Happy Atheist Forum

Hello all. This is the introduction section, so I feel it is applicable to post this here. My name is Josh. Or Joshua. Whatever one prefers. I am 15 years old. Or young. Once again, it's at your discretion.

I've been an atheist for about 3-4 years. Every year before that, I was an apatheist, though I was too young to be cognizant of it. I tried to register on this forum a while ago, but for some reason it remained absolutely convinced that I was a robot and wouldn't take my verification code.

I derive joy out of being particularly difficult to fathom and cognize. I'm usually a bit of a megalomaniac, as well. That being said, I'm not crazy. I just have, shall we say, a tendency to think in a way that is not salubrious to social norms. If you haven't noticed, I don't think like most 15 year olds. I have a tendency to use big words and I enjoy debating and discussion a great deal.

I am and have been a practical atheist in perpetuum, and strongly disagree with theoretical atheism. Still, this disagreement exists only in the realm of debate and discussion. I'm not liberal like most atheists I know, so I disagree with many in that dimension. As well, I have difficulty calling myself a humanist. I'm too much of a cynic, I suppose.

I'm a Marilyn Manson fan on a grandiose scale. There is no encomium great enough for me to praise Manson. Manson surpasses and surmounts the title of 'God'. His trenchancy and constant display of coruscation is surpassed by none. Manson is the prime virtuoso of all that is art and beauty. I realize it seems odd to talk about him in such a way, especially in my intro post, but his music plays such a large role in my life that it's justified.

My apex of interest is philosophy. I model my ideology primarily on (suprisingly) Friedrich Nietzsche, but I also include the ideas of Feuerbach, Bertrand Russel, Levi-Strauss, Derrida, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard. There's many more, but as you probably haven't heard of most of these people, it seems to make little sense to continue.

I write a great deal, mostly poetry. My style is influenced almost entirely by Edgar Allen Poe. If you get the chance, I recommend you read The Masque of the Red Death or The Raven.

And, evidently, I'm a fan of long intro posts. And posts in general. I've never been told it's a bad thing, so I've always made long posts. Not that that's relevant or actually has any worth in a post that's supposed to explain me, I thought I'd share it nonetheless.

Yeah, i like the thesaurus too.

Welcome!

Piss off, you hack!


OK, just kidding. I figure the best way to welcome a narcissist would be to not compliment him.  :wink:

Welcome to the forum, and if you use too many big words, we might have to put you in the corner with Bart Simpson, Rush Limbaugh, and Bela Abzug.

Quote from: "Willravel"Yeah, i like the thesaurus too.

Welcome!

Indeed, the thesaurus is a great domain of intrigue.

In all fairness, I did have to look up "coruscation" on dictionary.com. I thought the word could be used to mean wit, but I wasn't completely certain.

Quote from: "McQ"Piss off, you hack!

Much gratitude!

Welcome to the forum.  You sound quite precocious, like my son.  What would you do without dictionary.com?  LOL!  :-)

Hi ReflectingNarcissist - I love Poe.  Here are some of my favorite poems of his:

The Raven (obv.)
The City in the Sea
Lenore
Ulalume - A Ballad
For Annie
Annabel Lee

Favorite Stories:

The Masque of the Red Death
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Cask of Amontillado

And, I really like his critical essay The Poetic Principle - its really, really good.

I would have said "cheers and welcome", but since we're waxing thesaurical I'll go with:

Slainte and Salutations!

Quote from: "rlrose328"Welcome to the forum.  You sound quite precocious, like my son.  What would you do without dictionary.com?  LOL!  :-)

Thank you very much. A life without such a versatile tool would be a morbid one indeed.

Quote from: "SteveS"Hi ReflectingNarcissist - I love Poe. Here are some of my favorite poems of his:

The Raven (obv.)
The City in the Sea
Lenore
Ulalume - A Ballad
For Annie
Annabel Lee

Favorite Stories:

The Masque of the Red Death
The Tell-Tale Heart
The Fall of the House of Usher
The Cask of Amontillado

And, I really like his critical essay The Poetic Principle - its really, really good.

I would have said "cheers and welcome", but since we're waxing thesaurical I'll go with:

Slainte and Salutations!

Those are all excellent works. I'm not quite certain what my favorite is, or even if I have one.
However, I can say for a fact that it's not The Cask of Amontillado. It' a good story, but the allegory is based upon a part of Poe's personal life, and so it's not really a commentary, or something subject to exegesis. Still, I enjoy it.

The Poetic Principle is a very good essay. I don't believe there was a single statement in it I had a problem with.

Slainte? Either I forgot what that means or I just learned a new word.

Welcome to the forum ReflectingNarcissist.  

