This makes me fear our future.

[apomk2]

I think hatred/dislike towards homosexuals is somewhat of a inborn disposition. Human nature would have to change on a fundamental, almost chemical, level before full acceptance of the gay community is achieved. I myself have feelings of dislike towards homosexuals for almost no reason and against logic.

Well, almost. What they do have an inborn disposition towards is ignorance.

The problem with ignorant people is that they themselves don't realize that they are ignorant. They form conclusions without thinking about them, and adopt other peoples ideas without realizing where those ideas even came from. They're also known for watching Fox News.

It even goes so far that you can talk about them and their ignorance right in front of their face, and they'll still won't be able to make the connection. Quite sad, really.

The difference is, as opposed to homosexuals, they all have the capability to change. They just choose not to.

 

[Patrick Buck]

This makes me sick. Honest to god. This is just discraceful.
Eurgh. This is the worst thing. I've never heard such a horrific tale. Prehaps the kids will think twice about bullying people now. But I won't hold my breath.

 

[Whalebranch]

Once again I'm glad to have been born in in Europe...

Not saying stuff like this doesn't happen over here, but when it does it generally isn't as horrible as over there. :/

Are you saying that you otherwise aint happy about being born in Europe!? Jokes aside, what you speak of is the truth. It aint nearly as bad over here (atleast compared to what one gets to hear about)

 

[apomk2]

You make it sound like "rights" are some kind of law of nature. They aren't. snip

debatable. "We believe that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator, with certain inalienable rights." As you can see, the US was founded on the principle that those rights are natural. That's why Locke called them natural rights. And they are. You cannot, by any power you could gain on this earth, prevent me from speaking. even if you gagged me, I could speak. You might not understand what I say, but I could speak.

The only way to actually debate this would be to go into God territory, which I myself find to be somewhat of a waste of time. If the Constitution happened to for whatever reason grant you the right to kill anyone whose face you don't like, would you still argue that that right should be inalienable, because, well, the Constitution said so?

 

[Balvale]

Sickening. I'm appalled that the teachers essentially stood back with their arms crossed and "not my business." What's more horrifying is that the extreme religious right could influence schools to the point of causing this catastrophe. I don't want to turn this into religion-bashing, but these people are some of the worst that religion has to offer.

 

[repeating integers]

Are we allowed to start a "Kill Michelle Bachmann" facebook page? Give her a tiny taste of the hatred these poor guys have to face every day due to her bigotry.

Do you realize how pointless and just plain wrong it is to blame her. Of course, it can't be the kids fault for bullying other. It can't be the fault of the faculty for allowing it to happen. It can't be the fault of the parents for raising children who don't know better. No, all this is the fault of one lone bigot, everyone else is completely innocent in this. I mean, who could help it, she's their congresswoman, they have to do what she says. All their power of free will is drained away by the sheer intensity of one woman's belief.

Bullshit. Every single one of those faculty members, and students, and parents made choices, they are the ones to blame. You can say it's caused by the atmosphere, and you'd be right, but that atmosphere only exists because of the choices made by the individuals. It all comes back to them and their choices. Moving the blame elsewhere is one of the main reasons that this shit continues to happen, because the people involved never have to feel guilty, and never have to face the consequences of their actions.

I realise that, but I think we have to start somewhere. She's the "head" of all this - and probably the most dangerous, too, being a congresswoman (the fact that people with these views are still capable of getting to such high places in developed countries depresses me). I imagine, too, that if we did start this facebook page, then the subject of "discussion" wouldn't stay confined to Bachmann alone.

Still, yes, they're all equally, disgustingly to blame. The fact that some of them still have the gall to blame the gays themselves for all these suicides makes me wan to do something unpleasant.

 

[Lazier Than Thou]

Dude, you're not gonna get any respect for this kind of message on this site. This community is aggressively and intolerantly atheist, which is kinda funny when you take that in context with the responses to this thread. Not trying to tear you down, just letting you know that you will probably get bombarded by quotes telling you how idiotic you are for believing in god, or how ridiculous the very idea is.

I don't need respect and if people hate me for preaching tolerance then that's what will happen.

Anyway, you're a better man than me. I hate them and I'm proud of it. I'm a christian but I believe in culpability above all things. I don't find anything morally wrong with hating people who have done something detestable. Each of them made a choice, likely many choices, and they should face the consequences of those choices.

Yes, people will be judged for their actions. That does not give you the right to hate them for it. In fact, Christ was pretty specific on what to do about the whole thing.

