Hating on Each Other

>> The funny thing is, most Mormons I know, I like. <<

Same here. I also like the option of polyfamilies, although I point out that even Christian privilege has its limits: the Mormons are treated as second-class citizens because they practice a different form of marriage which the state refuses to acknowledge.

>> Congress essentially bullied them into knocking it off in 1904, and polygamy after that will get you excommunicated. <<

It's still quite widely practiced; not all branches of Mormonism gave it up.

>> I too think poly should be an option, regardless of one's creed.... but sadly I think that's gonna be a while. <<

Alas.

>> *sigh* The irony is that this country was founded by people who were themselves oppressed... obviously they never bothered breaking the cycle... and neither did anyone else. <<

Almost nobody, after escaping from oppression, can resist the temptation to turn around and abuse someone else.

>> The impression I get of Mormonism (which is this mix of ex-LDS friends and Mormon politics affecting my country and my current state) is that it's not an entirely bad deal. There's a lot of brainwashing, pedophilia, sexism, bigotry and victim-blaming, but there's also a lot of interest in community. Much as I despise the LDS, they make some damn good people. <<

Yes, that matches my observation. Some of them have excellent family skills, far above average for this country. And then there are the ones who think it's okay to marry little girls.

>> It still freaks me out how Christians don't consider Mormons to be Christian. Look, they believe that Jesus was a god, they celebrate Christian holidays, sure seems like Christians to me. <<

Yes, Jesus Christ is the linchpin of the Christian religion. Funny how Christians don't get that. But they've spent 2000 years murdering and oppressing each other over the "right" way to worship him, and the Mormons are actually far from the loopiest version to come along.

>> Wow. This is weirdly timely, seeing as elsewhere on the Internet, I spawned a huge fight about religion and atheism by mentioning fictionkin. (No, no, don't ask how one led to the other. I'm not sure myself.) <<

That's just bizarre. Maybe people want to have a particular fight, and just wander around looking for a place to plunk it down?

>> I don't know WHY that person was so upset that people believed things they didn't, but GODDAMN. <<

If it's in your space, step on it and put it out before it starts a flamewar. If it's not in your space, you can just walk away. That falls into the category of shit up with which I will not put.

That's why it is important to douse the flames quickly, before they build up to something serious. Create an atmosphere not conducive to trolls, and boot them out when you find them. Then you will have few problems.

>> Ultimately personal mythology is patently ludicrous; it's whatever tools happen to work for you when you go rummaging through the toolbox. <<

I'm an empiricist and a pragmatist. If model "Robin = man" produces less accurate results and "Robin = woman" produces more accurate results, then I will treat Robin as a woman. If "Jane thinks of herself as a reincarnation of Jane from the Tarzan cycle" makes it easier for me to figure out what she needs and how she will act, then it is more useful to me than ignoring it and treating her as someone else.

>> We're all so indoctrinated though that there has to be an unquestionable objective reality that we bring it into our spiritual/personal whatever tho. <<

Objective reality is that the entire universe is made of infinitesimal bits whizzing around and pretending they are solid. This is not very useful unless you are doing quantum mechanics or magic, and mentioning either half of that practice to the other just makes people wibble. For day to day purposes, one must deal in some layer of practical illusion. We treat the chair as solid because it is pretending very hard to be solid, and we can sit upon it, so the subjective illusion of solidity is more useful than the objective knowledge that most of what we perceive as a chair isn't really there. Objective reality is that souls are patterns of energy bound up with a bunch of whizzing bits. Subjective reality is that people have feelings and beliefs, and will be hurt if you pick on them, so don't.

I'm glad I could help.