top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]travman064 795 points796 points ago

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I use comparisons with Hitler to win arguments on the internet

-Troy Barnes

[–]bluechaka 127 points128 points ago

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...at the drop of a hat

[–]darkiye 102 points103 points ago

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Too late, the hat gypsies stole it.

[–]Metsubo 23 points24 points ago

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I was about to say...

[–]SirZheHao 39 points40 points ago

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too late. Now you're streets behind with the windmills of death.

[–]UnholyDiver 19 points20 points ago

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It's going to be a maze.

[–]magic_is_might 6 points7 points ago

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Oh my god, Joshua was racist. That came out of nowhere!

[–]Dave_Hulud 2 points3 points ago

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You'll have to excuse my partner, he's been on edge ever since we switched.

[–]Metsubo 1 point2 points ago

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Stop trying to make that a thing!

[–]Djgdan 74 points75 points ago

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Ah, ye olde Reductio ad Hitlerum. Never fails.

[–]Killamajig 20 points21 points ago

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I loved the part where Ron tried to cast that spell and It backfired.

[–]scarecrowslayer 10 points11 points ago

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Hermione: "Hitlerum, not Stalinum!"

[–]I_open_at_the_close 31 points32 points ago

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This is wrinkling my brain!

[–]inlinevoid 30 points31 points ago

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Your brain is already wrinkled!

[–]DAVIDcorn 5 points6 points ago

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Dude dont you know we are all a scenario inside a little boys mind. Who just so happens to be deciding which parent to live with. IE MR. Nobody.

[–]iwearyellowsocks 2 points3 points ago

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That was a beautiful movie.

[–]DAVIDcorn 2 points3 points ago

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Dude that movie was like inception x2.

[–]Skorthase 4 points5 points ago

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[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]ShockedSystem 110 points111 points ago

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This is the worst car I have ever bought.

[–]SolusLoqui 14 points15 points ago

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"Son, do you know why I pulled you over?"

[–]Ghersch 26 points27 points ago

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Cuz I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low? Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know.

[–]merkin171 4 points5 points ago

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"Am I under arrest or should I guess some more, Well you was doing fifty five in a fifty four"

[–]nessman930 1 point2 points ago

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I read this in Don Knotts' voice

[–]Fvel 57 points58 points ago

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Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!

[–]stop_superstition 18 points19 points ago

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Hey, hey, ho, ho,

Hitler is the way to go.

[–]adrian246 1 point2 points ago

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Winter for Poland, and France.

[–]fbanda87 1 point2 points ago

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[–]agr3s5vepanti3s 1 point2 points ago

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I was born in Dusseldorf and that is why they call me Rolf!

[–]jjofearth 25 points26 points ago

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[–]neologasm 20 points21 points ago

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I remember this thread. The nice thing about this was that it didn't suffer from the trite formatting and nazi analogies, got the point across much more effectively, and the writer presumably had some knowledge of the group that he was using as a metaphor for christianity. Thank you for reminding me of it.

[–]SGTBillyShears 440 points441 points ago

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All I can do right now is the slow clap

[–]IHaveACaveTroll 354 points355 points ago

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He just went full Godwin.

It's like a reverse full retard. You never go half Godwin.

Always full Godwin.

God... win.

My God...

win.

[–]mavs41 35 points36 points ago

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Full Godwin. Oh, the humanity.

[–]Goobady 128 points129 points ago

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To be fair, Hitler is far less evil than the Old Testament God.

[–]-laissez-faire- 383 points384 points ago

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To be fair, God is fictional, Hitler actually was real.

[–]horseymchorsehorse 65 points66 points ago

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Good point.

[–]DAVIDcorn 41 points42 points ago

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And he has a killer mustache.

[–]fishnetdiver 47 points48 points ago

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and if Hitler and Worf kiss their mustaches wouldn't touch.

[–]Prothean_Javik 25 points26 points ago

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But he would kill Worf and himself for being homosexuals.

[–]DruePhoenix 23 points24 points ago

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He would try.

[–]mildcaseofdeath 21 points22 points ago

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Read in the voice of Worf, son of Mogh.

[–]Hates_Everyone 13 points14 points ago

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Hitler stole that mustache from Charlie Chaplin.

[–]nerocycle 23 points24 points ago

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No he didn't. When Hitler had his mustache, Charlie didn't lose it. He might have to speak to his copyright lawyer, though.

[–]blastingedge 8 points9 points ago

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So he pirated the mustache?

[–]seivadgerg 11 points12 points ago

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He killed that mustache.

[–]DAVIDcorn 7 points8 points ago

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Maybe his mustache was the actual killer.

[–]ganjarea 1 point2 points ago

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[–]mattbridel 1 point2 points ago

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booosh!

[–]IHaveACaveTroll 45 points46 points ago

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Yeah, but at least God isn't a hipster.

