This thread is in IMHO for a reason. It a poll of sorts. There are no right or wrong answers but there are rules. You have to honestly believe what you are saying. In other words, trolling isn’t allowed. The goal is to pick the most extreme stance that you honestly have that the greatest number of people that you know would disagree with at least when they first hear it.
Atheism could be one example but it isn’t a great one for the purposes of this thread because there are many SDMB atheists. You could pick something more focused however. Come out of the closet. What is it?
And who is the audience to be shocked? Posters here, or people in our circle of friends, or in our country? My answer would be different for each of those.
That such a thing as healthy, consentual child-adult sex is possible. About as rare as using heroin as a recreational drug without abusing it, but possible.
Human life is getting cheaper all the time. We need to reorient our social morality to prioritize conservation and biodiversity over individual rights. Individual rights still count, they’re just to be trumped.
I have pretty extreme views on drug laws. If it were up to me, I’d legalize everything - marijuana, cocaine, LSD, heroin, meth, crack, angel dust.
Is using drugs a good idea? Hell, no, that shit will kill you. But so will alcohol and tobacco. I just don’t see it being society’s business to forbid people from using drugs just because they can harm themselves with them.
I would agree to restricting access to drugs for minors.
If you can’t pick your own, the people that you would shock are educated people with a center political focus in your own country.
I will be brave and give an example. I honestly believe that human deep ancestral lines are much more complicated than is commonly portrayed. Current research shows that white people for a lack of better term are hybrids of Neanderthals and select populations that moved up from Africa in waves into Europe. Africa itself still contains many mostly unrelated populations who have been there since man began. It would be incredibly remarkable if all current populations were equal at everything and the differences are only cosmetic. This wouldn’t be a controversial opinion at all in 1800 but it is today and I don’t like the glossing over of the current research in the popular media. It isn’t racism because it isn’t based on the classical ideas about race but you can still easily be shouted down as one even with the best current scientific facts in hand if you bring it up. I wish such interesting current science weren’t such a forbidden topic although I can understand it.
I think that everyone should be sterilized at birth, and then to reproduce you have to go before a committee and show bank statements, credit reports, references, etc. Why should raising another human be easier than getting into a condo?
That aid organizations should not introduce healthcare into impoverished countries unless it is accompanied by significant, effective birth control education. And a mechanism whereby it is enforced in return for said healthcare.
I vehemently oppose the death penalty in developed countries, but I feel that in societies where women are imprisoned - or worse - for being raped, it should be introduced. There seems no other way to get through to the patriarchs in such cultures.
That the “self-hating Jew” meme is fascistic and a disingenuous fallacy designed to shut down honest discussion and political dissent from a single position of political orthodoxy, with particular regard to the issues regarding Israel’s position and behaviour in the middle east.
I’m with Little Nemo on the drug laws. Legalize them all. Those who practice self-indulgence would die. Those who practice self-discipline would live. After they buried a few friends, the next generation of teenagers would grow up, somewhat sadder, but much wiser.
We should also legalize prostitution. That way, the junkies would be able to support themselves until they O.D.
A good way to get rid of kittens is a burlap sack, a brick, and a lake. If you don’t have those a ball peen hammer is just as effective, just don’t swing to hard or you will make a mess.
Ha, I agree with all of the above to some degree already. Not that bad then.
Well, I honestly think that believing in a god is stupid. It doesn’t make the person a stupid person, it’s just a stupid thing to think. Probably not too uncommon on this board.
I also think it would do the world real good if there were a test before people were allowed to vote. They would have to point to the Middle East on a map, name a few world leaders, quote statistics related to some current political debates. Pass the test and you can vote. I know it severely restricts democracy, but I’m sick of stupid people voting.
ETA: MOST of the above. There were less there when I started the post
I honestly think that not all countries are in the position to govern themselves properly at the moment. If we are not content to stand by, then we should be intervening properly, by nation building; or just butt the hell out and let them all starve, kill each other, etc…
I believe those who are most vehement about the work ethic are also the most strongly opposed to kittens. Felines are notoriously ludic in their approach to life, and some humans cannot abide it.
I think most people who watch the Kenyan runners in the Olympics (who are primarily from one tribe, to boot) would be hard pressed to disagree with you on that point. I think there is a lot of research into why the Kenyans run so well.
Legalize drugs. All of them, honestly, why not? We have the strangest divide I’ve ever seen. On the one hand there’s the War on Drugs, which has been probably the single most divisive policy of my lifetime, and yet government agencies (law enforcement, prisons) have reaped huge rewards for it, to the detriment of society. On the other hand we have a sizeable percentage of the population functioning on legally prescribed mood elevators. It’s insane. Legalize everything.
Get rid of the automobile. Okay, probably not workable. Gas at $10 a gallon? Yes. $20 gallon? Whatever. Anything that can be done to get people out of cars and into something else–public transportation, walking, bicycles–just do it.
