Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or strength?

genessa comments on Oct 28, 2018:

crying is a sign of neither strength nor weakness. crying is not even always a sign of the same thing. it can be a sign of pain, fear, relief, a wish to manipulate, a proximity to sliced onions, sentimentality, frustration, joy, and a bunch of stuff that i can't think of at three-thirty in the morning. by the way, it is perfectly fine, or not in the case of manipulation, for men, women, children and other primates to cry. g

Does Trump have the lowest IQ of all American Presidents to date?

genessa comments on Sep 21, 2018:

but he has no iq. none. it's zero if not negative. g

Have you spent more time giving or recieving

genessa comments on Nov 15, 2018:

i have not measured the time. it would sort of interfere with the enjoyment! but i have spent some time telling people how to spell receive. g

I have asked on social media, did God know Adam and Eve were going to sin when he created them.

genessa comments on Oct 27, 2019:

this is what happens when you have too many authors for one book. g

Someone said that even if you don't believe in God, it is advisable to live your life as if there is...

genessa comments on Apr 5, 2019:

i think it's crap. first of all, which god? zeus? baldur? it is advisable to live as if you are a human among many humans among many animals among many living things among many elements on a delicate planet in a big universe. gods are at best useless and at worst destructive. live without regard for whether or not there are any gods. g

McConnell says that if the House impeached Trump, the Senate must hold a trial [pbs.org]

genessa comments on Sep 27, 2019:

mcconnell says? the constitution says! g

I remember doing this, do you?

genessa comments on Apr 12, 2019:

i've seen it but not done it. g

Is It Time For A Serious Discussion About Execution for Treason if Mueller Proves Trump Committed ...

genessa comments on Oct 21, 2018:

no. first of all, the death penalty is primitive and no civilized nation should have it. second of all, he loves his comfort and should be forced to live in a cell with no golden toilet but instead a big strong hunky horny cellmate. and third of all, executing him would make him a martyr in the eyes of the trumpkins. and FOURTH of all it wouldn't solve the problem, since the whole republican party is now just a criminal organization posing as a political party. lock them up! lock them up! g

Anyone want to date me

genessa comments on Nov 26, 2018:

oh and by the way, is your name really micheal? because that's very unusual. there is nothing wrong with having an unusual spelling for your name but it begs the question of whether that is maybe NOT your real name, and you just don't know how to spell michael. g

Why isn't chemotherapy free for cancer patients

genessa comments on Dec 17, 2018:

this is a terrible meme with false conflation. indeed cancer patients should have free chemo, indeed free healthcare that includes chemo and insulin and everything else (but insurance DOES cover insulin, you know, so for the insured patient it IS free), but what the HELL has that got to do with addiction or addicts? i see this meme all the time and it's ridiculous. it's not as if chemo isn't free because addicts get methadone, which, by the way, isn't actually free. the meds that are not free are expensive thanks to greedy big pharma, NOT because once in a while an addict's life is saved for free. get real. g

Megachurch Pastor: ‘Woman Has No Right Over Her Own Body – It Belongs To God’ | Michael Stone

genessa comments on Nov 15, 2018:

and to whom do men's bodies belong, then? g

i’ve been thinking about the theist idea (specifically christian because i know that religion ...

genessa comments on Oct 1, 2019:

no, i never actually worshiped the god in whom i believed anyway because i was raised a secular jew, so i just took it for granted there was a god, a nice, benevolent god (we didn't read the bible in my house, or talk about god, or go to shul) but not one who had any particular demands to make on me. christians seemed (and still seem) quite weird to me. at the age of 15 i realized there were no gods but never went through a he-exists-but-he's-a-jerk phase. a few years later i did quote mark twain at a boss who (illegally, even in 1971) asked all his employees if they believed in god (at least he didn't say jesus). i told him that twain had said (forgive me if i paraphrase slightly as i am working from memory) "i am glad there is no god, for if he exists, surely he is a malign thug." i am not sure whether i believed that at the time, and it certainly wasn't important to me whether or not god would have been a malign thugs since he was, after all, nonexistent, but i knew it would shock and irritate the person who shouldn't have been asking employees about their religious beliefs to begin with. yeah, i was a snert. g

[alternet.

genessa comments on Jun 25, 2019:

i cannot be disappointed in chuck todd, as i have never liked or trusted him. look, i watch msnbc every weeknight and i love chris hayes, rachel and lawrence, but just because someone works for the same network they do that doesn't mean they're worthy journalists. todd is not. i can't be disappointed in someone from whom i expected nothing good or even decent to begin with. i wish he were not going to be one of the moderators of the upcoming debates but i have no control over that. at least rachel will be there. g

My cats walk into the bathroom and watch me do my business. I wonder why they do that?

