energy reserves there might be in the ANWR.

Space colonization might be doable.

Gay marriage is fine by me.

18

Stupidity, for the most part, is not an excuse.

If you do something stupid, you should not allowed to sue somebody because of your mistake. Example: If you stick your hand under a running lawnmower and your hand gets cut off, too damn bad. Maybe you’ll know better next time(This does not apply if there is a design flaw with the machine).

If you eat fast food for 30 years, have several heart attacks despite your doctor telling you to eat healther and get out and exercise, you do not have a right to sue. In fact, you should be fined for wasting the courts time if you try. You will also not be eligable for a heart transplant if you need one, unless you make an ernest effort to eat better and exercise more. If you feel you cannot handle the consequences of being able to pick what food you eat, there are nursing homes that can take care of that for you.

If you can’t tell the difference between the words “Gore” and “Bucanan” on a ballot, either learn to read or don’t vote.

You do not have the right not to be offended. Free speech means people are going to say thing you don’t like. Deal with it.

Being tolerant applies to those with opposing viewpoints as well as those whose views are like yours. Some people forget this.

I care far less about your pocessions then your actions. If you want to have a pot farm in your basement, a thousand issues of porn, 50 gallons of hootch or 30 handguns and pistol-gripped semi-auto rifles, you should be able to. If you kill someone, sell such items to childern, wave a gun at neigbors to threaten them, get high and then drive over several pedestrians, abusing friends or neighbors, etc, then legal action should and will be taken. That you had a bad childhood is a reason, not an excuse. Anything can be abused, that somebody could do something bad is not a valid complaint. If someone, however, has a history of it, then that is a valid complaint and proper restraint should be exercised.

No matter how rightous your cause is, it does not justify violence, vandalism, etc. If you feel otherwise, do not expect my sympathy when the cops throw you in jail.

“For the Childern” is not a valid arguement. If you have actual points, use them. Leave the childern alone. They deserve better then being used for political purposes.

Same with “If it saves one life”. Easy enough to claim. Provide proof that X amount of money, time and resources invested is worth that of saving a single life in a finite money, time and resources situation. Remember, such project has to be feasible, not just emotionally satifying.

19

Stupidity, for the most part, is not an excuse.

If you do something stupid, you should not allowed to sue somebody because of your mistake. Example: If you stick your hand under a running lawnmower and your hand gets cut off, too damn bad. Maybe you’ll know better next time, but the company is not responsible(This does not apply if there is a design flaw with the machine, but applies if there is a mental lacking on the part of the user. We shouldn’t have to make you get a license to operate your household appliances, but it appears some people need the training).

If you eat fast food for 30 years, have several heart attacks despite your doctor telling you to eat healther and get out and exercise, you do not have a right to sue. In fact, you should be fined for wasting the courts time if you try. You will also not be eligable for a heart transplant if you need one, unless you make an ernest effort to eat better and exercise more. If you feel you cannot handle the consequences of being able to pick what food you eat, there are nursing homes that can take care of that for you.

If you can’t tell the difference between the words “Gore” and “Bucanan” on a ballot, either learn to read or don’t vote.

You do not have the right not to be offended. Free speech means people are going to say thing you don’t like. Deal with it.

Being tolerant applies to those with opposing viewpoints as well as those whose views are like yours. Some people forget this.

I care far less about your pocessions then your actions. If you want to have a pot farm in your basement, a thousand issues of porn, 50 gallons of hootch or 30 handguns and pistol-gripped semi-auto rifles, you should be able to. If you kill someone, sell such items to childern, wave a gun at neighbors to threaten them, get high and then drive over several pedestrians, abusing friends or neighbors, etc, then legal action should and will be taken. That you had a bad childhood is a reason, not an excuse. Anything can be abused, that somebody could do something bad is not a valid complaint. If someone, however, has a history of it, then that is a valid complaint and proper restraint should be exercised.

No matter how rightous your cause is, it does not justify violence, vandalism, etc. If you feel otherwise, do not expect my sympathy when the cops throw you in jail.

“For the Childern” is not a valid arguement. If you have actual points, use them. Leave the childern alone. They deserve better then being used for political purposes.

Same with “If it saves one life”. Easy enough to claim. Provide proof that X amount of money, time and resources invested is worth that of saving a single life in a finite money, time and resources situation. Remember, such project has to be feasible, not just emotionally satifying.

20

No person should be charged with a crime unless they are harming the person or property of a nonconsenting other, children being nonconsenting by definition. (Paraphrased from Peter McWilliams’ excellent “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do”.)

Public stigmatization: As a sort of corollary to the above, self-destructive behavior (drug abuse, alcoholism, eating disorders, etc) should be mercilessly ridiculed by the society at large so that anyone afflicted with such a behavior, whether they chose it or not, will be shamed into seeking treatment. Sympathy toward these behaviors has a strong tendency to foster an unhealthy need for attention. Stigmatization has worked wonders with cigarette smoking in the U.S. You can smoke if you want to (with major exceptions since the last 10 or so years) but most people will think you’re a jerk.

“I shouldn’t be expected to pledge allegiance to a flag. The government should pledge allegiance to me.” (source unknown)