Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[besleybean]

@Pseudonym Ha!

Can't help being obsessed with Moriarty, however...

Also, even asexuals are still allowed their fantasies!

I just don't pontificate!

[Artemis]

You should see how obsessed people become with my sex life, religious or not, once they find out I'm asexual.  One reason I don't tell anyone anymore (though I have been involuntarily "outed" by the few who know).

 

[besleybean]

To be perfectly honest(and I have to say, wasn't really expecting to expose myself on a forum like this, this morning!),I have spent my while life trying to work out what the heck I am!

I was widowed last year.

Deperately sad over the loss of my husband.

But I do remain very happily celibate, put it that way.

[Pseudonym]

I always think it's no one's business what I may or may not be. And I don't fit into a neat little box. I mention it here but then here I'm anonymous so *shrug*

[Artemis]

It definitely is no one's business.

Sorry to hear about your husband, besley.    That's the worst.

 

[besleybean]

I still think the best comment I ever heard on this subject, was from Michael Stipe of the  band REM:

He recounted how being fed up of constant speculation over his sexuality, he once replied to a journalist thus:

Unless you are sitting on my knee at the time, you don't need to know the answer to that question.

 

 

Oh and thank you, Artemis.

Actually, when I was standing in the signing queue for Matt Haig, the woman in front of me was recalling the tale of having lost both of her young sons to suicide, 10 years apart...

Not that it's a competition, but I can't help feel she had it a lot worse than me...

[Pseudonym]

Lol, that is a good response! It must drive famous people nuts, I remember a cringy Tom Hardy interview where he got asked about his sexuality when he was promoting his film and was clearly pretty peed off. 

[besleybean]

Don't blame him...how inappropriate is that?

[Pseudonym]

Bored, bored, bored, an hour and a half until freedom. 

[Artemis]

^ Almost there!

Brrr!  Was not prepared for 40-degree weather after 80's and 90's.  I'd take 40's over 90's any day, my body just hasn't adjusted yet!

 

 

[Pseudonym]

😩 I feel like I've been here for decades...

[J.P.]

11 hours ago, besleybean said:

Actually, when I was standing in the signing queue for Matt Haig,

Hey, Besley, where did you meet Matt?

[besleybean]

Toppings book store in St Andrews.

It should have been last year...but I had just lost my husband.

[J.P.]

I met him on Monday (mentioned in the Side Effects thread), I hope his books helped you a bit.

[besleybean]

I was most pleased I could get his latest book signed for my daughter...she suffers from the same depression her dad fought with, all of his life...

Matt was so lovely.

[J.P.]

[Carol the Dabbler]

On 9/19/2018 at 5:10 AM, Artemis said:

I haven't worked out exactly where I stand on the matter yet, but currently I think I'd put the line where custom art is commissioned.

I certainly agree regarding custom work of any kind.  But I think it's also unfair to ask someone to put anything of themselves into something they disagree with -- e.g., if a caterer is asked to *serve* food (even if it's their standard fare) at an event they find repugnant -- whether it's a fundamentalist caterer being hired for a gay wedding or a black caterer being hired for a KKK rally.  When in doubt, just ask yourself, "How would I feel if I were in an analogous situation?"

On 9/19/2018 at 12:32 PM, SherlockedCAMPer said:

... realized many years ago that it was better to live as if those places existed with only 1 way to heaven, die, and find out I was wrong (that either there are multiple ways or neither place exists) than to not believe in either place or that there are multiple ways to heaven, die, and find out I was wrong....

I can't argue with your logic.

I think the same way about the free will / foreordination debate -- best to live as though you have free will, because if it turns out you don't, it won't matter.

 

[Artemis]

4 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

e.g., if a caterer is asked to *serve* food (even if it's their standard fare) at an event they find repugnant -- whether it's a fundamentalist caterer being hired for a gay wedding or a black caterer being hired for a KKK rally.

That's why I amended my statement to include events.    I had caterers in mind.  But if a public restaurant refused to serve food to a gay couple, I would draw the line there, because it's not an event.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 minutes ago, Artemis said:

... if a public restaurant refused to serve food to a gay couple, I would draw the line there, because it's not an event.

Suppose a group in full Nazi regalia enters a kosher deli?

[Artemis]

You can refuse to sell them meat if your conscience bids, but you can also get in legal trouble for doing so, and you'd have to be willing to accept that risk.  Them's the consequences.
 

No one likes Nazis (except other Nazis, maybe), but I do think there has to be a line somewhere, or people who don't like Jews, Christians, Republicans, Mexicans, black people, people with red hair, people who voted for Trump, people who own cats, or what have you, will also take advantage.  When you become a doctor, you are essentially making a nonverbal agreement to heal everyone, no matter who they are, without bias.  I think you're more or less making the same agreement to impartial service when you own and operate a business.

But these mullings are only for the times we live in.  Ask me in a different time, like when options are limited or Nazis have full societal control, and I might have different ideas.  Different times call for different measures.  (I know that's not the expression, I'm changing it, lol.)

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, Artemis said:

You can refuse to sell them meat if your conscience bids, but you can also get in legal trouble for doing so, and you'd have to be willing to accept that risk.  Them's the consequences

I didn't mean to ask what the current laws are, but rather what you personally think the laws should ideally be.  But I think you answered that as well.

I think several different paradigms are equally valid -- you just need to pick one and stick with it consistently.

[Artemis]

By the way, I'm not normally in favor of making laws or restricting freedoms in any way.  I cringe to even contemplate it.  There've only been a few exceptions, mostly regarding conservation.  There are animals that people would have hunted into extinction and beautiful land preserved in national parks that would have been lost, if not for some restrictions being put into place.  Ideally everyone would just accept each other's differences and behave themselves, but that doesn't always happen.  *Sigh*.

 

[Artemis]

7 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I think several different paradigms are equally valid -- you just need to pick one and stick with it consistently.

I think so too.  And like I said before, I haven't decided exactly where I stand on the issue.  This is all just thinking out loud.

 

[T.o.b.y]

3 hours ago, Artemis said:

You can refuse to sell them meat if your conscience bids, but you can also get in legal trouble for doing so, and you'd have to be willing to accept that risk.  Them's the consequences.
 

No one likes Nazis (except other Nazis, maybe), but I do think there has to be a line somewhere, or people who don't like Jews, Christians, Republicans, Mexicans, black people, people with red hair, people who voted for Trump, people who own cats, or what have you, will also take advantage.  When you become a doctor, you are essentially making a nonverbal agreement to heal everyone, no matter who they are, without bias.  I think you're more or less making the same agreement to impartial service when you own and operate a business.

But these mullings are only for the times we live in.  Ask me in a different time, like when options are limited or Nazis have full societal control, and I might have different ideas.  Different times call for different measures.  (I know that's not the expression, I'm changing it, lol.)

 

I don't know about the laws in other countries, but here, even doctors are allowed to turn potential patients down under certain circumstances. Especially if there's no emergency. They usually do have to refer them to another professional who will treat them though. 

I don't know if a salesperson is obligated to sell you anything, btw. I mean, it's their merchandise and they can do what they like with it, can't they? I mean, there's a difference between a private business and a public service... Of course things get tricky when there is no other way to get food, for example. 

I feel like there's a difference between refusing luxuries and necessities but it's very hard to draw a clear line between the two. 

[Artemis]

Yes, there are a lot of situations where it could get fuzzy.  It's hard to make generalities that apply equally well across the board for things like this.