genessa comments on Aug 7, 2019:

they like to be involved. some of the cats i have lost used to like to sit on my lap on the toilet and look into the mirror next to the pot. their litter boxes are in the same room but i don't know whether they make the connection between what they do in there and what i do in my version thereof. there is an element of curiosity but mostly they just want to be with us! g

Trump invokes emergency powers to sidestep congress and sell arms to Saudi Arabia ...

genessa comments on May 24, 2019:

he wants to be considered a legitimate president, which he (atypically, correctly) suspects he is not, and yet, he doesn't mind going down in history as a president whose presidency was beset by one emergency after another! g

Big investigation into how a billionaire dies in custody.

genessa comments on Aug 12, 2019:

it's not a pain contest and there are huge implications to epstein's death that have nothing to do with his being a millionaire; that is not the basis for all the attention. the attention paid to his death has nothing to do with the attention some are TRYING to pay to the deaths of children in ice custody, and the only ones ignoring thelatter are the ones responsible for it. we have a false equivalency here. jeffrey epstein's death is not drawing attention away from kids in peril. the coldheartedness of the people PUTTING them in peril is. g

Religion is the most hideous invention in the history of Mankind.

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

religion is annoying and how people use it can be awful, but the single most horrible thing ever? seriously? worse than the guillotine? there is only one way to use a guillotine and you have to take it seriously. people who go to church and listen to the music and donate to the church food drive (i'm guessing; i am not christian; i know synagogues have drives for local food shelves) and go home and act like normal people and don't hurt anyone and don't proselytize, or vote based who will reverse roe v wade, and don't tell people they're going to hell, are worse than a guillotine? and that's just ONE example. g

When people wake up do they choose to be nice and pleasant or sour and grumpy?

genessa comments on Jan 27, 2019:

if i ever wake up i'll let you know. g

Share your most cringe worthy interaction with a believer.

genessa comments on Oct 13, 2018:

i've written of this before but i'll try to summarize here: i've been an atheist since the age of 15 but i have always enjoyed the culture of my people and will always consider myself a jew, too. toward the end of the year jews get ignored by media while christmas reigns, but one day, when i was in my mid-20s and being car-pooled into work at the department of justice, i heard a chanukah song on the car radio. i was so delighted about this that i mentioned it to a coworker, not one of whom i was fond, or who was fond of me, but she was someone with whom i worked in close proximity. her response was "if you don't believe in jesus christ, what have you got to sing about?" it wouldn't have done any good to mention, at this juncture, that there are no gods, so i gently said "his father?" she frowned, puzzled. "you know... god?" her response was to grumble "well, the catholics have been suffering a lot longer than the jews anyway!" and stalk off. i found the entire encounter idiotic. i tried to talk to her from within her bubble of reality but she was, let's face it, just not a nice person, and stupid to boot. g

Dear English; Why does christian have to be capitalized and atheist doesn't? Naughty, naughty!

genessa comments on Sep 11, 2019:

i don't capitalize anything unless i am EMPHASIZING or unless i am on my phone and powerless before its infinitely unwise autocorrect. g

So is it nature not nurture after all? | Science | The Guardian

genessa comments on Sep 30, 2018:

it is both. it always has been both. g

If I ask "Do god(s)s exist?

genessa comments on Jun 6, 2020:

You may label me anything you want and the label will fall short. There isn't a label in the universe big enough to contain a full list of my ingredients. g

Has your Atheism affected your patriotism?

genessa comments on Oct 23, 2018:

no. why would it? i still love my country. i still hate the criminals running it. what's that got to do with whether or not there are any imaginary thingies in the sky running the universe? g

Age difference, is it much of a difference to love?

genessa comments on Dec 4, 2018:

it's moot for me because i am with my guy, but if i were free, i would not let a guy's youth deter me if my age didn't deter him. that being said, compatibility might depend to an extent on cultural compatibility and that could depend on the decades one has experienced, not how many but which ones. g

[jta.

genessa comments on Feb 24, 2020:

i got an email from the one i visit -- in fact visited today -- and they say they are considering new security measures even though they were not among those receiving threats. g

Do you believe that there is life after death

genessa comments on Dec 11, 2020:

yes. everyone i leave behind will continue to live until they die too. for the person who has died, life after death? no. g

Surprise, surprise, a cathedral burns in Paris, and US media gives it maximum coverage.

genessa comments on Apr 16, 2019:

i am seeing stories on the mozambique cyclone crisis online on cnn, the guardian, al jazeera, reuters, some african sites that i think we in the west don't frequent, the world health organization, axios, the red cross, huffo, it's in wikipedia already, the weather channel and other weather-related sites, nbc news, abc news, fox news (but they probably found a way to make this obama's fault), vox and others. there is more than one story from most of the sources, as if they're on top of it. i don't watch a lot of tv so i can't say what the tv versions are doing. g

What gives your life meaning? Why keep going? (just curious)

genessa comments on Jul 27, 2019:

i have no idea. i keep going anyway. i don't think it's as simple as one thing, or 10 things. g

For those single people out there, it’s already hard enough finding a compatible “other half” ...

genessa comments on Nov 16, 2018:

there is one aspect of your question in which i am no expert, because i never dated much. i had a love life but it was serendipitous! and now i am with my love, have been for 18 years, and he's not even an atheist but at least he's not religious (or from a different religious background from mine, either). so that part... yeah, i imagine it's not the first question you ask on a date. but being a homebody (which i more or less am, at least some of the time, too) doesn't help. putting yourself out there (not the same as putting out, i hasten to add!) doesn't mean looking for a guy. just putting yourself in social situations and letting the chips fall as they may won't automatically mean you start dating. it will mean you are out there, and might meet someone. meanwhile, i guess you're in the right place to meet (online) some people who fulfill that one qualification. trouble is, they might not fulfill any others, and they might not be honest about it. i have only seen (so far) ONE female scam artist here. i've seen a number of religious guys apparently convinced that atheist women sleep with anyone (since we have no god, we have no morals, right?) and some purported atheists and agnostics who are not willing to give a whole lot of themselves to the cause, then complain that no woman wants them (they're likely right about that). so you still have a lot of work to do if you're here looking for someone to date! my suggestion, for what it's worth? be here for the community. engage. your profile is good. you say stuff about yourself. it's amazing how many profiles don't! but engage in the community, make friends. some of them might get interested and if they don't... hey, friends are cool to have too! good luck! g p.s. i met my guy totally by accident. it was SO weird. sparks? not a single one. it took me months to fall in love, and months after that for me to get him to fall in love with me, and man, did i work hard at that! i'd never gone after anyone before! i never even thought i could! go figure.

I need help

genessa comments on Oct 13, 2018:

yep you have correctly identified the source of your feeling. it will pass as you educate yourself more and more (i am not implying you're uneducated, only that there is ALWAYS more). this is what isaac asimov said after most of a lifetime calling himself an agnostic: “I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.” as i say, the feeling will pass. there may be some tiny residual but i wouldn't worry about it. in this case, follow your head and your heart will adjust. g

"Politics has become so focused on economics that we’ve lost sight of humanity.

genessa comments on Jan 29, 2019:

i am not so sure i agree. there is an awful lot of politics focusing on controlling women's bodies, preventing people from marrying whomever they love, limiting freedom of assembly and more, and while there is always an underlying economic reason for such things, that doesn't represent a focus on economics. those who oppose such ridiculousness are not focusing on economics in doing so. meanwhile, humanity needs to eat, and focusing on stuff like a living wage, progressive taxes and affordable housing, while economic in nature, is also humanity-focused. g

I’m just wondering if ppl say “have a blessed day” in other parts of the country.

genessa comments on Nov 12, 2018:

some do. i don't hang out with them. they work in shops. that's where i might see and hear them. they are not harming me. i have no reason to pick fights with them. g

Atheism is just a way of clearing the space for better conversations.

genessa comments on Aug 27, 2019:

well, i see it a lot more simply. atheism may lead to some of those things, or not, but atheism is just not believing there are any gods, or believing there are no gods. everything else is action or reaction. g

DMary.

genessa comments on Jul 1, 2019:

she just went "not available" as was looking! g

Argument at work.

genessa comments on Feb 24, 2020:

i can only tell you whether smart men are attractive: yes. even more importantly, stupid men are ugly no matter how regular their features are. so i assume that this is true of women too. g

[friendlyatheist.patheos.com] This is discrimintation

genessa comments on Apr 23, 2019:

i like patheos well enough to click but many people are shy about clicking various links. could you summarize for those at least trying to decide whether or not to go to the article? g

Can you honestly believe that Pat Robertson, Mr.

genessa comments on Oct 17, 2018:

of course i believe it. what i find hard to believe are 1. that he's still alive, 2. that anyone takes him seriously and that 3. he hasn't been locked away in a mental institution. g

Is Trump working for the Russians?

genessa comments on Jan 14, 2019:

it's an insulting question only in that we all KNOW he's working for russia. what took everyone so long to figure it out? g

What difference does it make for one to believe in the divine or not?

genessa comments on Oct 21, 2018:

i can't help noticing that YOU'RE here. why are you wasting your time? by the way, most of us are not arguing for the existence or nonexistence of a god or gods. most of us are reading and posting in all KINDS of categories here, mostly unrelated to the existence of nonexistence of a god or gods. we're just doing it here instead of (or in addition to) elsewhere because it's a place we expect to be attacked less for being agnostics, atheists, freethinkers or whatever. yes, we talk about religion or lack thereof as well. we talk about cats, and recipes, too. what difference does THAT make? but we enjoy it. g

