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Time to play make believe
Posted: 09 February 2012 10:11 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 16 ]
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Aleksander the Electric - 09 February 2012 09:43 AM
nv - 09 February 2012 09:20 AM
Aleksander the Electric - 08 February 2012 12:37 PM

Let’s assume you, the reader, are NOT a muslim, and do NOT agree with their veiw, but are forced to live in a home with muslim radicals for exactly one year for the prize of 1 billion dollars. What would you do to cope with living with a radically differnet group?

Great thought experiment, but allowing any discussion or argument about its details ruins it. Here’s how the deal might be presented:

A person who proves himself to be trustworthy contacts you and offers you a chance to earn $1,000,000,000.00. To receive this amount, you must be able to live as a visitor among a radical Muslim group (of the presenter’s choice) for one year. If you get beheaded at day 364, no relative will inherit your hoped for $billion. The group that would take you in would be paid a small stipend for having you among them for a year—not quite enough money to make your presence profitable for them. You will be introduced as a relative of some unknown family from a wet climate, recovering from bronchitis and in need of spending one year in a highly arid environment for the sake of your health. You and the trusted presenter sit down at a table and he asks you to give him a yes or a no. No discussion whatsoever is allowed.

As easy as the deal might sound, I would not take the offer. If I thought I could survive in such a group for one year, I might consider it, but even if I managed to survive, the entire experience could easily end up negatively warping my mental well-being, and no amount of money would make it worth needing to live the rest of my life impaired in this way.

This, this is the deal, no discussion.

If that’s the case, then not for any amount of money. What if I drew a cartoon which I found amusing but which resulted in my death? Not worth it.

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Posted: 09 February 2012 12:25 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 17 ]
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For one billion dollars? One billion dollars would render my integrity worthless.
I’d convert, and bow down to Allah… for one year exactly.

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Posted: 09 February 2012 12:55 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 18 ]
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Dennis Campbell - 09 February 2012 09:38 AM
saralynn - 09 February 2012 05:58 AM

I would do it for $100,000.  I’d sit in the house all day and read.  I’m allowed to read, right?  If not, I guess I would watch TV and try to learn the language.

Selling yourself short again, Sara?

On day 354 Sara saw an ad on TV that her old team, the Saint Hellions, was in town for a game.  At the appointed hour, she climbed out her bedroom window and headed for the Arena.  At 1:30 A.M. she was seen on the household security camera entering the front door, limping, helmet in hand.
At breakfast, day 355, she was evicted.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $100,000.

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Posted: 09 February 2012 03:16 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 19 ]
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Well I guess if I’d be forced into this affair I would certainly pay my way out of participating in public stoning and decapitations, raids against, and murder of people of opposite religions. training suicide squads and any other militant activity, I’d declare myself as 12’th Imam and pay off enough followers and body guards, then I’d declare Al Kazali and his teachings false, and establish schools with real teachers and sciences under the cover of fighting Zionist enemy (it’s the only thing that motivates this people to do anything), slowly but surely I’ll restore the rights of woman in Islam and secretly sponsor anti-theocracy movements. this way if I’m beheaded somewhere in the process I’d have something to show for it.
Peace,
George.

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Posted: 10 February 2012 07:24 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 20 ]
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Dear George, I like the idea of freeing Islam from the rule of Taliban-ish theorocracy… Fight the power, and such. Also, I read what you wrote in my other post… And agree wholeheartedly. Go you
With love,
Aleksander.

P.S. I’m not gay, it’s just my way of signing off, so don’t judge.

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Posted: 10 February 2012 07:56 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 21 ]
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Aleksander the Electric - 08 February 2012 12:37 PM

Let’s assume you, the reader, are NOT a muslim, and do NOT agree with their veiw, but are forced to live in a home with muslim radicals for exactly one year for the prize of 1 billion dollars. What would you do to cope with living with a radically differnet group?

I’d keep my mind focussed on that billion dollars coming to me at the end of the year.

But what if it was ten years instead of one? What if it was a lifetime? And instead of a billion dollars, you’d get to live for eternity in paradise?

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Do-gooding is like treating hemophilia—the real cure is to let hemophiliacs bleed to death, before they breed more hemophiliacs. -Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

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Posted: 10 February 2012 09:31 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 22 ]
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Antisocialdarwinist - 10 February 2012 07:56 AM
Aleksander the Electric - 08 February 2012 12:37 PM

Let’s assume you, the reader, are NOT a muslim, and do NOT agree with their veiw, but are forced to live in a home with muslim radicals for exactly one year for the prize of 1 billion dollars. What would you do to cope with living with a radically differnet group?

I’d keep my mind focussed on that billion dollars coming to me at the end of the year.

But what if it was ten years instead of one? What if it was a lifetime? And instead of a billion dollars, you’d get to live for eternity in paradise?

Eternity in paradise? define paradise.

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Yes, you only live once, so make the best of your time on Earth. Change the world, You are the product of eons of evolutionary success. Act like it.

