born to be atheist
Posted on: May 3, 2010 - 2:28am
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born to be atheist
Hi all,
Here I am .
Born in Russia, went to church a couple of times in my life.
... Live in the bible belt. 
Concerned about what my kids gonna do when they get older.
I am currently planning on not telling neighbors that we are true nonbelievers. I don't know how long it will last. I wouldn't mind to send all theists to "hell", but I don't want to put my kids on the line. It might be literally life threatening down here. So far everything's ok though.
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Pretty much the same story here. You get used to the hicks after a while. edit; for that matter you get a fairly good idea of how NOT to act from the "bible thumpers" and rednecks after a while.
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
Dubray ootra and welcome to the forums. I live near Toronto far from the bible belt both in distence and attitudes. Pazhalsta gavareetee that all north Americans are not closed minded like your neighbors.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Welcome to the forum.
Just don't tell everyone you're an atheist.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare
lol where in the hell did you learn your russian? why are you telling him/her "please say that all north americans...etc."? maybe i just don't follow your transliteration.
btw, i'm pretty sure "tovarishch" is a word that hasn't been used much since the days of lenin haranguing the workers in petrograd. i think something like "bratets" or "druzhok" might be more appropriate. unless, of course, our new friend is a lady.
(but i could be wrong. after all, i was born and educated in KY, so this is coming from one of the ignorant "neighbors."
)
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Russki learned at Central Maine Armory in 1971, Vast aged 16. Tovarishe vast commen veforish lenin but he gave it a bad name. I now know I should have used "Pazhalsta peneemayoot" which should be 'please understand". Das nastrovia?????? What is the word for "prick headed grammerian"?
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
pa russky nye znayu, a pa slovensky eta "kokot" a "debilko," a pa ameritsky eta "kanuk," uzhe panimayesh, sarkozy?
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Well...
'Tovaristch' /comrade/ is being used in Russia until now as far as I know. It is is slowly (very VERY slowly) being replaced by 'gospodin' /mister/. 'Bratets' or 'druzhok' is quite humiliating and in some instances may not be very far from a 'prick'.
'Brat' /brother/ instead of 'bratets' or 'droog' /friend/ instead of 'druzhok' would be better.
Please understand = "pozhaluista poimi"
"Das nastrovia??????" what?
"prick headed grammerian" can have multiple translations, but since I guess I know what you mean in English, I can offer you a slightly different word in Russian, but with the exact same use. "Pizdjuk" literally means "cunt headed man talking too much bullshit".
lol duly noted. our textbooks were from the '70s so go figure. doesn't tovarishch have a communist connotation? here in slovakia there is a similar word that was used during socialism to address teachers and bosses but it's no longer used.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Perhaps, in Slovakia you had an alternative address form for those who were not teachers or bosses. In USSR, there were basically very few other forms of addressing a person. We had 'tovaristch' - formal for any man, 'zhenstchina' /woman/ - for any woman (awful, right?), when tovaristch was used for a woman then such an address had a clearly communist connotation. Also, commonly used .... 'grazhdanin' /citizen/. Well, there are several other casual forms though, but nothing like mister.
Yes, 'druzhok' & 'bratets' are relatively neutral words in russian literature.
BUT, in modern spoken language 'bratets' is approximately '"my younger bro" (it's ok if you know the addressee well), and 'druzhok' often has sexual undertones ('moi druzhok" = my little friend <- "prick"
.
yeah, the word in slovak is "sudruh" or "sudruzka." nobody uses it anymore. also, the prescribed greeting during socialism was "cest praci," which means something like "glory to work." teachers said it to their students at the beginning of the lesson. sometimes "cest praci" is still used, especially when greeting friends while they're doing manual labor, but never in formal circumstances.
in slovakia there are several ways to call your friends, some of them local to eastern slovakia where i live. my father-in-law calls everyone "sarkozy" (with the original hungarian pronunciation) as a sort of nickname. it's also popular now to call people "bratn" with a stereotypical gypsy accent as kind of a joke. usually slovaks address a group of guy friends as "chlapci" ("guys"
and sometimes they call a friend "kamarat."
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Then you have elders in your family that can attest to religious belief existing under the former Soviet Union. For the past 60 years the right in this country has falsely sold atheism as the cause of the Soviet Communism, when it had NOTHING to do with atheists and everything to do with fascism. And Saudi Arabia and Iran are fascists states and religious. But to say religion didn't exist in Russia is false, it was merely oppressed, just like political opposition and business competition. But it never left, it was always there.
I can understand you not wanting your kids harmed. I cant speak for you because I don't have kids. But being as I myself live in the bible belt too, you'd be surprised how many people, including believers are tired of the right wing in this country.
All of my co-workers are some extent of belief from generic deist to my boss who has bible quotes in view of his customers and he knows I am an atheist, and so do all my co workers. They will never understand me, but whatever problems they have with me, are more to do with my own flaws and not my atheism.
