What's one topic guaranteed to get your goat?
Is there a topic for discussion or debate that always rubs you the wrong way?
You don’t have to tell us why. I’m interested in hearing about topics that make a person cringe.
Me? Homophobia or misogyny.
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67 Answers
Are you kidding?
Food stamps.
Using the topic of Religion in order to proselytize about any one of tons of religions drives me bonkers.
I feel like I’m being told to chose their specific choise from a grab bag containing thousands of gods nipping at my fingers, and and if I don’t pick the right one, I’m doomed to eternal agony with no escape.
My first thought is: GO AWAY. LEAVE ME ALONE.
Note: I do not dislike the topic Religon, I would simply prefer it not be used as a bully pulpit. :)
@MadMadMax , I go bonkers when someone uses a question about religion to proselytize atheism. I don’t much like it when people push a particular religion either but that rarely happens here on fluther.
Religion, whether it’s some ranting about salvation on the sidewalk or the atheist circlejerk here.
Politics will do it to me sometimes.
Trying to take my guns away because some nut used one 10 states away.
Trying to keep guns uncontrolled because someone thinks they need them 10 states away. :-P
Blaming rape victims.
Occasionally politics, it just depends on the question.
Breed Specific Legislation.
Animal hoarding, or animal cruelty. It makes me feel sick and perplexed beyond all reason. I have to take a walk, or change the channel, or look away. It seems to be increasing in frequency, in my area at least, and while I love the awesome work the humane society does, and I appreciate them a lot…I’d rather not know about animal cruelty. Ever.
People who are members of a religious majority in their locality complaining that they aren’t privileged enough.
Atheism is the absence of religion. Most atheists don’t care about religion unless someone tries to convert them – then they may present their argument for their decisions. Nobody goes door to door handing out pamphlets to join the atheist church.
Oh, if there were only one. Were I to mention one, I would be forsaking all of the other topics that equally make my skin crawl. I will keep working on my own inner equilibrium….om….......:)
Homelessness and poverty, and blaming the poor for being poor.
vegetarians vs. meat eaters
how to care for animals
factory farming
mental illnesses
religion (lots of specific topics)
judgement of different lifestyles
aid to the poor
vegetarians vs. meat eaters
how to care for animals
factory farming
mental illnesses
religion (lots of specific topics)
judgement of different lifestyles
aid to the poor
What’s left to discuss? The weather?
Oh, I guess I posted more than “one”. Sorry.
@MadMadMax, welcome to fluther. One of the few places in the universe where you WILL find evangelical atheists.
@Judi: “One of the few places in the universe where you WILL find evangelical atheists.”
Is that the same thing as a square circle?
@Judi “welcome to fluther. One of the few places in the universe where you WILL find evangelical atheists.”
I’m not sure why that was aimed at me—I have no interest in people’s religious beliefs as long as I’m not forced to be pushed into them.
@anniereborn
Nothing to do with the number of topics. Rather it doesn’t leave much to talk about other than the banal. I’m trying to be serious not offensive or argumentative but for me, the list seems to exclude a great deal of in-depth discussion.
I skip word games. I’m terrible at word games and it would be embarrassing (other than scrabble, which sadly I haven’t played in years). I just don’t go there.
@anniereborn Apparently there are no good or positive topics for discussion.
BTW, thanks for mentioning factory farming…that one’s high on my list, as well.
Too many to list, although animal cruelty, welfare programs and religion are near the top of the list.
Sadly if we don’t talk about agribusiness or industrial farming, a lot of us end up living in a bubble.
“The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing”
— accredited to British philosopher Edmund Burke
Oh, we talk about ‘em @MadMadMax. All the time, haha. They just get us riled up sometimes. ;)
Or depressed as all get out ! :(
Animals are a weakness of mine. I’m not a cat lady type, but I have been around farm and domestic animals a great deal and I know we give them so much less credit than they deserve.
I have the soul of an activist but too many causes.
That overpopulation is a myth.
@kritiper “That overpopulation is a myth.”
