Most atheists I know are deep thinkers moved primarily by an earnest desire to explore honest (delusion free) ways of understanding reality.

So I didn't want to believe that this group would act on some childish emo desire for attention.

But I think you are right. If it's not the pathetic emo angle, then maybe its part of an well considered marketing strategy - to get a larger audience with an audacious name.

Yes, I agree with you. He was not trying to challenge the BLM movement. He was (a) trying to shut down one (or a few?) irate and out of control protester who kept screeching her talking points and who had no interest in an actual discussion. Also, he was (b) trying to defend some decision that he made years ago, on the basis that those decisions were good for "black lives" - literally. He probably had other goals, those were 2 that I saw and I agree he wasn't trying to invalidate the BLM movement.

My point is that the dominant voices in the BLM movement are so narrow minded, intolerant, and irrational that they won't stand for _any_ invocation of the phrase "Black Lives Matter" which isn't focused exclusively on their agenda. Taking the phrase literally is strictly verboten, and is (insanely) seen by many as the mark of a 'racist'.

So even though he had no intention of challenging the validity of the larger BLM movement, many people are going to (unfairly) interpret his statements as if he were.

Smartazzjohn is correct.



You may not find this use of the phrase offensive MsHarmony, but there are many brainwashed BLM supporters who get infuriated when a white person makes a comment like this; I read their posts on facebook and sometimes even hear them rant in person.

Many of today's anti-racists don't hesitate to use whatever dishonest tactic they can to control the conversation and silence other views. Bill Clinton was absolutely right about that point in his speech: They do not want to hear the truth.

Oh no he didn't!!!

Didn't he hear how the culture has changed lately? Using the phrase Black Lives Matter in *any* context other than 'black people dying during interactions with the police' is one of the worst ThoughtCrimes a white person can commit in 2016.





Sigh.

Don't worry about it. There are so many people who are so into making snap judgments that a the most successful dating app ever was designed to exploit this cultural norm.

Its not you.

Wow. Thanks Sassy for posting this. I always thought bankers were boring.


I agree, Ciretom:




Transgender activists are not fond of 'otherkin'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin

I often appreciate your sense of humor, SassyEuro, but sometimes I'm not sure which parts might be serious. Do you think that Satan worshippers are any kind of threat to anyone, in 2016?

Since so few people on college campuses are willing to call out the worst of the racist and bigoted 'anti racists', the insanity has just gotten worse in recent years.

The response to "Trump 2016" chalking is a great example of how this vile cult-like "safe space" and "trigger warning" movement is actually playing out wherever young liberals have influence.

They _claim_ they 'feel threatened' by protected speech such as "Trump 2016" written in chalk on the sidewalk. Since there is a popular ideological movement structured to support the idea that other people are responsible for our own feelings - that the universe owes us a life free from unpleasant emotional experiences - their bizarre claims and demands are taken seriously.

Some of these despicable manipulators are actively, intentionally seeking to suppress other people's ideas and opinions by claiming they 'feel threatened'.

Others are so far removed from reality, that they actually do feel threatened without any rational cause. One healthy response to this is to challenge that person's beliefs, give them the opportunity to grow and mature into someone who doesn't live in fear built only on lies. The 'safe space' movement does the exact opposite. The result is increasing numbers of people feeling threatened without cause. By indulging their delusions, we make life worse for them in the long run.

I'm with Moe on this. The kkk is relevant to understanding the present through understanding history, and they are 'relevant' as a coalmine canary for freedom of speech issues; but otherwise they aren't socially/politically relevant today.


http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/07/us/klan-numbers/




Can we all agree that members of the kkk are not the brightest? Who cares what they believe about a candidate? If some percentage of these 3,000 - 5,000 idiots think Trump is the second coming of christ - I mean, who cares?

I've seen relentless anti-trump propagandizing in which we are invited to think that _because_ some other person or group likes him, therefore we should not like him. I think this is a low form of manipulation. (Not saying you are doing it! Just using this as a opportunity to soapbox against what I see elsewhere).