Fucking Hitler. I wish they rejected his ass from art school.

Wait... what timeline is this?

[–]CharCole41 2 points3 points ago

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One million upvotes just for the awesome name!

[–]DoxBox 2 points3 points ago

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How can I argue with you? You have a fucking cave troll.

[–]siflux 12 points13 points ago

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If you don't mind me going all ontological argument on you, I have to disagree. That which exists and does bad things is more evil than that which does not exist and does bad things. Thus, Hitler is more evil than Yahweh, though Yahweh does have some nasty atrocities credited to his name.

[–]byllz 30 points31 points ago

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If you don't mind me goin all Bertrand Russell on you , I have to disagree. Existance is not a predicate, and so has no power to modify the properties of something, even moral properties.

Which is worse, me hitting my sister, or me killing my sister? Does it change anything that I actually did hit my sister, but didn't kill her? It doesn't change the fact that killing her is worse.

[–]Aidinthel 12 points13 points ago

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But the fact that you did not actually kill your sister means that you are not accountable for the hypothetical crime. By this same token, the fact that Yahweh does not actually exist means that he did not actually commit any of the crimes attributed to him, and thus he is not accountable for them.

[–]Rephaite 10 points11 points ago

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But he doesn't get a prize for not being accountable, because receiving prizes also requires existence.

[–]neologasm 14 points15 points ago

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Does that mean I win a prize for every person I don't kill?

[–]Leuku 15 points16 points ago

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Yes. Your prizes are being backlogged until you can receive them. Which is when you die. They'll be released all at once, like balloons. Actually, they are balloons.

[–]SeeEmTrollin 2 points3 points ago

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Actually, they are balloons.

What a twist!

[–]hsia501 2 points3 points ago

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Hah! You amuse me. I like to think reddit (and everyone on the internet) is just a bunch of bots and i'm literally the only real person on the internet. But incase you were wondering, you're in my top 20 bots for amusement.

[–]Hates_Everyone 6 points7 points ago

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I think I should be the one to get a prize for every person I don't kill.
You can just go enjoy the company of your friends.

[–]IHaveGlasses 1 point2 points ago

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Jean Paul Sartre said "Hell was been locked forever in a room with your friends"

[–]Lawyer_Boy 1 point2 points ago

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Do we each get a prize if you kill yourself?

[–]Neumaschine 1 point2 points ago

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Yes. Your daily reward is freedom from incarceration.

[–]Knight of /newDudesan 6 points7 points ago

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If I were to imagine a perfectly evil being, it must (in order to be perfectly evil) have the property of existence...

[–]I_Resent_That 2 points3 points ago

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I see what you did there. God, I hate the Ontological argument. It's a high-speed train to philosophy-rage. It's like someone inventing the word "quab" which means something that inherently exists, therefore it exists.

Someone who supported the OA would counter your satire, saying evil isn't a perfection, so the argument can't be applied. That person would be a dick.

[–]orthag 3 points4 points ago

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The ontological argument boils down to "god exists because I say he exists."

[–]Xujhan 1 point2 points ago

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You may enjoy Gasking's Proof if you haven't heard of it before.

[–]furryspoon 15 points16 points ago*

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Well, I think you're assuming all or most of the evils of Jewish persecution in Germany was totally and completely blamable on Hitler.

I'm sure he was a bugger, but he needed a lot of willing people to either agree with what he was doing, or turn a blind eye and go along with it.

The other aspect is that anti-semitism has a long christian history. Hitler didn't dream up the idea of killing jews. His parents hated Jews and so did most people he knew. The idea came from history (not only christians but they feature very significantly here) - so how do you assign the evil here?

Hitler wouldn't even have the idea to to kill jews, if it weren't for the christian anti-semitic history which handed him the baton.

So who was more evil? You have to take that history and environment and throw all of it onto Hitler just to start the argument. I don't think that makes sense.

Hitler was just the guy at the end of a long history of jew-killing. His part was more dramatic & severe probably only because of the more advanced technology used to execute the same ideas he was given.

I'd say that Pope Paul IV played a larger part in the evils of anti-semitism than Hitler did, starting in 1555.

(if you're not up on the history of christian/jewish anti-semitism I recommend Constantine's Sword - actually written by a christian owning up to the responsibility that christianity needs to, but often doesn't, acknowledge http://www.amazon.com/Constantines-Sword-Church-Jews-History/dp/0618219080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336029061&sr=8-1

[–]siflux 1 point2 points ago

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While you entirely missed the joke, you bring up some excellent points. I feel that we are each responsible for our actions (or inactions, which are a kind of action). I can't blame Hitler's parents or society for the Holocaust -- they neither proposed nor ordered implemented the Final Solution, though they might well have done so had they been supreme dictator rather than Hitler.

