Free will's a bitch.

October 11, 2001 10:04 AM

Is this maybe not the best hornet's nest to stir up again? It got pretty ugly last time, and this is just a different salvo in that same MeFi street fight...
posted by hincandenza to Etiquette/Policy at 10:04 AM (22 comments total)

It's a good question. But hornets' nests like this will never go away. It does play into that silly "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" strain but it's still pertinent. No one has ever understood the "free will" argument and the most we can do is thrash it out in the hope it'll go away. (Perhaps ugliness is just confusion dressed up as identity...)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:22 AM on October 11, 2001

But hornets' nests like this will never go away

Well, they could finally come to a stop if that damn "God" everyone loves so much would just signup and post a response in the thread.

...except I shut off new signups. Sorry god!
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:38 AM on October 11, 2001

I have no comment here. I just like saying: "Where was God (bunnyfire remix)".
posted by moss at 10:40 AM on October 11, 2001

I overheard someone on the bus yesterday saying God couldn't sign up to Metafilter. My wife this morning said she she thought He or She was WetWednesday under another name. Is she stark raving bonkers? Am I alone in being married to a madwoman? Does anyone else feel this was why WTC happened? How will it affect the economy? Is hincandenza bunnyfire in another dimension? Is writing god without a capital letter sinful? Is this right on one's own sacred birthday? I'd like to hear of other members' favorite Ananova items, if I'm not as alone as I think.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:56 AM on October 11, 2001

You think two posts on the same subject is bad? Wait until all this terrorist crap dies down, and we get back into SUVs.
And then, God's culpability in the creation of SUV's.
posted by Doug at 10:59 AM on October 11, 2001

Proof of the existence of God. QED.
posted by zempf at 11:02 AM on October 11, 2001

...except I shut off new signups. Sorry god!

He emailed me, complaining he couldn't sign up and asked me to post here. He has a message:

To: the MetaFilter community
From: God (Allah, Yaweh, et al)
Date: October 11, 2001
Subject: My Existence
cc: The rest of the world

My children:

Get a life and stop believing in imaginary fucking friends! What the hell is wrong with you? I'd expect the chimps to still be throwing shit at the moon, but I gave you the big brain.

Jeeeesus. (No, not You...Yeah, I'm sending them email right now. Shit. Look what you made me do.)

Anyway, I don't exist; I never did. Any highschool chemistry book will tell you how all this happened. Now cut the crap. Buffy's on.

--God
posted by jpoulos at 11:16 AM on October 11, 2001

*goes out to prove that black is white*
posted by iceberg273 at 12:02 PM on October 11, 2001

My first thought when asked where God was, "In the Library with the candlestick." But now I'm not sure. It could have been Professor Plum.
posted by john at 12:26 PM on October 11, 2001

God?

it's all about Barry Malzberg, friends.

or so I've been told...


posted by y2karl at 12:40 PM on October 11, 2001

The rhetoric flying back and forth on a number of the threads has been getting tiring lately. Maybe a rule should be applied that if a thread goes over 10 or so posts, a user may only comment in it __ many times. That could cut down on the flaming.
posted by mrbula at 1:38 PM on October 11, 2001

I finally had some time to wander through the thread, and for the most part it's a pretty interesting thread.

The peanut gallery is definitely making themselves known, but for the most part it's just a bunch of people talking about beliefs.

I actually think that this particular thread should be held up as an example of a good thread. Disagreements, but for the most part well-reasoned, thoroughly explained view points with the intent of learning about how other people think.

I wish it hadn't been a conceptual double-post, but perhaps this was a concept that needed revisiting after a bit of time had past and people had calmed down a bit?
posted by cCranium at 2:08 PM on October 11, 2001

conceptual double-post. i like that.
It was a hard choice for me--i had to choose which thread to post my usual im-too-cool-for-my-own-pants sort of comment as part of the un-believer salvo.

Matt...maybe we need a repost comment from previous same-subject thread feature? Because the only difficulty is trying to come up with a different way of saying the same thing over and over for the sake of people who hadn't seen it before, as opposed to just resorting to snide comments and mockery of religions.


posted by th3ph17 at 3:26 PM on October 11, 2001

Has anyone ever seen me and God at the same time? That's how we/I like it.
posted by owillis at 3:33 PM on October 11, 2001

Wait a minute, did Matt say...

::goes and checks::

Well I'll be... you really did turn off new signups. It'll be interesting to see how that affects things.
posted by moss at 3:55 PM on October 11, 2001

I think it's a pretty civil conversation. you have your fundies on both sides, but for the most part it's people really talking....
posted by rebeccablood at 4:11 PM on October 11, 2001

(off topic)
hincandenza let me just say that everyone should use your mouseover technique when referencing threads, it's much easier than actually visiting the thread itself. Thank you, that is all.
posted by cell divide at 5:17 PM on October 11, 2001

I never would have thought such a thing was possible, but yes, it's remarkably civil. It's reminding me why I like MetaFilter so much.
posted by moss at 10:53 PM on October 11, 2001

moss, may I say how much I respect your intellectual integrity as it is evidenced in that thread? you give atheists a good name.
posted by rebeccablood at 12:19 PM on October 12, 2001

Thank you! That's high praise indeed. I'm especially flattered because I've found your own contributions to be refreshingly clear-minded.
posted by moss at 5:01 PM on October 12, 2001

I enjoyed your contributions too, Rebecca. There were a couple of people in the "Where was God?" thread who made it worth sifting through. As far as pointless street fights go, I'd rather go a few more rounds on religion than get back into Ralph Nader, the recount mess, or SUVs.
posted by rcade at 5:55 AM on October 13, 2001

I'm glad this thread is now stale, because no-one will hear me say BUNNYFIRE IS A TWAT. Phew, that's better.
posted by Summer at 1:20 PM on October 13, 2001