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@FishChaser
You said that Adaptable keeps commenting on your threads and debates.
So how do you know he’s not baiting you into violating the RO so you get banned?
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@fauxlaw
As a Mormon, what are your feelings on Catholicism? I've been studying christianity lately and it would seem currently, that if I did end up converting. Catholicism remains a strong option. I went to a local Barnes & Noble the other day and bought The Catholic Bible from the category section labeled study bibles.
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@FishChaser
I like Sidewalker, but this is an excellent start.
Thank you, FishChaser!
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@FishChaser
Can you quit talking to or about Adaptable?
I need you for my Tournament.
Getting banned will jeapordize that.
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@AdaptableRatman
That's the plan.
I've had some time to think on this and I decided against my original idea of not having debates. You and everyone will have some flexibility to decide on your debate topics for Round 1.
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@FishChaser
Is there a jewish hell?
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@fauxlaw
I was right about you.
You are wise.
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@blamonkey
@whiteflame
@FishChaser
@Moozer325
@AdaptableRatman
Welcome, participants, to the TRT Tournament Second Edition. The tournament has now officially begun.
I'll make an additional thread within the next 48 hours to begin Round 1.
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@Barney
@whiteflame
I am likewise also submitting a report on Wylted's comments on this thread.
You can handle this however you decide.
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@AdaptableRatman
You're important. Your actions and contributions up to this point make his words meaningless. Nothing he says about you is even remotely true, he is The Bad Guy for doing all of this. I am 100% on your side and I have your back on this.
He is doing all of this to trigger you. Him triggering you and getting you to complain is giving him the validation he is trying to get from you. He tries to poke the bear with whiteflame too, to test the limits. And whiteflame doesn't take the bait.
Have you ever noticed that the only person to get the better of Wylted mentally was IWRA of all people?
Can you guess why?
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@AdaptableRatman
How often does Mike check the website?
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You are smart, fauxlaw.
It is readily apparent in your votes, your debates, and style of reasoning.
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@AdaptableRatman
Most of the comments I thumbs up are yours, and Savant's.
Sidewalker has a lot of good takes, but if I had to take a guess, I believe yours would be the highest as far as the ones I click like the most.
Are epicurean methods better for avoiding pain in your opinion than stoicism?
Your point about orthodox christian churches is slightly accurate, I've noticed. A lot of the teachings are strict about eliminating passions, and seeing passion as a sin. A lot of the monks starve themselves as a means of fasting.
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@Lemming
I love watching documentaries on Marcus Aurelius. He was born to be Emperor.
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@AdaptableRatman
I am of the belief that stoicism leads to nihilism and perpetuates suffering, but I was unsure if this was just my personal bias or a common feeling. I have only learned of epicureanism recently and I was intrigued. The fact that it is at odds with stoicism is fascinating.
I occasionally look in rubreddits to see what stoics think of epicureanism.
I occasionally look in rubreddits to see what stoics think of epicureanism.
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These two philosophical ideologies are at odds with one another. Which do you believe is more practical, which resonates with you more?
The purpose of epicureanism is to simplify pleasures and seek out pleasure while avoiding pain. Stoicism has always been more about promoting living a virtuous lifestyle while refraining from hedonism.
Granted, I could be mistaken about one or two of the details because I did oversimplify them.
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(Quickest and easiest read of your life. I promise)
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@AdaptableRatman
Hello Adaptable. How are you doing today?
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@Sidewalker
You misspelled my name again, it's not "Sky", it's "Side", as in "Sidewalker was the Chosen One".
I respect how clever this reply is.
That was an incredible pun I do have to admit
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@RemyBrown
I mean, look at your profile picture.
Hey, there's no need to throw shade at the coolest character in one of the best franchises.
Take that back right away or I'm reporting this thread to whiteflame.
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OP.
You gotta cool it with the blatant sexism. This not-so-subtle discrimination towards women is not acceptable.
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@AdaptableRatman
Do you debate for sport? Perhaps you thrive on competition in an intellectual environment
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@AdaptableRatman
I was impressed and fascinated by your theory of Agent Smith being The One because it's an interesting concept that has never really been explored before.