As I read your intro I pictured this (see below) and heard a snotty British accent:


(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi89.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk227%2FMommaSquid%2Fbruce.jpg&hash=9131d819acba07420516f15a370902803c3a2380)


Hope you don't mind.  And if you do....eh.


You may add me to the list of Poe fans.

Quote from: "MommaSquid"Welcome to the forum ReflectingNarcissist.  

As I read your intro I pictured this (see below) and heard a snotty British accent:

Hope you don't mind.  And if you do....eh.

Lol. I'm flattered that somebody imagines me as such. In actuality, I'm lower-middle class and I live in a suburb of the DFW in Texas. Quite a world away from a snotty British.
As well, Bruce Cambell is a cool guy, so being pictured as him can't be a bad thing.

Quote from: "ReflectingNarcissist"Slainte? Either I forgot what that means or I just learned a new word.

I believe it roughly means "cheers" in Gaelic.  I learned this at Bennigan's  :wink:

Oh, I LOVE Bruce Campbell... and you're right... that's exactly what I pictured, but not as old or manly.  Sorry.

Quote from: "SteveS"I believe it roughly means "cheers" in Gaelic.  I learned this at Bennigan's  :wink:

Well, that makes sense. I don't know any Gaelic, and I've never even been inside a Bennigan's.

Quote from: "rlrose328"Oh, I LOVE Bruce Campbell... and you're right... that's exactly what I pictured, but not as old or manly. Sorry.

Meh. It's difficult to portray an image of being both manly and being a snotty British.

Quote from: "ReflectingNarcissist"It's difficult to portray an image of being both manly and being a snotty British.

:lol:  Too true!

Quote from: "ReflectingNarcissist"I've never even been inside a Bennigan's.

Eh, they're not too bad.  If you order a beer on tap they serve you a "true pint".  Which is sorta cool....

Quote from: "SteveS"Eh, they're not too bad.  If you order a beer on tap they serve you a "true pint".  Which is sorta cool....

A true pint. What is that exactly? 20-ish ounces?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, that "true pint" was roughly equivalent to "imperial pint".  But, I went prowling the web for information and found out that the way Bennigan's defines this, they simply draw a line on the glass at 16 and fill it with liquid to 16 leaving space for the head to go above the line, so you get a full 16 ounces of liquid beer plus foam (oh goody).

On this basis, I find this a total ripoff, and now highly recommend that you avoid Benningan's at all costs.

 :wink:

I see. Well, if they have the guile to fool people on a large scale and stand to gain, kudos to them. Still, it seems that they should make it known, to a reasonable extent, that it's not really a "true pint".

I've still got 6 years before I can even drink legally, but I'll keep the recommendation in mind.

SIX years? Unlucky.

Although, at least for the time being, you can still feel a small sense of accomplishment whenever you do manage to purchase the stuff. I miss that part of being under age.

Well RN, from one new member to another, you seem like an interesting bloke & you clearly love your words, which is adorable. You want to be careful though, I've a large vocabulary myself & I found that over-using it tended to add copiously to my reputation as an arrogant smart-arse :lol: . I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into some enriching discussions with you.

By the by, I did a bit of reading on Bennigan's and I've my own advice to give: if you want to get Irish booze in an Irish pub then go to a real one. Otherwise there's really no point. I'm half Irish & I have relatives in Dublin and Cork, so I visit them quite often. Now the UK is the alcoholic's garden of Eden, in comparison to the States, but Ireland is just mind-blowing. Expensive in Dublin... and you've got to avoid the tourist pubs, of course, but it's a terrific place for a pint, to be sure.

Quote from: "ReflectingNarcissist"I've still got 6 years before I can even drink legally, but I'll keep the recommendation in mind.

Aww crap, my bad, I forgot your age.  Anyway - 6 years from now, there's plenty of places to get a decent beer.  I endorse local brewpubs, they always have very tasty, very fresh brews.

Quote from: "ReflectingNarcissist"Hello all. This is the introduction section, so I feel it is applicable to post this here. My name is Josh. Or Joshua. Whatever one prefers. I am 15 years old. Or young. Once again, it's at your discretion.

Hola Josh.

QuoteI'm a Marilyn Manson fan on a grandiose scale. There is no encomium great enough for me to praise Manson. Manson surpasses and surmounts the title of 'God'. His trenchancy and constant display of coruscation is surpassed by none. Manson is the prime virtuoso of all that is art and beauty. I realize it seems odd to talk about him in such a way, especially in my intro post, but his music plays such a large role in my life that it's justified.

I appreciate Manson here and again but I can't say that I enjoy his work as much as I used to.  I was initially attracted to the shock theme reminiscent of Alice Cooper and the like and was quite impressed with the turn he took with Anti-Christ Superstar.  However, after that my musical tastes began to evolve and I began a quest for what I see as quality metal.  I still may spin the occasional Manson CD now and again though.

