Did the Onion go too far? (2 Viewers)

[Seth Paxton]

BY the way, what was it that Bill Maher said that was annoying people?

He said (basically) "Say what you will about these terrorists, but they weren't 'cowards'. Shooting missles at people from thousands of miles away is cowardly, but flying yourself in a plane into a building takes guts."
Not to get into this politically, but just logically that has at least a few flaws.
1) When did suicide stop being the "cowards way out" and become the gutsy, brave thing to do? Seriously, did I miss something?
2) When did being brainwashed by a radical religious nut leader into blindly following their directives even into death make you "brave". Crazy, yes, brave no.
Otherwise every Nike-wearing nutjob going suicidal to meet the alien spaceship hidden behind a comet just became an American hero.

Do I need to mention Jim Jones here?
Plus I think Bill missed the point that lobbing HUMAN BEINGS as BOMBS at innocent humans from thousands of miles away for your own "rich boy seeks purpose in life" war on America was the cowardly part.
Although I also hope he doesn't mean that murdering defeseless passengers with knives is no longer cowardly. Stand up and be brave, kill an unarmed person.
That's why people got bent out of shape about his comments. I understood what he was trying to say, but I think he sort of cut the corners when putting the issue into perspective.
Now, if you HADN'T been promised to go to Heaven for crashing a plane, and if you were doing so to save thousands of lives at the expense of your own, THEN flying a plane into a building would be brave.
But doing something because you really believe it will get you into Heaven, THE place to be in all of existence, does seem like a cheap way out. Would those terrorists be willing to do something to help others that would send them to Hell for certain?? I really doubt it.
What's next, I will be called brave when I skip lunch so I can have sex with some hot girl...sheesh. Try doing something for someone else that COSTS YOU, not benefits you. That's brave.
Killing people to get in the backdoor to Heaven is cowardly (and this is based on you believing such concepts in the first place, which they did). I mean if Jesus came down and 100% guaranteed eternal Heaven for you if you would fly a plane into a building, wouldn't you (if only you would be killed, we assume Jesus would not advocate the killing of others and I am only discussing the "brave" aspect of it anyway).
And what if he gave you a choice, spend a lifetime of grueling effort improving humanity and "maybe" you get in, or kill yourself right now and go directly in, no questions asked. Which choice is the hard choice and which is the wimpy, "easy" way in?
So I think maybe Bill missed the point a bit. The hard part might have been the brainwashing (hard, not brave). But once you have that mindset of eternal salvation, the rest is gravy.
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Greetings from the Humungus! The Lord Humungus!
The Warrior of the Wasteland!
The Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah!

 

[SteveGon]

I didn't find the Onion articles at all offensive. Watered down a bit, yes, but not offensive. Personally, I think they should have taken a stab at a certain saying that is pasted everywhere you look now. That's something I'm sick and tired of seeing...
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He thought on homeland, the big timber, the air thin and chill all the year long. Tulip poplars so big through the trunk they put you in mind of locomotives set on end. He thought of getting home and building him a cabin on Cold Mountain so high that not a soul but the nighthawks passing across the clouds in autumn could hear his sad cry. Of living a life so quiet he would not need ears. And if Ada would go with him, there might be the hope, so far off in the distance he did not even really see it, that in time his despair might be honed off to a point so fine and thin that it would be nearly the same as vanishing.
-- Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

 

[AaronNWilson]

Yeah I saw that picture and I have to admit it was pretty shocking at first. If you were to assume that it wasn't a fake its a pretty aweinspiring picture. Even though it is a fake I still think it is pretty aweinspiring.
Aaron