I'm only going to address one or two of your points, because I just raged in my own comment below and this is getting long enough.
I'm religious. In a general sense I don't find his request to cross out "god" offensive. What I found offensive was that he did it to try and insult another person's religious beliefs.
How do I know this? Because he videotaped it. Once you're being recorded in this way, (and it's clear it wasn't just for Mike's personal video collection) you no longer only represent yourself, you represent your people- whomever those people may be. That's what being a part of a community means. This was clearly going to publicized (or why the fuck would there be a video camera?), which put Aaron and his family on the spot. Mike wasn't asking Aaron personally, he was doing it to mock religiosity as a whole, and the way Mike went about about it is enough to make anyone automatically go on the defensive.
I understand that some people may also be offended by Aaron's use of "god" in his sign. There are two ways to deal with it WITHOUT making a scene: ignore it (HOLY SHIT, I KNOW, RIGHT?) or go up to him and politely say something like "your use of the word 'god' on this sign offends me, [here's why]. Would you mind removing "god" from your sign or making a new one, please?" and engage in polite discourse. And if Aaron chooses to make a scene about it, then fine, he's in the wrong. But in this case it was Mike who was being the dick.
But someone has to stick up for Mike. He's just as right as Aaron. Maybe in theory, but not the way he went about it, sorry.
And for the record, I'm Jewish, not Christian-- before you think I'm automatically arguing because of common religion.
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Date: 2011-02-27 05:54 pm (UTC)I'm religious. In a general sense I don't find his request to cross out "god" offensive. What I found offensive was that he did it to try and insult another person's religious beliefs.
How do I know this? Because he videotaped it. Once you're being recorded in this way, (and it's clear it wasn't just for Mike's personal video collection) you no longer only represent yourself, you represent your people- whomever those people may be. That's what being a part of a community means. This was clearly going to publicized (or why the fuck would there be a video camera?), which put Aaron and his family on the spot. Mike wasn't asking Aaron personally, he was doing it to mock religiosity as a whole, and the way Mike went about about it is enough to make anyone automatically go on the defensive.
I understand that some people may also be offended by Aaron's use of "god" in his sign. There are two ways to deal with it WITHOUT making a scene: ignore it (HOLY SHIT, I KNOW, RIGHT?) or go up to him and politely say something like "your use of the word 'god' on this sign offends me, [here's why]. Would you mind removing "god" from your sign or making a new one, please?" and engage in polite discourse. And if Aaron chooses to make a scene about it, then fine, he's in the wrong. But in this case it was Mike who was being the dick.
But someone has to stick up for Mike. He's just as right as Aaron.
Maybe in theory, but not the way he went about it, sorry.
And for the record, I'm Jewish, not Christian-- before you think I'm automatically arguing because of common religion.