I won't advise you either way. Your kid's safety comes first and only you can judge that. But do know that you are not the only one and there are plenty of people on line you can talk to who know what you are going through.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
Then you have elders in your family that can attest to religious belief existing under the former Soviet Union. For the past 60 years the right in this country has falsely sold atheism as the cause of the Soviet Communism, when it had NOTHING to do with atheists and everything to do with fascism. And Saudi Arabia and Iran are fascists states and religious. But to say religion didn't exist in Russia is false, it was merely oppressed, just like political opposition and business competition. But it never left, it was always there.
I can understand you not wanting your kids harmed. I cant speak for you because I don't have kids. But being as I myself live in the bible belt too, you'd be surprised how many people, including believers are tired of the right wing in this country.
All of my co-workers are some extent of belief from generic deist to my boss who has bible quotes in view of his customers and he knows I am an atheist, and so do all my co workers. They will never understand me, but whatever problems they have with me, are more to do with my own flaws and not my atheism.
I won't advise you either way. Your kid's safety comes first and only you can judge that. But do know that you are not the only one and there are plenty of people on line you can talk to who know what you are going through.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
Thank you Brian for your kind response!
I feel that I should correct you on some of your "beliefs" regarding Soviet Union.
Atheism has never been the cause of the Soviet Communism. I have never heard about this in soviets, and I hear it for the first time from you. It might take Sigmund Freud to explain this association.
Also, communist regimes have very little in common with fascism. Communists (and soviet leaders) have never deny basic rights of any group of people (unless you consider multi-million bonuses of bankers to be their basic rights
). Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, and Iran is an interesting religious democracy. Again, they are not fascist countries. North Korea or some African Countries may qualify though. Please don't label all countries that you may not know well as fascist, racist, democratic, etc.
Fascism is when our Saint Rush tells our fellow Canadians of Quebec on his radio talk show that they stop playing their liberal bs and learn to speak normal language that is of course English.
HE is allowed to broadcast almost every day. Should we call the US a fascist country after this? It does not require changes in the first amendment to remove Rush from air. Otherwise NBC could broadcast porno in prime time on public channels and I am sure their ratings would slam through the roof.
I think the current Iranian regime is displaying many of the characteristics of a Fascist regime. It seems to be manipulating the voting to keep itself in power, and is extremely authoritarian and intolerant of other political or religious beliefs.
Russia under Stalin was also shading over into Fascism. The true opposite to the regimes of Soviet Russia, Communist China, North Korea, Nazi Germany, etc would be Anarchism, which has severe problems of its own.
I don't go for communism as an ideology, but I think many people who have been inclined that way don't consider the Soviets were 'true' communists. They were using it as cover, a cherry-picked justification for their very dictatorial regimes, somewhat as Constantine adopted Christianity.
Religion, certainly the Abrahamic monotheistic kind, lends itself to Fascism. The Garden of Eden story is about the virtue of unquestioning obedience to Authority, under the threat of severe punishment.
Brian was saying that the Right in the USA have long claimed that Atheism leads to 'evils' like Soviet and Chinese Communist regimes, not that people in Russia actually believed that.
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
Oops, sorry Brian, sorry Bob.
Consider some part of my response as the response to the right-wing neo-con nazies.
I also consider religion and more specifically organized religion as a solid foundation for fascism. If the majority of americans do blindly believe in Jesus&God, it is not hard to imagine how this mass can be re-organized by churches for a new world's conquer. It will only take a few years of intense brain washing and Rush, The President.
thank you, thank you, thaaaank you! how many fucking times in the past two years have i said precisely this and damn near implored people to tighten up their political terminology, especially when it comes to throwing around terms like "fascism" with reckless abandon, only to be ignored?
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Fascism!=Communism
(Indeed, capitalist democracy and communism runs opposite of the so-called "Third branch of politics", aka Fascism)
I think the more accurate term many of you are looking for is "Totalitarianism", which certainly and EASILY describes Stalinism, Maoism, and National Socialism.
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
i'm not looking for the term--i'm altogether dissatisfied with it and rarely use it. political historian richard overy in his book the dictators basically argues that totalitarianism might be a convenient concept in historical discussions (we have hannah arendt of blessed memory to thank for it) but can't really be said to have existed anywhere to a significant degree. no "dictator," with the possible exception of the kims, has ever had carte blanche to do as he pleases. that's one of the reasons for purges: they're attempts by the dictator to overcome the inertia of a firmly entrenched and increasingly conservative bureaucracy, and they're not always successful. a dictator, by his very nature as first defined by roman republican law and subsequently borne out by history, cannot exist in conditions of stability and still maintain extraordinary executive powers.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
I don't believe Totalitarianism means anything other then total control of a given populace by a centralized government. Could be mistaken...
...ah-ha! Guess my original point stands. Your dissatisfaction with a word hardly disqualifies my remarks... y'know, for that matter, Nazis and Soviet were at each other's throat until the disastrous (For the Germans, anyhow) mass-surrender at Stalingrad... where 450,000 German Infanterie surrendered to Stalin's army.
"Tough titty said the kitty but the milk's still good."
(I love gloating over the triumph of my intellect, some days...
)
“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)
ok
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson