I was the treasurer of a Unitarian church and had to tell the members they had to give more every Sunday or we would not be able to pay our bills. When I left the church we had a savings account of $100,000 plus.

(you think hitler is going to give himself a bad reputation?)

i was placed into a feminist facebook group without my permission and when i went to check it out, i thought about whether or not to stay in it. i mean, i am a feminist, but not everyone who (or everything that) called herself a feminist actually is what i consider one. a lot of so-called feminists backpedal quite a bit, and they have no idea they're doing so because they take so much for granted for which i and my peers actually had to fight. so i checked it out.

while i was considering whether or not to stay, i saw a meme showing a picture of adele and quoting her as saying something about being yourself, not caring what others think of you, etc. the picture showed adele wearing a ton of makeup, dressed to the nines, looking very much the opposite of what the meme was apparently trying to say. now, i have no feelings about adele at all. i don't hate her music, i don't enjoy it, i barely know it. i won't knock her and i won't go out and buy her stuff either. i don't care about adele, no offense to adele. she does nothing for or to me, positive or negative. i happen to enjoy many kinds of music and whatever you call what she does isn't among those kinds. it's not a reflection on her. i can't emphasize enough that i have no reason whatsoever to put adele down just because i don't happen to be a fan. it is with this attitude that i pointed out the discrepancy between the words of the meme and the picture the mememaker had chosen to illustrate it. adele didn't make the meme. my comment wasn't about her. it was about the meme.

i was treated as if i had said i ate christian babies for lunch (they're awfully hard to digest first thing in the morning). i was told i was a horrible person for putting adele down (i had done no such thing, and had gone out of my way to say that adele was not to blame for the meme), i should really try listening to her music (that had WHAT to do with the meme?) and that i was closed-minded, nonfeminist, you name it. i was a nazi because i noticed that the mememaker had chosen the exact wrong picture to illustrate adele's words. not a single person defended me. i was roundly attacked.

since i hadn't chosen that group to begin with and had not yet decided whether to stay, i decided to leave, and said so, and said why.

the owner of the group pm'd me and begged me to stay. she was friendly and apologetic. we began to chat regularly about other things. she was a little taken aback that i had no interest in becoming a vegan, but she got over it. not long after that, though, she tried to rope me into some conspiracy theory. i forget, now, which one. was it chemtrails? the twin towers imploded on their own or were blown up by whomever but not planes? was it fema death camps? i can't remember. it was something ridiculous. i told her gently i was not interested. she started railing at me as if i had told her.... wait, we did the christian babies for lunch thing already. you get the idea. i had to block her. she was bonkers, not quietly bonkers but scream her head off bonkers.

so yeah. i've had that experience.

by the way, i like huxley. but don't believe everything adolf says about himself (or anything). read, by all means, but know the facts, too.

g

Reading opposing ideas is the only way to formulate a solid concept of your own. Otherwise you're just learning to be a parrot.

In case you are worried about it.
So good news about Malthusian Economics he didn't account for the reduced birth rate of more developed countries or that technology could aid in the growth of food production.

I'm in the minority of stances of some really politically charged debates.

The slightest hint that you are not in full agreement with the climate change mantra will bring down upon you much wrath and fury. The slightest variation in established dogma will get you clobbered by true believers. Many of them have called for jailing of the apostates while a few advocate summary execution.

The only reason I dare write this is that most of my life is over anyway.

"you faced almost immediate ostracism and learned the hard way not to shock them again."

Are you kidding? Anyone who would change their ethics or be "quiet" so as not to upset the apple cart is weak-willed and weak-minded.

Try being an Anti-Natalist, Libertarian, Atheist Vegan....

Reading some unpopular or mis-judged books is child's play.

Good for them to get shaken up a bit! I am fully capable of "defending" or even promoting, any idea I choose to throw out ghere....they'll get over it, or not.....