Or perhaps not. A culturally bred prejudice against a group does not mean that those in power will necessarily act on it at all, much less by choosing to systematically torture to death all members of said ethnic group. Especially not during a war, when doing so involved removing soldiers from the front lines and dealing with the logistics of moving around and killing millions of people. To change the frame of reference for an analogy, there's a big difference between disliking abortion doctors because your society says you should, protesting outside clinics, attacking doctors, and driving car bombs into clinics. All come from the society of hatred, but not everyone raised in such a society tries to perpetrate violence against the group, much less systematically.

On the flip side, punitive vengeance does nothing but sate instinctual bloodlust. Reforming criminals and society is a far better choice than imprisoning or otherwise punishing them. Not that such reforms are likely in near future. Nobody's about to get elected on promising to rehabilitate criminals instead of chewing up our valuable tax dollars on private prisons. :(

The book recommendation looks good. I'm reasonably well-informed on anti-semitism, and I've definitely seen the book before, but haven't gotten around to reading it. One good book deserves another, though you've probably read this one.

[–]furryspoon 4 points5 points ago*

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Yeah I saw the jokes and just thought I'd cut in ;-)

You say you can't blame Hitler's parents or society for the holocaust but nor did I suggest it.

The question I raise is apportion of blame. There is a traceable history of persecution and this man simply steps in at a time when it just happens to be easier for him to take more of them out. I have no doubt that many others in history would have done exactly the same thing as Hitler were the means available to them. And hence I doubt that the title of "most evil" or "all the evil" of what Hitler did can be raked up from history and loaded on his back alone.

This is not an attempt to sympathize with a man (Hitler), but to ensure that those who pave the way for evil, take their share of blame.

To emphasize this apportionment of blame I speak of, would you consider describing "how evil" is the Pope who more-or-less set a stage for anti-semitism in 1555 (I won't repeat the details you probably know). Or whatever you want to call setting up a ghetto and making sure Jews can't get out and get real jobs and then forced to wear black clothing to identify themselves as people to be treated lesser.

This man played a significant part in ensuring jews were persecuted for almost 300 years. Successive Popes never made any changes. He, or the institution of the Catholic Church should take a portion of the blame.

It doesn't really matter what that portion is, just whether you agree in principle?

[–]Jewtheist 1 point2 points ago

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I heard James Carroll speak at my university, he was really great. He basically went over the history of Christianity's deep-seeded hatred of Jews and Muslims, and then offered his own vision for a tolerant christian faith. I am far from religious (and what little I am is Jewish), but he was very inspiring, and left a great impression of what Christianity can be at its best. I think he's written a bunch of books, I should probably read one or two.

[–]Pauljb3 4 points5 points ago

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However, this is directed at theists who believe he exists. So it is very relevant. They can either say he's worse than Hitler, or he doesn't exist.

[–]Inferno8 1 point2 points ago

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Technically he didn't. Godwin's law talks about making analogies to Hitler and Nazis during the course of an unrelated discussion. It says nothing about situations in which Hitler or Nazism is the subject to begin with.

[–]excommunicated 1 point2 points ago

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Had to dig a while, but yay, someone who isn't bitching because he used the word Nazi!

[–]SuperbusAtheos 7 points8 points ago

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[–]adamflint 4 points5 points ago

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Damn, this is the creepiest .gif I've seen in quite some time.

[–]Dr_Heinzer 53 points54 points ago

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Besides, at least we can agree hat gypsies are bad.

Hat Gypsies are the worst... ಠ_ಠ

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

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I just pretended it was a thick German accent.

[–]violt 2 points3 points ago

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Ahh the Grammar Nazi is best Nazi.

[–]bouchard 1 point2 points ago

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You missed a... never mind, carry on.

[–]mox-jet 74 points75 points ago

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Say what you want about Hitler, but at least he killed Hitler.

[–]SuddenDeth 9 points10 points ago

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Hey! You forgot who killed the man that killed hitler, don't you think?

[–]idrinkirnbru 8 points9 points ago

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Yeah, but Hitler killed the man who killed the man who killed Hitler! Checkmate, Naysayer!

[–]Lucifers_Friend 32 points33 points ago

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Reductio ad Hitlerum!

[–]Chitinid 7 points8 points ago

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Argumentum ad nazium!

[–]Prisonfishy 1 point2 points ago

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I shouted that out in an in-class debate about The Great Gatsby. My teacher slowly clapped while the girl delivering the speech WTF'd at me.

Goooood tiiimess.

[–]terari 12 points13 points ago

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The problem I see with public reaction is that they are replying to the substance of your post, but it is immaterial. What matters is the form of your reasoning. By using a circular argument you can basically "prove" anything (including that Nazism is awesome).

The conclusion could be that circular reasoning ought to be rejected.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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Also, you could replace Chrsitianity with basically anything (Being Republican, Working for a Fortune 500, Eating at Subway a lot) and the metaphor would have been equally relevant.

