[QUOTE=Cisco]
I’ve thought about this too. It’s kind of like how Al Sharpton is a jerk, and an ass, and over-the-top, and frequently indulges in wild hyperbole (Sharpton himself will pretty much admit to this), but he is a necessary evil, filling the niche of saying what a lot of people are thinking.
I used to see Diogenes the Cynic this way (and admire him for it), but he seems to have calmed down a lot.
[/QUOTE]
This is the second time someone has said this in this thread, and I’d like to address it directly, if I may (on the topic at hand: I don’t think badchad should be banned because he’s easy enough to ignore when he’s boring, which is most of the time, but then, I hardly ever think anyone should be banned). I just want to ask a question of Cisco and Ogre:
Why do you think that “saying what a lot of people are thinking” is in and of itself a good thing? Or do you think that what he’s saying is a good thing? Because all he’s saying boils down to “hey x-tians, your stupit, hnurh, hnurh, hnurh.” The fact that an opinion is unpopular and delivered in a strident fashion does not make that opinion profound or even useful. What has badchad done or said, in all the time he has been here, that has been worth a damn to anyone? There are plenty of people on this board who have religious beliefs that very closely align with those of badchad. Some of them can frame an argument, respond to questions asked of them… some of them are even pretty impatient with religious folks. But badchad is useless, pointless, extraneous on a board that has nonreligious people who have smart opinions that they can express clearly, cleanly, and well. I haven’t noticed, say, Diogenes the Cynic spending a lot of time hiding what he’s thinking. What important opinion, not represented by better and cleaner thinkers, does badchad offer?
And if it’s only that you want to see someone throw poop at religious people, why? I mean, why do you care?
I am myself not religious in any conventional way. I have a vague sense that there are probably things beyond my understanding - possibly even a God or other spiritual force - but that if such a thing exists, it is so far beyond my capacity for understanding as to make no difference in the way I live my life. So obviously I do not believe the things that, say, Polycarp does.
But I mean, honestly: I also believe, with utter and complete fervor, that Derek Jeter is profoundly over-rated. I think he’s a borderline Hall-of-Famer, and not even close to the best player on his own team. I am aware that there are many hundreds of thousands of people who believe that Derek Jeter is the greatest shortstop of all time. I don’t care. I don’t feel the need to harass them on message boards. I’ll discuss with them, but flinging poop gives me nothing. Now, if the Jeter fans go crazy when the Yankees win the World Series and burn down a building, or if a group of Jeter fans beat the crap out of some guy in a David Ortiz shirt - now those are people who deserve my anger, and my scorn. But the fans who cheer for Jeter and teach their kids to play baseball like he does, and to be a basically good guy and teammate? They’re OK with me.
Why is it of intrinsic value for anyone to abuse a religious person?
'Cause like I said, I’m not religious in any meaningful way. But I read tomndebb’s and Polycarp’s posts, and I learn things. They give me something to think about - even if I eventually reject their opinions as relevant to my own life. badchad has never made a single person on this board think about anything other than new synonyms for “pitiful.”
So as one of those magical “lurkers” on whom badchad appears to think his posts are having such a profound effect… eh. Not so much.