here's the problem: there is no reasoning with the truly irrational...

[madmadmad]

i'm being charitable when i say "irrational"- what i mean is should be on meds.

ran across this quote on a discussion board, when googling for the route of the rally against prop 8 march tomorrow. i think there are far more of this kind of whack jobs out there then we realize, and i find that a bit disheartening as it is simply impossible to reason with this kind of irrational belief system:

The bottom line is this, God has ordained marriage. Marriage itself is the only legal, and ligitimite venue that a family can exists on. Homosexuals can only try to remake family. For men its harmful to the body and for woman its useless. It is satan that has given people a desire so strong, has blinded the eyes, and seared the hearts of a people so bad that they're willing to fight for something thats against the rules of nature in the first place. In that case we might as well let people who feel its ok to have 5 wives go head and do it, people who want to sleep with animals, and etc. Learn to fight satan, turn from the ways of sin and grow up. What grown man wants to be with another grown man? Only satan can make that seem ok.

http://prop8talk.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=0b755223084f6624701a681f36852c06&topic=22.0

[lapfog_1]

1. Interesting...

"What grown man wants to be with another grown man?"

Ok, is the author saying here that it's OK for a "grown man" to want to be with something OTHER than a "grown woman"? And if so, what is allowed by God in this regard? I just want to know the rules here (as told by God to these people).

And why use the nebulous "grown"... can't these people say "adult" or "over 18" or ANYTHING more specific than grown?

[LaurenG]

2. So true

"there is no reasoning with the truly irrational..." Ugh and if it helps I work daily on not hating these people, they're horrible and ...well you know already. :hug:

[Eryemil]

4. Hating and trying to suppress hatred will probably have the same unhealthy result

So I personally would much rather indulge myself and hope that the sheer force of my hatred will indulge cardiac arrest on all these fuckers.

[mwb970]

3. Justifying hate and fear with religion.

This must be one of the oldest stories in the world.

[bluedawg12]

5. ah yes, falling back on mythology

of good and evil, like the middle ages. :eyes:

[RedLetterRev]

6. For years and years I've posted

on many a discussion board (usually when trolls show up) that you can't argue with crazy people. It is a futile exercise that will only result in making you just as crazy as they are. They live in an alternate reality where logic, fact, demonstration, science -- any of that -- have no meaning whatsoever. When anything threatens the delicate belief-system they've built up, they'll just shut down and get crazier.

They'll drag you down with it. If you can't get past them, go around them. If you can't get around them, just go over top of them and go on. If you turn your head from your goal every time there's a racket, you'll never get there -- and that's the object of their distractions.

[madmadmad]

10. good advice, redletterrev!

[NMMNG]

7. I said pretty much the same thing in a comment on somebody's blog

"Outreach" is only for those who are reachable. There are some people who are quite simply lost causes. For us to attempt any sort of bridge building with such individuals would be as productive as banging our head against a brick wall. :banghead:

By all means we should attempt to educate those who are educable and gain their support. But for people like the one you quoted there is only one option. Expose their bigotry and intolerance for what it is, stop allowing them to use it to deny us what is rightfully ours, and relegate them to the lunatic fringe of society where they belong. That's where the KKK, White Stormfront, the NeoNazis and similar groups are, and that's where radical anti-gay groups belong. *


*No, I don't deny anybody the right to hate whomever they want for whatever reason they want. I do deny them the perceived right to deny others human and civil rights based on their hatred.

[bluedawg12]

8. If out reach worked then dickcheney

would be an avid pro-gay rights proponent.

There are some who can be reached and there are some who are a total waste of time.

The trick is figuring out the difference. But judging by the huge amount of money donated by individuals in favor of PHate8, there is much more to this story than religiosity.

[yardwork]

9. Yes. And the same people will ignore other biblical teachings.

I don't know what's wrong with them, whether they're brainwashed or evil or filled with hatred or filled with despair or really stupid or what - but I've found that they are more strategic than one might expect in their picking and choosing.

I'm losing sympathy. I used to sort of feel sorry for them and give them a pass. No more. The hypocrisy has gotten too blatant.

The most fundamental teaching of the Bible, as I understand it, is that human beings have a choice. Choice is the bottom line. One can choose good or evil. One can choose to go with God or go against God.

Whatever their problems or justifications, these people are making a choice to hate, and we have the right to respond.