Think about this. Now, excluding the occasional exceptions, we are all either British, Canadian, or US citizens, we are all Caucasian, with a few Asians, we are all either Christian or atheist, and we are all either male or female. I don't know if this is really an important topic, but it is certainly an issue to think about.

well were all obviously male of female, except you, i dont know what you are

im kinda both/kinda one or the other.

at any rate, labels are for soupcans. i think the only thing we really have in common is that we all love mata.

I've thought about that too. No Muslims here (the reason I mention that is because over half of my college is Muslim as far as I can tell). No Jews (by conviction as opposed to race). No blacks either. We're not all Christian or atheist by the way, there are agnostics and Pagans here too.

Ummm... if you "exclude exceptions" you can say that bout pretty much every random group of people you care to name...

I don't think this is a problem. It's not as if there's something keeping blacks, Muslims or what have you out. It's hardly our fault if almost everyone who joins is white. There's no screening process. It's interesting from a sociological point of view (that people who like Mata's animations are predominantly white), but that's all.

Well, no, none of that is true.

Like Commie already mentioned, we aren't all Christians or atheists. I'm certainly not either of those.

We also do have at least one person who is a citizen of another country. Pab lives in Andorra, which is between France and Spain. I think there might have even been an Australian awhile ago...not sure.

As for the race...I believe Miss Spunk is...uhm...Pakistani? Am I right? I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain she's not Caucasian or Asian (edit: Commie has informed me that she is, indeed, Pakistani, and a Muslim actually).

"excluding the occasional exceptions"? so suddenly these people have become irrelevant?

You know what? Even if all that is true (which I'm not convinced that it truly is), what does it matter anyway?

Ethnicity, religious preference, nationality, gender, etc don't matter anyway, especially online. Those are surface qualities, irrelevant, and the sorts of things that blind prejudice and hatred are built on.

What we are diverse in is our thoughts, ideas, and opinions - the things that do matter.

If we weren't diverse, this conversation wouldn't be happening at all.

Think about it.

Very good point, Missy.

We are certainly diverse in our viewpoints around here....otherwise there wouldn't be so much heated debate in Issues, would there?

'with just a few exceptions'? i think those 'few' are actually about 50 or so people.

i think there are a few jews here, and i'm SURE there are at least two; me and jess.

still though, one way or the other, the relevance of this to any aspect of life (or any aspect of anything really)=nothing

Regardless of our race, nationality, skin color, religion, gender, socio-economic status or sexual preference, we are all humans. Our blood is red. We hurt. We have feelings, memories, hopes, dreams and beliefs and that's al that matters. Missy has it right as does everyone here who realizes that we're all just people. We're a communtiy of loving caring people and that's all that matters.

Not all of us.

?

Explain.

Aidan does not consider him/herself male or female, contrary to readily available biological evidence.

Okay, that kind of makes sense...

i fail to see how this is important, not only is what missy said true, we descriminate on neither religion or ethnensisity, i think you're looking for descrimination where there is none



...you tit

ooo, ooo, me me! pick me!

im transgender...so im technically both, yet technically the one that im technically not. its confusing. but true!

i always thought that ment the same as being transsexual, in fact i have a friend who will back me up on this, being transsexual herself

nuh uh, tho a lot of people are mistaken on this.

transsexual is having an operation to change your body to the opposite gender.

transgender is identifying as the opposite gender, regardless of your physical anatomy.

hope that clears things up (thats the short version, i was given the long version and it totally confused me, i had to work it out down to that definition, so its not 100% accurate, its more like 80%)

no everyone is white.... not everyone is male or female (sum are blth i guess).. not everyone is christian or atheiest (SP?).... we are very diverse wether u wanna see that or not... i for one am neither christian or atheist..... no one is white... i mean, arent "white" people more or a pinkish/tan color anyways? wel, whatever.... just becuase we all seem to be un-diverse we are not... everyone is different and has differnt views.. therfor diverse

oh, almost forgot:

not only are there a few (or a lot, i don't know) jews on this forum, but there are also quite a few wiccans here too.

and besides, christian is too broad a term. prodestands, catholics, methodists, lutherins, mormons, episcopalians, baptists, the list goes on and on and they're ALL different (some a little, some so much that there's been wars fought over them)

so a pre-op transsexual is transgendered?? am i getting that right?

there's also a surprising amount of variants from atheism...strong, weak, UU, humanism...ok, that's 4, but it's more that you expected...right?

i agree.... and i know that I, Tara and i think Liz (ed) are Wiccan... but i might be wrong, liz might be pagan

Diversity doesn't have to do with where you live or what you look like. Religion goes into it, but that's simply because religion is something held sacred to us that makes up individual fibers in personality. People are diverse because of what they're made from. The diversity on this board comes from beliefs, views, ideals, virtues, morals, ideas, and to sum it all up, personality.

