Pony's may or may not celebrate Christmas!

This is a fact!

http://assets0.redbubble.net/assets/clear-d280f94f2cf726fc7e74 f24adec63ee4.gif

Link didn't work!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/eeveemastermind/works/9275514- jesus-loves-rainbow-dash

Also, TBH I don't exactly know what direction you're taking your conversation, EvilHomer!

Oh, the ironic-ness.

Ponies celebrate Hearth's Warming, but friendship and goodwill towards all ponies is a daily thing for them, so it's not like they're missing out by ignoring Christmas. And that's my desktop background!

As or the conversation, I don't really want to take it anywhere, because it's Christmas and that means internet armistice. But I am kind of sick of all the hullabaloo over these Duck Dynasty people; I don't agree with what they say, but I also don't think they should be losing their show and made the objects of our latest Two Minutes Hate. I support gay rights as a byproduct of my support for tolerance. And tolerance isn't about agreeing with everyone, it's about about learning to live with people whom you don't agree with. It's about responding to disputes with reason and patience, not anger and intimidation, and seeing the way the media (and certain of my friends!) have been acting in the wake of Duckgate, it makes me worried that progressives have forgotten this.

Besides, what do people expect? It's Duck Dynasty. Like Honey Booboo, the whole point of that show is so to let us civilized moderns gawk at a bunch of redneck jigaboos. Popping our monocles and going on some furious moral crusade when redneck jigaboos do something redneck jigaboos do, makes about as much sense as going to the zoo, then having a fainting spell and demanding the zoo close down when the bears start taking shits in front of you.

And a Merry Hearth's Warming to you, too, Gmork! I hope the fire of friendship keeps you warm all day and stops the windigos from freezing your ass solid!

I like evilhomer's post.

Five stars!

I agree with EvilHomer, we should pander to bigots and get their money. Their sweet sweet hate money.

I don't think Christians are bigots for having their beliefs. I think Christians are bigots when they want to push their beliefs on others - such as by criminalizing sodomy or banning gay marriage - but if they simply think homosexuality is a sin and want to make a personal choice to resist their urge to buttfuck, well then that's fine. I guess them and us, we're just different colors in the rainbow.

I also don't really like the use of "hate" as an adjective in this context. I submit that "hate", as it is used in modern American socio-political discourse, is really no different from that weaselly adjective, "un-American"; it's a piece of jargon that, on the surface, sounds like it probably carries a lot of valid moral meaning, but is in reality just a way of showing partisan support, demonizing the opposition, and reducing whatever debate you're engaging in to that most American of pastimes, screaming loudly at someone you don't like for reasons you can't quite articulate. Liberals are guilty of "being un-American"! ... why, by voicing disagreement with the status quo and standing up to right-wing moral guardians who want to limit our right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Conservatives are guilty of "hate"! ... and not the liberals who are frothing at the mouth and spewing hateful vitriol against the Duck family, and by extension, all Christians who take their religion seriously? Poppycock and humbug. All these two adjectives really mean are "the thing I am referring to is on the opposite side of the American pseudo-spectrum from my own". They're bullshit weasel words, and we should be careful not to use them ourselves, and to approach with increased skepticism and objective detachment anyone who does.

tl;dr: "hate" and "un-American" are the Boo Word counterparts to "social justice" and "family values".

Durp durp >> "I don't really want to take it anywhere, because it's Christmas and that means internet armistice."

IT'S FUCKING CHRISTMAS, HOMER.

I'm sorry everypony, the leopard is having a hard time changing his spots.

I live in a state where gay marriage is banned in its constitution. Christians here hate, it is a noun, a verb, and a way of life to them, no matter how much that word turns you off. You can block paragraph moral relativism all day, trying to empower them more than they already are by weakening any opposition to it, but it has nothing to do with actual reality, only EvilHomer squeamishness against whomever you know that loves to be a hateful bigot.

I want their goddamned money. That is the spirit of Christmas!

"I don't think Christians are bigots for having their beliefs."

There are 613 Mosaic laws, only one of which deals with homosexuality. If you (you = a Christian) believe that the one anti-gay Mosaic law is still binding yet you are exempt from the other 612, you are bending Christianity to meet your bigotry.

And let's not forget Robertson's linking blacks to welfare (speaking so highly of the "pre-entitlement, pre-welfare" days) -- fucker is a bigot all right.

"I think Christians are bigots when they want to push their beliefs on others - such as by criminalizing sodomy or banning gay marriage - but if they simply think homosexuality is a sin and want to make a personal choice to resist their urge to buttfuck, well then that's fine."

I figure it's a fair assumption that a Christian who thinks homosexuality is a sin also believes that gay marriage should be banned; if he or she says otherwise, I'll revise my opinion. But not too many Christian fundamentalists are known for their Voltaire-like embrace of reason and free expression of ideas.

"And tolerance isn't about agreeing with everyone, it's about about learning to live with people whom you don't agree with."

I'm not the one telling Robertson who he is and isn't allowed to marry. I'm not the one calling for a return to pre-Civil-Rights-Act days. As for A&E, they realized one of their people said something that would be bad for business, and took action. Good for them! I remember a time when none of Robertson's statements would have angered enough people for A&E to care.

I just had a conversation which escalated into an argument over the procession of religious beliefs, and while I don't want to give Christians reasons to believe that the tribulation is about to begin, I'm okay with religion being socially neutered if it means time out for people who are too afraid of life to think, or attempt to do good on their own. EH is kinda right though, if we don't want these people to have a tv show, we should probably stop watching. That way justice is served, and the overall intellectual value of the tvscape will rise for all of a yoctosecond, before plummeting several atmospheres deeper as the show is replaced by an even more salient reminder of how sad this place is. What's really funny about all this, is that a few years back, Jamie Johnson did this documentary about the one percent that followed this Italian baron who was trying to get a tv show started in order to become famous, because it wasn't enough for him to be rich. You have to admit, there is a little humor in the way that some of these people are completely okay with shedding dignity for notoriety, and a few dollars more.