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BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

cakesmith handyman posted:

Well you're not wrong, the video is definite from before he died.

Indeed.

I think what it was was that I'd seen a fairly recent Netflix documentary on him that explored his life, his marriage, and his coming out. He was shown to be very frail and in bad health so I must have memory holed it as a posthumous retrospective tribute that culminated in his death. Or maybe I mixed him up with Ricky Jay for some reason.

I seriously hope someone takes up the mantle for him. The biggest thing that lends Randi his credibility is that he is a magician himself and knows how this poo poo works but not many magicians are willing to expose how they do what they do filling his shoes might be tough.

These loving megachurches, MLM companies, faith healers and Republican politicians who invoke god constantly need to called out, shamed and shut the gently caress down. It's amazing to me that they can still make money and gain influence running these cons. Absolutely amazing. The part of that lecture I enjoyed the most was his focus on conservative politicians and him putting away the polite nice guy veneer; straight up calling this stuff bullshit.

I love James Randi.

And am glad that he is alive.

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EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Randi is great but still don’t love the fact he appeared in Epstein’s black book.

Happy Thread
Jul 10, 2005

by Fluffdaddy
Plaster Town Cop

EL BROMANCE posted:

Randi is great but still don’t love the fact he appeared in Epstein’s black book.

Gah gently caress, I was just about to sing his praises and say I hope he's not in that and then was worried that I'd jinx it

This scandal better not get Richard Wolff

I already grew up on Stephen Pinker and had to find that out yesterday

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
I can't imagine that Wolff is involved, fucker's broke and unpopular with their crowd.
Randi is at least chud-adjacent or extreme succ, as he does not feel that American Atheists is an Islamophobic organisation. It hella is. Source: Ran into him in a hotel hallway at an American Atheist convention. American Atheists is headed by a chud whose goal is to normalise godlessness in the halls of power, an ostensibly righteous cause, but his god is Mammon, and their Atheism is in fact a Theism. Sister still a member but doesn't worship it as many others do.

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007

Tubgoat posted:

I can't imagine that Wolff is involved, fucker's broke and unpopular with their crowd.
Randi is at least chud-adjacent or extreme succ, as he does not feel that American Atheists is an Islamophobic organisation. It hella is. Source: Ran into him in a hotel hallway at an American Atheist convention. American Atheists is headed by a chud whose goal is to normalise godlessness in the halls of power, an ostensibly righteous cause, but his god is Mammon, and their Atheism is in fact a Theism. Sister still a member but doesn't worship it as many others do.

what

Parallelwoody
Apr 10, 2008


Tubgoat posted:

I can't imagine that Wolff is involved, fucker's broke and unpopular with their crowd.
Randi is at least chud-adjacent or extreme succ, as he does not feel that American Atheists is an Islamophobic organisation. It hella is. Source: Ran into him in a hotel hallway at an American Atheist convention. American Atheists is headed by a chud whose goal is to normalise godlessness in the halls of power, an ostensibly righteous cause, but his god is Mammon, and their Atheism is in fact a Theism. Sister still a member but doesn't worship it as many others do.

That will be $4.99 please pull up to the first window.

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

BiggerBoat posted:


I seriously hope someone takes up the mantle for him. The biggest thing that lends Randi his credibility is that he is a magician himself and knows how this poo poo works but not many magicians are willing to expose how they do what they do filling his shoes might be tough.


I was watching "The Carbonaro Effect" on Netflix. Its a hidden camera / magician type of show where the guy uses magic tricks to gently caress with people while filming them. It would be a great PSA on how scammers can get people.

GoutPatrol
Oct 17, 2009

*Stupid Babby*

BiggerBoat posted:

OK, poo poo, my bad. WTF did I think Randi had died?


Because he's an old, old man.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
American Atheists is a scam and a poo poo organisation under present leadership.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Alterian posted:

I was watching "The Carbonaro Effect" on Netflix. Its a hidden camera / magician type of show where the guy uses magic tricks to gently caress with people while filming them. It would be a great PSA on how scammers can get people.

Would also mean people having to watch The Carbonaro Effect, though.

Tunicate
May 15, 2012

You could just watch american greed

cinni
Oct 17, 2008

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Tmz says a lot of semi celebs have been getting hit with this scam of being offered to speak in Dubai recently. Seems scammers are trying to crack into bigger wallets now.



'Baywatch' hotties Donna D'Errico and Krista Allen got a super sweet offer -- $300,000 to fly to Dubai and make a quick speech -- but turned out to be too good to be true ... because it was courtesy of the same scammers who tried to rip off Dog The Bounty Hunter.

