WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

[letshavetea]

I usually avoid the news, but when stuff pops up on other forums I visit... I look into things...

Man in Austria kidnapped his daughter (at age 18) and kept her for 24 years as a sex slave, fathering atleast 7 children with her
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04 ... index.html

Kid in SC was caught plotting to blow up his highschool so that he could go to heaven and kill Jesus.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/ ... ME_4056750

I really don't understand people....

[chocobojoe]

Some peoples' kids *facepalm*

[Potter]

its like theres a douchebag virus going around. somebody I haven't talked to in probably a year just IM'es me and goes "PISS OFF FAGGOT, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN"

[Riot]

http://www.break.com/index/grand-theft- ... r-old.html

[Potter]

its like theres a douchebag virus going around. somebody I haven't talked to in probably a year just IM'es me and goes "PISS OFF FAGGOT, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN"

ok nevermind turns out her aim account got hijacked

[danc1005]

its like theres a douchebag virus going around. somebody I haven't talked to in probably a year just IM'es me and goes "PISS OFF FAGGOT, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN"

ok nevermind turns out her aim account got hijacked

I was waiting for you to say it was an actual virus that made people send douchebag IMs.

[chocobojoe]

A little bit like no video games for a WHOLE weekend

[Riot]

I wanted to do hoodrat things with my friends. It's FUN to do bad thangs.

[BigBadOrc]

this is why i don't watch the news. they focus on stuff that scares you such as murder and violence etc and crazy fucked up shit because that's what keeps people watching. there are 6 billion people in the world, of course crazy fucked up shit happens. well, i usually scan news.google.com every so often but i skip stories that sound tabloid worthy.

ha, and i won't even get into the news and politics.

oh wait, i will.. here's jon stewart pwning crossfire: http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2 ... cro_1.html

[Ho]

this is why i don't watch the news. they focus on stuff that scares you such as murder and violence etc and crazy fucked up shit because that's what keeps people watching.

Hmm...sounds sort of like a certain vegan-promoting book I've heard about.

I'm not trying to make fun of you here. I'm also not trying to say your book is necessarily wrong (I acknowledge or agree with parts of what you shared; some others I find ridiculous). But many of the bits you shared from it sound every bit as alarmist to me as typical news. I'm just saying that your avoidance of the news seems quite contrary to your exploratory views on meat eating, meat industry, etc. Just because stuff is bizarre or weird to us doesn't make it untrue.

Avoiding the news may or may not make much of a difference, but it also won't make it any less true (assuming it is). But I would say that there are certainly circumstances where knowing what's going on out there can help you understand or cope with the slice of the world that impacts you directly...and you never know when the broader world may collide with your own.

[BigBadOrc]

Sorry Ho, you really missed my point completely

The problem with the news is that scary, horrible things happen and are reported for no other purpose than to get ratings. I don't avoid all news - in fact I clearly said that I scan google news every now and then. I certainly do care about substantial news. But news such as what motivated this thread is simply tabloid worthy. My vegan diet is a consequence of me being a total health freak I decided that what I cared about was longevity and overall good health and the pursuit of this has lead me to being sort-of vegan. (I do my best but I'm not gonna starve if all I have to eat contains ingredients I'd ordinarily try to avoid.) My favorite grocery store is the whole foods market.

The vegan thing is based on a lot of different reasons. You can feel free to find it ridiculous, and I'll feel free to find your proposal of eating 100 in an out burgers ridiculous. If you'd like to discuss a particular part of veganism, feel free to resurrect the thread. I didn't see you making any solid points against it there before, when it was actually being discussed. In fact, it seemed like you were dismissing it without even doing any research. You told me that you wanted me to research it instead of taking other people's opinions as my own, which I did. So your telling me now that it's ridiculous seems a bit hypocritical since you're not backing that up.

[Ho]

No, I didn't miss your point. I just didn't address you point directly. Truth be told, I actually agree with you to a large extent that the media sensationalizes a lot of news stories for the purpose of increasing ratings. On those (frequent) occasions, I will be right there with you with an eye roll and a sigh.

However, I believe you missed my points. The one point is that some of the "scary, horrible" news can actually be relevant to our lives (product recalls, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters come to mind). All of these get sensationalized in the media as well, but they certainly have the possibility of having an impact on our lives--an impact that could be affected with the knowledge of their occurrences.

The extension of my point was that avoiding this knowledge (whether it is impactful or not) does not make it untrue. I never stated that you avoid all news, but you yourself said that you only scan google news "every so often" and that you self-filter what you do read. I was merely suggesting that avoiding the stuff that gets sensationalized may eliminate items that could actually have some value under the mass-market exterior.