If you say we're not a diverse group of people, your own view is simply on the outside. You can't judge a person by what race or nationality they are. That's just irrelevant and pointless, especially on something like the internet where you're forced to be judged by the content of your character and not looks, until you decide otherwise. As for drawing the board's religion line between christianity and atheism, you're terribly wrong. I am neither christian nor atheist, there is a fence you know.

I can't really understand what prompted you to start this thread, when you had to have known all you would get would be several posts of disagreement. I know the thought crossed your mind some time, but here's something for you to think about: If you placed three people from the same state and province, with the same race and probably the same religion, those three would STILL be a diverse group of people just because of who they are inside. I'm sure they may appear to be the same on the outside, but the internet you're on isn't run by that.

Just my two cents. ^.^

erm..sorry, but UUism is NOT atheism. UUism is freedom of beleif with the general good treatment of ALL life. you can also be UU and another religion at the same time(i know a number of wiccan UUs)

[quote=Sir_Psycho_Sexy @ Oct 28 2003, 12:47 AM]so a pre-op transsexual is transgendered?? am i getting that right? [/quote[

no. transseuxual and transgender are not the same. i am transgender with no desire whatsoever to alter my genitals. i have a male anatomy...but outwardly i am female, through and through. im happy with who i am, and thts enough for me.

although, every transsexual person i know started out as transgender, you dont just go changing yourself without realising it first. so its open to more than one interpretation.

Krys you forgot me on that list... I'm wiccan...

White male baptist aged 18 here


wooo for being vanilla!

sorry.. sudden memory lapse... musta inhaled to much smoke.. leh... and shell is wiccan too~ sorry bout that shell

I don't know how it can be said that all of us are white. Hell look at the family album and that proves you wrong right there. As for athiest or christian, I am niether I am a loloist.

Um, I am a Shaved Wookie and my religion is Jedi.

spamming issues isn't funny.

There's more that you left out, actually. Pixiegoth is Pagan, Feyliya is Wiccan, I'm a sort of odd blend of Wicca and Pantheism.....and I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few as well.

But, that's besides the point. We are all quite diverse...that's been proven. But like Syuu said, even if we were all ethnically and religiously the same, we'd be diverse because of who we are.

I just personally really don't like it when things being assumed about me. This is about as irritating as all of those telemarketers calling me up and talking in Spanish right away because my last name is Spanish....they just automatically assume I can't speak English, or that I would rather speak Spanish than English.

It turns out we are all from quite varied backgrounds...which isn't a surprise to me. But so what if we weren't? What would that prove, exactly?

I'm a white female (or atleast the last time I looked...although if I dont know you can ask Kevin ) not sure what religen I am...
so yeha we are differnt...and we are the same...I mean sure...we look differnt and think differntly...But as it has been said before...we all have red blood (well...most of us I hope) and we all have feelings and can be hurt just the same...so all in all...we are all human...despite our differnt personalitys and backgrounds...so lets not turn this into something racist or mean...lets just exept that we are all human...we all have feelings...and we all can be hurt...as well as loved...as well as forgoten...so lets not forget what it is that brings us together...

MATA AND HIS ARMY OF CARTOON CATS WITHOUT A GENDER!!!



and the fact that we are loving humans that want to interact with other humans...

*walks away knowing this post, just like all the others, will be ignored*

not everyone is white. im half hispanic... so dont go making general statements that are wrong

Well, I was the only Asian until Beth (depressed_fromage) came a few months ago. *shrug* We are more diverse than we think. We hold different opinions. I am a feminist and a strong believer in anti-ageism. I am also a Pagan, not an atheist or Christian. I also really love Linkin Park -- now that's pretty rare on these particular forums

I have to agree with Syuu. It shouldn't matter and doesn't matter to most people on the forums what age or race or gender or religious orientation someone is. Rather what matters is their thoughts and opinions. I'd like to think of myself as a person first with emotions and opinions first rather than a fe/male white/black/Asian/Indian/Hispanic American/British/Canadian/Andorran 10-100 year old who's Catholic/Buddhist/Wiccan/Atheist.

They're just categories. It doesn't matter which category I fall into. It matters what I make of my life and how I treat those around me.

We are all diverse. We have different thoughts and opinions. Not one of us will reply to this topic in a way that is exactly the same as another person. We may agree with each other on issues but everyone is different in one way or another.

Right, I sort of missed this discussion (I guess I don't check the forums often enough) and my original statement was a bit vague, so I'm going to try and add a bit to the discussion.

