Really, do you know why it’s so entertaining? People like this post thousands of words and dozens of comments that completely contradict not only their own testimony but fact, as well. The more they try to sound intelligent and get one up on others, the more ignorant they reveal themselves to be. That’s why I take great pleasure engaging people like this when I have time. Everyone who reads their words gets a great laugh and they just keep right on posting, oblivious to the joke they have become. It’s funny how people can argue so vehemently for points that are so far away from fact and reality they wouldn’t even be noted in the Onion.

It’s not “ironic” that I call my old lady my old lady. That isn’t what irony is. And explain how calling you a concern troll is insulting your intelligence.

Also this isn’t an Internet forum, so no one here is a forum troll.

Liberals are “lefties” by definition.

I don’t think myopic means what you think it means.

And blah blah. I see you want to address none of my points just crawl off and sulk. Fine by me.

Watch how I talk to your old lady? What the hell are you going to do, tough guy? Your old lady (ironic you’d call her that, by the way) went ahead and tried to insult the intelligence of someone else in an effort to make your arguments seem valid. That, Rob, is an internet forum troll by definition.

The more you talk, Rob, the more I realize what kind of person you are. Let me guess, you think Liberals are “lefties” and are whiny people who are afraid to take aggressive stances on things. What I’m getting at is you judge an entire population based on its extremist segments. Really, that’s all you’re doing. I don’t think I’ve ever conversed with someone as polarized as you. It sounds like you’re picking and choosing what you read and it’s only further confirming your beliefs to you. That is, clearly, myopic.

Israel fighting a war with the entire Middle East is a better option then? That’s a war they can’t win, save for employing their entire nuclear arsenal and, instead of dodging missiles, trying to dodge nuclear fallout. No, your view of how they should handle things is archaic and, at best, will only make the fighting worse.

Anyways, you two seem perfect for each other. Like Lysol, I’m done arguing with recalcitrant people who are so myopic they can’t see past their own nose.

And I’m sure you’ll talk to each other and laugh and comment on how those lefties ran off because they couldn’t hack a dialogue. Or you’ll use what we said to further confirm to yourselves your skewed beliefs.

Cheers, hope you two learn to open your minds a little bit.

Jenn Q. Public…

Way to be a typical troll. Have fun trying to be an internet tough-guy. Yeah, you’re on that level. Feel free to troll elsewhere.

What are you, five? Your comment boils down to, “I’m rubber and you’re glue. Anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.” Time to grow up, sweetie.

And by the way, I’ve published a fair number of guest posts on Red Alerts so I’m obviously no troll. But call me “troll” all you want – maybe your sock puppet will show up to back you up.

The Westboro Baptist church is a cult made up entirely of one left leaning family (who supported Castro and Saddam by the way, and the leader was a fundraiser for Gore) but Islamic murders of gays aren’t the exception. You can’t judge Christians by Westboro because there is only one Westboro, but there are dozens of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s in almost every country that has a large Muslim population. Additionally while there are no pogroms against gays in Christian countries there have been attacks on Jewish communities by Muslims in almost all European countries. Explain if Fundamentalism is basically the same for both why that is?

“Dialogue.” When you came here under tow different names insulting me you consider it dialog, when I respond you lament that I don’t want to listen, even when I engaged you in debate that you refuse to answer. You’re not interested in dialog, just unjustified condescension.

And I’m not lording my Masters over anyone YOU asked me what my education was and I responded. Again, you’re oversensitive.

“Paganism” teaches me to see things as they are, not as I want them to be. I would recommend to you a book called The Masks of Odin which though written by a theosophist has the best translation of the Havamal I’ve seen. In the Havamal Odin lays out, in poetic form, advice for people to live good lives and one of the most important pieces of advice(in my opinion) is to call evil evil. Hamas must be judged by their actions, not through the process of some dialectic social scientists like to teach because they tend to be lazy. Hamas launches rockets which land randomly into Israel, Israel calls building they are going to target to tell people there to leave. Any man should be able to see the difference between the two but post-modernism (or really post-post-modernism) in academia has stripped many of the ability to be able to make simple distinctions. As a Pagan I am anything but post-modern, and proudly so.

Your answer to what Israel should do boils down into mincing about. If you were king of Israel and several of your towns had populations under constant threat of random rocket what steps would you take to protect your subjects? Would you tell them things were complex and there are no good answers, so have fun dodging rockets or would you do what you had to do to stop the rockets? Jews will not win a PR campaign in this world, where 1/4th of Americans believe Jews in league with the space lizard run Illuminati are responsible for everything bad, and good PR doesn’t stop rocket fire, so what your solution amounts to is to turn the other cheek Christian style until Hamas gets better with the rockets and wipes out the Jews.

