Is Christian paranoia increasing?

[Fweethawt]

2 hours ago, midniterider said:

So you're thinking all of this conspiracy stuff is bullshit? Or everything is bullshit?

Yes and mostly yes.

 

I think that now because, well, I just can't help to. There's just way too many people and groups out there trying to get other people to buy into their brand of bullshit either to gain followers or to feel more justified in spreading their "truth" because in their minds they think if more people believe them, the truer their bullshit is. 

 

So I tend to weigh things based upon what I can observe in my own little corner of reality against the bullshit I hear from other people. Rarely ever do they coincide.

[TABA]

18 hours ago, Joshpantera said:

 

This is vaguely familiar to a conversation I had with an old Pastor about Obama, socialism, racism against whites, and Muslim conspiracies. He was pretty sure that Obama wouldn't step down from his seat. Sound familiar? 

 

 

 

18 hours ago, TrueScotsman said:

Slander is all you have then, how civil.  

 

12 hours ago, TrueScotsman said:

Love how all our alt-right posters laugh at my concern over Nazis chanting in the streets of America.  How clueless can you get?

 

12 hours ago, ThereAndBackAgain said:

 

If I were the thin-skinned type, I’d call that slander. 

 

7 hours ago, TrueScotsman said:

You right wingers are essentially heckling and laughing at me, don't expect civility from me when you act like bumbling idiots.

 

5 hours ago, ThereAndBackAgain said:

 

I stopped expecting civility from you some time ago, unfortunately. 

 

5 hours ago, TrueScotsman said:

Likewise.

 

My last response above was unnecessarily terse and combative, and I regret it.

 

TrueScotsman, you have angrily left these forums on several occasions because of how you feel you have been treated by various people in the Totally Off-Topic forum, but I think you have failed to see or acknowledge your own contribution to raising the level of incivility when it comes to matters of politics and culture. 

 

Earlier today, @wellnamed gently commented as follows...

"I'm sure I'm more in agreement with TrueScotsman than many here about increasingly plausible threats from authoritarian strains of nationalism in the US. Despite that I think if this forum is going to comfortably accommodate people from across the political spectrum we do have to try to afford each other some minimal amount of respect, and that should extend as far as not going too far insulting each other as clueless bumbling idiots. To be clear, I also wish that notion of respect would prompt at least one or two of the more conservative members here to be less hostile and trollish in their posting as well, but since I've complained about people on the conservative side of late I guess I feel like I'd be hypocritical not to lightly chide you here also, TrueScotsman. Take it for whatever you think it's worth..."

 

But you were having none of it.  You saw yourself having no responsibility for any incivility...

"I'm not their doormat, I am frankly more worn out having been here longer and having had to deal with the constant trolling.  They want to be civil with me, I will be civil, but that doesn't mean I won't forcefully refute their arguments.  If they want to laugh at me and troll me for a very serious and legitimate concern, then I will let them know my opinion of their behavior.  Civility is a two way street."

 

You seem to be a smart and articulate individual, but you are sometimes quick to anger when you encounter disagreement from those to the right of you, and you have often rather quickly adopted a superior and hostile tone toward them.  You do not seem to respect the opinions or motives of those you consider conservatives or rightists.   You don’t have to agree with them, but when you impugn ulterior motives to them, things start going downhill.  You tend to lump everybody on “the right” together into one villainous pile.  You have a tendency towards straw-manning (misrepresenting the positions of those with whom you are debating) and name-calling.  Others are guilty of this too, for sure, and there are some here who seem to intentionally get under your skin.  Unfortunately, you make it rather easy for them, and then you cede the advantage even if you have a stronger argument.  Not every provocation or insult needs to responded to.

 

We all have our faults.  I'm going to do my best to disagree - when I do - respectfully. 

 

Peace,

TABA

 

[Joshpantera]

13 hours ago, TrueScotsman said:

I'm not their doormat, I am frankly more worn out having been here longer and having had to deal with the constant trolling.  They want to be civil with me, I will be civil, but that doesn't mean I won't forcefully refute their arguments.  If they want to laugh at me and troll me for a very serious and legitimate concern, then I will let them know my opinion of their behavior.  Civility is a two way street.

 

TS, I've read through again from the OP. Technically we aren't suppose to get into politics outside of ToT, but this doesn't seem to be too far outside of the context of the OP. It's a religious topic that involves religionist's wacky ideas about world politics and secret orders within the political sphere. I took this as light heart'd banter laughing and playing around with conspiracy stuff. I don't see my posts as being uncivil, nor the playing around and laughing that followed. At least they are not intended to be. I'll apologize if my posts were taken that way because civility is a concern and one that none of us should be breaching. 

 

But I'd like to stick to my guns here in as civil a manor as possible. I'm stuck between radical claims from the right and radical claims from the left all the time. I really had tea party guys down here in the south trying to convince me that the nation was going to be taken over by Muslim extremists, under the safety and protection of a Muslim Obama. And I was unconvinced of it. And of course they were wrong, no such thing ever happened. It was wild conspiracy. 

 

So when I liken your assertion about conservatives and something about dark times ahead, and fascism for the US, I really do see that as the polar opposite of what these extreme tea party conservatives were doing down here during the last term. I'm not convinced that fascism will be taking over any more than I was that socialism would take over, or that Muslims would take over. These to me, from a centrist oriented perspective, seem extremely unlikely and based largely on projecting the worst fears towards a perceived opponent or enemy. It's probably just human to do that. But it's not very different from what the christians are doing as stated in the OP and that's why I see all of this as still on topic and relevant. We ought to be able to laugh, poke fun, banter back and fourth without having to call it slander or being uncivil. That just poo poo's the fun of the discussion. Not everything has to be so dead on serious, wouldn't you agree? 

