Kishkumen wrote:Ray, I don't have allies. I don't belong to a team. Scratch and I may get into a fight tomorrow, a fight in which he threatens to reveal information about me. You just don't know. He's done it before. He may do it again. Darth and I have had pretty damned heated arguments over politics. We don't always agree. I doubt he considers me his bosom pal. I don't really understand this stuff about teams, and alliances, and who I am supposed to agree with and side with regardless of my personal opinion on a subject. It just seems so antithetical to the idea of being on MDB and loving the whole free speech atmosphere.
I think the real genius here is mercyngrace. Why, M&G explained in what I thought were very compelling words how, even though she is a follower of Christ, she doesn't have to go around the internetz defending Daniel Peterson from attacks. I think mercyngrace is awesome. She and I may differ on a lot of things, but I was totally with her on the idea of living the principles she believes in and not kowtowing to this baloney about the jersey you wear and which team you need to be on.
Liz is kinda like this too in her own way. She has friends. She helps her friends. She doesn't say, "well X is an ex-Mormon, so I have to be tougher on X than I am on Y," or vice versa.
Now, I think that you are right about the motives of some to destroy faith. They don't think believing in things they consider stupid to be a virtue on the part of the believer. I understand why that would be. At the same time, I am cynical to the point that I don't consider it to be an indisputable improvement when people stop believing in things that are not true, since they are liable to cling to something else that isn't true either. But there is more to it than that.
What I think is true is that we need to be always vigilant against the inhumanity of people against other people. This is something that knows no boundaries of belief or unbelief. It just is. People treat each other badly, sometimes spectacularly so. Again, I have been liking how mercyngrace is not about doing that, even when it means fighting the good fight for the cause of Team Peterson.
Now, I am not the best example of Christlike humanity or anywhere close, I grant you. I am a merciless tease who has an unruly sense of humor. I love to mock pomposity and sanctimony. It is a weakness of mine. At the same time, I try not to lose sight of the humanity of all of us--our shared suffering, beauty, and vulnerability. Why, I imagine I have had a kind thought and said a kind word about most of the people I have poked fun at and criticized. I don't want to be their enemies. I don't wish them ill.
So what if I find some arguments stupid and hate it when someone says mean stuff about Laura Compton for disagreeing with that old fart Boyd Packer? In the end we are all human beings. I refuse to reverence one any more than I do the other. I pray that I may never cease to be human and tolerant of all, ever striving not to harm others. Sometimes that latter part is sorely difficult for me, I'll admit. I do love to tease people.
I've never seen either Scratch or Darth express something "from the heart" as you just did. But I know you are an honest person. I've associated with you long enough to know that. Passionate, stubborn at times (aren't we all?), and opinionated (aren't we all?). And I know, and believe, that you have at heart the welfare of others, and that at least you would genuinely like to see attacks stop. I also firmly believe you have an open mind, but not so open as to absorb everything as "truth", but you're not inclined to mock that which you may not fully understand, or may not have fully investigated.
I don't see anything even near that sort of sincerity in Darth or Scratch. They are here overflowing with agendas.