Holy crow YES
@MadMadMax, you said
“Most atheists don’t care about religion unless someone tries to convert them”
I was pointing out that there are plenty of atheists here that try to convert theists, and most of the theists that survive around here have no interest in converting the atheists.
@MadMadMax What @augustlan said.
Also, if what I listed are the only things you are able to talk about besides the weather, that’s kinda sad.
^^ Well, some of us don’t watch reality television… so…
Western med v alternative medicine
Religion is one I am getting better on
Gmos and food
Others are hit and miss but generally come down pretty fairly.
Some of those might include feminism, abuse of any kind, politics, and drug use.
Sometimes I do avoid them knowing that if I can’t guarantee civility it might be detrimental to my cause.
Other times I feel compelled to speak out because no one else might. Or I am checking to see if someone else will and then I see something I can’t leave unremarked upon. Also depends on how much time I have. Other times I am too spent on some level to really add anything.
Quite a few, but the common thread they have is that they tend to be conversations with narrow-minded people who are often stuck in an era no later than 30 years ago, and utterly incapable of seeing reality or their own hypocrisy.
Among the more recent such things that have irked me:
- You cannot work your way through college any more; tuitions are too high, and incomes have dropped. For that matter, unless you are a full-on doctor or lawyer, it’s nearly impossible to even live on a single-income at all unless you like park benches and eating from dumpsters.
- We are not the land of opportunity or land of plenty we once were. Hard-working people can fall behind or at least not become wildly successful, and it’s not because we are all lazy! So take your “The non-rich are lazy” attitude, wrap it in barbed wire, smother it in Tabasco, and shove it up your fucking ass sideways with a right-hand spiraling motion!
- Smartphones are for more than just turning people into bad drivers and zombies. But if you’re willing to buy separate portable stereos, video cameras, GPS units, and computers, and carry them all around with you (easy to do since all those combined cost more than a smartphone) then fine. And if you don’t need/want all that, don’t belittle those do!
- The only real differences between Obamacare and Romneycare are which party started it and how may states it affected. If it was good enough for Massachusetts when a republican signed it into law, it’s good enough for America when a Democrat does the signing. If not, then why did you choose someone you believe to have committed un-American anti-Capitalist acts to be your presidential nominee in 2012?
@So take your “The non-rich are lazy” attitude, wrap it in barbed wire, smother it in Tabasco, and shove it up your fucking ass sideways with a right-hand spiraling motion!
The Tabasco part is a tad excessive, no? :p
Children’s issues/ molestation/ abortion/ incest.
I’m not going on a tangent like @jerv, although after some of the answers, I’d like to.
@KNOWITALL All I did was list some of my hot buttons in a detailed manner. How is that a tangent?
@Jerv Detailed indeed. Issues with the poor are your motivation for your politics then?
I don’t think anything anyone has said here should be taken as their sworn motivation for anything at all.
And while I’m here, I’m gettin’ on in age and I have never seen an atheist come on line and start trying to seek out and “convert” religious people. Ask them their beliefs and then work on them. In truth, if a non-believer states their argument it’s virtually always in response to a believer’s proselytization.
I’m glad it’s not a big thing on Fluther!!!!!
It was a problem on AV – that’s one thing I’m happy to be rid of. It was presumptuous and offensive.
I love discussing personal philosophies of life, but it can be hurtful when someone tells you that you will burn for eternity. That is so offensive.
I never got the Askville mods to understand how horrible it was to tell someone they are so evil that even a peaceful person like Jesus was, would cast them into an eternity of suffering. That they will change their handle and will follow you until you are saved.
That’s where the mods on AV went wrong from day one. People should never bring their “missions” to social sites. We come here to chat and yes debate and make friends of all types – not to be converted or insulted.
Now I went on a tirade – (tangent?)
@Madmax Right I doubt you should worry about that here lol. The Dem vs Rep gets ugly here, too, it sucks.
We had a guy who called everyone who didn’t “come out” as a Tea Party member, Dirty Libs and Dirty Dems and the Occupy Wall Street people were all LOUSIES. I see he was here for a short spell and pretty much stayed on topic. Oy vey.
