The Current Events Thread

[Ersatz]

Yeah. I think they have guidelines to tell when it would become ostentatious. The cross would have to be big and shiny and hanging on top of the wearer's shirt or something.
So far the opposition is against it, the federal government is against it, a sizeable portion (if not a majority) of activist groups and commentators are against it, immigrants are against it, and I've seen one English Canadian news website call it Orwellian. Politics is fun.

[SaintCrazy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24166434

Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church is too focused on preaching about abortion, gay people and contraception and needs to become more merciful.

A voice of reason from the church, which is refreshing.

[TheStranger]

Considering what his predecessor did, Im not holding my breath that this guy is going to be any better, the Church has NOT shown itself in a very good light for a long time.

[Dire]

It's not fair to judge one pope by the actions of the previous. Actually, forget 'fair', it's stupid to judge a person by some other person's actions.

Also this new pope already has proven himself to be different and better.

[TheStranger]

Not when they hold the same position in the same organisation which has shown itself very reluctant to change. If he does help to actually bring the Catholic Church into the 21st century, hey, awesome all around, but until he's actually weeded out all the corruption that infests the Church, not to mention, you know, the child molesting priests the last one protected.

[Shad]

Surely one can appreciate that this pope has only been here for less than a year and cannot fix the whole religion and its bad apples by himself, in so little time.

[SaintCrazy]

After being surrounded by ultra-conservatives most of my life, many of whom believe ridiculous things contradictory to "loving thy neighbor" and go on angry tirades on subjects such as abortion, it's good to see any Christian person of authority acknowledging what's important about the religion instead of taking a political side just for the heck of it. What few people realize is that the people who focus more on rules and doctrine, instead of loving others, are the exact kind of people that persecuted Jesus in the first place.

People can have their opinions on whatever political issues, but when it turns into a crusade it gets ridiculous. It's good to see that he doesn't want to exclude anybody from the church just because of those side issues.

[TheStranger]

Surely one can appreciate that this pope has only been here for less than a year and cannot fix the whole religion and its bad apples by himself, in so little time.

True, but popes are in office til they die or step down, right? He's got plenty of time to disappoint me. Or surprise me, but Im not holding my breath for it.

[Shad]

What an idiotic thing to say. Your pessimism pisses me off.

[TheStranger]

Why is that idiotic? In my experience, if you belive the worst about someone, you'll usually be right. And if youre not, its a lot more pleasant than beliving the best about someone and being wrong about that.

[Ersatz]

It's idiotic because the news is "New pope does something positive" and you get angry about the old pope having done something negative.
I used to be just like that some years ago but at some point I stopped. It's just a waste of energy and it brings everybody else down too. Just appreciate that something positive is happening without focusing on the negative.
Lots of things in life suck. That doesn't negate the things that don't.
If you believe someone is a douche you'll find reasons to continue thinking so, just like if you expect everything to go wrong you'll notice more stuff going wrong. Just give people and events a chance and base your opinions on facts instead of apprehension.

[Syobon]

Why is that idiotic? In my experience, if you belive the worst about someone, you'll usually be right. And if youre not, its a lot more pleasant than beliving the best about someone and being wrong about that.

Hope will power you through to success and ultimate nirvana. Prepare for the worst and expect the best.

[SaintCrazy]

If you have low expectations and then get surprised by something good happening, that's fine and all - but it doesn't work when the good thing does happen and all you can see is the bad stuff around it.

Funny thing about cynicism, it tends to pervade your entire perspective if you let it, through confirmation bias. You can find good things in unexpected places, but if you look at everything in a negative light you might never find them.

[Exeres]

A Democratic official responded to a Republican Senator's speechwriter's comments on Twitter.

And by responded, of course, I mean wished painful deaths on her children.



And of course when some folks decided to point out that he crossed a line, he defended his statements by calling her... well, I'm just gonna post this.



This guy is Sacramento county's elected Democratic COMMUNICATIONS chair.



Yes, that is definitely how you change people's minds. Luckily someone managed to wrestle the keyboard away from him long enough to issue an apology.

[TheStranger]

...what the fuck? You're a public official for fucks sake, and you're acting like a 15 year old cyberbully? Have some digninty for gods sake.