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Oswald Spengler believed and wrote in his massive work Decline of the West that every civilization goes through a period where it nucleates into an expansive twilight phase. He believed it was at that point a an ethical-political philosophy which had already appeared in the civilization sometimes centuries earlier becomes popular among the elite. For Rome, this was Stoicism. For the Magian civilization, Islam. In Ancient China, the elite philosophy was Confucianism. He believed this philosophy would be for us, the West, what he referred to as “ethical socialism”. However, he wrote disparagingly about National Socialism and Communism. He did champion what he called Prussian Socialism, which was a form of socialism most appropriate, he thought, for Germany, assuming Germany won the right to decide this elite philosophy which as we all know it did not. He was worried that its main rival “English socialism”, a sort of Billionaires’ socialism would win the day. Well, the English didn’t exactly win the right in his view. The Americans did. So it’s unclear what sort of socialism he would’ve ascribed to the Americans and which sort of socialism is likely to become the elite philosophy of the future in according to his worldview.

What do you think?
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>>24742221
Spengler's fatalism makes me cringe.
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>>24742221
oswald spengler was a fool who got a lot wrong and the only use for is history is as theory-fiction and/or justification for the total militarization of liberal society
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>>24742253
He isn’t fatalistic. In the early chapters of his book he lays out a vision of destiny which is something a set of possibilities laid out any one of which can be met or not met and in a wide variety of ways. The only thing he thinks we can’t escape is the life cycle, but this doesn’t call into question choice. We can’t choose to grow old and die but we still can make choices. This is his fire.
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>>24742252
Difficult to say exactly because he thought different people had different conceptions of socialism but what they all share in common is that they are angry grand ethical philosophy that basically leaves no stone unturned. It provides an ethical mandate that saturates life, everything from private household ethics to economic and scientific policies to political visions. He saw the main candidates: German socialisms, namely, the Austrian/Bavarian socialism (Nazism) and Prussian socialism, and English socialism, namely Billionaires’ socialism and Marxism. I think it’s important to point out though that Spengler was very much an Anglophobe. He hated the English and the only positive thing he wrote about the English character was that Western civilization was to the point of his death in reality just English civilization.
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>>24742252
>>24742298
To give an example of this, Marxism is not really a mere economic theory but rather a grand ethical philosophy that informs thinking in every subject from politics to economics to education to history, everything. This is what makes socialism socialism in his view. Marxism, he thought though, was the closest to non-socialist capitalism of all the socialisms. He saw it basically as capitalism of the working class masquerading as socialism.
> In contrast to Marxism, Spengler claimed that "true socialism" in its German form "does not mean nationalization through expropriation or robbery."[7] Spengler justified this claim by saying:
>In general, it is a question not of nominal possession but of the technique of administration. For a slogan’s sake to buy up enterprises immoderately and purposelessly and to turn them over to public administration in the place of the initiative and responsibility of their owners, who must eventually lose all power of supervision—that means the destruction of socialism. The old Prussian idea was to bring under legislative control the formal structure of the whole national productive force, at the same time carefully preserving the right of property and inheritance, and leaving scope for the kind of personal enterprise, talent, energy, and intellect displayed by an experienced chess player, playing within the rules of the game and enjoying that sort of freedom which the very sway of the rule affords….Socialization means the slow transformation—taking centuries to complete—of the worker into an economic functionary, and the employer into a responsible supervisory official.[9]
>True socialism according to Spengler would take the form of a corporatism in which "local corporate bodies organized according to the importance of each occupation to the people as a whole; higher representation in stages up to a supreme council of the state; mandates revocable at any time; no organized parties, no professional politicians, no periodic elections."[7]
>He also posited that the West will spend the next and last several hundred years of its existence in a state of Caesarian socialism, when all humans will be synergized into a harmonious and happy totality by a dictator, like an orchestra is synergized into a harmonious totality by its conductor.[10]

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Have you read dune?
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>>24741069
I've read the first 4, pretty good stuff.
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>>24741069
Yes.
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>>24741069
I read the first book 4 times and others in the series once. It gets worse with each entry, literally just read the first book.
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>>24741069
I read it recently for the first time. I thought it was great. I swear, I love stories where scarcity is almost a character in the story.
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>>24741069
Reading currently

So far it's just like based Star Wars

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It's time for the weekly stack accountability thread! Post last week's stack, this week's stack, and share your progress.

