UNFFwildcard
New Member
ImprobableJoe said:Two points:UNFFwildcard said:While is should not be called a responsibility per se, there is a necessity to 'babysit' troublemakers as the consequences are not just their own. Every time some chalatan Christian does something illegal or idiotic, that negatively reflects upon every other Christian - myself included. Their choices do indirectly hold consequences for me. This can be made quite evident by the xenophobia and jingoism that emerged within the united states against all Muslim people after a petty handful of them decided it would be a good idea to suicide attack choice US military and economic targets using hijacked commerical aircraft. Those 19 individuals had just as much autonomy in their decision making as Thunderf00t did when he decided to capitalize on such actions through his rhetoric and blanket stereotyping. In terms of the public perception to whichever group such individuals were affiliated with (whether it be youtube atheists or all muslim people) the consequences of individual choice to either group affiliated were analogous. This is the price you pay for a group identity.
1) We don't have a 'group identity' here. We're barely able to hold together a "we" around here. Besides not breaking the forum rules, there's no sort of orthodoxy of viewpoint that unites all of us, and no deviation from a standard worldview will get you booted from here. We don't have an group identity in the way you imply.
2) Proof of that can be found in our own previous interactions. I don't think we've ever agreed on anything, and yet there's a place for both of us on this site. What would you like "us" to do to T-f00tie that shouldn't be applied to you, or to me, or to anyone who happens to disagree with someone else?
The problem with your two statements is that you consider group identity as merely an internal label. While AndromedasWake may protest that the LoR has no religious or political affiliation, the simple truth is that LoR is considered by virtually all non-patrons - and by many LoR patrons including myself - an atheist website. If Joe Christian or Joe Muslim were to come across this website, will their first (and lasting) impression be that this website has no political or religious affiliation/orientation, or will they consider it as simply an atheist's website? I thought so. Denying this is simply turning the LoR into an ivory tower - and an illusionary one at that.
At the heart of things, its a matter of 'the other perspective'. This overlaps with our previous argument over ritualistic cleanliness. You may disagree with the idea of atheists having a group identity, but I'm not trying to point out the way things ought to be, but the way things are. When you understand this, you will also understand why it was so imperative for your own sake that atheists call Tf00t on his BS. It was not a responsibility, but a necessity.