No matter how open-minded...

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

...you try to be, there's always that one thing you can't wrap your head around.

For me, it's people who aren't moved by music, people who are fine with listening to the radio or club music because it's easy to dance to or it's simple, people who don't go looking for music that inspires them or brings out all manner of emotion/feeling to the surface (be it joy, excitement, anger, passion etc). These are the things I can't accept/understand, no matter how wide I open my mind.

So what's your one thing that you can't grasp?

This would be one of the things I don't understand. Music plays such an important part of my life (no pun intended).

 

[Muphin_Mann]

Suicide.

I can't wrap my head around people who cannot find any scrap of a reason to continue living and the only solution they feel they can turn to is taking their own life.

A wise man once said: "A suicide isn't painless, if you leave everyone in pain."

As an offshoot of suicide, I'll say that self-harming is definitely another thing that I cannot grasp. I genuinely find it hard to take pity on people who hurt themselves as a way of dealing with their problems. There's enough people trying to hurt us in this world without successfully doing it ourselves....

Well some self harming behaviour is compulsive.

I dont really see a problem with suicide. Its PersonX's life. If they want to end it they should be allowed to. Not everyone gets the happy-go-lucky life. If the hand your holding is never going to win...is it really so wrong to fold?

I discourage suicide because if a person is suicidal due to depression they may just need medication to correct a chemical imbalance in their brain which isnt really their fault.

But if a person isnt clinically depressed and wants to kill themselves...well...i have no right to stop them.


And i cant stand: Homophobes and people who dislike religion/religious people...and nazis i guess. Thats about it.

 

[AnarchistFish]

outmoded moral concepts

I'd say many religious moral concepts, particularly the core ones, are still relevant

Suicide.

I can't wrap my head around people who cannot find any scrap of a reason to continue living and the only solution they feel they can turn to is taking their own life.

A wise man once said: "A suicide isn't painless, if you leave everyone in pain."

As an offshoot of suicide, I'll say that self-harming is definitely another thing that I cannot grasp. I genuinely find it hard to take pity on people who hurt themselves as a way of dealing with their problems. There's enough people trying to hurt us in this world without successfully doing it ourselves....

People who don't understand why people commit suicide are practically always people who've never experienced the emotion that suicidal people feel. You'd understand if you did. Self harming is often cathartic for the people who do it.

Personally, I don't understand people who don't listen to music, homophobes, probably a few others that I can't think of right now.

 

[Semudara]

People who think fighting is important, who ridicule people for not having muscles or sucking at fighting. What the heck does it matter in this civilized society of ours?

Even in this civil society, there's a place for civilized sparring. It helps keep you fit and strong, teaches you how to defend yourself if you're attacked, and it's a great way of getting out aggressive energy in a non-harmful way. Plus, it's kinda fun.

It's an unfortunate stereotype that a friendly, smart individual can't also be athletic. I think physical health is just as essential to happiness as mental and spiritual health; in fact, the different kinds of health are mostly symbiotic.

 

[orangeban]

People who think fighting is important, who ridicule people for not having muscles or sucking at fighting. What the heck does it matter in this civilized society of ours?

Even in this civil society, there's a place for civilized sparring. It helps keep you fit and strong, teaches you how to defend yourself if you're attacked, and it's a great way of getting out aggressive energy in a non-harmful way. Plus, it's kinda fun.

It's an unfortunate stereotype that a friendly, smart individual can't also be athletic. I think physical health is just as essential to happiness and mental and spiritual health; in fact, the different kinds of health are mostly symbiotic.

Oh, I didn't deny that there was a space for fighting in society, what frustrates and confuses me are the kind of people who think that being good at fighting is more important than, say, chess, and the kind of people who insult people because they suck at fighting.

 

[killercyclist]

i cannot understand people that so passionately align with racist/homophobic/sexist ideology's. i'm talking fox news republicans, and my neighbors (burn).

