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[kaijyuu]

Seriously, as a massive extrovert, I find simply asking what someone has been up to and discussing that is a good first topic. Maybe they have done something cool and want to talk about it. If not, well, your gonna have to do the running there I am afraid. This has the bonus of coming across as not too sleazy, polite, and also the big plus that it makes it sound like you actually care about them if asked in the right way.

This is what I'd suggest. And presumably you actually DO care about them, so you're not just "sounding like" it

[Hanslanda]

Seriously, as a massive extrovert, I find simply asking what someone has been up to and discussing that is a good first topic. Maybe they have done something cool and want to talk about it. If not, well, your gonna have to do the running there I am afraid. This has the bonus of coming across as not too sleazy, polite, and also the big plus that it makes it sound like you actually care about them if asked in the right way.

This is what I'd suggest. And presumably you actually DO care about them, so you're not just "sounding like" it

This. I find that 'How was work/school/your day?" Is about the most efficient conversation starter. If nothing happened fun, then you can be like, "That sucks. Next time you're having a lame day, let's hang out! /text me/whatever."
If something awesome happened to them, you can talk about that. Go with the flow.

[OREOSOME]

My favorite Social studies teacher retired, and now my little brother won't get the pleasure of having him. He was boring, yet funny at the same time. I think the main reason for this is because of the frequency of which he said now. For example, 1 month in to the school year, we had already lost count of how many nows there were. I think it was around 1000 or so.

[Xantalos]

Damn, Amazing Athiest. Note: swearing.

[Descan]

I used to be subscribed to AA. Then I realized that he is, a douchebag. So now I don't watch him.

What's the video about, and why is it sad?

[Hanslanda]

I used to be subscribed to AA. Then I realized that he is, a douchebag. So now I don't watch him.

What's the video about, and why is it sad?

Suicide. And Amanda Todd. And why Amanda Todd is martyred and why none of any of the other suicides are. It's pretty depressing to watch.

[penguinofhonor]

My best friend is most likely breaking up with his girlfriend soon. And I'm kind of happy he's being open about this since he usually doesn't discuss serious things like this with me, which makes me feel like a douche for being happy when he's so down.

I used to be subscribed to AA. Then I realized that he is, a douchebag. So now I don't watch him.

What's the video about, and why is it sad?

Suicide. And Amanda Todd. And why Amanda Todd is martyred and why none of any of the other suicides are. It's pretty depressing to watch.

Suicides get martyred all the time. Seemingly random ones get picked out and sensationalized. So why is AmazingAtheist picking Amanda Todd out of all the other popularized suicides to criticize? What hypocrisy.

/notentirelyserious

[Hanslanda]

He's got a fairly good point; eg, why aren't all suicides paraded as tragedy. Except this is a flawed and unjust world, filled with flawed people. You can strive to make it better, but it will always be far from perfect.

[kaijyuu]

Pretty much every suicide deserves to be martyred. Certainly a good criticism if it's pointing out how many get ignored


Few attitudes are more monstrous than saying a suicide victim somehow deserved it.

[misko27]

I used to be subscribed to AA. Then I realized that he is, a douchebag. So now I don't watch him.

What's the video about, and why is it sad?

Suicide. And Amanda Todd. And why Amanda Todd is martyred and why none of any of the other suicides are. It's pretty depressing to watch.

He is clearly a fraud, taking away from the First and most depressing depressing Atheist:

Joseph Dzhugashvili, Also Known As Koba the Butcher, Better Known As Joesph Stalin

"One man is always the dead, a million is just a statistic."

-Possibly misattributed. But it adds to my point.

[Hanslanda]

A million people is nothing. There are three hundred million people in the USA. One million is less than a percentage point. Sometimes I find myself confused about the value of human life. On one hand, I feel bad for people as mentioned in the video, that ended themselves out of despair, or people that are abused and broken and damned. On the other hand, I find myself coldly contemplating the kind of people that can allow such things to happen.

Like that quote. Once a man asked another man (Nietsche?), "Why don't you ask God why he allows such evil to be in the world?"
"Because I am afraid he would ask me the same thing."

What's worse? People being evil to another? Or being evil to the evil doers? Kind of a capital punishment type dilemma.

[misko27]

A million people is nothing. There are three hundred million people in the USA. One million is less than a percentage point. Sometimes I find myself confused about the value of human life. On one hand, I feel bad for people as mentioned in the video, that ended themselves out of despair, or people that are abused and broken and damned. On the other hand, I find myself coldly contemplating the kind of people that can allow such things to happen.

Like that quote. Once a man asked another man (Nietsche?), "Why don't you ask God why he allows such evil to be in the world?"
"Because I am afraid he would ask me the same thing."

What's worse? People being evil to another? Or being evil to the evil doers? Kind of a capital punishment type dilemma.

As always, I justify evil by saying that evil is inherent to free will, and that allowing evil is the consequence of The knowledge of your actions. To Be good (or evil) is to actively make the choice betweeen what is right, and what is easy. He could FORCE you, but that isn;t the same. You aren't being good if coerced into it. To be good, it must be YOU who decides to do it, and no one else. People do not always make that decision, and so there is evil.

Also, Monkeysphere dude. Explains everything. They just aren't human.

[kaijyuu]

Ah, the Problem of Evil. I'll just say shouting "free will!" doesn't excuse evil existing, and leave it at that

And as for monkey spheres, those are good explanations of common human behavior, but hardly an excuse for common human behavior. Monkey spheres can be at least partially transcended. You can give a basic amount of empathy to every living person, even if you've never met them.

[misko27]

Ah, the Problem of Evil. I'll just say shouting "free will!" doesn't excuse evil existing, and leave it at that

And as for monkey spheres, those are good explanations of common human behavior, but hardly an excuse for common human behavior. Monkey spheres can be at least partially transcended. You can give a basic amount of empathy to every living person, even if you've never met them.

You are beign a bit idealistic here. People can be very evil. Case-in-point: Armenians (yes, there is a more relevant Genocide. No I am not derailing the thread). The Armenians were mass killed by the Young-Turks, but they came to power blaming them. It was obvious to any involved what was going on, they admitted it to everyone, it still went on.

Second: Genghis khan. In Mongol Culture, The Horse was more important then man. People Lived entirely off of horses, eatign their meat, drinking their milk, wearing their leather, using them in their way of life. The Mongolian Honor ode refleacted this. When Genghis Khan Wiped Cities and towns of the map, he wanted (at least early on) Grazing room for his horses. He simply didn't care about the millions who were wiped off the face of the earth. He really didn't.

[kaijyuu]

Which can adequately be explained with the monkey sphere thing. I'm not disagreeing with you there. I just quipped that monkey spheres do not excuse such behavior, so while it does explain, it does not justify.

I'm not sure we really disagree on anything regarding the monkey sphere thing.