QuoteMy apex of interest is philosophy. I model my ideology primarily on (suprisingly) Friedrich Nietzsche, but I also include the ideas of Feuerbach, Bertrand Russel, Levi-Strauss, Derrida, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard. There's many more, but as you probably haven't heard of most of these people, it seems to make little sense to continue.

Heard of them all? Yes.  But I can't say that I'm well read in all of them though.  I'm more knowledgeable of the work of Nietzsche and Russell than the others.  Although, I must admit that I haven't picked up a philosophical work in quite some time.  Science works have filled my reading time.

QuoteI write a great deal, mostly poetry. My style is influenced almost entirely by Edgar Allen Poe. If you get the chance, I recommend you read The Masque of the Red Death or The Raven.

Both great work.  I did a paper a long while ago in my undergrad work (I believe I was just a sophomore) on Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" dealing with the problem of the narrator.  My idea was a long shot but at least I thought an interesting perspective...my instructor didn't find it interesting though.  However, I subsequently found out that if the paper did not in some way support feminist ideals, strayed into science too much or dealt with anything regarding masculine themes she disliked it and the work was given a low grade.  Such is the curse of attending a community college I suppose.

You could also go on vacation in Europe. The legal age for drinking alcohol here is 16. Bartenders don't bother to check your age as long as you look old enough.

Sounds good to me Tom62 - I think our 21 age limit in the States is ridiculous.  I can vote for president, drive a car, get drafted, die somewhere fighting some war the government sent me to, all at 18;  but I'm just not capable of handling a beer?  Ridiculous.  Seriously - the armed forces will say I'm capable of flying a high-tech jet fighter, driving a tank, having and using an assault rifle, hand grenades, rocket launcher, etc. etc. but --- no alcohol yet --- need a few more years to handle that sort of thing.  Too dangerous.  :roll:

I agree with you SteveS, the 21 age limit is indeed rediculous. It must have been enforced by the religious right movement. The same kind of people that find it o.k. that young children can watch violence on TV, but who get extremely upset if these children see a naked women's breast. Which I think is funny for a country that has a $ 10 billion porn industry.

Indeed, Tom62.  I see it all as a problem of "puritanical morals", or some such.  Everybody wants the porn, but they're not about to admit it.  But, if they really believed god was watching them, what difference would it make if other people knew about the porn or not?  Isn't god supposed to be able to smoke out this kind of hypocrisy?

As a side note, I reject in principle almost every single age law that exists.  They are completely arbitrary.  I don't care if I'm 14 or 38:  if I can drive a car safely I should be allowed to do so.  If not, then not.  If I'm 16 or 45, either way, and I drink alcohol - who cares?  If I drink enough that I suddenly think its a good idea to bust a fellow pub patron in the face - I should be charged with battery (or assault, or whatever the hell the law calls this these days), no matter whether or not I was drinking or whether or not I was 21 years old.  What difference does the cause make?  Why would the victim care how old or young I was, and whether or not I was drunk?  He would care (quite reasonably) that I smashed him in the face!

Same philosophy with other arbitrary limits like DUI.  I guess I just really hate arbitrary limits - they make no allowance for the individual.  What happened to my nation?  We used to be defined by "rugged individualism".  :?  

(geez - I need another coffee or something - sorry for the rant!  :wink:  )

You know what, Steve, I never thought about age limits like that.  Like any 'good American,' I just follow the laws as given.  Mindless American drone, that's me.

But you are completely on target... it DOESN'T matter what age you are if you can drink responsibly or drive safely.  Duh.

Thanks for helping open my eyes!  I need to think outside the box more often!

Thanks rlrose - I guess my rant wasn't so bad after all!

Quote from: "Mister Joy"SIX years? Unlucky.

Although, at least for the time being, you can still feel a small sense of accomplishment whenever you do manage to purchase the stuff. I miss that part of being under age.

Yep. There's nothing like apprehension to get the heart pumping.

Quote from: "Mister Joy"You want to be careful though, I've a large vocabulary myself & I found that over-using it tended to add copiously to my reputation as an arrogant smart-arse :lol:

Having a reputation as a smartass is a bad thing?  :D[/quote]
Thanks for the info. In six years, I'll get right on it.

I just have to find something to regale me until then, I suppose.

Quote from: "SteveS"Aww crap, my bad, I forgot your age. Anyway - 6 years from now, there's plenty of places to get a decent beer. I endorse local brewpubs, they always have very tasty, very fresh brews.

Unfortunately, I'd have to search far and wide before I could find anything hardly considered "local". Darn the fates.

Quote from: "Squid"I appreciate Manson here and again but I can't say that I enjoy his work as much as I used to. I was initially attracted to the shock theme reminiscent of Alice Cooper and the like and was quite impressed with the turn he took with Anti-Christ Superstar. However, after that my musical tastes began to evolve and I began a quest for what I see as quality metal. I still may spin the occasional Manson CD now and again though.