The regular stack thread is mostly just people showing off how much stuff they bought. This thread is about being accountable and actually reading.

I finished up the last 300 pages of Burton's Wanderings in West Africa. Andrew Robinson's Lost Languages, a book about deciphering lost writing systems, finally came in at the library so it moved to the top of my stack. 70 pages in it's fascinating stuff. I also read 60 pages of Antiques Magpie. It's pretty much just an assortment of factoids and anecdotes about antiques, kind of like what a Reader's Digest overview of antiques would be like. It's not particularly good, but it's decent to pick up when you only have a couple minutes.
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>>24740757
NTA but Someone told me to wishlist the H.M. Stanley earlier today
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>>24740757
Thanks for the detailed response. I have been interested in colonial Africa, especially ever since reading the Africa section in Journey to the End of the Night. I'm going to check that out out and Through the Dark Continent as Well
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>>24736386
Perhaps you should try speaking to it in Catalan.
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>>24742058
I read Pakenham's The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 a few years ago and generally liked it. It's a broad overview of the scramble for Africa. It's a good starting point if you're interested in African colonialism broadly rather than wanting to focus in on one particular area. Be aware that the author really likes the word humbug.
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finished them all except stirner

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well that sucked
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>>24739951
Honestly, given what I know of The Novelist that seems more understandable/ excusable. I guess this might maybe constitute a commentary on modern academia and masculinity? It’s a big maybe.

In terms of recent stuff I’ve read and liked, I confess I do a lot of genre reading, but How I Won A Nobel Prize was the better book in a vaguely similar vein. I did also quite enjoy Colum McCann’s most recent book Twist.
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>>24739860
>homoerotic
now i'm interested
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poor man's My Father's Diet
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>>24739771
you know what else sucks?
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This is sad news. I very excitedly bought this on release day from my local Barnes & Noble (it was the only copy shelved). I am still looking forward to reading it. Maybe I won't be disappointed because I greatly enjoyed The Novelist. But I won't be reading Muscle Man soon, I plan on reading through the Robert Brassilach book's I bought nearly a year ago.

I should also mention that I am a huge fan of Gabriel Smith's Brat and Honor Levy's My First Book.

It's not friend / enemy, it's enemy / (temporary) ally. This is Machiavelli's metaphysics, a step further, grounded and detached.

Discuss.
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>>24742249
It is coherent in the sense of the metaphysics that Machiavelli constructs, the theory of the humors. He says the most fundamental aspect of a political conflict, and that which must be regarded the most, is the humor of the pleb and the humor of the senate. That of not wanting to be brutalised, and that wanting to brutalise.

The Romans understood this. That's why they lasted so long.
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>>24742255
Nothing in Schmitt's theory contradicts what you're saying.
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>>24742263
it does. there are no friends, there are allies.
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>>24742276
What the fuck do you think Schmitt means by friend?
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>>24742276
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amicitia

Is Chinese President Xi Jinping right?
>inb4 define objective reality

>Of all things in the world, metaphysics requires the least amount of effort; as it is neither based on nor subjected to the test of objective reality, people can talk as much nonsense as they like. Upholding materialistic dialectics, in contrast, demands a high level of genuine effort. On the one hand, we should strengthen investigation and research to accurately understand objective reality and truly grasp objective laws. On the other hand, we should continue to observe things dynamically, not statically; holistically, not one-dimensionally; systematically, not fragmentally; and in context, not in isolation, with a view to properly handling various major relationships. All subjectivist, formalist, mechanistic, dogmatist, and empiricist views are metaphysical ways of thinking, and cannot produce positive results in practice.