As for the Vegan issue, you are completely putting words into my mouth (or keys under my fingers, as the case may be). I NEVER called it ridiculous! I said I find some elements of it ridiculous--or more specifically, alarmist--but I also stated quite clearly that I acknowledge or agree with parts of what you have shared about it. I have NEVER dismissed it out of hand. Don't accuse me of hypocrisy over your incorrect interpretation of my statements. And for the record, I didn't start the 100x100 In-n-Out discussion. I egged it on for comic effect. Perhaps you missed my sarcasm, but I find the idea of eating that much food--of ANY kind--as repulsive as you apparently find meat.

You are correct that I didn't choose to discuss it in your previous thread, but that was not a judgment on the Vegan lifestyle. I've known Vegans and talked to them about it and drawn my own conclusions before I ever knew you. I simply didn't really care to discuss it in this forum. I already explained that my issue wit your thread was your presentation of "make fun and me and Katy for making this choice." It may have been tongue-in-cheek, but it made me think that perhaps you weren't taking it all that seriously. I was not dismissing Vegans. I was dismissing your initial presentation of the idea (which I acknowledge that you eventually changed).

Personally, I have a lot of respect for the conviction of Vegans whether taken upon for the animal rights perspective or health concerns or both. But your descriptions of the presentation of the book gives me the vibe that it uses scare tactics to convince you of its ideas. My cautionary suggestion to do further research was due to concern that the book's coverage may be one-sided and/or self-serving--not untrue, but persuasive for the wrong reasons. If you've made the decision out of the desire to improve your own health, I actually think that's great.

[letshavetea]

The vibe I'm getting from Mike is essentially the age old "Ignorance is bliss"

If you pay attention to all the terrible stuff that goes on in this world, then it makes this place a lot more scary. Especially in a big new town (for me) like Orlando.

[BigBadOrc]

The vibe I'm getting from Mike is essentially the age old "Ignorance is bliss"

I guess you could say that... considering the sheer amount of volume of information and news that is generated daily, considering that there's more than 6 billion people in this world... it's pretty obvious that it is completely impossible to pay attention to everything, and therefore you must be selective. So yes, I'm happy to remain ignorant of tabloid worthy news.

Avoiding the news may or may not make much of a difference, but it also won't make it any less true (assuming it is). But I would say that there are certainly circumstances where knowing what's going on out there can help you understand or cope with the slice of the world that impacts you directly...and you never know when the broader world may collide with your own.

Ho, I think we're nitpicking words instead of discussing the important ideas, and I know you were trying to be nice in your original post... I just didn't interpret it that way I agree with the above statement, and I must have misinterpreted it as an attack on my news policy, but that is (now) clearly not the case, as you have said this:

Truth be told, I actually agree with you to a large extent that the media sensationalizes a lot of news stories for the purpose of increasing ratings. On those (frequent) occasions, I will be right there with you with an eye roll and a sigh.

The one point is that some of the "scary, horrible" news can actually be relevant to our lives (product recalls, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters come to mind). All of these get sensationalized in the media as well, but they certainly have the possibility of having an impact on our lives--an impact that could be affected with the knowledge of their occurrences.

Agree. That's what I was trying to say from the start. We seem to be in agreement on this issue, but not the words. Some news is important, and some, like what motivated this thread, is merely tabloid worthy, and I am content to ignore it. I am classifying the vegan book according to your above quote. Sure, it's scary and horrible and it uses scare tactics. That, in and of itself, does not disqualify its validity. The reason I made the vegan thread was to try to discuss its validity, and unfortunately this issue of validity wasn't addressed very effectively in that thread. So my point was that you're waving your hands and saying some of it is ridiculous without making any attempt at argument or research, especially after there's been a whole thread on that very topic, especially after you've implied that I need to do more research myself, makes me feel a little brushed off? I did make that thread to find out what people thought was ridiculous, because I do admit the possibility that I could be wrong. But if you're gonna challenge it, you gotta back up what you're saying.

[Ho]

So my point was that you're waving your hands and saying some of it is ridiculous without making any attempt at argument or research, especially after there's been a whole thread on that very topic, especially after you've implied that I need to do more research myself, makes me feel a little brushed off? I did make that thread to find out what people thought was ridiculous, because I do admit the possibility that I could be wrong. But if you're gonna challenge it, you gotta back up what you're saying.

I didn't really care to discuss any individual points of the book in the forums. I'm not discounting its validity nor am I necessarily sustaining it. Since I wasn't challenging any particular points, I was also not presenting any backing evidence.

For the purposes of this thread, I was just comparing the sensationalism often seen on the news to the scare tactic presentation of that book. My assessment of the book's presentation is based solely on the parts of it that you have shared in the other thread and also in person. I admit I have not actually read it myself.

Either way, I am glad you now understand I was not attacking you personally.