As opposed to most people, I was attracted to Manson due to his music and lyrics, as opposed to his image. I heard one of his songs before I even knew who he was, and the revelation that he was a shock rocker came afterwards.
If I may ask, could you provide some examples of quality metal? Bands or songs?

Quote from: "Squid"Heard of them all? Yes. But I can't say that I'm well read in all of them though. I'm more knowledgeable of the work of Nietzsche and Russell than the others. Although, I must admit that I haven't picked up a philosophical work in quite some time. Science works have filled my reading time.

Those two I figured most would know, with the possible addition of Heidegger. I've always been attracted to esoterica, and I believe that I simply became too embittered and disillusioned with science, and decided to convert my area of inquiry to philosophy. Of course, I still uphold science as being fundamentally critical and indispensable to apperception and enlightenment. It's just not my primary area of interest anymore.

Quote from: "Squid"Both great work. I did a paper a long while ago in my undergrad work (I believe I was just a sophomore) on Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" dealing with the problem of the narrator. My idea was a long shot but at least I thought an interesting perspective...my instructor didn't find it interesting though. However, I subsequently found out that if the paper did not in some way support feminist ideals, strayed into science too much or dealt with anything regarding masculine themes she disliked it and the work was given a low grade. Such is the curse of attending a community college I suppose.

That sucks. Community colleges would be immaculate if not for the community instructors.

I'm lucky to have an English teacher that also likes Poe this year, as my past attempts to write about one of his works did not turn out as I had wished.

Quote from: "Tom62"You could also go on vacation in Europe. The legal age for drinking alcohol here is 16. Bartenders don't bother to check your age as long as you look old enough.

Well enough, as I'd probably be 16 by the time I could actually afford to go there.

Quote from: "Narcissist"Yep. There's nothing like apprehension to get the heart pumping.

It gives blocked arteries a run for their money.

Quote from: "Narcissist"Having a reputation as a smartass is a bad thing?

Depends how you like to see yourself, really, doesn't it? My preference is summated by this lovely description a mate of mine wrote for the yearbook:

Quote from: "Liam"Daniel ‘Joy’ Christie is one of the most arrogant, vulgar, selfish, evil and manipulative people I have ever met

I was genuinely flattered.

QuoteThanks for the info. In six years, I'll get right on it.

Only three. Age limits eighteen over there... though they're considering upping it to 21 (so are the British, in fact) which would be awful though I doubt it'll happen. They've already put the smoking age up from 16 to 18. Think of all the poor 16 year old nicotine addicts? Atrocious. :pirate:

Quote from: "Mister Joy"It gives blocked arteries a run for their money.

That it does. Perhaps they should remind children of the drinking age in P.E and athletic events.

Quote from: "Mister Joy"Depends how you like to see yourself, really, doesn't it? My preference is summated by this lovely description a mate of mine wrote for the yearbook:
I was genuinely flattered.

Being remembered for that, and actually having it made indissoluble with writing, would be among my greatest triumphs.

QuoteThey've already put the smoking age up from 16 to 18. Think of all the poor 16 year old nicotine addicts? Atrocious.

Two years of hell. As if the teenage years weren't bad enough.

You sound like a man of my own heart: far too jaded and nihilistic for your age. It's not healthy but it makes you feel antagonistically superior doesn't it? That's always fun.

Incidentally, you're writing sounds interesting. I'm not a huge fan of Poe - he's ok, though I find him slightly boring at times - but I've been influenced a lot by Iain Banks (I tend to write more psychological horror, as well as black comedy). Ever read The Wasp Factory? It's the book that shot him into fame.

Welcome R. Narcissist!   I guess we are going to learn some new words !!!  ha ha!
HOpe you enjoy the forum.

 { Momma Squid, you are so funny!  Loved the pic!}

holy crap the bruce campbell thing is what I sorta pictured too...then read the bit about manson and decided it was bruce with smudged eyeliner.  and holy crap with the big words...it was nice though cause they were big words but words that people will know so it made me feel smart reading it not like a dip sh**

Quote from: "Mister Joy"You sound like a man of my own heart: far too jaded and nihilistic for your age. It's not healthy but it makes you feel antagonistically superior doesn't it? That's always fun.

Jaded? That's not a good thing. Nihilistic maybe, but I'd like to think I'm relatively fervent.

But yes, feeling superior is definitely worth it.

Quote from: "Mister Joy"Ever read The Wasp Factory? It's the book that shot him into fame.

I never read that, though I would like to. I have, however, read The Bridge.

Quote from: "tigerlily46514 "Welcome R. Narcissist! I guess we are going to learn some new words !!! ha ha!
HOpe you enjoy the forum.

Thank you for the welcome.