The Bill Gates e-mail that's making the rounds. (It doesn't sound very Christian)

[The Backlash Cometh]

Love him or hate him , he sure hits the nail on the head with this!



Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and
will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that
way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer.. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

If you agree, pass it on.


If you can read this -Thank a teacher!

If you can read this in English thank a soldier!!!

[tammywammy]

1. Not his

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.asp

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Thanks TW!

I agree with some of his points because I told my son the same thing. In school adults are usually a positive experience. Not so in the workforce.

[mainer]

2. I'm not sure why it's considered "not Christian"

It sounds like commonsense advice to a new generation that's been, sorry to say, over-coddled.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. And it doesn't sound Christian.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. huh?

"If you can read this in English thank a soldier!!!" - seriously, WTF?

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. I know. If that doesn't send a red flag as to who sent this e-mail, what does?

[Touchdown]

69. The tip off is before that. "If you agree, pass it on."

This appears in every right wing spam e-mail there is. It's usually accompanied by an "If not, then delete it!!" ... because as we know, only Republicans and teabaggers have the right to free speech. You and I have the right to agree with them or die as traitors. Notice how these little cliche's are always worded as an order? That's authoritarianism in plain view.

I like what somebody below suggested a third order... If you smell bullshit, go back to thanking a teacher.

[CBGLuthier]

3. snopes. snopes. SNOPES

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.asp

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. I just told the person who sent it to me.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. I won't even google it. Total Bullshit.

But go ahead, please provide a link that establishes the credibility of this pile of crap.

[rustydog]

6. And if you read and forward this, Billy-boy will send you $ 1000.00!!

:bounce:

[Matariki]

7. Whoever made this up is someone stuck in the 1980's

Come on - "a vice-president with a car phone"?? A car phone? Seriously?

[csziggy]

60. Well, the one Snopes.com debunked was from 2000

And probably old then.

[freeplessinseattle]

70. yeah, that was a huge clue right there

nowadays they're called cell phones and most high school kids have one.

[SidDithers]

9. Old, old chain e-mail...

does anyone have a "car phone" anymore?

Sid

[OKNancy]

13. That old urban legend has been around forever.

gosh, I think I saw this thing ten years ago.

[tkmorris]

11. Gates didn't say this, this is old stuff

The giveaway should be the reference to a "car phone" as an executive perk. No one has a car phone anymore, executive or otherwise, they have iPhones and Blackberrys, and even the burger flippers carry them.

[PassingFair]

14. OK, despite the fact that he didn't say this, and that he is a well-known atheist...

what, exactly, is "not Christian" about what is in your post?

:shrug:

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Well it hits the thumb with a hammer!

So who cares who said it? And as we all know, Jesus likely spoke Aramaic, so 'thank a soldier if you can speak English', which is fucking total militaristic bullshit anyway, is certainly unchristian.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Couldn't have said it better.

[SidDithers]

23. Have you not seen just how Christian the military has become?...

milataristic and Christian are certainly not mutually exculsive.

Sid

[Warren Stupidity]

24. I was referring to the purported person not the deity or the institution.

But your point is well taken.

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. Not Christian, by my definition, which admittedly is old school.

[PassingFair]

28. Christians are anti-military now?

:eyes:

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. Not Christian in the way that, let's say, Jesus would define Christian?

[PassingFair]

42. Was Jesus anti-military?

How about these Christians?



Anti military?

[The Backlash Cometh]

49. I'm sure he was.

I wouldn't judge him by anything that an anglo nation decided to do in his name.

[Warren Stupidity]

54. Those Christians were doing that circa 1200 CE

The Church of Rome had at that time little if anything to do with the teachings of one Jesus of Nazareth. But I certainly would not argue against the point that the Christian religion has been tied to militarism for at least the last 1,500 years or so.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

33. Gates is not an atheist.

Bill Gates own words......here's from an interview with David Frost:

Microsoft Cofounder and CEO, was interviewed November 1995 on PBS by David Frost. Below is the transcript with minor edits...

Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?

Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very, very positive impact.

Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know?

Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.

[PassingFair]

40. He doesn't say he's not an atheist there....

I agree with many "religious principles" as well and I am an agnostic atheist.

..."I don't know if there's a god or not" <-------- No god belief = atheist PLUS No god knowledge = agnostic

[ZeitgeistObserver]

41. He's an agnostic at best.

..."I don't know if there's a god or not" is an agnostic.

[PassingFair]

43. What's the difference between an agnostic and an atheist?

I consider myself to be both.

It is clear from Mr. Gates statement that you quote
that he is both as well.

If he has no GOD beliefs, he is an atheist.

If he lacks knowledge of GOD, he is an agnostic.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

47. An atheist says there is no god.

An agnostic says he doesn't know if there's a god.

a·the·ist   /ˈeɪθiɪst/ Show Spelled Show IPA
–noun
a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.

ag·nos·tic   /ægˈnɒstɪk/ Show Spelled Show IPA
–noun
a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as god, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.

[PassingFair]

56. There are many definitions.

At the root, however,

a-theist = without god belief....

theist = believer in god.

I do not DENY the existence of a supreme being, but I do not BELIEVE that one exists and I do not worship one.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

57. No, just one.

But I'm sure you can make up as many as you like.

[PassingFair]

58. There are more than one. But don't hesitate to define me.

It is merely the lack of theism.

Basic atheism is not a belief. It is the lack of belief. There is a difference between believing there is no god and not believing there is a god--both are atheistic, though popular usage has ignored the latter.
Freedom From Religion Foundation, 1992.]

