Even the dictionary has a liberal bias! BK: Can you honest to God say that Mrs JB posted that so that you and all conservatives can easily be defined as bigots? You've met her. You tell me. You think she thinks you are a bigot? Seriously? This is a freakin' dictionary definition. You can't get more bland and simple than that. I don't think the dictionary is out to get you. Or, maybe they are. <i>paranoid: exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others.</i> Hmmmm...
Jeez, I love it when conservatives get all P.C. Had it been a black person arguing about someone's sig, then you'd have everyone telling them to calm down, you get too easily offended, etc. Brian, you made a huge jump, especially since you friggin' know Mrs. JB outside of this BBS.
Mrs. JB's old signature used dictionary definitions of "liberal" and "conservative"; however, these tell more about the etymologies of the words than how they relate to the two major political philosophies today. The conservatives I know want to see things change just as much as liberals; the difference is in how they want them changed. Those who want a "traditional" society or want to live in the past have their own word: reactionary. This does not describe most conservatives. <b>Back to the topic</b> - I also believe things do not happen by accident. There are two dimensions in life, the physical and the spiritual: as a scientist by trade, I tend to focus too much on the physical. It dulls the senses with regard to the things that are happening in the spiritual world. I can know chemistry, biochemistry, and physics, but my spiritual knowledge can still be poor. I still believe in the greater outside forces... and it seems most people do, one way or another. Just depends on which forces they believe in, if they even want to decide what they believe.
I think it's fate that we were destined to discuss fate on the bbs.... PS I DO think everything happens for a reason, whether you want to classify that as fate or not, is up to you....
The way I see it: Life is full of choices, from 'What will I have for breakfast?' to 'Should I take this job offer?'. The outcomes of these choices which we make eventually determine the outcome of our future. Is this fate, or just decision making? Personally, I think all things happen for a reason. We have choices, so ultimatley we are responsible for our own decisions. Those last two sentances contradict themselves, so I really don't know what I think. Everything happens for a reason, but we are responsible for the choices we make. I dunno, now I'm just rambling on because I have no one to talk to seeing as I'm home alone today. I should have decided to go out with my friends today, rather than sit in front of a computer screen.....
Nope. There is always two paths lying in front of a person. To live or die. Both free to choose by one's own choice, without any intervention of unknown forces. When a person is able to choose the basic direction of his own life. Fate is changeable. There is tendencies in thing's development. The Houston Rockets tend to get quality big man in their history, but it's the human effort that made tendencies come true and finalize. If Cato plays harder and therefore the Rockets made the playoffs, maybe we won't get Yao Ming. Tendencies does not equal fate. I believe one can change his own course in life by his own effort without following pre-destined arrangements.
Why would some things be out of our control and some things be in our control? If some things were controlled by something else... or if something else intervened in our universe to change the course of our lives, then why wouldn't it fix things bad things like war and suffering?
People...if I wanted political debate, I'd have posted in, oh....any of the other threads in the hangout. That's kind of my question. But I think the reason that some things are fated and others aren't is simple...no one person is necessarily more important than the other. Too many different lives, and how they interact and react with each other. Some things that happen in life really are out of your control....but they may have been in someone else's. That's why I say some things are about fate, while others aren't. The big things: the things that will effect your life in major ways, may be about fate. Its just hard to see it, particularly if it deals with another person and how your lives interact.
