Rev. Rowan Redbeard wrote:People are not defined by the groups they are associated with.
Therein lies the problem, Rev. In a lot of cases they are, because they define themselves by the group they choose to associate with. Hell, I do it, too. I associate myself with the FSM. In a way, that defines me. But I encourage, and give people reasons to look beyond that. A lot of people don't do that with their chosen group. They cuddle up with it, let the group do the deciding, and go about their lives in the easiest way possible. Sad, but true.
At the same time, when you piss people off, they often speak before they groupthink (sic). Then you can ask questions about the things they said without groupthinking, and gain a personal response. And then you're two people having a conversation over a cup of coffee instead of two groups yelling slogans at each other. Sounds nice, eh? The trick is just how much you piss people off before they start lobbing mortars over the backyard fence.
I still defend the Gospel as a lovely bit of satire. And if you want an example of profiling == still funny, look up a group of guys (I think they were English) who called themselves Monty Python, and read/watch/listen again to what they had to say about Belgians, Hungarians, Australians, Chinese, or damn near any major group. It wasn't nice. But it was damned funny.
Rubber knives, man.
~E.