The word "atheism," however, has in this contention to be construed unusally. Whereas nowadays the usual meaning of "atheist" in English is "someone who asserts there is no such being as God," I want the word to be understood not positively but negatively. I want the originally Greek prefix "a" to be read in the same way in "atheist" as it customarily is read in such other Greco-English words as "amoral," "atypical," and "asymmetrical." In this interpretation an atheist becomes: someone who is simply not a theist. Let us, for future ready reference, introduce the labels "positive atheist" for the former and "negative atheist" for the latter.
Prometheus, 1984.]

If you look up "atheism" in the dictionary, you will probably find it defined as the belief that there is no God. Certainly many people understand atheism in this way. Yet many atheists do not, and this is not what the term means if one considers it from the point of view of its Greek roots. In Greek "a" means "without" or "not" and "theos" means "god." From this standpoint an atheist would simply be someone without a belief in God, not necessarily someone who believes that God does not exist. According to its Greek roots, then, atheism is a negative view, characterized by the absence of belief in God.



http://www.investigatingatheism.info/definition.html

[ZeitgeistObserver]

59. You can define yourself any way you like.

However, when you talk to other people they will be using the official definition, and you'll be misunderstood.

In any case, Bill Gates is not an atheist.

[PassingFair]

62. The "official" definition is taken from the Greek root.

I gave it to you.

And yes, by definition, Gates IS an atheist. He is also an agnostic.

He does not BELIEVE in a god. (Neither does Melinda)

[ZeitgeistObserver]

64. Whatever.

[Touchdown]

65. Stephen Colbert says that Agnostics are atheists without balls.

So... enjoy that!:P

[PassingFair]

67. I've heard they are Atheists with a low sense of self esteem!

:hi:

[Oregone]

15. Nevermind

I see now this is right wing bullshit

[Generic Other]

16. I am pretty sure this is MY DAD talking

Or someone's dad!

[Desertrose]

17. Seriously. Who still believes this shit? n/t

[Dappleganger]

20. Old as the internet.

The giveaway was 'carphone'. ;)

[bridgit]

21. Like Gates doesn't have better things to do than write such drivel

[Warren Stupidity]

27. Or doesn't have access to better writers.

[bridgit]

29. Pft, dude I'm say'n - it doesn't even read like a Windows start-up prompt

[RandomThoughts]

26. I will respond to one of them.

Life is not fair - get used to it!


It will be, get use to it!

[iamjoy]

30. Another Give Away

Kurt Cobain.

Who talks about him anymore? Today's high school graduates were toddlers when Cobain died.

[Bluenorthwest]

31. Oh so clearly no the work of Gates, or anyone of intelligence

even as a fake it is bad. A 'car phone'? Is that delivered the same day as the mimeograph?

[OHdem10]

34. These points are so true. Ignoring them only hurt our children.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

35. Lost me at 'car phone'

:spray:

[Mother Smuckers]

37. I know many people who have cell phones semi-permanently installed in their cars.

Seems to me one could accurately call them car phones...
:shrug:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

52. It's all in the context. They make it sound like a perk reserved for captains of industry.

And Mannix.

[Mother Smuckers]

36. Well, whoever did write it - and whenever- makes perfect sense to me...

shrug
I don't see anything there that goes against genuine progressive ideals...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

38. Translation: Conform and join the rat race.

[Mother Smuckers]

48. Conforming isn't the only requirement, and nobody wants to LOSE the rat race.

Well, nobody I ever met, at least. :shrug:

[underpants]

39. The part about English is a regular on RW astroturf emails

I agree with a lot of that but I seriously doubt that Bill Gates said that let alone wrote it

[Bucky]

45. But there's an element of truth there. If it weren't for our fighting men...

we'd all be speaking Cherokee now. ;)

[underpants]

50. ha!

:bounce::rofl:

[Bucky]

44. "If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it's in English, thank a soldier". If you smell the BS

go back to thanking the teacher.

[Greyhound]

46. And don't forget that, in America as in the rest of the world, being born into wealth and

privilege is how you become a "self-made man".

Oh and taxes are too high...
:eyes:

[ThatPoetGuy]

51. This is so obviously NOT Bill Gates.

"You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school."

$60,000 a year is equal to $5,000 a month. When Bill Gates was a high school student, he was earning $5,000 a week, because he was one of only two people in his county who could program the computers that ran the county's energy systems.

[GSanon]

53. and noone will ever need more than 128k of memory...

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

ok, this is obviously from the 1980s - _CAR_ phone?

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
... 'cos back in the 1950s you could buy real estate on those kind of wages!

:argh:

[conspirator]

55. This email is seriously old. Nowadays I would say fuck the work ethics and fuck being

a good wage slave.

[Odin2005]

61. Fuck that shit! (except rule 11, WE WILL RULE YOU, BAHAHAHA!!!)

[Hissyspit]

63. Most of that old email is stupid pseudo-aphorism.

And, by the way, the characters on 'Friends' all had jobs, were shown at their jobs often, panicked when they lost their jobs, and there was an episode dealing with the income disparities between the friends.

[Warren Stupidity]

66. I guessed Seinfeld. Hardly anybody worked.

[northernlights]

68. not Bill Gates, RW bs which has made the rounds many times before

:eyes:

[G_j]

71. f you can read this in English thank a soldier!!! ????

somebody needs a reality check..

[Canuckistanian]

72. "Car phone"?

What, was this written in the 80's?

[samsingh]

73. this is probably fake.