We were down to too small a group. And it was divided by religion although a couple of my closer pals were Catholics and they knew my philosophies and it didn’t made a bit of difference.
Some people have to take a side. Black or White. Right or Wrong. You can’t agree on some things and not agree on others. There just are just two sides, and one must die :P
@KNOWITALL Answering that would be a tangent. Suffice it to say that you’re looking at a small part of the big picture and would need to zoom out a few steps to understand what motivates my politics.
@Jerv Yeah complicated I’m sure, maybe via pm sometime.
Animal cruelty, including goats. lol
Especially the Fois gras and pate industry being a waterfowl lover and “mother” to the worlds most special goose.
I think some people are talking about what they don’t want to see or be part of in a discussion.
Others are talking about issues that get their goat and they would want to discuss them or educate the public about them like the above animal cruelty in the Industrialized farming industry. It started with veal for me – I didn’t know what all those tiny sheds on fenced in farm property were or how veal was produced back in the 60’s. Now I won’t eat an egg unless I know for myself that the chickens are running around “free as birds.”
So we are seeing to viewpoints here apparently.
^ Oh, yeah, anything I list here is something I definitely want to talk about.
@Seek_Kolinahr Same here, I’d much rather talk about the thing’s I listed than my religion, which won’t change based on fluther convo’s…lol
^ I’ll get you yet. ^_^
Disclaimer: The above comment is made in jest, and should not be taken as an attempt to convert @KNOWITALL or other Fluther Theists. Any resemblance to actual conversion/deconversion techniques is purely coincidential.
heathen – definition of heathen by the Free Online Dictionary…
One who adheres to the religion of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.
Is seek a Hindu or Buddhist, Sikh, or Jainist or Wiccan or what?
@Seek_Kolinahr That’s what she said hahaha!
Funny lady, I love the legal disclaimer…lol
I’m worse than a heathen. I’m an apostate. Straight to hell with me!
@Seek_Kolinahr Hey, what ever happened with your neighbor lady and the kids, did you confront her or what? Just curious, don’t answer if you don’t want to.
Are recovering Catholics apostates? Or is that reserved for Muslims?
While nobody has demanded i should be killed for not following the Catholic faith, I have been told quite often that because I was baptized a Catholic as a newborn, I cannot decide what I do or don’t believe – it’s caste in stone. I’m a Catholic whether I believe or not. No way out.
An apostate is someone who, having full knowledge of the Gospel, rejects it.
I believe it is a Christian term. The Muslim thing is “infidel”.
@KNOWITALL – I basically ignored the chick, and I’m pulling my son from the school anyway, so it’s a moot point.
This is how I was familiar with the term:
There are multiple verses in Qur’an that condemn apostasy,[66] and multiple Hadiths include statements that support the death penalty for apostasy.[67]
So the Albigensian Crusade was a war to wipe out Apostasy (heretics).
Yes, but those are English translations. The word has its roots in Greek.
I mean, yes, it was a war to wipe out apostasy, that is correct. The word applies to anyone rejecting their religion and is usually used as a perjorative term. I was most familiar with it in Christianity, but apparently I was incorrect in the assumption that it applied to Christianity alone.
In the unlikely instance that your deity is real and his afterlife true, I hope he sees it that way. ^_~
A sheep in goats clothing might avoid being a sacrificial lamb. Baaaaah. lol
Topics that set me off, in no particular order:
domestic violence
global warming and/or the lack thereof
animal abuse in any form
people who have no compassion for the less-advantaged
injustice in the judicial process
Topics that set me off, randomly listed (they are pretty close in terms of intensity of response):
animal abuse, particularly factory farms;
personal religion as political policy justification (think Hobby Lobby’s opposition to parts of Obamacare)
anti transgender rhetoric
Republican obsession with perennial tax cuts
using Christianity to justify hate speech & hate crimes
Satanists.
They always kidnap my goats and sacrifice them. Pisses me off.
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