Pictures at an Exhibitionist

Door to Door Philosophy

joedecker

1/5/06 10:33 am

Knock on the door, I answer. Two women, high but not spiky heels, otherwise conservatively dressed, polite, friendly. The requisite hellos and apologies for disturbing my day.

"Do you ever get the feeling that Good triumphs over Evil or vice-versa?"

"The question is malformed," I answer.

The woman in front looks confused. "You say the question is malformed?"

"People don't agree on what 'Good' means, or 'Evil,' or for that matter 'God.' If there's no definition of what is meant by the word, the question itself is meaningless."

*pause*

"Thank you, have a great day!," I beam cheerfully as I slowly close the door.

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• misterx

  1/5/06 06:39 pm (UTC)

  

  Well done. :)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:14 pm (UTC)

    

    Thanks. :)

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• ms_violet

  1/5/06 06:41 pm (UTC)

  

  Damn, you're good.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:15 pm (UTC)

    

    *beam*

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• High five

  daltong

  1/5/06 06:42 pm (UTC)

  

  Heh heh heh.

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  • Re: High five

    joedecker

    1/6/06 04:15 pm (UTC)

    

    :)

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• deedeebythebay

  1/5/06 06:43 pm (UTC)

  

  Have I ever told you just how cool you are?

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:15 pm (UTC)

    

    :)

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• griffen

  1/5/06 06:44 pm (UTC)

  

  You rock, Joe. Have I said that recently?
  
  *snickering helplessly*

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:15 pm (UTC)

    

    :)

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• tenacious_snail

  1/5/06 06:47 pm (UTC)

  

  In this administration, I think it is mostly evil triumphing over evil. In my life, I'm aiming more for good optimizing good. The question can be malformed in a multitude of ways.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:16 pm (UTC)

    

    Statements don't get much more false than false, or more meaningless than meaningless, but yeah.

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• zahraa

  1/5/06 06:49 pm (UTC)

  

  Obviously, these people haven't read A.J. Ayer, but I have. I took a whole class in logical positivism in graduate school. The most important lesson I learned from it was not to write papers disagreeing with the professor, even if he is a Freudian.
  
  While I can't fault your method for getting rid of Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses (which is surely superior to my method, because I just get really angry with these people coming around trying to ruin my perfectly good life), I actually am not a logical positivist. However illogically, I can't help but cling to the idea that there are actually good and bad things out there. Just because we don't agree on the definitions doesn't mean the concepts in and of themselves are meaningless. As my info page will tell you, I'm a utilitarian, so I would begin by redefining the terms as "pleasurable" and "not pleasurable." I think that might bring us closer to a common understanding.

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  • marnanel

    1/5/06 06:52 pm (UTC)

    

    Even if two people discoursing were able to agree that there were Good things and Evil things, and were able to come to some level of agreement about which was which, it still wouldn't be clear that "Good" in general was the sort of thing that could "triumph".

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• lightning_rose

  1/5/06 06:52 pm (UTC)

  

  
  You are so going to hell...
  
  Can I give you a lift? :)
  
  

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  • joedecker

    1/5/06 06:57 pm (UTC)

    

    *grin*

    Many years ago, there was a woman in the South Bay BDSM community (probably still is, I never really connected to that group) who said that Pentacostals "made the best fucks." When asked why, she got this great big angelic smile and said "They're going to Hell," (slams fist on table for emphasis) "...and they want value."

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• kightp

  1/5/06 06:59 pm (UTC)

  

  Oooh, graceful! (And bonus points for getting rid of them without being rude or insulting. I'm as averse to door-to-door religion hawkers as the next person, but I don't see any need to treat them badly.)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:17 pm (UTC)

    

    I'm not sure if it's "good" or not, but this way ends up leaving e feeling happier, and that's good enough for me.

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• rightkindofme

  1/5/06 07:06 pm (UTC)

  

  You are my hero.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:17 pm (UTC)

    

    *beam* Thanks! :D

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• datagoddess

  1/5/06 07:08 pm (UTC)

  

  Bwhahahahahahaha!!!
  