How do my fellow progressives feel about this?

genessa comments on Jul 16, 2019:

if a used piece of toilet paper wins the nomination, remember that a used piece of toilet paper won't put children in concentration camps, surround itself with criminals (including child rapists), alienate all our allies and suck up to dictators, consider starting wars to distract folks from his crimes, and... wait, i don't really need more, do i? g

Do we have free will?

genessa comments on Jun 1, 2020:

if we do not have free will, how can you trust our answers? i mean, maybe we were destined to post whether there is or isn't. i don't worry much about it though. g

What is your response when people threaten you with religious punishments? (i.e. Hell/Jahannam)

genessa comments on Sep 3, 2018:

I tend to laugh, or roll my eyes. but then, i don't get out much, and i don't tend to hang out with religious people, so it doesn't happen a lot. g

Are there songs that have distinct religious messages or even religious overtones that you like ...

genessa comments on Nov 3, 2019:

Yes, and oddly enough they really mostly Christian songs, and I have never been Christian. I love klezmer music and that reflects my heritage but it isn't religious music except once in a while it is celebratory of a festival. But why should I like amazing grace or riu chiu or gaudete or Noel Noel, or when I can read my titles clear or I'll fly away? Because they sound good! Hey, does anyone here feel guilty listening to puff the magic dragon or songs from Finian's rainbow or who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Didn't think so! g

I keep wondering what you people who call yourselves "agnostics" on here claim to be agnostic about.

genessa comments on Apr 13, 2019:

i'm not an agnostic. i'm an atheist. i still feel you may be addressing the likes of me, here. not everyone defines god the same way. some think "god is everywhere," meaning there is some kind of spirit in trees and clouds. others think he (always male, huh?) is a creator of universes. still others thing he, she or it is a caring entity who either controls things on earth or listens to prayers and either grants or denies them. i don't CARE. i don't believe in any supernational beings, be they leprechauns, all-knowing all-powerful creators, arbitors of who goes to the nonexistent heaven or the nonexistent hell in the nonexistent afterlife or just a spirit in a tree. it's all nonsense, and i have no emotional attachment to, or antipathy toward, any of it. i may have some antipathy to those who most energetically promoite it, and definitely toward those who blur the line between church and state. by the way, "god" doesn't have three letters in every language. ALL words are just sounds. they hold whatever meaning, if any, has been assigned to them in any given language. the last part of your rant makes no sense at all. zoz. who cares? g

How do you answer the banal message, "Hey, how are you?"

genessa comments on May 20, 2019:

i don't usually get asked this unless i've not been feeling well and then i am asked by someone who knows i've been ill, which i usually am. therefore i take people at their word and give an honest answer. g

Any fairly single women around Hilo/Puna-side... on the big island?

genessa comments on Nov 24, 2018:

i'm neither single nor in hawaii but i have to say something here: if i were single, in the area and in the market, i'd want to know more about you FIRST. something. anything. g

My new shirt from the Feminist Flea Market the other day.

genessa comments on Oct 18, 2018:

a good concept. it should be taught in skooools! g

Heaven and Hell are a state of minds.

genessa comments on Jul 8, 2019:

you can call those states of mind those words, or you can eschew religious lingo altogether and call them something else. i don't find this assertion any more useful than saying "god is love" or "god is everywhere" in an attempt to redefine and even recycle religious lingo. it's not necessary, it confuses some folks and it's not even especially original. a tree is a tree and a bad situation is a bad situation. they don't have to be god and hell. those words already have meanings. g

WHY BERNIE WILL BE A GUARANTEED FAILURE?

genessa comments on Feb 10, 2020:

Sorry but none of what you said makes any sense. The "facts" you declare are untrue and your conclusions are based upon them. I am saying this as someone who has already voted by absentee ballot and i did not vote for bernie, so you cannot dismiss me as a berner. I just don't like misinformation. Bernie is as viable as any other current democratic candidate and the meme is disgustingly misleading. g

How do you make friends if you aren't a drinker?

genessa comments on Oct 8, 2018:

i'm neither single nor a drinker but i spent most of my life single and not drinking. it never occurred to me that, say, going to a bar was a likely place to meet friends, especially since back then everyone was smoking and i have asthma. a lot of fun, i was! i made some friends at school, at work, on my street, wherever i happened to be living, and not a whole lot at one time, usually -- but the ones i made tended to last a lifetime. one of my best friends i met while we were both working on a play, outside of any other organized setting (not a school play, for example). i just answered an ad in the free paper. not into theatre? there are so many things in which one can be involved that involve gathering. that wasn't even why i was doing it. i had been a theatre major until i switched to film and i was just doing anything i could get to do, paid or unpaid -- yeah, paid, who was i kidding? always unpaid! but it's amazing what a broad spectrum of people you meet. if you go expecting nothing but the activity, the work, the play, whatever it is, you get your satisfaction from that and you also get to hang out with human beings. once in a while another human being is happy to hang out with you, too! as for the insecurity, i reeked of it. i was painfully shy, i was. i got over that quickly when i ended up teaching in japan. i think that's an extreme measure to take if you aren't otherwise planning to go, but the thing is, laugh at yourself, take a deep breath, don't expect anything, and go out where people are doing stuff, do the stuff, don't worry about their liking you, and some people will like you just for that! g

