Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Scott Bidstrup on June 22, 2010 at 9:53am

Kevin,

I think that is in particularly bad taste.

I am particularly incensed by that kind of thing, as it usually costs me money. Being a DX station, I get a lot of QSLs sent to my Miami address all the time, in spite of my QRZ.com page warning people NOT to send them there. And it costs me $1.50 just to get an unwanted QSL.

*Rantmode=on*

So if some jerk tries that with me, he's going to get an eyeful by email - advising him that his "QSL" has been used to help heat the house, and the QSO has been removed from my logs, and he won't get a QSL from me, from my QSL manager or via LoTW or eQSL. So forget it.

Furthermore, I will tell him that I think his ancient Semitic sky god must be a pretty feckless and powerless if it needs him to intrude on others' privacy and freedom of religion to find followers, and he is not paying very close attention if he thinks that I haven't been hearing this "call of Jesus" drivel incessantly, all my life, over and over and over. If he wants to believe in such silliness, fine for him but please respect other peoples' freedom of religion and right to privacy and don't bother them with such silly superstitions! So bug off already!

As far as I am concerned, I can only hope that the Rapture thing is true. Any hell that follows it can't be any worse than the sanctimonious, nagging Christian hypocrites we're forced to put up with down here now!

*/rantmode*

73, Scott
TI3/W7RI

Permalink Reply by Kevin Morgan on June 22, 2010 at 10:13am

Well said. What I chose as my response was to send him one of my cards (he sent a SASE, so I feel obligated) but I also did a search and found some Atheist Tracts on the net and taped one of those to the front of my card.

Their site is here: http://www.betterthanfaith.com/tracts

Permalink Reply by Scott Bidstrup on June 22, 2010 at 10:42am

Well, here in Costa Rica, there are missionaries on every street corner, quite literally (preying on the helplessness of the many poor). They'll even come up to you in intersections, while you're waiting for a red light.

So I tell them that they can keep their Jesus-On-A-Stick. When they look horrified at the "blasphemy," I respond by advising them at how equally offended I am that they have intruded on my privacy and freedom of religion in trying to sell me on their particular superstition. That they should consider that when they are out there disobeying Jesus' commandment to not be praying in public to be seen of men. That they already have their reward, and they shouldn't expect to get one from me.

...Haven't had the Jehovah's Witnesses show up at my gate in quite some time now...

73, Scott

PS: I especially liked the "Pity The Poor Pharaoh" tract...

Permalink Reply by Darin Cowan on September 14, 2010 at 8:47pm

Personally, I don't care if someone has some God-whalloping message on their QSL card. My view is that the card is first a confirmation of contact, and second a personal expression of the person on the other end. If they're a Bible-banger, so be it... it reflects on them, not me. In fact, this goes for other messages too... racist Confederate States messages, Muslim messages, Tea Bagger messages, basically any message that isn't directly related to amateur radio is bound to offend SOMEONE. I just can't be arsed to care about that stuff. They've confirmed our contact, that's the end of it for me.

However... and this is a big however...

I have noticed that the same people who put religious or political messages on their cards get really, publicly and loudly annoyed when they get a card (or read a forum, or whatever) with a message that disagrees with or opposes the religious/political message they put on their own cards. *THAT* does bother me because it's an obvious, public form of hypocrisy.

Religious and political messages on the air during a QSO is another issue. It's inappropriate there, whether they're flogging the dubious benefits of believing in Jebus or espousing the strengths of rational thought in a god-free life, or ranting about how leftists are destroying the way of life of True Americans (tm), or how Tea Baggers are dead from the neck up. Those kinds of QSOs fail the "appropriateness" test, and I leave them quickly.

73 de VE3OIJ

Permalink Reply by Kevin Morgan on September 15, 2010 at 9:06am

I'm not real nuts about sending out the QSL's. I will if someone wants one, and I have a fairly nice, IMO, card with a photo of a lighthouse here on the Island that I took in winter on a hike with my wife. I prefer a photo QSL or something interesting, but if someone is printing them out on card stock that's alright too.