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Posted: 10 February 2012 12:14 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 23 ]
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Aleksander the Electric - 10 February 2012 09:31 AM
Antisocialdarwinist - 10 February 2012 07:56 AM
Aleksander the Electric - 08 February 2012 12:37 PM

Let’s assume you, the reader, are NOT a muslim, and do NOT agree with their veiw, but are forced to live in a home with muslim radicals for exactly one year for the prize of 1 billion dollars. What would you do to cope with living with a radically differnet group?

I’d keep my mind focussed on that billion dollars coming to me at the end of the year.

But what if it was ten years instead of one? What if it was a lifetime? And instead of a billion dollars, you’d get to live for eternity in paradise?

Eternity in paradise? define paradise.

Paradise…it’s where you can claim your bag of raisins of course… wink

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When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian

  rolleyes

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Posted: 10 February 2012 12:45 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 24 ]
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The thing is, a fat mans paradise is an eternity of cake, but not mine, so is it a paradise for YOU are a pear-o-dice for the one who earns the paradise in question?

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Yes, you only live once, so make the best of your time on Earth. Change the world, You are the product of eons of evolutionary success. Act like it.

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Posted: 10 February 2012 02:35 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 25 ]
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Aleksander the Electric - 10 February 2012 12:45 PM

The thing is, a fat mans paradise is an eternity of cake, but not mine, so is it a paradise for YOU are a pear-o-dice for the one who earns the paradise in question?

Paradise… Whatever you deem sufficient reward for a lifetime of wretched misery and subservience.

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Do-gooding is like treating hemophilia—the real cure is to let hemophiliacs bleed to death, before they breed more hemophiliacs. -Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

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Posted: 10 February 2012 07:25 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 26 ]
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Ding! we have a winner, live with Muslim Radicals for life, endless paradise in death.

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Yes, you only live once, so make the best of your time on Earth. Change the world, You are the product of eons of evolutionary success. Act like it.

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Posted: 11 February 2012 05:34 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 27 ]
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Dennis: Selling yourself short again, Sara?

You mean degrading myself for a mere $100.000?  Listen….it sounds relaxing. No more whiny, over-indulged students to contend with. I’d hide a few books and maybe even an ipad under my burqa,  pray 5 times a day, and eat….what the heck do they eat? Goats?  Oh dear…do I have to prepare the meal?  If so, I want $50,000 more.

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Whistle while you work.

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Posted: 12 February 2012 01:41 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 28 ]
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saralynn - 11 February 2012 05:34 PM

Dennis: Selling yourself short again, Sara?

You mean degrading myself for a mere $100.000?  Listen….it sounds relaxing. No more whiny, over-indulged students to contend with. I’d hide a few books and maybe even an ipad under my burqa,  pray 5 times a day, and eat….what the heck do they eat? Goats?  Oh dear…do I have to prepare the meal?  If so, I want $50,000 more.

Chaucer reckoned they “stinken.”

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When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian

  rolleyes

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Posted: 12 February 2012 06:20 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 29 ]
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Martin: Chaucer reckoned they “stinken.”

Aww….cute.  But, if someone else butchers it, I can stick that head in a soup and cover it with saffron.  or is that India?  You can tell that I have an unsophisticated palate, can’t you?  However, I do have a high toleration threshold for gross foods.  My family ate pig’s knuckles and they were always sitting right there in the refrigerator with a bold label on their container.  For some reason, my mother used to call Soy Sauce “chicken blood”.  No cow brains, however, although my husband’s family relishes them.

At this point, if any sensitive vegans are reading this, they are probably feeling like they are going to throw up their tofu.

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Posted: 12 February 2012 07:46 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 30 ]
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saralynn - 12 February 2012 06:20 AM

Martin: Chaucer reckoned they “stinken.”

Aww….cute.  But, if someone else butchers it, I can stick that head in a soup and cover it with saffron.  or is that India?  You can tell that I have an unsophisticated palate, can’t you?  However, I do have a high toleration threshold for gross foods.  My family ate pig’s knuckles and they were always sitting right there in the refrigerator with a bold label on their container.  For some reason, my mother used to call Soy Sauce “chicken blood”.  No cow brains, however, although my husband’s family relishes them.

At this point, if any sensitive vegans are reading this, they are probably feeling like they are going to throw up their tofu.


It’s pretty interesting what defines “gross foods” culturally. I’m generalizing, of course, but Americans will gladly eat mechanically separated “chicken” extrusions which have been processed beyond all recognition than chicken feet, which are considered a treat for my Chinese friends.
I have another friend who absolutely flips out when McRib makes it’s way back onto McDonald’s menu. Until he found out that it’s composed of varying organ meats (heart, tripe, etc) and the whole experience became unsettling for him. Industrialized food certainly has done something to our collective palate.
As for pig’s feet, my wife’s family still thinks they’re a delicacy, although since her grandmother passed, there are no more jars in the fridge.

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