Not to mention that everyone here is trying to defend the idea that it's okay to compare Christians to Nazis and if I have a problem with it, it's only because I don't understand it.

[–]terari 4 points5 points ago

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Exactly, the OP's point is not really specific to Nazism or Christianity (even though the use of metaphor as a rhetorical device might create some ambiguity and confusion)

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

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TIL that there was a World Ice Theory, thanks to this post

[–]TheRedMambo 189 points190 points ago

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I'm not a fan of this, but instead of simply saying "fuck you," I'll go into a bit of detail.

The main reason I'm not a fan of this is because of your comparing Nazism to Religion. Any Nazi comparisons piss me off because, historically, no one should ever stoop so low as to compare the mass slaughter to anything, for any reason, unless it was of course, the mass slaughter of many. Then it's okay.

You decidedly putting people who have the belief of a higher power right next to the a people who fought to dominate the world. It is true to the fact that both people were given a message that they followed. But the same can be said about any people, Americans, Atheists, Buddhists; doesn't matter.

Saying that a person is morally clouded for believing and following in the words anyone said is a lie. Anyone reading this can probably think of at least one person in their life that they advocate as someone who the people should follow. Doesn't matter who. Dawkins, Darwin, a pastor, a politician. There are examples everywhere. But, by this logic, everyone is like a Nazi, because everyone is human. Even the Nazis.

But unfortunately that's not the message you're giving. Unfortunately, the message you're giving is that Religion is like Nazism. That they should be treated in the same light, in the same way. And that is utter Glenn Beck bullshit.

[–]themadscientistwho 8 points9 points ago

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Dude you are so right and are supported by Godwin's Law.

[–]letsjustsee 63 points64 points ago*

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Thank you. I was expecting more sanity in the comments.

/r/atheism gets worse every day.

EDIT: the parent comment was buried in a sea of downvotes when I posted this last night. Maybe reddiquette is still alive in r/atheism!

EDIT2: actually, I think the influx of positive karma can be attributed to users from circlebroke and subredditdrama. I'll restate my case: r/atheism gets worse by the day.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]meritory 130 points131 points ago

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Good job. A creative reconstruction of logical fallacies commonly made by theists.

[–]Marcounon 71 points72 points ago

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Good job. A creative analysis of a post.

[–]malibootay 57 points58 points ago

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Good job. A creative reply to a comment.

[–]_Auto_ 241 points242 points ago

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potato

[–]skyskimmer12 35 points36 points ago

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Thank you for this. I will use it to define Reddit to the next person that asks.

[–]rimo 10 points11 points ago

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Scumbag skyskimmer12:

Will tell people reddit is potato

Reddit is actually firetruck

[–]sweetalkersweetalker 2 points3 points ago

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Oh great. Now Fox News will have "proof" that we're all Nazis.

[–]sTiKyt 12 points13 points ago

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Really? I thought it was a reconstruction of logical fallacies commonly made by atheists in the form of a reconstruction of logical fallacies commonly made by theists with some ridiculous comparisons that all religious people basically act like nazis. TIL some people can't recognize good satire.

[–]douglasmacarthur 22 points23 points ago

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For all of you who don't understand, ask me in the comments.

Pretty sure we all got your ham fisted point.

[–]lxUn1c0 5 points6 points ago

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TIL nazis have ham fists.

[–]vividlyclear 9 points10 points ago

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What a croc of shit.

[–]knighmare 95 points96 points ago

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I would be lying if i said i did nazi that coming

[–]PizzaTownUSA 65 points66 points ago

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No need to take this any fuhrer

[–]knighmare 42 points43 points ago

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but i doubt that will gestapo anyone

[–]n3rvousninja 46 points47 points ago

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jew guys should quit with the puns

[–]skyskimmer12 35 points36 points ago

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you're going to heil for that one

[–]DAVIDcorn 29 points30 points ago

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You guys are crazy, i think you should Auschwitz to decaf.

[–]distactedOne 21 points22 points ago

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This SS getting out of hand.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]Omnicide 18 points19 points ago

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We really need to concentrate more on these problems.

[–]vodkamort 9 points10 points ago

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I gas there is no puns left?

[–]stop_superstition 11 points12 points ago

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Get kraut of here.

[–]Look-over-there1234 14 points15 points ago

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Its all reich, its all fun and games.

[–]knighmare 1 point2 points ago

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sorry, we have such problems with our concentration

[–]Activist4America 7 points8 points ago

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nine-nine-nine! Wait, we are discussing Herman Cain right?