I have had an odd notion for awhile now.

genessa comments on Dec 3, 2019:

I think I have better issues to deal with than disturbing people in their delusions as long as they are not legislating, adjudicating or executing their delusions or attacking people. g

who would be likely to jump on a plane and travel 3K miles or more on the off chance of meeting a ...

genessa comments on Jan 27, 2019:

so you're asking everyone but straight women, eh? i'll answer anyway. i have my guy with me already but the key word here seems to be OFF. on the off chance of meeting someone with whom to fall in love? (i don't know what SUITABLE is -- i didn't have preconceived notions when i met my guy; i wasn't looking for anyone and neither was he.) no. not on the off chance. g

Does anyone have a favorite book that helped you in your transition out of your religion?

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2019:

nope. i came to it myself, based on something that had nothing to do with god or religion. g

Who remembers these and did you have one?

genessa comments on Oct 28, 2018:

i think my sister may have had one. they always seemed a little gross to me. g

Why is the hard-Left so conservative? - UnHerd

genessa comments on Feb 8, 2019:

they're not. and who in the world is unherd anyway? the question in the title is loaded, like "when did you stop beating your wife?" g

Why is the left lacking the personality mouthpieces to offset the right mouthpieces?

genessa comments on Nov 24, 2018:

because we're not insane is one reason. another reason is we don't have mouthpieces. we have thoughtful commentators who actually understand history and put current events into perspective. oh and those fox news ladies... fox isn't news and those ladies aren't ladies; they're barely women. but you're wrong about female stars. how about joy reid? and why do they have to be female? chris hayes and lawrence o'donnell are fantastic even with y chromosomes. the thing about stars is that you have not defined stars. if you mean noisy racist bitches (i refer to the men as well as the women using that word), then yeah, we lack those. fox has 'em. g

[friendlyatheist.patheos.com] This is discrimintation

genessa comments on Apr 23, 2019:

here. this is the article: Missouri Bill Banning Anonymity of Atheist Plaintiffs in Lawsuits Passes House BY HEMANT MEHTA APRIL 10, 2019 A bill that will paint a giant target on atheists’ backs for any Christian vigilante who wants to attack them has just passed the Missouri State House. A little background here: Whenever a church/state separation lawsuit lists the plaintiffs, it’s not unusual to see initials in place of their real names, if not a pseudonym like “Jane Doe.” That’s for good reason: If their names ever became public, they could be stalked or bullied (or worse) in their communities, many of which are extremely religious, which is why there are church/state separation problems in the first place. Judges understand this. They may require the plaintiffs to appear before them or use their real names in sealed documents, but they usually allow the people to remain anonymous in the public record if there’s a legitimate reason for it. Missouri State Rep. Hardy Billington, a Republican Baptist who recently said his goal in office was to “stand up for Christian values,” wants those atheists to suffer. Billington filed a bill earlier this year, HB 728, that would force adult plaintiffs to use their real names in any cases involving church/state separation… and only in cases involving church/state separation. Apparently, if you sue over a Ten Commandments monument outside of a public school, everyone needs to know your real name. Not so in other kinds of lawsuits. Here’s the change he wants to make: Except if the party in interest is a minor, in any action involving the separation of church and state, such action shall be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. There is no benefit to the public here. All Billington is doing is creating a new obstacle to deter atheists from coming forward about potentially illegal issues. Those who still go through with it will have to deal with the inevitable Christian backlash. Why are we treating these plaintiffs different from other ones? Why is church/state separation the one issue in which anonymity is not an option? When Eric Wells, the Missouri Assistant State Director for American Atheists, spoke in front of the House Judiciary Committee, urging them to reconsider this thoughtless piece of legislation, he offered a long list of atheist plaintiffs who were threatened and faced harassment after bringing forth a lawsuit. (In one famous case from 2000, for example, Wells noted that the “speculation about their identities was so intense that before the trial, the district court judge issued an unusual order specifically instructing the school district’s representatives not to reveal the families’ identities to anyone for any reason ...