My own belief is that Darth Vader is The Chosen One of Star Wars. Even if casual non-fans disagree.
Very rarely do people ever consider the idea that The Savior or The Messiah could be the bad guy. It takes a truly creative mind to conceive of the connection between Smith and The One. But what's more impressive is that the theory is plausible.
Who were your role models that got you into recreational debate?
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@Tradesecret
No, this post was a test to see if BrotherD.Thomas would see and respond to this thread.
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@Greyparrot
Ohhh! It's great to know you're a Game of Thrones fan!
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I have a little theory that you are atheist. Believe me, I understand this sounds like a stretch but just hear me out.
Your passion for the scripture seems a little forced, and you're always having these aggressive back and forths with Tradesecret.
Stephen, what are your thoughts?
BrotherD.Thomas, what's your verdict?
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@Greyparrot
Nice!! What are your thoughts on the tv show, The Diplomat?
I haven't seen it yet, but thinking about watching it
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@FishChaser
Hey, what's up FishChaser. How are you today?
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@blamonkey
That's fine! You're in.
I can always plan around your availability.
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@AdaptableRatman
I reported all of FishChaser's comments toward you in that one debate, and then tagged the mods so they could see it
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@AdaptableRatman
It's genuine.
Your mission is a noble one, even if I don't share the same beliefs. It demonstrates passion and commitment. I am encouraging you to keep doing it because you're already on the right track. Plenty of users here could use that positive energy
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@AdaptableRatman
It is incredible that you believe that and stand by your convictions.
I know of your influence and potential, so I encourage you to keep debating and preaching.
If God is real, then you have no idea how many souls you will save by doing this over and over.
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@AdaptableRatman
I am not the type of person (notice I say person, not slandering other Christians only owning my style) who shies away from confrontation on the faith.
That's a great thing.
I never really believed in God, I sought him out my whole life. But I've always been a wanderer and went to different denominations. While I am still in the process of considering denominations, you have talked me into giving catholicism a second chance.
But you being catholic/christian, you shouldn't be expected to shy away from your beliefs. I am completely comfortable debating theology vs atheism with you or christianity versus another religion. It is admirable that you stand by your beliefs
As far as this thread goes, I always knew OP was capable of change if he decided that's what he wanted.
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@AdaptableRatman
Yeah. That’s deeply disturbing.
If all of that is true, you are right about him. There is no defending that, and a perma-ban is definitely required.
As of this point, you have my full support.
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@AdaptableRatman
By grooming, are you saying he was being a sexual predator?
Or grooming, as in brain-washing with extremist views?
Or grooming, as in brain-washing with extremist views?
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@WyIted
Yeahh, that’s partly how I see it.
While the people divided the power and established the branches to even it out in order to fight dictatorship. It would be unrealistic to not expect a little bit of corruption
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@AdaptableRatman
I don’t. And I could absolutely be wrong about Wylted being a good person.
I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and I’m going on my personal observation that a genuine endorsement of violence is out of Wylted’s character.
But I would ban him either way. Because shock value humor and taboo views have no place on a debate site or society.
And you are right about that.
I do believe however it is better if he is a person who insincerely and sarcastically endorses those views publicly versus being someone who actually condones and supports violence towards certain groups, and be closeted.
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@AdaptableRatman
I’m satisfied with DART’s current arrangement, it remaining the size that it is. With the exception of bringing back people who left.
But we should forget trying to get anyone else to join. DART is a relic, but it doesn’t belong in this modern world. Its standards are nonexistent.
If you want DART to be broader with a bigger demographic, then that’s doable. But you need to perma-ban Wylted, FishChaser, ADreamOfLiberty, and TheGreatSunGod, wipe all the content here & start over, with stricter rules and a more proactive mod team rather than our current passive one.
