“Notice the words “good” and “talented”.
Talented doesn’t help your case, as witness the exceptionally talented liar Billy Blythe. As for “…good and eloquent enough to persuade…” I think that speaks for itself.
“I apologise if I have attributed personal prejudices to your arguments as opposed to talent, reason and experience. I was probably influenced unduly by phrases like “liberal filth”, “liberal scum”, “Satanic left”...”
No doubt. The Satanic left has decreed that anyone opposing them must weasel and waffle, speaking more in disclaimers than substance. Calling them what they are – Satanic filth – must be seen as evidence of stupidity and prejudice. It’s a very neat trick. They can say anything they like (for instance, that Bush enjoys the deaths of US soldiers), but their opposition must maintain utmost timidity or be labeled…oh, any one of a number of pejoratives. Well, I call BS. It is far past time to call them what they are. Oh, to be sure, words are inadequate to describe their perfidy, their moral bankruptcy, their repulsive dishonesty. But words are all we have, so I say let the expletives fly.
They are scoundrels…call them scoundrels. They are crawling, reptilian, treasonous godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing Communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts…call them that. They are a bunch of effeminate, leftist, pickle smooching neo Nazi would-be tyrants...call them that. They are crystal-crunching nutjobs…call them that.
“How is that not attempting to “discredit the opponent” (opponent?) by painting him as an ignorant individual?”
By now you’ve probably figured that out on your own. We all have areas in which we lack information. It’s part of the human condition. Telling a person that he lacks information on a given subject is not telling him that he is an “ignorant individual.”
“it’s very hard for me to array new arguments when I dont know which ones you have been exposed to.”
It would have to be one coined in the last ten minutes.
“I’m talking about me being unable to practice my faith because someone else was refused to practice his earlier.”
And my argument is that we are protected from that only by the decency of the men we elect, and our own. Preventing government from responding appropriately to whacko cults that in no way deserve the name of religion serves only to place us at the mercy of Satan. It protects our own freedom of religion not in the least. This is being played out daily in the US.
“Unlike you I live in a nation with a state religion. It doesnt work. I am a baptist in a country with very few baptists. I AM in a minority, and yes it does change your opinions (actually it just brings some opinions more to the fore).”
I lived for twenty years in a country that was only 2% Christian, of all denominations. I think I know a little about being in a minority. And one thing I know is that driving religion from the public square is not the same thing as protecting freedom of religion.
“There aren’t too many Catholics who correctly understand the teachings of the Catholic Church either :)”
We have quite a number here on FR. I’ve been able to learn a lot from them.
“Perhaps that is always the problem. Perhaps people are always against not what the other side believes, but what they think the other side believes.”
Perhaps that is sometimes the problem, but not always. As an ex-leftist, who spent a great deal of time tucked away in the pocket of the Earl of Hell’s weskit, I know very well what they believe…and why it is wrong, and why it is evil.
“You see something like the spanish civil war, and the two sides labelled as “fascist” and “communist”. It would probably be more accurate to label them “anti-communist” and “anti-fascist”.
It would be more accurate to label one side as “evil, murdering communist swine,” and the other as “everybody else.” The Generalissimo saved millions of lives…the lives of the Spaniards that the communists would have murdered if they had won.
“A very terrible thing.”
Satan’s actions are always terrible, and those he takes through the communists and other leftists are no exception.
“Talented doesn’t help your case, as witness the exceptionally talented liar Billy Blythe”.
I don’t understand this. You just said one way in which the good Judge’s opinion carries more weight is because he has “demonstrated intelligence and wisdom” and now you are saying that talent doesnt count??? By “demonstrated intelligence and wisdom” does that mean “believes something I do”?
“They are scoundrels…call them scoundrels. They are crawling, reptilian, treasonous godless unpatriotic pierced-nose Volvo-driving France-loving left-wing Communist latte-sucking tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts…call them that. They are a bunch of effeminate, leftist, pickle smooching neo Nazi would-be tyrants...call them that. They are crystal-crunching nutjobs…call them that.”
O....K....
I have a few problems with that....but OK.
“Telling a person that he lacks information on a given subject is not telling him that he is an “ignorant individual.”
Err...well...yes actually it is. Ignorance = lack of knowledge. If you are ignorant, by definition, you do not know something. Unfortunately, in the common parlance in use today calling someone ignorant equates to calling them stupid i.e. not knowing something AND not having the mental facility to acquire that knowledge.
“And my argument is that we are protected from that only by the decency of the men we elect, and our own.”
Very true. Unfortunately, elected representatives and governments change. And there is no guarantee that the men who follow will have the same vision or stature.
“I lived for twenty years in a country that was only 2% Christian, of all denominations. I think I know a little about being in a minority. And one thing I know is that driving religion from the public square is not the same thing as protecting freedom of religion.”
I bow to your superior knowledge and experience in this matter.