Missed you folks. You're worth knowing.

genessa comments on Oct 18, 2018:

was agnostic dot com down all day for you too? i thought maybe it didn't like me anymore! g

Agnostics??

genessa comments on Jun 11, 2019:

a whole lot. i don't think we've been counted, though. a good number of us, including me, are NOT agnostics. i myself am an atheist. g

Democratic Socialism [counterpunch.org]

genessa comments on Sep 30, 2018:

well, that certainly perpetuates the myth that the democratic party as a whole is all talk and mostly interested in preserving unrestrained capitalism. those who pay good attention and don't cherry-pick, and don't equate being donated to with being beholden and bought and sold, know that this is not actually the case. i am closer to being a social democrat than to being in favor of any other named kind of economic system, but i don't buy the political aspect of it that perpetuates this myth. furthermore, teaching people to hate or at least disrespect the democratic party (especially based on that myth) is an excellent way to keep the republicans in power. or is that what we want, in order to have a rallying cry? not me! g

Some people are just born into a lucky life while others aren’t? True or false?

genessa comments on Sep 24, 2018:

of course it's true. but that doesn't mean that people born into lucky circumstances take advantage of them, or don't blow them totally. trump was born into a rich family and was given a million bucks to start his career. he could've been a lot richer had he invested, he didn't have to be the kind of guy who turned bankruptcy into a profit plan. he could have done anything. some people are born into poverty, and that sure isn't lucky, but they work hard, and sometimes that's what pulls them out of poverty and sometimes more bad things happen and it just doesn't work. it's not luck as in a supernatural force controlling someone's life; it's luck as in the luck of the draw. but then one does or does not take what one is dealt (another supernatural-sounding concept but honestly, that's just how our language is!) and do something with it. g

[yahoo.

genessa comments on Jan 20, 2020:

Whether a woman -- representing with her gender 52 percent of the population -- can win does not depend on her gender but on voters' perception of what gender means. If we unite and decide that being an evil dictator is intolerable and having a vagina is normal and acceptable, then a woman can win just as a man can. It is up to us. g

Anybody out there like musicals?

genessa comments on Sep 6, 2018:

i like some, eschew others. i tend to like 'em rather wicked (oh, that's a pretty good one too) like cabaret or chicago; the sound of music leaves me cold. (blasphemy!) i do like singin' in the rain, guys and dolls, pennies from heaven (okay that's pretty dark too!) the wizard of oz, showboat, into the woods, hair, maybe even jesus christ superstar if i'm in the right mood. carousel... NO. just no. no no no. g

I really dont get the point of this site

genessa comments on Feb 3, 2019:

it's a social media site, with a dating component. the point is to communicate socially, and maybe find a date/lover/whatever. the thing that makes THIS site different is that you almost never get people praying at you lol g

I am going to be traveling to London for the first time in April.

genessa comments on Oct 10, 2018:

get a combined bus/tube day pass each day. it's worth it. when you go home, give it to someone who is about to buy a ticket. if you like theatre, go to leicester square the same day as the show, stand in line and get half-price (plus one pound) tickets. you don't get to choose the seats but it's still worth it! the tate gallery has a whole floor dedicated to jmw turner. at first his stuff seems ordinarily competent and then it gets wonderful. too bad it'll be april; in the summer you could stay cheaply at a university dorm. g

Important atheist question: When you die, would you let them bury your body or cremate it.

genessa comments on Nov 4, 2018:

i don't know where my folks are buried. the place printed on the yahrzeit candle turns out not to exist. i live in a different state. i don't need to see the dirt. they're in my heart. as for me, i don't know. i'll probably die before i decide whether to decide. g

Mother Jones is pleased with the election results. I am still a grumpypants. What say you?

genessa comments on Nov 7, 2018:

well, i cannot vote because there is no option for having mixed feelings. of course not enough will be done, not immediately, to guarantee an eventual impeachment. however, it is most certainly not business as usual either. we can really block a LOT of bad legislation. all budgetary bills must originate in the house; we simply will not write any tax cut bills. we may even write some that reverse some damage, but the senate will not likely pass any of that and trump wouldn't sign it if they did. however, all the house committees will now be headed by democrats. waters will surely subpoena trump's tax records. other actions and investigations will be undertaken. bad legislation will not make it to the floor; the senate's bad legislation will not pass the house. there is more, but i think this is enough to show that it's not business as usual! g

How to have a bit of ' innocent' harmless fun with Mormon Missionaries, Aussie style and it works ...

genessa comments on Oct 19, 2018:

i don't answer my door unless i am expecting someone, but i have been approached by mormons on the outside, asking me, with those horrible smiles, whether i have ever heard the story of joseph smith. my response is "yes, i have. have you heard the one about the rabbi?" and then i tell them the longest chassidic story i know. (i can provide that if you need it. it's a pretty good story, too!) g

Is it just me, or r there a lot of people on here that are really taken with their own ability to ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

actually, some of us CAN write. shall we pretend we're just not that good? g

Thing you can't live without

genessa comments on Dec 4, 2018:

cats. g

Guess who is back for the 4th time .