 

[MrLumber]

How narrow minded, and short sighted, most people are. In short, how many people lack a sense of perspective beyond their everyday lives, coupled with their unwillingness to change or accept change. Bigotry is essentially the worlds only problem (sure overpopulation, and dwindling resources are big, but if we got over it they would fall into place easily), and the fact that people don't seem to realize that is shocking to me.

 

[scw55]

People who can't play a music instrument. What I mean is, someone who listens to a piece of music they adore so much that they don't have the urge to 'join in' by playing an instrument/sing/dance or some other way of expression.
They must be dead inside.

Also, people who believe freedom of speech is a forcefield in which they can hide behind whilst being prejudiced without consequence.

Hypocrites/Irony makers. Very prominent in Politics and On-line competitive gaming.

No Englishman having the knowledge of the Welsh struggle to establish its identity as a separate country. What? The Welsh voting in a complete majority against flooding a village to form a reservoir to provide England with water and it goes ahead regardless never happened? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llyn_Celyn When Britain built bomb-schoolswhere they taught children how to build bombs during the world wars, they listened to protest groups in England but not in Wales [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penyberth[/link]. The language being suppressed. A political party promising to create Welsh language channel and then going back on their word. None of this happened. Because they English don't care enough to teach other English people about this. And so we get sheep-shagger jokes whilst they wonder why the Welsh dislike the English.

Black and White stance of Religion. Both extremes I don't understand. Both accuse each other for being ignorant and closed minded. Surely then both sides are? The Atheists who refuse to believe in a deity with poor reasoning and the people who blindly believe without reflection and criticism. A middle ground is a good place to start. But never go too far to one end. It leads to stagnation and a stubbornness to accept change.

People who criticise people's grammar or spelling on-line without punctuating properly. I.E. no starting capital letter and no full stop (MMOs and general gaming text logs).

 

[Zero47]

I can't understand people that believe, truly believe in magic.

No, I'm not referencing religion. Religion is so organised, wide spread and inbedded by tradition in the minds of generations of people that it's pretty logical that people would believe in it. I'm referencing to wicca or any other form of semi-religion like this, I've met people that honestly believed in "curses" or voodoo magic, I've read websites that teach pyromancy or telepathy. I've heard stories about people convinced they are psychic. This I cannot grasp.

Indeed if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

 

[maninahat]

Watching sports. I can't get it. I don't see how anyone can get so enthralled by watching what is essentially someone hitting or kicking a ball, let alone allow themselves to get riled into a patriotic, destructive fervor.

I can only appreciate sports for the things that aren't strictly part of the gameplay; female tennis players grunting, sports cars crashing, boxer's faces crumpling after a slow motion impact etc.

 

[GrimGrimoire]

I take a great interest in history, especially religious history.
And while I can understand the basic "principles" of religion, there is still one important cornerstone missing:
How people actually believe it.

I can understand it to some degree, and I will here use an example of monotheism:
It was all made by a all powerful something. (My bet is on a space wizard).
We must therefore worship this something, to show respect for creating it all. And if we are "evil", or do not satisfy the great something, there will be bad things in store for us.
When we die we are judged, and our actions and devotion to the great something decides what is going to fill the rest, well everything.
And we have no idea why.

All I am saying is that I can understand the religion, but not the religious.
But how this seems "right", or is viewed by a fact by anyone, is not for me to comprehend.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

You are getting further and further away from any realistic point of view with every post. I'll let this one be the last one between you and me, because I just had to remind myself of an old lesson I once had to learn. "Don't argue with pro-religious people. It's pretty much the same as knocking down a brick wall with your forehead. It'll get you nowhere, but give you a headache and most likely make you dumber."

I'm agnostic. But I won't continue this conversation. We both tire of it and it isn't going anywhere, anyway. Thank you for ending it.

 

[shadu957]

People who make illoggical descisions. Go ahead, call me a vulcan, but I see no point in doing things where there are better alternatives. It's why I hate the right wing and fundies, ESPICIALLY religous fundies.

I gonna have to agree with you there, it really annoys me when I see people make illogical decisions, yet I'm too polite to say anything....

