On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 21:12:26 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 3/21/14, 8:01 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/21/2014 7:38 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 3/21/14, 7:25 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 18:25:32 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 3/21/14, 6:11 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:40:19 -0700, jps wrote:

On Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:31:39 -0400, "F.O.A.D."
wrote:

TOPEKA, Kan (WIBW) Fred Phelps Sr., the former head of the Westboro
Baptist Church, died late Wednesday night, according to a family
member.

Phelps' son, Timothy told 13 News that his father died just before
midnight. Timothy Phelps works at the Shawnee Co. Jail.

Ironically, another son who is a member of the church, attorney
Jonathan
Phelps told us Thursday morning that Pastor Phelps "is doing
fine." That
could have been a spiritual reference.

- - - -

If ever I am unfortunate enough to find myself in Topeka, and the
location of Phelps' grave is known, I'll consider visiting it so I
can
**** on it.

Someone suggested that he'd love to **** on Phelp's grave but hated
standing in long lines.

Gosh, we actually agree on something. Did Phelps shoot someone? I
can't understand why you'd comment
without shots being fired!



You'd serve yourself better, Johnny, if you avoided commenting on
anything even slightly political. Stick with your hobbies, and if you
are a good little boy-man, perhaps your grandkids will buy you an
Erector Set for Christmas or an antique American Flyer Train Set, and a
striped engineer's cap to go with it. It'll be the perfect hobby to
fill
out your days at the old folks home.

Uh, did I say something that upset you, FOAD? I was agreeing with you
feeling about Phelps. Can't
understand what would **** you off there. Was the Phelps thing
'slightly political'?

Maybe we should just leave politics off rec.boats? Would that suit you?



There are no rules here, Johnny. You don't need my permission to discuss
all your hobbies, and I don't need your permission to discuss my
hobbies. Actually, I don't participate that much in your hobby threads
because, well, most of your hobbies bore me nearly as much as you do.




Positive Distinctiveness

Social identity theory argues that humans have a basic psychological
need for "positive distinctiveness." In other words, people have a need
to feel unique from others in positive ways. As humans naturally form
groups, this need for positive distinction extends to the groups we
belong to. That is, we tend to view our in-groups more favorably than
out-groups (groups we do not belong to). And as a consequence, we tend
to see people who are not part of our group less positively than people
who are. This is especially likely to occur when there is competition
between the groups or when people feel like the identity of their group
has been challenged.

Research in this tradition most often finds that people display in-group
favoritism, and further, that degrading out-group members can have a
positive impact on self-esteem and feelings of positivity towards one's
groups.

So that's why Johnny is so ornery. He sees this as a right-wing group
and when we "outsiders" don't buy into his right-wingedness, why, it
upsets him and he lashes out.

Either that, Richard, or you've read some post on pop psychology and
believed it.

I don't care whether you 'buy into' right-wingedness or not. I'd rather politics not be discussed at
all.