Here's the deal ... reps for Donna and Krista were contacted by people purporting to be from the office of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan -- the Deputy Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates -- offering the ladies a fat payday in exchange for speaking at an economic empowerment convention for small business owners in July and rubbing elbows with dignitaries.

Donna and Krista's people got contracts emailed to them with all the deets, and it looked legit on its face ... but once the women signed, things got super sketchy.

Organizers in "Dubai" said they had difficulty wiring funds to Donna and Krista and started asking for more personal information. Huge red flag. Another catch -- organizers were asking Donna and Krista to donate half of the funds back to the organization.

Donna and Krista slowly started putting the pieces together, feeling something was off ... and they eventually got cold feet.

Fortunately for them ... the 'Baywatch' babes never gave up their personal info, dodging a huge bullet ... just like Dog.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
It's too bad chud the bounty chudster didn't get conned.

Inceltown
Aug 6, 2019

I keep getting calls from Tunisia that just ring once and then hang up. I'm assuming it's some sort of paid dial in line that they want you to call back but having a number from Tunisia seems like it would scare everyone off.

Domus
May 7, 2007

Kidney Buddies
They're counting on people just calling back without taking a close look at the number. It's odd to me, because if anyone called me and hung up after one ring, I'd assume they dialed the wrong number and realized they misdialed right away. Maybe they're just hoping someone is curious. They also will call and "one ring" over and over, so people will call back just to tell them to stop.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!


It's true. There are a number of organizations out there that label themselves things like "atheist" or "skeptic" who say they are just advocating freedom of belief, free speech, and so on. But once you look into the work and social connections of the people who run them, you find lots of associations with creepy bigotry and extremism. Islamophobia is very common in these circles.

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007
Ok, sure, but Mammon?

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

i don't know what OP meant exactly by that, but in my personal experience, saying someone is a worshiper of Mammon is just a more creative way to say that someone is a greedy fucker

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Lutha Mahtin posted:

i don't know what OP meant exactly by that, but in my personal experience, saying someone is a worshiper of Mammon is just a more creative way to say that someone is a greedy fucker

Or giving away the game that the speaker is an evangelical.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

idiomatic usage of the word "Mammon" dates back over a millennium and a half

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Lutha Mahtin posted:

idiomatic usage of the word "Mammon" dates back over a millennium and a half

Who the gently caress talks like that unless they're either purple prosers or spent way too much time in Sunday School?

CommonShore
Jun 6, 2014

A true renaissance man


Like, even in the 16th/17th century, cries of "Mammon" were pretty much just associated with "more-reformed" sects such as Puritans/Independents/Presbyterians etc.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
Jesus was a Palestinian anarchist. Fight me.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

Absurd Alhazred posted:

Who the gently caress talks like that unless they're either purple prosers or spent way too much time in Sunday School?

CommonShore posted:

Like, even in the 16th/17th century, cries of "Mammon" were pretty much just associated with "more-reformed" sects such as Puritans/Independents/Presbyterians etc.

using the word mammon to represent greed is a common idiom in western cultures in general, not just Christians who are using it in an explicitly religious sense. i know that a subset of goons have a giant stick up their rear end whenever religion is brought up in any context other than mocking it, especially Christianity, but there's really no need to embarrass yourselves like this

Lutha Mahtin fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Aug 27, 2019

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Tubgoat posted:

Jesus was a Palestinian anarchist. Fight me.

LOL, yeah, that's why the Romans minted "Palaestina Capta" coins when they retook the province and destroyed the Second Temple 70AD. :rolleyes:


Lutha Mahtin posted:

using the word mammon to represent greed is a common idiom in western cultures in general, not just Christians who are using it in an explicitly religious sense. i know that a subset of goons have a giant stick up their rear end whenever religion is brought up in any context other than mocking it, especially Christianity, but there's really no need to embarrass yourselves like this

In TYOOL 2019 nobody's going to try to attack atheists for "worshipping Mammon" unless they're evangelical Christians.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
I used to reflexively hate Christianity at one time, then learned Jesus was loving awesome, he's just been whitewashed by capitalists of all stripes. Then I saw American Atheists and realised I was headed down a dark road.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo

Absurd Alhazred posted:

In TYOOL 2019 nobody's going to try to attack atheists for "worshipping Mammon" unless they're evangelical Christians.
I am, and regularly yell at an evangelical Christian for being a lovely loving Christian. :colbert:
Mammon is a god of desolation and ruin, it just so happens American "Christians" like to feign fealty to Jesus while acting in the benefit of Mammon, against their fellows.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

