"I have something to say about V for Vendetta, and something to say about the existence of forums like this."
Oh, yeah, its perfectly okay to have forums which trash atheists, scientists, secular humanists, mormons, catholics, jews and muslims, but God forbid if there happens to be one that ridicules christianity.
"First of all, I should make it clear that I am a (conservative) Christian, and I thought V for Vendetta was utter excrement. It should have been called V for $VIII you'll never get back."
Think of it this way, pal. It is an example of what happens when the wrong people use Christianity for their own selfish gain. You could look at it as a reminder to not blindly follow someone simply because they pledge allegience to your relgion. Christians make mistakes and sometimes have evil intentions too.
"The premise contains absolutely NO unique elements."
I dare you to find an actor that plays such a convincing character without showing his face (and no, cartoons don't count). How many characters with masks are this articulate and communicative?
"There are no stimulating ideas in the movie whatsoever."
If Natalie Portman in a school girl outfit isn't stimulating, I don't know what is.
"The "enemy" was a straw man ideology that was impossible to take seriously in a modern day British setting."
It is a warning of what could happen, a forecast if you will, based upon trends that go on today. Why don't you notice that Britain is far more conservative after 9/11 than it has been for decades? For the record, right now, Britain DOES HAVE surveillance cameras on many city streets. You made a straw man argument.
"There is no risk of this happening. It didn't happen under George W. Bush and it never will"
Let's see. Have you ever heard of 'faith based initiatives'? How about the 'Patriot Act', or school vouchers for children going to parochial schools? Maybe to you, the torture of inmates at Guantanomo Bay are really just 'freedom tickles'. I suppose you think its perfectly okay for the president to spy on anyone he wants without a warrant and that you feel that its fine for the FBI to randomly arrest or at least harass Muslims, or non-famous people who criticize the president. Have you heard of a state called 'South Dakota', where abortions are virtually illegal, in violation of Roe Vs. Wade? The only reason why things are not worse is because the opponents to the president and his neo-cons fight them furiously on a constant basis, no thanks to people like yourself.
"Nobody is going to come into your home and jail you for being gay."
Have you ever heard of a country called 'Iran'?
"Stop watching these movies and fantasizing about a nonexistent religious fascist state for you to "rise up against!" It's people like you that cheat on your income tax and drive up the wages of police officers by increasing their necessity."
No, we will think for ourselves, thank you very much.
"If you are over 15 years old, this is both wasteful and immature."
You certainly were.
"Anyone can spit out a stupid sentence on the Internet in 10 seconds- why should some random person's incoherencies tie up so much of your time?"
Why did you take so much time to write a very long and ridiculous post? Most of our posts are also written in 10 seconds, but not yours.
"You don't spend time ridiculing illiterates, do you? Exactly."
We definitely do. You will notice many quotes from folks at MySpace and Rapture Ready.
"I could probably rupture your lungs if I exposed you to more sophisticated humour"
You just did. Your post was hilarious! Oh, wait, it wasn't meant to be humor. Sorry.
"Granted, there are some funny things on here, but overall it's garbage quality. Most of this isn't even funny- it's more in the realm of "unfortunate." "
We think its unfortunate that there are so many people who have a fundamentalist mentality, and have the desire to force their ideas down peoples throats, then scream bloody murder when other people disagree. Not all the quotes here are funny, agreed. Some of them are actually quite shockingly insane or bigoted.
"Finally, you are preaching to the converted if you intend to make an argument- everyone here probably believes exactly what you do."
So do countless other forums, especially Rature Ready. What's your point?
"I challenge those of you who read this to actually use your time productively when you read these fundy comments, and ask yourself why they exist. Ask yourself what the real source of these trends and ideas is, rather than simply assuming that it's entirely due to stupidity."
Challenge accepted. In addition to stupidity, there is also insanity, intense hatred, bigotry, lack of education, ignorance, brainwashing, indoctrination, child abuse and the list goes on. Actually, the people who tend to boss around other fundamentalists tend to be at least somewhat intelligent, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get so much money in the form of 'tithing' (which is actually a misuse of scripture), nor would they be able to effectively blackmail people with the threat of eternal damnation in some fabled hellhole, where women and babies are roasted head to toe for hundreds of thousands of trillions of centuries and more. If it were any other religion, they would be referred to as 'scam artists'.
"Collecting quotes from stupid or misinformed atheists would not make atheism stupid- it would simply make it difficult to understand and misrepresent it for the reader."
There are atheists who are quoted here, and made fun of. Sometimes, a 'Secular Fundie of the Month' award is given. Its just that stupid atheists are exceedingly rare.
"I predict that some of you will respond to this comment, despite knowing that I will never return to this site to read it."
And if you reply to this, we'll know that you are a liar.
"Enjoy yourselves"
we certainly will
