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February 2009
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Black Sheep Among the Sheeple

February 25th, 2009 by Foo-Foo McKinley

In the coming months, until the semester is over, you will hear me complain about this a lot. A LOT. I go to school with a slew of Christian fundies. It’s true! Currently, I’m taking a Philosophy 100 course. I looked forward to it as the beginning of the semester approached because I love to talk to people, despite my social anxiety (meds take care of that, but that’s another discussion entirely). However, I’ve come to dread each Discussion Board post crafted by my classmates. I wish I could link you to it so you could see what I’m talking about because, seriously, it’s amazing. Actually, I can show you one thing in particular; this is a blog belonging to one of the people I interact with every day.

I knew going into this class that there would be a section on Christian philosophy, and I knew that I would end up with indigestion just from reading the text book. What I found out is that my fellow philosophy students were going to link EVERY philosophical question that has ever been raised back to God, no matter the section. Right now I’ve been backed into a corner… I could:

Be nice and cater to my classmates’ beliefs, because otherwise no one will talk to me out of fear that I will…
Rip everyone a new asshole and show them what’s up, which I would love to do, and could do at any moment if I don’t take my aforementioned meds. Or…
Fail the class and not get my Associate’s Degree in the spring, which would delay my Bachelor’s Degree, and probably cause me to go homicidal.

There just doesn’t seem to be a happy medium. I’ve tried both of the first two options, and neither has gotten me any further than ::headasplode::. Unfortunately I have to keep up with it, as it is an online course and so practically the whole point system is based on discussion.

So, I pose a question to you, readers of this wonderful blog:

How would you deal with this kind of situation? Knowing that 95% of the class is in stark disagreement with you, how would you approach these conversations? Keep in mind that a) being a douche, no matter how right you are, will make no one want to talk to you, thus ending your ability to “discuss,” and b) being nice to them and letting them spew nonsense at you will only encourage them and enrage you.

spread the panic!