Oh I do. I've been online since 1989, Scott and I've been in ALL
kinds of groups. There's plenty of religious people acting badly
out there. There's plenty of people taking care of that for me
and I don't have to do it. There's religious people acting
reasonably. I've hung around them as well. They keep themselves
in check so I don't have to worry about them. There's atheists
who discuss things rationally and reasonably all over the place.
They're self-regulating systems. I don't need to worry about
them either. There's atheists - stereotyped as the neckbeards -
who post memes and behave badly. MOST of that doesn't reach my
territory. But then there's the stuff that reaches my territory.
I keep intelligent friends. If I see intelligent friends acting
badly, I'll call them on it. I would want to be called on it if
I was behaving badly. In fact, you're helping me now,* asking me
to justify myself or change my opinions. This very conversation
is what I appreciate and is also why I posted it. I want to be
called on it so that I know what I'm doing well and what I'm
not. I present the same challenge to others who I consider on
the same level as me. I don't want to wrestle in the mud. If I'm
sitting at a nice table having a discussion with tea and
crumpets in a field surrounded by rowdy villagers, and a member
of the table takes a handful of mud and flings it at the crowds
and begins to laugh, I'm going to call out that behavior and I
might even pick up a handful of mud and throw it at the person
who threw the mud. Elitist of me? Yes.