 

[Zero47]

I take a great interest in history, especially religious history.
And while I can understand the basic "principles" of religion, there is still one important cornerstone missing:
How people actually believe it.

I can understand it to some degree, and I will here use an example of monotheism:
It was all made by a all powerful something. (My bet is on a space wizard).
We must therefore worship this something, to show respect for creating it all. And if we are "evil", or do not satisfy the great something, there will be bad things in store for us.
When we die we are judged, and our actions and devotion to the great something decides what is going to fill the rest, well everything.
And we have no idea why.

All I am saying is that I can understand the religion, but not the religious.
But how this seems "right", or is viewed by a fact by anyone, is not for me to comprehend.

Repetition is a powerful thing, fear and faith are powerful emotions. It makes perfectly sense to me that a man being raised in a religious home would keep to his religion. Especially if the childhood is good and there's no rebellious phase, the religion is wired to be the ultimate "safe spot" in someone's psyche. No matter what problems he faces his religion will always be there as a mental manifestation of a comfort blanket of sorts. 16 Years of talking to a God figure twice a day, 16 years of weekly visits to a community that knows the word of God to be true. I'm amazed that some people with a religious upbringing end up leaving their religion.

From a rational point of view religion seems like the most effective and penetrating form of brainwashing we could possibly imagine regardless of whether God is real or not.

 

[GrimGrimoire]

People who can't play a music instrument. What I mean is, someone who listens to a piece of music they adore so much that they don't have the urge to 'join in' by playing an instrument/sing/dance or some other way of expression.
They must be dead inside.

I am (as far as I am aware) quite alive on the inside.
I like music, I listen to it quite a lot, but I have never gotten the urge to pick-up a instrument and start playing. And no urge to neither sing nor dance.
Just for the record, I can play to some degree. However I find no joy in it, besides from the joy of mastering a task.
Even today, I played an bass guitar on a school project, but that was just something I was asked to do, for we lacked a player.
And now I can play simple songs on it, but I feel no reason to continue.

In short, not everyone needs, or wants, to express themselves with music. I for one like to write. The point is that we all all different, and that some of us find no joy in some forms of expression.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I don't understand why atheist feel the need to tell me how I'm "wrong" because I don't agree with them that there isn't a divine being. Seriously if that's what you believe, then fine, but stfu about it. I don't go around telling atheist what to believe, I'd appreciate it if they could do the same. Also, Christianity and Islam don't represent all religions, if you have a problem with either of those two, then say so, but don't condemn all religions just because some local Christians are giving you a hard time.

 

[Burningsok]

This is turning into something that looks like a flame war. Hm, I for some reason, love reading all these comments regarding religion. I'm constantly trying to find new arguments made between theists and atheists. so far it's getting good

look... whats the point? All the debate boils down to is points that are so insanely subjective that it becomes a waste of time even attempting to use one of them as an argument. The arguments overlap each other, canceling each other out because they have little to no bearing on solid logic and reason. The only bearing they truly have are their significance to the person using the arguments "This value is more important then that value" kind of thing. How it feels to you. It becomes an opinion, and nothing more.

Religion isn't the cause of millions of deaths, it's us. We created religion. blame the people using it for selfish reasons instead of the religion itself. Religion is a blank slate, and like many other things, it can be morphed in ways that can benefit, or hurt others. We should be using it for the betterment of society, but there are a lot of people who use and abuse religion to insane levels. We are the most advanced species on the planet, and yet we are scared religion (to clarify, the extreme kind) will corrupt us all.

Now... if any escapist wishes to, reply on my stance. Would like to here if I've missed a point, or something is off. I'd also like to know if you disagree. Don't hold back

 

[GrimGrimoire]

Repetition is a powerful thing, fear and faith are powerful emotions. It makes perfectly sense to me that a man being raised in a religious home would keep to his religion. Especially if the childhood is good and there's no rebellious phase, the religion is wired to be the ultimate "safe spot" in someone's psyche. No matter what problems he faces his religion will always be there as a mental manifestation of a comfort blanket of sorts. 16 Years of talking to a God figure twice a day, 16 years of weekly visits to a community that knows the word of God to be true. I'm amazed that some people with a religious upbringing end up leaving their religion.