Source: https://www.ccdpch.com/dialectical-materialism-is-the-worldview-and-methodology-of-chinese-communists/
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>>24740340
Hu is.
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>>24740148
>inb4 define objective reality
>I reject metaphysics while making tons of metaphysical claims and presupposing its truth, but lemme cook for a minute
I'm good. It's like reading those moral relativists who say what we should (read: ought to) pursue is economic progress or stability or some other arbitrary nonsense.
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>>24741384
You can't ''purge corruption'' because political corruption is legal in the US, it's systemic; you will always have politicians bribed by war profiteers to create endless war for profit
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>>24742105
Meek impotence on display.
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>>24740148
Retroactively refuted by Guénon.

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How come so many opera singers have curly hair?
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>>24741911
Vocal cord vibrations influencing scalp. That’s my theory.
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>>24741911
Gilbert and Sullivan were opera weiters

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are they out of their minds?
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Why do so many muslims come across as somewhat evil? Is it the dogmatism?
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>>24741596
>>ISIS
>funded by the US/Israel to destabilize the region
see that right there is the problem, fundamental inability to hold conflicting uncomfortable views.

You'd be better off blaming European racism as a reason for the foreign fighters, or the problem of evil and corruption. If Israel was able to MK ultra some 70 thousand fighters into filming themselves praising Allah and committing unspeakable acts, sorry mate, Allah is weak.
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>>24742099
>most of the areas
Very tactful omission muhammad
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>>24742144
You're welcome to mention specifics bob

>>24742141
Extremists exist. They are born due to the surrounding environment. You're born in war torn Iraq/Afghanistan/Syria due to invasions sponsored by Israel and white countries, what do you resort to? Extremism and violence. All Israel/USA had to do is set fuel to the fire through funding.
>Allah is weak
Life is hardship and a test. The strength of a nation and its civilization is not an indication of the strength of their religion or their God.
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>>24742169
>All Israel/USA had to do is set fuel to the fire through funding.
any articles/books/proof US funded ISIS? even if some warlords took US money, there is such a gigantic leap in logic to say the west created or is responsible for ISIS instead of all the members who enjoyed raping their kafir sex slaves and filming themselves dying in battle.

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ITT: Post a hoe, get a book recommendation
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>>24741935
That's a guy isn't it
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>>24741935
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>>24742260
>Shrier is the daughter of Peter B. Krauser and Sherrie L. Krauser, both judges in the state of Maryland. She grew up in a Conservative synagogue, and was educated in a Jewish day school that was predominantly Conservative.
>>
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>>24742262
I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to do deep dive research. Here's another suggestion. Peace bro!

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Fun With Math Edition

Stubbed >>24732394

>What is /wng/ — Web Novel General?
A general for readers and authors involved or interested in the growing phenomenon of 'web novels', serialized English fiction posted to websites such as: Royal Road, Webnovel, Scribblehub, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, Spacebattles, HFY, various personal author websites, and more

>Why read web novels?
Not for prose or tight editing or deep themes, frankly. As a whole, web novels are infamous for content sprawl and pacing issues. If you enjoy having millions of words to sink your teeth into to get to know the world and characters, though, you may be interested. Keeping up with other readers on a weekly basis to discuss the story's events unfolding is another perk, in the same way discussing an ongoing TV show might be.

>Why write web novels?
Ease of access & potential for Patreon earnings. Many successful authors gain an audience on their website of choice and funnel their readers into a Patreon. See graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators/writing for an idea of what some are earning.
Also, once an author has earned a fanbase, transitioning into an Amazon self-publishing career is several orders of magnitude easier than starting 'dry'.

>Advice for Noobs!