[–]regal360 14 points15 points ago

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[–]flapjackboy 18 points19 points ago

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These nazi puns are a real gas

[–]link_yourself_smart 10 points11 points ago

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YOU DO NOT FUCKING UNDERSTAND, I AM NOT COMPARING RELIGION TO NAZISM. I AM POINTING OUT THE HYPOCRISY OF MODERATE, TOLERANT CHRISTIANS. I HAPPENED TO USE NAZISM FOR THE COMPARISON.

wut

[–]carkoon 16 points17 points ago

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Fill me in please; I don't know if you are making a reference to something or not.

[–]goofygoobarock[S] 18 points19 points ago

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I am a metaphor for a scared, well-meaning, sheltered by society Christian. Probably one of those new protestants that loves everybody.

You are a metaphor for an antitheist or atheist who doesn't approve of Christianity because it's evil.

Nazi-ism (?) is a metaphor for Christianity.

Hitler is metaphor for God/ Jesus, and in a few lines Führer is a metaphor to "savior, messiah, lord" etc.

Basically "I" don't see the evil in Christianity. I associate myself with the Church even though I disagree with most of their teachings. I start to get defensive, misinterpreting what you say.

In 2 lines, ww2 is a reference to the crusades/ any other religious war.

Hope that helps :)

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]zcast 4 points5 points ago

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I believe gypsies are the atheists in this metaphor?

[–]migzeh 5 points6 points ago

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i was thinking homosexuals, but i guess any minority group a religious group has smacked down could be it

[–]carkoon 5 points6 points ago

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Oh, I fully understood the metaphor; I was wondering if you took a piece of text someone had originally wrote about being a Christian and made it a satire by substituting words and rephrasing it from the perspective of a Nazi.

I only ask because I found the piece to be so well structured that I assumed it was originality an emotional first-person narrative that was modified after-the-fact to show how ridiculous the notion could be.

[–]goofygoobarock[S] 36 points37 points ago

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Oh no, no. This is original content. I was just getting fed up with so many atheists and theists saying that you can be a Christian without accepting all of Christianity.

[–]Horaenaut 2 points3 points ago

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Ok, well, this isn't really my fight but I notice that no one else has pointed this out so I am going to play God's Advocate.

Your argument only works if the "tolerant" and "well-meaning" Christians still believe the whole Bible is the word of God. A little biblical scholarship will tell you that the Bible has many authors and that many of the books in the New Testament were written long after Jesus' supposed death and resurrection. To make matters worse, the books that were selected to be put in the Bible were decided by a series of committees in the 4th century who had political/theological agendas to push (mostly regarding issues they had with where the church was going). A large chunk of the books in the New Testament which claim to be written by Paul, are clearly not by the same author as other such books and it is believed that they claimed such because they were followers of churches Paul had set up, and they wanted to assert credibility of their theology--these are called deutero-Pauline books. Many (but not all) of the objectionable things in the New Testament can be theoretically written off as being a struggle within an early church community, canonized in a deutero-Pauline epistle.

So, while your analogy does a good job of making us think critically about how one relates to a claimed community; Mein Kampf was not written by Goering and Himmler and followers who were not alive when Hitler gave his edicts. Mein Kampf is a whole cloth, the Bible is a quilt made some people who may not have remembered the verbal instructions, fought over whether it was a charity quilt for cancer or AIDS, and sewed snide little comments about the other quilters into the seams.

[–][deleted] 12 points13 points ago

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Well done. This is certainly the first time someone has compared something they don't agree with to Hitler.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

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[–]kegman83 2 points3 points ago

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You pulled the nazi card a bit early in the argument.

[–]rahtin 6 points7 points ago

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[–]FourShotBR 3 points4 points ago

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Lol some people just can't grasp the concept of satire.

[–]AshamedToBeAtheist 7 points8 points ago

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This is how it works, so listen up. Christians are allowed to tell people that Yahweh exists, but atheists aren't allowed to tell people that he doesn't. Christians are allowed to tell people that they can't be good without Yahweh, but atheists aren't allowed to tell people that they can't be good with him.

You aren't allowed to make a point like this, with the Hitler thing. You are obviously an atheist, so obviously Christian privilege doesn't apply to you. As a non Christian, you are only allowed to say good things about Christianity. That's how it works. Haven't you been paying attention to these persuasive memes that have won over half of Reddit, and seem to be winning over the other half too.

Oh, and obligatory "I have never been more ashamed of being an atheist than seeing you do this kind of thing". That wins hearts and minds, when people see that.

[–]annata 8 points9 points ago

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This is what moderate Nazism would look like if Hitler had won and 2000 years had passed

[–]Brendoncherms 48 points49 points ago

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This is amazing. It just sucks to know that only atheists will see this.

[–]goofygoobarock[S] 59 points60 points ago

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There are quite a few number of religious people that frequent r/atheism. Religious people like the one I described: tolerant of modern ideals, open to scientific fact countering what they believe, etc.

