tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post2430599487654271679..comments2024-03-28T15:34:06.948-04:00Comments on the daily howler: Failing the challenge: Maddow among the Amish!<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-26355802646854607352011-11-14T08:30:05.628-05:002011-11-14T08:30:05.628-05:00Just found your blog and think your point of view ...Just found your blog and think your point of view is great.<br /><br />I was searching for Amish and bigotry. I work for a company that contracts with a warehouse facility in the northeast that has a staff. When detailed work needs to be done the prevailing wisdom is to hire the Amish as a cheap work force. (an Amish owned company)<br /><br />I have seen emails from the U.K. talking about "the Amish." Am I being too sensitive? I am originally from the deep south and grew up with segregation. I can even remember the signs on water fountains and in public buses. <br /><br />I can't imagine that I would see emails that say "the orthodox Jews" even if it was a company owned and staffed by orthodox Jews. <br /><br />Am I beign too sensitve?<br /><br />SandyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-89973710124404141612011-10-21T23:49:28.659-04:002011-10-21T23:49:28.659-04:00In a way, the essence of liberalism is knowing tha...In a way, the essence of liberalism is knowing that your opinions are that -- your own opinions.<br /><br />Hence liberty, equality, brotherhood, democracy.<br /><br />I believe bigotry means intolerance of other opinions. So you're right sometimes, it does seem to me Mr Lloyd, that it can seem to make the liberal weaker, by allowing bull headed bigots the field.<br /><br />Still, a liberal can't refuse to take his own side in an argument.<br /><br />But his argument is: liberty, equality, brotherhood, and the rule of law.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-65319164436070832742011-10-21T23:01:16.081-04:002011-10-21T23:01:16.081-04:00Mormonism is a weird form of Christianity, whether...Mormonism is a weird form of Christianity, whether you come from a Protestant or Catholic background. Mormonism is just as weird as Protestantism or Catholicism if you're not a believer. Although I could be wrong, I have a feeling that most people, all three of them, commenting on this blog are either not believers or are very particular in their theological beliefs. <br /><br />Apparently as this point in our society a "bigot" is someone who wants the world to be as they believe it is. The individual is the locus of control in their own life. We have to remember that the opposite of that is that without "bigotry" the locus of control is external, meaning that others get to dictate what the world is to an individual. Is this what freedom loving liberals and libertarians ultimately want? By forcing individuals to give up their own concept of what the world should be like, they are ultimately defeating themselves and giving up control to larger and more powerful forces.Harold Lloydnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-20827437446592686232011-10-21T22:24:13.256-04:002011-10-21T22:24:13.256-04:00what does mo have to do to finally be committed, s...what does mo have to do to finally be committed, start gnawing on the furniture and foaming at the mouth? i exhibit no surprise at her recent column, because she's been doing the same for the past 20 odd years. <br /><br />mo, the pulitzer committee called, they want their prize (and reputation) back.cpinvanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-44563719048237573502011-10-21T15:05:19.452-04:002011-10-21T15:05:19.452-04:00@snaporaz: Maybe because religion is about somethi...@snaporaz: Maybe because religion is about something bigger than factually true or false stories? Maybe because there are ways of understanding truth that are more enigmatic than "X happened and we can prove it," and the entire point of religion is to get at those truths? <br /><br />Just because Catholicism and Protestantism are older doesn't mean they should be judged by a different, lighter standard. There's plenty of reason to believe that the Bible isn't truth with a lowercase t. <br /><br />The argument that it's OK to make fun of Mormonism because it's "more obviously" a fraud is itself a fraud, a justification for making fun of one set of beliefs but not another that isn't based in fact. <br /><br />Now, religious fundamentalists like to say that their religion is meant to be truth with a lowercase t, but I don't see why the rest of us have to buy into that.Alex Blazenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-72730998464703939332011-10-21T14:57:50.086-04:002011-10-21T14:57:50.086-04:00I don't think that people need to go in the &q...I don't think that people need to go in the "Well, what if someone said that Dowd's religion is a cult and called it weird?" It happens all the time. There was a time when people thought drinking wine and eating bread but thinking that those things are a god's body was weird. Or that throwing water on your face and performing a ceremony in a language you don't know is weird. Or that explaining all the bad things you do each week to a pedophile in a little booth is weird. Etc.<br /><br />And there are plenty of Protestants who don't think Catholicism is a form of Christianity.<br /><br />So maybe Dowd is going to the "Someone once called my religion weird and now I'll take it out on someone else" route? I think that's Bill Maher's position, as he recently talked about how he was bullied as a child and now he bullies people on TV.<br /><br />Or maybe she just didn't know how to fill up a column. It's not like she has real opinions like Maher does.Alex Blazenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-75247951103322019762011-10-21T14:16:35.017-04:002011-10-21T14:16:35.017-04:00I don't think the a person who doesn't reg...I don't think the a person who doesn't regard Mormonism as Christianity is a bigot. However, Jeffers and the SBC can try and change the word "cult" to mean what they want it to, but that isn't what it means to most people when they hear the word. I don't know if there use of the word "cult" is poor word choice, or something more sinister, but it doesn't make it any better.<br /><br />I would be interested in someone asking Jeffers why he thinks voting for an evangelical Christian is more desirable than an equally qualified candidate who share similar views. I think that is bigotry, and very uncharacteristic of traditional Baptist beliefs.<br /><br />Having said that, Dowd's column still stinks.hardindrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05275899305949454964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-78713788988890101562011-10-21T13:59:34.223-04:002011-10-21T13:59:34.223-04:00She can say it about mormonism because it's su...She can say it about mormonism because it's such a new religion that it's easy for someone with even a 3rd grade history education to see that it is completely fabricated. <br /><br />At least Christianity has the excuse of its history being 2000+ years old. Mormon scriptural history, being much more recent, is demonstrably false on its face. <br /><br />Seriously, is Bob actually saying all religions should be treated equally in the public sphere? Does he believe all ideas should be given equal weight too? Isn't that the journalistic relativism we have been railing against for years?snaporazhttp://yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.com