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>>24741769
I wasn't talking about the first Slaughterhouse 9 arc, I enjoyed that one, I meant the rerun. The Slaughter 9 Thousand thing. I legitimately couldn't finish it.
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>>24742165
if only it were thus cyan amphibian, if only it were thus.
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>>24742216
>be me
>reference Slaughterhouse 5
>change number to 9
>keep getting comments about le Worm reference
>i've never read Worm
>mfw
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>>24741692
Those are called gamebooks with Fighting Fantasy being the most famous one
There's also solo solo tabletop RPGs like Rangers of Shadwo Deep but you need almost as much stuff to play them as a regular DnD group would.
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>>24741746
What's wrong with that? Plenty of stories are just recorded and embellished DnD campaigns

tyrion stroll edition

ASOIAF wiki: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Main_Page
Blog: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/
Old blog: https://grrm.livejournal.com/
So Spake Martin (interviews): https://westeros.org/citadel/ssm/
Book search: https://asearchoficeandfire.com/
SSM search: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006888510641072775866:vm4n1jrzsdy
General search: http://searcherr.work/
TWOW samples: https://archive.org/details/411440566-the-winds-of-winter-released-chapters

old: >>24704184
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>>24740512
>>24740155
GRRM has the same approach towards religion as Sapkowski, ironically - since he doesn't like it, neither do most people in their settings.
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>>24742049
Their will
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>>24735414
>and his wife filtered a lot
Literally the only thing she edited was the trench run.
>>
What lore drops are you hoping from Melissandre's chapters in Winds? I think hers along with Bran's will both be super important maybe exploring what the church if Rhollor is really like, how the initiation process works, etc

But more importantly who should Brienne wind up with? Hardmode no Jaime
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Nietzsche was so based
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he was based
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>>24736155
Would he like nationalist jews?
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>>24741787
Yes because he was a true zionist through and through. Also he deeply loved Islam too
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbvXaVJTKrU
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>>24736181
>this quote gave me the ick
why do people never actually read nietzsche directly? its from a (very dialectical) passage where he is discussing how truth could come out of untrue premises etc and pointing out the utility of untruthful mental frameworks. its not saying there is no such thing as logic or useful mathematics.
>>24737456
>chatgpt

lol at you retards

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Post your own work and critique others.
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>>24741621
Pay for the rest.
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When you post so much that people don't even respond to you so agreeably so the only thing that really gets you going is ragebait and your own personality
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>>24740920
Loan out a prosody from the local university library. You've got work to do. It's free verse but also doggerel!

>A full moon appeared tonight
x / / x/ x/
>It really was an enamoring sight
x / x x x x// /
>The stars, they sparkled with such dazzling light
x / x / x / /x /
>yet none could compare to that which was most bright
x / x x/ x x / x / /
>in this beautiful, beautiful, gorgeous night
/ x /x/ /x/ x/ /
>as it filled itself with what I perceived as delight
x x / x/ x / x x/ x x/

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I once did meet a golden-haired angel
a soul so kind, her eyes so crystal bright
her shining smile did hollow point my heart

I once did love a golden-haired angel
every day when prayin' to God, her name I sang
but life did show me, love's a lie; I mourn'd

I once did meet a flaming-haired angel
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>Trying to write something more meaty
>Seem to always just default back to iambic/ limeric even when I don't want to
I can't help myself.

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I find myself sympathetic to Tyler. Mormon cult parents, a homophobic society, autistic. And then you have a toxic fascist society that wants to feed him to the wolves.

