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[Frumple]

It's sadly(?) just dogwhistle code for fuck brown people, mostly. Probably some strongman bullshit on the side. If you're looking for something that gives a single damn about the actual conditions of any particular sort of drug use, you're barking up the wrong narcissistic senile tree.

Wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being self-correcting otherwise, given trump's investments (which have little chance of not having notable pharma connection, for all that I haven't actually checked) and shit like down in panama. Eh.

[Telgin]

A bit of a derail of the current subject, I know, but I have to post this for my own sake.

As a Christian, I see way, way too many people who want to go to church because their friends are there, or because their family went there and it's familiar, or because they want the Wednesday potluck, or in the worst cases I've seen because there are less (insert race) here.

Or you could be like me and be stuck going to one you don't want to because of your family and your fear of what they'd say if you told them you weren't going back.  See below for why.

A church that had been around for something like 75-100 years in the area recently closed shop because of their refusal to change this stance, and while I am sorry to see an institution with that kind of history go, it was very far past time for that kind of toxic rhetoric to be removed from the community. They had so many other ties to good things that were lost because of their unwillingness to drop hate (big charity events, hosting free summer camp, and hosting a secular special ed school were among these).

The ancient small church I get dragged to is slowly headed this way, but I wish it would happen much faster.  Attendance has dropped off from the 50s per sermon from about 10 years ago to about 20 now, but mostly because the old people are dying and no new people will come.  They blame it on the evils of society and how nobody wants to go to church, but I have a different idea.

I think it might have something to do with the fact that they have on two separate occasions that I can remember (I recorded the dates so I wouldn't forget) claimed that the Bible says that blacks and whites marrying is a sin.  Hey, didn't Moses marry an Ethiopian woman?  Oh, I'm sure that they'd say that Ethiopians weren't black back then since just yesterday I heard the preacher say that the curse of Ham is where all of the black people came from and that "we've had nothing but trouble since we brought them here."

Or, maybe people get tired of hearing the incessant politics and the preacher and his family swearing that Trump is president because God put him in charge of our country.  I can at least say that after 8 years of it, Obama is no longer president so they don't claim he's bringing the UN soldiers to instate martial law anymore, but I'm growing severely tired of hearing how much God must love the most despicable person I know of.

Oh, or maybe the time the preacher said that God was going to kill John McCain from his brain tumor and send him to Hell because he voted to keep Obamacare instead of trying to make poor people less able to afford health insurance drove some people away?  I almost snapped that day.  I can't recall ever being that angry at a person in my life and have never wanted to throw a Bible so hard.  I was angry for days after hearing it.

And, of course, there's a big church opening somewhere nearby and all they can talk about is how terrible those big churches are and how they don't have any God in them, unlike this one.  They have a coffee bar and sing songs that weren't written almost 100 years ago!  It's awful!

Sorry, I know you've stated multiple times that you get tired of hearing people talk about Christians like they're all like this, but when I find an opportunity to vent on it, I have to.  I know that not all Christians are like that, but it's so prevalent around here it's hard to not feel like it.  Several times I've considered writing a manifesto and nailing it to the church's door, but I'm sure the reference would be lost on everyone there, and it wouldn't change anything anyway.

[redwallzyl]

Those people sound a lot like they are following a particular culture rather then the religion they claim to follow. They have an idea of what their religion is but have never actually critically thought about it or attempted to learn about it in depth. They are just blindly following a form of christian pop culture. I hate those kinds of people. In fact i kind of dislike protestants in general despite technically being. They have no grounding or sense of history or scholarship. Many are more like insular cults then a religion. I can respect the institution of the old catholic church and eastern churches. They have a long tradition and history and strong institutional scholarship and value careful inquiry. I get the impression many American protestants, especially the evangelical ones have never even picked up a book on church history.

[Cathar]

Hey, because I'm not in the US, news have a bit of latency before I get them, but I just learn that Shkreli, the villain from the fifth element, got sent to jail ten days ago.
Also the judge decided he represented a danger for society, so he'll go to club fed playing dont drop the soap with the blood and crisp in a level 3 to 5 prison.
Wow this lightened my day, even tho it's not related to his pure evil price jacking.

Do you guys know if there's prosecution for price jacking still to go on? Will more time will be added or is this the extent society can slap his face?

[Max™]

Sadly he doesn't fall far enough into the price fixing territory to actually get anything serious there, last I checked.

[Cathar]

Ah, well. That's too bad, but maybe that will spur some reforms?
Besides if karma acts up and he gets buttaids by the time he comes out, that would do for me.

[scriver]

Those people sound a lot like they are following a particular culture rather then the religion they claim to follow. They have an idea of what their religion is but have never actually critically thought about it or attempted to learn about it in depth. They are just blindly following a form of christian pop culture.

Religion is inseparable from culture.

[SalmonGod]

Those people sound a lot like they are following a particular culture rather then the religion they claim to follow. They have an idea of what their religion is but have never actually critically thought about it or attempted to learn about it in depth. They are just blindly following a form of christian pop culture.

Religion is inseparable from culture.

Thankfully, culture is separable from religion.

[hector13]

I foresee argument that was had in another thread repeating itself.

[redwallzyl]

Those people sound a lot like they are following a particular culture rather then the religion they claim to follow. They have an idea of what their religion is but have never actually critically thought about it or attempted to learn about it in depth. They are just blindly following a form of christian pop culture.

Religion is inseparable from culture.

No, not quite. They are separate things that influence and shape each other. You can have a cultural identity that has become almost inseparable from a religion and you can have a cultural identity mostly Independence of religion. It can be hard for people to see the line as they have not spend an amount of time thinking about it and have no separate frames of reference.

[Dunamisdeos]

I think we had that argument in this one. We probably shouldn't have it again.

Those people sound a lot like they are following a particular culture rather then the religion they claim to follow. They have an idea of what their religion is but have never actually critically thought about it or attempted to learn about it in depth. They are just blindly following a form of christian pop culture.

Religion is inseparable from culture.

No, not quite. They are separate things that influence and shape each other. You can have a cultural identity that has become almost inseparable from a religion and you can have a cultural identity mostly Independence of religion. It can be hard for people to see the line as they have not spend an amount of time thinking about it and have no separate frames of reference.

Ugh, too late. I agree with redwall on this. I also feel like it's dangerous, extremely dangerous, to let culture and religion become identical or inseparable. They do need to be kept as separate concepts, no matter what religion it is. They should effect each other only insomuch as every single thing we do or believe will inevitably shape out culture as a whole.

Anyway, I for one chortled loudly at the reference to Shkreli as the villain from 5th Element.

[wierd]

Zorg?

The real villain was the dark planet, using the alias "Mr Shadow."

Zorg strikes me more like the Zuckerberg type though. Maybe the Steve Jobs type. (Especially since his full name is "Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg." That is totally the kind of moniker a super hipster douche would have.)

[Cathar]

Anyway, I for one chortled loudly at the reference to Shkreli as the villain from 5th Element.

Just tell me his face doesn't litterally say "I can't wait to educate the Mangalore about scifi gun pricing"

[wierd]

He does have that rather intense flavor of "smug", but personality wise, No-- Much more Zuckerberg IMHO.

Including the internal gestapo.

[Dunamisdeos]

This just in - Shkreli chokes on cherry in prison mess. Tries to charge priest 500$ for Heimlich, dies.