Kristen's comments (member since Feb 11, 2008)

Kristen's comments from the Atheists and Skeptics group.

I just read Frankenstein recently. I went to the wonderful world of wikipedia to read about the author and her whole life. Their free-love existence was suprising for that time period and fascinating. In my view, her work completely overshadows that of Shelly.

Tyler - I agree that the re-creation of governement and economies is not so pretty on the individual lives. I struggle with what the ultimate goal of having a society should be. These are my common questions: Peace for the majority? People able to achieve their highest potential? Society advancing to its highest potential? Its own sustainability and longevity? What obligation to humans have to each other? I really just don't know. When I think about the choices, socialist policies are always the most appealing to me.
Your comments on class are very true. I have always thought that all other sepeartions are merely superficial. Everything can come down to your economic place. The comments about white people wanting to run away from inner-city blacks, really come down to class not race. People run-away and try to seperate from poverty as they define it, which is different depending on what class you are in. This is a huge part of why I am mostly a socialist.

Even the negative publicity will perhaps get one person to think about what they really believe.

Tyler - I want to know what your ideal economic system is. :)
I think the answers from atheists will be just as varied as from the general population. Is one of the goals to form a society that will last, or is it alright if the society will cycle through collapse and re-creation?

"It is important to recognize that a duty that a person agrees to in a public capacity carries a different moral imperative from the one which a person might act upon in the capacity of an individual and private moral agent."
I think a person can have a public responsibility that doesn't correspond to their own moral code, but if it is wise to choose that responsibility is a different question. I personally would decline that profession.

I want to see the campaign spread to all the major cities. This will be fun. I think the fact that it at least gets people to ponder it for a minute of their day is good.

I loved his commentary. Thanks for sharing

We should make a separate discussion about Utopia's and whether it is useful to try and achieve them even though you know they will never come about.

:) R.C. does play a mean devil's advocate.
Access to prescription drugs is a different animal to me than asking someone to open me up and mess with my organs against their will. ;)
I think I have a lot of hope that our society will evolve to the point where this issue won't exist rather than get more out of hand. People who become doctors won't harbor dogmatic bias and everything will just be peachy.

HAHA Dan - You are way too good at coming up with perfectly fitting porn titles. :P

I really enjoyed reading that article. Thanks Tyler

I think your comments about female circumcision confused the issue. We went from discussing an adult requesting a medical procedure for themselves, to parents requesting mutilation for their children.
I think an adult should be able to ask for whatever procedure they feel they need, but I also agree that a doctor can refuse whatever procedure they want. I personally wouldn't want a doctor doing anything to me that they weren't eager to do. Like in most businesses it is best to state up front what services you won't perform.

I do agree that you can do both, they aren't mutually exclusive. As for the getting upset about people in our demographic not voting, well I try not to go to that thought. I do want to improve on the system that we have. By getting upset that other people don't vote I am assuming that everyone should feel the way that I do. Mainly, that they should want to improve the system that we are in. Everyone really isn't the same in that respect and they aren't all just lazy or stupid either. So I just accept it.

I really think this argument all comes down to a single issue. Should you work toward making the system you are in more to your liking, or should you just refrain from actively participating in existing systems and only work towards your ideal. I don't see either way as inherently bad, it is just a personal choice. I enjoy voting. I do know alot of people that refuse to vote and as long as they have at least thought about their choice and have a reason that they can describe to me I let it go. I think Zack has a reason to not vote and has thought about the choice. To me, nobody is immoral over their act of voting or lack thereof.

That is an interesting perspective and something I hadn't quite considered

I had this conversation with a Republican last night. This particular person is against laws like Prop 8. Anyway the view of most people I know is that eventually these laws will be changed. There is no way to stop it, just like with the civil rights movement. They will be considered as equals at some point. That is my hope and belief at this point. Of all the things that happened last night, watching these particular propositions pass was the most disturbing for me. I also think that the wording needs to be changed to civil unions. I personally believe that the government shouldn't recognize religious marriage at all, but everything should be civil unions.

WTF! Sometimes when I go to a thread I am surprised at the level of confusion it can inspire in me. Maybe we should make a list of requirements for putting up a thread.

I agree totally. I tend to just ask them at the end of that type of argument. Why would it matter?

Personally I feel it doesn't matter in any way. They did a lot of things back then that I don't agree with. The question to me is what is correct for us now. Either way, I think it is all just wanting to look to someone we think of as smart and good and have them tell us what is correct for us.

http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/