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you;

Do your thing. I understand the desire to hate. But God's not going to leave you blameless for it. Honestly, your hate will only hurt you in the end. I'd suggest giving it up.

 

[R3dF41c0n]

This just makes me sick. It's people like that who claim to be "Christians" that turn me off of organized religion. I have no more words to describe how angry I am...

 

[Forgetitnow344]

studies show that one-third of all gay youth have attempted suicide at some point (versus 13 percent of hetero kids), and that internalized homophobia contributes to suicide risk.

Holy citations, Batman! Let's see some goddamn references here, buddy. 13 percent of hetero students attempt suicide? I call ultra bullshit.

 

[Forgetitnow344]

What's weird is how all of this resonates in gay-friendly environments like California. I live in San Diego County, where homosexuals are widely accepted as equals. The 51% that voted for Prop 8 live mostly in silence or in the Central Valley (which actually had towns that seceded to the South in the Civil War, so there's that). Here, you're more likely to have friends BECAUSE you are gay. It's like we're trying to overcompensate for all the midwest and southern communities that have such rampant anti-gay problems. It actually starts to cause resentment towards gay individuals because they have that sassy, obnoxious demeanor that glorifies homosexuality almost to the point where they make you feel inferior for NOT being gay.

It's kind of funny, during all that Day of Silence stuff, at my college there's always an LGBT booth with people who have tape all over their mouths just doing nothing. I have a gay friend, and last time we saw that, we walked up pretending to be ignorant. He looked at the banner and in his best gay voice (which he had to force; he sounds like every other dude) flatly asked, "What are these faggots doing?"

They all glared at him while I tried my best not to smile.

"Probably just being gay as shit," I answered.

Then we held hands and walked away. The point we were making is that sitting in a gay-friendly community and making these protests doesn't help anyone. It's just a way to attach yourself to some form of activism that's easy to side with. Unless you have some radical religious standpoint, you should be against gay kids being bullied. It's not hard. The only way you can actually make a difference is to maybe sign some petitions for the Obama Administration to look into this kind of thing. Protests, parades, rallies, etc don't do ANYTHING to help a child who is thinking of suicide. He's not standing in the streets of San Francisco or San Diego to see them. He's trapped in the halls of an Evangelical-run high school in Minnesota. Only legislation and reform will help him.

 

[ChaplainOrion]

Let's just throw out all these damn pastors and priests that brainwash people into thinking that everybody is going to hell, and making people into the biggest assholes in the world.

For those thinking that it goes against the right of free speech, free speech should be a privilege, not a right. You can't go up and yell at Blacks and Asians all day about how they're inferior animals, so you shouldn't be able to yell at gay people about how they are abominations, especially not kids.

That's the worst part here, they're yelling at kids here, making them believe they're absolutely worthless, and then Bachmann defended that anti-gay legislation probably so that bullies can go after gays.

 

[caffineking]

I find it kind of inspiring. Don't get me wrong, the fact that the kids had to 'fight back' in the first place is just plain wrong - but it does give you some hope in the future of places like that when people are prepared to take a stand against such bigotry.

 

[senordesol]

I dont understand the thread title. Stuff like this is becoming more rare, me thinks.

Once religion has died out we will see much less of this.

Religion is the excuse. Humanity is the cause.

There are no shortages of excuses for people to hate each other, religion has very little to do with it.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

i have no issue with religion until they try to push there beliefs on others and affect other peoples lives who want anything to do with it. unfortunately that happens way too often.
i read the whole thing and i am sickened.
i am kinda speechless so i will let professor farnsworth do the talking for now while i think


edit:thinking done
don't Christians claim how god is about love, tolerance, and stuff like that?
if that is the case they are not Christians; they are just ass holes who are pretending to be Christians.
or maybe that love and tolerance thing is a lie
what the hell do i know i am not religious at all. i would say i am agnostic atheist.

i would like to think they feel sorry for the deaths they caused but honestly the kids in the school probably celebrates the death of gays. i really hate religious extremists

tire irons, one dollah!

get yer tire irons here, just one dollah!
torches and pitchforks come at discount if you trade in some ignorant dickblister's teeth, act now!

 

[8bitlove2a03]

After reading that, I had to take a few minutes to calm down and keep myself from vomiting in disgust. I'd write more of how I feel about this, but this is probably all I can manage before going into full-on rant mode and spending twenty minutes writing angry things about conservative Christians, and I don't want banned.

