Been saying this for years. I’m supposed to be fine when someone wakes me up on a Saturday morning to shove Jesus up my orifice, or sends my preschooler home from school with bible pamphlets, but if I did that to them with atheism, they’d riot.
And yet somehow they’re being persecuted. Fuck them.
knock knock Excuse me, Do you have a minute to talk about NASA’s Psyche mission and the possible impacts of its success?
… You know what? I’ve got time. Do you want some tea or coffee?
Legitimately would invite them to chill with me on the porch. I’m not inviting them in though
Vampires ain’t gonna trick me a third time.
Is that why you’re on the third transporter room? Just beam them out from where you are. Reclaim your space!
on?
I am Transporter Room 3. Or I might just be an amalgamation of all the consciousnesses Chief O’Brien has
stored in the pattern bufferuhhhh beamed up… Yeah beamed up.You’d be surprised how much silver is in a transporter though. Vampires just slide right out.
It’s not like vampires can drink each other’s blood, right?
(You can trust me…)
Shit motherfucker, you had me at abiogenesis.
Come on in
We should do that. lol
Do we have to stop at science?
I’m totally down to welcome in strangers who want to talk history or philosophy, too. Roving bands of people, seeking shelter by paying with their special interests.
Honey, it’s the Arch users, hide!
Just go hang out in the student union or in the mall of your nearest state university. You’ll find plenty of people eager to talk about all sorts of topics.
Terry Pratchett kinda did this in one of his discworld sub-series.
There were teachers that would roam from town to town teaching for small amounts of money, or eggs, or carrots, or whatever. It was like tinkers only with information.
I guess this is somewhat historical? Norway had wandering “singers” that went around and told stories, in exchange for a meal. The stories were partially educational, partially entertainment. Basically infotainment of the time.
Edit: I think the name was “scalden” iirc.
This sounds somewhat like the end of Fahrenheit 451.
There’s a couple of science-based social groups (usually ‘skeptics’ is in the name, a la Skeptics Society) where I live (SLC) so might be a very good place to start recruiting ‘sales’ people in your own areas…
This is why we keep chairs on the front porch. Sometimes, it’s worth the weather to have a nice chat
As a former Jehovah’s Witnesses turned atheist, you all have fun, but I’m not spending my Saturday knocking on doors anymore.
I’m genuinely curious about how the average interaction went, given that you weren’t immediately turned away.
I’ll second what QuantumSparkles said. Mostly uninterested or feign interest so you go away. Rarely actual anger. People have an inherent politeness that kicks in here.
Not that someone inside could say it, but you tend to hope that people won’t come to the door. Lots of doorbells either don’t work or you can’t hear them from the outside, so you learn tricks to pretend to press it.
I was raised that way and got out in my late 20’s (way too long). 7/10 doors nobody answers, most of the people who do either say “no thank you” or “thanks but I have my own religion”, a fair amount of the time you’ll get someone who feigns interest and takes the material just so you’ll leave and they don’t have to feel impolite (it’s not impolite to say no). Sometimes you’ll get someone legit interested. Sometimes you’ll get someone who a n g e r y
That’s fascinating. If you don’t mind me asking what percentage would you say were angry? And where were you knocking? (Approximately).
I worked in a call centre for a summer (no hard sell but it was an awful job) and location and politeness were directly correlated.
I’ve only had one JW call to my door. I’m atheist a long time now. Well over thirty years but we had a very nice interaction. He called back a second and third time, bless his heart.
Very small percentage were angry, hostile, or adversarial. I’d say less than 10%. And we preached everywhere. That was the point. Suburban, rural, city, houses, apartments, even businesses
That’s fair
Good on you. Thank you for seeing reason. That was objectively awful.
If they don’t know its probably silicone based, due to Venus’ chemistry and temperature, I’m slamming the door.
I thought all the silicone life we knew about was in California.
I mean California is a lot like Venus
This would be my ideal dating app idea.
Meaning approaching me and starting this conversation. So much better than the current online apps ive tried.
Why yes, come in
This sounds fascinating. I would totally invite them in.
It also reminds me of a horror story I read that had been written before heavier-than-air flight became possible, but seemed within reach. The story had been written just a few years before the Wright brothers success at Kitty Hawk.
The author imagined ferocious jellyfish-like creatures that lived in the upper atmosphere, and kept themselves aloft with gas-filled bodies. Interesting idea.
“Thank you, but we follow Martian facts here, we aren’t interested in your Venusian ways.”
“Let’s talk about Klingons around Uranus.”
– herp-a-derp
Q: what was spock looking for in kirk’s toilet?
A:
THE CAPTAIN’S LOG
Astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
You can put the new name up Urectum.
Where do I sign up?
Science or NASA clickbait?
I don’t let anyone in my house but I would gladly setup a few chairs, picnic umbrella, folding table and a tray if frosty beverages on the front lawn. Why the front? Maybe some neighbors will join in and we can have a science block party with music, balloons, and Mr. Wizard/Bill Nye style physics demonstrations.
I have this notion that one day it would be nice to be neighborly enough to just put out a sign that says “fresh coffee”, “brunch”, “Beer on tap” or whatever as a signal that people should drop by for a chat.
But I’m not really in my neighborhood’s demographic. It’s an older neighborhood, and the only folks close to my age seem like extreme introverts.You know how some people are really into.putting up flags? Some hang pride flags, others political flags or country flags, etc. I say you should hang a flag of your favorite hobby (assuming PG rated). Into D&D? Hang a D&D flag. Maybe one of those introverts will be curious enough to say “nice flag”, and you take it from there.
Can I be your neighbor?
Cool idea in theory, will be immediatly overrun with people trying to discuss phrenology in reality