In article <c46ku3phn0r3hmhv6janlb85hgr4mpctsl@4ax.com>, 
mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom says...
> >Show me a time in history that this wasn't the case. lol Seriously, 
> >*everyone* is clueless about some things, a small number though rise 
> >above the majority, to varied amounts, due to upbringing, or natural 
> >talent, and often have, in some areas, a far clearer understanding of 
> >the world than the vast majority. The majority though, tend to look for
 
> >those that confirm their opinion, not those that challenge it (which is
 
> >one of the main traits that distinguish that other minority). 
> 
> But the knack is not to think or treat them like that or you end up
> "knowing what is best" for them. Then becoming one of the oppressors. 
> 
Very hard to manage, especially if you are pretty sure you are right. 
The one article I linked in one of the posts, "Lunch with a Liberal 
Christian", speaks to this. The hardest thing you can ever do is 
recognize that only the person you are talking to can find the right 
path, and that while you can guide, you can't force, and sometimes, they 
will insist on walking off the cliff anyway. Invariably, oppressors are 
people that see long term consequences that may be real or imaginary, 
conclude that they "can't wait" to fix things, and then try to "force" 
the change. This is why I talk a lot, but don't try to force things, and 
get irritated, most of the time, with those that do. Sometimes, you have 
to be an oppressor though, if only on a small scale. For example, turns 
out that Oregon has some wacky law on the books that says, "If a parent 
does something that result in harm to a child, but it was religious, its 
not as bad as if it wasn't, and Christians are **especially** 
protected." I mean, what the hell is that sort of law doing on the books 
at all, never mind in a state in the US? I would have no problem being 
an "oppressor" in this case, nor would most Christians.

http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2008/03/in_bizarre_religions_ritual_cu
.php

But, at the same time, while I would love to see indoctrination into 
some of the more insane BS that goes along with religion, there isn't 
really anything I can or should be able to do about it (beyond providing 
what, right now, is imho too limited, which is a way out for kids that 
realize they don't agree with some or all of it).

> >When churches have, on rare occation, 
> >gotten uppity and told people they didn't want to hear, the result where
 
> >usually not too good for the church. Though, its a toss up whether this
 
> >has been worse than the cases where they told their followers what they
 
> >wanted to hear, only to have those people later discover it was a lie 
> >(like a number of fun scandals the US has seen recently, of which the 
> >Catholics are but one in a broad membership).
> 
> Well you are on a hiding to nothing if you try to say that you are
> infallible. 
> 
Yeah. But this goes **way** past claiming infallibility. If recent 
evidence suggests anything, its precisely what I have strongly 
suspected. The louder the fool protesting other people's sins gets, the 
more likely they are projecting their own sins on people they can't 
imagine not having the same. And the people that keep getting caught 
with their pants down, figuratively or literally, are the most obnoxious 
and fervent complainers against the same sins they get caught at. That 
isn't fallibility, its a desperate cry for help from people that are 
convinced that the only help they have coming is from their imaginary 
friend, who will, in most cases, only *cure* them after they spend their 
lives trying to *cure* everyone else of the same immorality. Its a very 
disturbing mind set, and its *protected*, legally, traditionally and 
culturally, as unquestionable, outside the people that won't question it 
properly in most cases, and untouchable, unless it reaches a point where 
it starts effecting people *outside* its own doors.

Its sometimes enough to make one weep for the supposed ethical capacity 
of humanity, or physically sick at the acts committed.

-- 
void main () {

    if version = "Vista" {
      call slow_by_half();
      call DRM_everything();
    }
    call functional_code();
  }
  else
    call crash_windows();
}

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