We should judge Trump based on his own actions and words, not the way that some of those 3,000 kkk idiots interpret him.

It makes me wonder, though, why anti-Trump people choose to use such dishonest tactics to paint him as a racist. Maybe he is not as racist as the media makes him appear.



Yeah, the Trump candidacy (like BLM) is polarizing; polarizing topics are exploited by the media, with little regard for the truth. They make so much money off our emotional re-activeness, and both BLM and Trump get a lot of inaccurate coverage.

I agree that there is a serious problem, especially with today's youth in the 'anti racist' communities at universities, of outright bigotry, hatred, racism, contempt towards white people (simply for being white, or believing in freedom of speech, or believing that facts should matter) and that these destructive attitudes are being normalized in those communities. "Anti racists" openly blog, tweet, and post youtube videos making plain their contempt for white people, and broadcasting the twisted rationalizations they use to justify fostering racism and bigotry.

But the majority of black folks??? The majority of black folks over the age of 30 that I've discussed this with are too smart and wise for this poisonous form of 'anti racism'. The majority of black folks I know simple want the US to be less racist, and otherwise generally want everyone to get along.

I think there may be something like 40 million black people in the US. Imagine the noise that even the tiniest slice of that number can make. Its usually the worst part of any group who is the loudest. I see no reason to think that the majority of black people are like that.

Are you saying that you believe that a large percentaged of Trump supporters are KKK members?

Why?

Why do you think it represents the majority of black folks?

I'm sure some SJW is designing GI Zee right now...

Here is the actual content of the so called 'satanic' pamphlet. I agree with the blogger, its cute.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_satanic_childrens_big_book_of_activities_is_actually_pretty_cute

I don't really get why these atheists call themselves 'satanic'. Previously, most people accepted that the term 'satanic' meant 'devil worshiping'.

I found the actual so-called "Satanic" pamphlet in the newscast.

I was wrong about a Christian blogger being the cause of the mis-understanding, the actual news channel ran with "Satanic" without any clarification.

Here is a quote from the so called "Satanic" groups webpage:

Sassy, are you quoting this in response to my question of documenting the titles of the alleged satanic material?

Most atheists do not believe in any devils, and generally do not want to promote that kind of mythology. However, there is a book titled "The Satanic Bible" which advocates for a particular brand of atheism confusingly called LaVeyan Satanism:



I'd wager some Christian blogger saw the word "Satanism", did not know of LaVey, and ran with their mis-understanding. And now other bloggers are claiming that "Satanic" brochures are being handed out, leading people to think that the brochures advocate for devil worshiping.

This reminds me of these black kids who think they own the park - violently assaulting a white mother and her baby:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3141904/Police-issue-warrant-teen-attacked-girl-holding-baby-horrific-video.html

From what I've read of this issue, the school does have the Christian bible available in their library. And now they are going to have atheist literature available in the same way that the bible is available.

I don't know if this should be called 'distribution' in either case; its not like the bible or the atheist material is being handed out to each individual student, its just being made available in the library.

Edit: I wasn't able to confirm that truly satanic literature is involved, does anyone have a link that documents the actual publication titles? Maybe some blogger confused LaVey's "Satanic Bible" (an atheist book that does not condone devil worship) with actual devil worship.

I meant to speak about Apple's values, culture, and history more so than their platforms. Apple has OSX, iOS, as well as all of their services. The security of these platforms and services varies. Apple has been really behind the curve for years in securing their cloud services.

On the other hand, recent iPhones have rather uncommon and impressive security features, but they are not unique and they are the result of a company pursuing a market, rather than a company that has a history and a culture of valuing privacy, security, code quality.

The people who created Lavabit - those people truly value privacy and security as core values, not as mere marketing strategies. The same thing for the creators of the Blackphone.

Fascinating.