Tubgoat posted:

I am, and regularly yell at an evangelical Christian for being a lovely loving Christian. :colbert:
Mammon is a god of desolation and ruin, it just so happens American "Christians" like to feign fealty to Jesus while acting in the benefit of Mammon, against their fellows.

there's no point, that goon is just creating wank material to post on his ricky gervais fan forum

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
Yeah, real shame 'bout him, he was really funny before I learned he was a prick and now I can't unsee it. :(
His episode of Extras, featuring Liam Neeson, was extremely funny though.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Tubgoat posted:

I used to reflexively hate Christianity at one time, then learned Jesus was loving awesome, he's just been whitewashed by capitalists of all stripes. Then I saw American Atheists and realised I was headed down a dark road.

Tubgoat posted:

I am, and regularly yell at an evangelical Christian for being a lovely loving Christian. :colbert:
Mammon is a god of desolation and ruin, it just so happens American "Christians" like to feign fealty to Jesus while acting in the benefit of Mammon, against their fellows.

Knew it.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo

I mean I attack atheists for mammon worship without being a Christian. In American Christianity, this is known as "heresy."
Evangelical Christians also tend to freak out when you patiently explain that the divine and earthly realms are not separate, but one and the same.
Science has unfortunately been coopted by Capital so it seems like it contradicts "Science," but the new quantum understanding of physics is tantalisingly mystical.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

Tubgoat posted:

I mean I attack atheists for mammon worship without being a Christian. In American Christianity, this is known as "heresy."

LOL

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
:same:

CSPAM to the rescue again!
https://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1907/socialism-religion.htm

Tubgoat fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Aug 27, 2019

CommonShore
Jun 6, 2014

A true renaissance man


Lutha Mahtin posted:

using the word mammon to represent greed is a common idiom in western cultures in general, not just Christians who are using it in an explicitly religious sense. i know that a subset of goons have a giant stick up their rear end whenever religion is brought up in any context other than mocking it, especially Christianity, but there's really no need to embarrass yourselves like this

I'm not making this poo poo up because of some reddit atheism grudge - I think you're projecting a bit, for some reason.

"Mammon" for "greed" is the kind of thing that Ben Jonson puts into the mouths of his Puritain caricatures to sneer at them for being backward turds. It wasn't a commonplace expression then, and even less so now.

If I'm demonstrably wrong, please provide some examples of it coming up in everyday speech.

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

This ties right in to this thread because you've really managed to con yourself into thinking you've found Jesus to be really cool and cannot stop proselytizing about him to all and sundry, but you're somehow not a Christian.

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo

Absurd Alhazred posted:

This ties right in to this thread because you've really managed to con yourself into thinking you've found Jesus to be really cool and cannot stop proselytizing about him to all and sundry, but you're somehow not a Christian.

I'll tell any brainwashed schlub whatever they need to hear to work toward the common good. Turns out you can use the bible to justify literally anything.

Raskolnikov38 posted:

over the past week I have come to hope that there is indeed a god just so that there also exists an unquenchable lake of fire to throw liberals into for eternity

Tubgoat fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Aug 27, 2019

Redrum and Coke
Feb 25, 2006

wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Tubgoat posted:

Jesus was a Palestinian anarchist. Fight me.

That might explain why the Israelis had him tortured and killed

Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo

Non Serviam posted:

That might explain why the Israelis had him tortured and killed
Specifically corrupt ones who felt threatened by his principles not matching with those of Capital, yeah. Kinda like Holocaust truther Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking of scams (and if you don't know yet, this one is loving wild).

tinytort
Jun 10, 2013

Super healthy, super cheap

Tubgoat posted:

I'll tell any brainwashed schlub whatever they need to hear to work toward the common good. Turns out you can use the bible to justify literally anything.

You realize this only makes you sound more like a hypocritical dick who's trying to bait people into an argument so you can strawman them, right?

If you want to jerk off to Jesus, have fun. No one likes it when they're being evangelized at, and it's honestly pretty gross considering the history of forced conversion.

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Tubgoat
Jun 30, 2013

by sebmojo
Lol, no, I'm a hypocritical dick that wants souls to reincarnate on a not-burned-to-death-planet-earth, numbnuts.
I only try to convert people who believe in lovely versions of religion.

God made this? Fine, he also made physics and chemistry, or do you not believe your all-powerful creator set in motion the conditions that allow you to get to work to sell broke assholes overpriced bullshit they don't need?

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