From a rational point of view religion seems like the most effective and penetrating form of brainwashing we could possibly imagine regardless wether God is real or not.

I believe we view things in much the same way, and you make good points that faith is not rational.
From my point of view, I have always tried to think rationally about things. Such is my way of understanding the world, and I am raised in a home where religion was not important, I can actually not remember talking about religion unless bringing the discussion up myself.
So it still quite hard to understand from my rational thinking.

But also rational thinking is bound to the way you understand the world around you, and for some religion might be rational.
But who am I to claim such things?

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

People who enjoy reality television. How anyone enjoys watching idiots be idiots and think they're great is completely beyond me.

Edit:

This is turning into something that looks like a flame war. Hm, I for some reason, love reading all these comments regarding religion. I'm constantly trying to find new arguments made between theists and atheists. so far it's getting good

look... whats the point? All the debate boils down to is points that are so insanely subjective that it becomes a waste of time even attempting to use one of them as an argument. The arguments overlap each other, canceling each other out because they have little to no bearing on solid logic and reason. The only bearing they truly have are their significance to the person using the arguments "This value is more important then that value" kind of thing. How it feels to you. It becomes an opinion, and nothing more.

Religion isn't the cause of millions of deaths, it's us. We created religion. blame the people using it for selfish reasons instead of the religion itself. Religion is a blank slate, and like many other things, it can be morphed in ways that can benefit, or hurt others. We should be using it for the betterment of society, but there are a lot of people who use and abuse religion to insane levels. We are the most advanced species on the planet, and yet we are scared religion (to clarify, the extreme kind) will corrupt us all.

Now... if any escapist wishes to, reply on my stance. Would like to here if I've missed a point, or something is off. I'd also like to know if you disagree. Don't hold back

Trying to reply to this in as non-hostile a tone as I can muster, considering you sound pretty fair: Well firstly; there is actually a rather large point to arguing about religion, just not on an online forum where your opinion will be drowned out by everyone else's. From the side of theists, particularly of the Abrahamic religions: they have every reason to argue for the establishment of a theocracy because in their eyes, there is an interventional god(s) who will punish man if he does not comply to it's/ their rules. Being human, they obviously don't want their species to perish, and therefore believe that everyone must be forced to follow these rules for the good of all of us. From the point of view secularists, particularly atheists and deists: they do not believe, or recognise that many don't, in the same god(s) and teachings as theists, going so far as to consider some of them immoral. Naturally, they don't want to be forced to practice that which they don't believe in, and will therefore always champion the separation of church and state. Both sides have opposite goals, and both sides oppose the goals of the other. There can't be a simple "live and let live" compromise because one side is exactly against that concept.
To the second point; that religion isn't damaging, that it's merely a construct of humanity, which is naturally harmful. This fairly easily disproved, you merely have to point to a human creation that isn't harmful. I would point to the agricultural industry, charity or the medical sciences. I also am rather curious about the idea of religion bettering society, it sounds like you basically mean we could use a myth to impose values on people as a method of controlling the general populace, something I find disturbingly totalitarian, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant something that went over my head.
And on a final note I'd like to contest the statement that we are the most advanced species on the planet; advancement is subjective, for example I'm sure a golden eagle would consider our measly limbs extremely unadvanced to his majestic wings, would possibly wonder how on earth we get anywhere when we can't soar effortlessly through the sky like him. I believe industrious would be the better word.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

To be honest I have a hard time with the concept of transsexuality. Homosexuality and bisexuality make perfect sense- you are attracted to who you are attracted to. But me having a dick has never been a huge part of my personality. Being attracted to women isn't even that huge, but its still a part. But my biological sex has literally nothing to do with who I am as a person.

The idea of that being so important as to bet surgery to change it has always been surreal to me, but I guess to each their own.