genessa comments on May 9, 2019:

i don't think i know him, or at least don't remember him, and see no posts or comments either, so it's probably not you lol. he has a follower, just one. i wonder if he is conning her? g

Those of us who favor critical thinking and arguments based on scientific evidence should avoid ...

genessa comments on Sep 4, 2018:

Religious belief is not in and of itself a mental disorder BUT religious fervor CAN be a mental disorder. think of it this way: not liking to step on cracks in the sidewalk is not a mental disorder. getting upset when others do because you truly believe that they are murdering their mothers IS a mental disorder. religions were not invented by priests to control the masses but religion developed in such a way that priests, or kings, or emperors, or popes, early on learned to use it to control the masses. irreligious people are not by nature more moral than religious people BUT there is an argument to be made that when irreligious people and religious people do the same good things, or refrain from doing the same bad things, the former have better motivations. religions are not tolerant or intolerant; their advocates and followers are. some religions preach more tolerance than others. irreligious people are free of the intolerance of intolerant religions, but they are not free of their personal intolerances. that may make some interesting statistics, because that does decrease the likelihood of an atheist's intolerance, but it's certainly not a rule. religions ARE the top cause of violence in history, and probably in the future too. in what way is this a myth? hitler's, stalin's and mao's motivations were not religious, it is true, although in hitler's case he and his henchpersons had their own religion, which included all kinds of weird ideas about cro magnon man, aryanism and astrology, to name a few elements. still, for the most part, these villains USED religion and motivated others with it, rather than being motivated, themselves, by it. g

Are we free?

genessa comments on Sep 10, 2018:

the idea of being "made" at all is a false ideology. this sounds very nice and it's not an unkind thing, but we were not MADE, and not everyone was born and raised the same way, either. also, if you're black and you walk down the street, unarmed, breathing, you can be fearless if you want but a cop just MIGHT shoot you dead just for the hell of it. how free would you be then? g

The four of us are off to 42nd street tomorrow, it's showing in London's West End.

genessa comments on Jan 1, 2019:

did you use the half-price ticket stand in leicester square? half price plus one pound, to be exact. g

Every time I open up to family, friends and acquaintances about my open mind, non religious and ...

genessa comments on Sep 8, 2018:

well, i would if i had been raised christian i suppose. since i was raised as a secular jew, it never even occurred to me to tell my folks when i realized there were no gods. it just didn't seem like something they'd be interested in. i am sure had i told them they'd have been okay with it, but it just never crossed my mind to bring it up. g

Can someone advise me on how to live with a muslim family who'll absolutely shun me if I tell them ...

genessa comments on Dec 21, 2018:

don't tell them. it's none of their business. if they ask about religion say "my religious views are very personal and i don't talk about them." g

I am going to be traveling to London for the first time in April.

genessa comments on Oct 10, 2018:

get london time out to see what's on during the week. g

How many of you had one of these.

genessa comments on May 15, 2019:

i had a normal bicycle. later, in japan, a friend lent me his bicycle, and i injured myself with it. still later, i rented un velo in france and injured myself worse with it. i stay away from bikes now. g

Fearless is not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it Fearless, not stupid it sharpens my ...

genessa comments on Apr 21, 2019:

fearlessness literally IS the absence of fear. the word that should be there is COURAGE. courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to overcome it or the act of overcoming it. even overcoming is tricky -- you can fail at overcoming it and yet press on as if it's not there, which is a kind of overcoming. but please do not confuse fearlessness and courage. g

Its a known fact that history is written by only the winners.

genessa comments on Sep 14, 2019:

People don't realize? Oh are you the only one? Plenty of people realize. And by the way, some villains do not consider themselves good guys. They just think good guys are dumb. Generalizations are generally wrong. g

Would you as an agnostic or atheist marry a Christian?

genessa comments on Aug 13, 2019:

i am already engaged and not to a christian, but if i were available -- i don't think i would ever be in a position to wonder whether to marry a christian. i mean, there are people who call themselves christian but all it means is that their families were somehow affiliated with a denomination and celebrated christmas, and then there are people who are actively christian. maybe the former, yeah? definitely not the latter -- but no such christian would ever fall in love with me. i'm too snarky. g

You know when those cute little baby goats start jumping for no apparent reason other than the sheer...

genessa comments on Oct 9, 2018:

wear pajamas? g

FACT CHECK: Trump told troops they had not received a raise in 10 years, and that he pushed for a ...

genessa comments on Dec 27, 2018:

quelle choque! trump lied to someone about something! he probably looks in the mirror from time to time and lies to himself. there is no one to whom, and nothing about which, he does not lie. if his eyelids are flickering in his sleep, he is dreaming lies. if his lips part, put up your umbrella: it's about the rain lies. g

Another day of high confidence.