I'm not really sure about the whole transgender/transsexual thing, but I don't really agree with some of the definitions that other people have posted. A transsexual is just someone whose physical sex and gender are different; they don't necessarily want to change their physical sex. Most do (I think), but there are a lot of non-operative transsexuals as well, who still consider themselves to be transsexuals. Definitions of transgender vary, but a common one seems to be basically all people who don't fit into the traditional "male" and "female" categories.

If that's the case, I'm probably transgendered too. In terms of gender I have no idea what I am. I don't think of myself as female (which most people do, unfortunately) but I don't really think of myself as male either... then again, I've got a lot of time to figure it out, I guess.

That was kind of... long. I just had to post this now that everyone's talking about something else. Oh well, I had to put my two cents in there somewhere. Maybe I should pay more attention to discussions from now on.

Have pride in your vanillaness!

I'm close enough to being Taoist that I might as well be.

Just because people don't come on here saying 'Hi everybody, I'm a Jamaican, intersex Shinto priest' doesn't mean that they're not, they just might choose not to be sharing this about themselves, as is their right.

Logic, posting threads like this certainly does not encourage those who may feel intimidated by difference to open up about themselves. To put this another way, why didn't you just ask if everyone fitted into the categories that you believed we did rather than stating it as a fact?

yeah.. I'm a 27 year old white female lesbian hippy with bi tendencies who was raised by a black family as a southern Baptist who's family where root workers... so now I identify as pagan, with a concentration in Buddhism/Rastafarian... so stick that in your diversity pipe and smoke it!

naah, you're too short to be a wookie....maybe a shaved ewok??


and i think i put my religion as jedi in the consensus a few years back....kinda rebelious in a conformist kinda way

*nods* Even if you cloned a single person on these forums and had them be the rest 600 members, they'd still be different. That's just how life works... unless it's different where you are.

woo! I feel noticed

I am from Pakistan, but officially, I'm Irish And yep I'm a Muslim

I'm a white,Welsh/British know-nothing dumbass who lives for Michael Jackson,Ozzy Osbourne,animal rights and tuna fish sandwiches.

WHO GIVES A DAMN?to somebody,somewhere,we're all white/black/asian/pakistani know-nothing dumbasses.Sad thing is,no matter how weird or unique or crazy we think we are,every other person in the whole entire world thinks that.........unless you're a super-duper identical twin-experiment gone wrong.Then you might not be alone.BUT there is an upside-somebody,somewhere in the world,loves u for being white/black/asian/pakistani know-nothing dumbasses.and they wouldn't change it for anything.

**WARNING -please try not to vomit violently on computer screen after reading incredibly soppy post.computer screen will not be amused.that is all.**

I think the race, skin color, age, etc does play a major role. Call me crazy or taking the left wing on this one, but your background can/does influence your beliefs and thought processes.

not entirely true, i went to a village primary school, all very church related, prayers, hymn and church services, esspecially at christmas and easter times, my grandmother was a JW, my mum beleives in god to a certain extent, but i can't help but question everything in front of me....perhaps it's because i grew up watching Star Trek and other TV and playing computer games



really what part of wales you from??

It is a known fact that these characteristics influence people.

Lets use income for example...
Those with more money are more likely to be republicans.

Now lets use education...
Those with an education are more likely to be liberal.

A perfect example of this is in jury selection. They use mock juries for cases and have people fill out a survey and they can then see which way they vote on a case. They can usually predict fairly well what the juror will decide. There is a field of forensic pyschology devoted to this. Race of victim and accuser also plays a role as does the racial diversity of the jury. There are so many factors and examples to list, not just jury selection and the like. I dunno, I still stand by my statement.

I am not saying if you fall into this category you will think "this". I'm just saying that you can get an overall assessment by knowing these things.

Statistics can often predict things about people but one of the great things about humans is how unpredictable we can be at times!

It's the old quantum dilemma, if you could know all the information about everything then yes, you probably could predict exactly what would happen until the end of the universe, but from the very smallest levels of existence there exists uncertainty principles. Given long enough any minor variable explands and makes all systems unpredictable in their nature in the long term. Minor deviations in any original setting will always be amplified over time so that you will always end up with different results.

For example, if you set two robot arms doing the same job continuously, they will not both break-down in the end at the same time. Minor differences in their composition will eventually amplify themselves until they effect the entire being of the robot so that the pincers no longer grip, or the lubrication decays, the pistons no-longer keep enough pressure...

As you say, people with a strong education may well be more likely to be liberal but that doesn't mean we should think that people who are not liberal are uneducated. Education can often have very little effect on what we think and believe, for example, there are many highly educated people who believe in UFOs, just as there are many who do not. They can't both be right!