Me: AlaItalia believes himself or herself to be superior. AlaItalia is an asshole.
AlaItalia: But, but… I am superior.
Bwahahahah, God dammit. Stop, that’s too fucking funny.
I also have a high IQ (I can even join MENSA!). You know what that enables me to do? It enables me to score high on IQ tests. That’s about it, so fucking get over yourself.
And yes, I am an asshole. But that doesn’t mean I’m not right 
Hey, Hastur, I was just defending myself from what I felt was a mischaracterization. (S)he is correct that I am an asshole, thus validating the OP, but it was unfair of Beeblebrox to conclude that I make no attempt at understanding other belief systems or that I’m close-minded.
Sunglasses in the bin to your left. 
Chong: How’d he get around the world, man.
Cheech: Man, he used some magic dust
Chong: Magic dust? Man.
Cheech: Yeah, magic dust, man. First he’d give a little to Santa Claus, then he’d give a little to the reindeer, then he’d give a little more to Santa Claus, and a little bit more to Santa Claus, and a little bit more to Santa Claus, and a little…
Chong: Wow man, and that got him off the ground? Man.
Cheech: Got him off the ground man! It got him all around the world! Man.
Chong: Wow! Man.
If Alitalia thinks that scoring well on IQ tests is a significant measure of some innate “superiority,” he/she truly is an asshole. In my time as a (now lapsed) Mensa member, I discovered that the majority of the members I met felt that possessing a high IQ was a valid substitute for bathing regularly and having social skills. In addition, I would recommend that Alitalia read The Mismeasure of Man for Steven Jay Gould’s dissection of the flaws of intelligence testing. There is more to a person’s worth than can be found in three digits of an IQ score.
To quote Divine in Pink Flamingos, “There are two kinds of people in this world: my kind and assholes.” My kind of people are kind, quirky, generous, intelligent, and fun, characteristics that can be found in Christians, atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and animists. Conversely, assholes can also be found in every philosophical or religous segment of humanity, like the OP, who undoubtedly lives in fear that a little girl from Kansas may one day throw a bucket of Preparation H on him, thereby causing him to melt away. What a world, indeed.
To paraphrase Neal Stephenson:
Large amounts of religion are nonsense. A certain subset of each generation is intelligent and cocky enough to notice this, and conclude that all of religion in nonsense. This is why atheism is connected with intellectualism in some people’s minds.
And Alitalia will hopefully get over the smartest-person-in-the-room syndrome.
Do you ever associate certain posters with celebrities? So that when you read their posts, you picture, I dunno, Sean Connery saying it?
AlaItalia is now and forever going to look and sound like Peggy Hill in my mind’s eye.
This has to be my favorite comment I’ve ever, ever read on the Dope. From the beginning, quoting a famous transvestite, to the segment where many of the major faiths of the world are mentioned, to pointing out that many members of those faiths are walking, talking rectal matter, to the unforgettable reference to the Wicked Witch’s final words while being doused in a patent medicene, I am in total awe.
Nice work, Bear. I’m going to print that out and hang it in my cubicle.
b
Atheism seems to be becoming a sort of fad (please don’t kill me for saying this, I respect those of you who are aethists because that’s what they believe (or should I say, don’t believe). All of the aethist assholes I’ve met are the ones involved in this fad, generally the punk-rocker types.
There is “strength in numbers”, so the assholes will feel more comfortable being assholes when there are more of their kind around them. That’s why so many Christians (and some other religions) can feel comfortable being assholes a lot of the time—they figure they’re in the majority.
But I’ve also encountered atheist assholes, even on this board. Since Christian bashing is somewhat more tolerated here, the atheist assholes sometimse will really come out of the woodwork. And yes, they can be every bit as insufferable as their religious counterparts.
This situation reminds me of an old job I had a few years ago. In the dept. where I worked, I was outnumbered politically. The other people in my dept. could get really nasty and insulting with me, whenever political issues came up in discussion. It could get really uncomfortable.
Then, during the busy season at work, we hired some temp workers. Who, coincidentally, shared some of my political views (and who were sharp as tacks, too!). All of a sudden, the numbers were evened out. I could almost feel the sulking shock of my political “opponents” when they realized that the party was over. They were no longer enjoying a majority. All of a sudden, these people who used to revel in insulting me and starting arguments were saying that they “didn’t like to talk politics” and so forth. Oh, I enjoyed that irony so much…
That’s what human beings are like, I reckon. Depressing, isn’t it?
Oh, and gobear—sheer poetry, sheer poetry. You always impress.
[inquiring minds want to know hijack]
So I’m curious. I did a search on lolo and pretty much came up with nothing. Can someone tell me what went on with him/her?
[end inquiring minds want to know hijack]
AlaItalia, I’m not going to rag on you anymore about the “intelectually inferior” thing, but there is still this:
was it really that unfair? I was responding to this:
**Right there you say you will never understand. Never. Do you still wonder why I called you intelectualy lazy and closed minded?
Dreamer, this is lolo:
You can find more of his gems by simply typing “lolo” into the search function. You probably forgot to make sure you were searching under “any date”. The asshole has been banned for awhile.
Whoa! As a punk (actually, an Industrial GothPunk, but never mind that), I have to say that an important part of our belief system is to be an asshole whenever required for the greater good of society. 
Wait! Dammit, I just described lolo as an asshole. He’s not an asshole - he’s an idiotic nutjob. AlaItalia and myself are assholes, there is a difference. That idiotic nutjob is beneath contempt, and I won’t have him sullying the good name of “asshole”.
Beeblebrox:
Right there you say you will never understand. Never. Do you still wonder why I called you intelectualy lazy and closed minded?
No, I get it, and you were right to call me on that. I DO have a problem thinking I’m just a [Church Lady Voice] little bit superior to everyone else. [/CLV] I’ll work on that. Thank you for not being as nasty as I probably deserve.
Miller, I don’t watch that show, but amazingly enough, with my glasses on and my hair up, I do remarkably resemble Peggy Hill!
Reprise
p@cific@812
Revtim
Thank you for your posts. I think more on theis board could take some lessons from you three on how to put forth a coherent argument.
AND
Jaakko
Pldennison
Racinchikki
Jinwicked
AlaItalia
grendel72
Please see title of post.
I just want to state for the record that the fact that I am an asshole is wholly unrelated to the fact that I am an atheist.
Noted!
Out of curiosity, do you remember what came first?
Please see .sig…
(I’m neither a theist nor an atheist - does that mean I’m never an asshole? 
)
Has this been addressed? The only people that are or should be villified are ones who would use our government to coerce people toward their particular religion.
Apache seems to have a misconception that is very common these days: Mistaking people who believe that freedom of religion in the United States is sacrosanct for people who wish to remove religion from people’s lives. This misconception has come to the forefront in recent times with the flackover the Pledge.
Unfortunately for all of us, every time the government moves toward a “respecting” of any religion then your religion and that of every other American is cheapened. It is you and your religion that these “Assholes” are trying to protect when they try to keep the government out of your religion. If you love your freedom then you need to fight any effort of the government to impose religion on you and other Americans. The fact that the religion that they wish to impose might be yours is irrelevant.
People who love their religious freedom are not limited to atheists.
If you wish to live in a country where the government endorses religion may I direct you toward England, Saudi Arabia or perhaps Sudan?