Well-meaning people, just hypocritical, or perhaps scared.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points ago

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I was scared too, of eternal damnation. Of being wrong and living forever in a pit of hell and fire. Then I realised that it wasn't my fault I was indoctrinated under my extremest fathers beliefs. But it would be my fault if I continued to believe these fairy tales without question. And then I grew up from the full belief of fairy tales, whilst still respecting their place in the world. After all, what would the Sistine chapel be without the paint of religion on its walls and ceilings?

[–]Feinberg 15 points16 points ago

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Housing for a hell of a lot of homeless people.

[–]bouchard 2 points3 points ago

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A lot of religious people use art as a justification for religion. "We wouldn't have painting X or sculpture Y without belief in Christ." This is nonsense. The people who gave us these great works would have still existed; they still would have created impressive art, only the subjects would be different.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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Exactly. Many of those famous painters from that era were extremely interested in painting Greek/Roman mythology. The Birth of Venus is an excellent example. The primary reason this painting style wasn't explored more it that the church deemed it wrong. Since most artists largest employer was the church, they were stuck with prominently Christian paintings.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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I live in Eastern Europe. Christianity is practiced differently here, and has part ways with the Catholic Church long, long ago, but it's still Christianity.

Anyway, I remember seeing the Patriarch (who is the religious leader of the entire nation, the guy overseeing thousands of thousands of priests, churches, and so on, and so forth) on TV, and he said (pretty much with these exact words) that the Bible was man-made in a pretty crude society, that the modern man needs to discard what's obviously false and adapt his beliefs to what the science has discovered so far and to what's plain reasonable in order to find the true God. Everyone just nodded in approval like it's common fucking sense, both the people at the speech and the priests around him.

This old dude was obviously very religious, and everyone around him was, so I'm just wondering about your two cents on this.

This is, of course, completely unrelated to what's going on in the US, you guys have some pretty fucked-up shit there.

[–]youareveryverywrong 28 points29 points ago

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Came here to downvote, upvoted.

[–]whyAtheistsLikeThis 42 points43 points ago

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  • Proves that even an atheist can be an immature, over-simplifying, condescending, self assured asshats who favor using Godwin's law over making an actual argument and is too stupid to realize that in his metaphor, an atheist would be a holocaust denier since they would view it as a story told to make us fear the wrath of Hitler (who of course we all know never actually existed).

[–]squigs 10 points11 points ago

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Wow! whyAtheistsLikeThis got remarkably cynical all of a sudden. As opposed to the usual moderate cynicism veiled with subtle irony.

[–]kratistos 4 points5 points ago

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You're the hero etcetera, blabla.

Thank you.

[–]circusnachos 14 points15 points ago

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Wow. So, I was raised Jewish and in spite of my lack of coherent beliefs, it's still kind of a big part of my identity. So I have Jew-senses. They're like Spidey-senses only less useful. And when I saw your title, my Jew-senses went fucking nuts. But then I read it.

I think I'd like this on a poster. I will pay money for your thoughts, because this is brilliant.

[–]stop_superstition 3 points4 points ago

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Just don't fuck with my Irishenses.

No potato jokes or I will call the B'nai Go Bragh.

[–]sstrader 4 points5 points ago

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Free tip: if you want to write satire, don't completely nullify the power by giving a desperate explanation of it at the end. Swift or Carroll would never add appendices with a key to their books' metaphors. Your ending revealed such doubt your skills that it rendered the rest of the work insubstantial.

Suggesting Christians are like Nazis can be clever; saying "Christians are like Nazis" is not.

[–]geetar85 1 point2 points ago

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Agreed - It's like telling a long joke and then saying "get it? the pig really isn't a typewriter"

[–]wiggersoe 4 points5 points ago

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Wow this is good.

[–]Matheusela 6 points7 points ago

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The point of Godwin's law was that people abuse references to the nazi regime when trying to draw a comparison to ultimate evil. This guy used them because they're the most well known group with strict tenants and a malevolent history (besides the fucking catholic church). It's not the same. I call bullshit on all of these comments; this comparison was appropriate and justified.

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points ago

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I'm not even religious, but to people who understand the idea of believing in the inspiration for the bible and not the corrupt trail of hands that led to its current state, this must be awful insulting. Ah well, serves them right for believing in 2000+ year old heresay.

[–]Chitinid 1 point2 points ago

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Heresy or hearsay?

[–]inashadow 1 point2 points ago

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And cherry picking their 'good' book like cherries were about to go extinct.

[–]oceanwalker46 16 points17 points ago

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This is clever in a John Stewart make comparisons that are funny but aren't necessarily true you just manipulate the context sort of way. Thus, I'm sure the people on this subreddit will eat it right up.