genessa comments on Oct 16, 2018:

confidence is good. another day, come to think of it, is also good. g

BBC - Future - Tomorrow’s Gods: What is the future of religion?

genessa comments on Aug 2, 2019:

i do not believe that for an instant. so many other factors also allowed the formation of societies made up of strangers, among them encountering other groups and merging, independent of big-god religion; the need to hunt efficiently; the survival instinct that expanded to include the kind of organization required by and at the same time enabled by large groups/societies. god more likely developed from the large groups than the other way around. g

What are your favorite proofs against the Bible?

genessa comments on Sep 30, 2018:

well, you don't have to go past the talking snake, really. i don't spend a lot of time trying to disprove a work of fiction, though. fantasy is fantasy. g

Who is the most knowledgeable public atheist today?

genessa comments on Sep 18, 2018:

knowledgeable about what? you don't have to be a scientist to know there are no gods. there are all kinds of knowledge. a good sense of logic -- a good sense of sense you might say -- is a kind of knowledge. i think ron reagan and ricky gervais are great! they know how to communicate to people. that's important knowledge. g

Matt Dilahunty once made the statement that "Atheists are those that don't BELIEVE in a god, and ...

genessa comments on Apr 29, 2019:

no, i don't agree. what i think is that people spend too much time trying to define words that actually each have more than one meaning in that their meanings are broad. an atheist can be someone who doesn't believe in any gods, or someone who firmly believes there are no gods. both are atheists. some agnostics explain themselves by saying they don't believe in any gods but cannot state that there definitely are none because they don't know; others say they're simply unsure; others are offended when people say agnostics are unsure. there is a RANGE for each and they overlap. i won't oversimplify just so we can have two clearly labeled barrels to toss people into. g

Would you prefer it if there WAS a Creator of some sort? If yes, why? And if no, why?

genessa comments on Sep 2, 2018:

i am rather happy that there isn't. life is complicated enough. g

The four of us are off to 42nd street tomorrow, it's showing in London's West End.

genessa comments on Jan 1, 2019:

sorry, what did i ask that for? i know you didn't use that because you said tomorrow. you can only do that for same-day performances. sorry. g

New reports say Pence knew about the attempt to extort Ukraine. Impeach them both!

genessa comments on Oct 3, 2019:

he didn't just know. he was personally, actively involved. g

Who knows what this joke refers too?

genessa comments on Sep 4, 2019:

it refers, i think, to an old monty python routine about spam. g

So I have to post and do stuff like that to gain levels?

genessa comments on Jan 8, 2019:

yes. the idea isn't that you do this to gain points. the idea is that you do this because you find the site interesting, and then the site rewards you with points that let you participate even more, because you've shown that you're into it. the points are not the point (pun intended). participation is the point. if you don't want to post and comment and stuff like that, then what good are the points, anyway? g

I am starting to feel about the cat meme posts the same as I do about people trying to push their ...

genessa comments on Sep 18, 2018:

i haven't seen many here. for what it's worth, i like some and don't like others, based on their truth and cleverness rather than that they're about cats. i have a high cat tolerance, i have to admit. your suspicion is correct, by the way: one cannot own a cat. g

Helping one another

genessa comments on Nov 25, 2018:

survival of the species, to begin with. altruism developed along with our brand of sentience, to continue, and that is of course an extension of the survival of the species but has reached beyond it, perhaps. g

One thing liberals and conservatives apparently still agree on, in a decisive environment these ...

genessa comments on Dec 28, 2018:

i have never thought once about lawrence o'donnell's cleavage. g

I feel lonely and lost. I wonder if it's because I stopped believing in Regions?

genessa comments on Oct 12, 2018:

since there was no god even when you believed there was one, you should not feel lonelier now than before, but i understand feelings are hard to control. think of it this way: you are free to find out what's real in the world, and it's a big world. you need not feel lonely in it! you may even find some friends here :-)) g

How do you feel after hosting people?

genessa comments on Oct 12, 2018:

it is bound to be exhausting no matter how gracious the guest is, but she really SHOULD have offered to help out with some of the work, whether or not you were feeling well. g

My wife, Anna is a K-5 special education, bi-lingual teacher.

genessa comments on Nov 6, 2018:

not ALL politicians. republican politicians, yep, and the head of all of them is a nonteacher (and pretty uneducated person, come to think of it), a trump appointee named betsy devos, who wants to end public education and make all education private and christian. g

Cooked beets for the first time. Looks like a murder scene.

genessa comments on Sep 11, 2018:

they do leak! but boiled? no, no, no! anything but that! try roasting them! boiling a vegetable is almost... well this is the wrong site to call something sacrilegious lol. but you get to keep the flavor and the vitamins if you cook them ANY other way. roasting is best but even microwaving beats (pun intended) boiling! if they tasted good after boiling just IMAGINE how they would taste after roasting :-)) g