The Darwin Awards....

[Nearly Sane]

Surely up there for a win!



http://www.cairnstimes.com/cairns-man-binged-ice-feared-dead-attempting-sex-crocodile/

[Rhiannon]

'I reckon he just about got it in'. 

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Darwin awards..........Nasty, unfunny idea from geeky types.

[Shaker]

Darwin awards

Welcome to the thread.

Nasty

Subjective opinion. I don't find anything nasty about it.

unfunny

Even more subjective. I find them often funny; you claim not to. Who is right?

from geeky types.

On that one I'll have to plead guilty ... though I'm not sure why.

[Harrowby Hall]

Darwin awards..........Nasty, unfunny idea from geeky types.

You don't just understand irony.

[Shaker]

You don't just understand irony.

In all fairness, given his posting history, he doesn't understand a lot of words.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

In all fairness, given his posting history, he doesn't understand a lot of words.

Not at all................ though I confess having trouble with Naturalistic pantheism.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Does this BBC news item carry the most crass photo subtitle of all time?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40340540

[Shaker]

Not at all................ though I confess having trouble with Naturalistic pantheism.

And secularism. And Stalinism.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

And secularism. And Stalinism.

.......I use the word Stalinism in the context of previous posts where I mention that in the seventies Bamber Gascoigne made a major TV programme charting the history of Christianity. He made a point about Stalin's attitude to Christianity and how Stalin relegated Christianity to a hidden practice behind doors with no public forum.
At the time Gascoigne an atheist presented this as anathema to modern beliefs on civil liberties.

I merely pointed out though that Stalin's sentiments seem to me to be acceptable current and casual currency among some forum atheists who do not even feel Gascoigne's shock at a Stalinist policy.

[floo]

I think the so called 'Darwin Awards' are very unpleasant. People who do something really stupid, which results in their death, are not going to be around to appreciate the 'honour'. However it is unfair on their loved ones to see them vilified in this way.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

I think the so called 'Darwin Awards' are very unpleasant. People who do something really stupid, which results in their death, are not going to be around to appreciate the 'honour'. However it is unfair on their loved ones to see them vilified in this way.

Absolutely spot on.

[Shaker]

.......I use the word Stalinism in the context of previous posts where I mention that in the seventies Bamber Gascoigne made a major TV programme charting the history of Christianity. He made a point about Stalin's attitude to Christianity and how Stalin relegated Christianity to a hidden practice behind doors with no public forum.

And in a country with Christianity as the established state religion and a church in every village, the relevance of this is what, exactly?

I merely pointed out though that Stalin's sentiments seem to me to be acceptable current and casual currency among some forum atheists who do not even feel Gascoigne's shock at a Stalinist policy.

How do you know? Have you asked them all?

[Walt Zingmatilder]

How do you know? Have you asked them all?

I didn't need to as they self advertised.

[Shaker]

I didn't need to as they self advertised.

Self-advertised their views on Stalin's policies?

[Rhiannon]

The Darwin Awards serve an important purpose. People need reminding that doing things like shagging crocodiles can be hazardous.

[floo]

Throughout my life I could have been nominated for that award if some of my crazy stunts had ended in my demise, which they so easily could have done. My Mother, in particular, would have been devastated if I had been nominated, as she would have been very worried about what others would be thinking, which was always her main concern! 

[Shaker]

The Darwin Awards serve an important purpose. People need reminding that doing things like shagging crocodiles can be hazardous.

Words for us all to live by there, I think.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

The Darwin Awards serve an important purpose. People need reminding that doing things like shagging crocodiles can be hazardous.

Fair point.

[Nearly Sane]

Given this was motivated by love of mammon, not sure it qualities but it is a very odd story


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40344676

[bluehillside Retd.]

Fallacy Boy,

I merely pointed out though that Stalin's sentiments seem to me to be acceptable current and casual currency among some forum atheists who do not even feel Gascoigne's shock at a Stalinist policy.

Stalin ruled from 1929 to 1953. According to Wiki, this is how his regime acted prior to WWII:

"After 1929 and through the 1930s, the closing of churches, mass arrests of the clergy and religiously active laity, and persecution of people for attending church reached unprecedented proportions.[3][68] The LMG employed terror tactics against believers in order to further the campaign, while employing the guise of protecting the state or prosecuting law-breakers. The clergy were attacked as foreign spies and trials of bishops were conducted with their clergy as well as lay adherents who were reported as 'subversive terroristic gangs' that had been unmasked.[71] Official propaganda at the time called for the banishment of the very concept of God from the Soviet Union.[72] These persecutions were meant to assist the ultimate socialist goal of eliminating religion.[72][73] From 1932 to 1937 Joseph Stalin declared the 'five-year plans of atheism' and the LMG was charged with completely eliminating all religious expression in the country.[72] Many of these same methods and terror tactics were also imposed against others that the regime considered to be its ideological enemies.

The debate between the ‘rightist’ and ‘leftist’ sides of how to best combat religion found some conclusion in 1930 and afterwards, when the state officially condemned extremes on both sides. Marxist leaders who took either position on this issue would find themselves attacked by a paranoid Stalin who did not tolerate other authorities to speak as authorities on public policy.[74]

A lull in the active persecution was experienced in 1930-33 following Stalin's 1930 article 'Diziness From Success', however, it swept back in fervor again afterwards.[75]

In 1934 the persecution of the Renovationist sect began to reach the proportions of the persecution of the old Orthodox church.[76]

During the purges of 1937 and 1938, church documents record that 168,300 Russian Orthodox clergy were arrested. Of these, over 100,000 were shot.[77] Many thousands of victims of persecution became recognized in a special canon of saints known as the "new martyrs and confessors of Russia".

A decline in enthusiasm in the campaign occurred in the late 1930s.[78] The tone of the anti-religious campaign changed and became more moderate .[72] It ended at the outbreak of World War II."

Can you tell us which atheists here think any of these things to be acceptable and not shocking please?

[bluehillside Retd.]

Shakes,

And secularism. And Stalinism.

And atheism. And scientism. And totalitarian. And materialism. And naturalism. And supernatural. And...

There's a whole alternative lexicon of Vladdism's to choose from.