However, Germans under Hitler were nothing like Christians today who don't believe in some of the points of their religion which can be seen as hateful. German's supported Hitler due to his immense success in both restoring Germany's economy and prominence as a nation, looking the other way if not outright supporting the steps he used in getting there. Christians who don't agree with hating gay people or denouncing science exist and many are openly against these things. Its like working for a company that you think does good work but you don't like your boss or certain company policies... maybe you don't want to dress casually on Fridays, you look way too sharp in a suit. Yet its still your job and you can still agree with the company's work as a whole.

[–]Electronic_Throat 21 points22 points ago

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I don't think he was trying to imply that this is how Nazis and Germans actually felt under Hitler. Rather, it's a fictitious character that happens to feel this way, just to prove a point. It's not really manipulating context if that context is purely fictional. That's how I read it, at least.

[–]aGeordie 10 points11 points ago

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This is Redddit. When you compare two things you are saying they are exactly equal. :\

[–]goofygoobarock[S] 1 point2 points ago

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However, Germans under Hitler were nothing like Christians today who don't believe in some of the points of their religion which can be seen as hateful.

Good point, I was hoping someone would bring that up. In 2000 years, would people still agree with all of Hitler's teachings? Or cherry pick, like nowadays? Back in 10/20/30 AD, people truly went by EXACTLY what Jesus said.

Good point though.

[–]thesorrow312 1 point2 points ago

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There is nothing wrong with Communism as an idea. The 20th century totalitarianisms were not communist, they were totalitarian dictatorships.

If the proletariat do not own the means of their production, it is not socialism / communism.

Also here is a nice little mind experiment. Remove the racism from national socialism as an ideology. Now give me arguments against it.

[–]Progman3K 1 point2 points ago

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Please edit and correct "hat gyspies"; you meant "that gypsies", I'm sure.

What? I'm a grammar Nazi.

[–]romad20000 2 points3 points ago

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No no he means the Hat Gyspies. Hitler fucking hated those guys... what proof, when's the last time you met a Hat Gyspie??? Exactly.

[–]YKWDPM 1 point2 points ago

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[–]EOTWAWKI 1 point2 points ago

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TIL all about "hat gypsies". They really bad!!!!

[–]Reaganometry 1 point2 points ago

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OH MY GOD I OPENED THIS THREAD AND GOT COVERED IN SEMEN

[–]DigitalOsmosis 1 point2 points ago

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It's showing how hypocritical it is for a person to call themselves a Christian when they only agree with the parts of the bible that they would otherwise still agree with. "I'm a Christian, I just think gays should be able to marry, women should teach, I believe in evolution and the big bang... ummmm... but I'm still a Christian."

If the points are rationally supported within the constraints of the religion (scripture for example) then the issue is people who think gays shouldn't marry and still consider themselves Christian. I understand that from your point of view, its easier to put the name tag on the bad, and call the good hypocrites, but the reality is the label "Christian" isn't yours to place and it works both ways.

Also what are you 5? Comparison to Nazi's? Really? A little more educated sounding then this, but close enough that you should probably feel bad.

[–]Haz_Matt 1 point2 points ago

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LOUD NOISES!!!

[–]elbruce 1 point2 points ago

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You should do an edit to get rid of the edit. It is obviously a comparison, and an informative one at that.

[–]Atheizm 1 point2 points ago

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This is a fantastic analogy. It invokes within me the revulsion of religious people who invoke Pascal's Wager as a way to sleaze over non-believers with a valueless loophole hedge bet.

[–]yep45 1 point2 points ago

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if r/atheism was full of Christians, they would all be fundamentalists. Because they seem to think that any Christian who is moderate or less capable of being criticized by their stock, strawman arguments, isn't a "genuine" Christian.

[–]ComradeGoby 1 point2 points ago

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Also the Nazi's weren't bad guys.

[–]saucemoney 1 point2 points ago

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Just popped a bravery boner.

[–]Wizuhd 6 points7 points ago

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Read the whole thing, applause

Nice to see a really good way to think about things that's original!

[–]el_historian 6 points7 points ago

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Yes, not only was this original but it was also brave.

[–]RednuF91 7 points8 points ago

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I would even dare to say it was so brave

[–]SilkyTouch 3 points4 points ago

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Genius.

[–]ben9345 1 point2 points ago

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I maintain that the Westboro Baptist Church are the most honest Christians. Whenever people challenge them they whip out a Bible verse proving they are right. They are still horrible people because the Bible is horrible but real Christians should be out there telling people the apocalypse is near and any saying any Christian who is not a creationist is being dishonest...or they just aren't a Christian.

[–]hackingyourlife 0 points1 point ago

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what I don't get is thew whole thing on Aryan supremacy?

[–]goofygoobarock[S] 9 points10 points ago

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The 2 lines on Aryan supremacy were a reference to the circular reasoning theists often use. I know God is real because the bible says so. The bible is true because God wrote it. God is real because the bibl e says so, etc.

