Skylark posted:Of all the religions one can pretend to believe in to prove that they arent an "average internet atheist" person, Islam is maybe the stupidest. It's also the most obvious, because it's "punk" in that it's marginalized more than others due to its stupidity and current role in the world.
Crow posted:Skylark posted:Of all the religions one can pretend to believe in to prove that they arent an "average internet atheist" person, Islam is maybe the stupidest. It's also the most obvious, because it's "punk" in that it's marginalized more than others due to its stupidity and current role in the world.
It was almost certainly not done at a conscious level, but there's a strong drive for people here and in similar communities to brand themselves as one of "the good guys", and it's easier to do that when something is part of your identity rather than just being something you support in a vague way. I saw a post on here the other day saying, "hey you guys might say you support the worker, but iirc there's only p much one guy on this forum who has an authentic blue collar job," or something to that effect. Like a strength-based job, believing in a religion, especially such a marginalized one, is a shortcut to being perceived as an authentic "normal person". Again, I don't think it was done consciously but everyone on the internet wants to prove that they aren't one of those weird internet people, and saying that you believe in the old magic book is an easy way to make a minority out of yourself on the internet.
prikryl posted:
Skylark posted:Crow posted:Skylark posted:Of all the religions one can pretend to believe in to prove that they arent an "average internet atheist" person, Islam is maybe the stupidest. It's also the most obvious, because it's "punk" in that it's marginalized more than others due to its stupidity and current role in the world.
It was almost certainly not done at a conscious level, but there's a strong drive for people here and in similar communities to brand themselves as one of "the good guys", and it's easier to do that when something is part of your identity rather than just being something you support in a vague way. I saw a post on here the other day saying, "hey you guys might say you support the worker, but iirc there's only p much one guy on this forum who has an authentic blue collar job," or something to that effect. Like a strength-based job, believing in a religion, especially such a marginalized one, is a shortcut to being perceived as an authentic "normal person". Again, I don't think it was done consciously but everyone on the internet wants to prove that they aren't one of those weird internet people, and saying that you believe in the old magic book is an easy way to make a minority out of yourself on the internet.
did you know that getfiscal, has, in fact, never actually trolled, and all his posts have been sincere since 2002?
libelous_slander posted:did you know that getfiscal, has, in fact, never actually trolled, and all his posts have been sincere since 2002?
what a faggot
libelous_slander posted:did you know that getfiscal, has, in fact, never actually trolled, and all his posts have been sincere since 2002?
same
I was never able to be so obnoxious that I was banned. The best I could do was jump on a trolling bandwagon or alienate my real friends.
Yall all crazy as fuck. You should hang out with me irl, I do shit like visit argentine slums and all kinds of grat pope stuff.
Spatial_Reasoning posted:I always wished I was able to take these internet comedy forums as hardcore as you guys.
I was never able to be so obnoxious that I was banned. The best I could do was jump on a trolling bandwagon or alienate my real friends.
Yall all crazy as fuck. You should hang out with me irl, I do shit like visit argentine slums and all kinds of grat pope stuff.
we have to return some videotapes...
Corn and rice are another good example. The Bible forbids Jewish people from eating chametz – foods made from wheat, barley, spelt, rye, or oats – on Passover. Ashkenazi Jews consider corn, rice, and legumes, a class of foods called kitniyot, as forbidden on Passover as well. It isn’t that they’re forbidden, per se, but that they’re easily confused for the real thing. As I learned in my high school Talmud class, the medieval Rabbis decided to forbid these not-technically-forbidden grains because of a principle called marit ayin, which literally means “what it looks like.” The Wikipedia explanation is quite good: “While not against the laws of passover to consume kitniyot, a person might be observed eating them and thought to be eatingchametz despite the law, or erroneously conclude that chametz was permitted. To avoid this confusion, they were simply banned outright.”
Still, neither the Supreme Court’s reclassification of the tomato is a fruit, nor the medieval Rabbis’ designation of corn and rice as forbidden grains, is the most amusing example of non-scientific categorization. The Catholic Church has them all beat.
There were once between 60 and 400 million beavers (Castor canadensis) occupying the rivers and streams of North America, from the great white north to the deserts of northern Mexico. Then the Europeans came. With them came disease along with an insatiable desire for beaver pelts and for beaver castoreum, a urine-like secretion often used in perfume and cologne. Combined with the once-sustainable hunting of beaver by indigenous North Americans for their meat, the beaver population rapidly declined. (The species is now rebounding, thanks to trapping regulations, and now includes some 6 to 12 million individuals)
In addition to disease, the European settlers also brought Catholicism with them, and successfully converted a large proportion of the indigenous population. And the native Americans and Canadians loved their beaver meat.
So in the 17th century, the Bishop of Quebec approached his superiors in the Church and asked whether his flock would be permitted to eat beaver meat on Fridays during Lent, despite the fact that meat-eating was forbidden. Since the semi-aquatic rodent was a skilled swimmer, the Church declared that the beaver was a fish. Being a fish, beaver barbeques were permitted throughout Lent. Problem solved!
The Church, by the way, also classified another semi-aquatic rodent, the capybara, as a fish for dietary purposes. The critter, the largest rodent in the world, is commonly eaten during Lent in Venezuela. “It’s delicious,” one restaurant owner told the New York Sun in 2005. “I know it’s a rat, but it tastes really good.”
And it’s not just oversized rats that make for good eating in the run up to Easter, either. I have it on authority from my cousin Jerome (who knows everything) that “iguana tail soup is a fave for Lenten meals in Nicaragua.” Yum.