But to take a religious tract and send it as a QSL card? I don't need confirmation of the contact that bad. I really don't care. But don't preach to me or try to show the world how holy and good you are. I'm pretty sure Jesus doesn't QSL prayers either.

Permalink Reply by Darin Cowan on September 15, 2010 at 11:38am

If he did, it would sure put the issue to rest. :)

Before my amateur radio time I collected postcards, so for me QSL cards is kind of an extension of that. I send cards on every first contact unless the person is in Canada/US and only takes direct requests.

Permalink Reply by Nils R. Bull Young on March 1, 2011 at 7:11am

Foist, I almost agree with Darin. At the same time, I do get that urge/temptation that Kevin describes (about sending something back). I say this remembering the first superstitionist card I got, some 40 years ago, from a guy had "maranatha" on his card larger than his callsign.

That said, I print my own QSLs just as my Dad printed 'em over 40 years back, hand-set type & one-at-a-time letterpress. Gives me plenty room to go boring on stuff to put on 'em.

Me personal, there ain't no god to talk about and even goin' to the expense of starting the word with a majuscule. I don't get downright confrontational about it, although I did have an interesting chat with a guy claimed his subconscious was really Jesus telling him how to save his marriage once at the Dayton Hamvention (to which I go every year like the hajj). If I decide to fill that space on my card up with something that'd make folks stop and think they better put the card down before the lightnin' bolts start to fly, it would be the evil Kirk version of the guy put all that maranatha stuff on his card 40 years back.

 

Difficult call. I think I'll forget about it until my subconscious comes up with a solution. Kinda like I do trouble shooting any more.

 

Nils/W8IJN

Permalink Reply by Darin Cowan on March 1, 2011 at 10:22am

The only thing that gets me about the superstition cards is that the people who send them are usually the ones who go completely buggo if they receive a card that mentions some other superstition.

 

Permalink Reply by Nils R. Bull Young on March 1, 2011 at 11:29am

Agreed. (With a sidetrack to http://conversationalatheist.com/2010/11/the-department-for-the-stu...).

At the same time, I'm not a "on your sleever" either. A simple pin &c does the job. I have a difficult time proselytizing for disbelief because I do enough monitoring as it is just saying anything at all. It's like the "like" people, the ones who like can't like say anything like without like saying "like" every couple like syllables. I'm already annoying enough.

Doesn't stop me from ushering the wandering revivalists off the porch, however. And I learned long back not to even begin to engage folks I meet on the air who profess their entire existence guided by the almighty hand of whatever god gets 'em fired up good.

Permalink Reply by Darin Cowan on March 1, 2011 at 12:47pm

I am not a proseletyzer for atheism, at least on amateur radio.  I keep that stuff off my radio blog, and off the air.  There's plenty of other fora for arguing about superstitions or the lack thereof :)

 

In my house, however, if someone brings up religion, it's very likely I'll call them on it.  Ditto for conspiracy theories, anti-vax bollocks, and so on.  But that's in my house.  I don't go to my uncle's house (he's a minister) and torque him up about his superstition, however, as I consider it a matter of courtesy in his house.  If he was to spend time proseletyzing, I probably wouldn't go at all rather than argue about it.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Morgan on March 1, 2011 at 1:59pm

I don't have a problem ignoring the "God bless you and your family" stuff a lot of hams feel the need to sign with.  I can understand them putting some religious oriented icon, image or saying on a QSL card.

 

But an ACTUAL tract?  Come on!  That's just completely disrespectful.  Want to send me a tract?  Fine, include it in the envelope with your card, but don't put a sticker on the back where the church address would go and send it as your card.  How would you feel if I just took a wrapper from a snickers bar and did the same?

 

73, Kevin AB2ZI

Permalink Reply by Nils R. Bull Young on March 1, 2011 at 2:41pm

Well, yeah. I guess it's a lot like the old OO thing. Do I really care enough to get riled about any of this? Sometimes, yeah, sure, since I look at bible study nets & similar "discussions" as a form of "see how much more I know about Jesus than you do" narcissism.

As to the original concept (send a tract as a QSL), well, that's what PDFs and The SubGenius Foundation are here for. You send me that? Ok, here's one of my weirder phenomenological markers.

Thus agreed. Cool . . .