I replaced it with Mein Kampf and Aryan supremacy.

[–]MauiWowieOwie 2 points3 points ago

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Nazis invented the microwave.

And powdered drink mix.

[–]sydneygamer 3 points4 points ago

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You just went full Godwin. You never go full Godwin.

[–]fuckmylifes 8 points9 points ago

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Meh. I'm not going to upvote everything on r/atheism just because I'm atheist. This was poorly written and unoriginal.

[–]Grildrak 9 points10 points ago

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Compared to 90% of the karma trading with stuff like Santorum posts this is Shakespeare.

[–]Anon_Logic 3 points4 points ago

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It's stuff like this that makes me wish I was in high school still. But that was a long time ago.

Is this your original material or did you get it from somewhere/someone else?

[–]MusicalVegan 3 points4 points ago

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Wait, can you explain this to me? I don't think I can wrap my mind around this brilliant metaphor.

[–]Turbojelly 5 points6 points ago*

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Unofrtunetly you;ve forgotten one of the golden rules of the itnernet:

1st peron to bring up Hitler and the Nazi's in an argument has already lost.

EDIT: I'm referring to Godwin's Law: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/G/Godwins-Law.html

[–]i7omahawki 1 point2 points ago

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So, if you're arguing about Hitler's affect on European culture -- you already lost whatever your argument was?

That's a ridiculous view of what Godwin's Law represents, which is that - as forum posts continue, the likelihood of someone comparing another to Hitler approachs 1.

It doesn't even count as a Godwin if the OP mentions Hitler, it's a comparison he is making between two world views. I don't see how that constitutes a 'lost' argument.

[–]Spurnem 1 point2 points ago

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Godwin's Law doesn't say that the person who brings up Hitler has lost, only that someone will eventually bring up Hitler.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points ago

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Sometimes I believe the shit Reddit says about this place.

The OP is amazing. The comparison to theism is beautiful and pertinent and important.

A little while ago, however, I saw a rage comic upvoted to the front page of a woman who was walking along wearing a cross and got badmouthed for doing it, and the mouth-breathers around here voted her to the top.

I thought to myself, "If she had been wearing a swastika and carrying Mein Kampf, I'm sure people here would have agreed with the guy who ragged on her."

If you wear a symbol of oppression and ignorance, you should be treated as though you wear a symbol of oppression and ignorance, whether your useless moron Christian grandparent or your useless moron Nazi grandparent gave it to you.

The fact that this post - which highlights the fact that we can see Christianity/theism for what it is if we compare it to other dangerous ideologies - can get upvoted to the front page is indicative of one of three things. Either:

1) There is a polar rift on /r/atheism between idiots and non-idiots.

2) A signficiant portion of the community holds contradictory ideals and doesn't recognise it.

3) People just upvoted that collaborator's rage comic to make themselves feel better about the flak atheists get about "being assholes."

I know this is so late in the thread nobody will see it, but I really like this place, so when things happen around here that make me sick, I can't help but vent.

Either way, the OP gets my upvote because what s/he posted is awesome.

[–]rhubarbs 1 point2 points ago

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TL;DR: Sturgeon's Law applies to people too.

[–]Nosferatu616 5 points6 points ago

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An insightful self post on r/atheism? I just shed a lone tear of joy.

[–]letsjustsee 6 points7 points ago

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Christians are LITERALLY Hitler. So brave!

[–]MyriPlanet 1 point2 points ago

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Do you really miss the point that badly, or are you just intentionally misrepresenting the OP in order to make it easier to mock?

[–]letsjustsee 1 point2 points ago

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No, I just spend too much time on circlejerk and can't stop jerking even in other subreddits.

[–]dang_Ling_modify_her 7 points8 points ago

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TL;DR: God is Hitler; Christians are Nazis. So brave. Hail Dawkins.

[–]letsjustsee 14 points15 points ago

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Here, you dropped your Ph.D. in LOGIC.

[–]rsl12 4 points5 points ago

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It's not an allegory; it's satire of a line of reasoning. Nazism has a bad history, and has at its foundation a document littered with hate, so it's funny to imagine someone who is able to:

  • ignore the bad parts of the hateful document
  • reinterpret the questionable conclusions
  • wave away history by saying that the "modern" version is nothing like the past version

etc.

PS. For a different post, I went through "Mein Kampf" to find some non-hateful ideas in it. It turns out there are few:

I found it difficult to understand how men who always had reasonable ideas when they spoke as individuals with one another suddenly lost this reasonableness the moment they acted in the mass.

Whatever mankind desires, it will hope for and believe in that.

Every persecution which has no spiritual motives to support it is morally unjust and raises opposition among the best elements of the population; so much so that these are driven more and more to champion the ideas that are unjustly persecuted. With many individuals this arises from the sheer spirit of opposition to every attempt at suppressing spiritual things by brute force.