[ToHellWithMe]

4 hours ago, Joshpantera said:

We ought to be able to laugh, poke fun, banter back and fourth without having to call it slander or being uncivil.

Agree with the rest but I think if you poke fun of someone you have to take responsibility. It's not exactly reasonable to expect others to humor something they might be unable to take lightly.

It's a bit like patting the ass of a woman you're in good terms with. You know you can get away with it and you both know it's a joke and you don't truly disrespect her. Still, you can't expect every woman to take it well.

[buffettphan]

QUIT THE NAME-CALLING, PERSONAL ATTACKS, AND OTHER SNIPING OR THE THREAD WILL BE LOCKED. AS A REMINDER, HERE IS THE ORIGINAL POST.

 

 

On 6/26/2018 at 2:09 AM, Wertbag said:

I'm not sure if there is more paranoia around at the moment or if its just a case that I avoided it in the past and its been this crazy for a long time...

There is this idea that a secret group wants to rule the world, take away rights, destroy god/Christianity and bring about the end of the world. There doesn't seem to be agreement on which group it is; NWO, illuminati, zionist, bulshevick, communist, globalist, lizard people or the Rockerfeller family, but whoever it is they are satanists first and foremost. 

This group wants to take your guns, teach your children, poison your water, create wars, fake mass shootings, hide the flat earth, push evolution and are going to burn your bible. 

I always thought the lizard people meme was just a joke at the excessive lengths conspiracy nuts go to, then I met a lizard people believer... 

But when these ideas are voiced they aren't being met with the mocking they deserve. You see people threatening bloody warfare and civil war, against things that don't exist. The rage on display is frightening considering the lack of real enemy. It feels like it would only take a charismatic leader to play on that anger and fear and you could get violent cults who truly believe they are doing gods work. 

 

Am I paranoid of paranoia or are you seeing this upswing in crazy too? 

 

 

[hereticzero]

As the years go by, Christians and other religious fruit cakes get crazier and crazier. They are tired of waiting for God to come back and set things straight and want to get things started themselves. They want to be the instruments of prophecies they perceive are coming true. Anything can be prophetic if you look hard enough. 

[Aiyana]

On 6/28/2018 at 9:00 PM, Joshpantera said:

 

 

 

Totally agree with Joshpantera here. Neither socialism nor fascism are taking our country over anytime soon. I find it fascinating, in fact, how during the Obama years, one could find fear of socialism all over the internet. It was a constant "ZOMG! Obama is going to (fill in the blank) and we're all going to die in death camps made from shut-down Walmarts!!!!111!!!"

Now, during this administration, there is what I've heard called "Trump Derangement Syndrome", which consists of "ZOMG! Trump is going to (fill in the blank), all the gays are going to be electrocuted to death when the fascists take over!" It's this total 180 flip that would be rather amusing if it wasn't so sad. 

 

TS, I've read through again from the OP. Technically we aren't suppose to get into politics outside of ToT, but this doesn't seem to be too far outside of the context of the OP. It's a religious topic that involves religionist's wacky ideas about world politics and secret orders within the political sphere. I took this as light heart'd banter laughing and playing around with conspiracy stuff. I don't see my posts as being uncivil, nor the playing around and laughing that followed. At least they are not intended to be. I'll apologize if my posts were taken that way because civility is a concern and one that none of us should be breaching. 

 

But I'd like to stick to my guns here in as civil a manor as possible. I'm stuck between radical claims from the right and radical claims from the left all the time. I really had tea party guys down here in the south trying to convince me that the nation was going to be taken over by Muslim extremists, under the safety and protection of a Muslim Obama. And I was unconvinced of it. And of course they were wrong, no such thing ever happened. It was wild conspiracy. 

 

So when I liken your assertion about conservatives and something about dark times ahead, and fascism for the US, I really do see that as the polar opposite of what these extreme tea party conservatives were doing down here during the last term. I'm not convinced that fascism will be taking over any more than I was that socialism would take over, or that Muslims would take over. These to me, from a centrist oriented perspective, seem extremely unlikely and based largely on projecting the worst fears towards a perceived opponent or enemy. It's probably just human to do that. But it's not very different from what the christians are doing as stated in the OP and that's why I see all of this as still on topic and relevant. We ought to be able to laugh, poke fun, banter back and fourth without having to call it slander or being uncivil. That just poo poo's the fun of the discussion. Not everything has to be so dead on serious, wouldn't you agree? 

[VerbosityCat]

I always thought the Reptillian thing was some sort of "covert" anti-semitism. But apparently people REALLY DO believe in lizard people. I'm not even sure which of those things is worse...that people really believe in reptillians or that people might be using that as hater code.

[VerbosityCat]

On 8/6/2018 at 12:25 PM, hereticzero said:

As the years go by, Christians and other religious fruit cakes get crazier and crazier. They are tired of waiting for God to come back and set things straight and want to get things started themselves. They want to be the instruments of prophecies they perceive are coming true. Anything can be prophetic if you look hard enough. 

 

Yes, and this is the truly scary thing. Though I've wondered forever when they were going to figure out Jesus isn't coming back. I mean he was returning "any day now" 2,000 years ago. I feel like maybe he got lost and returned to a different planet.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

2 hours ago, Cat987 said:

 

Yes, and this is the truly scary thing. Though I've wondered forever when they were going to figure out Jesus isn't coming back. I mean he was returning "any day now" 2,000 years ago. I feel like maybe he got lost and returned to a different planet.

If there were life on other planets, it'd say so in the bible. 

[VerbosityCat]

38 minutes ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

If there were life on other planets, it'd say so in the bible. 

 

I almost replied to you to debate that point, but then remembered  where I was.