And watch how you talk to my old lady. You’re the one trolling here with sock puppet. It’s you who should feel free to take your thin skin back to DKos.

Way to be a typical troll. Have fun trying to be an internet tough-guy. Yeah, you’re on that level. Feel free to troll elsewhere.

You’ve confused Islam with fundamentalism. I’m glad I got you to prove that.

Islam is quite a beautiful religion. Like all religions, it has its fundamentalists. Do I judge the entire Christian faith on the Westborough Baptist Church? Nope. It’s not fair to do the same to them.

Having a masters is indeed something to be proud of, but is not something that gives you the right to treat others in a pejorative manner. That’s just straight up arrogance.

It’s sad a dialogue couldn’t be opened. I suppose that goes both ways, but it really sounds like all you wanted to do was talk with people who agree with you. Sure, it’s much easier and comfortable to do that, but how can you possibly expect to not become myopic in doing so?

Does Paganism teach you to only see negative things? You’re really making it look as if you just want to wipe Muslims off the face of the earth.

As for what Israel should do… That requires a lot of discussion. Their place in the region is quite precarious (obviously) and… unique. They are a small country and the entire population is an army. They are surrounded by civilizations that would have them dead. Yet, as small as they are, they are for more technologically advanced and have much stronger weapons than their enemies.

The only way for Israel to proactively defend itself is for them to obliterate every single population that is against them. Obviously, that’s not attainable. Because of that, they have to be on a constant defensive. That is the nature of the beast. They may be safe in the region someday, but only time will tell that. What they are doing in Gaza is a message. It’s an attempt to tell their Muslim world, “Don’t mess with us, this is what happens.” Clearly, that strategy works amazingly against fundamentalist cultures.

Israel needs to win support. Their PR campaign is failing miserably. I truly believe that if more large powers in the world gave them the kind of support America does, things would calm down more over there.

What do you think?

And the band doesn’t suck. Thank you for being a gracious host, I’ll leave you to talk with people you agree with. I did take some of your comments to heart, but after sizing you up it doesn’t appear there’s much hope for dialogue.

Really, though. Look up thought-terminating cliches, because you are one.

I have a Degree in Comparative Religion (Go Bloomfield!) and Masters in Liberal Arts from Wesleyan. What’s your masters in?

The fact that Hamas crucifies political opponents (not criminals) is not irrelevant to judging them.

No educated person would cite Wikipedia as a source and expect to be taken seriously.

I’ve actually taken many Philosophy courses, one shy of having a minor in it in fact. It’s more interesting that you need to insult others rather than address their points. It is the very definition of moral relativism to claim Israel and Hamas are morally equivalent. Israeli doctors are caring for Palestinian wounded as we speak; Hamas is taking the humanitarian aid meant for the Gazans to treat their fighters. How can you claim they are equals?

I’ve never seen “The Big Lebaowski” but I have read Nietzsche. You however have decided to throw his name in because when you looked up Nihilism on Goggle his name was in the Wikipedia entry. But why don’t you enlighten us all as to what Nietzsche would have advised Israel to do?

“The rape scenario is beyond ridiculous. Proof that you don’t interact with anybody in real life that has a remotely different opinion than your own, because if you did you wouldn’t label everyone who points out flaws in your argument in the same fashion.” I’m not sure what this means. I didn’t attack you merely asked how your view on the Israeli actions would play out in an individual situation. You are either purposefully misreading the question or oversensitive. I’ll assume you won’t answer.

I’m sure you have loads to teach people. You sound so educated.

My views aren’t “skewed” by feeling about Paganism. I am a Pagan and my religion does provide me with guidance as to morality. Muslims routinely burn Witches today so if your point is that it would be unlikely I’d side with people who still condone burning me at the stake then perhaps you have a point. But it is no insult to accurately describe the lands of Muslims as lands taken by force from pagan tribes, and the Kaba was in fact a Pagan shrine prior to it becoming a center of worship for Muslims. Even very sympathetic scholars of Islam will tell you that. How is the truth an insult?

If my “state-state” analogy is so silly, then give an alternative. What do you think Israel should do, aside be driven into the sea that is?

And yes, Islam is an extremely violent religion. the 4000+ terror attacks by Muslims in over a dozen countries since 9/11 attest to that, as does the Jihad against Buddhists, the slave trade in the Muslim world that goes on even now, the genocide in Darfur and the protests of Israel that have been going on were people call the genocide of the Jews. But the reality is that because Muslims believe Mohammad was the perfect man, and he was a warlord, Islam has a built in pre-disposition toward war. Just as Christians have a built in pre-disposition toward weakness and martyrdom based on Christ’s example.

And how is it some dick who I am graciously allowing to promote his crappy band in my comments cannot drum up the civility to not make these petty personal attacks? What a sense of entitlement.