  Marry me??

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:18 pm (UTC)

    

    *grin*

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• patgreene

  1/5/06 07:14 pm (UTC)

  

  That's just beautiful.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:18 pm (UTC)

    

    Thanks!

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• miwasatoshi

  1/5/06 07:16 pm (UTC)

  

  You know what's evil?
  
  Squirrels.
  
  TOTALLY.

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  • mactavish

    1/5/06 07:29 pm (UTC)

    

    

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• tendyl

  1/5/06 07:57 pm (UTC)

  

  Can I just say that I love you? This has perked my day up on at least one level.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:19 pm (UTC)

    

    Absolutely. *snuggle* :)

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• chiefted

  1/5/06 08:00 pm (UTC)

  

  We're not worthy, we're not worthy.
  
  (you definately rock though)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:19 pm (UTC)

    

    Thanks! :)

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• danaeris

  1/5/06 08:27 pm (UTC)

  

  Joe, your brain turns me on. ;)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:19 pm (UTC)

    

    :D

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• hitchhiker

  1/5/06 08:32 pm (UTC)

  

  rock on :)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:19 pm (UTC)

    

    :D

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• wispfox

  1/5/06 08:55 pm (UTC)

  

  For this, you have my adoration. Just sayin'. :)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:20 pm (UTC)

    

    Then I'm a very lucky boy indeed. :)

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• Sorry, Joe

  skippy_fluff

  1/5/06 08:58 pm (UTC)

  

  >"Do you ever get the feeling that Good triumphs over Evil or vice-versa?"
  
  Sorry, Joe, but it's a livejournal sin not to talk about your feelings when asked. Please report for punishment. From the above, I'm suspect you should report to griffen, but feel free to make another selection as appropriate.
  
  kind regards,
  
  skippy_fluff
  For the Committee

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  • Re: Sorry, Joe

    joedecker

    1/6/06 04:20 pm (UTC)

    

    *grin*

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• dangerpudding

  1/5/06 10:06 pm (UTC)

  

  Wow.
  
  That totally beats my mormon missionary removal technique. (Open the door wearing very little, talk non-stop, and repeatedly invite them in while winking).
  
  I haven't been bothered by them in quite a long time.

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  • klwalton

    1/5/06 10:47 pm (UTC)

    

    I scared the hell out of a couple of Seventh Day Adventists when I launched into my "Let me tell you about neo-paganism" spiel. I think they're still praying for me :).

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• rjray

  1/5/06 10:12 pm (UTC)

  

  You're my hero for the day.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:21 pm (UTC)

    

    *beam*

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• dryadgrl

  1/5/06 10:39 pm (UTC)

  

  Wow cool. Thank you for sharing! I haven't gotten prosthelizers in a long itme because i live in a security building. I sometimes forget that they exist. I'm glod for both your comment and my obliviousness.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:22 pm (UTC)

    

    Thanks!

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• oddhack

  1/5/06 10:57 pm (UTC)

  

  What flavour of missionary were they? Little black LDS nametags?
  
  I once was hit upon by a rather attractive young Mormon woman, right up to the point she figured out that I wasn't a coreligionist. Understandable error since we were on the BYU campus at the time :-)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:22 pm (UTC)

    

    I didn't catch their faith.

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• amaebi

  1/6/06 01:24 am (UTC)

  

  (darkly) You can away with that more readily if you're male and thus permitted to be intelligent and educated without having done it On Purpose to Outrage Plain Folk (Female).
  
  But the time I surprised myself by claiming illiteracy in the face of a Watchtower worked right well. They ran away.

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:23 pm (UTC)

    

    That's a nice step.
    

    
    Still, there is nothing wrong with simply shutting the door.

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• _away_from_me

  1/6/06 01:27 am (UTC)

  

  That's just awesome! :)

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  • joedecker

    1/6/06 04:23 pm (UTC)

    

    Thanks!

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