c59e0028   
   From: zzz.zzz@qqq.net   
      
   Reaper G wrote:   
      
      
   > I just did -- "I Don't Believe in Atheists" by Chris Hedges. Actually,   
   > it's rather repetitive and negative in Hedge's view of human nature,   
   > but it also makes the points that I've been making all along. And to   
   > clarify, Hedges has also written a tome condemning the Religious   
   > Right, so he's smart enough to treat both sides equally.   
      
   The only difference is that both sides are not to be treated equally. Do   
   you treat equally neo-nazis and those opposed to neo-nazism? Do you   
   treat equally chemists and alchemists? Communists and anti-communists?   
      
   It is one thing to listen to arguments from both sides and then form an   
   informed opinion based on respect of the fundamental principles of human   
   interaction, and it is another thing to insist from the start that both   
   sides of an issue deserve the same treatment no matter what.   
   Theism and especially its ugly form of organized religion deserves no   
   such respect because it is undermining those fundamental principles of   
   civil and human rights, respect of privacy, quest of knowledge, pursuit   
   of happiness if you will.   
      
   >> instead of just   
   >> watching stupid shit like South Park.   
   >   
   > If SP was stupid, I wouldn't watch it. It's the best satire on TV,   
   > with or without fart jokes, and the way they treated atheism like any   
   > other religion is proof of that. You must be a fan, or you wouldn't be   
   > here, right?   
      
   No, you are sadly mistaken. South Park is not a satire by any stretch of   
   imagination. At its best moments, SP is a cartoon show that bases its   
   humor on shock value, absurdities, exaggerated stereotypes and on what   
   seems to be increasingly passing for "funny" today, namely that   
   something is funny because it's stupid (see Tom Green, Pauly Shore, Adam   
   Sandler, MTV Jackass, as well as dozens of reality shows).   
   Satire requires wit and SP has little of it. For the example of this,   
   look at the way celebrities are portrayed in SP: Streisand, Gore, Oprah,   
   Affleck, Dawkins, etc.   
   How is any of those examples satirical? Putting a gun in the "hand" of   
   Oprah's vagina and having it talk? Having Gore endlessly repeat "I am   
   serial"? Having Dawkins have sex with Mr.Garrison? How is this satirical   
   in any sense of the word?   
   It is fucking retarded, but that doesn't magically make it funny, let   
   alone satirical.   
      
      
   --   
   If you don't beat your meat   
   You can't have any pudding   
   How can you have any pudding   
   If you don't beat your meat?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)