What other stories are told from the perspective of those hated by an evil blood thirsty corrupt society. I’m aware of the Jesus and the New Testament gospels along with Grendel. Any other suggestions?
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>>24735972
I don't even care if they say "I really don't give a shit, I never cared for that christcuck". I've said it myself.
Employers should care if they are literally celebrating that someone got shot or, worse, are encouraging violence against others.
>but but but hate!
No, what you heard from Kirk was disagreement.
>>
Is it true that Lance is already cheating on him? That bitch.
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>>24734499
Absolutely not a flex. Leftoids commit more political violence because they’re mentally ill losers, period. You’ve got nothing to lose and you’re extremely online, replacing anything good or productive in your life with bluesky and reddit echo chambers. I’m not going to go on a shooting spree because I’m not a mentally ill freak, plus I actually have something to lose.
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>>24734479
the problem with this is that leftoids are so incredibly banal. The story from the perspective of the monster would just be your bluesky feed, plus r/Iwanttofuckdogs or whatever faggot fetish you have
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YWNBAW. You can kill 1000 Charlie Kirks and this will still hold true.

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Then wouldn't you want as many Christians as possible to die then? To speed up conversion and save souls?
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>>24741590
If God grants me the crown of martyrdom, of which I said I would willingly accept assuming my killer is converted, then I'd rejoice.
>>24741677
>there’s a counter-example of the Japanese successfully crushing the spread of Christianity in their islands.
>Kakure Kirishitan are the Catholic communities in Japan which hid themselves during the ban and persecution of Christianity by Japan in the 1600s.[3][4] During this time, many believers modified their religious practices to resemble Buddhist ones on a surface level, but which held hidden Christian meaning in reality. For instance, depictions of the Virgin Mary modeled on the Buddhist deity Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), goddess of mercy, became common among Kakure Kirishitan, and were known as "Maria Kannon".[5] The prayers were adapted to sound like Buddhist chant, yet retained many untranslated words from Latin, Portuguese, and Spanish. The Bible and other parts of the liturgy were passed down orally, because printed works could be confiscated by authorities.[1]

Kakure Kirishitan were recognized by Bernard Petitjean, a Catholic priest, when Ōura Church was built in Nagasaki in 1865. Approximately 30,000 secret Christians, some of whom had adopted these new ways of practicing Christianity, came out of hiding when religious freedom was re-established in 1873 after the Meiji Restoration.
You can slow a river but it will always end up in the ocean. FWIW, you seem genuinely intellectually honest and curious, I HIGHLY recommend an Autobiography of a Hunted Priest. England had more priest hunters than Catholic priests for decades and literally three Jesuits had them absolutely cracked the whole time. It's an incredible tale of what early Christianity must have been like.
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>>24741590
“Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and so they give their lives to little or nothing. One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it…and then it’s gone. But to surrender who you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying – even more terrible than dying young.”
St. Joan d'Arc
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>>24741590
I think the most telling thing about Atheists is that, like Leftists, a significant portion of all of their attempts at argumentation is to just pretend to be too stupid to understand basic ideas, and then act incredulous and exasperated that nobody can answer insane, stupid hypotheticals based off of their own feigned (or real!?) stupidity.

You would think given that you live in Christian societies where EVERY aspect of your morality that isn't some obviously corrupt progressive suicide-cult shit like murdering your own unborn children or pretending that guys who rub shit on each others' cocks are "married" or offering men suicide as a way to escape depression is just Christian morality with the numbers filed off, the Atheist would be able to grasp Christianity's actual meaning on basically every issue. You should have a very easy time actually presenting meaningful critiques of it. But this is obviously--evidently--MANIFESTLY not the case.

You have to invent cartoon Thanos logic to come up with a theoretical omnicidal position, and then say "well Christians OUGHT to hold this position I made up because I don't understand their religion" to try and paint it as irrational.

The Christian intelligensia by contrast regularly illustrates a total understanding of Pagan and Secular morality and offers actual argumentation based on those morals as they are, even though Pagans don't fucking exist and Secularists are apparently too stupid to have understood a book they all claim to have read critically and rejected.
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>>24741590
No because people don’t control reality.
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>>24741590
No you'd want as many to be born as possible. Death is contingent on birth not the other way around.
Religions are not death cults they're fertility cults. Just another standard survival mechanism.


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