That’s what it would take to achieve your ideal site. Hypothetically if I owned the site, I would do all those things. But despite holding Wylted, TheGreatSunKorea, and FishChaser accountable for their behavior. Those three specifically have demonstrated positive qualities, even if their negative behavior overshadows it. Credit is given where it is due
The point I’m just making about Wylted is he’s not a genuine sociopath who endorses genocide towards jews. At best, you could make the argument that he’s just being an asshole who is delusional about history, and exaggerates those views to trigger and piss people off.
But despite these negative qualities, he does have good qualities.
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@AdaptableRatman
I believe Wylted is a good guy with a warped sense of humor, and questionable views
He’s lost, and he’s mistaken.
But not evil.
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@AdaptableRatman
I apologize if I offended you, i admit i’m not always a greate judge of character. So i could possibly be wrong
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@whiteflame
@AdaptableRatman
I actually believe you’re both right on this.
I get Rational’s argument that you shouldn’t tolerate friends mocking your religion, and that tolerating the behavior is normalizing it.
But you did stand your ground, whiteflame. You do call people on their shit when they’re in the wrong, but you manage to do so in a way without being baited by it.
And Wylted is definitely not a bad guy by any means. Sure, his sense of humor is inappropriate and crosses the line a lot of the time. But he’s also shown enough respect to stop when he sees he’s gone too far, and is compliant.
That’s a sign of a good friend
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With Trump deporting immigrants and quite a few of the courts have been fighting back against him, with one of the judges being arrested by his administration. Then he’s trying to get another judge dismissed from his duties.
How do you feel this power struggle will play out? Should a president have this ability or should he not?
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@Moozer325
Buddhism is a philosophy that westerners misinterpreted as a religion. It's really more akin to stoicism, or another Hellenistic school of greek philosophy.
Yes, I already know this and I agree.
It is categorized as a religion, but I would be wrong to try and deny that you are right on a technicality.
Semantically, religion is defined as the organized or formal worship of a god or group of gods/goddess. Which means that semantically, buddhism is technically not a religion.
Since the terminology is a little broad and this causes a bit of a grey line when discussing definitions, I would prefer that lexicographers and linguists open a third category and call buddhism a spirituality. Traditional buddhist beliefs have specific views on the supernatural. While most variations of buddhism are godless, the sects that do believe in gods/goddesses do not have any supreme gods/goddesses.
What should define the distinction between spirituality and philosophy is whether it has anything divine or supernatural.
Since stoics do not recognize or acknowledge anything divine like reincarnation or karma, but buddhists do. Buddhism should just be classified as a spirituality.
LeVayan Satanism and Wicca should also be considered spiritualities, since they are religions without gods/goddesses.
Frankly though, it misses some things as a philosophy too. While it's correct that suffering stems from desire, it forgets that happiness also stems from desire. Desire fulfilled is happiness, desire not realized is suffering. If you take out desire completely, you aren't left with peace or nirvana, you're just left with nothing. It's like swallowing some dynamite to cure cancer. Sure it works, but you kinda missed the point.
Happiness does not stem from desire, you may have a point that happiness stems from pleasure.
If you remove desire from the equation, you are not left with nothing. That is to confuse lack of desire with apathy. Lack of desire leads to nonchalance, and neutrality. Neither of which are the same as apathy. A lack of desire leads to spiritual and emotional fulfillment.
Desire is a double-edged sword which perpetuates suffering at the expense of chasing an emotional high that makes you dependent on pleasure.
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@AdaptableRatman
I like your analysis.
I’m currently looking into buddhism and hinduism to see what they’re about. I read about a lot of controversial figures who proclaimed to be buddhist, but were condemned by the community because their path diverged.
FishChaser made very great arguments when he described it as a nihilistic and godless version of hinduism
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In your opinion, are The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path a practical way of living or are these an unrealistic lifestyle?
Whether you are christian or muslim. Do you see the three main gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva as nonexistent or demonic apostasies? (Evil beings posing as gods.)
Does the buddhist explanation of existence being cyclic versus a single creation make any sense? And that we are all trapped in a state of samsara, until we break the cycle and achieve nirvana?
Please share your thoughts. Hold back no criticisms.
Nietzsche did say buddhism is maturer than christianity, but this is just one point of view. I'm more interested in what the rest of DART has to say on the subject.
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