I’m honored that you conceded the argument, if not gracefully.

I bought fuel at Costco yesterday, half the pumps were empty.

Thanks.

If whatever you believe means you feel you have the right to be unkind to people who believe otherwise, it’s problematic. Even if you want to hold onto a different definition of whatever it is you believe, if you use it as an excuse to be unkind it’s still a problem. It’s not the label that’s the problem, it’s the behavior.

If you end up acting just like them, why should anyone believe you’re any different?

Very “it’s not a warcrime if it’s not wartime” energy.

A muscovy duck isn’t a duck. Technically.

But if someone complains about all the misbehaving ducks in the pond and your defense for your duck’s musbehaviour is “technically not a duck!” you’re not really saying anything of worth.

Vegans

If it’s sauce for the goose, it’s sauce for the gander. Whatever your belief of lack of it, I want to see you respected and treated well.

Almost every religion has a tenant of the rejection of every other religion, and then goes on to persecute the other ones believers.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… it might be a duck.

I think they’re being disingenuous, because the government has been spying on all of us via end runs around the rules like “five eyes” for decades. If they want to go all CIA on you they just ask an ally to do it, then return the favor and spy on the people of other governments for them. All legal and above board, it’s just “intelligence sharing”.

And the NSA isn’t even barred from monitoring you in the fist place.

Do you think it shows weakness to be polite to those you disagree with? I think it works better to approach people with respect if I want them to consider what I’m saying. It already feels like an attack when someone says you’re wrong, and I don’t want to harden minds against what I think is right.

I’m not always good at it, and I have spoken to people harshly often. It never produced anything but hard feelings on their part. I think it can be satisfying to be mean, and I was looking for an excuse to act in a way that’s less moral without feeling bad about myself. I think even if I was right, I usually didn’t need to be mean about it.

I think that it’s likely nothing I’m doing on this website is important enough to justify me being unkind about it.

Atheism is a religious stance, and is practiced like one. When it’s used to harm non-believers especially it’s really easy to see this.

I wouldn’t give Christians or any other religion a pass on this, so I’m not giving Atheists one either.