 

[spartan231490]

You make it sound like "rights" are some kind of law of nature. They aren't. snip

debatable. "We believe that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator, with certain inalienable rights." As you can see, the US was founded on the principle that those rights are natural. That's why Locke called them natural rights. And they are. You cannot, by any power you could gain on this earth, prevent me from speaking. even if you gagged me, I could speak. You might not understand what I say, but I could speak.

The only way to actually debate this would be to go into God territory, which I myself find to be somewhat of a waste of time. If the Constitution happened to for whatever reason grant you the right to kill anyone whose face you don't like, would you still argue that that right should be inalienable, because, well, the Constitution said so?

1) I said creator, not god. If you believe that humans evolved(I do) than the argument is equally valid. We do not need to debate god at all, you need to debate whether a certain right is inherent in a human being. If it can't be taken away, it is inherent, and as I've already shown, freedom of speech is inherent because you can't take it away. Many of the rights are like that.

2) I never mentioned the constitution. That was a quote from the declaration of independence, and if that isn't a condemnation of education I don't know what is. I don't need to mention the constitution because I am not debating law, I was merely pointing out that an entire country was founded on the ideal that every single human being is born with some rights.

3) Nice hyperbole at the end there, but that's not what I said. That's not even what I implied. In fact, it's not even close.

 

[Arakasi]

I read the whole thing, probably a first for me, but it was a hell of a tearjerker.
Anyhow, it doesn't make me fear our future, in fact, it makes me look forward to it, as shit like that is being outlawed, and overall stomped on in our society.

For shit to be eliminated shit must first exist.

 

[Chunga the Great]

I genuinely cannot describe the sheer rage I feel when I see shit like this. Everyone involved in the bullying, including the teachers, need to get a comprehensive and extreme beating as revenge for ruining and killing these children. Let them feel the pain they dispensed.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Well, these kids are weak. I don't have any sympathy for people who kill themselves after being bullied. In fact, anyone who commits suicide are weak-ass pussies. Let me tell you a story that I first posted on another forum and another thread which was started by a suicidal person:

When I was only 4 years of age I was violently raped by my uncle. He raped me in the mouth. He raped me in the ass. I still suffer from the hemorrhoids. I repressed the memories for years until I turned 18. All throughout those years of repression images of dicks danced on the edges of my consciousness in its weakened state just before sleep. I attributed these distant echoes to an over-active imagination and dismissed them as too horrible to be reality, yet they were real. When I remembered it was not mere acknowledgement of events but a full re-experience of that terrifying, painful trauma. It was as if I was the same age again and was being fucking raped.

But the horrors did not stop there. In my distraught state my powerful imagination unconsciously dreamed up cathartic experiences of false, violent death memories that nevertheless were as real experiences as those dreams which you feel to be so real that you are surprised upon waking, except that these violent death experiences took place in the waking world and could not be escaped. I was a conquistador and I died by being scalped alive by the savage natives. The thing about being scalped alive that's so terrible is not the pain itself but the terrible feeling of absence of the top of your head. It was so horrible that I accidentally kicked out the windshield of my father's car in a fit of agony.

Then I was a beatnik who died the slow, horrid, numb death of morphine overdose. It took around 10 hours but it felt like 10 years. The numbness was so extreme as to be terrifyingly powerful for it was not just a numbness of the body but also of the brain.

Then I was a creature on another world and I was consumed by a voracious predator whose many teeth rested on cruel, finger-like appendages. It was like a being with moveable claws for teeth.

Then I was a samurai who failed to properly commit seppuku and my best friend had to stab me in an act of euthanasia.

These great sufferings would've been bad enough if I were an attractive person, but alas I am not. I'm 300 pounds of which is mostly disgusting fat, I'm ugly as sin, Is till live with my parents, and as a result of that first trauma I am terrified of sex. As such I would never have the balls to get a woman even if my looks did not repulse them.

To this day I am still somewhat insane. It's gotten so bad at times that my parents have threatened to have me committed to a mental asylum.

And yet, through all this pain beyond the ken of a normal man have I tried to end my wretched life?

NO! FUCK NO!

You know why? It's because I ain't a fucking pussy! I ain't so motherfucking weak that I embrace the oblivion of death for its false solace! Whatever the quality of life you experience on this Earth is, as long as it brings you some joy, some comfort, some glory it is worth preserving!

 

[Alssadar]

And this is why I despise many people who follow a strict code not written by their own values.
Open mindedness is the way for free flow of information and ideals that allows people to be accepted no matter what they are.
And dogma is the exact opposite.

"At first I think: 'I don't want to live on this planet anymore.' But then I'm like,'Fuck that' and 'I like this planet, you get off!'"